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Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Holds Media Availability

September 16, 2021

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. We see extraordinary progress with our recovery here in the city. And we know why – vaccination. Vaccination has made all the difference. Largest vaccination effort by far in the city's history. Well over 11 million doses, climbing all the time. Here are some facts a lot of people don't know, but you need to. 60 percent, 60 percent of all the residents of New York City are fully vaccinated now. 60 percent fully vaccinated – amongst adults, 80 percent have had at least one dose. And, again, we see, consistently, folks who get the first dose come back overwhelmingly, almost everyone comes back and gets that second dose. 80 percent of adults in New York City now have had at least one dose. So, we know now the question is, where do we go from here? We are going to keep building our vaccination effort constantly. We're going to keep reaching new people every day, but there's also the crucial question of boosters. Already for folks who are significantly immunocompromised boosters are available. But we are clear about the fact that the federal government is considering authorizing boosters on a larger scale, and we need to be ready to move on that immediately. The initial report was that it could be authorized for as soon as this coming Monday, September 20th, we have not gotten a clear formal indication from the federal government yet, but we're preparing on the assumption it could be as soon as next week because we have to. And we're going to go over today how we approach that because it's going to be a really important moment to get additional protection, to as many New Yorkers as possible. So again, we don't know the exact date, but we're going to be ready either way.   

So, today we detail the NYC Booster Shot Plan. And the foundation of the plan is the extraordinary number of decentralized vaccination sites we have all over the city, over 1,900 vaccination sites, unbelievable reach all over the five boroughs, and 25 City-sponsored sites that have been particularly high impact. We're keeping those open to prepare for a surge of demand when the booster shots are authorized for a larger population. So, we are going to prepare not only to have those fixed sites, but to have a variety of special outreach events to reach people who need those boosters. There'll be weekend booster shot events. We believe we can reach tens of thousands of people with outreach of all kinds. Obviously, walk-in will be available in lots and lots of places. What we're going to be doing the second we get the information – emails, texts sent out proactively to folks who are eligible, letting people know as soon as the detailed guidance comes exactly what it says. We need to be ready to move immediately. And we have proven we can do vaccination on a vast scale here in the city. Credit to all the vaccinators, credit to the Test and Trace team, everyone who has been a part of it, our healthcare leadership. We're ready to do this again with boosters. To give you an update based on what we know at this moment, and we are anxiously awaiting further detailed information from the federal government, but to give you the update based on what we know now, our Health Commissioner, Dr. Dave Chokshi.  

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor. The COVID-19 vaccines have already saved lives and prevented so much suffering. Booster doses are likely to help extend that protection, at least for some people, based on our current scientific understanding. So, let me try to break down what will happen in the next few weeks. Of the three authorized vaccines, currently Pfizer is being vetted by the FDA, which means it is likely to be the earliest to be approved for a booster. We still await further data related to Moderna and J&J but expect it to be forthcoming soon. As always, vaccines will be evaluated to ensure both safety and effectiveness. The next steps are for independent scientific committees of the FDA and the CDC to review the evidence and offer recommendations. The FDA committee is slated to meet tomorrow, and the CDC committee is slated to meet on September 22nd and 23rd. That's next week. Depending on their review, a booster for certain New Yorkers who received the Pfizer vaccine could get the green light as soon as next week.   

There is some scientific debate about precisely who would benefit from a booster dose, whether older adults or a broader population. That's why it is important to let the expert process play out as I have described, but it is highly likely that boosters will be authorized for some New Yorkers by next week. And New York City will be ready as the Mayor has described. One thing we should note, you should expect there to be some minimum interval of several months between your last dose and your booster. Not everyone will be eligible immediately. And remember that additional doses of both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are already authorized for people who are significantly immunocompromised, such as patients with cancer undergoing chemotherapy, some patients who received an organ transplant, and people with advanced HIV. You can find a full list of those conditions at nyc.gov/covidvaccine.   

Finally, I echo the Mayor's thanks to the people who helped us get to over 5.1 million New Yorkers fully vaccinated, namely the volunteers, City workers, and everyday people who won hearts and minds over the proverbial dinner table. Back to you, Mr. Mayor.  

Mayor: The proverbial dinner table. I like that, Dave. Very colorful, but yeah, that is exactly right. It is everyday New Yorkers who did this, who convinced their loved ones, their family, their friends, their neighbors, but also everyday New Yorkers who came forward to get vaccinated. That is a reason the city is coming back and it's astounding how many people made that choice. We're almost up to 5.7 million New Yorkers who have received at least one dose. And that's an amazing, amazing act of solidarity, of communal commitment, so many people coming forward. So, we're going to keep going every single day, more and more with vaccination, and we're going to work with every part of our community. And one thing that's really exciting is to see the positive impact that vaccination is having on the comeback of the city. And part of the city we love so much, we love particularly, it means so much to New Yorkers is our restaurant community and the hundreds of thousands of people who work in our restaurant community. Restaurants have been up and participating actively in our vaccination efforts. They're referring customers to vaccination sites. They're checking vaccination cards, Key to NYC, great cooperation we're getting out there. Restaurateurs understand that they can help everyone to move forward together.   

Today is an important day, it's Restaurant Vaccination Day of Action. So, today is a day where the restaurant community is working with the City to maximize vaccination. We're going to have mobile units outside restaurants around the city that are participating and it's – we’ll put up on the screen the different locations, because it's great to see so many restaurants that are part of this effort, that believe in involving their restaurant, their – excuse me, their customers, and reaching their customers and letting them know they can get vaccinated right now. I want you to hear about this effort and I want you to hear from someone who is part of an amazing, amazing New York City institution. It's one of my personal favorites, the Oyster Bar – the Oyster Bar and Restaurant at Grand Central Terminal. I'm going to hold up this menu because it's an amazing menu. I have spent many a day at the Oyster Bar and you can get essentially everything. If it comes from the sea, you can get it at the Oyster Bar, but you also get a big dose of history. The Oyster Bar has been there for over a hundred years. As long as Grand Central Station has been there, the Oyster Bar has been there. It's a beautiful location. I often, when I have guests coming in from out of town, including some of my relatives who came from Italy, I brought them to the Oyster Bar as one of the authentic New York City places to experience great food, great atmosphere, great history. And now the Oyster Bar is helping us get more and more New Yorkers vaccinated. I want you to hear from the executive chef and one of the partners in this amazing institution, he is also known affectionately as the Bishop of Bivalves. My great pleasure to introduce Sandy Ingber.  

[...]  

Thank you so much, Sandy. I’m so glad – I'm really glad you guys are coming back strong. Again, one of the great, great New York places. And thank you for your commitment to keeping the customer safe and thank you for bringing great food to New Yorkers for over 100 years. We'll see you soon at the oyster bar. 

Now, everybody, we continue to work to keep New Yorkers safe. It's working, the vaccination effort is having a huge impact, but, as I've said, our recovery depends on all forms of safety. We're working on all fronts to keep New York City healthy and safe. That obviously includes public safety in every way. Public safety will be a foundation of our recovery and our recovery will also help us to move along our progress on public safety. Yesterday, we announced something really important, an anti-violence jobs program. We're already seeing really promising impact from that. Today, we're going to do something else that's really going to help and it's all about reaching our young people, and reaching them in every way, helping encourage and support the kids who are on the right path – that’s the overwhelming majority of kids. And then, there are some kids who are teetering on the brink. There are some kids who are really affected by some of the negative impulses or realities around them. We've got to help those kids. So, we're going to do that in a lot of ways.  

Today, we're announcing something amazing. It is something that will reach kids in public housing all over the city, a positive opportunity, and one that shows how much we care about our young people, and respect them, and something that will be exciting for them. The NYCHA Youth Basketball League launches in partnership with the New York Knicks and Madison Square Garden. I want to thank the Knicks, thank Madison Square Garden for really showing commitment to our young people, particularly young people in public housing who need it. There'll be over 144 teams from across the city, 3,000 players will be involved. We're going to do something special here and it's going to be felt by thousands and thousands more. It's going to be something that's really exciting for people in the community. And we're focusing on where the need is greatest, where we've seen too much violence and we have to create positive options and positive forward motion. There's going to be not only the games, there's going to be skills and drills, clinics for younger kids with the Knicks. And it's going to be particularly powerful, because a lot of games will be played on the courts that have been refurbished and made beautiful at public housing by the NYPD, another great example of NYPD bonding and connecting with communities, connecting with young people. This is going to be very, very special. Our young people are going to be moved by the things that engage them in the positive options. Seeing adults, including our police officers, out there, supporting them, cheering them on, encouraging them, athletes coming out to help them, all of these positive things move our young people. And we also know if we reach them with arts and culture, we reach them with sports, it helps them to engage everything else – academics and their future in so many ways.  

Now, our young people – we know this is a basketball city. Young people love basketball, but they may not know the history as well as they might. So, I want to give a little history lesson, a little story, going back long, long ago in the misty, misty ages long ago – 1993, Knicks versus the Bulls. Picture a pivotal moment in a game, picture a decisive game – under a minute left, the Knicks need one more basket to win, and who comes forward? A great New York hero, John Starks, dribbles up the court, fakes out his defender, dives into the key, rises up and slams down what is now legendarily known the dunk. And who did he dunk right over? Michael Jordan and Horace Grant. As you see on your screens right now, a legendary New York City basketball moment, and one for the ages. And I'm telling you this, because it's history worth celebrating. And I'm telling you this, because we're about to be joined by someone – there are a lot of people who are loved by New Yorkers, this is one of the guys who was most loved because of his grit, his determination, his energy, his passion. He exemplifies everything good about this city. And he cares about the city and the young people. And that's why he is getting involved in helping our young kids in public housing with this amazing new basketball league. What an honor to present to you, ladies and gentlemen, John Starks. 

[…] 

Mayor: Hey, John, thank you. And I’ve got to tell you, I want to just thank you, because I know you care so much. I was with you up in the Northeast Bronx with the Edenwald YMCA opening. It was just a couple of weeks ago, and you took the time to be there, and you're taking the time to be a part of this initiative when NYCHA. People have been through a lot the last year-and-a-half and seeing our heroes out there with us makes a big, big difference and it gives people hope. So, I want to really thank you for your personal commitment, particularly to the young people in New York City. 

Now, I would editorialize that a lot of us would like to see John back on the court right now to help the Kicks. I'd like to turn to a Knicks fan – a long suffering, but still hopeful Knicks fan, who hails from the Bronx, and represents the 36th State Senate district in the Bronx, one of the great rising stars in public service in this city. And even though he's been a Knicks fan, he has maintained his hope and his determination – State Senator Jamaal Bailey. 

[…] 

Mayor: I like it. I like your spirit. You're going to the Knicks too, I think. You're going to be part of the reinforcements. I can feel it. Thank you so much, Senator.  

All right, now, everyone, a lot going on, as always, and this city keeps fighting back, and we keep proving that amazing things can happen in New York City. Tomorrow, we’re putting out a report, and it's sounds, as the Senator just said, sounds kind of nerdy, but it really speaks to life in the city, and the life of our people, and what we're able to do to make people's lives better. It's called the Mayor's Management Report. It’s something that's been issued for decades, all throughout the last eight years of my administration. There were 2,000 different indicators related to government, related to the economy, you name it. This is the last one we'll be doing in my administration. So, it looks over the last eight years. And I just want to give a couple of points, because I think it's so important. This report talks about education, highest graduation rate in the history of the city, and climbing – 78.7 percent last year. We are going to keep pushing that up in the years to come, because of all the investments we now have in place, all of the new approaches. Pre-K, of course, massive increase in the number of kids in pre-K, and, now, 3-K, which didn't even use to exist. That's been a game-changer for our kids and families. The fight for safety, we've had tough time in the last-year-and-a-half, but, overall, New York City, over these eight years, incredible progress, including something striking – major felony crimes, having decreased 13.4 percent over the last eight years. That is really the big picture and that's what we're going to keep working on and building. Almost 200,000 affordable homes preserved or built. Over 500 miles of new bike lanes – you name it, including the Brooklyn Bridge just this week. Lots of great things in there, and challenges, issues we're still working on, problems that came up with COVID, things we still need to solve. Undoubtedly, like every report, you're going to find some things that we feel great about, and other things that we have to do a lot more work on. But what it does prove is the ability of this city to move forward and do great things. And I'll tell you, some of the things I just mentioned there – pre-K, for example; the affordable housing plan, for example; bringing down crime the way it has been, not only in these last eight years overall, but in the 25 plus-years since CompStat began – all of these things, they said couldn't be done. I really want to remind people as I'm preparing to leave office, I'll be speaking about some of the lessons learned – don't believe the naysayers is one of the biggest lessons, because all of these massive changes were supposed to be in the eyes of many observers impossible, and yet they all happened. And that gives me such hope for this city.  

I also love to be out all around the neighborhoods of this city, seeing the number-one greatest strength we have, which is our people. And so, next week it'll be my joy to be in Queens. We're taking City Hall to the borough of Queens. So, City Hall in Your Borough all next week, a lot of exciting events, a lot of special moments ahead. We celebrate Queens. We're going to be making some major announcements about Queens, and I am looking forward to a very special week. Also, a hell of a lot of good food in Queens. I'm going to try and eat as much of it as possible.  

Okay, let's go to our indicators. So, number-one, again, this vaccination effort, just growing constantly. As of today, 11,135,051 doses administered to-date, and you're going to see those mobile vans out at restaurants. It's going to be great today. Number two, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 104 patients, 36.6, 1 percent confirmed positivity. Hospitalization rate 1.15 per 100,000. And number three, new reported cases on a seven-day average – today’s report, 1,543 cases. I want to say a few words in Spanish on the very important topic we started with, the booster shop plan. And again, emphasizing, we are ready. We’re waiting for the federal government to tell us how and when, but we are ready. We want all New Yorkers to know that. 

[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: Good morning. We will now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we are joined by Dr. Dave Chokshi, Dr. Mitch Katz, and Small Business Services Commissioner Jonnel Doris. Our first question today goes to James Ford from PIX-11. 

Question: Well, I'm excited to be first. Thank you so much. 

Mayor: You know, James, since it's a sports day here, it takes a spunky, energetic, party-starter to go first. So, you're the one. 

Question: I do appreciate that. Let's dive in. About the booster shots, my question would be why unveiled the booster plan now when the White House and federal health authorities can't yet confirm the use and administration of boosters? I mean, I think I get that. You want to show that you all are ready, but why now when the federal government doesn't fully have its act together? 

Mayor: Well, one of the things we've learned along the way – there's the famous phrase, God bless the child that's got their own. We have to be ready, because, originally, in fact, we heard it from the President of the United States, September 20th. And if suddenly that were to be the active date, we have to be ready, because people will rightfully demand immediate action. But we don't know if it's that date or a different date, James. And, look, of course, it's a little frustrating that it's gray right now, but we are ready. We want new Yorkers to know, a lot of people are asking us about it, so we want people to know there's a huge amount of vaccine sites. We have a lot of vaccine in reserve. It's on our minds, it's on the front of our minds. We're ready. The moment we get the date to start and the ground rules, we'll announce those, and then start serving people immediately. Go ahead, James. 

Question: And a question for my colleague, Kala Rama, could we get your response to several videos and pictures of overcrowded schools across the city, images that show no social distancing? 

Mayor: I haven't seen those images. I want to. So, James, if you and Kala will share them with my team, I'll make sure they show me. But what we have seen, overwhelmingly, is a set of rules that everyone's very committed to. And, of course, it's the very beginning of school. So, people are working out in new conditions how to get things right. But I want to go by the year-and-a-half evidence we have, the way our educators handled last school year, the way they handled Summer Rising, tremendous devotion to applying our approach effectively. The first few days of school, it takes time to sort things out, unquestionably. But I'm quite convinced that everyone's committed to doing this the right way and doing it safely. 

Moderator: Our next question goes to Juliet from 1010 WINS. 

Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everybody on the call. I also have a question about boosters. Will this be an addition to walk-ins? Will there be signups for this? Where do people go for that? And what do you do if you start seeing, you know, long lines form for the walk-ins? 

Mayor: Great question, Juliet, I'm going to turn to Dr. Chokshi and Dr. Katz to talk about how they're going to manage the process. Remember, we have the great benefit of having given over 11 million doses already and determined different approaches that work, and also managing things like lines when we've had them. I think there will be a lot of demand, but again, we've got 1,900 sites. Most people will be working from the appointment basis. That's what we've seen throughout, but what's most important is we have capacity. So, I want you to hear from Dr. Chokshi and Dr. Katz about how they're going to manage the process and particularly your question about lines at walk-in sites. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir, and you covered all of the high points, a major one is that, you know, we have the health care infrastructure that we've built up over the last several months for COVID-19 vaccination. Those are not just the city sites, which have very significant through put, but also pharmacies, hospitals, clinics, all of the places that we've been able to bring online during the period of our vaccination campaign to handle both appointments and walk-ins, as the Mayor said. With respect to lines, you know, we do anticipate that there will be more demand in the initial days and what we're going to do is message as we have the broad network where people can go to distribute that demand across that decentralized set of over 1,900 sites. And then at specific sites, you know, when there are lines, we'll use the same techniques that we did earlier in the campaign offering people a slightly later appointment, if they don't want to wait online, and of course prioritizing people who are particularly elderly or have problems walking to get them to the front of the line to maximize their comfort. Thank you. 

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Katz, you want to add. 

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals:  I would just add that Health + Hospitals through our 11 hospitals and all of our outpatient clinics are prepared to provide the booster shots in both appointments slots and in walk-ins, we're well experienced on how to socially distance people when we have lines and how to work down the lines and how to find the people who may be elderly and cannot stand on lines. And I feel confident that we'll be able to do well in the boosters whenever they are approved. Thank you, sir.  

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Juliet. 

Question: Okay. Thank you, also what more can you or Dr. Chokshi or Dr. Katz tell us about the COVID cluster stemming from the Electric Zoo event? 

Mayor: I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi to give you an update on the best we know about that. Go ahead, doctor – and maybe Dr. Katz as well, because of Test and Trace, which obviously is doing follow ups. So, who wants to start? I'll give a free choice, which of you wants to start? 

Commissioner Chokshi: I'm happy to start, sir, and, and thank you, yes. So, the Health Department is investigating this cluster of COVID-19 cases. It was linked to the Electric Zoo. It's a music festival that occurred over Labor Day weekend. Thus far we've identified 16 people as part of the cluster, and at least some of them appear to have been potentially contagious during the time that they were at the festival. And so that is what has led to our most important recommendation, which is if you were someone who was at the festival, even if only for one day or one event during the three days of the festival, we do encourage you to get tested and that recommendation stands regardless of your vaccination status, but it's particularly important if you've had symptoms recently, we encourage you to get tested. You can find a testing location at nyc.gov/covidtest in order to do that. The last thing that I'll say is that our investigation is multi-jurisdictional, that means that we're communicating with other state and local health departments to identify cases among residents of other jurisdictions. This helps us develop the full picture of what has happened related to this particular cluster of cases. Thank you. 

Mayor: Thank you, Dr. Katz, anything you want to add. 

President Katz: The Test and Trace operation has worked hard on these cases and interviewing the people who are from New York City and figuring out what their contacts are. This is one of our most effective ways of preventing further transmission of COVID. Thank you, sir. 

Mayor: Thank you. 

Moderator: Our next question goes to Chris from the New York Daily News. 

Question: How are you doing today? 

Mayor: Good, Chris, how’ve you been? 

Question: Good. I wanted to ask you about the Dangerous Vehicle Abatement Program and comments you made earlier in the week where you said you wanted to find out why the program hasn't been implemented on a timely basis. Then yesterday, your Transportation Commissioner said that the programs classes were never meant to start until this fall anyway. So, what exactly is going on there? 

Mayor: Yeah, Chris, it's – I've looked at it carefully. It is very much about the disruption caused by COVID. We originally were planning to move aggressively when we looked at the whole budget situation and what could be done in person in the spring last year, 2020. It was one of the things that got put on hold because we did not believe we'd be able to do in-person classes and because we were holding off a number of areas of spending, because we had a very, very dire situation. We didn't know where it was going. Once that got resolved, we put it back on track. There was certainly some issue with a private vendor we were dealing with, we're just doing this now, it will be up and running shortly. It has to be up and running. So, it's a tortured tale because it's caught up in COVID and caught up in crisis, but it's something we are absolutely committed to moving right away. Go ahead, Chris. 

Question: Thank you, and on a different topic with the situation going on Rikers Island. You've made no secret about the fact that you want the Less Is More Act signed promptly, but on a purely practical level, even if that's signed by the Governor today, it appears it won't actually take effect until March of next year at the earliest. So, why do you believe it's such an integral part of addressing the crisis in the short term? 

Mayor: Very important question, Chris, thank you for asking. In fact, I have spoken to the Governor, a very productive conversation last week, and the Governor does have the ability to implement it immediately, that's my understanding from our team and we need that. We need – it would allow us in short order to get hundreds of people out of Rikers. Remember, a lot of folks – there's two parallel realities, there's a lot of folks who are in Rikers who really should be in a State prison system, not in the city jail. And second, there are folks who do not need to be incarcerated, and that's the point of Less Is More if it is a type of technical violation that does not require incarceration. So, when it comes to any situation, we're talking about how we stop violence and protect public safety, obviously, I feel strongly about making the whole criminal justice system work and those who need to be behind bars should be. But there are some people who clearly don't need to be behind bars and this act would allow us to act on that the right way and it can be done immediately. 

Moderator: Our next question goes to Steve Burns from WCBS 880. 

Question: Mr. Mayor, how are you today? 

Mayor: Good, Steve, how are you doing? 

Question: Doing all right. First question, I wanted to go back to booster shots. The Governor –current Governor – seems to be operating this a little bit differently from the previous governor. I believe she said last week that the big vax sites like Javits Center, Aqueduct, would be available again, those mass vax sites would be available if localities asked for them essentially. So, I wanted to see if you have any plans to ask the State for reinforcements, essentially, because it seems like the ball would be in your court to ask this as opposed to last time when it was kind of dropped in in your jurisdiction. 

Mayor: Steve, thank you, really important question. I thank the Governor because, you know, she was a local official and she talks about a lot and she has respect for county executives and town supervisors and mayors, and understands the role that we play and, and actually wants to communicate and figure out what will work, which is very, very helpful. In terms of our experience, and I would love to have Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Katz weigh in, we found the decentralized sites to be far more effective than the mass sites as it were, and we found them to do a much better job of reaching the whole of our population and the diversity of population. We want to be able to handle the demand with the boosters. I think we have a lot of capacity that will be able to match it, including, of course, all our colleagues in the in the voluntary hospitals, et cetera. But if we ever needed more help from the State, we wouldn't hesitate to ask for it. So, we'll get direct response from the two people who have the best perspective on whether they see a need for those mass sites in the short term on boosters, starting with Dr. Choksi. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you so much, sir. I think you laid out the stepped approach that we have planned very well, which is we have a tremendous amount of capacity in the sites that are already running today. These are the pharmacies, the hospitals, the clinics that continue to administer first and second doses, and it's an opportunity for me to emphasize that that remains the most important thing we can do with respect to turning the corner on the pandemic, is getting as many people who are unvaccinated to get their first dose as possible. But then, as you said, we have our city sites and we have the ability to expand capacity at those sites if needed including the weekend events that that the Mayor described, and we've appreciated the culture of collaboration with the State, including the State Health Department and certainly can step up the approach further if we're finding that that demand is greater than that very significant capacity that I've described. So, we'll take all appropriate steps and monitor it particularly in the initial day and days of the rollout. Thank you. 

Mayor: Dr. Katz. 

President Katz: Yes, I agree. I think local sites work best and that we have enough sites, and we have enough vaccine and enough personnel, but as you and Dr. Chokshi has said, we wouldn't hesitate if we needed additional help to ask the State to open up additional sites. I just don't think that that will turn out to be necessary or make it more efficient. I think the local sites seem to bring out people best. Thank you.  

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Steve. 

Question: Much, appreciate that. On a separate topic, I wanted to turn back to safe streets, and I guess the question of your legacy on that topic. I know we've seen a lot more bike lanes, we've seen the Vision Zero efforts amp up, and I know that's been kind of your point of emphasis as we talked about this over the last week, but we also seen traffic fatalities go back to their highest level since you took office. So, as we see, I'm sure you've heard the kind of raw pain that a lot of these families that have lost loved ones have gone through, often visiting sites that were close to the deaths of their own loved ones where another crash has happened. So, what would you say your legacy is and what can still be improved on city streets? I know Albany plays a role as well, but ultimately you can redesign streets, you can put in bike and bus lanes on your own. So, what is your legacy on safe streets as we close out your time in office? 

Mayor: Well, I appreciate the question a lot, Steve, and it's, it's really important. And before I talk about the legacy, I want to say there's a lot of pain out there and I've met with a lot of the families who have lost loved ones, and so many of them have turned, you know, tremendous pain, like lifelong pain that they will be feeling into incredible energy to move, change and save other people's lives and save other families from the agony. And you particularly see groups I honor so much like Families for Safe Streets, who I work with very closely, they're fighting now for the kinds of things that really are the next wave, like the Crash Victims Act in Albany. This is pivotal. We have got to get the bigger commitment from the state government, the federal government to the Vision Zero type approach. We've proven it works in the nation's largest city, but you cannot do it in isolation, we need all levels of government helping. So, the Crash Victims Act passed one house legislature, it needs to pass the other house and be signed by the Governor, that can happen this year still because it's likely at some point the legislature comes back. And I think everyone who's feeling such passion rightfully right now about this issue, help us get this legislation passed, it would make a world of difference.  

But to the legacy quickly, Steve, I think what I'm proud of is we've changed the entire dialogue, the entire assumption about what can be done. When I announced Vision Zero in 2014, another example of so many naysayers that said it would not work, it could not work, New Yorkers would reject it, and in fact, it's now something that is very, very intensely supported by new Yorkers. New Yorkers believe in Vision Zero and all the things we have to do to protect people. There's a huge amount of enforcement happening that didn't used to, things like speed cameras, and school speed cameras, used to be controversial, they're now much more broadly supported, all the traffic redesigns, greater enforcement by the NYPD. All of these things are having an impact. But what we found, and again, if people want to have an honest conversation, then we have to understand a global pandemic disrupted a huge amount of progress. If you want to understand these big initiatives over eight years, then look at 2014 through 2019 and see what you see. 2020, 2021 are massively affected by pandemic, and it's such a holistic, such a total impact on our society, you can't act like that didn't happen. What has happened as a result, way too many people are in their cars, and some of them are acting very recklessly. And we saw this week, Steve, MTA reporting they're now gone past the 50 percent mark in terms of subway ridership returning to pre-pandemic levels, that's a really hopeful sign. We have to do more and more and more get people back to subways, buses, ferries, you name it, bikes, out of cars. That is the number one thing we need to do to restore the progress of Vision Zero. But what I'm proud of is it is the right model. It has changed the entire discussion. The mindset it's changed the behavior of drivers, and we need to do a lot more to build upon it. 

Moderator: For our next question, we’ll go to Emma Fitzsimmons from the New York Times. 

Question: Good morning, Mayor. I have a question from one of my colleagues. So, in three of these recent child deaths, Julissia Batties, Legacy Beauford, and Jaycee Eubanks, the families were reported for severe physical or sexual abuse that was investigated by both ACS and NYPD. In two cases, the investigations ended with no finding of abuse, even though neither child was examined by a pediatrician or forensically interviewed. Can you explain why those steps were not taken? And do you think they should have been? 

Mayor: Well, Emma, first of all, I've worked on these issues of child protection for decades and every single one of these tragedies needs a full investigation. And anytime we find either that someone made a mistake in one of the city agencies, in which case that person needs to be held accountable, or we find something structural that needs to change, we've got to make that reform. We do see, in too many, cases and this goes back now in my experience decades to some of the most painful and most prominent cases that really grip the entire city. What a lot of times we see is a new person enters the equation – too often, unfortunately, a boyfriend who comes along later and is the assailant. A lot of times, that's something that doesn't get tracked. It's just not part of the equation when the investigation happens, it happens later and it's horrible, and it's tragic. But that said, even though we've seen that kind of thing, every one of these needs a full investigation, and we have to act on what we find. I'm waiting to hear on these recent cases what the consequences have to be either in terms of some structural change or have any employees have to be held accountable but don't have those full investigations done yet. Go ahead, Emma. 

Question: And then looking to the management report, you mentioned some of the highlights, but you know, what statistic where you perhaps most excited about and what statistic did you find the most disappointing? 

Mayor: Thank you for the question. The disappointing was what you would expect, and so in some ways, you know, when you know something's because of COVID, it’s just as horrible, it's just as painful, but it's not a surprise. So, you'll see in there, the areas where I know COVID has been underlying – the problem we just talked about – the traffic fatalities, for example, some of what we've seen with crime, some what we see in terms of Department of Correction, all of that is because COVID set a whole series of things in motion. There are other problems, always. I'm not trying to say COVID is the only problem. I'm saying the numbers you'll see in the report that are not satisfying at all have, in many cases, a basis in the disruption of COVID. It doesn't mean anything, but we have to keep working with every tool we've got to fix it. 

What's moving, what's inspiring is that the big goals, the push goals, the notion that we could call upon government to do things that it had never done before worked so consistently. I have come to the conclusion, Emma, that the limitations that bureaucracy has put on themselves are extraordinarily artificial. The presumed legal limitations, the presumed personnel limitations, whatever it is, so much of the time is a falsehood and a sort of artifice that gets created in an internal dialogue where people allow themselves to think they can't do something when in fact they can. When pushed to do great things, this government is capable of great things, this city's capable of great things. So, when you look at the numbers of crime over the eight years, the way crimes have pushed down in addition to what was done since CompStat, it's breathtaking. Pre-K – stunningly fast how that was achieved, and 3-K now behind it. These are very, very inspiring things. And so, I hope people stop for a moment to recognize whatever the challenges are going forward, starting with climate change. We've proven we can do big and very bold things here in the city. 

Moderator: Our next question goes to Michelle from the Associated Press. 

Mayor: Michelle. Michelle, can you hear us?  

Question: Can you hear me? 

Mayor: Wait, wait, there she is. You’re faint, Michelle. Try turning up your volume or – there we go.  

Question: Is that better?  

Mayor: Much better. 

Question: Okay, great. Thanks, Mayor. I wanted to ask about the vaccination requirement as it applies to the UN General Assembly meeting next week. The Russian ambassador has criticized the city's notice to the UN. He said, this is a discriminatory infringement on the nation's rights at the UN. He also said that it was it did not take into account people who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons or who might've received a vaccine that did not have World Health Organization approval such as Russia's Sputnik-5vaccine. I'm wondering if you could respond to him? 

Mayor: My simple statement to begin is if the Russian ambassador is against it, I'm for it. This is – you know, I have no words for Vladimir Putin and everything else that’s come out of Russia, but they have invalidated themselves in so many ways it's including trying to disrupt our elections. So, if their vaccine isn't good enough, then they should go and use one of the other vaccines. And that's what we're making available. I spoke to Secretary General Guterres two weeks ago, and we had a very good conversation. He's been outstanding in trying to push the highest health standards for the General Assembly. We'll have vaccination sites available. Anyone who is not yet vaccinated can get vaccinated. Anyone who's had a non-approved vaccine can get one of the ones that we're using here that are effective. And I think to the credit of the leadership of the United Nations, they've put stringent rules in place, for the General Assembly. And that's really important for this city, but for the whole world as well. Go ahead, Michelle. 

Question: I just wanted to follow up on that a little bit. You mentioned the conversation you had a couple of weeks ago. Can you talk about the decision-making that went into this process? Did this originate with the City, did the State Department or the UN ambassador discussed this with the City? Where did this this originate? 

Mayor: I had a built a relationship with the Secretary General when he first came into that office and think very, very highly of him. So, I reached out to him proactively to say, “hey, here are our standards in the city.” And we understand the United nations is a particular organization, has its own rules and its own jurisdiction. But we – you know, I expressed to him how important it was to have continuity with what we're doing in the city, just for the health and welfare of everyone. And to his credit, he was very receptive, and I know it's tremendously complex, you know, hundreds of nations and everyone has different approaches. I do feel for everyone in the UN leadership that they've got a really complex task, but I appealed directly on behalf of New York City, and to help us protect the progress we've made. I don't know what else was happening with the federal government, for example, but I do want to give the Secretary General credit. I think he very much was trying to find every way to work cooperatively with his member states, to maximize vaccination, and to create the most protected environment for the General Assembly. 

Moderator: We have time for two more questions today. The next question goes to Katie Honan from The City. 

Question: Good morning, Mayor de Blasio. How are you? 

Mayor: Good, Katie, how have you been? 

Question: Good. I have a question. I know when you were announcing the vaccine mandate, you said that the City would have people go door-to-door to every single business to do outreach. Do you have the stats on that? Did you reach every single business [inaudible] how many businesses there are, and do you have that information? 

Mayor: I don't have the stats. I'll turn to our Small Business Services Commissioner Jonnel Doris to go over what he knows. I know there was a very, very extensive outreach effort over the course of a month, including, obviously, anyone who asked for a visit or wanted to go through things over the phone, online, whatever it was, but in terms of the reach and what we found I'll turn to the Commissioner. I also want to say before we do, Katie, of all the great journalists in the city, I expect to see you out there during Queens Week, okay? Just putting down that marker. And now, Commissioner Doris. 

Commissioner Jonnel Doris, Department of Small Business Services: Thank you, Katie. Thank you, Mr. Mayor for that question. So, as you know, we had over 600 canvassers canvassing the city, got to about 37,000 businesses. Department of Small Business Services already has webinars every Wednesday. We’ve already helped about 750 businesses who attended and [inaudible] about 2,600 calls to our hotline. And so again, it's basically walking through the process with these businesses, making sure that they understand what the requirements are, but also, you know, [inaudible] them aware of our services as well – you know, making sure that they know if they need any additional assistance, we can provide for them. 

Mayor: Excellent. Go ahead, Katie. 

Question: Thank you. And yeah, speaking of Queens, as you might be aware of the bridge to Rikers Island actually is in East Elmhurst. My colleague Reuvain Blau wrote about some of the issues with getting inmates to their court date at Queens Criminal Court. So, while you'll be in Queens next week, seems like a good time to cross the bridge and visit Rikers since you'll be in Queens, anyway. Do you plan on it? 

Mayor: As I said, Katie, I've been asked this several times right now, I'm having a number of meetings and conversations to address the underlying issues, including with the state, including with DA’s, different departments of the city. We’ve got a lot of work to do to make sure we get each and every one of these issues address so, we can improve the situation. That's where I'm putting my energy right now. I will be visiting, but I'll be visiting when I've gotten the work done to address these new challenges and make sure that we are moving forward. This is a particular set of challenges we have not seen previously, but I am convinced the plan we have is going to address them. That's my focus. 

Moderator: Our last question for today goes to Christina from Chalkbeat. 

Question: Hi, Mayor. Thanks for taking my question. I want to ask about school transportation. We're hearing, quite frankly, horror stories from parents – they say that buses are not showing up that their children, often children with special needs are spending hours and hours on buses and some are being taken to the wrong schools. Additionally, we've heard that students are still missing MetroCards. So, while other cities and states are considering calling the National Guard to try to get as school buses running efficiently, I'm wondering what you're doing to address the school bus issue. And additionally, what's holding up the MetroCards. 

Mayor: Christina, I'm going to tell you, first of all, I'm very, very much appreciate anytime a journalist helps us identify a problem that we're not seeing the specifics of. If you have specific cases, we need to know about them, we’ll absolutely be respectful of the families involved, but we need to know each and every one of these reports. I've spoken to the First Deputy Mayor a number of times this week, of course, the Chancellor, elected officials. I'm not hearing a bigger trend here. I care about each and every one of these situations, I want to address them, but I'm not hearing what you just reported. And I want to know if there's something bigger going on, or isolated instances that we need to fix specifically. So, I'll follow up right now on all of that.  

MetroCard distribution, again, not hearing a specific problem. Let me find out what's going on. We'll get you an update in the course of the day, but any specifics you can give us, or all of your colleagues listening, we welcome reports on where there are problems. The first week or two of school, there's always adjustments to be made, but if there's something we can fix it, we're going to fix it right away. Go ahead, Christina. 

Question: Additionally, I wanted to ask about youth vaccination rates. You provide breakdowns by zip code for adults. But the most granular breakdown I've seen for youth is by borough. I've asked DOH and DOE for more granular youth vaccination data. I'm wondering if you can provide that or if you have any plans to? 

Mayor: I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi. I want to do the overview right now, that today's report: 356,257 kids in the 12 to 17-year-old range have gotten at least one dose, that is 68.5 percent. That's a really great number. And that's going to keep growing, I think, a lot in the next few weeks. In terms of breaking it out, the more we can break out the better the sometimes there's limits on how much we can produce consistently and accurately, but I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi. What can we do to provide Christina with a better picture of it? What's going on with youth vaccination? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thanks Mr. Mayor, and thank you, Christina, for the question. We'll certainly be happy to follow up on the inquiry depending on the numbers particularly at the ZIP code level. There may not be sufficient numbers with respect to being able to calculate vaccination rates, which of course is, you know, the most important part of the data for us to be able to share. But as the Mayor said, we have been making good progress and those numbers have grown to over 356,000 young New Yorkers now. So, there may be ways for us to share that going forward. Thank you. 

Mayor: Thank you very much, Dave and everyone. As we conclude today, let's look at our young people. They are leading the way. Remember this is the category of New Yorkers who as most recently been able to get vaccinated months and months later than most adults and yet a stunning level of vaccination among youngest New Yorkers. A lot of times, it is the young people helping their parents and grandparents to understand how important it is to get vaccinated. So, I want to give a shout out and a thanks to the young people in New York City. And I want to say to all parents, as a parent myself, please – you have a lot of opportunity to get your kids vaccinated, today, tomorrow, every single one of the public schools that your kids go to, if they're not vaccinated, they can get vaccinated right there in the school for free. Let's get this done so we can keep moving forward as a city. Thank you, everyone. 

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