All posts by John Kenny

NYPD Memorial Day Ceremony



Among the most somber responsibilities of any mayor is recognizing and honoring uniformed service members who die in the line of duty.  This morning Mayor Bill de Blasio spoke at the annual Memorial Day Ceremony held by the New York City Police Department.

Here are his full remarks:

Candidate de Blasio & Member Items



As a mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio called for a complete ban on city council member items.  It’s a view not widely shared by council members then or now.  Member items are a modest portion of the overall city budget, but a flashpoint with the potential for significant disagreement between the mayor and council.

In this April 2013 press conference de Blasio issued his call for a ban and addressed his own tenure as a council member who sought and received member items.  Then-council member Dan Halloran and NYS Senator Malcolm Smith had been arrested the day before on a variety of corruption charges and then-Council Speaker Christine Quinn was regarded as the front runner in the race for mayor.

Excerpts:

Here are selected excerpts from de Blasio’s press conference:

Full Press Conference:

Here is de Blasio’s full press conference, which runs about 15 minutes.

de Blasio Press Q&A: The 200,000 Units Edition (Updated x 2)



In a pair of press conferences Mayor Bill de Blasio today unveiled his aggressive affordable housing plan, aiming to create and preserve 200,000 units of housing over 10 years.  In a morning Brooklyn appearance and an afternoon Bronx press conference the mayor discussed his plan at length.

Update #2 – Rangel:

Congressman Charles Rangel, whose district includes the Bronx press conference location, spoke briefly at the Bronx press conference.  While supportive of the mayor, Rangel has called for abandoning the practice of combining luxury and affordable housing and declared “we have no crisis in luxury housing.”

Update – Highlight Reel:

Our highlight reel distills the two full press conferences, with selected excerpts from the initial statements and Q&A portion of both press conferences.

(Full Q&A from both press conferences after the jump)

Continue reading de Blasio Press Q&A: The 200,000 Units Edition (Updated x 2)

de Blasio Press Q&A: The UFT Edition



Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a preliminary agreement on a new contract with the United Federation of Teachers.  The agreement covers nine years, retroactive from November 1, 2009, through October 31, 2018, with total pay increases of approximately 18%.  Other provisions include an agreement to implement yet to be finalized changes in employee health care intended to save at least $3.4 billion, a loosening of regulations intended to allow greater control by individual principals and teachers, an increase in parent/teacher interactions, changes in teacher professional development and evaluations and an enhanced ability of the City to terminate teachers who behave inappropriately and teachers who are in the Absent Teacher Reserve.

Here is the mayor’s full press Q&A, addressing on-topic questions only.

Clip Clop



Proponents of a ban on horse drawn carriages rallied on the steps of City Hall Monday.  As has been widely reported, Mayor de Blasio’s action on his campaign pledge to implement a ban “immediately” upon taking office has been slower than promised.  Opponents of a ban have been increasingly visible, mounting a significant public relations efforts and raising some uncertainty about the prospects of an expected City Council bill.

Monday’s rally featured five speakers; Dan Mathews of PETA, Council Members Ydanis Rodriguez and Helen Rosenthal, Michelle Alvarez of the Catskill Animal Sanctuary and TV personality Jillian Michaels.  Their speeches were brief, running about 10 minutes in total, and succinctly set out their arguments supporting a ban.

Our prior coverage includes a look at the Mayor’s promises and coverage of NYCLASS’s 2013 mayoral candidate forum.

de Blasio Press Q&A: The DiNapoli Edition



Mayor Bill de Blasio joined New York State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli at an afternoon press conference highlighting the City’s tech sector.  The press conference was held at the SoHo offices of Bounce Exchange, a tech company that the New York State Common Retirement Fund, headed by DiNapoli, has invested in.  Ryan Urban, CEO of Bounce Exchange, also participated.

Full Press Q&A:

Questions included City pension fund investments in the tech sector, the process and goals for NYS pension fund investments in the tech sector, minority employees at Bounce Exchange, whether Bounce Exchange hires local college graduates, what steps can be taken to promote NYC’s tech identity, Mayor de Blasio’s personal tech savviness, whether any attempt is being made at rebranding “Silicon Allley”, Mayor de Blasio’s view of the proposed Comcast/Time Warner merger, Mayor de Blasio’s views on the Port Authority, whether Mayor de Blasio has communicated with Jillian Michaels on a carriage horse ban, the mayor’s views on Rep. Michael Grimm, labor negotiations with the UFT, proposed 50 story towers to be built on the site of Long Island College Hospital, why the mayor doesn’t end the use of police horses on city streets and the sentencing of three defendants in the CityTime case.

No Tie Required:

As the press conference concluded Mayor de Blasio modified his wardrobe.

Bill & Ken, Andrew & Joe



This morning Mayor de Blasio and Governor Cuomo attended a ceremony marking the reopening of NYU Langone Medical Center’s emergency department.  Closed since Hurricane Sandy swept through, the rebuilt emergency department was funded by a $50 million gift from Ronald O. Perelman.

The re-opening ceremony brought together a mix of political allies and rivals, including Governor Andrew Cuomo, Mayor Bill de Blasio, Joe Lhota and Ken Langone.  The governor and mayor’s periodically fraught relationship has been widely chronicled.  Lhota ran against de Blasio in the 2013 mayoral race after having served as the Cuomo-appointed head of the MTA.  He’s currently senior vice president and chief of staff of the NYU Langone Medical Center.  Ken Langone, the extremely wealthy, blunt, opinionated eponym of the Medical Center is a major political donor who heads “Republicans for Cuomo.”  In March he was quoted as making an offensive comparison between Hitler and Nazi Germany and populist political appeals such de Blasio’s “tale of two cities.”

Here’s what happened as de Blasio and Langone greeted each other following the ceremony.

de Blasio Press Q&A: The DCA Edition (Updated)



This afternoon Mayor Bill de Blasio named Julie Menin as Commissioner of the Department of Consumer Affairs.

During the Q&A, Mayor de Blasio was asked by Newsday’s Matthew Chayes whether there is “any truth” to a New York Post report that the City is offering taxi medallions to carriage horse drivers as part an elimination of their industry.  The Mayor had a one word answer:

Update – Press Q&A:

Here is the mayor’s full Q&A with the press:

First & Foremost Responsibility



Here’s a quick look back at candidate Bill de Blasio, in March 2013, discussing his view of the “first and foremost responsibility of the mayor of New York City on the national stage.”  He was appearing at a mayoral candidate forum hosted by Democracy for NYC and Act Now, on March 5, 2013.

Mayor Earth



Mayor Bill de Blasio commemorated Earth Day with a speech this morning in Union Square Park.

Here are Earth Day related excerpts from his speech.  We’ve omitted his introductory comments and a middle portion focused on pre-K registration.

Update:

As he departed, the jovial mayor encountered a decidedly sad young constituent.  He tried to help.