January 11, 2024 NYC Office of the Mayor News
Deputy Mayor Meera Joshi, Operations: Good morning, everyone. This morning we have an important announcement that is brought to us by the bold leadership of Mayor Eric Adams because we're an administration that is committed to New York clean and green.
Our parks, our green spaces, our rec centers, our beaches, our plazas, they're our shared backyard. They're where our memories, community are made, they're where culture and good health and good economics happen. They define our character and are the stage for everyone's New York story.
Also, our litter baskets, all 23,000 of them. The wire mesh ones and now the new rat resistant ones, they're the highest symbol of urban order. Their presence and maintenance are the calm reassurance to the public that, yes, you are in the best city on earth.
And today we are grateful to be able to show up by showing the money to support all New Yorkers where they live their lives out in the public every day. I'd like to thank everyone for coming, especially acknowledge the commissioners behind me; our OMB director, Jacques Jiha, Commissioner Jessica Tisch, Sanitation; Commissioner Sue Donoghue, Parks; and, Commissioner Molly Park of Department of Social Services. And, our fearless leader, Mayor Eric Adams.
Mayor Eric Adams: Thanks so much. Thanks so much. It's, you know, really good being here with two commissioners that I have a deep level of respect for. What Commissioner Tisch is doing and cleaning our streets really is a reflection of how important we believe cleanliness is.
And my long, long‑time friend and commissioner over at the Department of Parks, we hung out together when she was Prospect Park Alliance, and I remember back in the beginning of my borough president days when she came on board, I said, one day you're going to be the commissioner under my administration. And so it's always good to see you, and you're so dedicated and committed to our parks.
Really, thank you, Deputy Mayor Joshi, and really to Jacques Jiha and his team over at OMB. And it just goes to show you, as we made an announcement yesterday and as we're making one today, it is showing you how we are just spending so much time looking at the November plan, looking at how we could continue to move forward and looking at the city's priorities.
And we have made it clear over and over again that investing in our public safety, revitalizing the economy and making our city livable for all New Yorkers, that's the top priority for me. And we're doing it. Crime is down in substantial levels, double digits in homicide, double digits in shootings, jobs are up, tourism are back; and today, we're saying we not only are going to be the safest big city in America, which we are, we are going to be the cleanest big city in America, which we are going to continue to do.
We set a major initiative, this commissioner has already put in place. Who would have thought we're going to be containerizing our garbage, an unbelievable achievement people thought was impossible. We are seeing the results from the actions from different times of putting out our trash to innovation on recycling to even winning this New York Times, was it the best invention?
Commissioner Jessica Tisch, Department of Sanitation: Time Magazine, yes, best invention…
Mayor Adams: Okay. You're going to talk about that when you come up here. And so just a clear focus. And we're doing that in spite of having over 168,000 migrant and asylum seekers that have arrived at our city, and it's just showing the ability to manage through crises.
We came into our administration with Covid, and we are now in the second year of dealing with this extreme crisis that we're facing with our migrants and asylum seekers. Over 69,000 still in our care. These numbers are so important that people know: over 50 percent, over 57 percent to be exact, we have made self‑sustaining because of the initiatives that Deputy Mayor Williams‑Isom and her team continue to put in place.
We know the challenges that we're facing and we know that we have to make smart fiscal decisions, and that is what Director Jiha and his team has been doing. Last year's November financial plan update, we made clear that we told the entire city that we were experiencing a $12 billion budget deficit of five years during this fiscal year, seven years during the out years. And we called on the federal and state government to come in and particularly the federal government to do its job on dealing with this national crisis. And we said if we didn't get help we knew we had to make decisions on our own, and that's exactly what OMB did.
And I want to thank Jacques for what we have done with our strong fiscal management. And now what we are looking at are 20 percent asylum seeker PEG savings to bring down the cost and look at the contracts and do a real evaluation. So, today I'm happy to announce that we will be able to restore funding for DSNY's litter basket service. That means DSNY will be able to maintain 23,000 litter baskets around our city and continue installing the litter baskets of the future, which you can see on both sides of us.
As a result of these restorations, New Yorkers will continue to see fewer rats. It has been reported that we're losing the war on rats. If you do a comparison from the time we took office and use that as the analysis, then we're going to give the impression that it's 8 percent up. But if you go from the day that we announced our rat czar in May, you are seeing that numbers are down city‑wide and numbers are down in the rat mitigation zone. So, we are not losing the war. If you start out in one place, you need to look where you are now. We are winning the war against New Yorkers' public enemy called rats. Fewer rats and cleaner streets, and we're going to continue to move in the right direction.
But in addition to what we're doing around sanitation, I'm proud to say that we will be able to restore funding that will allow us to maintain the Parks Opportunity Program, something that was dear to DC37 leader, Henry Garrido, Henry reached out. Henry is not only a friend, but Henry is a strong union leader for his members, and he's a strong leader for our city. And when you develop relationships like that, you're willing to sit down and hear from the leaders of the city that are invested in the city, because his members are also city residents. And this is an important program. It's a six‑month paid program for low‑income New Yorkers, opening the door to full‑time employment with the Parks Department and helping to keep our parks clean and well maintained.
When we came into office, we made it clear that we wanted to turn our mean streets into clean streets and we wanted to create open and safe spaces. And these announcements today are clearly part of what we aim to accomplish. Fiscal discipline, using taxpayers' dollars wisely and making sure we have great programs like the POP program. And it's about improving livability through cleaner streets. And so I'm really excited today with these announcements that we're making. It is moving us closer to number one, addressing the serious budget gap that we have, but taking a real analysis of how to do it as painless as possible.
And we want to be clear. We still need help from the federal government and from the state government as we move forward to close the $7 billion out year budget gap that we are experiencing. So, I want to thank the entire team for being here today as we continue to make our city the safest big city in America, the cleanest big city in America and to revitalize our economy, making it livable for all New Yorkers. Thank you, Deputy mayor.
Deputy Mayor Joshi: Thank you. And next we have two of the great champions of public space. First, our Sanitation commissioner, Jessica Tisch, who single handedly is containerizing all of the food the rats would otherwise eat. Thank you.
Commissioner Tisch: Thank you, Mayor Adams, Deputy Mayor Joshi, Budget Director, of course. Under the PEG that was announced in November, DSNY was prepared to remove about 40 percent of litter baskets city‑wide. That's well over 9,000 of the 23,000 maintained by our department. This would have had, obviously, a meaningful impact on the cleanliness of our neighborhoods.
The prospect of this cut absolutely gutted me; in fact, you could say I was a total basket case. Instead, thanks to careful budgeting and a strong recovery of our city's economy, that cut has been restored. And it could not come at a better time. The new litter baskets of the future that we have here today were recently named a Time Magazine Best Invention of 2023, and they started making their debut on New York City streets this fall.
What a terrible shame it would have been to have had to remove baskets just when one this beautiful, this rat‑defying, this clean, was beginning to appear in our streets. Instead of being what could have been, these baskets will be what is. They will continue to shine like the beacons of cleanliness and modernity that our city deserves. Thank you, Mayor Adams, for everything you are doing to get stuff clean.
Deputy Mayor Joshi: Thank you, Commissioner Tisch. Next, we'll hear from Commissioner Donoghue, who is bringing grass, green space and backyards to every New Yorker no matter how tiny your apartment.
Commissioner Sue Donoghue, Department of Parks and Recreations: Thank you, Deputy Mayor Joshi, thank you, Mayor Adams, and our budget director. I am so happy to join you today for this great announcement.
For 30 years, the Parks Opportunity Program — also known as POP — has been instrumental in placing thousands of the most vulnerable New Yorkers into full‑time employment. Over the decades, we have seen POP workers grow to become critical staff in our agency, including members of my own office, so I've been able to see directly what this opportunity can mean for people. I'm incredibly grateful for the commitment from this administration to continue on this legacy of providing access to great green jobs and job training.
As Mayor Adams has continually said, following the pandemic, New York City is back, and you can see that every day in our parks, which are busy and bustling. So, this staff will play a critical role to ensure that they remain green, clean and safe. Thank you again, Mayor Adams, Deputy Mayor Joshi and our budget director.
Deputy Mayor Joshi: I think we can applaud for that, right?
Mayor Adams: I just really want to also thank the amazing job from Commissioner Park at DSS for their work on cleanliness and just really managing through this crisis.
That whole team under Deputy Mayor Williams‑Isom of just the daily grind. And this is the same team of people that had to be on the front line during Covid, and they just really didn't exhale. They continue to be the symbol of what it is to be a public servant. We cannot thank them enough. So, thank you so much. Yes?
Question: Hi, Mayor Adams. I wanted to ask you about the POP program. I know when Mr. Jiha, when you testified in the council he said one of the reasons it was cut was because it wasn't providing long‑term jobs. I'm curious what changed between now and then? And secondly, how much of this is to restore the much needed program is due to the fact that DC37 sued your administration because of the budget cuts that removed the jobs?
Mayor Adams: Well, he sued because he wanted to fight on behalf of his members and fight on behalf of a program. He and I had an in depth conversation of the program, of the history of the program. And you know, employment, what we found, many people who fall off the radar of job‑seeking and employment, getting them back on the radar. And it starts by leaving your home, being employed, going into private sector and public service jobs and just being back introduced into the environment.
I see it and I hear it all the time of people who have been off the radar for so long and getting them back is crucial, and I think that's what this program has done. When I sat down I spoke with Henry and he explained the history of the program, how it came about, how we were targeting low income New Yorkers. My conversation with Director Jiha was say, listen, there's something here, let's see how we can get it right.
And you know what's important? Is that you can't be entrenched in decisions. When people come and convince and give you a good case for something, you have to be flexible enough to say let me look at it. There are times that, you know, we can't get to a place, but when you can you should try to get there, and that's what we accomplished.
Question: ...to chime in. You know, it can be confusing for the average New Yorker. You see these important programs get cut weeks ago, and then they're restored and there's not much explanation as to why.
I mean, does it kind of not offer as much confidence in you and your budget director in how you're budgeting the city's finances if these cuts then they're restored, we're expecting more cuts Tuesday. What's the kind of message and what should New Yorkers take away from it?
Mayor Adams: No, it's not confusing for New Yorkers, and I think there's been an attempt to give the impression that we don't have good, smart fiscal management skills. And we do. We're like everyday New Yorkers who have to sit down at the kitchen table and figure out how do you balance a budget in the home during a crisis.
I also use the roof cave‑in scenario. You could have your budget fixed for the year, but if that roof caves in and your insurance company doesn't pay you, you have to figure out how to move things around. Our insurance company is the federal government. Our roof caved in when almost 170,000 people dropped into our city that we have to take care of.
And so what you're seeing, you're seeing fiscal intelligence. You're seeing that, number one, we started out in the beginning of PEGs in the beginning to get ready for it. So, when you say New Yorkers are confused, no they're not. I speak to them all the time. They said, you know, you guys are doing one hell of a job.
But what's more important is not what my opinion is about our fiscal management ability. The bond raters, they increased our bond. These are the guys that make the determination that are you using fiscal common sense. Now, you know they increased our bond, right?
Question: How could I forget?
Mayor Adams: You know, so, when folks say that Jacques Jiha doesn't know what he's doing but the experts that make the determination if he's doing the right thing is saying, okay, this is a place that you can invest in, that sort of defeats the logic.
We have been able to do this by having the most private sector jobs in the history of the city, by great wins in Albany, by balancing the budget, by starting out at the beginning of this administration saying, just in case there's a rainy day, let's start finding fiscal prudence right now, and by having rainy day funds that are breaking historical records.
So, I don't get what you say New Yorkers are confused. New Yorkers get it. We are making these tough decisions during tough times.
Question: Could you explain the thought process around why you're reversing these cuts now and other agencies are going to get another PEG on Tuesday? It seems like those agencies will have to make up for the money you're putting back into these programs. And then I was also wondering, could you respond to some of the councilmembers who after yesterday’s announcement were kind of saying we told you so they're having more money than they're letting on and taking on programs that are unnecessary?
Mayor Adams: Jacques can go through your first part of your question. Listen, there's a different role than what the council must do and what we must do. And I keep saying we have to get it right. You know, the council projections can be more liberal. We have to make sure that we have enough money to pay the bills to keep the lights on.
And that's what Jacques's obligation. His obligation is not, we can't just have a guesstimate.We've got to make sure, do we have enough to keep the lights on. And that's what he has done, and we have done it successfully through two budgetary cycles and we're going to continue to do so. And so we're looking at wherever we could restore, we're looking at those areas because we want to get it right. I cannot emphasize that enough. This is not our budget that we want. We've invested in children, families, older adults, cleaning our streets, police.
We were placed in this position, which is often not articulated enough by other leaders. Other leaders should be circling the wagon of New York City and should be saying, federal government, you should not be doing this to us. That is where our energy should be, and I'm just not seeing that energy at the level that it should be. We should all be placing blame. None of us would be having these conversations if we didn't have 170,000, approximately 170,000 people, close to, come to our city that we have to find the cost for. The national government must fix this problem. Jacques, do you want to add?
Jacques Jiha, Director, Mayor’s Office of Management and Budget: Yes. It's a question of priority. Okay? At the end of the day, the mayor's priority is a safe and clean city. And so we have to juggle to find the resources where we need, so we are looking at to where his priorities are. So, at the end of the day, that's what it comes down to. I mean, you have to look at it in the context of, we have a PEG, as of November, $3.7 billion. We have a PEG of the migrant budget and we also have a PEG coming with the January plan. So, when you look at those restorations, this is small stuff compared with the whole picture.
So, it's not like we're reversing course, we're changing course, okay? We're just trying to find resources so we could fund the city's priorities because they are very important for the public. So, as policymakers, we always have to be very flexible enough to adjust to the public’s concerns.
Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor, I was wondering when part of the impetus for these cuts have you had any conversations with the governor? Has she given you any assurances or even a number on how much funding she's going to give to the city in the migrant crisis, and are you feeling more confident, and is that one of the reasons you feel like you're in a place where you could restore cuts?
Mayor Adams: Well, we are all holding our breath for the budget announcement. We made it clear that we're looking for help from Albany. My conversations with the leaders in Albany, they have been extremely clear. We need help from our partners in Albany.
But no, these decisions are not made based on some commitment that was made from the governor's office. But she has been clear on the fact that the federal government should be helping the city. And she has alluded to that there's going to be support in this budget that's going to deal with this crisis. She announced that at her State of the State the other day.
Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. How are you today?
Mayor Adams: What's happening?
Question: I apologize, I'm from New Jersey, so I'm not a New Yorker. So, maybe you can clear up just a little bit for me these PEGs.
So, just to explain to people, next week we're going to hit another PEG. We're going to hit another PEG in another few months. So, why not do it all at once so you're not cutting back and rolling some… You know, reissuing those funds to certain programs, to make it just all happen like a Band‑aid at once.
The migrant crisis is clearly isn't going away at this point, like it's not going away in three months, four months, so we know it’s here to stay for now. So, why drag it out like this and do this like step things? And then and maybe for the budget director, what is the pot then that is left over now that you're restoring this point that you have available [inaudible].
Mayor Adams: I think that that's a legitimate question. And I think that no one sums it up better than Deputy Mayor Williams‑Isom. If you would have told me today that we would still be using the word surge. If you would have told me we would still be getting on the threshold of 4,000 and sometimes close to 5,000 people a week, if you would have told me that, I would have said there's no way this can still be going on. And so when you say, why don't we just roll it all out, this is moving and shifting at a rate that we can't even imagine. We don't know what Governor Abbott is going to do next week. So, it's not that clean as everyone is seeing.
I always use the sports analogy. When you're sitting at the bleachers the high seat, you say to yourself, well, why didn't the quarterback just do X, Y, Z? Get on the field. Get on the field and see what it is to have a 70 mile an hour storm hitting your city and you've got to move 1,900 people within a few hours and make sure that they're safe and then get them back and get the school opened; and at the same time, you have a crane that just toppled over.
This is a complicated series of events that you'd better have the right people. I have a lot of faith in Jacques Jiha. Just looking at the moving, constant movement of this to make sure we can navigate our way out of this, and I'm confident that we're going to do so. And that's why you've got to make these decisions as they come in front of you. Jacques, do you want to add something?
Question: What is the budget, the excess budget that you have [inaudible] you have the ability to restore at this point?
Jiha: It's not a question of excess....
Mayor Adams: Right. Right. Right, right. There is no excess.
Jiha: This is not excess. It's a priority… It's prioritization. Okay? We're moving resources from one area into other areas. That's what we're doing. Okay?
Question: [Inaudible.]
Jiha: I don't have excess money.
[Crosstalk.]
Mayor Adams: And he's going to go through that Tuesday, we're going to show what the future holds. But I always try to simplify it as much as possible. Any homeowner, you know, any homeowner, every day homeowners are sitting down trying to figure out how to balance the budget of their house, of their home.
Everybody's going through this. And no one expects at the beginning of the year, when you allocate clothing for your children, food, your electricity bill, your gas bill, no one expects that roof to cave in. And I don't know if it is really resonating with people, our roof caved in: 170,000 people, closely, have dropped into our city.
And all of a sudden. No one expected this. And now we have to, in spite of that, we have to do, by law, balance our budget. That's what we're doing. And it's going to take so many different people coming together to make this happen.
And one of the most important aspects of this, we need every elected to be on the same page with us in a unified chorus, like other cities have joined us, and say, federal government do your job. That's the call that we all should be making. This should not be happening to New Yorkers, migrants, other cities, no one should be going through this. We should be celebrating the great victories we've had in this administration. Instead, we're saddled with this responsibility.
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