Transcript: Mayor Mamdani, New York Junior Tennis & Learning Unveil 10 Newly Resurfaced Tennis Courts in Crotona Park
Zohran Mamdani on NYC Mayor's Office transcripts.
Passages
Good morning, everyone. It is good to be back in the Bronx. And it is great to be here to cut the ribbon on 10 newly resurfaced, professional-grade tennis courts right here in Crotona Park. Can we have a round of applause? We are joined here today by leaders from inside and outside of City government. And I want to just take a moment first to acknowledge USTA Foundation CEO Ginny Ehrlich, who's here with us; Yonex USA President LaNiece Douglas, who's here with us; NYJTL CEO and President Udai Tambar, who is here with us; my former colleague and still friend, Assembly Member Chantel Jackson, who's here with us; current colleague and current friend, Council Member Amanda Farías, who is here with us; our Bronx Community Board 3 district manager, Etta Ritter, who is here with us; also, our first deputy commissioner, Mark Focht, from New York City Parks. And I want to just give a special shoutout to Larry Leeds as well. Now, New York City is a town that moves fast and fights for every advantage. So, it is only fitting that when people think of world-class tennis, they think of our city. From the more than 500 public courts and parks across the five boroughs to the more than 100-year history of the U.S. Open in Queens, this sport has been played, shaped and transformed by New Yorkers from all walks of life. I'm thinking of New Yorkers like Mayor David Dinkins, who did not pick up — we should have a round of applause for Mayor Dinkins — Mayor Dinkins, who did not pick up a racket until he was 40 years old. I think of the kids practicing their topspin and their volleys right behind me. I think of the athletes who grew up in Harlem and Queens and would go on to become some of the greatest players the sport has ever seen. Players like Althea Gibson, who learned by playing with her friends on a roped-off street on 143rd Street before playing on the courts of the Cosmopolitan Tennis Club in Sugar Hill and who would later become the first Black player to ever compete in and win a Grand Slam in 1956. I think of players like John McEnroe, or Johnny Mac to those who've been around long enough to watch him play, who, long before he became the world No. 1, was just a kid from Douglaston with a racket and a dream. Though Gibson and McEnroe grew up in different boroughs and in different eras, though they played a very different game, New York City gave them both the same opportunities: courts to play on and the chance to be great. And today, as we cut the ribbon on these 10 newly resurfaced courts, we are giving that legacy a new life. These courts are some of the most popular in the Bronx. They are home to the country's largest free junior tennis competition, the Mayor Dinkins Cup, hosted by our partners at New York Junior Tennis &Learning and featuring more than 800 young players from across the city. And yet, for too long, these courts have been worn down with cracks in the surface that make bounces unpredictable and play all too difficult. Today, I'm proud to say that we've given these kids and New Yorkers across the Bronx not only a court to play on, but a new, repaired, professional-grade surface that will allow them the chance to be great. I want to commend New York City Parks and the workers who completed this refurbishment in just three weeks. I want to thank the USTA Foundation for their work to bring tennis into the lives of young people across the country, for their investment in coach training and professional-grade courts like these and for their partnership with Yonex that provided the grant that made today possible. And I am deeply — yes, yes, we should — and I'm deeply grateful for New York Junior Tennis &Learning's leadership and for their work to ensure that tennis belongs to everyone. Just as we made it possible for New Yorkers to watch the beautiful game up close throughout the World Cup, we have also partnered with USTA to make 1,000 discounted tickets available for New Yorkers to do the same at the U.S. Open. Now, those tickets went on sale about 12 minutes ago, and they're probably sold out. New York City would not be synonymous with world-class tennis if it were not for everything that the USTA does to make this sport accessible. I'm grateful for their partnership in this effort and for their work to ensure that every New Yorker has the opportunity to watch the world's greatest players perform on the world stage. Because whether you're watching or whether you are playing, there is no doubt about it: it is the season of tennis here in New York City. And we want the 12-year-olds who are awed by Alcaraz's signature drop shot or Sabalenka's serve in the night match to be able to come out here the next morning and to try it themselves. We want seasoned players and amateurs alike to know the satisfaction that comes from hitting on a high-quality court: one without a sagging net, without dead spots, without weeds growing on the service line. And we want all New Yorkers to be able to share in the magic of tennis as they watch and play the game that they love. Thank you all so much. And thank you to everyone who made this possible. I have to also acknowledge our Council Member Justin Sanchez, here in an official Council member tennis uniform. Well, I would love to introduce Udai Tambar and call him to the stage, the CEO and president of NYJTL.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceWe continue to be confident in that assessment of what the annual revenue will look like. And what we see right now is that we have three categories of properties that we're going to be sending out letters to. To your question, two of those three categories, one of them is to properties owned by a corporate entity like an LLC or a trust where the Department of Finance does not have sufficient information on a primary residence holder. That applies to about 6,400 households. Then the third category is properties where the Department of Finance does not have any 2025 tax returns that would indicate whether or not this is a primary residence holder. That amounts to about 4,400 households.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceSo, by my last count, I think we sent out less than 20,000 ‘you may be subject to’ letters. I think it was about 17,000 or 18,000. And at the time that we sent those out, we did not have access to the 2025 income tax filings. That is something that is typically released in February of the next calendar year. The state has now provided us with early access to those filings, and that's what's informing these three categorizations of the letters [Crosstalk.]
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceI think, first and foremost, we know that when the NYPD makes something a top priority for them, it is something that they put every single resource that they have toward it, and I'm confident in their abilities of being able to find him. And what this speaks to is the importance of public safety. And to me, every day is an opportunity for us to do more. We're proud of the fact that we're reducing shootings and murders to the lowest levels in recorded history in our city. And we also know that there's always more work to be done, especially as we're speaking about this in the Bronx, where we know in recent weeks, we’ve seen the kinds of shootings that have torn families apart and, frankly, entire neighborhoods that are still shattered by the loss of the young people that [have] been stolen from them. So, this will continue to be a top priority for us.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceSo, this is something that is a top priority for our New York City Public School system, is to put significant additional resources toward the registration of these early childhood education contracts and to ensure that every single provider is ready for the first day of school. And that both includes whether their contract will be registered or whether they will be provided with an interest-free loan. [Crosstalk.]
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceThe plan always was that we wanted to give New Yorkers enough time to ask any questions that may come to mind, to appeal for an exemption, and that is part and parcel of why we hired dozens of additional civil servants to be able to actually reach out to those New Yorkers to field those kinds of questions, and that we changed the business center such that they could actually accept any questions in person wherever they were in any one of the five boroughs. And so, yes, there have been a number of New Yorkers who have filed for exemptions. We have about 3,000 of which have been accepted thus far. And we will continue that process until Oct. 6. And then after that point, if New Yorkers still want to appeal an assessment, they can still appeal to the Tax Commission until early next year.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceThe letters that are being sent now as a result of early access to the 2025 income tax filings, that is a reflection of the new information we have and letting New Yorkers know if they haven't started an exemption process that they don't have to because we have the requisite information now. [Crosstalk.]
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceYou know, we've extended the exemption deadline to Oct. 6, and again, if someone does not appeal by that time, they can still appeal to the Tax Commission until early next year. However, we're confident that with a little more than a month and with this newfound information that that should be a requisite amount of time. And to any owner who has additional questions, what I would always say is that we are here to answer those questions, whether that is through the Department of Finance, whether that's through calling 311, whether that's going in person at a business center. Our job is to answer those questions. Our job is to make this process as easy as possible.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceFirst, what I want to say is thank you to these child care providers because they are such a critical part of what even makes universal child care a possibility in our city. And in that time that I spent with them, what I also heard from them was the importance of the city being responsive to the variety of needs that they have. We made the decision to invest tens of millions of dollars in additional funding for a better contract for many of these providers because they hadn't seen an update to that contract for many years, while a lot of their costs had been going up. We also made the decision to create a grant fund for child care providers who are in need of immediate financial assistance, and the absence of that could force them to go under. And this is all a reflection of the fact that we don't have this child care system without these providers, without these child care workers. And we're also not going to accept what has been the standard from the city over the last many years of these kinds of delays. And that's why this is a top priority for us to both fix this for now and fix this for the future as well.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceWe have made this very clear that this is a top priority internally, and New York City Public Schools will be pursuing that, whether it means the registration of those contracts expeditiously or it means the provision of an interest-free loan, because these providers should have all the resources they need to start school and start providing what, frankly, is an essential service for so many families across the city. ###
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source
Every passage above is taken from this recording: NYC Mayor's Office transcripts, Transcript: Mayor Mamdani, New York Junior Tennis & Learning Unveil 10 Newly Resurfaced Tennis Courts in Crotona Park.