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Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Holds Media Availability Urging Albany to Pass Extension of Mayoral Control

June 21, 2017

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Well let us begin. This is a very important day for Fanny and Connor. I remember vividly when Chiara and Dante had their stepping up ceremonies from pre-K. It's a very important day in the family. It's a day to celebrate. Let's give Fanny a big round of applause.

[Applause]

And I want to talk about some of the things Fanny said – what it means for families in so many ways. By the way, this is the largest pre-K center anywhere in New York City. It has been extraordinarily popular with parents. All of the pre-K classrooms here have just a huge number of parents who are talking about it all the time how they want to get their kids here. It's been a great experience for those who have been here.

This is what it's all about – lightening the burden for parents, making their lives easier, helping their kids get started right. But I want to say at the outset – I want to tell you we were delayed this morning because there is a lot of activity in Albany.

Spoke this morning to both the Governor and to Speaker Heastie. I'll go into more detail in the Q and A. I apologize for the delayed start. It is literally because the very topic we're here to discuss is being acted on in Albany and some important conversations to happen.

Let me thank the folks who are here you're going to hear from in a moment but also want to thank some special guests – Anita Gundanna, the Co-Executive Director of the Coalition Asian American Children and Families. Thank you so much. Randy Levine, the Policy and Early Childhood Education Director for Advocates for Children of New York. Thank you.

So many organizations that have supported pre-K and the changes made for communities all over this city. Also, a great thank you to our host, the wonderful Laura Scott, the principal of the School of Learning.

[Applause]

And the superintendent of my old district, 15, Anita Skop, thank you so much as well.

[Applause]

So, this is a – it's really beautiful to spend time with those kids. It reminds you what all this is about. It's really simple. You can see in all of those children their pride. It was a big day for those kids. It was a big day for those parents. There was a lot of pride but it also meant every single one of those children has a chance to start their intellectual development, to start on the path of learning. Every single one of them had a guarantee, every single one of the parents in that room had a guarantee that that opportunity would be there for them

As Fanny said, that was not true in this city just three years ago. Let's remember, three years ago many parents like Fanny had to struggle to find any kind of early childhood education – pre-school, child care – whatever you want to call it.

Well, it was hard to find. We know that. Whatever name you gave it, it was hard to find and it cost a lot of money. We've said many times, typical parents paid at least $10,000 per child and in many cases $15,000 or more per child.

So, Fanny is explaining not only what it meant for her son's blossoming as a learner but also what it meant for her ability to make ends meet and give her child the kind of home she believes in.

That's what this is about. It did not exist. Now it does and we're going to make the point today that that is because the power is invested in the Mayor of New York City to create things that actually affect people's lives, that change their human reality, their material reality.

Because of mayoral control of education we could do that. There would have been no way on Earth it could have been done under the old system. And if you want proof, the old system existed for decades and as Fanny said the vast majority of parents, the vast majority of children did not get full-day pre-K. Period.

Perfect proof-point – decades of evidence, it did not happen. Under mayoral control, it did happen. And we're going to build it out not to 3-K. We're going to make sure that three-year-olds have the same opportunity.

[Applause]

And for parents doing the math – and I guarantee parents are doing the math – if they have two children who are going to go through 3-K and the Pre-K and it costs at least $10,000, in some cases more, per child. Two children, two years, you're talking $40,000, $50,000 or more easily that is saved by that family. Think about the average New York City family, if they saved $50,000 what that would do for everything in their life.

So, that's why this matters so much in so many ways. I also want to note this is about making the entire school system better for all our children. There is an energy created by pre-K, a hope, a possibility that pervades every school in the entire school system because you know I think it's an objective statement – for decades our teachers were doing their best but they often felt like they had one hand tied behind their back because they were dealing with, unfortunately, a lot of the other challenges that affect families, a lot of the social ills came into those children's lives, and then came into the classroom.

But they also knew that our children were not being given the start that they could be given. They knew it. Anyone who studies educational trajectories knows that the more attention given to early childhood education the better the outcomes for children.

So, teachers knew they could do so much more if the children came to their classroom had experienced early childhood education. And imagine that frustration if you knew there was a solution and it just didn't happen because there wasn't political will or there was the wrong kind of system of governance.

Now, throughout the school system – and Chancellor Fariña can speak to this much better than I – there is hope and optimism for teachers because they know that children coming into their classrooms in kindergarten and first grade and beyond are going to have a much stronger preparation. And that's going to be a particularly when three-year-olds are reached universally.

So, this has ramifications for everything we're doing that we were able to do this and we're able to keep expanding it now.

You know the teachers in pre-K feel a sense of mission and Ms. Abby at Bishop Ford who is so proud of her efforts as a pre-K teacher wrote me the letter – you heard about that. And there's this beautiful line in the letter she wrote. She says, "These faces are our future which is filled with joy and hope." And you could see it in the room. It's a beautiful thing.

[Applause]

All of those children are on the right path. They're on the right path already. What a great feeling that we all know that and their parents know it. So, this is the way forward to maintain things like Pre-K For All reaching 70,000 kids because it's working and to go farther and think about all these pieces together and how they synergize.

This is what the Equity and Excellence vision is all about. Now, Pre-K for All, soon 3-K. Every child going forward being given two full years of quality preparation before they ever walk into even a kindergarten classroom making us unparalleled in the country in terms of the kind of extraordinary effort we will be putting into preparing our children an ever more complex world.

The focus on getting all of our children on grade-level by the time they take those third grade tests on a massive scale, and then all we're doing in middle school – algebra and guaranteed after school for every middle school student, Computer Science for All across the whole school system, and AP courses in every single high school regardless of the ZIP code. That package has happened in three years. That's what mayoral control allows for – rapid change and rapid improvement.

And it is as a result of mayoral control. And you're going to hear from one of the leaders of the DOE during the Bloomberg years. And I've said this even when Shael is not here – I've said it over and over. I give Mayor Bloomberg a lot of credit for achieving mayoral control of education. I supported him at the time. I think it was a great step forward for this city.

He started a process of change. We have continued it and deepened it. Graduation rate hovering around 50 percent just 15 years ago – now, last year, 72.5 percent. Almost a 50 percent improvement in graduation rates in 15 years. Listen to that – 50 percent improvement in just 15 years.

[Applause]

So, let's be really clear about what is being debated today in Albany. And this is D-Day, this is Zero Hour – right now. Everything that we've talked about is now up for grabs.

And a lot of us here at this table can testify from personal experience what 32 local school boards means in terms of the inability to create change across our entire school system and our whole city. If you have 32 school boards that have the power to choose superintendents, and principals, and to make budgets, etcetera – you have no guarantee there will be Pre-K for All anymore, you have no guarantee that three-year-olds will be reached over the next four years, you have no guarantee there will be after school programs in every middle school, you have no guarantee there will be AP classes in every high school. You have no guarantees anymore because it then becomes bluntly the whim of school board whims elected by very few people. And that's one thing we all remember about school board elections – very, very few people voted, and there was very little accountability for those school boards once they elected, and there was way too often a very, very sad outcome of corruption, and patronage, and failure.

And we've had 15 years of a school system getting better all the time – maybe we've gotten too used to it, maybe people are just taken it for granted. Well guess what – in a few days, it could be gone. And then some people would say – oh well, you know everyone in Albany, they'll come to their senses, they'll fix it at some point. That's a real dangerous proposition. If they don't get this done – if they don't get this done today, or worst case by June 30, then all bets are off as to what happens thereafter. And if you need a history lesson on how dysfunctional Albany can become, there's lots of evidence of that. It's dangerous proposition to open that door again.

So this is about 1.1 million kids. And as I turn to the Chancellor, I'm just going to say – I would feel so differently about this whole discussion if anyone in Albany every turned to me and said, we don't think is the best way to run the schools, we've got this other plan of how to run schools that's even better. But I've never had that conversation once with anyone. Everyone starts by saying – well yeah, of course mayoral control is the best system. Well, if they all can say of course, mayoral control is the best system, why don't they just vote for it?

[Applause]

With that, I listed all the achievements, but the credit goes to the leader of our school system – Chancellor Carmen Fariña.

[Applause]

Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña: I didn't want [inaudible] First and foremost – equity. Equity means that no matter what your zip code, you're going to get the same services, the same expectations for kids, and the same quality teachers and principals. And I have to tell you – we could be in no better place to do that than right here. Today, in this building, there is a graduation ceremony happening for I.S. 88, a middle school that we have designated as a model middle school for this entire City of New York that has hosted easily 500 visitors this year if not more – international, national, as well as local – because our ideas are that we collaborate, we give things away. We ask other people throughout the entire city – come and see what excellence looks like, observe it, and then take whatever you need and just do it in your own schools. The idea of district sharing across their district lines came under mayoral control, certainly under this Mayor and this Chancellor because I believe we need to make all schools excellent, not just in certain pockets.

The second thing is really accountability and professional development. And in this particular school, under Laura Scott, all these teachers have been trained in [inaudible] practices, and we've opened this school for pre-K teachers throughout the city and throughout the country to come and visit and see what does it really look like in a classroom. In the past, a school would have kept to themselves and said well you know this is going to make us look good, then why are we going to share what makes us look good with other people. So this issue of equity accountability I think is really, really important.

I think also it's about stability. When you finally have something that works – and by the way, if we were being given a report card, I would tell you right now that all the things we've done, we'd be getting an A-plus. The AP courses – you had parts of the city that had not one AP course. You now have a high school – Lehman High School in the Bronx that had two has 11 now, and they can be taken by any child in that campus – seven schools, anyone can take those courses. That to me is about stability and making sure that we're putting the money where it matters. It matters in the classroom. Everything that's going to happen in this system has to happen in the classrooms, not in political dark corners. And to me, this is where we have really gone and I think we've done a particularly good job. And why not say to someone if your high school graduation scores have gone up, your drop-out has gone down, your reading scores throughout every single district in the city have gone up – some more than others and we have a long way to go in some places – but the reality is they've gone up everywhere, not just in some places. So if this is progress, if this is achievement, then we should be promoted, we should be celebrated, we should be honored. And meanwhile, we're going in the other direction, and that doesn't make any sense.

[Applause]

I said from the very beginning as Chancellor that the answers to most of our problems or most of our issues – the answers are in the classroom. With good teachers, anything can happen. We have made sure that our teachers have the best professional development, that they have the tools in the classrooms that they need. We introduced several new curriculums over the last three years. The past core curriculum was social studies – 92 percent of schools in the city are using that curriculum. We have introduced writing curriculum for our high schools. We have gone out there to make sure that teachers have the professional development they need. We signed a contract with the UFT to include 80 minutes on Mondays for all teachers so they can constantly keep practicing their practices. Same thing that we put extra calendar in the calendar every week for parents to come and hear what they can do. So to me, the answers are in the classroom, but in order for the answers to be good ones, we need to make sure our teachers are well-trained, well-supported, and honored. And I do think we've done that, and the same thing – we just received an award about we have one of the best teacher retentions in the national – in this country – not just in the state, but in the country.

So here again – we're not asking for something we don't deserve. We deserve it, and then we are willing to share whatever we've done with anyone who wants to learn from us. And I think to me, it's about putting kids first. It's a phrase. It's said all the time. However, honor it both in the spirit and in the letter of the law.

Children first means mayoral control.

Mayor: Amen. Thank you.

[Applause]

Again, giving credit where credit is due – mayoral control began under Mayor Bloomberg and he used mayoral control to put a number of initiatives in place, for example to improve that graduation rate that again was tolerated for decades. Think about it – we're supposed to be the greatest city in the country and under the old system of school governance, we barely could break 50 percent graduation rate and it was tolerated. Nothing broke that cycle until mayoral control of education came along. So I credit Mayor Bloomberg, and also the people who worked around him to make those changes and start the upward trajectory that we are proud to have continued. So it's a great pleasure to have the former Chief Academic Officer and Senior Deputy Chancellor for the DOE under Mayor Bloomberg here with us today, and we really appreciate his presence. It's my pleasure to introduce Shael Polakow-Suransky.

[...]

Mayor: Thank you very much Shael. Appreciate it. Thank you so much.

Now I want to introduce someone who represents this district in the City Council, understands also for years and years the district that Carlos Menchaca represents. I know it very well. A lot of kids were not given the opportunity they deserve and they deserved in places like Sunset Park and Red Hook. And he understands the changes that have happened as a result of mayoral control. My pleasure to introduce Councilmember Carlos Menchaca.

[...]

Mayor: Thank you so much. Now one of the foremost voices for economic and racial fairness and justice in this city, the CEO of the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies, Jennifer Jones Austin.

[...]

Mayor: Thank you very, very much.

[Applause]

Finally, Shael, I have to say – I saw and heard lots of things over the years about school boards. I'm very appreciative that you offered that painful vignette of literally principal jobs for sale by corrupt local school board members. That was the reality and that's part of why we were held back as a city and our children were held back.

So the last speaker knows a lot about the decades and decades of struggle to clean up New York City. And the Citizens Union has been a part of this literally for many, many decades and Dick, you remember the bad, old days. You remember how the corruption was tragically commonplace. And I know the Citizens Union fought for change. And you've been in the forefront of this fight again this year. My pleasure to introduce Dick Dadey, the Executive Director of the Citizens Union.

[...]

Mayor: Thank you. Thank you, Dick.

I want to take questions on the mayoral control debate in Albany. And then we can see if there's any other questions. Yes, Grace.

Question: I'm hoping you can tell us a bit more about your conversation this morning with the Speaker and the Governor – what they told you, and what the status of the things are. You said there's some movement.

Mayor: Yes, and I will again respect the sanctity of private conversations while still trying to give you a flavor of what I see going on. There's a leaders' meeting happening right now. It's scheduled for 9:30. I spoke to the Governor and the Speaker right before it. So my understanding is that is now underway. Yesterday in succession, I spoke to Senator Klein, Senator Flanagan. That was around – Leader Flanagan – about 7:00 pm, and then after that to the Speaker and to the Governor. And then again, as I said to the Governor and the Speaker this morning – look, I don't want to pretend to understand the Albany process because it makes no sense to me honestly.

But I will say – I emphasized yesterday evening to Leader Flanagan that I think despite all the hype, despite all of the language that's been used over the years to characterize the approach to charters here in the city, I wanted him to hear directly from me things that I have said publicly many times and make sure he and I were fully communicating, both about the immediate decision, but also about how we can work together going forward. And I said to Leader Flanagan – look, when we created pre-K, that was our initiative, we reached out to charters from the very beginning and they were central in the pre-K initiative, as were religious schools and obviously traditional public schools. When we did our initiative on afterschool for every middle school student, we reached out to the charters again and to the religious schools. These initiatives were successes across the board. Two examples that – I take a lot of questions from all of you and from constituents at town hall meetings over and over. And these are two areas where there's not a lot of debate as you've heard from my colleagues. Pre-K has been working and the afterschool for middle school kids has been working, done with charters – a whole host of different charter organizations participated in both. We announced 3-K – we said that's going to be with charters too.

And I also went over with Leader Flanagan the numbers. He's raised legitimate concerns, and I said to him – I want to answer in full faith and say look, your concern is what happens when a charter applies for space. I said there's been 171 instances since January of 2014. I said in about 25 percent of those cases, they got the space they asked for. In about 50 percent of those cases, we did not feel we could give the specific space for a variety of reasons. There was a process thereafter in which we did not contest the right of those charters to get the lease money so they could get their own space. That happened in about 50 percent of the cases. And the remaining 25 percent are literally in process and will end up with one of those two outcomes. So I said for all intents and purposes, we have a functioning system for making sure that charters are accommodated and further I said to him – the current cap, by every historical reckoning – has at least two more years to go on it, so the issues around the cap can certainly be treated in the upcoming legislative session next year where there's still plenty of time for the existing charter spaces to be utilized in the meantime. But I said to him – I was happy to work with him on that. I would happily sit down and you know, there has not been that kind of meeting over these last 3.5 years and I've welcomed it. I said I would happily sit down and figure out how we can find common ground on these issues going forward. But they literally do not need to be treated at this moment with mayoral control hanging in the balance. Again, I'm not going to characterize his side of the conversation. I will say it was a respectful conversation. It was a substantial conversation in terms of length and detail, and we agreed to speak again today.

In terms of the Governor and the Speaker, we've been talking about different ways to break through the log jam. I've said to all of them – look, this should never be about the issues that are beyond mayoral control itself because as you've heard from everyone here and you've heard from a lot of other people, including charter supporters – a lot of charter supporters have said no, mayoral control is an issue that stands alone. But we are happy to work together in other ways to address the legitimate concerns around charters and any other education matters. So, just different – again, I think I have to respect the sanctity of the negotiating process which is up to them. They are the four men in the room. They've got to sort it out, along with the members of their bodies.

But, I've said you know, any time they want a meeting, a phone call on anything to work through these details, we are standing by. The Chancellor went up in person yesterday and had a variety of conversations, as you know, a whole host of members of the administration are up there right now continuing conversations. We believe there's time to get this done. And my message to them was – we will do everything we can to cooperate, but as I said yesterday the whole world is watching. You have until the end of tonight to either approve an extension or mayoral control or continue your session until you do, and if that doesn't happen there's going to be a huge amount of reaction from all across New York City.

Question: Mr. Mayor, you made a very bold announcement earlier about 3K for All, which is one of the 'for All' programs that your administration has been announcing recently. Does mayoral control have – would that have an impact, if you didn't get it, on three year olds going to school?

Mayor: Yeah, if we don't get an extension of mayoral control – I hate to say it – but I think the 3K for All proposal could be dead. It literally could be because we would not have the power to implement it across 32 districts if 32 school boards get to decide what they want to do. I just can't see it possibly being put together, and certainly not on the four year timeline we're talking about now.

Question: [Inaudible.]

Mayor: Yes, sir.

Question: [Inaudible] councilman, public advocate, I knew you very well from District 15 as the chancellor. What are the major objects that you can share with us that seem to be holding this up?

Mayor: Look, I don't ever want to put words in people's mouths. I'm not going to attempt the political analysis. All of you can do that perfectly well. There's plenty of obvious politics going on, but I will say I think there's two things that are fundamental here – and I welcome others who want to jump it – one is are you linking or are you not linking? I believe there are some issues where there shouldn't be a linkage. I really do. I think when some as basic as how you govern the school system, that's not for horse trading. Is it literally that you could say we'll give you mayoral control for education in exchange for x? Is that literally how this is going to go down? I don't think that's acceptable on something of this seriousness. And I think that's one of the fault lines here, and again a lot of charter supporters feel the same exact way. They can disagree on a host of things, but they do not want to see mayoral control of education undermined. Ironically, I think Shael would agree with this. Whether you believe charters are a fundamental part of the solution or whether you're questioning of charters, the end of mayoral control of education is not good for the charter movement either in many ways because no one is in charge, and it's now all at the whim of 32 different school boards. So that's part one.

And I think part two is the part that Speaker Heastie has raised. That why is it that the upstate counties get tax extenders with no strings attached, but there is an effort to but a string attached for something for the City of New York, which is 43 percent of the state's population? I want the upstate counties to get their tax extenders. I don't think it's right to put strings attached to them. I don't think anyone should interfere with local governments trying to do their job, so I want Onondaga County and Erie County and Monroe County to get their tax extenders and all the others. I would never presume to support anything that would put strings attached or restrictions on that. But it shouldn't happen to us either, so I think those are central points, and that's the point that Speaker Heastie made.

Does anyone else want to add?

Chancellor Fariña: I would say the one thing that really hasn't been up for discussion a lot is – you know, the mayor and I meet on a regular basis, and when the mayor puts forth his budget a large part of his budget really going to education. And it really is based on what's best for kids. And we didn't have that in a lot of administrations because the budgets were – and we lived that – at the local level. So when the districts all decided individually how to use their budget, there was a wide variety across the city. And I remember having those discussion as a superintendent with my school board about what percentage of the money should go to professional development, which should go to other things such as a new school building or refurbishing, but it was always about the kids. That conversation did not happen in other parts of the city, so you saw money – a big percentage of money – not going directly into classrooms, and I think when you have a mayor that's accountable, and the budget is part of the discussion – because we can't separate what we're doing in our schools from money. If you looking at the AP for All – all of the costs money, so having it as a mayoral priority and having the City Council take on a big ownership of this as well because we're all on the same page is to me what makes good education. This is not being done by a Chancellor or Mayor. It's being done by the political entities in the City of New York who have made this a priority, including parents who say this is what we want to see in our schools. So I think not putting us in charge of our – letting the budgets speak for the priorities is a very important part of mayoral control.

Mayor: Just one other point before Marcia. The – and again Carmen and Shael have tremendous institutional knowledge here. Everything was a fight. This is what I want people to feel. You heard what Carlos said. A lot of the City Council agrees with a lot of this vision. Sometimes they have tough questions. Sometimes there's things they don't agree with, but in general there's a high level of agreement. There's a seamless between City Hall and the Department of Education that's literally 100ft away. And that was another good thing that Mayor Bloomberg did, putting the Department of Education in the Tweed building, so there was a direct connection. We don't waste the time that used to be an everyday occurrence in this city. I am telling you it was stunning. To get anything done was a major drama that could go on for months or years on any issue because no one was in charge. You had five borough presidents and the Mayor all appointing members to the central school board and no one had a majority, and again that could be happening again as early as July 1 if this is not resolved in Albany. So no one has a majority, and then let's throw into the mix 32 local school boards all with different power structures and constituencies and all with different priorities and unfortunately with no accountability structure. And it was madness.

And so while many other things happened in New York City, for decades no one could even pretend to say our schools were getting better – for decades. So it finally was changed, and God bless Mayor Bloomberg. It finally was changed, and then the results have been meteoric over a republican and democratic administration. And it's – you guys, everyone, whether it's parents in the room or journalists – you expect things to happen quickly. When we started pre-K, you were like 'show us the results, show us the results' and so on and so on. Everything single thing you ask the numbers. You expect the number to move – on time, on budget. That was inconceivable in the past. On time and on budget were words that did not exist when you had a central board of education with no one having a majority and 32 local school boards. So it's just astounding to me because when I say chaos and corruption, those aren't overstatements. It literally happened, and we were paralyzed.

Marcia?

Question: Mr. Mayor, I have two questions. Yesterday I went to Albany, and I spent a long time with Speaker Flanagan.

Mayor: Leader Flanagan.

Question: Leader Flanagan, sorry. And the first question is this – he believes that charter schools are for [inaudible], and that he's concerned about the 50,000 kids who are on waiting lists for charters schools and charges that your administration has treated charter schools as – his quote, not mine – "like proverbial red headed step kids." What is your response to that?

Mayor: Look, again, I have respect for Leader Flanagan. We've had a series of conversations that have been respectful and open. I believe there's a lot more to the story because we have now, I think it's over 100,000 kids in charter schools, and of course they're public schools. It's the easiest thing in the world for me to make clear. Charter schools are public schools. Charter schools are part of how we educate our kids.

I gave a speech in 2014 at Riverside Church and I said, "Look I care deeply about what happens to each child whether they're in a traditional public school, a charter school, a Catholic school, a Jewish school, a Muslim school. They're all – private school – they're all our children. They're all going to inherit this city. They all have to succeed.

And we work will all types of schools in a variety of ways. So, what I want to point out that I think dispels some of the fear – the growth of charters has been consistent. We're now over 100,000 kids in charters.

They are continuing to grow organically just the ones we already have are building out their grade level so you're going to see a growth of them organically. On top of that, as I'd mentioned, there's at least two years more of charter cap to be used. Meaning, more charters can come along and they apply and they can set up, but the very process that goes through and the number of available spaces we know that's at least two more years absolutely accounted for. So where is the problem here? We believe everyone can flourish together. And I don't know the exact number to date of kids who are on various charter weight lists and I don't want to conjecture about that. I know that the charters are continuing to grow, and we're working with them.

And I know the traditional public schools are continuing to get better and we have ample evidence of that. Everything we've talked about, the graduation rate, the test scores, these are objective measures of whether schools are getting better. Isn't the goal for all of them to do well? Right? Isn't the goal like we want to see every school do better and that's what Equity and Excellence for All is all about.

So I think it's a little bit of a distinction without a difference here, the progress is clear across the board. And then I said to Leader Flanagan, if you want to sit down, and I don't care if it's today or next week or next month, and chart out together a vision for where things are going. I welcome that, I have no problem with that, but within the boundaries that were set out by colleagues too. It's our school system. That doesn't mean we can't find common ground right, if we respect legislatures but we have a school system to run. But if Senator Flanagan wants to sit down and say okay, I want to understand this better, I want to understand what the future vision is, I want to make sure there's fairness to the charters, great let's have that conversation, I would welcome it. And I think he will end up being very satisfied by that conversation. That's not the problem for the day. The problem for the day is they've got 24 hours to pass mayoral control of education.

Question: Talking to your [inaudible] –

Mayor: Just louder Marcia.

Question: I'm sorry. In talking to Speaker Flanagan he also said that you know that sky will not fall if they don't pass mayoral control tonight. That there is history where I guess it was 2009 when mayoral control actually expired [inaudible] it wasn't pretty but never the less you know the sky didn't fall. So to his [inaudible] –

Mayor:  Yep.

Question: – there's no like immediacy, there's no emergency.

Mayor: I'll start and then – yes let me speak to that and then if the Chancellor or anyone else wants to weigh in feel free. Marcia, first of all – the question was at Marcia's accounting of her conversation with Leader Flanagan that he said and his staff that they said well if mayoral control expires, the sky won't fall. And they used the analogy of 2009 and said look things worked out then.

First fact about 2009, the leadership structure of the State Senate collapsed. There was a coup d'état in the State Senate so let's be careful about apples and oranges here. They couldn't resolve mayoral control because their leadership structure collapsed literally at the moment when the decision had to be made. There was a pretty quick reset, it was resolved in August.

We're not talking about that here. If you say to me, it's not going to happen tonight, I say to you they should stay. I said lock them all in a room until they get it right. They have until midnight on June 30. If they want to stay in Albany all the way to June 30 God bless them, but get it done.

What happens on the morning of July 1st. The current, the current education board is dispelled and – or disbanded and the old Board of Education is re-appointed that day and has to make a decision on the Chancellor that day. There is no majority held by anyone. So you can say let's assume that works out okay, okay then we're moving on toward opening a new school year without having anyone in charge of the Board. You can say that's going to be fine, I don't argue that's going to be fine. And is it going to get resolved in August like last time? There's no guarantee to that, those tax extenders that are a lot of the tension here don't end until the end of October. Well into the school year.

So here's the problem, when you open up Pandora's Box you don't know what happens next. We – a lot of us in this room remember an absolutely dysfunctional Albany. Are we about to see that again? And I would challenge all your research department, when was the last time that they actually managed to not renew mayoral control, not renew the personal income tax for New York City, not renew the sales tax for upstate counties simultaneously. This would literally – what may be happening here is nothing gets done. I don't remember a time when that ever happened simultaneously in Albany. So we might be on the verge of a level of Albany dysfunction that actually would set a new record and [inaudible] you're an expert on Albany dysfunction. I mean this would be – literally they wouldn't do any of the important things they were there to do.

Speak to – get the microphone. 

Dick Dadey, Director of Citizens Union: It's amazing that the – many – the last couple of weeks of the legislative session is all about local bills where each of the individual legislatures, having passed the budget and dealt with some of these larger issues, now have local bills. So it's not just the tax extenders. But if you look at the docket, you look at the calendar of what's going through each of the two houses; it's all these little individual bills that affect the governments within the districts.

And so, you know, for New York City to be singled out because of mayoral control of city schools while everyone else is getting their local bill passed, it's outrageous. And the corruption in Albany is just you know, we've seen it in New York City during the school board. Its just – so many legislatures have been forced from office over the last 17 years because of corruption or misconduct, some 33 and it continues and its just – you can't have faith in a process where so much of the decision are not made based on the merits, but made on the political horse trading that goes on.

And it has become so commonplace that we've become immune to it, and we kind of accept it, And it's just not the way our democracy should be practiced, where there's these linkages and issues that can't get through unless they're linked to something else. It's just – the big issues should be allowed to stand on their own and we should have open votes and open debates and discussions and not four men in a room and all that, I'm not going to get into my political [inaudible] around all that.

It's just not the way our State government should work, and we are seeing an ineffective demonstration of our State government with this political horse trading and political jockeying that's going on with mayoral control of city schools. The most – probably one of the most successful programs that we've seen here in New York State in some time.

Chancellor Fariña: I also want to add that no one I spoke to in Albany yesterday said that mayoral controls not working. So one of this aspects of this to me is be courageous and vote what you know is right but to me political expediency is not a great model for our children.

I think as an educator, and I say what are we doing that our kids are watching for those who are cognizant and we, this year in particular, put in a tremendous amount of funding into civics education because I am worried about the fact that we're not voting enough and we're not voting intelligently and we're not doing a lot of other things that we should be doing. So in part of our social studies curriculum there is an entire strand that starts in first grade on civics education. So people are watching us and you can be sure that many of our high schools are saying what's going on.

On other point also, everyone needs a boss. Everyone needs one boss, not five bosses, not 100 bosses but one boss. And people want to work in stable communities, and I'm going back to my years as an educator. I spent the vast majority of my life here in District 15 where even though we had lots of disagreements on school boards, the reality is we were stable and people wanted to work in District 15 because we had a system of order, we had a philosophical of how we did things. And as a result we had our pick of teachers, our pick of principals. When I went to District 2 as a principal it had the same type of reputation. The good quality people stayed away from districts where there was disarray or there was confusion, or there was no specific philosophical outgrowth and people said I don't want to work there. And how did we end up in a city where certain parts of the city didn't have high quality principals or high quality teachers, because people avoided them. Not because people don't want to work with struggling children, I have a tremendous amount of respect for the teachers who have opt, and we have 600 teachers who have opt to work in the Bronx starting this September. But I want to be able to complete my promise to those teachers that when they go to those schools they're going to have the best PD, they're going to have the best principals and the best teachers. And we need to continue what we've started and rather than play politics with our kids.

Mayor: Amen, Rich? Yes please, hold on one second. Then Rich.

Shael Polakow-Suransky: I just want to add, I was there in 2009 on the DOE's leadership team when that happened and mayoral control expired. It was a tremendous distraction, extremely confusing about what was going to happen, how decisions would be made, and it had a real impact on schools. For months those things weren't clear-cut and I think that sometimes it's not possible to realize when you're sitting at a policy level what it's like to sit in a school. But there are so many different programs and so many threads that connect schools up to the decisions that are made as a result of this law. And it is going to disrupt all of those, even if it's just a month or two of disruption that can impact the whole next school year.

Jennifer Jones Austin: Can I just quickly add?

Mayor: Please.

Jennifer Jones Austin:  We're talking about disruption, we're talking about corruption in Albany, we're talking about disruption in the schools, disruption among teachers and principals, and we have to also remember that ultimately that disruption will be experienced mostly by the children and by the families. I remember when I was looking for schools for my daughter. My husband, this goes back to the early 2000s, saying to me very directly, very boldly, very explicitly, we have to be concerned about the political whims of education in New York City and how do we ensure that our child is protected from the political whims.

This is what's happening right now. This is not just about a debate between legislatures. Ultimately it is the children who are going to suffer and so we have to push back with that in mind. Yes the school administrators will suffer, but at the end of the day the children are going to suffer.

Mayor: Thank you.

Question: Do you think that the fact that this is an election year in New York for mayor has anything to do with this?

Mayor: I don't want to think that, Rich, first of all. I really don't. And I don't get that indication. I mean that's more cynical than even I would think for our friends to the north. I think, again, there's politics suffusing it for sure and that's a problem. What I think everyone in Albany needs to think about is that if it's not – there's not a coup d'etat going on. It's business as usual. They don't have a busy docket right now. This is one of the only major issues they are facing. They've had all this time. There was only a leader's meeting for the first time Monday afternoon.

The leaders had not met between the budget in April and Monday afternoon, two days ago. So, I think they all have to think about not only their responsibility to the children but what are they going to say if they don't resolve this. Of course, Rich, that will dawn on people more and more with every passing hour.

They actually have a responsibility. They're holding it in their hands right now. So, I don't see a particular connection this election year. And my blunt appraisal is that it's going to be felt a lot more up there than it is down here if you're talking about politics.

Willy.

Question: A month ago –  over a month ago, you had an event at City Hall with business leaders to talk about the same subject. You did multiple event since then. You and the Chancellor and your guests are saying virtually saying the same thing that you said a month ago and that you said at all the others. But why will the results from what you're saying be any different today than they have been –

Mayor: Well, it's a fair question, Willy, but I would argue to you that there's a lot of facts here that don't normally break through in the everyday blur. You know, I understand there's lots of dramatic news that has to be covered. And I understand there's, you know, the flavor of the day in the news media and one thing or another.

Something like how we govern our schools is not exactly a sexy topic but the more opportunities we have to explain to people what it actually means for their kids and what it would mean to have it taken away, the more the better. And I do think there's been an uptick in understanding as we've gone over these weeks and I do think the coverage is read by all the decision makers in Albany.

And one thing that was clear this week – you referenced that press conference where we unveiled the letter from 105 CEOs that the New York City Partnership put together – 105 CEOs who certainly a lot of them don't agree with me on some other matters. A lot of them do very much support charter schools as Steven Schwarzman and Kathy Wilde make clear.

But they all believe it should be delinked to [inaudible] point. They all believe mayoral control of education should be just be treated on it's own and should be renewed. And then we had a lot of the most important unions in New York City represented earlier in this week who generally would never agree with those CEOs on most matters all in agreement.

I mean, I'm saying to you in a city that doesn't really know what the word consensus means like most of the time, to see, you know, most of the business class and most of the labor class all in agreement on something is a pretty amazing reality.

So, we want to keep showing that to the folks who have to make the decision to remind of the consequences of what they're doing.

Question: Yes, I'd like to know if you were to lose control of the schools, is there a plan-b? Is there anything that you can do?

Mayor: Look, the – it's an important question for everyone to understand how this goes. They said July 1st – we would immediately convene the old Board of Education. And I certainly would work with my colleagues in government, the borough presidents, to do the best we could to maintain order and consistency and to [inaudible] point, there's inevitably going to be drag and problems that come in that process.

I do think the five borough presidents are all willing to work with us but, you know, it's just not going to be by any stretch the same thing. That's only the beginning. As we get closer to the school year, with all of the decision, I'm telling you, the weeks leading up to the school year – and I have two witnesses here – are some of the most frenetic activity you could possibly imagine. To launch a school year for 1.1 million children is an epic exercise. We won't have the unity of command. That's going to be a huge challenge. And then the School Board elections which I think the people will start to plan their candidacies, money will start flowing in. As I've said under, tragically, the Citizens United decision in the Supreme Court, I know Dick Dadey shares this view – limitless potential spending by School Board candidates and their various backers.

If you don't think a union should have a big influence, well, they'll be in heavily. If you don't think hedge fund folks should have a big influence. Everyone is going to put a lot of money into it and it becomes a free for all.

And so – and meanwhile, you know, Albany could come back at any point or they may not. That's what – that's why I say Pandora's Box. There's no guarantee once they leave.

Let me remind everyone, if they leave today, there next scheduled meeting is the first week of January 2018. I want everyone to understand that in case it's not common knowledge. If they leave today, they don't come back until January.

Hold on a second. Go ahead.

Dadey: Can you imagine is a bunch of graduating seniors in high school decided not to show up for the last couple of final exams and avoided the responsibilities of taking those exams, and still expect to be graduating? I mean this is kind of what Albany is deciding. I mean it's just a big responsibility and they should settle this issue, decide it, and move on.

To not do so and put at risk, you know, our governance structure in the education of so many children is irresponsible.

Mayor: Mara. Hold again [inaudible] Mara.

Question: Mr. Mayor [inaudible] –

Mayor: Go ahead.

Question: Your DDC Commissioner –

Mayor: Mara, hold on one second. I just want to say, does anyone else have a mayoral control question just for consistency. Media questions, mayoral control? Got a media question? There you go. Yes.

Question: It seems like a good moment – there's been a lot of back and forth between you and the charter sector. It just seems like a good moment to clarify some things that I think have been misunderstood about the broad spectrum. What's really at stake is like a broad philosophical question of whether the charter sector of New York City should be able to grow. Do you think that the charter sector of New York City should grow and would you commit to supporting growth which means [inaudible] cap in January?

Mayor: I do not believe in elimination of the cap. I do believe that the existing growth pattern itself – and again guys I really ask you to be really exact in your representation of this. The existing growth pattern, if we did nothing is substantial. It's now, again, over 100,000. It will keep growing by tens of thousands. And then there's two more years of cap available right now. Meaning if everybody decided to show up and apply to open new charter schools, there's enough, practically speaking, for two years or even more of new charter school development given the number of licenses available right now for New York City.

How things should be handled thereafter is a conversation that's a very worthy one that I would happily have all the other stakeholders. But I would argue, if your position in the world is, I want to see more charter school seats. They're already coming. They're already coming because the sector is growing naturally.

The school is, for example, a K to five school and they started two years ago and they've only done the first couple of years they still will build out a first grade, second grade, third grade.

They'll keep growing. And if there are still dozens of available licenses charter networks can come forward and take those licenses and keep growing.

So, that's where I think there is a misnomer running through all of this. I want to see children in every type of school succeed. I've said that many times and I've tried to show it.

Here's another thing and I don't want to speak for Leader Flanagan but I think he at least appreciated this point – if we voluntarily included charter schools in pre-K and in the after school program for middle school kids, and we've already announced they will be part of 3K, those are not minor matters. Those are big growth areas where they will play a major role.

So, I think the charter movement is diverse – a lot of great schools, some schools aren't so great, a lot of schools that take on extraordinary responsibility for kids in need, some I would argue less so.

But I visited charters. I went to Harlem Dream School last year. I went to KIPP last year. I visited charters that we are working with very well, believe are contributing greatly to the education of our children. We're going to keep working with them. So, I think we should all take down the temperature.

Let's set put aside personalities. There's some particular personality dynamics. That shouldn't be the center of this discussion.

Are we working with the charter movement across the board? Yes.

Is it growing in New York City? Yes.

Are they being invited into our major new initiatives? Yes. Including professional development.

Has the Chancellor set up partnerships between charters and traditional public schools to share best practices? Yes.

So, let's get away from what is the easy flashpoint and actually look at the day-to-day reality which is one there is a lot of cooperation and progress all around, and get back to the central issue which is, shouldn't we have a clearer government structure?

Question: Yes, Mr. Mayor –

Mayor: Oh, I'm sorry. Anything else on mayoral control? I'm sorry Mara, I keep calling on you and then holding you. So, media questions, mayoral control, go.

Question: I just have a question – have any of your discussions with Leader Flanagan, in any of those has he focused on other issues besides the charter schools? In other words did he ever raise reservations or concerns about the educational outcomes of mayoral control or it's strictly [inaudible] –

Mayor: No, and I want to be consistent in this. Again, I have never had an unpleasant conversation with Leader Flanagan. I've never had an angry conversation with him. And he has never said anything but he believes mayoral control philosophically is the right system. He said that publically too.

It's only been about charters but again I've tried to emphasize to him, I don't think we should talk through other people or through the media. I think we need to talk more to each other and with the Chancellor who I think he has respect for.

He was the head of the Education Committee in the Senate. He is focused on education. Let's work this stuff through. We would happily do that. We respect him. We would happily sit down and go over all these things and see if we can find more common ground on the outstanding issues.

But no, to be fair – and I do feel comfortable characterizing this – he's never said, you know, like I don't think you've made progress on graduation or test scores or anything like that. He's never contested those things.

Last on mayoral control. Marcia.

Question: Is Leader Flanagan willing to sit down with you or Chancellor –

Mayor: Obviously a question for him. I respect him. I have only given you a feeling of the conversation because I want to respect confidentiality. Marcia, you've been around these last days. There's going to be a lot of conversations. They have to be confidential. But I do believe he appreciated the offer to have a deeper relationship on these issues.

Rich.

Question: Mr. Mayor

Question: Just to go back to Will's question a little bit. Do you think that Albany is listening today more clearly? And, also are any of these charter school organizations leaning in to support mayoral control? Or is that kind of a theoretical thing?

Mayor: On the first point, yes, of course Albany is listening. They look very carefully at everything you guys are writing. Because, imagine you were in their shoes for a moment. They're about to make a very momentous decision. If they walk away, there are huge ramifications. So, they're quite concerned. You can talk to them directly, but I guarantee people are watching. On where charter folks stand, one thing I believe is that charter movement is very, very diverse. I do believe the vast majority of people I've ever spoken to in a charter movement believe in mayoral control education. Again, some of their most prominent backers have come out in the last few weeks and said "we want a no strings attached renewal of mayoral control". I am certain there are people in charter movement communicating that concern to everyone in Albany. I also understand they have their own politics they have to navigate. And they're probably doing that more privately than publicly and I respect that, I understand that.

Question: Do you have any conversations with the UFT President, Michael Mulgrew? Because to my understanding is, he's may not be in the leaders meetings but his opinion on this deal certainly matters, at least to the assembly.

Mayor: I've certainly spoken to him, but I think we should not overrate anybody else influences but those four people. You know, the four men in a room, used to be three, now it's four. Whether we think that the ideal system of making decisions or not, it is the singular reality in Albany. And it's between the four of them. So, I am not going to speak for Michael. He and I agree on many things, but I think this one transcends any of the things that he is raising at this point.

Question: Just on the charter cap. I understand your argument that there is room for growth and there is time to decide that. But obviously for people in the sector, you know who come in up close to the cap create some uncertainty. And like you said, Albany is just never a sure thing, as far as getting the cap raised. So, is there, is there an educational reason why you would somehow harm the city to raise the cap at this point rather than waiting, you know coming close to [inaudible]?

Mayor: I think it's a strategic question that when you know you have so much natural growth occurring – two years is a long time, let's be clear. Albany has consistently passed pro charter legislation over the last year, since Governor Cuomo came in; there is no question about that. So, it's not hard to you'll have predict that there will be more going forward. The – right now to me it's very simple. There is plenty of cap space; there is plenty of natural growth. And we should make a decision in the cool light of day, about what we think is right going forward. I don't think limitless cap makes sense. My first focus, I want to see all schools succeed, but my first focus is on the traditional public schools, because this is a fact. They will be the decisive factor in the future in New York City. Some charters are doing a great job; some religious schools are doing a great job. But, by any numerical measure for the next decades literally, the traditional public schools are going to be the work force, they're going to be the core. So that's what we need to first and foremost put our focus on the improvement. But we can have a coherent discussion about the future of the caps. Why don't we have that discussion, meaning if you want – if the four men in the room or Leader Flanagan or anyone wants to see down with the Chancellor and me and talk about what would be the right future plan. Don't do it with 12 hour to go. Sit down – we're available. You know, you want to have that conversation as for days, weeks till we get some vision of the future together. Of course we would do that. But don't just throw it in as a part of something much more important. That's a very serious decision that should be made very carefully. And it's an abstract decision – if I say to you, the next few years are already spoken for, that's a big deal. [Inaudible] mayoral control we'll switch over tomorrow.

Question: Mr. Mayor, your DDC Commissioner Dr. Peña-Mora –

Mayor: DDC? Yes.

Question: Can you – first of all, why is he stepping down? And secondly, do you have any concerns about the management of one billion [inaudible] contracts? You're trying to get Build it Back done, I know by the end of the year. Do you have any concerns about that project and others under DDC?

Mayor: No, I think there has been a shocking misunderstanding of why the commissioner is stepping down. And I am personally perplexed, why that was not communicated better to all of you. He has been on a leave of absence from Columbia University, where he is a senior professor in the School of Engineering I think it is, or Architecture. He has been on leave, we begged Columbia to be as lenient as they could be, and they were up to a point. And I said look this is it; he has to come to continue part of his academic tenure. And that has to be by July first, by their rules to prepare for the new school year. So, that's been in the works for a long, long time. There is nothing mysterious about it. By the way Vicki Been was under the same situation as the HBD commissioner, we begged NYC to stretch as long as we could, and they said this is it. Got to come back in January, she came back in January, it's not unusual. Commissioner Peña-Mora did a fine job, if put aside Build it Back which I think was a structural problem long before any of us got here. And I've said very publicly, I wish we had, had the presence of mind to say "wait, let's reconsider the whole thing". But we tried to continue with the existing structure and improve upon it. And I think it was in many ways so flawed it could only be fixed so much. So if you look at everything the DDC has done, I think there is a hell of a lot of achievement. We've given them a huge capital budget to work with, much more than in the previous administration. They had a lot they had to do. They had a huge work load; I think they did a fine job. On Build it Back and everything else. There will be an Interim Commissioner in place before Dr. Peña-Mora leaves. And that's an agency with a lot of bench, a lot of professional talent, a lot of career people. They will certainly be able to continue the mission. Back there, yes.

Question: Mayor, what do you think of the plan Governor Cuomo announced yesterday to give [inaudible] controls of the MTA but to give himself a pure majority of the MTA?

Mayor: I have not really seen the plan or focused on it. Look, I'll just speak about the current reality. There was a little back and forth there for a few weeks, but I like where it ended up, where the Governor took full responsibility for the MTA. We're ready to work with him, my understanding is Carl Weisbrod just got approved by the Senate, so we'll have our full complement of four MTA board members. And we're ready to work with Governor to make the big changes needed for our subways. That's the name of the game. Now, as to the exact structure of the seats, again I haven't seen it, I don't have a comment about it at this point. But the real fundamental issue is we need the MTA to focus on New York City subways and shift resources, and shift strategic focus to the New York City subways, that's the simple outcome.

Question: [Inaudible] structurally any more control, or do you think he already has all the control?

Mayor: Again, having not seen the legislation or had the chance to – we had our minds on mayoral control as you know. I'd say only the beginning point. What became clear a few weeks ago is the Governor affirmed his current status as effectively controlling the MTA; I don't want to comment on the new legislation, I have not seen it. Okay, Willy and then [Inaudible]

Question: Question and a follow up. At what point did you know saying [inaudible] in the works?

Mayor: Which one?

Question: Peña-Mora was going to be leaving.

Mayor: I personally asked Columbia University to be as lenient as they could be with the time lines. That goes back a year or more. So this is again something that is normal when you hire an academic who has tenure. You can only keep them so long. I mean again, maybe you guys are – not saying this any way to be provocative. Maybe people are not familiar with this, I am familiar with this, because I worked in a lot of settings where this is an issue. If you take someone from academia and they have tenure, you cannot keep them. This is simple as that. There is a time frame, and when that time frame runs out. They either give up their job at the academic institution or they go back. And I don't know anyone who gives up their academic institution.

Question: Since, Build it Back is such a crucial point in all of the delays and over budget that you pledge to get it done by the end of the year. Do you have a replacement for him? If not, why not?

Mayor: So first of all, Build it Back's crucial moments were a long time ago. And again I've said very clearly it should have been designed different from the beginning, I wish we had reset it at day one. We made a decision in the name of continuity. I don't think it worked out, the way we hoped by any stretch. And we are not happy about it, I'm just not happy. It's my responsibly, I don't like what happened; I have to take full responsibility for that. That being said, I think it's something like 1,500 homes have been completed since October and they continue to be completed all the time. There is plenty of leadership at DDC to continue that. When you ask a question like that, respectfully I think it misses the fact that there are plenty of people who are already assigned to work on this. It's one small piece of what DDC does. DDC builds a host of things, billions in dollars of things around the city. Build it Back leadership is in place, Amy Peterson obviously and others. That's moving along. We will have an Interim leader before the commissioner goes, and then will have a permanent leader shortly thereafter. Who did I have? Grace.

Question: I want to just get your reaction to the agreement that James Blake reached with CCRB that create, I guess a legal fellowship within the agency to do outreach about police complaints.

Mayor: I think it's great, I think he showed himself to be a man of bigger vision. He said this is not about me, I'm not trying to make money, I want to fix the problem. And I think it was a very productive dialogue that led to something that will actually help. I think that a good step. Okay, Laurie.

Question: Mr. Mayor going back to the DDC Commissioner, if knowing that hiring an academic comes with this [inaudible]. Why hire somebody out of the academic world? And have you considered of making someone who could be strategically in charge of construction and overseeing these kind of projects that take so long and take so much money, and there is a such a backlog of projects that need to get done?

Mayor: One of the things I am thinking about if the people renew my employment contract is that I want to find ways to improve the speed of construction by the City. Now design-build would really help. That's up right now in Albany. That would help us save a lot of money and speed things up. So, there are some things that are aggravating because the tools are staring us in the face and, by the way, again the State government gives itself those rights under design-build but doesn't give the City of New York which, you know, I always like to remind people, we are right behind the State of New York in terms of the largest budgets in the United States of America. Just for you viewing pleasure, amongst public budgets in the United States of America, it goes like this – United States of America, State of California, State of New York, City of New York.

We're number four. We're such a huge entity that we should obviously have the design-build right to be able to save ultimately billions of dollars and speed the process along. So, that's a big point.

But still within our own capacity we got to do better. So, if I have an opportunity to stay, I'm going to think about what we can do differently to improve the process for sure.

On your first question – I want to emphasize, again, it may be there is just a lack of familiarity. So, for those of you not familiar with it, I want to make it clear – when you hire any commissioner, you love it if it could be for a whole term assuming if the person is good, right. You'd love to keep them for four years but everyone who's been in this work knows that two years is not uncommon, three years, right.

You're hiring people with a hope of four years but if you get two good years out of them, that's still a lot. When we hired Vicki Been, we hired Feniosky Peña-Mora, we knew that they only had a few years – minimum of two. We ended up getting Vicki Been for three, full years and Feniosky Peña-Mora for three-and-a-half years. Perfectly fine. They did great jobs. They were the right people. I'd take that deal any day.

I think there was one more in the back I saw. Is that you? Go ahead.

Question: [Inaudible]

Mayor: Okay great. Marcia, last word.

Question: I know that [inaudible] way through Albany this weekend. I was wondering if you –

Mayor: Yes.

Question: – Have any update?

Mayor: We're continuing to fight for them. I want to thank all the families of those who have been lost in traffic crashed. They have been up there pounding away. Very, very personal tragic stories. You've heard them. And they've gone up to the legislatures and said, "Look this is a matter of life and death. You know people lost their mother, their father, their brother, their sister, their husband, their wife." Looking in the eyes of legislatures and saying we need you to allow more speed cameras around our schools. This is just around schools.

And it still hangs in the balance. It's still being discussed. It still hangs in the balance. And it's something that Albany should do.

Thank you, everyone.

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