Transcript: Mayor de Blasio and Commissioner Trottenberg Announce Completion of More Than 50 'Vision Zero' Street Design Projects Making NYC Safer

January 14, 2015

Mayor Bill de Blasio: We’re here to talk about some real progress that has been made in this city in terms of saving lives. I want to just give you a little perspective, that for years and years in this city, we lost hundreds of people a year to traffic crashes – hundreds of lives lost every single year. Many years, we had 4,000 or more people seriously injured, on top of that. And I think, at times, there was a sense that this was a problem that was so difficult, so complicated, in such a busy city, that maybe there was nothing that could be done. But we believed there was something that could be done. We believed that we could change the dynamics, fundamentally. We believe we can turn the tide, if we were aggressive enough, if we were creative enough, if we put enough resources into play, if we got enough agencies working together – that we can do something every different and that it would have a big impact. We believed that the Vision Zero philosophy was right. We believed it could be applied, not in a small city or in a foreign country, but right here, in the busiest, largest city in the United States of America.

We believe that the idea was the right idea. And if it was applied energetically and forcefully, it would make a huge difference. But, that was theory. That was theory when we talked about it in 2013. It was theory when we first announced the program early last year. We had to go through a year to see if we could take this vision and make it real, because we found those numbers that I mentioned a moment ago fundamentally unacceptable. We didn’t believe the people in this city should have to live with that reality. So in 2013, I promised that we would do something very different, and that we would take Vision Zero and make it a reality.

Last February 2014, we announced a Vision Zero action plan – citywide effort, including more than half a dozen city agencies, working in concert with a single purpose – something I’m very proud of here, and proud of the people of this administration, is that these agencies really did get on the same page – excuse me – and work together for a common goal. And the idea was, we could prevent traffic fatalities in a way previously unprecedented, unknown – that we could go somewhere that this city has not gone before.

The progress is now obvious. The facts are in. We have a record that proves the theory was right. 2014 was the safest year for New York City pedestrians since modern records were first taken in – sorry – 1910. Let’s get this right – since 1910, 105 years ago. This was the safest year for New York City pedestrians. It’s an astounding amount of progress that was made in so short a period of time. 134 pedestrian deaths in 2014 – that is 134 too many. That’s something we’re going to keep working on each and every year, but 134 pedestrian deaths in 2014 – down from 180 in 2013. Look at that juxtaposition right there – 134 in 2014 versus 180 in 2013.  250 total traffic fatalities in 2014, compared to 293 in 2013.

Again, this is rapid progress. Those statistics indicate real lives, real people, real families who are walking the streets today – people who have a better life because these policies worked. I want to say, this has been an extraordinary group effort to get to this point. Success has many fathers and mothers. The elected officials – you’re going to hear from some elected officials here who played an important role in this effort. The work done in Albany, the work in the City Council to take these ideas and make them a reality, was essential to this success.    The different agencies obviously played a crucial role. You're going to hear from Commissioner Polly Trottenberg, in terms of what the Department of Transportation did, particularly in terms of the kind of redesign that we just saw a few moments ago, and how crucial it is.

But I have to really thank, as well, Chief Tom Chan of the NYPD, who runs the Transportation Bureau at the NYPD, because the NYPD embraced this mission energetically, and it made a huge, huge difference. I remember – chief, you'll appreciate this – I remember one day, one of my staffers said that she had been in a cab, not long after we made the original announcement, and the cab was pulled over by a police officer. And what had happened is the cab driver had made an illegal turn, and not yielded to pedestrians. And the officer explained that things were different now, and Vision Zero was in place, and that these type of things were going to be assertively and energetically enforced. And my staff person was so impressed, not only that the action took place, but that the officer was explaining to the cab driver that things were going to be different, and expect a lot more of that. And what NYPD did in 2014 made a huge difference, and thank you for your leadership.

The advocates – the community leaders, the advocates on these issues, the families who tragically lost loved ones and turned that pain into action – they played a crucial role in these achievements. I want to thank Families for Safe Streets, and I want to thank Paul Steely White, who's here with us, who I've known a long time, and played a really crucial role in getting these ideas forward, as executive director of Transportation Alternatives.

So, everyone contributed to getting us to a point where we now have recognized and documented progress. Now, what were the building blocks? Well, number one, the speed cameras in the school zones played a crucial role. Over 40 speed cameras were activated in school zones in the year 2014. Now, here's an astounding statistic. There's been an initial study done of what the impact of those speed cameras was around our schools, and the study of 19 of these locations found a 59 percent drop in speeding – 59 percent reduction in speeding near these schools for the months September through December 2014. The speed cameras are rapidly changing people's behavior, and that means our children are safer.

The second factor – the reduction of the speed limit to 25 miles per hour, and the signage that's helping people know this new development. Again, this is the speed limit for many parts, if not all parts of the city, and that made a huge impact on behavior, and obviously, the reduction of speed meant – thank God – people could react differently, and a lot of accidents were averted, or had less negative consequences.

The – those kind of changes got a lot of attention, and deserved a lot of attention, but some of the things that got less attention made a huge difference as well, and a third factor is what you saw just a few minutes ago – the street redesigns and improvements, which make things safer for pedestrians and drivers alike.

I'm announcing today that over 50 major street and intersection redesigns have been completed now, as a result of the initiative we started less than a year ago. These were focused on some of the most problematic locations in the city. Again, credit goes to Polly and her team, the hard work they did, and they did it really quickly – they set some time records here, in the process – but, getting 50 major redesigns done. You saw the intersection outside, and you saw the before and after picture – I don't know if they still have them up here, but I think people got a good look at them. That was a wide open situation. A lot of folks in the community were really uncomfortable with it. A lot of the business folks, and community leaders really raised their concern about this – wide open, where you had a bunch of different streets converging – there weren't dividers between the lanes going each way. There wasn't a lot of definition, and that led to more and more accidents. What you saw now, and which was done in record time, is very clear definition – in terms of where vehicles are supposed to go, how, and when – that changes everything.

Let me go through some of the details of what was achieved in this very extraordinary physical effort – 35 intersections redesigned, more than triple the number that had been done in 2013; 45 new leading pedestrian intervals – that’s when pedestrians are given the opportunity to walk before the green light – triple the number of 2013; 400 speed-bumps – that’s more than 100 additional speed-bumps that were – than were created in 2013; and 27 arterial slow-zones – that’s both lower speeds that were created and more enforcement. These were areas where there’ve been a lot of problems, and more enforcement was applied.

 

East Tremont Avenue – as you saw right here – it had been a very troubled street. There was a long history of a number of crashes. Studies show that 85 percent of vehicles drove above the speed limit, typically. But now the safety islands, ramps, neckdowns, crosswalks – you’ve got every term in the book here, Polly – and applying all of these tools – and Polly will talk about them in more detail – it’s creating some order, and some calm, and slow speeds, and more chance for everyone to get it right.

One of the folks who knew a lot about this – because he saw – is Juan Clarke. And Juan, you – I think it’s 15 years, you’ve owned the store? 15 years – Juan has owned Clarke and Son Signs. You saw it outside there. He saw – that sign store with the big window – and sadly, out that window he saw a lot of crashes, because the situation in that street was so poorly designed. And sometimes he had to run out and help people who were part of those crashes – run out with a fire extinguisher and try and help others. And then a few years ago, literally, a car crashed into his store and very, very sadly the driver died. So, for Juan to see what had obviously been a broken situation finally addressed by the city gave him a real sense of something was happening that would make people safer. I want to thank you, Juan, for having helped all those people over the years and for being one of the people called for these changes that are being achieved. And we’d like you to see no more crashes. That’s our goal.

Going forward, we have a lot more to do. The next part of the plan is to improve 50 additional locations in all five boroughs. One crucial example – Queens Boulevard – I don’t need to tell anyone in this room the history of Queens Boulevard. It’s probably the most notorious in this city, in terms of pedestrian deaths. We’re going to bring Queens Boulevard into the 21st century. We’re going to make sure it is safe. We’re going to work with the community in a very careful planning process. We’re going to work with community residents to redesign key sections, to reduce the possibility of any danger to pedestrians and to all others. Commissioner Trottenberg will talk about that, and other big changes you’ll be seeing in 2015.

We’re going to follow the facts. We’re going to follow the data. And where we see problem areas, that’s where we’re going to apply these tools most intensely, and keep driving down these numbers, and keep saving people’s lives. That’s the game plan. And I believe, fundamentally, what you saw in 2014 is just the shape of things to come, because that was just the beginning – anew team and a new plan and a extraordinarily energetic group of people who’ve found a way to make that plan come to life quickly. But the plan just got started, and we already saw this kind of impact. We believe there’s a lot more where that came from, and that’s what you’re going to see acted on in 2015. Just a word in Spanish –

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, a woman who deserves a lot of credit for having brought Vision Zero to life and her leadership, which was incessant and focused – It’s one of the reasons why you see this extraordinary success – our Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg.

You can clap for her, people.

[Applause]

[…]

Mayor: Okay, we’re going to do on-topic questions followed by off-topic. Yes.

Question: [inaudible]

Mayor: Okay, Commissioner, elaborate on both.

Commissioner Polly Trottenberg, Department of Transportation: Well, as I mentioned, at Queens Boulevard, we’re going to be kicking off a process of community engagement shortly – in the next month or so. And just so you all know, we are going to be taking a very expansive look at what we can do there. Everything is on the table. You know, as the mayor has mentioned, this is where we really want to showcase some very innovative ideas. Same thing Underhill – we – again, one signature of all the work that was done here is that we really – as you’ve heard today – we really try and work closely with the community. We bring some of our ideas to the table, but we want to hear their ideas as well. And they have helped us in every case, I think, refine and really make the projects as good as they can be. But we are going to look to be as creative and aggressive as we can.

Question: [inaudible]

Commissioner Trottenberg: Well, again, I mean, you can see there – some of these immediate pedestrian-type improvements, you know, particularly when you look at something – a big boulevard like Queens Boulevard, obviously – I think it’s 12 – in some places it goes from 10, 12, 14 lanes of traffic – you know, we’re looking at all kinds of things. Bike lanes are on the table, doing massive redesigns of some of the pedestrian infrastructure in the middle, we’re always looking at how we can refine signal timing, how we can handle the different places where you have service roads and slip roads – so we’re going to have a lot of great ideas for this street. Thank you.

Mayor: Just to follow on that – you know, I think, again, there was a certain attitude, I think – and I think it was just part of the reality of this city – that Queens Boulevard was talked about so often and it was almost talked about as something that couldn’t change. Yes, this very big complex situation, but the numbers – the tragedies were so frequent, so painful, that one of the things that we said is, we want to address things that have maybe previously seemed intractable or impossible – we want to give them a whole new look, and say we’re going to find some way to break through. And when you think about the logic, what makes more sense – to, you know, get under the hood and figure out a way of doing things that’s very different, that might take teaching people a new way of thinking about things – and that’s certainly true with the speed limit, for example; that’s certainly true with the speed cameras; that’s certainly true with some of the redesigns – but will save a number of lives? Then, when you say it that way, it’s a no-brainer. There’s no extent we wouldn’t go to to save lives – especially when it’s something that happened year after year after year. So, I think what’s been so great in this last year is it sort of opened up people’s minds and imaginations to what was possible. And then folks like Commissioner Trottenberg and Chief Chan took the ideas and just built upon them rapidly. In a good way, the dam burst, and lots of great ideas started coming forward, and lots of new ways of doing things started to be applied. So, Queens Boulevard may be, you know, arguably the toughest nut to crack, but we’re convinced we can make a huge difference there.

On topic. Yes.

Question: Mr. Mayor, the traffic pedestrian fatalities in 2007 were 140; in 2011 was 142; 2014, 134. Why do you believe 2014’s reduction is a result of Vision Zero as opposed to the [inaudible]?

Mayor: Well, I think – I’ll let Polly go into detail. I think what you saw on the pedestrian side is overwhelming, and the fact that we’ve seen real changes in behavior. So on the one hand, you have an extraordinarily powerful statistic in terms of the change for pedestrians. Certainly the overall numbers on traffic fatalities are, you know, exceedingly strong in a historical perspective, but I think the other thing is you see real behavior changing, in real time – in this instance, I gave of the study of those camera locations, a 59 percent reduction of speeding – and that’s based on just part of the year when we were able to have an impact. Going into 2015, we’re going to have a lot of these measures in place for the whole year and a lot more coming behind it. So we think what we’ve proved in 2014 is how these initial investments could make a big impact. Now we’re going to get a much more advantageous dynamic, where we’re going to have a lot more tools a lot more quickly applied that we think will take us even farther. Why don’t you talk about the historical perspective?

Commissioner Trottenberg: I think we – we feel convinced that the work we did this year had an effect on the number. It’s no question, though, one thing we say about these kind of statistics – they aren’t linear. We took a look – one of the things we did is we broke down the data. We looked borough by borough and we actually saw reductions in every single borough. And we tried to really look at some of the areas where we had targeted our work that had previously been areas – high-crash areas and areas with a lot of, you know, pedestrian fatalities and injuries. As the mayor mentioned, too, I mean, in terms of the speed limit, we actually only got that implemented in early November. The speed cameras we’ve been ratcheting up over the year – and I have been actually really pleased and amazed at the growing awareness – just as I talk to random New Yorkers and I look at our polling data. And I feel, as the mayor said, next year, when we implement all our speed cameras, we have 25 miles an hour for the whole year, we’re really going to continue to see improvements in the numbers.

Question: Mr. Mayor or Commissioner, other than polling data on the 25 mile an hour speed limit, how do you know [inaudible] if people are actually going 25 miles an hour [inaudible]?

Mayor: Just one thing I’ll say and then I’ll turn to the commissioner. I mean, again, the polling data is very interesting and very powerful. The evidence in terms of the impact on cameras and that initial study – very, very powerful. The recognition of what Vision Zero is, what it means – I’m struck in all of my connection to people all over the city how much it has registered with people. I think the advocates and the families had a huge role in that. Sometimes you have an historical moment where something crystalizes. And I think people in this city got sick of these crashes, and they got sick of the loss of life, and they believed it was time for a change – and that really added to the energy with which the message got transmitted. I also think our elected officials, having started as a City Council member and a school board member myself, one thing I can say is, you know, a lot of elected officials are very good at staying connected to the people they serve and knowing what the feelings are. And I’ve talked to a lot of elected officials, and the response has been there’s a lot of awareness and a lot of acceptance that this was necessary, and that’s been striking to me. So that’s just some example – I’ll let the commissioner go farther.

Commissioner Trottenberg: Now, I’ll give you two answers to that. I mean, one – in addition to polling data, again, as the mayor mentioned, we have data we actually get from our speed cameras, and we found the results pretty amazing. We tracked 19 speed cameras, to summonses they were giving out over a three-month period, from September to December of last year, and speeding dropped almost 59 percent. So, that's our data. And between DOT and NYPD, we do track speed at hotspots around the city, so we do actually look at the data. We can't track every speed of every car everywhere in New York City, but we particularly are trying to look at high crash corners, and there's no question, where we ramp up enforcement or we have the cameras, we see people slow down. I just want to echo what the mayor said too, about – I think – how important the advocates and these families have been, for just raising awareness around the city. I've actually just had an event with a bunch of my fellow city DOT commissioners from all around the country, and I don't think there's any other city that has the remarkable set of advocates and families, who have brought such passion and commitment to the issue of safety on a roadway. So I think New York is really blessed in that way, and you really can see the results.

Question: Staten Island is definitely a car-centric borough –

Mayor: You could have asked a Bronx question, just to be different. You could have really done something outside the box there.

Question: But, only one of the more than 50 redesigns you guys are talking about today were on the island – I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about why that is, and you know, just the philosophy behind that.

Commissioner Trottenberg: Yeah, and I guess I just – I think this is a moment to talk about – although these redesigns are a big part of the work we do, we do a lot of other things in terms of Vision Zero – as the mayor mentioned, increasing speed humps, and school safety zones, signal timing. So, admittedly, I think a lot of the improvements we made in Staten Island were along those fronts. It turns out that things like speed humps are becoming increasingly very popular in Staten Island. Fortunately, also, Staten Island is actually at the moment the safest borough, with the lowest number of fatalities. So, it's true, in following the data, we've done more of these actual street redesign projects in the other boroughs. But in the coming year, we're going to have a bunch of things were doing in Staten Island – bike lane on Clove Road – so we will not be ignoring Staten Island at all. Don't worry.

Question: All right, I'll ask the Bronx question.

Mayor: There you go. [Laughs]

Question: Do you have any data on how drivers are driving now – you said, in general that driving [inaudible] do you have any data on East Tremont [inaudible]?

Commissioner Trottenberg: Since this just went up in November, we usually like to take a little time to collect a certain amount of data, so I'll see if I can dig up what we have, but usually we let a project settle in before we – but we do look at before and after data.

Mayor: [inaudible] if either of you want to speak to what you've seen. [inaudible]

Juan Clarke: My name is Juan Clarke, and I own the Clarke & Son's Signs on Tremont Avenue, and I'm at the corner store – I'm actually the store where the car actually went inside, and since I've been there, I have like a real clear view of the progress that's been done since the accident, and yes, it has really slowed down considerably. I used to hear accidents all the time – screeches, ambulances all the time – and it has really considerably slowed down. It's been great for the community. You can see the people now – not concerned by crossing the street, looking over their shoulders. Me myself, I knew how to maneuver around the area, but it's been great, and I am grateful that the city has took time out to address the situation. I just screamed from the top of my lungs for a long time, and it's been a blessing to know that this will become something that's going to take place in the whole city, because I know lives is very important. I lost my dad to a motorist, and you know – it's touching my heart [inaudible].

Mayor: Thank you. Thank you very much. Well done.

[Applause]

And I think that point about having to maneuver – I think you used the right word. I mean, I think there's been some places in the city, and Queens Boulevard is obviously another example, where people have to sort of have a plan to get across the street. And that's what we're going to – just use every tool we've got to end. We can't have people feeling they can't get across a street when it's time to get across the street successfully. And that's why these redesigns are so important.

Question: You mentioned that Vision Zero is an interagency effort. I noticed that Commissioner Bratton isn't here, and hasn't been [inaudible] question, hopefully, for him.

Mayor: I would like to – I'm going to just – you were leading the witness, I'll just say. Commissioner Bratton, before he became commissioner, you may have remembered – spoke at a transportation forum – I think it was NYU. And it was – as he and I were talking about the potential of him taking the job, it was very striking to me, that a guy who was known for fighting, you know, the traditional sense of what was public safety, and fighting crime, and terrorism – and yet, has this real passion around addressing crashes. And it's something he thought was long overdue in terms of focus, because obviously the numbers were so astounding, in terms of how many people we lost each year. So he, from the very beginning, has obviously been with us at a number of the kick-off events of this, but he – in all of our conversations – focuses on this as something that has become increasingly important to the NYPD. And Chief Chan, with the commissioner's support, has applied tremendous resources to this. So I just want to set the record straight – there's a lot of commitment there. But now, with that being said, chief, step forward.

Question: So, we're in the 45th Precinct, and the precinct has issued one speeding ticket – less than one speeding ticket a day this year, and fewer than every other day, it's issued a failure to yield ticket. Is that really enough? And you know, there's no traffic enforcement as part of the academy curriculum. Is that really enough to see the changes here [inaudible]?

NYPD Transportation Chief Thomas Chan: Okay, I’m going to backtrack on one of the – your first comment. In reference to Vision Zero and Commissioner Bratton, Commissioner Bratton when I – find me this position as chief of transportation, he pointed me in the right direction and he gave me contacts in federal and state agencies and also contacts in other police departments, including LAPD, Chicago, and things of that nature. As a matter of fact, Commissioner Bratton had meetings set up to meet with the TLC and also DOT commissioner. So he’s constantly updated, and we speak about the subject. We give briefings to the commissioner in reference to what’s going on in the city – fatalities, collisions, things of that nature. He has weekly staff meetings. So, again, the commissioner’s fingers are definitely in the pie of Vision Zero. So, and he’s certainly supplied us with the manpower. We’ve increased the number of personnel assigned to highway; the equipment – radar equipment; the training that we’ve given to TLC, to our officers; we have increased the pool of people who are able to utilize the LIDAR/RADAR sets and things of that nature. So he’s actually – he’s fostered, he’s mentored, he’s made sure that Vision Zero is a priority in his administration. And we’ve gotten the support of the outside bureaus – I’m covering transportation bureau, we have patrol bureau, and other units – legal bureau and things of that nature. So, again, he’s 100 percent in. So he may not physically be here today, but he’s definitely – in terms of his support, he’s been there with us. When we take a look at the – what you mentioned in the 45 Precinct – overall, when we take a look at the New York City Police Department, and including its transportation bureau, our officers are heading in the right direction. And I think our officers are the best officers in the world, and I’m proud to be a New York City police officer. So, again, I think that we – we took great strides in Vision Zero in 2014, and I expect the same in 2015.

 

Question: Councilman Vacca mentioned he wants a speed bump on every block [inaudible] – 

 

Mayor: [inaudible] you’re leading the witness, too! I didn’t hear that. [Laughter]

 

Question: [inaudible] two speed bumps on a block [inaudible] and police and fire and EMS start to go over it. Unlike traffic lights and stop signs, fire and EMS [inaudible], and I’ve been told by many members of EMS and the fire department that emergency response times are going up. Can you tell us how much they’re going up [inaudible]?

 

Mayor: So I – I heard a couple different things. The first – I didn’t hear from Council Member Vacca, who I’ve known for a long time – obviously he said he knew a lot of people wanted speed bumps and they should be applied where appropriate. I’m going to be your lawyer. I’m your non-lawyer lawyer.

 

Unknown: [inaudible]

 

Mayor: Yeah. [inaudible]. Second – I’m going to help you with the logic here. Communities – and this is typically what happens, and I know this from my time in the City Council – communities ask for – a street, a block asks for – there’s a process you go through – because it’s a way of saving lives, it’s a way of avoiding injury. Now, we care deeply about making sure our first responders can do their work. So, I think – I don’t know a first responder who would not tell you, if we could avoid the incident to begin with, that would be the optimal state of affairs. If we could avoid the car crash, if we could avoid the pedestrian being hit to begin with, so the emergency vehicles wouldn’t have to come. So – just let me finish – so the speed bumps – and Polly can talk about and the chief can talk about the kind of considerations that go into the placement of them – are to stop the problem before it happens. Then you say, you know, is there an enforcement time impact. They can speak to the mechanics of how to make sure they mitigate that, but I think the important point here is we put those in after careful study to save lives to begin with.

 

Commissioner Trottenberg: And we’ll talk a bit about how we place them and, as the council member mentioned, not a day goes by that I don’t get a request for them. And we actually do think very carefully about where we put them, and we – we work closely with police and fire to make sure that we’re not putting them on major emergency routes or major bus routes. We’re really putting them usually on pretty small residential streets. So, you know – and we also work very closely with community boards – so we try and be very thoughtful about where we place them. And in fact, in most – in a lot of cases, I’m breaking hearts, because we’re not putting them in a particular site because we do want to make sure that emergency vehicles can get through.

 

Question: [inaudible] you think you’ve achieved such a dramatic decrease specifically of pedestrian fatalities, whereas I believe motorists are flat and bike fatalities actually went up somewhat significantly? The reason for that difference, you think?

 

Mayor: Well, I would just say I think we believe the composite impact is unquestionably because of the measures put in place. And by the way, because there were so many measures used simultaneously – this is part of what’s so powerful about Vision Zero. You know, there’s a whole TLC component to Vision Zero, which I think has been very, very powerful. There’s enforcement, there’s signage, there’s education, there’s speed cameras, there’s speed bumps. So we believe when you see this kind of cumulative, you know, focused approach, so many resources thrown in so quickly, that that’s the overall reason. Now if you say help understand why the subset pieces came out the way they did, Polly Trottenberg –

 

Commissioner Trottenberg: I mean, unfortunately, as great a year as we had, obviously our progress is not perfectly linear. And we are not happy about the increase in the number of cyclist fatalities. One fatality is too many, but that is a number we’re taking a close look at and trying to do diagnosis about what happened. And part of our plan for 2015 is going to be continue to build out safer bike infrastructure, including protected bike lanes. So, we’re never going to rest when it comes to making sure we’re making each part of the system safer. 

 

Question: [inaudible] the maintenance plan, when you look at your photos there, a lot of times [inaudible] you couldn’t see the lines on the roadway. So I drive a lot, and there’s a couple of blocks where I didn’t see the speed bump, and my head goes into the ceiling of the car. Then I gotta call Chief Chan up. What is the plan on making sure, with the winter here, [inaudible] we can see those lines? [inaudible]

 

Commissioner Trottenberg: Now, it is a huge challenge and it’s interesting, as I particularly learned, when you have a bad winter, as we did last year, it wreaks havoc on your roadway striping. And, one challenge we do face is you can’t do the striping when you’re in the middle of the winter and it’s cold, because the reflective material doesn’t stick very well – and when it’s snowing. But, look we have a very aggressive striping program, and we try to get all over the city and obviously, we look if there are places where we need to come and do patch-up and emergency work – we look to get 3-1-1 requests. This is an area where actually we work closely with the state and the federal government to make sure we have the funding we need to get the striping done. But, admittedly it’s a challenge in the wintertime.

 

Mayor: Just a quick perspective on this – Polly, you may have this at your fingertips, how many miles of roads do you cover?

 

Commissioner Trottenberg: Well, it’s 6,000 miles is 20,000 lane miles, so we have an enormous road range.

 

Mayor: Let’s start with the 6,000 miles. You can go to LA and back. So, what New Yorkers can do to help – I would urge everyone to include this in your coverage – is if someone sees on their block, or somewhere, an area where the striping isn’t clear anymore – call 3-1-1. Let’s get that on record, so we can get that in the lineup to act on it, because you’re absolutely right, that can cause a safety challenge and we want to get ahead of it. 

You had one before. We’re coming around – no, no, no. Wait your turn, brother, everyone gets theirs first.

 

Question: Given the – do you plan on pursuing any further expansion of speed cameras in Albany or does the opposition of the senate make that a lost cause?

 

Mayor: Well, first of all, I would say, in terms of everything we want to do in Albany this year and the legislative agenda, we’re going to obviously have an announcement on that quite shortly. I’ll be testifying in Albany, et cetera. So, in terms of any announcements of our plans, we’re making our final formulation of our plan and we’ll announce that shortly. Second, I think the composition of the Senate is not that different – let’s be clear – than it was last time. So it’s a change of a few seats. And even though it was Republican-dominated Senate last time, we found we were able to get some very important work done. And we got a lot of support, in fact – on speed cameras, is one example. So, I remain optimistic on areas of safety in particular that we can find a real consensus.

Anyone who has not had their question on-topic before, you get yours. No. You’ve had one too. Look at that. Look at that! You tried to cheat on his place in line. Anyone who has – no, we’re going to do on topic – anyone who hasn’t asked yet.

On-topic – anyone who has not asked yet, going once, going twice. You’re up, on-topic.

 

Question: I was just wondering if any point during these new improvements you are considering doing something to mainstream intersections, where 3-year-old Allison Liao, was killed holding his grandmother’s hand, walking with the light and an SUV driver got off without even a summons. And the DMV judge actually let him go completely, even for the summons. And is one possibility there [inaudible] is that a possibility in other places, where you stop all traffic [inaudible] and is there any political motivation behind where you’re putting in these improvements.

 

Commissioner Trottenberg: That’s a bunch of questions, let me try and tackle them. And, first, look, you can hear from the sounds in the audience – I mean, that’s an extraordinary case with [inaudible], and what happened, and obviously that it was caught on video tape. And we know now it has become a whole – really, a discussion about how we handle the criminal justice side of something like that. When there is a crash like that, DOT – we immediately go out and survey the site. We determine who’ll take a quick look at whether our markings and signals are working. And first of all, we make sure that if there’s anything we can do right away, we do that. And then, you know, we take a longer look at some of these sites and whether, you know, the long-term crash data means that we need to make bigger interventions there, or whether it’s unfortunately just a – just a one-time episode. But there, obviously, there’s a real interplay with the criminal justice system and we’re still looking at what the facts of that case were.

 

Question: [inaudible]

 

Mayor: No. And no, there is not a political motivation – it is a data motivation. We put the cameras, we put the other measures in place where we think the need is greatest, and obviously that’s why we say Queens Boulevard is going to get a lot of our attention because it has been, historically, the most problematic place. On topic, last call. That’s on topic? Really?

 

Question: Yeah.

 

Mayor: Okay.

 

Question: I was wondering if you guys had an estimate for last year for the speed cameras – the amount of money that the summonses brought in, or whether or not – and also, just a follow up, what you guys would say to some folks who might feel that those speed cameras are just a ploy to get revenue for the city?

 

Mayor: I will happily address that, because that’s not accurate, but you start.

 

Commissioner Trottenberg: I actually have the – not the estimate, the actual number. Revenue taken in from the speed cameras in 2014 was $16.96 million dollars. And we issued about 445,000 speed-related summonses – although, again, even in the last few months of the program, as I mentioned, at every location, the 19 locations we were tracking, the number of summonses fell by almost 60 percent. So people got the message pretty quickly as it turns out.

 

Mayor: And that’s the second part – thank you – that’s the second part of the answer, which is, we want less business. You know, we would love to get less revenue because we are trying to make this a culture change. That’s why all the education, and the holistic-ness of the approach is why I’m really proud of what these agencies have done – because they’ve made it sort of surround sound. You see so many things changing simultaneously, all with the same vision. It has a name – all of our colleagues and advocacy groups and community groups and elected officials – everyone’s getting the same message out, and you see it in word and in deed, which means behavior is changing rapidly, which means you’re going to see less speeding and fewer tickets. We want people to not get tickets because we want them to not speed. But in the meantime, they will understand there are consequences if they do.

On topic – yes.

 

Question: Following up on Allison Liao’s case – so, the Liao family has asked [inaudible]. Do you have a message, either to the DMV or the DAs, when it comes to Vision Zero and justice for [inaudible]?

 

Mayor: I think there’s been some real progress made – certainly some legislation that passed the City Council, for example, to get to real consequences for motorists who do this to other people. So my message to everyone – the state government, the DAs, everyone – is we all have to work in concert to create an atmosphere where people don’t speed, don’t break the law, don’t drive recklessly, and if they do, that there’ll be real and consistent consequences.

Okay. We are going to off-topic.

 

Question: On municipal ID cards, [inaudible] to the appointment-only process yesterday. This morning, the website was down. I was wondering if you have any information or update on that? And are you concerned this could be a situation similar to the Obamacare rollout with healthcare.gov where the system is sort of unprepared for the level of demand that you guys are seeing?

 

Mayor: No.

 

[Laughter]

 

It’s – I don’t think I could find a better case of apples and oranges. This is a very, very important initiative that will ultimately, I think, reach tens of thousands – and over time, probably hundreds of thousands – of New Yorkers. But the demand we saw on the first day was in the thousands – it wasn’t like healthcare.gov where you had to deal with millions and millions of people. We continue to have the locations available – I think it was 17 locations around the city where people can go in person at the libraries, make an appointment right there, get their card processed and sent to them within two weeks. We’re going to fix the website situation – again, this was a high-demand dynamic – that’s a good thing – but we’re going to fix that situation – that’s going to be back up and running soon. But, you know, we engineered this approach to be very much in concert with grassroots organizations, houses of worship, obviously our libraries and other agencies that are on the ground in neighborhoods, so that’s going to be an easy way of getting to lots and lots of people, even as we’re fixing the website.

 

Question: This meeting yesterday – you know, with PBA, and Pat Lynch – I wanted to see what your reaction –

 

Mayor: I'm sorry – explain what you're referring to.

 

Question: The union meeting yesterday, the PBA meeting, and Pat Lynch was there, and a couple officers were angry with –

 

Mayor: Oh, the one – they had their own meeting.

 

Question: [inaudible] I wanted to see what your reaction to it was, given the difficulties that you've had the last couple weeks, talking with Pat, and other people from the PBA, but also specifically, the complaint of some of those officers, from what we've heard, was, we don't want an apology from you, we want things like vests, better protection, a contract, et cetera, et cetera.

 

Mayor: So, first as to the question of what happens inside any union – I think a union with thousands and thousands of members – I think in the case of the PBA, between 10 and 20,000 members – it's going to have a diversity of opinions within it. And people will let their voices be heard. That's not surprising. In terms of what we're hearing in that discussion – as I understand it, those officers are raising the question of officer safety, and I think that's where this discussion needs to focus. We said from the beginning, the reforms we're making have the double impact of making communities safer, and officers safer. We said this repeatedly in 2013 and 2014, that if you bring police and community closer together, everyone's safer – the information flows, the partnership develops, and everyone's safer, including our officers. So I think what we're hearing from officers all over the city is there are other things that they would like addressed, and I think that's fair. And we want to, one by one, go through those items and find out what we can do to make the quality of work life better, and certainly to address anything that involves our safety. That's, by definition – I have often said, despite all the challenges that this city went through in recent weeks, because of real tragedies and real pain – that our police officers not only protect us, but they are working men and women. The vision I laid out in 2013 was about how we can uplift the lives of working men and women. And they have a lot of valid issues that need to be addressed, and this administration will systematically, with Commissioner Bratton and his leadership – we will address those issues. So everything that's been put on the table there – vests, vehicles – those are all valid issues that we want to find solutions on.

 

Question: Did you find any consolation in the fact that there are some officers, many officers are out there who are saying, we don't really want an apology from you.

 

Mayor: You know, again, I think it's a very diverse workforce in every sense. I understand, in some of the challenges we've faced, the sort of rhetoric's been intense, and some of the analyses have tried to stereotype everyone involved – but in fact, it's a big, diverse police force with lots of different viewpoints, lots of people, they have all their own individual histories, their own individual views. It doesn't surprise me at all that more and more officers would offer different views of what needs to be done. I think where there is an emerging consensus is that we have to focus on officer safety, as part of the package of reforms that we are making in this city, to make everyone safer. Now, I'll just take this occasion to say – I think our officers also need to hear, rightfully, is that while we all, of course, respect and believe in our U.S. Constitution that guarantees the right to free speech, that all of us here – and I want to put myself there first – find any effort to say negative and derogatory things about our officers as unacceptable, that it's different if you say there are some policies you want to change, some strategies you want to change – that's a fair discussion. But some – for example – we've got some protests that will start as early as tomorrow. And the groups involved in those protests scheduled for tomorrow have a long history of, unfortunately, allowing some of their members to say really inappropriate, reprehensible things about our police officers – things that I think are actually quite sick, anything that suggests violence towards police. And they may have a constitutional right to chant their chants, but they're wrong, and they're denigrating any notion of calling for reform. And I've said many times, the vast majority of protesters, from everything I've seen, are peaceful protesters who respect the police, but want to see a change in policies. But there is a small group that has consistently used absolutely unacceptable, reprehensible language towards officers. And they have a constitutional right to do it, but they should stop doing it. And obviously, I said this also after the incident on the Brooklyn Bridge – any protester who knows of any effort to harm – to actually not just say nasty words, but to physically harm a police officer, must report that to the police immediately, and must intervene to stop it. Anyone who is serious about the cause they purport to believe in has to be part of the solution of stopping anyone who would, in any way, shape or form, promote violence towards our police. So, I think that has to – that message has to get out. I think the many, many decent people who are protesting have to make their voices heard about stopping any of those unacceptable instances of the wrong language, and obviously, anything that might cause violence. And we've got to get on to the work – the practical work – of examining what we can do to help increase the safety of our officers.

 

Question: [inaudible] follow up on that, [inaudible] yesterday, apparently only a very small percentage of [inaudible] officers ended signing the declaration telling you not to go to their funerals. Taking those two things together, does it make you think at all that, you know, there might not be as much opposition – do you take any sort of comfort or conclusion from that, [inaudible]?

 

Mayor: Well, I think I've separated, a long time ago, some of the specific things some of the union leaders have said from what is felt by the rank and file. This wouldn't be the first case where that is true. I think you always have to see the difference between the unions, union leadership – in any situation – versus rank and file. And again, this is a huge police force with a lot of diversity of opinion within it. But I think some of the issues that have been raised in the last weeks are real issues – again, these safety issues are real issues, and need to be addressed, and we're going to be very systematic about addressing them. So, I guess I would answer you by saying – and I've said publicly in a lot of ways before – I always assumed there was a real diversity of opinion. And I think it is more on display now, but what's most important is that we, in government, listen to those opinions, and figure out what we can do about the real valid issues that come up. There's going to be emotion, there's going to be rhetoric, there's going to be some things said that shouldn't be said – but I think underneath that, there are some real issues that we can address.

 

Question: Last night on the Charlie Rose show, Commissioner Bratton said that the well was poisoned betwen you and the police union – when your wife hired – as he put it – "the chief of staff or something" in the form of Rachel Noerdlinger. I was wondering if you agree with that assessment.

 

Mayor: I think, first of all, I'm going to pretty scrupulously say I'm not going to do punditry, or, you know, post-game analysis in terms of the blow-by-blow of the year 2014. I think, you know, the overall reality of 2014 is that we drove crime down, very substantially, and the NYPD did a great job. And we made real progress on reform, which is why on – ten days ago, or whatever it was – we had the press conference laying out the numbers for the year, I couldn't have been more proud, because we had extraordinary progress in fighting crime, mixed with a substantial reduction in unnecessary stops, mixed with a substantial reduction in marijuana arrests, and all those things were trending in the right direction together, which proved the core thesis of what we said in 2013. So, to me, that's the big story of 2014. If you say, you know, that one step along the way or another leads to misunderstanding – by definition, some misunderstandings happen along the way. But I'm committed to communicating consistently with our officers, to understanding what we can do better, but we're also going to continue the reforms we started, because that's what this city needs, and it will make everyone safer in the end.

 

Question: If I could just follow up on that – the fact that your police commissioner went on TV last night, and did exactly that, he analyzed 2014 –

 

Mayor: He has a right to offer his view of things. Again, I have such immense respect for Commissioner Bratton – I literally don't have words for it. We talk constantly, we share a very, very strong vision for where this city has to go, and we are united. He can go on a TV show and offer an analysis if he wants to. That's fine. That's his right. But the big picture here is, we're unified in terms of the direction we want to go in.

Andrew.

 

Question: The teamsters have authorized a strike at Hunts Point Market that could start as soon as Friday. How concerned are you about this possibility, and are you prepared to step in and talk to the [inaudible]?

 

Mayor: Look, we obviously take it very seriously. Hunts Point is crucial to this city. There has been rumors of this possibility before, and some good work was done to ensure harmony and move forward. So, we'll certainly do anything it will take to help keep moving things forward, and I'm hopeful.

 

Question: The governor appears to be considering [inaudible] or legislation that would allow some cases' opening of grand jury minutes, when it comes to police confrontations. Your thoughts on that? Is it a good idea?

 

Mayor: I'm not a lawyer, and I certainly have not seen the specifics of his proposal. I broadly believe transparency is helpful, because there is so much misinformation that sometimes just having the actual record is helpful. But I can't comment until I see the specifics.

 

Question: Do you think something like the Eric Garner case, where there's been such controversy, that it would be a good idea?

 

Mayor: Again, my view is, transparency as broad view – broad value – makes sense in these cases. I don't know the intricacies of the grand jury process. I don't know some of the, you know, positives and negatives of that kind of releasing information. My broad view is in favor of transparency.

 

Question: Mayor, the press office yesterday put out a statement saying that you would veto the current writing –

 

Mayor: Yep.

 

Question: – of the chokehold legislation. Could you outline you objections to it –

 

Mayor: Sure.

 

Question: — and it was also seen as a sort of rapprochement to the police department as well. Can you –

 

Mayor: Well, I have said many times, over the last weeks, that I was uncomfortable with that bill as written, and in fact, I illustrated why, and you can go back and check the public record of that, because we are adamant about making sure the NYPD rules and regulations are followed, which prohibit the use of chokeholds in any normal interaction between police and community. That couldn't be clearer. Commissioner Bratton's made that clear. In fact, those chokehold prohibitions go back almost 30 years in this city. But I don't believe that enacting a law which would make it a criminal offense to utilize a chokehold is appropriate, because I believe there are exceptional situations in which the life of an officer may be at stake. Literally – and Commissioner Bratton will tell you this [inaudible] – one officer and one perpetrator in a death struggle, and in that instance, the officer has a right to use any and all tools he can to save his life. So, I think the root of passing a law is a mistake. I've said it many, many times. And the other day, the question was put – you know, obviously we've seen reporting on this. Would that lead me to a veto, as written? Yes, I would veto that bill. Now, if the council comes back with a different view, or a different bill, we will review it, and we'll consider it. But I'm not going to create a situation where an officer is in that life and death struggle, and, thank God, survives – and then faces criminal charges. That's unacceptable.

 

Question: [inaudible] there are 29 sponsors on this bill, and I think it takes 34 to override. Are you at all concerned about something along those lines taking place?

 

Mayor: So, again, I don't do punditry for a living, but I can tell you that when you're at the beginning of a legislative process, there's a lot to play out. I think the concern I have, and the concern Commissioner Bratton has, will be heard and respected by council members. And I think it will cause some of them to think a little more deeply, and it might cause a very different bill to come forward, or some other outcome. So, I think you can't judge the endpoint from the starting point. But I want my colleagues in government, who are in the City Council, to know my view. They know I'm committed to reform, and they know I'm committed to a very different relationship between police and community, but this is a case where I think the use of a – of a law would actually create an unfair situation.

 

Question: The Wall Street Journal just reported that yesterday Governor Cuomo met with one of the police union leaders. What role do you think he should be playing [inaudible]?

 

Mayor: You know, I know the governor has a long-standing relationship with some of those leaders, and, you know, some of the issues he’s working on, on the state level, obviously, it’s pertinent to talk to a lot of different constituencies about. So, I think it’s a classic division of labor – when it comes to state law and things that are the purview of the state government, that’s what the governor will obviously focus on. When it comes to the day-to-day work of the city government of New York City, that’s what I’ll focus on.

 

Question: Just following up on that – two questions. One – what are your thoughts on Governor Cuomo potentially swooping in and inserting himself in this conflict [inaudible]? And two – there’s – as you know, there’s been a lot of debate about whether or not you should apologize, including [inaudible], some folks are saying are looking for some sort of acknowledgment that there has been some [inaudible]. Is that something that, you know, [inaudible]?

 

Mayor: I think the issue is, first of all – things that I have said that I believe are what I believe – and you can’t apologize for your fundamental beliefs. I think they’ve been warped and misinterpreted many times over. But, you know, if you just look at the facts, including some of the things that raised some criticism but have been said many times before previously, including throughout 2013 – which always raises a question for me – you said something over and over again on public record and a group does not criticize it, and then suddenly criticizes it later – it always makes me question what the motivation is for the criticism. But I – the things that I have said were based on my beliefs – the truth as I know it. In terms of, can we do a better job communicating and listening and deepening an understanding of what our officers need – yes. And I think, to the point earlier, if a lot of officers are saying the things we’re concerned about are very material – the things that we think will add to our safety, the things that affect their day-to-day life and their work – I think that’s really valid topics, and it’s my obligation to not only hear but then come back and say, here’s what we think we can do about it. So that’s what I’m going to focus on. And I think on the previous – on the other question, I said it already – I think there’s an obvious division of labor. And Commissioner Bratton and I have both made clear that we maintain ongoing discussions with the police unions, we will continue to, and we think that’s the path forward.

 

Phil Walzak: One or two more, guys.

 

Question: Legionnaires’ disease, in the Bronx – [inaudible] spread and to make sure it doesn’t?

 

Mayor: Well, the Department of Health, obviously, is on top of this – and thank God this is a disease that can be addressed very readily. And so we’re very hopeful that this situation at Co-op City can be solved quickly.

 

Question: One more thing – sorry. We’ve gotten complaints from people who’ve been calling 3-1-1 about the municipal ID cards that people are unhelpful – the operators are unhelpful – they don’t have any information. And have you heard any complaints like this?

 

Mayor: This is the first I’m hearing, but we will certainly – if that’s the case, I want to fix it, so we will follow up on that immediately. But what I saw – and this was one place, obviously, at the Flushing Library – was so striking to me because those huge lines of people, but also, you know, the facility there – to have multiple languages available on site and then anybody who speaks a different language – that they can get a translator on the phone essentially instantaneously – so I can say in terms of the in-person delivery of services, it’s quite impressive. But if 3-1-1 is in any way insufficient as we start out here, we’ll certainly fix that.

 

Phil Walzak: Last call, guys.

 

Question: What was your reaction when you heard Mitt Romney was considering running for president again?

 

[Laughter]

 

Unknown: [inaudible]

 

[Laughter]

 

Mayor: Thank you, counselor. This is the lawyer I’m not. I was surprised. I don’t know if three times is a charm.

 

Question: Mr. Mayor, just wondering when the last time you spoke to Al Sharpton was, whether you’ve discussed any of the tensions with the police department with him, and whether that tension has had any impact on your relationship with him?

 

Mayor: I’ve known him many years. You know, we speak with some regularity. And you know, these are big, complicated issues. They’ve been with us for a long time, we’ll be working on them for a long time to resolve them, but, again, even though I understand that you guys have to look at the issue of the moment or the controversy of the moment, I remain very hopeful that the people of this city want us to bring police and community together. They want all voices heard in that process. And I have sat with people across the spectrum – and that is part of how you make change – to listen to all voices and then figure out a way forward – and we will find that way forward. Thank you.