Transcript: Mayor Adams Hosts Older Adult Town Hall

August 14, 2024

Commissioner Lorraine Cortés-Vázquez, Department for the Aging: Well, I don't think he needs an introduction. I kind of think you kind of know who he is. So here he is.

Mayor Eric Adams: Thank you so much. And we really are looking forward to just hearing from you. And I don't believe there has been a mayor in the history of this city that has been zero focused on NYCHA the way we have. And we want to go through some of the things that Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer and her team has done. Some of the first time actions that have been put in place.

But, you know, think about it for a moment. January 1st, 2022. What did I inherit? What city did I inherit? We inherited a city where we had 40 percent increase in crime. We had ghost cars and mopeds running all over the road, over proliferation of guns. Our children were not learning at the capacity that they deserved. Unemployment, Black and unemployment rates were almost four times the rates as whites. You saw tourism decimated. We were dealing with something called COVID. A lot of people forgot about that. We had so many challenges in front of us. Lack of tourism.

Within two years, folks, two years. We have more jobs in our city in the history of the city. More small businesses are open in the history of the city. Double digit decrease in homicide, double digit decrease in shootings. 17,000 illegal guns removed off our streets. Our children are outpacing the state in reading and math right now. 62 million tourists returned to the street. 4.1 million people back on our subway system. Out of those 4.1 million, we only have five felonies a day out of 4.1 million people. Robberies are at the lowest on our subway system and the history of recorded crime on our subway system. You see 17,000 people dealing with mental health issues taken off our train, homeless, taking off our system and put us a care. 1,000 have remained there. We used to have encampments all over the city. You don't see them any longer because of what we have done.

We cut and decreased Black and brown unemployment by 30 percent in the city. Never has been done before. And we did something else. When I was the borough president, I was knocking on doors, giving masks to NYCHA residents and people were attacking me. Go look at those articles. They were saying, why were you wasting masks on those people? But I knew that no matter where you lived in the city, you deserve the same level of quality care. And when I knocked on the doors, the residents were telling me that their babies could not get remote learning because they did not have high speed broadband. And our seniors could not get the telemedicine because they did not have high speed broadband. So what did we do? We went into NYCHA and we have given free high speed broadband to every tenant that is in NYCHA right now. Free high speed broadband.

But then we did something else with our foster care children. Our foster care children were aging out at 18 and we knew [6 to 700] were aging out each year. We knew they were more likely to be victims of crime, participate in crime, homelessness, mental health issues. So what our team did, we went to our foster care children. We said we're going to give you life coaches until you're [26 years old] and we're going to pay your college tuition and we're going to give you a stipend. So you will have the support that you would need. It's called upstream.

Then we said we said when I went to Rikers, I've been on Rikers Island more than any mayor in the history of the city. I got rebaptized on Rikers Island with the prisoners and the inmates and the detainees. And I sat next to them and say, I see you. And I asked them, how many of you have learning disabilities? 30 to 40 percent of the inmates at Rikers Island are dyslexic. So what we did, we are now doing dyslexia screening in the lower grades. So you don't wait to a child, believe he's dumb and then find yourself on Rikers Island because I'm dyslexic and I felt that I was dumb and couldn't learn. So now I went from being dyslexic to be elected to be the mayor of the City of New York. We want to give them the same opportunity that they deserve.

And so now what happened in the middle of this great turnaround, probably one of the most successful turnarounds in a two year period in the history of any mayor in the city of New York. In the midst of all of that, in the midst of having more Black and brown people in executive levels in the city government, first of women of color to be the first deputy mayor, first Dominican to be a deputy mayor, first Korean to head Small Business Services, first Trinidadian to be a deputy mayor, first Filipino to be a deputy mayor, first… Where's my girl from? I've got all these first, first, first. You know, when you look at first Spanish-speaking to be a police commissioner, first woman to be a police commissioner, first Spanish-speaking man to be a commissioner of Department of Correction, first Spanish-speaking person to be in charge of the DOT. You look at my administration and you know what it looks like? It looks like you. It looks like you.

And then out of nowhere, we got 211,000 migrants and asylum seekers that came to our city. And here are the facts, because every time I run into somebody, they say, Eric, what are you doing to us? I do not have the authority to stop the buses from coming in. That's against federal law. I do not have the authority to say you can't have three meals a day, a place to sleep, and educate 40,000 children into our educational system. The law requires me to do that. I do not have the authority to say, listen, I'm going to let you work. Federal government said you don't have the authority to do that. And I got a group of migrants in Clinton Hill in Brooklyn who said, listen, why don't we clean up the place, remove graffiti, give back to the city because they want to do that and we'll give you a stipend. The federal government said, no, you cannot. You're not allowed to do that at all. They can't volunteer. You can't give them a stipend.

So I have thousands of people who want to work in this city. They can't vote. And instead, they have to sit around all day and do nothing at all. And that is the challenge I'm having. What has been dropped into my lap now was ironic about it. Where are the migrants and asylum seekers? What cities are they hitting? New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia. What do they all have in common? Black mayors. Think about it. And so our base feel as though we have surrendered our city and that's what our base feels. Our base is saying, what are you guys doing in Chicago? What are you doing in Philadelphia? What are you doing in Los Angeles? We've taken a crisis and managed it better than any other place in this country. And national leaders have come in and noticed what we have done.

And so I'm saying this to you as we go into these conversations, because I'm one of you. I'm the first union member to be the mayor, probably in the history of this city. I know what hard times are. My mother raised six children on her own and we betrayed her when she needed food. They gave her that hard-ass cheese instead of some good food to eat. My sister, my sister was betrayed. She had to dedicate her whole childhood to raising the six of us while mommy - five of us - while mommy was out working three jobs. I know what it is to feel abandoned and to be abandoned. You have your grandson, your son, your nephew. You have who you prayed for to get into office, to understand what people are going through every day. When you've gone through a lot, you can help people who are going through a lot.

And we went through a lot, a lot of problems. I'm perfectly imperfect. 15-years-old, I was arrested in the 103rd precinct because I found myself believing as though I couldn't learn. I know what it is to be rejected. I know what it is to think it's not possible. And that is why I serve as the mayor of the City of New York. After 22 years of wearing a bulletproof vest, standing on street corners, protecting this city. I'm here because I believe in the city and I know we can do a better job to produce a better product. That's why I'm the mayor.

And so I'm David Dinkins two. And I know that this administration, a team of people we have here are willing and open to answering your questions and to deliver to the city. So before I answer your question, this is something that came to my attention back when I first came in office, because I remember whenever mom had a medical emergency, the first responders would come to the house and she didn't remember some of the basic information. So this is a magnetic strip where you can write some of the basic information. So if ever a first responder had to come to your house for a medical emergency, you don't try to have to find your emergency contact. You don't have to look at what medicine you're allergic to. You don't have to see who's your primary doctor. You can have it right on your fridge, fill it out if you desire and just put it on your fridge. And they would know just to look at this and get the basic information.

The goal is to make life easier during difficult times. And that's what I want to do as your mayor. So we want to open the floor. I thank you for allowing me to come here. And we are really looking forward to having some great conversations with you. Thank you very much.

How are you doing? Come on, say a few words. Did you get to speak to your constituents?

City Councilmember Diana Ayala: I didn't have the chance to, but I first want to debunk the whole cheese situation because the cheese was actually really good. We grew up eating that cheese. And so that cheese was one of the things that I still remember as an old woman. Yes. Bring it back. Bring it back. That salt content wasn't great, but the cheese was good.

But thank you for the invitation to be here today. I'm really here to support the mayor and to also hear from you guys on what are the issues that are keeping you up at night. I think I'm a little well-versed on a lot of the issues that are happening in and around East Harlem. I live in the community. My kids were educated in the community. And I try to be a very active elected official because I learn from what's happening on the ground. Right? I want to see it. I want to feel it. I want to smell it. And I don't want anybody to have to tell me what's happening in my community. And I know that we have issues. So, you know, I hope that you take the opportunity today to really utilize the presence of a lot of our city agency representatives that are here that can respond to a lot of your concerns. Thank you.

Mayor Adams: And, you know, the councilwoman, I oftentimes her ears must be ringing because oftentimes tell her story. She has a powerful story. And, you know, when you have councilpersons who really have moved up through the system to be at the level where she is now is extremely impressive. And I don't think you tell your story enough. I think people really should know how powerful it is.

But, you know, the councilwoman said something that's really powerful. And even the women in the back said, bring it back. I don't know if many of you knew my health crisis. A couple of years ago, I woke up, I could see the alarm clock. The doctor told me I was going to be blind in a year. I was having tingling in my hands and feet. They told me I was going to lose some fingers and toes. I had an ulcer. I had high blood pressure, cholesterol. I had the entire American package.

And I went online and I did something scientific. I googled reversing diabetes and all this information came up. And I learned that if I just… Went to Ohio, see this doctor in the Cleveland Clinic, Dr. Esselstyn. Dr. Esselstyn said, Eric, you need to change your diet. I said, man, I'm going blind and you are trying to tell me to stop eating fried chicken? What's wrong with you? But I was desperate. I was afraid I was not going to see Jordan when he walks down the aisle. I was not going to play with my grandkids. I was afraid and I was desperate. And I said I would try anything.

And I went to a whole food plant-based diet. Three weeks later, my vision came back. Three months later, my nerve damage went away in my hands and feet. The ulcer that sent me to the doctor the first time that also is gone. No medicine. They gave me metformin the first week, they wanted to give me insulin. When I went to that doctor's office here in the city, I went in without any medicine. I walked out, I thought I was Duane Reade I had so many pills and pokes. So it was never…

They told me your diabetes is due to your mother having diabetes. My mommy transitioned. She had diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, everything. But it was never my DNA. It was my dinner. And we can get healthy, good-tasting food. That's what we're doing in our schools. That's what we're doing in our hospitals. That's what we're doing. They have been feeding us food… Nothing is a greater betrayal than when you need government to give you something. And what they've given you is harming you. They were feeding our healthcare crisis. If you go throughout your entire block, everybody doesn't share the same DNA. So why is everybody having the same diseases? Because we're sharing the same food. We're running across the street eating the same things.

And so don't be fooled that we're not supposed to have healthy lives. Those of us who are Christian, God said, be fruitful and multiply, not toxic and die. You know, and you know, let me tell you this story that I love the most. I met Dr. Esselstyn and I'm seeing Dr. Esselton down in Ohio. And there's a man in there that's 83 years old. He was with Dr. Esselstyn for almost three years. And he's sitting there talking about his sex life. I said, what? What happens is when you clean your arteries, it cleans your entire body. Your clogged arteries are reversible. And so I said, listen, I want to have a sex life at 83, too.

So don't feel as though where you are is who you are. And if I were able to reverse my diabetes, how many of us in this room are diabetic? How many of us in this room are taking pills every day? I take no pills, no pills. And I ask you to go online and Google Dr. Barnard, Dr. Esselstyn and Dr. Greger. Just Google them. And you don't have to be a vegan. You don't have to be drastic. But just learn, learn about the power of spices. Learn how to use alternatives. That white sugar is death to us. This over-processed food that we eat every day. You can within three months, you will see a total difference in your health by just making some basic modifications.

And that is why we have different food in schools, different food in our hospitals. Where the city feeds you, they should not be betraying you. They betrayed mommy with the powdered cheese, the powdered eggs, the canned meat, the lard. All of that stuff, that stuff is not good for your body. Don't let anyone tell you. Now, when you were in Puerto Rico, Alabama, Trinidad, Dominican Republic, we were up every day, working every day, not a stationary life. It's a different story. But it still is not healthy. But we ate from the land. We don't eat from the land anymore. Why do we have junk food in our communities and Whole Foods in Park Slope? That's what it's about. So let me open it up. That just got me started on this food stuff.

Let's open. Do we have translators in the house? You know, I feel about people. Yes, ma'am… How are you?

Question: Good afternoon, Mr. Mayor. Our question is concerning the bikes and scooters and the lack of enforcement with them running red lights and disobeying the traffic laws. It is a quality of life issue in our community on the sidewalks as well.

Mayor Adams: Thank you. Thank you so much. We have not been at one town hall: adult town hall, youth town halls, older adult town halls where that's topic does not come up. Not one. And I'm with you. I'm with you 100 percent. We removed over 40,000 illegal dirt bikes, mopeds, three wheelers, over 40,000. And we crushed them. But they're like the gremlin. The more you kill them, the more they keep coming back.

So there's a number of things. Assemblywoman Jenifer Rajkumar is introducing some legislation. We feel that we have to stop it at the source. You should not be able to drive the bike off the stores that are selling them without insurance and registration. And you should see the license plate. So right now we don't know who it is. And they are so reckless and totally disregarding the rules. And they've been used for a lot of crimes, a lot of robberies, a lot of jury snatches. It's really problematic. Right. Grabbing telephones, earrings.

And so we're with you. I spoke with the police commissioner and stated that we need to really lean into the enforcement. And then we've got to get to delivery platforms to be more responsible also. So it needs to be a holistic approach. What happened was after Covid, everybody started getting their food delivered. And that just over-proliferated our streets with all of these bikes. So we're with you 100 percent. That is a constant complaint that I have. And we are on top of it to get it done. OK, thank you for that.

Question: Buenas tardes, mayor. So plenty of the older adults live in NYCHA. And they're noticing that when either people are leaving the apartments that are vacating them, that squatters are moving in and they want to know what they can do about it.

Mayor Adams: Two things we noticed about that. One, the squatters that are moving in and how people have been living in the hallways and on the roadways. We had we had a town hall and a one of the residents shared with me. We met her late that night and she was right. There was someone sleeping in the hallway, sleeping, sitting on a knife on her floor right outside her door.

Deputy Mayor Banks brought this to my attention about, you know, people using the vacant apartments for all sorts of things, illegal activity, squatting inside the places. He has put in an entire initiative where he's partnered with NYCHA, where we want to go in and properly seal those apartments and renovate the apartments and get people in it. But we shouldn't have vacant apartments at all when we're dealing with a housing crisis. People need to be living in those apartments. That's the best way to deal with the squatter issue is to turn those apartments over faster.

But it is on our radar. It has been a problem for a long time. And we want to make sure that the apartments are properly sealed. And when people call and state that a person has taken over an apartment because everybody knows their floor. They know who's not supposed to be there. We need to respond faster to get the issue resolved. So we're definitely on top of it. Thank you.

Question: Good afternoon, mayor. I'm here today with a member of a senior center, also members of a NORC, a Natural Occurring Retirement Community, Franklin Plaza. This is about safety and they're interested about they have concerns about safety within the buildings. So the question is, how can the Police Department increase security during the evening and night, especially at buildings' lobbies?

Mayor Adams: Thank you. You know, we during the budget cuts, and I'm going to turn it over to the inspector. But during the budget cuts, a lot of the senior houses were going to lose their security. And we said no to that. We got to make sure our older adults feel safe. And so, you know, me, public safety is a prerequisite to prosperity. Inspector, you want to talk about that? Who do we have from NYCHA? Do we have anyone from NYCHA?

Deputy Inspector Scott Callahan, Commanding Officer, 23 Precinct, Police Department: I am Deputy Inspector Callahan from the 23rd Precinct. I recognize some people here. My board members here. But we're well acquainted with Franklin Plaza. Unfortunately, not too long ago, when certain laws changed, obviously with NYCHA buildings, we're able to go in at any time. We're able to inspect the stairwells, the rooftops, the hallways. Private buildings, we usually have to. We can only go in when we're responding to a 911 call. But we are, especially with Franklin Plaza, very concerned with like some of the stuff that goes on there.

So the officers are always instructed when they have free time to get out of the car, maybe walk through the courtyards, see kids hanging out that maybe don't belong there, just make their presence known. And then whenever we do go into a building for something, once that job is finished, if we have the time, do the same thing as if we went to a NYCHA building since we're already there. So that's something that's always preached with any of the private buildings, especially when they reach out to us. If we ever get a call, we can always meet with people to do a walkthrough. We can do security surveys or crime prevention officers in the back to give updated ideas on how to upgrade the security, whether it's better locks, certain camera systems. We try to do it a holistic way while still obeying all the current laws for non-NYCHA buildings.

Mayor Adams: So what are you seeing? What are your observations? What are you seeing? Does anybody want to touch on that? What are you seeing? What are the older adults, the residents, what are they seeing?

Question: They see a lot of what they explained to me because we have a population of two different areas in here. We have a Mitchell-Lama, we have a NYCHA, and they're both saying that there's a lot of activity during the evening and the nights within the lobbies where people are hanging out and they're afraid. So they come, they participate in the activities, and then they go home and they don't come down at all because they're afraid.

Mayor Adams: Which building? Do you know which building? Is that what you were talking about, Councilwoman?

Commissioner Cortés-Vázquez: Franklin Plaza is a…

Question: It's a Mitchell-Lama. It's a Mitchell-Lama.

Councilmember Ayala: We recently just funded, through our office, we recently just gave funding for Franklin Plaza's security upgrade system, so that should be happening soon. But definitely there should be some level of coordination between the private security on site and the NYPD so that they're better able to target what the problem buildings are. But that is coming.

Mayor Adams: Got it, got it. So are we talking about Franklin Plaza or Washington Housing?

Commissioner Cortés-Vázquez: Franklin.

Mayor Adams: Okay.

Question: Douglas Houses.

Mayor Adams: Douglas Houses?

Question: I have a problem over there in Douglas Houses.

Mayor Adams: What is it? Is it about people hanging out?

Question: Hanging out in the lobby and on my floor.

Mayor Adams: Hanging in the lobby and on your floor. Okay, all right.

Question: In and out, in and out.

Mayor Adams: All right, so why don't we do an assessment of both of these locations, all right? All right, so we're going to look at all three locations. We'll do an assessment and see. We'll get to crime prevention. Who's the Crime Prevention Officer here? Okay, how are you doing? And who's your senior officer for the… You do both? Okay, come on up here. Don't be camera shy. Come on, introduce yourself.

So what Commissioner Stewart did to make life easier for older adults, every precinct has an older adult officer that you can reach out to, you can communicate with to help navigate not only policing issues, but whatever questions you may have. So why don't you introduce yourself so they'll know who you are and they'll know how to grab you, okay?

Police Officer Colleen Willis, 23 Precinct, Police Department: Good afternoon. My name is Officer Willis. I'm the Crime Prevention Officer at the 23rd Precinct. Just so everybody here knows, your crime prevention officer at any NYPD precinct is also your older adult liaison. So we're a good contact to have in case you had any questions or concerns related to crime. Even if not crime, we can point you in the direction of somebody who can help you out, maybe at the Department of Aging, with NYCHA, things along those lines. I see a lot of familiar faces here, which I'm happy about. I have business cards with me if anybody wanted to take my contact information. I'll be in the corner over there for the rest of the meeting. And just come say hello. Again, my name is Officer Willis. If you guys have any questions or concerns, I'll be here for the rest of the meeting.

Mayor Adams: Thank you. And I just thought that was a brilliant idea from the commissioner. This way you don't have to go in and try to figure out who you're going to speak with in a precinct or if you have a particular issue. That is the role of the Crime Prevention Officer and the Older Adult Officer. And it's not only law enforcement. If there's an issue that you're trying to get knowledgeable about or you need some information, reach out to her, and she will contact the other agencies to make it easier, particularly the Department of Aging. Okay? So make sure you grab a card. But we're going to look into those locations and sites. All right, so let's coordinate a time where the team can come in. I would love to come and do a walkthrough. Okay? All right. All right.

Question: Good afternoon, Mayor Adams. Thank you. As an older adult of 75 years, I want to know what can be done about the scaffolding problem. It's very dark. And during the evening, especially with winter coming, you know, when 5 o'clock it's dark, there's no lights. And it's not safe at all, you know?

Mayor Adams: Right, right. It's so funny. Today I had a press conference with the Deputy Mayor Meera Joshi, who's in charge of, you know, all this infrastructure. We had a press conference called Get Sheds Down. Sheds. Because, you know, when I walked to the press conference, a sergeant was off duty, stopped to speak with me, and he shared with me that he made an arrest last night where drug dealers were stashing their drugs under the sheds, and they were using it because there's not a light.

So there's a couple of things we have to do. First thing we need to do is get our own house in order. There are too many city buildings that have up sheds. We have a real plan to roll them back and get them down. Then we're going to, for those who are up for legitimate reason, we're going to change the whole lighting and the whole structure so that there's more inviting and more light and you can feel comfortable. Because being safe is not actual safety. It's safety in how you feel. And those sheds are dark. They're dreary. People hide on top of them. All sorts of nefarious and dangerous actions takes place. So today I stood with the deputy mayor and the Department of Buildings to talk about just that. We've got to get these sheds down.

It has become cheaper to keep up the shed than doing the repairs. So we want to turn that around. It needs to be more expensive to keep the shed up than the repairs. People have not been incentivized to get the sheds down. Some sheds are there for so long, people have grew up with those darn sheds, you know. So we're with you. We just announced that today. You must have been hiding in my office and knew that I was coming. No, but we're with you. We want to get these sheds down. They're a real problem. Quality of life, lighting, you don't feel safe, illegal activities taking place. And just who wants to have a shed around their building for this number of years? So we're with you on that. Thank you. Thank you.

Question: These river houses have the worst thing.

Mayor Adams: Which one?

Question: These river houses.

[Inaudible.]

Mayor Adams: I get scared walking under those darn sheds. So I'm with you. We have a real aggressive plan to take them down. But we need to look at, as I'm saying, you know, like we're the biggest offenders. You know, when you look at city-owned property that still have these sheds up, we have to lead by example. So I'm with you. We're going to see what's the longevity of the sheds there. I know that in the previous administration, they did a big push around NYCHA sheds, but it didn't seem like it took the traction that it deserves. So let us look into that.

Councilmember Ayala: [Inaudible.] The issue with the scaffolding is that if the building, right, has an issue with the bricks or with the roof, they have to, by law, put in the scaffolding to make sure that if a brick, you know, happens to fall, it won't hurt anyone. Now, the netting was a huge issue because they were, the Department of Buildings was required to install that over the fence to make sure that if, God forbid, a little rock fell and it went through the fence, it would hit you.

But what happened was that they were putting black netting. And so it was creating kind of little, yeah, what do you call that? Oh, my goodness. I lost my, the word is in my head. But it was creating little pockets of area that were really dark. And so you couldn't see in and the person couldn't see out. So we were able to… Blind spots, yeah. So we were able to get, it was like a maze, right? We were able to get them to put in the clear ones so that at least you can see them. But these are the challenges that we have in the city, right? These are mandated requirements. And so we can't just take down the shed unless we have the money to fix the building. The problem is that the money to fix the building is not coming in from the federal government fast enough for us to be able to do the work. And so it becomes, you know, very cyclical because then we're still here waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting.

And it's obviously very frustrating and very scary because when you're passing through them, you know, we haven't, you know, we worked with the 23rd Precinct at Carver Houses, for instance, where we had, you know, a huge number of robberies specifically to, like, delivery folks that were coming in because they would get caught in that black mesh and nobody would see and it was an opportune time, right, to victimize those individuals. But there is a plan. And so, yes.

Mayor Adams: One of the big things, you know, NYCHA has an $80 billion budget deficit for capital, $80 billion, and the federal government really has abandoned NYCHA. But so one of the things we want to do while we are taking the sheds down, we should change the entire lighting. And that is what the DOB and Deputy Mayor Meera Joshi, the whole lighting, because it's dark, it's dreary, it invites criminology. Yes, thank you.

Question: [Inaudible.] These ladies became very passionate. They was actually crying when they was telling me. So it's really, you know, the whole table is very important to them because they're very, very scared. And they were actually crying when they was telling me the story. So it's really important.

Mayor Adams: That's why today we announced the first round last year. We did an analysis and we see that we have to do more. So we, trust me, we feel you on this. We just did this today. Where am I going? Yes.

Question: Hi, mayor. I'm a little scared.

Mayor Adams: Nervous? I'm nervous, too.

Question: What can you do for housing about the rent too high?

Mayor Adams: As a great philosopher said, the rent is too damn high. So here is where we are. We have to build more. It's the basic principle of supply and demand. When you have a short supply, it raises the cost. And so we're doing something called the City of Yes. Our city is divided by community boards. There are 59 community boards in the city. 10 community boards last year built more affordable housing than the other 49 combined. There are too many places in the city where they don't want to build housing. They have their parks, their hospitals, their schools, the access to good food, good transportation, and they don't want anyone else coming in.

So City of Yes, we're saying let's build a little more housing throughout the city and not overburden 10 community boards. And we're now going through the City Council. We're going through the community boards so that we can move to execute this. We have a 1.4 percent vacancy rate. That means we don't really have any vacancies. Only way we're going to get out of this is to build more. And our zoning laws were racist. They were built and they were put in place to really prevent diversity in many of these neighborhoods. And we have to go back and fix that. So those of you, your children come home from school or you want to downsize where you're living, you're finding it challenging to do so because there is no real apartments available. We have to build more.

Now, we financed last year with the partnership of the City Council, we financed more affordable housing in one year in the history of the city. We did it two years back to back. We move more people out of shelters into permanent housing in one year, year one and one year and two in the history of the city. More people use the FHEPS vouchers under this administration in the history of the city in one year. But we don't have the inventory. Everyone needs to be on the same page. We have to build more housing. Back in the day, we had the Mitchell-Lama program what we did and built housing for working class people. That needs to be our new focus.

And so we're with you. The rent is too high. There's not enough apartments that are available. We need to do more senior housing, veteran housing. All of this house is important. The way we do it is we build more. Yes. He will give you a microphone.

Question: I am an immigrant. So I came from Poland originally. So I see different situation in different view because I grew up differently. But I went a lot like you and I was impressed that you talk to us like this. I really put my hand in front of you. But I would like to know, you know, we should do something in East Harlem about the cleanness. I am only poll worker. I must be on the poll site five o'clock. So three o'clock I went. And I'm grateful about this. And the rats. Horrible. Horrible. Mr. Mayor, if you see this, you'll be, oh, really? Really? And I was living in Ridgewood. I was in Jackson Heights. I was in downtown. You know, this is the journey, you know, immigrants, as you told us. But I never saw like this dirty streets. Please kindly put more, I don't know how cold. You know, you know.

Mayor Adams: And I hear you.

Question: …more Sanitation for us because you told us about the diet. But how you should follow the diet if there are rats around us?

Mayor Adams: So let me answer your question. First of all, there has never been a man in history of this city to hate rats like me. I hate rats. And, you know, I have an amazing rat czar who's going to tell you some of the things that we are doing. I want her to explain. Her sole purpose is to go after Mickey and Ben. I hate them. No, they're not. They were standing in front of you and say, yeah, yeah, yeah. What you want?

So I'm going to let our rat czar tell you what we're doing. But the number one way you get rid of rats that we found based on our research is to containerize our garbage. As long as you have these plastic bags out there and you could have a mint-smelling and all of that good stuff. Rats laugh at that. So we have to containerize our garbage. Everyone tried. No one was able to do it. In November, 70 percent of our garbage is going to be containerized. We found discount costs of containers. You're going to see a drastic difference when we take these plastic bags off the street. We did it for the eateries. We did it for the chain stores. Now we're doing it to one to nine buildings. You got to get the garbage bags off the street. That's the number one reason. But Rat Czar Corradi. Can you tell us what we're doing?

Kathleen Corradi, Citywide Director of Rodent Mitigation: Thank you, mayor. Thank you for the question. And this is an area in the city, Community Board 11, along with Community Boards 10 and 9 that Mayor Adams established as the fourth rat mitigation zone last April. And why we are in this zone so heavily, this area so heavily, is because we know there is a rat burden here, meaning we see the complaints, we see the activity. And because of that, our city is putting more and more resources into East Harlem, Central Harlem, and West Harlem to make sure we're getting rid of enemy number one, rats, through containerization of garbage like the mayor mentioned. Also working on proactive inspections from the Department of Health.

So that means in this neighborhood, every single building is inspected twice a year from the Department of Health without any complaints coming in. Proactive inspection. That helps us as a city, as a Health Department, understand where the rat burden is and then work with those property owners to address those issues. We work closely with Parks, NYCHA, New York City Public Schools, to make sure, like the mayor said, we're being good neighbors and city-owned properties are also doing their part to be clean and rat-free.

All these pieces together are part of our integrated pest management strategy, where as a city, we're systematically going after what rats eat and where they live. But the work can't be done alone, so we work very closely with communities, with community groups, to bring education, to talk about behavior change, and make sure that there's a true partnership. The city is rolling out operations that will make our city cleaner, guaranteed. That will hurt the rats, and we want to make sure we're in partnership as that goes. So we have case managers from the Department of Health who work in this area, do inspections. So if you have properties in particular that you're feeling a real pinch from rat activity, let us know, and we'll help you get the information and take action there.

Mayor Adams: And what you said is so important. You said that the streets are dirty. Streets don't get dirty through osmosis. They're dirty because of behavior changes we have to make. People need to put their garbage in trash. They need to just not drop it where they see it. So there's a cultural change we must do to say, you know, we need cleaner streets and organize.

You know, I was in Rome, and they do these organized community come out and clean the streets, because these are our neighborhoods. But it's a collaboration with what the rat czar is doing, with Jessica Tisch, our commissioner of the Department of Sanitation, the containerization of garbage, to making sure people stop dumping. We're going after illegal dumpers. So we have a full frontal assault on Ben and Mickey. We want them gone.

Commissioner Cortés-Vázquez: And part of that plan is that all older adult clubs, all 308 of them across the city, are working with the Department of Sanitation to make sure that our garbage is also containerized so that we are being part of this plan. The other thing that we're doing is composting, something that we've not done in great numbers, at every older adult club to make sure that we have no waste.

Mayor Adams: Love that. No, big issue. I hate rats.

I'm going to come to you, ma'am. Who? To the rat czar? Okay, yes, you can.

Question: Thank you. Can you give the rats some birth control?

Corradi: It seems like a silly idea, but what we do as a city is we investigate all different type of treatment and extermination options, expand our toolkit to make sure we have the right tool to deploy in the right situation. So birth control and other emerging technologies are things we're always looking at to see if they make sense for New York City. New York City has been a pioneer in different extermination treatments, including the use of a BurrowRX machine, rat ice, which is actually dry ice that we use for extermination, and a brand-new technology we're using, which is carbon dioxide cylinders, and we actually use that for rat extermination. So the more wild ideas that come in, and as this technology and more focus on this work, we test it all, we see what works for our city, because we are not only the best city in the world, but we're a unique city, so we want to make sure what we're doing matches both our human population and our rat population.

Mayor Adams: Yeah, I saw a chart, and those rats, they must not have TV, because they make a lot of babies. And they populate at a rate that's unbelievable. You should show that chart, you know, of how one man and one woman rat can create a whole lot of babies, you know? So, you know, birth control. I know someone, didn't we test, we tried that, the birth controls? Right.

Corradi: MTA has tried it before in the subway systems to mixed results, and that's why it's something we continue to research and look into. Again, we want to make sure we're using the best cutting-edge treatments as we think about extermination, but it's coupled with all the other things we mentioned. We can't kill our way out of this problem. Rats reproduce too quickly, like the mayor said, so that's why we have to think about what they're eating, cutting off that food source, and where they're living, and cleaning up our streets.

Mayor Adams: And let me tell you something, they're smart. I had this rat in my backyard. Every time I put down a trap, he'll drop something on it, pop the trap, and eat the food. You know? They are smart. They would dig a burrow. They would know when to put out. They know if you put out some food that they don't like to eat, they're not even going to bother your bag. They're going to come when they get something that they want. They are smart, and they are good competitors. But I hate them, and we're going to get them. Yes, ma'am.

Question: Good afternoon, Mayor Adams. I'm fine. How are you?

Mayor Adams: Good to see you.

Question: Good to see you. My concern is that recently on First Avenue, I live at 108 First Avenue, 1199. They changed the one-way bike lane to a two-way bike lane, and I assume that was in preparation for the Second Avenue subway. But anyway, to me, it's a very, very dangerous situation because now we have to look in both directions for a bike as well as the cars. And as seniors crossing the street, it's not a comfortable situation. Is that going to continue to be the case with that bike lane, that it's going to be two-way?

Mayor Adams: DOT is here to answer the question.

Assistant Commissioner Kim Wiley-Schwartz, Safety Education, Department of Transportation: I actually am not familiar with that exact situation, but we are taking advantage of situations where we've had in the past a single bike lane and trying to make them two ways without taking any more room from vehicles and parking and things like that, just trying to make more room for all of the proliferation of bicycles that you see everywhere.

In general, a protected bike lane will actually, if you take the time to look both ways and you can cross at any time, you don't have to worry for the signal to change. If you take the time to cross there, it really can make it safer for you when you're crossing the street in terms of dealing with regular vehicles. And it can, I'm going to tell you that where we put this kind of infrastructure, we do see a change in overall safety numbers. I understand that there's a lot of issues with bicyclist behavior, and this is something that we're trying to get down to. At the street level, I have a street team that goes out with NYPD. We go out every day. You'll see people out there. We're talking to delivery workers. We're trying to go to places where we know that people who ride bikes are waiting, where we can give them equipment and safety things to get their attention. And then we're really trying to drill down on the bicyclist behavior situation.

And we also are doing a project at older adult centers where we're making walks with older adults in their community, not just looking at your walk to and from and around the older adult center, but bringing large maps and really taking a look at your entire commute where you walk all the time and really trying to get an idea of all of the places that we can bring back to our Traffic Planning and Management team to see where they can make improvements that prioritize you as pedestrians. Right, we're all pedestrians in the city at some point in every part of our day. So we want to make that safe for you. And we can arrange that here at Union Settlement.

Mayor Adams: And it's a great idea because then you walk in, you walk in the street from your eyes and pointing out, here's some of the problems, here's some of the hazards. And what we've done under Commissioner Rodriguez, we believe that the traffic safety issue involves all of us. And historically, you have not heard a real conversation of what's the role of a biker or the scooter, as was just mentioned. It involves all of us. So we want everyone to understand it's not about, you know, just looking at the bikers or the scooters, but how do pedestrians feel? And particularly older adults or those who are dealing with some form of disability. Make sure that we educate our bikers, educate just as we educate our drivers. Everyone must play a role in ensuring our streets are safe.

Question: [Inaudible.]

Assistant Commissioner Wiley-Schwartz: It's not unique. It it is, like I said, one of the ways that we are trying to solve for not enough space. As the mayor talks about, it's not just in homes, building homes and running out of space. You know, we need enough room on our streets. You will see this. And it's many, many parts of the city. We and you will also see us trying to widen some bike lanes where we can to make more space. So this is one of the ways we're trying to keep bicyclists from encroaching the sidewalk, which, as we know, is dangerous. And we are trying to get that under control with NYPD.

Question: I want to talk about, I've been in Spanish Harlem since 1957. So I see things come and go. But those light posts that you have between the blocks, not on the avenues, but between the blocks. They're outdated. And I've seen when I look at the news, I see in Brooklyn, in Queens, the same thing. Darkness. Crime comes around when there's darkness. So I was wondering, what is the city going to do with those lights like between the avenues where we go to the neighborhood? We got the Lexington Avenue train here. But when you have to cross from Lexington all the way to First Avenue, it's a dark place. And then the trees are growing and the lights are spurred by the trees. So we need help.

Mayor Adams: There you are. This is your days, your day. That's OK. No, but you said outdated. Have we changed?

Assistant Commissioner Wiley-Schwartz: We have. So we've taken on LED technology, which we know actually be when we first put it in, we got complaints from people inside of apartments that it was too bright. These are things that we can do. And also on NYCHA properties, there's a lot of retrofitting. I live right next to Wyckoff Gardens and we've seen a lot of retrofitting there that has made things safer and brighter. And as women, I think we can say that the brighter it is, the more that we feel comfortable walking around.

So DOT has a robust program and we can also work most closely with your councilmember and with our borough commissioner to make sure that we are identifying… And you should never feel like if you call out my block and say, I need two or three more of these. That's the way things are getting done in New York City. Right. When you ask for what you need on your block, we have the ability to be very responsive.

Mayor Adams: So can we look at that block and see if it is dark? So we all look at the block that you're talking about.

Question: [Inaudible] and Third and right now in White Park, I was going to call three one one because one of the lights post is missing a light. You know, I think it went off. It's a dangerThey need cleaning. Right.

Mayor Adams: OK, so we're going to look at that block.Ok? All right. Didn't you just talk about birth control? I thought you was Dr. Ruth.

Question: Good afternoon, mayor. I just want to say, first of all, I love you and respect you. My question is this. It's about dogs. And I know mostly everybody love their pets. I understand that. I love pets, too. But the problem is this where I live at. We have a lot of unleashed dogs and they know how to attack. They don't play. And the owners, the owners, they're irresponsible, some of them, but their dogs. And that's a big problem. Some of those dogs are taller than me and I'm not that tall. But anyway, we need help with that.

The Housing Authority, they have a pet policy that's not being enforced. And it's a real serious problem because it's a public safety problem and anybody can get hurt. You have seniors and I can, like, we can hardly run. You know that we got canes and we have our walkers. You got the little babies running out there. Anybody can get hurt. So I really hope and pray that something can be done about it. And I was attacked by a dog. It came so fast. It knocked me down to the ground. I ended up with a mild concussion. Chipped wrist bones. I fractured my arm. I had to wear a cast. Messed up shoulder. Messed up back. Messed up elbows. But anyway, we need help. Thank you so much.

Mayor Adams: A dog is supposed to be on a leash. And so we are definitely looking to the proper enforcement. Some of these things we have stopped enforcing at the at the magnitude that we did. But there is a law. Your dog is supposed to be on a leash. You're supposed to curb your dog. You're supposed to clean up after your dog. And so there are people that need to learn the basic etiquette around having a dog. I love dogs. But, you know, there are rules and some people are not following, not being good neighbors. Not being good neighbors.

Question: Another thing is that we seniors have to use the buses sometime to get here and there. OK, my concern is I pay my fare to get on the bus. You know what I'm saying? So I was talking to this young man and I said, I know that it's hard to put a police officer or a rookie or someone in the bus. Because once they see somebody like they used to do with a select bus, they don't dare come in there without a ticket. You see what I'm saying? So I deal with the 101 bus that comes from all the way downtown. 125th and go up there. And it's a shame. And I asked the bus driver and he said we couldn't do nothing because we have to open the back doors to let the people out. And they come in. So I was wondering maybe some of your trainees, rookies could come in that bus. And when they see an officer there, they'll think twice.

Mayor Adams: You know, and you know what I find fascinating around this topic is that how much the older adults really, really don't like this state of just disorder. And because someone stopped me the other day talking about the same thing. So I spoke with the commissioner. What we're going to do. Janno Lieber, who's in charge of the MTA, he raised this as well. We're losing millions of dollars from it. We created a culture where we were not enforcing the theft of service. People hopping the turnstile. One night I went up to 125th Street and Lexington Avenue. And it was this unbelievable that no one paid. Probably one out of 10 people were paying. Everybody was just walking through. And it wasn't like they didn't have any money. It was just that we created a culture that, you know, you're not supposed to pay.

Now, what happens? It comes out of your pocket because then we raise the fare, etc. So what the MTA is going to do, they're going to identify for us frequent locations where it's happening. And we're going to put offices there and really start letting people know that there is is no more just walking through. So we've got to change the culture. And that is what we're planning on doing. Yeah, it's a real problem.

OK, sound like I could bounce. OK, OK. So listen, thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. Really good seeing all of you and to our police officers that are here. Thank you, guys and ladies for coming out and really have a safe, safe summer.

Question: One final question for you on these containers, which is a great idea. I hear that people are stealing them off the street. So I was wondering what the answer for that one. You talk about disorder, you know, and I heard about your rat problem when you're home and everything, because unfortunately I can't look away. So I've been an early supporter from you from before you became the mayor. I'm a big supporter of you. I just wanted to get that out there. I think it is a challenging job. I really support the whole deal that you've been doing.

Mayor Adams: Well, you're right. You know, I've had my pails and the first ones that I had someone stole. And now I lock it to the gate as well. And they have, I've had mine for about 10 years. It's amazing how durable they are. But you're right. We want to prevent those steps. People can write people can write their name on the bottom or they can also do with someone shared with me the other day that they did. You can get one of those small air tags that companies sell and you could put it right on the bottom. The woman says she bought one, put on the bottom and and she looked on her phone to see where it was. It was like three doors down. So. All right. Right. You know. And her neighbor said, I don't know how it got here. Yeah, you stole it.

So we need to find out ways because there's always, you know what? There's always New Yorkers who stay up the entire day. If they use that much energy getting a legal job, they'll be billionaires. But we have to find ways you could lock it in, put a little chain on it to put an air tag on it. And, you know, or write your address on. I wrote my address on mine to make sure that if I see, you know, someone has it in front of their home, then, you know, they took your garbage pail.

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