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de BLASIO'S GAMBLING?

Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Appears Live on AM 970's John Gambling Show

April 29, 2016

John Gambling: I’ve got the Mayor of New York on our telephone here on the John Gambling show. Mr. Mayor, welcome aboard and good morning.

Mayor: Good morning, John.

Gambling: I know you don’t want to talk about it, but I have to ask you, you’ve got five separate inquiries going on, having to do with campaign financing, police corruption, and the rest of it. I’ve heard your response to these – that you say you have no reason to worry about it because everything’s been legal and above board. It has to, at the very least, however, be distracting to what you want to do on a day-to-day basis.

Mayor: Well, let me say a couple of things. I appreciate the question. I’ve had the opportunity this week to be on WNYC and one of the things the host said is, and I’m quoting, “where there’s smoke, sometime’s there’s only smoke,” and we have to recognize that fact – that the investigation’s going on and we’ve said we’ll fully, fully cooperate because I’m confident we’ve done everything legally and appropriately. But people also have to recognize, you know, those investigations do their – go through their course, and then we’ll find out facts, and we’ll judge from there. But the reason I’m confident of our ability to get things done for people is proven just in the last week or two. We put out a budget that addresses a host of quality of life issues all over the city – how to better plow our streets, how to add to public safety, address the opioids crisis, deepen Vision Zero and keep people safe – a whole host of things in the budget that every-day people care about. You know, I was just out in Staten Island at a town hall meeting – people don’t want to talk about investigations. They want to talk about quality of life. They want to talk about safety, schools, and that’s what we’re working on. And we keep putting out new initiatives that are actually addressing people’s needs. So, I’m very comfortable that we’re working at an intense pace and, you know, let the investigations run their course. We’re going to keep doing our work. But I would say this – we’re going to cooperate in every way. I think it’s in everyone’s interest – in the people’s interest that these investigations move as quickly as possible so we can get answers.

Gambling: Alright. Let me ask you a question – related question – not a direct one. Your Campaign For New York, you’ve shut down. I’ve always had a problem, and I think you and I have probably even talked about this in the past, with these nonprofits that are set up for various reasons, whether they are campaign financing, whether they are healthcare in neighborhoods. But too many times they seem to breed some sort of criminality and-or at least appearance of, you know, problems. Do you think that the campaign finance laws that we have create this environment?

Mayor: 100 percent – absolutely – and I think there’s a real absence of an honest dialog on this issue. I believe – and I’ve said it really clearly – the Supreme Court was dead wrong on the Citizens United Case. I think they’re even wrong going back to the Buckley v. Valeo case. They’ve created this notion of speech and the ability to spend money in the political process are somehow equated. I think that is the poison underlying this whole system. We need a level playing field. The world I would like to see created is that there is no big money in public life whatsoever from any place, and there’s full public financing of elections. What we have alternatively is a situation where any powerful interest cam spend limitless money as I saw, for example the first month on the job. Hedge fund folks spent four or five million dollars against me and never had to disclose who they were. That was one instance that’s happened many times over since then. Then, when someone like me tries to move major initiatives – pre-K, affordable housing, what I believe is important for the people of New York State and New York City, seeing a democratic State Senate – and we do it legally and appropriately disclose every step along the way, somehow that’s a problem. First of all, obvious double standard right there. But second, to your underlying point, these laws are profoundly broken and what we need to do is get literally all corporate money, all individual money out of this system in terms of big money. We just have to do that ultimately and create a real level playing field.

Gambling: Let’s switch over to Health and Hospitals. Part of your budget, you’re throwing a lot more money, some two billion dollars in your latest budget of this week towards Health and Hospitals who are really on resuscitation at the moment. Partly as I read it because of unintended consequences of the Affordable Care Act, because those that have taken advantage of the Affordable Care Act and gotten insurance are going to other hospitals, so that the income stream is off. You’ve got a lot of illegals, undocumenteds that are going to the New York City system, and there’s no money there. Is this a sustainable situation?

Mayor: That’s a great question. I think it’s the best situation we have to make major changes in, to make it sustainable, so look – I said very bluntly at the budge release – the Affordable Care Act, which I fundamentally believe in, came with some unintended consequences since it was predicated on the notion that everyone who could get insurance would, it started the process of removing federal support for our hospitals. The problem is we have a half a million people who are eligible, fully eligible for insurance under the Affordable Care Act who have not registered. We’re going to do a lot to try and get them to do so, but when they go into a hospital, often one of our Health and Hospital – city public hospitals, you know, the tax payers end up paying for that. And the same – look, on the reality of the undocumented, it should be a federal obligation. We have a broken immigration policy. We have over 12 million people in this country who are undocumented, but they are part of our society, and they need healthcare. The federal government should be putting forward resources for that. I think we have – between federal and state laws and regulations – a series of unintended consequences that are now hitting New York City very hard.

What we’re going to do is a combination of things to try and reduce cost and improve the ability of Health and Hospitals to attract people with insurance while simultaneously getting a lot more people to sign up for insurance who are eligible. But look, I’ve been very blunt. We’re going to have major cost reductions. We’re going to have staff reductions. We’re not going to do layoffs, but we will do attrition and transfers because we’re going to have to bring the cost down quickly at HHC to create a sustainable reality.

Gambling: Mr. Mayor, doesn’t that create a recruiting problem of finding doctors who will work within the public system?

Mayor: You know, we are – to the great credit of New York City – we are one of the great capitals of the world in terms of medical education. We produce a huge percentage of doctors for the entire country. There’s always going to be doctors. We need to – as part of their education – be part of our public health and hospitals systems. There are a lot of doctors who are devoted to our public hospital system and believe in its mission. I don’t believe that’s going to be our problem. I think we have a tough but do-able job ahead of streamlining HHC, making it more attractive for people with insurance – we’re going to do a lot more community based healthcare as well because bluntly John I want to get people out of hospital beds and emergency rooms, so I want us to do a lot more. I think this is consistent with the Affordable Care Act, a lot more preventative care, a lot more primary care, so that people’s issues are treated well before they get to the level that someone has to go to the emergency room or end up in the hospital, but that’s also going to reduce cost. What we’re going to do with a lot of those hospital buildings – we’re going to keep them open obviously, but we’re going to add additional elements to them for other needs – for example, mental health – and that will bring more money with it as well. We’ve got to do a whole lot more on mental health, and one plus here is all those Health and Hospital buildings have a lot of space, a lot of beds aren’t being used. We can turn a certain amount of that to the mental health needs of the people of this city.

Gambling: Mental health and the homeless issue in New York City and other cities across this country, are directly correlated, connected. You just announced a 12 percent reduction in the survey done each year on the homeless population on the streets of New York. Those in the homeless advocacy world, they question your numbers. Your response?

Mayor: The HOPE Count which was announced in the last day – in the last couple days I should say – the HOPE Count is one measure. It’s the federal standard. It’s used all over the country – I’ve said openly, I don’t think it’s the ultimate measure. All I think we learn from this HOPE Count is there are ways to reduce the number of homeless in the streets. There are ways to make progress, but I don’t think this is the definitive measure.

We said, very openly, we’re going to be doing a very different kind of measure. We’re going to do a quarterly count by a more rigorous city standard. And every day now – this is a public thing, this is viewable online – every day we’re sending city employees to count literally every street between Canal and 145th Street in Manhattan every block to see what we’re seeing on the streets and report it publicly. We need a more rigorous count, but more importantly we need more vigorous support and direct engagement of folks who are homeless. In the vast majority of cases that means specially trained homeless service workers to help people get off the street, to convince them to get that mental health care or substance abuse support or whatever it may be. If anyone’s doing anything criminal or illegal, it means the NYPD – and the NYPD now, under our watch, has created a special homeless services unit, people who are trained to deal with the homeless, who can deploy immediately anytime we see any illegality. It’s going to be a much more hands on approach. If it works over time you’ll see some reduction in the number of people on the street. I’ll tell you thought, a lot of them will go to a shelter in the first instance. That means the shelter numbers might go up a bit. But the number one goal – of course – is get people off the streets even if that puts our shelter numbers up. It’s much more humane and much more appropriate to get people off the streets.

Gambling: Mayor Bill de Blasio on the John Gambling show today. Any indication that the generous services that New York offers, whether it happens to be on the homeless question, the hospital question – we are a sanctuary city – is there any evidence Mr. Mayor that that attracts people from other places to come here because they can get stuff?

Mayor: John, it’s an excellent question. We have been studying this question and there’s more studying to do before I can give you a definitive answer, but I can tell you what we’re finding so far. What we’re finding is the overwhelming majority of people who receive those services come from the five boroughs. And then there’s another subset of people who come from the five boroughs in terms of their upbringing and their [inaudible] majority of their life who may have gone away for a year and then come back, but are clearly New Yorkers. There are very few of the people we’ve identified so far who come from elsewhere [inaudible] recently in any way shape or form. So, we’re going to keep looking at that issue because obviously our intention is to serve our people. But I can safely say from the study so far, the vast, vast majority of people are New Yorkers, or people who a majority of their life was as a New Yorker.

Gambling: Alright. This week I gave you kudos, along with our buddy Bill Bratton, for the gang bust up in the Bronx – too long in coming. And I understand the investigation dates back into 2014. I am assuming that there are going to be continuing efforts to bring the rest of these bad guys into control.

Mayor: There’s no question. This is by many accounts the largest gang takedown in New York City history – certainly one of them – and we got the vast majority of the perpetrators, and immediately I am convinced. Look, I have to tell you, John, over now two years and four months, I have been working so intimately with the NYPD, and particularly Bill Bratton, and his leadership, and they almost always get their man – that’s what I’m finding. And what’s fascinating, John, is that the rate of follow-through and achievement is growing all the time, because as every bad guy is taken off the streets, it makes it easier to focus more and more resources on the next one. Commissioner Bratton has just done another stunning job. The winning streak of this guy is unbelievable. He came into this city with crime rates already low – has driven them down – overall crime down over six percent over the last two years. The lowest quarter in terms of shootings and homicides – first quarter of 2016 – the lowest in the history of New York City. These are stunning statistics. What he said very publicly is there are a few thousand – there are probably between, you know, two, three, four, five – something like that – thousand individuals who are causing the vast majority of violent crime in New York City. A lot of them – a lot of them – gang and crew associated. And every time we take down even one of them – but let alone, in this case, dozens and dozens, we’re opening up the possibility for a much safer city, and that’s why you’ve seen this reduction of homicides, reduction in shootings. They have only just begun. And so this – what I think all of your listeners need to understand is this is a cumulative process. We are really closing off the avenues of violent crime over and over and over again, so I’m telling you there’s going to be more arrests, and there’s going to be more gang takedowns like this, and NYPD is really on a roll here.

Gambling: With the crime statistics as low as they are, how come a new Queens precinct is being formed?

Mayor: Well, it’s a great question, and I want to put it into context because some people ask me that question about why we’re adding 2,000 more police on patrol this year – because we want to consolidate our gains, because we don’t rest on our laurels – this is a Bill Bratton trademark. I’ve been in literally hundreds and hundreds of meetings with this guy, he does not rest on his laurels for a moment, and he’s someone who actually has the laurels worthy of resting on. He always wants us to drive the operation to be stronger. So, we’ve got 2,000 more cops coming and we believe that’s going to help us drive down crime further. In the case of the precinct, well, you know, the current precinct – the 1-0-5 is one of the largest in New York City. There have been concerns in the community for decades about response times. But creating the new 1-1-6 Precinct, we’re going to be able to speed up response times. And we’re not just concerned about the most violent crime, we’re concerned about quality of life, because the neighborhood policing strategy you’re going to see now – the first time this is going to be sustained in the history of New York City – is about all the quality of life offenses too. John, I think you and I share common ground on the idea that the Broken Windows theory of policing works, it has to be constantly refined and updated, but the little things matter, the quality of life things matter. And, you know, what a blessing it is that NYPD doesn’t have to focus as much on violent crime and can go even more deeply on quality of life crime. That’s why this precinct is so important – we want fast response time and we want a deeper commitment to the quality of life for all those communities.

Gambling: Alright, speaking of quality of life – two questions here for you. One, the City Council and the Speaker, Melissa Mark-Viverito, proposing a five cent per plastic bag charge. I’m not sure what the alternative is suggested here, but isn’t this a regressive tax on those that can least afford it? And, if indeed this is put forward, will you sign it?

Mayor: We’re still talking to the City Council about the details of the bill. I think the broad concept – you know, one, that we must stop using plastic bags for the good of our environment, and, two, that this is one of the tools that has proven to work around the country – those are obvious. We’ve got more work to do to perfect the bill, but I think the City Council and the administration are working very, very positively on this. Now, why I do not believe it is regressive is because it changes people’s behavior very quickly – this is what we’ve seen all over the country. This kind of approach leaves people to bring, you know, a tote bag with them and stop using the plastic bags. And, you know, there’s many things we have to do in our society to help people address a changing reality. Climate change is something you and I didn’t grow up with. You know, some of the degradation of our environment had not happened when we were kids, but, in today’s society, this is a crisis, and it’s a right-now crisis. So, if we can find a way to change behavior positively – get people to bring a cloth bag with them – that’s pretty straightforward. And I think it’ll change the behavior quickly and not hit people’s pocketbooks in any meaningful way.

Gambling: Aright. Did you hear the story today about restaurants tricking out the ratings system and when they have C’s, they either don’t put anything up or they put A’s up, which are a lie?

Mayor: Well, we don’t accept that, obviously. I didn’t see the details of the story, but I can speak obviously to the fact that people in New York City appreciate any kind of grading system done with integrity, and obviously want to know they’re safe. So, I would say to restaurant owners, fly right here, own up to whatever grades you have and, if you have a bad grade, do what you got to do to improve it, but anyone who tries to cheat their customers by not being honest about their grade – I think that will be found out pretty quickly. In the digital age, John, we can safely say, and especially with all the foodies out there – I think that kind of thing will be uncovered very quickly.

Gambling: Mayor Bill de Blasio, ladies and gentlemen. Mr. Mayor, I sure wish we could do this more often. I enjoy it. Thank you very much for your few minutes here out of your busy schedule.

Mayor: John, we will certainly be getting together with you many times along the way.

Gambling: I certainly hope so. Have a good weekend, thank you.

Mayor: Thanks a lot.

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