Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Delivers Remarks at the Grand Opening of the Major R. Owens Health and Wellness Community Center

October 27, 2021

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Thank you. Everybody, isn't this beautiful?  

[Applause] 

Isn't it amazing? First of all, Joe, thank you. And thank you to everyone on the advisory board, everyone from the community who helped create this vision. I hope you're feeling incredibly gratified that you had a vision, you push for a vision, and it's here – it's actually here. Look around the room at everyone who was a part of this process of bringing forward is incredible day. Look around at all the people who made this possible. Give your neighbor a round of applause. 

[Applause] 

So, this is a dream – literally, a dream come true. And we went down this path in my neighborhood here in Brooklyn as well. We had an armory, it was unused. It was sitting there in the middle of the community. It wasn't helping people. And for years, the question was could something ever be different? And I'll tell you, there's many times in so many situations I've seen where people understandably get frustrated, they get a little hopeless, and they say how is it possible that so much good could happen with a building and it's just sitting there and no one benefits. There's no child playing there. There's no community member who can go and experience something better, and it just sits there. But then, we saw people come together and say something beautiful could happen here, something that could change the community for the better, something that could reach people in their everyday lives and just, literally, make life better. And that's what's been achieved here.  

If you are a parent, like me, you know there's nothing more precious than a beautiful and safe place for our children to play. Laurie, you agree with that statement? You're being very quiet, Laurie Cumbo – 

[Laughter] 

Laurie, is there anything more important than a beautiful and safe place for our children to play? 

[Applause] 

We’ve got to work Laurie up the scale, her volume can be very impressive when she gets going. So, I think of this as a blessing. I think of this as something transformational. And I also think it sends a message to our kids about the way we value them. This is for the whole community, but I want to speak about our children. Our children are very perceptive. If you don't invest in them, they can tell. If they don't have a beautiful, and safe, and modern place to play, if they are relegated to something less, they feel like they're being treated like they're less-than. It communicates to them something about their worth and we cannot allow that to happen. That is unacceptable. Our children are precious. They are our hopes. They are our dreams. They need to walk into a place like this and feel that all things are possible for them and that nothing is more important to us than our children. When you walk in here – I just walked in here for the first time. I'd never seen it. I'd heard about it. I’d seen pictures. I had never experienced until I walked in that door a minute ago, and I stopped dead in my tracks, and I said, something amazing is happening here. And think1 of every child who will walk that same path, and be moved, and think of the hope it will generate in them.  

To everyone who has been a part of this, everyone who dreamed of it, everyone fought for it. I'm thankful to you. I know it was not easy. I know it was not easy. And I want to give a special thanks to a colleague in government who believed and took on the tough fight to make this happen. And there's a reason her voice is so loud, because she actually is trying to do something for people and she was doing it long before she was an elected official. She was bringing culture to the people of our community. Now, she's bringing all this with her efforts. Let's thank Council Member Laurie Cumbo. 

[Applause] 

It was worth it, Laurie. There are some many people in government who don't get the credit they deserve. Every day – literally, every day, they're trying to create affordable housing, and jobs, and recreation spaces, and things that will change people's lives. They don't get enough credit, but I'm going to give credit – Deputy Mayor Vicki Been, thank you for your leadership, helping this to happen.  

[Applause] 

And the President of EDC, Rachel Lobe, thank you, and everyone at EDC. They do amazing things at EDC. They create beautiful things. Thank you. We remember two great people in this larger, incredible space. First of all, I'm moved to see Carey Gabey’s name, such a good young man who was doing so much good and was taken from us.  

[Applause] 

But I want to thank Trenelle for keeping his memory alive and fighting to end the scourge of violence and to protect our kids. Thank you, Trenelle. Where are you? Thank you so much. 

[Applause] 

And Congressman Major Owens – I knew Major Owens, I saw him on his journey. It was such an amazing thing. Major Owens represented a vision of change in Brooklyn, and he helped to achieve it. And he believed that the status quo we all came up with didn't have to remain the same. He was really a change-agent in every way. He was a community organizer. The fact that we can stand here in his memory and say the words Major R. Owens Health and Wellness Community Center, that moves me, because that's a kind of fitting tribute to someone who did so much for us. This is a living memorial. Statues are nice and paintings are nice, but someplace that kids and families will become healthier and happier – that is a fitting tribute to Major Owens. Let's send him a salute. 

[Applause] 

Everything that people experience here, the basketball courts – they’re beautiful. Soccer, dance, all these things will make people healthier and happier. And the fact – swimming pool, I mean, it's amazing. This is everything you want for every community. But the fact there’s also going to be 250 affordable homes for New Yorkers and need a place they can afford to live, that is beautiful.  

[Applause] 

And the last thing I'll say is, it's powerful that we're doing this right now. I want to ask, a show of hands – has anyone have a conversation with anyone in the last two years since COVID hit – in last two years, did you come across anyone who said, New York City’s not going to make it, New York City's not going to be the same, everyone's going to leave New York City. Raise your hand if you had anybody in your life say, I'm not sure about New York City anymore. Here's my message – never bet against New York City.  

[Applause] 

And whatever you do, never bet against Brooklyn. God help us – never, ever, ever, ever bet against Brooklyn. 

[Applause] 

So, we're opening something astounding as we're finishing the fight against a global pandemic. We didn't crumble under the pressure. We didn't stop. We didn't say, oh, it's everything's lost. We said, keep going, keep fighting, keep building. The Crown Heights community deserves it. The Crown Heights community that has, over decades, shown incredible ability to overcome challenges. This is a community, to me, one of the proudest in this city, because with whatever the pain of the past, and the divisions, and the rifts, this community proved that transcendent action could happen, people could find a way forward. That's why I think of when I think of Crown Heights. And, here, in the middle, everything we fought through the last two years, a tree grows in Brooklyn – something amazing and something that will be here for generations to come.  

Everyone, congratulations. You’ve got a lot to be proud of today. There's no stopping Crown Heights. There's no stop in Brooklyn. There's no stopping New York City. God bless you all. 

[Applause] 

###