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Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Holds Media Availability

July 24, 2020

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. Well, I want to talk to you about a couple of quick updates today, but I especially want to focus on our young people. The kids in this city have been through so much in the last few months, and I've talked about it a lot, because I think it's something we really need to focus on. Every one of us has dealt with the strain of this crisis, but our young people, imagine, for so many of them, trying to make sense of this, dealing with a lot of pain around them. The reality of being cooped up, not getting to see their friends, so many challenges – but look, there's some good news starting to emerge here, because with every step we take forward, we're able to open up more and more opportunity for our young people. You go back to March and April, things were very dire. We didn't know what we'd be able to do this summer, but because we've made so much progress, thanks to all of you, we're now able to do a lot more to engage our young people positively and productively this summer and, of course, beyond. So, I want to talk about that. I want to talk about the ways we're going to help them not only have a fun summer, but also have a summer where they grow and they develop and they prepare for their futures.

But before I do that – first, something we should all be celebrating, because this is another sign of rebirth and renewal, opening day of baseball. For so many of us, this is one of the great symbols each year that tells us, you know, good things are ahead – little delayed this time, but, you know, it did happen and I think it's a blessing. For all of you, whether you're a baseball fan or not – I'm a huge baseball fan, but even if you're not, it's something to celebrate. So, congratulations to the New York Yankees, winning their first game of the season. And Dr. Fauci was there, and I want to really celebrate him – a great new Yorker, a great Brooklynite. Look at that, I think he's 79 years old – good form there, Dr. Fauci, that looks pretty good. So, what a great moment for New York City to see a New Yorker celebrated there and the first game of the season in this way and how much he has done for us. It's been absolutely amazing. Well, today, opening day here in New York City. Dr. Fauci thew out that pitch in Washington, but today it's opening day in New York City. Four o'clock at Citi Field, the New York Mets take the field. And yeah, it'll be different – there won't be fans in the stands, it'll feel a little weird, but still what a wonderful thing. And I'm wishing a great season for the Mets as well. And this is something we can really feel good about as New Yorkers, baseball is back.

So, now, let's go back to our young people. And you know, sports is going to be a part of their summer again, because, finally, we're able to open stuff up, and the things that we do to support our young people, like we know baseball is a great tradition. Another tradition in this city is that every summer we do a lot to help our young people have a better summer and to support them. Summer Youth Employment, a longstanding tradition in this city that's done a lot of good for so many tens of thousands of kids each year. This year, the Summer Bridge program, a specially designed program for the reality that we're dealing with now – it begins on Monday, and 35,000 teens and young adults will benefit. And then, they’ll get the kind of support and training that's going to help them with their future. So, this is great for them now, but also for what it means for where they're going. The young people who will be part of this program, they'll be building career skills, there'll be a part of workshops. They'll really be learning and they'll get compensation to help them and to help their families in the middle of everything we're dealing with. A lot of the young people come from public housing, a lot were referred by social service organizations. These are kids who need the most support and the most help, and they're going to get it through the Summer Bridge program.

Now, another great thing – play streets. You know, when you think about all the things that kids have been through, and, again, not being able to get as much physical activity and play, not being able to see their friends as much, a lot of things have been on hold. Well, we're going to open up something – again, a good New York City tradition that has been so great for kids – Play Streets coming back. And that is going to be an important step forward for kids and families to have something to enjoy. We're also going to be opening up 1.5 additional miles of Open Streets, which have been something great for our communities as well. So, more and more opportunities for kids to engage. And on the Play Streets program, the Open Streets with kids, what we're talking about is having a lot of specific things for them to do – arts and crafts, and sports activities, reading corners, dance classes, everything done the smart way. And here's an example, that, that you see on the screen is a touchless obstacle course. So, that's an obstacle course for the age of COVID, but it's still going to give kids a lot of fun and a lot of exercise, and it's going to be great for them.

So, this is the reality of today, but we're going to make it work. We're going to make it work with the right face coverings, social businesses, all the things that we need to do while still giving kids a really rewarding experience. Now, a lot of great activities as you see there. We're going to do them a little bit differently in many ways, but still so many great activities for kids. And I want to thank the partners who would be running these streets for us and providing these great activities for the kids. Street Lab, thank you; Fresh Air Fund, thank you; and the Police Athletic League, thank you. Great activities coming this summer for our kids.

Now, a small, but important matter – I bring it up regularly – and this is an announcement that's actually going to have longer ramifications. Many, many New Yorkers care deeply about alternate side parking because it affects so many people's every-day lives. So, first, for next week, alternate side parking will be suspended next week through Sunday, August 2nd. So, no, alternate side parking anywhere next week. But then, after that, starting Monday, August 3rd, we're going to resume alternate side parking on an ongoing basis. So, we're going to take another step towards something a little more normal, go back to having alternate side parking on a regular basis. That will go all the way from Monday, August 3rd to Saturday, September 5th – the Saturday right before Labor Day. So, for the whole month of August, and the beginning of September, alternate side, parking back the way it was, but with an important change that we're now saying, if you're on one of those streets that has multiple times a week that you have to move your car on your side of the street, we want to address that issue, make it easier for you, make it clear you can only do that one time a week, going forward, and you do that on the last day. We're going to get a lot more information out. But, again, if you're on a street that you have to park your car or honor alternate side multiple times during the week on your side of the street, it will be during this period for this next month only once per week and it will be the last day noted on your side of the street. We'll get a lot more information out on it. And this is – again, why do we do alternate side parking? We do it to be able to clean the curbs, keep our streets clean, keep our sidewalks clean, keep our communities clean. So, we're going back to it, but we're going to try and do it in a way that makes sense and makes it easier for the people of this city.

Now, everybody, I want to tell you, in the midst of this crisis, so many people have been helping out New York City. It's really wonderful. It's really powerful to see. And I want to always give thanks to folks – a particular thanks today to Bank of America that donated $250,000 to provide 100 high school students with college and career readiness and paid internships in the fall. So, this is the kind of thing we want to see our colleagues in the business sector do more and more of, support our young people. Here's a tangible way of doing it. So, thanks to everyone at Bank of America. And then, just want to note some other donors who have been really great and generous. One is a proud New York City public school graduate – his name is Jo-Vaughn Virginie Scott. You may not know that name, but you may know the name of the rapper, Joey Bada$$. So, that's who actually made the donation. We are so appreciative for that. And it's great to see a New York City kid, remember his city and give back. Crown Castle, Meevo, and Jessica Seinfeld and the Good Plus Foundation all have made generous donations. So, again, so many people helping out – always like to show our appreciation for the people helping New York City come back.

Now, let's do the indicators. And let me tell you, a lot to be proud of again today. So, this is such an example of what New Yorkers have achieved together. Day after day, we see this progress. So, daily indicator number one, daily number of people admitted to hospitals for a suspected COVID-19, threshold is 200 patients – today's report, 72. Indicator number two, daily number of people in Health + Hospitals ICU’s threshold 375 – today's report, 295. And percentage of people testing citywide who are positive for COVID-19, threshold 15 percent – today, once again, two percent. That's very extraordinarily consistent. Let's keep it that way and let's see if we can go even farther together.

A few words in Spanish –

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: Hi, all. We have with us here today Transportation Commissioner Trottenberg, Sanitation Commissioner Garcia, Senior Advisor Dr. Varma, and Assistant Commissioner of the Summer Youth Employment program and workforce development at the Department of Youth and Community Development Daphne Montanez. With that, we'll start with Jillian from WBAI.

Question: Good morning, everybody. Good morning, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor: Hey, Jillian. How are you?

Question: I wouldn't be a true New Yorker if I didn't mention that I was raised by a die-hard Brooklyn Dodgers fan. So, let's go Mets –

Mayor: Wait a minute, I thought you were about to say you are continuing your connection to the Dodgers, but you're saying the Mets as the inheritors of the Dodgers –

Question: Yeah. They were the replacement, essentially, in the early sixties, late fifties – before my time. So, I have a question regarding the open restaurants program. Last month, I brought up the pre-pandemic problems of noise crowds and illegal sidewalks in neighborhoods that are bar and restaurant [inaudible] and how little help those communities got from City agencies. Specifically, I asked how the new plan would ensure laws are enforced so that there weren't going to be free for all’s, but that's what's been happening. We know last Friday in Astoria was not a one-off, because of weeks of prior complaints, nor is it the only area where this happened. There were pictures posted Saturday night from the Lower East Side, so the very next day, that were a similar scene. It’s happening all over. I know you don't want to shut down businesses, that that health and safety are your priorities, but you have organizations like the nightlife –

Mayor: Question – what’s your question?

Question: I’m getting there – Nightlife Office bids and Hospitality Alliance with clear conflicts of interest involved in coordinating. So, it's a little fox henhouse.

Mayor: I don't agree with that characterization. Go ahead.

Question: [Inaudible]

Mayor: Jillian, you’ve got to get to a question. Seriously. Go ahead.

Question: [Inaudible] giving responsibility to a more neutral entity [inaudible] that's the question –

Mayor: Your voice cut up a little bit, but I think I got it. Look, I just don't – I don't agree with the assumption that the folks we worked with in the industry, we've listened for their thoughts, their advice, but we still obviously are going to do what government has to do and balance all the different pieces of the equation. I think this is a very unusual situation. Health and safety has to come first, unquestionably, and we need to do everything that will help avoid that kind of crowding. What we found was, overwhelmingly, people were in compliance – just the facts are the facts – where we sent inspectors out, where we sent educators out, overwhelmingly people on compliance or they moved into compliance quickly. We have had some troubled areas. You're right about that part of our story, right about the Lower East Side – we've got do better there, but it's still not my impulse to say wide-scale shut down businesses or wide-scale fines, because I really think that backfires in terms of what we're trying to achieve of getting people back to work. So, more and better education, more focused enforcement. And we have made clear if people really ignore the warnings, then, of course, some institution sadly will be shut down, fines we’ll use, but we are still striking a balance, and I still believe overwhelmingly compliance has been consistent in most of the city. Go ahead.

Question: In a different area, there was quite a bit of blowback from [inaudible] last week about the Small Business Survival Act, which is now called the Job Survival. The Small Business Congress said that you actually were playing dumb, that you knew the difference, because, in fact, you had actively supported the arbitration bill when you were running for Public Advocate and then you switched and then the revenue talking points started becoming the norm. I'm trying to edit my question so it's slower – it's a shorter. They call this all a distraction, a red herring, because the real estate industry is opposed to giving small business owners those basic lease [inaudible] fairness issues. I was a little surprised when you said that you felt landlord would do the right thing, because there's not really a track record of that, even after 9/11. So, has your memory been refreshed and please explain how an economic progressive can take such a laissez faire position, especially given the plethora of empty storefronts across –

Mayor: So, I appreciate the question. I will note the editorialization within, I don't do laissez faire. I never have. I have consistently been opposed by REBNY throughout my career. So, I just would like to get the facts straight. What I said to you was – and again, I want to be honest about, I don't remember the specifics. I do owe you an answer on that, and that's true, and I'll make sure we do that today. The arbitration idea is very interesting to me in the context we're in. I remind you that I think everything has been thrown for such a loop that I – again, what I said, I stand by, I would hope that this is not business as usual, this is not like the normal realities with landlords. I would hope landlords would realize both morally and practically that if they throw out a tenant, they're not going to have someone to replace them anytime soon. But I do want to look at the arbitration issue again, I'll give you an answer to that. I told you about the legal problems with commercial rent control that I truly believe are there under the laws of this nation and this state. And I said in the State of the City, we want to see if there's a way to find a new model. But I will definitely come back to you on the arbitration question, because I think that's an interesting point.

Moderator: Next we have Katie from the Wall Street Journal.

Question: Hey. Good morning, Mayor. I wanted to ask you another small business question. I know obviously there's rental and eviction problems for residential tenants, but the City had a commercial rent program that funded lawyers and allowed – you know, would help small business owners renegotiate leases and that kind of thing by paying for that. But that was cut in the budget. So, I'm curious, if you would want to reinstate some of that to help small businesses, because, you know, a lot of people predict that there will be just a cascading closure of businesses.

Mayor: Yeah. That is not only a good question as an excellent question, Katie, because that is one of the things that, as we were going through with the many, many items in the budget, I increasingly feel that that piece was not clear enough, because apparently it was a program that was on a timeline and slated to end, I think, it was after three years and it should have been discussed differently in the budget process rather than just allowed to lapse. So, we're going to go back and look at that one again and see if there's a way to revive it. I think that's exactly the kind of thing we should be doing now and I think that might have been something we missed in the budget process.

Question: My second question is short. I was reflecting that I ended up going to Citi Field on opening day. You know, if you're there, you get the old Queens cheer. So, I'm curious, will you be involved at all in today's ceremony or the opening day?

Mayor: No, no plan to. I don't know what the Mets are doing today or what the Yankees are going to be doing, but I do all I care about is their back, and I just think it's good for the city and good for all of us to see another step in the right direction.

Moderator: Next we have Marcia from CBS.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. I wondered if you'd like to respond to the criticism from Governor Cuomo yesterday, who said that if you don't get a on surging violence, homelessness, and the increase in graffiti, that people aren't going to be moving back to the city. And also, a tweet from your former Police Commissioner Bill Bratton, who said, and “at the rate City Hall is breaking windows, there won't be any left as New York City continues its downward spiral. The decline is accelerating. City Hall pol’s never learned, apparently. You can't have public safety without a focus on both serious crime and disorder.” What actions are you going to take to go after the he homeless encampments, the increase in graffiti –

Mayor: I got you. Marcia, we’ll just be really clear about New York City – New York city is coming back. New York City is coming back strong. This city has been heroic fighting back this disease. We are now being looked at all over the country as the example of how to deal with this crisis. There's tremendous energy to come back. We've gone through phase one, two, three, four on time. We're getting ready for more and more. We are going to fight back the challenges, but given that this city was hit harder than any place in the country, you can already see our strength coming back. So, there's no question. We'll deal with these issues as we have before, but, most importantly, New Yorkers are proving their commitment to their city and the fact that the comeback is happening right now, as we speak.

Question: Mr. Mayor, my second question has to do with testing. The City has partnered with Urgent Care facilities that cannot provide COVID test results in a timely manner. How is that rectified and should testing capacity be increased in other areas that can provide more timely service?

Mayor: Yeah. Great question, Marcia. Look, it was right to partner with the urgent cares. It gave a lot more people opportunity. For a long time, that was working perfectly well. We ran into a national testing crisis because of the surge around the country. We're taking steps to address it. As you heard yesterday, the wait time for getting results is now down to a few days again. Unquestionably, our public hospital system, Health + Hospitals has done the best job lately in terms of test turnaround. So, my message to all New Yorkers is, if you're going to go get those tests, go to a Health + Hospitals facility, you'll get the fastest turnaround. But I do believe the issue is being addressed now, here and now in New York City and we're going to be able to stabilize those response times. That said, we need a national solution to make sure we don't slip back again. We really need the President to use the Defense Production Act and get testing labs built out all over the country. So, we'll keep working on local solutions, but we need a national – we need a lot more national help on this as well.

Moderator: Next we have Dave Evans from ABC 7.

Question: Can you hear me?

Mayor: There you go. Go ahead.

Question: Hey, I wanted to ask you – I think it's around the first question. [Inaudible] you've talked in the past about the need for police not to do social distancing, and to focus more on serious crime. But have we now gotten to a point where we see some of these overwhelming crowds, in Astoria, on the Lower East Side, that now police need to step up and start enforcing the rules.

Mayor: Dave, look, again, you're naming two neighborhoods. We're looking at the whole city. We're looking at, you know, 10 or 15 areas that have a lot of bars and restaurants and where we've seen – there's clearly been a problem in Astoria, there's clearly been a problem on the Lower East Side. Not as much in the other places. I still think the fundamental education efforts, the civilian ambassadors and then particularly the Sheriff's Office have been really effective overwhelmingly. But where we need to go and use tougher measures like shutting down in institution, we will. And I think, look, the bar and restaurant world did see places starting to be shut down. I think that message is spreading that they’ve got to be responsible. But where we need to bring in the NYPD in particular situations, absolutely, we will. Go ahead.

Question: Okay. My second question is along the same line. This weekend, it's going to be nice – nice, warm evenings on Saturday and Sunday. What do you expect? What are you planning for with enforcement?

Mayor: A lot of enforcement. We absolutely are planning to have a lot of people out, again, the civilian folks doing the education, the face coverings, a lot from the Sheriff's Office, PD as needed. But we are very focused on getting the point across to people that everyone's got to take this seriously and help each other by following the rules.

Moderator: Next we have Yoav from The City.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor, I wanted to ask you about, the two disciplinary investigations by the NYPD. One on the George Zapantis case and the other on the attempted removal of the homeless guy from the subway who was struck in the face. In each case, NYPD says it's deferring to a criminal investigation, one by the Manhattan DA, one by the State Attorney general, but both those offices said they've made no such request. So I'm wondering where you're getting the information that the NYPD has been asked to delay those investigations and have those requests been in writing or orally?

Mayor: Look again, I get my information from the NYPD because they are reporting that both of those entities are involved in the investigation of those cases, which is simply a factual matter. They are. But look, I want to cut through this. You've asked the question, others have, I want to just get this back wherever we can make clear, when there's immediate disciplinary action, that should be announced immediately and only if it's a particularly challenging situation with another, government entity involved, you know, sometimes that may make it impossible to speak quickly, but I really want to get back to the point that a simple standard of in the first few days, is there a cause for immediate disciplinary action or not. Thereafter, the investigation proceeds quickly and we get to a decision on whether there is bigger discipline. So we'll get you clearer answer today, but it is a factual matter that those other investigatory, entities have been involved. Go ahead.

Question: Okay. Thanks. Staying on the removal of the homeless individual from the subway, some public officials, some elected officials, voiced some real strong concern that the officer who punches the individual twice in the face – it doesn't look like there's going to be any kind of modified duty for him. And I guess I'm wondering, you know, having viewed the video and what are New Yorkers supposed to think about witnessing someone get struck in the face with such force, and that seems to be okay for the NYPD and City Hall.

Mayor: No, Yoav it's just not a fair explanation of what happened. It was an incident that played out over a substantial period of time. From everything I've seen and everything I've heard of the nuances of what happened, this is not a cut and dry situation, including the fact that the civilian unfortunately did strike the officer, and that's a fundamental problem. So what is clear to me, when an officer does something that’s inappropriate that merits either modification or suspension, it needs to happen and needs to happen quickly. When they don't, there are other types of corrective activities, retraining, and other things that can be used, but a piece of video doesn't always tell you the whole story. There's got to be every single case of full investigation and then if there's bigger, disciplinary action needs to happen, it will happen. And we're going to be very visible, you know, showing people that because it's important for the public to see it. And now because the laws have changed, we're going to be able to show people the disciplinary process in real time, on an ongoing basis. And that will be more and more true with every passing week as we make these changes.

Moderator: Next, we have Emily from NY1.

Question: Good morning, Mayor de Blasio.

Mayor: Hey Emily, how are you?

Question: I’m well, thank you. Hope you're well too. We’re of course, heartened by these three daily COVID indicators that show good progress and stabilization in the city, but I wondered if there's any data, however minor, that points to a potential resurgence, if you think – and if you think of resurgence is inevitable?

Mayor: I think inevitable is too big a word in this case. I think it is something we have to be prepared for Emily. I'm really concerned about people coming here and I want us to keep working with the State and the Port Authority to tighten up that quarantine program constantly. It’s a brand-new thing, obviously, it's a complex thing, but I want us to make that stronger all the time. I'm really happy about the size and the capacity of the test and trace program because that's one of the big X factors here in making sure that we can contain any problem we have. So we have to be ready as more and more activity occurs, but, I do think the difference here than other parts of the country is New Yorkers have shown tremendous commitment, partly because we walked through hell and we went through so much, but partly because New Yorkers actually have a sense of looking out for each other and thinking as a community that's real deep and we've seen it in crisis after crisis, and I think this is one of the reasons why you're not seeing a resurgence so far. Go ahead.

Question: And there's nothing in the data beyond those three indicators that's concerning to you and to your advisors in the least? I hear you entirely on improvements to the testing turnaround times, but the numbers are still good all around?

Mayor: We are watching the data all the time, every day, we're having these conversations. We're looking at different measures, not only our own State uses some other ones, but they're all consistent. Again, the concern we should all have as people coming in, in larger numbers from outside so far, we haven't seen huge numbers for obvious reasons because people aren't traveling as much, but we got to be really tight about that. And we got to be tight about the fall with the flu season. We’re going to be talking about that a lot in the coming weeks. But no, if the question is, are there any indicators causing a particular alarm right now? No, they've been actually strikingly consistent and favorable and it again, because New Yorkers are really out there doing things the right way.

Moderator: Last two for today. Next we have Joe from Politico.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. I wanted to ask you about a story my colleague Sally wrote. It was about a report that I think was spearheaded by Deputy Mayor Been, and it had some former city officials, Carl Weisbrod, Alicia Glenn, Jennifer Jones Austin, who came up with a bunch of ideas about you [inaudible] reopening. And, it was sort of never made out of the draft phase. Seems like it was quashed from within City Hall. I'm just wondering if you read it and you know what you thought about it? If so, you know, why it wasn't released?

Mayor: Yeah, that was an informal group as I understand it. I'm going to certainly look at what they put together, but that was a group of, you know, really good hearted people trying to offer ideas, obviously very early on when we were focused first and foremost on getting through the crisis, but now are more and more bringing in ideas from a lot of different people, Joe, to figure out the big steps, and I'll be talking more with each passing month about how we're going to bring the city back on a much bigger level.

Question: And then just to follow up on something that Yoav had asked. I was wondering if you could go into some more detail about these investigations. There seems to be some outcome that you or the NYPD is worried about. What – can you tell us why the existence of a concurrent criminal investigation would prevent the NYPD from releasing its own preliminary results? If these law enforcement agencies themselves are basically saying go right ahead, it doesn't bother us.

Mayor: Respectfully. I – you guys, I don't blame you for a moment – but you guys talked to whoever, a spokesperson or maybe you're talking to the DA or the Attorney General directly, but I don't receive formal legal information via the media. There are obviously very developed relationships between the police department, the DA's, the Attorney General's Office, and there are a lot of cross issues here in terms of whether one investigation would affect another one in terms of whether people are ready to speak to the NYPD investigators, if there is a higher level investigation going on, there's a bunch of moving parts. But the – your underlying concern, and Yoav’s, I think is exactly right. We've got to, you know, get to a simpler template of being able to say to the public, to the media, here's a case where we can speak right now and either there's a modification, there's a suspension, or decision that there is not one of those things. Yes, we are proceeding with further discipline. No, we're not, here's why, real simple. And if there is another entity involved, explain more clearly what the creation – what the problem being created there is that we have to navigate. So I'm going to – I think the concern is real. I do honor it and I want our team to do a better job giving you clear information and I will make it my business to do that.

Moderator: Last one for today. We have Abu from Bangla Patrika. Abu are you there?

Mayor: Abu, can you hear us?

Moderator: We're going to go on to Chip from Bonfire.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. I have a long question for you, but it's only one. You know the virus has shaken up a lot of people and kind of made them reassess their goals and aspirations for the future and what's important to them. You know, and after years in migration to, cities like New York, the virus may be pushing a younger, more affluent people out of the cities and into the suburbs. And this out migration is going to suck away revenues from the cities, leaving the tax burden on working class men and women who really can't afford to leave. And so my question to you is what would you tell people who are thinking about leaving New York City for the suburbs or rural areas?

Mayor: Well, Chip, I appreciate the question. It's an important question. So I've had a number of business leaders I've spoken to lately spontaneously use the same line, and they've used it, you know, half-jokingly and half very seriously, and they've said, ironically, New York City is the safest place in America right now in terms of dealing with this disease. The fact is this city has come back in an extraordinary fashion and the – what New Yorkers have done, everyday people have done, what our health care institutions have done, the caliber of our professionals in public and private service. You know, everything has kind of come to the fore. There's a reason we were able to come back from that and I think for a lot of people they are looking at that, and they're saying New York City is a very special place and they're seeing it actually in a new light. If you go back to February, Chip, we had the most jobs in our history, 4.6 million jobs. We obviously were in many ways at the best point we had been in our history in terms of our standing in the world, global economic capital, surging tech community, that didn't go away.

It is true some people may, for the short term decide that they would prefer to live elsewhere, but I think what you're going to see is quickly as we come back, many, many people will sense opportunity. Maybe the opportunity for them is that they can, you know, buy a home or buy a condo or a co-op a little cheaper. Maybe opportunity is they can invest in creating a business a little more easily. But what you're going to see is some people will stand back, other people will surge forward. We saw it after every crisis we've had. And again, people had left us for dead after the 60’s and 70’s, after 9-11, after the Great Recession, consistent pattern. The strength of New York City and the appeal of New York City comes to the fore and people start investing and people start coming here. And that reality of younger folks, particularly folks who are, you know, creative and entrepreneurial, wanting to be where the action is, that has not been changed. It may be paused a little while, but it hasn't been changed. So, give us time and we will prove the doubters wrong once again.

And with that, let me just conclude on this note, everyone, as we come back, let's really be there for the young people in the city, where I started today, let's support our young people. They've been through a lot. It's obvious they are our future, but we also, the love we feel for the young people of this city, we got to remember we got to support them in a special way. They're trying to make sense of the world. It's much harder to make sense of when you're younger. And if they know we have hope, they will feel hope. So there's real tough issues. There's things we have to overcome, but let's be proud of how far New York City has come. Let's be proud of where we are going because we've always found our way back to a better place, but let's communicate that to our young people. If our young people see we believe, they will believe. Let's do that all the time in this city. Thank you, everybody.

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