August 16, 2018Mayor Bill de Blasio: Concepción, I want to say I really appreciate what you said because this is about a community that stood up and fought for justice. And I want to thank everyone here because this is your victory. This is your victory. And Concepción, you said it so powerfully and I know you have fought this fight so well. Let’s thank her for all she has done.[Applause]I want to thank all of the community members who are here. I can tell you because I remember the town hall meeting we had in this very center. This is one of the most energetic, active communities anywhere in New York City and I commend you.[Applause]And people care and they do something about it. And I want to thank some of the organizations that have played a crucial role in bringing us to this day. One that is historic in what it’s done for this community and for the city – El Puente. Let’s thank everyone from El Puente.[Applause]And another organization – I admire their work and I also admire how they came up with a name that spelled something that made total sense. The organization is the Organization United for Trash Reduction and Garbage Equity which spells –[Applause]As an acronym, it’s known as OUTRAGE. So –[Applause]When we think about this issue, I want to give you a way of thinking about it. Everyone’s lived through it but I want us to be able to talk about this to all the people of New York City, and I want to give you an example that you can picture in your mind.So rather than talk about one neighborhood or different neighborhoods, all these technical terms, I want to make it very human, very direct. I want you to picture in your mind two houses. One house is fancier and has a big fence around it and the other house is more humble. The people from the big, fancy house, when they put their garbage together at the end of the day, they just thrown it over the fence into the yard of the more humble house and then they don’t have to look at it. And because they don’t have to look it, they act like it doesn’t exist. So, one house gets a yard full of garbage and the other house acts like there’s not a problem. That is an analogy that we could bring to the reality of our city because for a long, long time there was not an honest enough discussion about the fact that we all created garbage but only some neighborhoods had to deal with it. And that was never right. This has been a problem for decades.It is a fundamental question of justice and what we have seen is persistence injustice. The fact that it was based, as Concepción said, in structural racism and economic injustice should make us even more upset. Here is a statistic that makes it very, very clear.Just six percent of all New Yorkers deal with almost 75 percent of the garbage from the entire city. And this community has been the hardest hit. So, this is a fundamentally broken situation and let’s face it, the government, for too many years, wasn’t part of it.I do want to say that started to change in the previous administration and I want to give them credit for that, and I agreed with them and supported them in that. We are deepening that effort and today is an important point along the road – this legislation. And we’ll come to Council Member Reynoso shortly but he has been extraordinary in his advocacy. This legislation marks a turning point.[Applause]This legislation marks a turning point but not an end of this fight. This is an important step and there will be more in the future. And the essence of what we all have to do is reduce the amount of garbage for everyone so the burden is lightened because the supply is reduced. We got a lot of work to do but what we are doing today that is profoundly progressive – philosophically progressive but also showing actual progress – is that we’re saying we no longer accept the notion that if you happen to be poor or you happen to have darker skin, that all the garbage goes to your neighborhood. Those days have to end in this city.[Applause]People should not have to deal with everything Concepción just mentioned. We know about the trucks and the noise. We know about the fumes, the smell, and the danger of respiratory diseases like asthma. We have to address all this, and again, the very best way will be constantly reducing the amount of garbage for all of us.But what is so good about today is – to go back to that analogy of one house with the fence around it, we’re tearing that fence down. We’re saying every neighborhood has a responsibility, and we’re saying that it’s not out of sight, out of mind.Again, that whole history for decades of saying, well it’s someone else’s problem we don’t need to know about it. No. It’s all of our responsibility. And this law makes so clear it’s all of our responsibility.That, to me, is what is so powerful. It’s not also just about what it will mean for future years and future generations, it’s what’s going to mean in the near term.For people in Hunts Point and Mott Haven and Port Morris in the Bronx, they are going to see change right away.For people in Jamaica, Queens, they are going to see change right away.For people in Greenpoint and right here in Williamsburg, you will see change.Hundreds of fewer trucks per day across all of those communities and that will make life better but you will also have the assurance that the number of trucks can’t grow anymore because now there’s a rule and a limit once and for all.[Applause]The law I’m signing today makes very clear, there will be no new waste transfer stations in any community board that already handles more than ten percent of the city’s garbage. Period.[Applause]We’ve said a lot of times, the mission we’re all on over these next four years is to make this the fairest big city in America. To become a more fair and just city, we have to acknowledge our problems, we have to be honest about them, and then we have to do things that set really clear standards.That’s what we’re doing today and it’s the kind of thing that makes me so proud of us as New Yorkers. We are able to come to grips with the mistakes of the past and do something that will fundamentally change this city for the better. Everyone deserves a congratulations today.[Applause]Before I turn to Speaker Johnson, a few very quick words in Spanish –[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]And that is the goal – to create something more fair for everyone. And as I turn to Speaker Johnson, I want to say he has been an extraordinary partner in this work and shares the same impulse for fairness and justice and the same sense of urgency. And Speaker it’s been quite a few weeks. The City Council has been very busy and you have struck quite a few blows for working people in the last few weeks. So, my congratulations. Let’s welcome Speaker Corey Johnson.[Applause][...]So we, we have been doing a lot of work. We have a lot more work to do but throughout it all, our Sanitation Commissioner I think has done an extraordinary job of running a very big complex agency that does so many different things and I want to thank her for all the work that the men and women at sanitation do and they deserve our praise and our appreciation.Sometimes they get it, often they are not given their due. I always like to give them praise and I especially want to thank them for the extraordinary work they’ve done recently during snow storms which I think has made us the envy of the whole country. But she has been a powerful voice for equity too, and it’s not always easy to make these big changes, but one thing I really appreciate about Kathryn Garcia, she has always been up to the mission. And so I know when you say, when the speaker said a lot of people put in a lot of hard work, no one put in more work than our commissioner. So commissioner, we welcome you.Commissioner Kathryn Garcia, Department of Sanitation: Thank you Mayor de Blasio and thank you to the speaker, and the Council for their work on this bill. Let me also echo that the councilmembers who represent this area never gave up and persisted and persisted and persisted through probably seven or eight versions until we ended with passing this piece of legislation, but there –there are certainly times when I would have been unsurprised if they said – threw up their hands and said I just can’t get this done. But that is not the people who represent you and they have always been trying to make sure they can make it better in this community and the communities of the South Bronx and Southeastern Queens.This bill is truly about waste equity and about beginning to right more than two decades of wrongs for these communities. Intro 157-C, which is suggests that there’ve been versions, cuts permitted capacity of the amount of waste that transfer stations can accept by 50 percent here in North Brooklyn, and by 33 percent in the South Bronx and Southeast Queens. Today right now we are a mile away from at least four transfer stations in Northern Brooklyn.These cuts will take effect starting in October of 2019 and continue on a rolling basis and complete in September of 2020. In real terms that means that these communities will have on average 150 fewer garbage trucks per day, bringing garbage into their neighborhoods and about 60 fewer tractor trailers hauling waste out. The bill includes exemptions that reward transfer stations that recycle more except organic waste and export waste by rail or barge. These stations are critical to our effort to send zero waste to landfills.It also prohibits the City from increasing permitted capacity or allowing new transfer stations in any district that has ten percent of the City’s total capacity. That means no new neighborhoods end up in the same situation as North Brooklyn, the South Bronx, or Southeastern Queens. This is not the only step we are taking to achieve fairness and equity, this fall we will open the Southwest Marine Transfer Station and in the spring the East 91st Street Marine Transfer Station. The last two pieces of our comprehensive solid waste management plan.[Applause]Together these measures will bring much needed relief to Williamsburg, Green Point, and the other neighborhoods that have become – have born an unfair burden for far too long. Lastly, I just want to thank the activists and organizers, many of whom have fought for several decades for their tireless work to bring justice to their communities, we wouldn’t be here today without your dedication and hard work, and you certainly, definitely, kept our nose to the grindstone to make sure this got done. Thank you very much.Mayor: Okay everyone. It’s been a long, long journey but I think it’s time to sign this bill, don’t you.[Cheering]Come on up. Anyone who wants to be up here with us, come on up.[Applause][...]Okay, everybody. We are going to take questions related to this legislation and this issue, and then I’ll be taking questions on other topics as well. On this issue, the bill signing today – media questions, thank you, Eric. Media questions – anything related to the legislation we have signed today. Back there. Speak up.Question: So, I’ve looked at the environmental impact study and it mentioned – it’s pretty clear that only half of the stations will be [inaudible] –Mayor: I heard you up to then. “Pretty clear that?”Question: That only half of the waste transfer stations affected will have to actually divert their waste. So, where do you expect most of it to get diverted and also what’s to prevent them from going to the other stations within the same district?Mayor: Kathryn, do you want to start with that?Commissioner Garcia: Certainly, as we did in the analytics on the EAS, we anticipate that a portion of it will definitely be moving out of those districts and into other districts within the city and that is why we put the cap on the ten percent. We also anticipate that some of it may move outside of the city. So, that is where we think that the waste will go. That is what we – so there are transfer stations in other boroughs, in other portions of other boroughs and that is where we would think that it would go.Mayor: Antonio.Council Member Antonio Reynoso: And if they do stay within the district, they’re going to stay in transfer stations that have incentivized through rail, barge, and high recycling rates. So, what we want to do is make sure is that we promote the people that are doing a good job with high recycling rates that have barge or that have rail. So even if it moves within the district, it will be moving out of the city in a more justice-centric way.Mayor: That’s a good word – justice-centric. I like that. Media questions on this. Yes?Question: I went over the numbers with the Commissioner’s staff –Mayor: A little bit louder, I’m sorry.Question: I went over the numbers with the Commissioner’s staff this morning and my understanding from that is that currently 73 percent of the city’s trash goes to these three communities. After this is fully implemented, that number will be approximately 69 percent and in the best scenario 66.So, it’s not a huge difference here. Antonio and the Mayor, I would like you to sort of put that in context. I mean, there’s a lot of celebration here but from one point of view, it’s not such a big change.Council Member Reynoso: So, it’s a huge change. What you’re not seeing is something called unused capacity. What we have is about 40,000 tons of trash in the city of New York and 20,000 of that doesn’t get used. And what happens anytime, our great Commissioner for example, comes out with a new initiative or a new mode of recycling that we want to take on, it always gets sent to our districts as a pilot, it always gets sent to our districts with the waste transfer stations that we have.And what we’re doing now is saying that if that does happen, it has to go somewhere else. So you can see that almost as a cap to some degree. The stations that are going to be losing significant amounts of capacity or actual throughput are stations that have our older trucks, have a shoddy record with workers. We want to de-incentive those [inaudible] from working.So, you might not see it but the unused capacity being gone is a significant help for the future of this district. And six percent is also significant especially in the Bronx in my district, and in southeast Queens. Any trucks off the streets are a good thing.And I just want to say the last thing is we do have the swamp plan as well. The swamp plan is also diverting a significant amount of trash outside of our districts as well. So cumulatively, when this is joined with other initiatives that we’re taking on related to trash, it makes a huge difference in these communities of color.Mayor: Yeah, also, I want to add to that and then Kathryn, if there’s anything else you want to note – 150 trucks per day out of a handful of communities is a big deal in those communities. That’s just the factual reality. Every truck fewer is good for the communities. Two – the fact that there’s a cap for the first time guarantees a future of more fairness. And three, we’re going to drive that overall amount of waste down across the board so that there will additional progress because we’re just going to relentlessly reduce the total. But this is a step along the way. We are all committed to going as far as we possibly can to create fairness in this area. Do you want to add?Commissioner Garcia: No, I mean I would concur with what both the Mayor and the Councilman said. This is a big deal as the swamp plan that passed in 2006 was also a really big deal. And that has meant hundreds of trucks not in this neighborhood and not in other neighborhoods of color. So we look forward to continuing to work towards more equity all the time but we really want to celebrate the fact that this makes a big difference to the neighbor that is next to a transfer transition, particularly one that could be within a few hundred feet of a transfer transition.Mayor: Other questions from media on today’s bill signing. I want to see if there’s anything else. Media? Once, twice, three times. Okay, I know my elected colleagues have to go. I thank you. Congratulations. One more big round of applause for Antonio and Corey.[Applause]Okay, let’s go to other topics. Rich?Question: Mr. Mayor –Mayor: Okay, everybody keep it down, we’re still going here. Rich?Question: Mr. Mayor, in criticizing President Trump’s slogan, Make America Great Again, Governor Cuomo said, America was never that great. Do you find yourself on the same page as the Governor on this?Mayor: No, look I – no, I don’t but I also want to say I assume he misspoke. I have heard he issued some kind of correction. I haven’t seen that. But I think it’s really important to speak to the underlying issue. America is great. America has been great. We have a lot of work to do in America to make it a more fair and just country.But that doesn’t take away from our greatness. The concept of America is great and a lot of our history is and there’s some parts of our history that we have to be blunt about how far we were from our ideals but the greatness has never been in question to me.You know, I have a particular perspective because my parents were from the legendary Greatest Generation. My dad fought in World War II and my mom worked in the war effort too. And coming up with those influences, there never was a question in mind that America is and was great. And I never liked Trump’s slogan because I thought it took away the notion that right now, right here we are a great country. I thought it was in its own way unpatriotic to say we had to be great again when we’re great right now.But if anyone says, are we done? No, we’re far from done. There’s still a huge amount of injustice that has to be addressed at the same time.Question: Mayor, there was a rally today – COBA, the Correction Officers union – on the steps of City Hall. And their message was that – they’re arguing that your administration cares more about shopping at jails more than –Mayor: More about what, please, I’m sorry.Question: That your administration cares more about shopping opportunities at jails –Mayor: I don’t know what that means.Question: I think the retail – the discussion about the sites of the jail having retail.Mayor: That’s weird. Go ahead.Question: [Inaudible] cares more about that than officers that are being assaulted.Mayor: Look, I don’t know why the union wants to reduce to that kind of ridiculous rhetoric, a very serious issue. We care deeply about our Correction officers. We have hired a huge number of Correction officers and provided with a lot more training than they ever got before.
We’ve provided a huge amount of overtime when it was needed. We’ve tried to make huge physical improvements in our Correction system and ultimately will make the biggest improvement by getting off of Rikers Island.And, look, I’m sick to my stomach anytime one of Correction officers is attacked. It’s unacceptable but the other thing we’ve done, working closely with the Bronx DA is ensured that there’s much greater consequences for any inmate who attacks an officer than there have been in a long, long time.And those inmates are re-arrested and charged with additional offenses that can mean many more years in prison. So, that said, we’ve got more work to do. I need to tell our Correction officers that I honor their work and we have to do more to keep them safe because there should not be any of these incidents.Question: Mayor de Blasio I wanted to ask about the DOE Yeshiva report and letter. So, it’s sort of a two part. The first is that I guess some within the Hasidic community said that the DOE investigation wasn’t [inaudible] timely and that you’re kind of looking for a way out of actual [inaudible] within the Yeshivas because of powerful roadblocks, people are saying.The second part is, you know, the investigators found that some schools weren’t using the new secular curriculum that they promised to use. So, why not come down hard on that and why not push for a more fair education –Mayor: First of all, I would really prefer people just ask – no disrespect to you – but for those who want to criticize, ask the question, what did we do and why did we do it? And what we did was a very thorough, careful dialog to achieve change. I have worked with the Orthodox community for decades and I know both a lot about the community but I also understand the legal context in this country of respecting the fact that there is freedom of religion and that a school with a religious basis needs to be addressed with sensitivity, while simultaneously achieving our goal of ensuring that every child gets the kind of education they deserve. We engaged in a dialog with a number of schools that I think was very productive and resulted in real changes. So, in the universe of schools that really qualified here, about half of them – I believe it was 15 exactly – welcomed us in, participated in an ongoing dialog, made a number of changes, and, according to our educational leaders, are doing well and-or are making additional changes to do better. There’s another 15 that would not allow DOE officials in the door, and that to me is not an acceptable state of affairs.Now, we made very clear to community leaders as we are about to send the letter that we would be explicit about which Yeshivas would not invite people in, and we suddenly got a communication saying some of them now will invited our DOE officials in. I offer an open hand – give us that appointment as early as next week, we’re ready to be there and to address these issues. But any school that doesn’t I think is making a huge mistake because it sends a message that they’re not trying to address the underlying issue. And now, because of particularly the new legislation that was passed in Albany, but also because of the roll that the State Education Department plays in general, we need guidance on the next steps. My view is, the 15 – that first 15 really are on track. The second 15, we need to understand what our parameters are and what are prerogatives are, and that’s what we’re asking SED to provide. Question: Mayor, I know you –Mayor: Louder –Question: Mayor, I understand you felt that the Governor might have misspoke with that comment about America. Do you think he [inaudible] public an apology?Mayor: Again, I have not seen his clarification. I think he should make very clear that he thinks this is a great country, because it is a great country. And at the same time, if he’s saying that this country needs more work, he’s right about that. Question: Mayor, to go back to the Yeshiva investigation – in the report, it says that DOE officials only visited three science classes across all of the schools that they were in. As you mentioned, they haven’t even been able to get inside – half of them. I guess to follow up on [inaudible] there are people who have been raising this issue [inaudible] who feel like the investigation feels a little toothless to them if you’re not even going into science classes in every school that you went into. Why isn’t the DOE sitting in on every –Mayor: Again, I’m not here to micromanage what our educators have done to assess schools. They’re very serious about this work. If they feel a school is where we need it to be, or getting to that point soon, because of the dialog, because there was a real discussion of what kind of professional development was needed, and you see in that letter the issues of professional development raised early in the trajectory, which lead to real changes, which lead to a lot of the Yeshivas participating in professional development they had not done before. You see curricular changes, all sorts of things going on. The goal was to make the schools as good as they should be to meet the standards. And I know – I actually empathize with the concept that might be felt amongst the media of wanting some instant gratification on this. I understand that. If you say, well, is it –Question: [Inaudible]Mayor: But I want you to hear what I’m saying. If you say, well, we want – we hear an allegation, we’d like it resolved immediately. Our sense of mission was to get the job done, and my experience with the community was that is was right to engage in a detailed dialog to figure out how to move things. We’re talking about 30 schools, we’re not talking about a massive number of schools against the almost – we don’t have 2,000, but we have well over 1,000 schools in our system. The – what I feel is, where that dialog happened we got real results and that’s what we were there to do. We were not trying to shame people, we were trying to get the job done. And I feel very good about those 15 schools. I don’t feel good about the other 15 and it’s time for that to be resolved. So, they should all invited DOE in immediately, and SED now needs to tell us what we can do if they don’t. Question: What other – I guess I don’t understand how they cannot let you in for two years –Mayor: Because of the very point I made. Just look – there’s different interpretations of law, but it’s clear to us – first of all, again, when you’re talking about religion in America, there are rights under all concepts of civil liberties. But also, when you look at the laws governing schools that are not public, we don’t have the ability to force our way in physically. That’s why we’re turning to SED now, after what has been unquestionably substantial engagement, to say, okay, what do you do when a school won’t invite you in? We’d like guidance because we’re ready to take whatever steps that they indicate are appropriate. Question: At a City Council Transportation Committee meeting yesterday, Councilman Rodriguez posed to your administration the idea of closing streets around schools if the City doesn’t get its speed camera program back. The DOT said that doing so at all schools would be too challenging. Would you be willing to close [inaudible] some schools in areas that are particularly accident prone?Mayor: Look, the first – I appreciate the question. The first thing to do is to focus on how we solve the problem, which is as simple as 63 individuals showing up in Albany, New York and casting a single vote. It would take them an hour. The State Senate can fix this and I think the [inaudible] is growing in this City and this State for the Senate to come back and reauthorize these speed cameras. There’s no solution as good as these speed cameras. You know, we saw speeding go down 60 percent when we had them. Fatalities go down 55 percent. The minute they were gone – two weeks – we saw a vast amount more speeding. So, we need the speed cameras – that’s where our singular focus is. In the meantime, we’re going to take a variety of steps in terms of other forms of enforcement, and, in some cases, maybe physical steps as well to provide as much safety for our kids as we can. I can say as a parent, there are some places you could consider closing off, but there’s a lot you can’t because parents drop their kids off in the morning, pick them up in the afternoon. School buses come in and out. I don’t think it’s as simple as easily being able to close off streets. I think the bottom line here is, we have the ideal enforcement mechanism, we just need our legislature to act. Other questions? Yes, sir –Question: If I could also ask Commissioner Garcia – with the signing of this bill, there’s also been a simultaneous ramping up of processing of organics. How does that balance out? How do you process more organics, which would require more transportation, more waste [inaudible] with these facilities [inaudible]?Commissioner Garcia: Under the bill, organics and recycling are carved out. But otherwise, it is part of the overall permit reduction. So, we hope to continue to grow the organics program and see more tonnage, but that is accounted for within the legislation. Question: [Inaudible] any more traffic or any more process for these [inaudible]?Commissioner Garcia: So, in terms of the way that we structure the legislation, when the reduction happens – and what the IES looked at was the assumption that there would be organics processing in some of these communities but not in all of them. Mayor: Okay, last call. Any other questions? Going once – twice – yes, Jillian?Question: Just to go back to the Yeshivas, sorry –Mayor: Please –Question: I guess I understand the point that it takes time and dialog and engagement, but what would you say to some of the advocates who have been really vocal on this issue and who feel that, in the meantime, there are children going to these schools and perhaps not getting the level of education that they’re entitled to under the law. Mayor: The perhaps in the crucial point. Question: I mean, you’re saying that [inaudible] –Mayor: Right, but I’m saying – I just want to say, there’s two sides to every story. We have 15 schools where we went in, a lot of work was done. Clearly, there was room for improvement, but I have to be straightforward and say there’s room for improvement in a lot of our traditional public schools too. What we found was a willingness to work with us and then in the letter you see real progress very specific actions that were taken, specific changes that were agreed to. And we feel, in those 15 schools, they are either were they need to be or they will be soon. That was the mission, and it was not gotcha, it was not the advocates are 100 percent right or the Yeshivas are 100 percent right. It was our educators had to feel the schools were providing the education the kids deserved under the law. In those 15 schools we feel they’re on the right track. In the other 15 we don’t know and we’re unhappy about that because it would have been really easy to invite us in. I think that the decision to say time’s up, we’ve given people all the chance in the world to cooperate, we’re being very public about which schools cooperate and which didn’t, has suddenly jarred these schools into offering that they will open their doors. I want to see that happen. I want to see DOE senior officials inside those schools. If they’re not truly invited inside those schools I think it will be a huge mistake for those Yeshivas. But the only way we can know what happens next if they don’t allow us in is to get guidance from the legally designated entity which is the State Education Department. [Inaudible] two, go ahead Gloria.Question: [Inaudible] your personal position, from having worked with the Yeshiva community and having represented them in the past, do you personally believe that the level of education that children are getting in Yeshivas is good enough and that they are in fact prepared for—Mayor: So—Question: the rest of the—Mayor: Yeah I have a very particular view, meaning – if you asked me that question 25 years ago and I was looking at the news coverage I might have assumptions and stereotypes but then I spent a long time working with the community and I came to a very simple conclusion: every Yeshiva is different. And there are some that I believe, especially from the direct findings of our educators are doing a fine job and I wouldn’t be surprised there are some that are not putting the emphasis they need on some areas of the curriculum and that need to be better but I want to go by facts not by assumptions. I do know every Yeshiva is different.Question: Mayor, for the Rikers plan there’s potential for ground floor retail. Why do you think something like that would be successful and what type of retailers do you [inaudible]?Mayor: I’m not an expert on jail design. I think the notion is that since we’re going to be building brand new buildings in four communities, several of which are really well-trafficked areas, that retail could work and that it’s part of connecting the building to the community in a productive way. But the bottom line is – that to me is a small issue compared to the bigger issue. The bigger issue is we need to get off Rikers Island, we’re going to have community based facilities, they will be modern, they will be focused on rehabilitation, they’ll help inmates stay connected to family, which is also part of rehabilitation and I give the City Council a lot of credit; there’s absolute consistency in the approach that we’re going to move these and get this done. Let me see, I saw one other hand, wait. Question: Where do you stand on the homeless shelter situation in Glendale?Mayor: Say it again louder.Question: Homeless shelter situation in Glendale? Do you think that that area is going to have a homeless shelter [inaudible]?Mayor: The broad statement I’d make is if you look at the plan we issued early last year, we said that we need every area to have a shelter capacity consistent with the number of people who come from that community and are in our shelter system. That’s what we intend to do and further to make sure, over time, that the folks who live in the shelters increasingly come from that immediate community board and the surrounding community boards. So there’s a lot of detail and discussion going on about exact sites but the bottom line is the vision is quite clear and we will fulfill that vision. I saw one more or two more, I saw two more. First you and then Katie go ahead.Question: Yeah, following recent reports about not just the Sanitation Salvage but also Century Waste—Mayor: Just pump it up a little bit I got to hear you back there.Question: No, yeah, following the recent reports about not just the Sanitation Salvage accident but also recent report on Century Waste, that it’s connected to the mob, do you think still that BIC is living up to its promises as an agency to be cracking down on—Mayor: I think we are about to on this issue, both on the zoning issue, which I was thrilled to hear the energy that the Speaker feels on that issue, which will be very helpful but I’ve also spoken to him about giving BIC stronger powers of enforcement and stronger penalties they can apply which I think they need. So I think BIC does a good job but also needs better tools.Question: So just to belabor the Yeshiva point—Mayor: Please, so long as you know you’re belaboring it.Question: Yeah so how can say that some Yeshivas are on the right track when the DOE’s own letter said that they didn’t even give the DOE their full curricula and some of them aren’t even using the secular education. It just seems for students who happen to—Mayor: I can say it because I’ve asked the chancellor and other senior educators what their assessment was of those 15 Yeshivas and I’m sure they’ll be happy to go into greater detail with you. But the bottom line was – they’re categorization was that those Yeshivas either had already reached a standard that fulfilled what the law required or we’re moving toward it steadily and we’re accepting the recommendations that the DOE has given and we’re making the changes and that’s the name of the game. Again, I hate to say this because the truth is the truth and some of our own schools on the traditional public side need real work but the parallel bears making; we have schools that also are in the process of evolution that we are pushing harder to do better and taking steps to make stronger. So if we think a school is either there or getting there consistently that’s what we need to see and that’s what the educators believe. Thanks everyone.Thank you, everybody.