New York City Mayor Mamdani launched a fierce attack on President Donald Trump following the ‘horrific’ Minneapolis ICE shooting, calling the incident unacceptable and demanding that ICE be kept out of New York City. The mayor’s remarks have triggered a sharp national debate over federal immigration enforcement, public safety, and the role of ICE in major U.S. cities.
Speaking amid growing public anger, Mamdani said the Minneapolis incident has raised serious concerns about use of force, accountability, and federal overreach, and warned that New York City would not tolerate similar actions. His comments put City Hall on a collision course with the Trump administration, escalating tensions between sanctuary cities and federal authorities
#NYCMayor #Mamdani #Trump #ICE #Minneapolis #ICEShooting #NYC #ICEOutOfNYC #TrumpICE #MamdaniVsTrump #MinneapolisShooting #ICEControversy #USPolitics #BreakingNews #ImmigrationDebate #FederalVsCity #PublicOutrage #USNewsLive
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Speaking amid growing public anger, Mamdani said the Minneapolis incident has raised serious concerns about use of force, accountability, and federal overreach, and warned that New York City would not tolerate similar actions. His comments put City Hall on a collision course with the Trump administration, escalating tensions between sanctuary cities and federal authorities
#NYCMayor #Mamdani #Trump #ICE #Minneapolis #ICEShooting #NYC #ICEOutOfNYC #TrumpICE #MamdaniVsTrump #MinneapolisShooting #ICEControversy #USPolitics #BreakingNews #ImmigrationDebate #FederalVsCity #PublicOutrage #USNewsLive
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NewsTranscript
00:00Well, I first just want to make clear that the news coming out of Minneapolis is horrific.
00:06This is one part of what has been a year full of cruelty.
00:14And we know that when ICE agents attack immigrants, they attack every single one of us across
00:17this country.
00:18And this is a city and will always be a city that stands up for immigrants across the five
00:23boroughs.
00:24It's my first time here in this room for a press conference as well.
00:35So good afternoon, my friends.
00:40It is a privilege to be gathered here today in a building that belongs to the people of
00:47New York, but has too long been withheld from the people of New York.
00:53There is a reason that we are here in this room.
00:56For generations, the Blue Room has been reserved only for traditional press, but this administration
01:02is not traditional.
01:04And the way we reach New Yorkers cannot be either.
01:09You are newsmakers.
01:11You are trusted voices and communities across every borough in our city, across races, religions,
01:19and as I look out onto this room less than one week since I was sworn in as the mayor of
01:26New York City and joined by tens of thousands at our inauguration here at City Hall and in
01:34the block party that we had in the block stretching beyond.
01:36I see faces now of New Yorkers that so many in this city turn to and trust, not just during
01:46the work of the campaign or the transition, but also during the work of governing.
01:52And when those in this city want to make sense of this city, when they want to feel the solidarity
01:59that sometimes feels absent in this city, when they want to figure out where to get some good momos in
02:04this city, when they want to understand how and if government works and who it's meant to serve, or
02:10whether they want to get involved and hold those in power accountable, they turn to you.
02:15They turn to you, and they do so because many of these New Yorkers have not felt the presence
02:22of government in their own lives or in their own communities for all that long.
02:27They don't know what it looks like when government makes a positive difference in their lives,
02:32when government fills their days with dignity.
02:36These are tenants and young people, immigrants and trans New Yorkers, people who speak one
02:41language with their parents and another with their friends.
02:43As we transform how City Hall serves the people, we want to also transform how it speaks to the
02:51people too. Not just with a newfound empathy and interest in everyday people's lives and struggles,
02:57but also with a new approach to communicating that speaks to New Yorkers where they are,
03:02through the people they start and end their days with.
03:06Here's the truth. We are going to have a lot to share.
03:10Because already, not even one week into this position, we are taking real steps forward in
03:19our agenda of affordability. And while I am so proud of the work that we have done and the work
03:24that we will continue to do, the progress we deliver will be wasted if New Yorkers do not know how their
03:31lives can be improved and are unaware of the resources they can now turn to.
03:37So I want to talk to you now and I will try to run through this quickly about some of what we've
03:43already done and how it will impact New Yorkers. But before I walk you through it,
03:47I do want to ask you all a few questions. Could you raise your hand if you have ever been charged for
03:54something you didn't really agree to? A free trial that quietly became a bill? A hidden fee on your
04:01airfare or doctor's visit? A gym subscription that was impossible to cancel? Now could you raise your
04:08hand if you ever paid more in rent while your apartment got worse? Broken heat, leaks, unsafe conditions,
04:18or been hit with extra fees just to apply, move in, or pay your rent? And now raise your hand if you've
04:25ever felt like City Hall or government in general doesn't really listen to people like you. Maybe you,
04:33if you needed some help but hit a wall of paperwork. Maybe if you reached out to your representative but
04:37you never heard back. Maybe you watched decisions get made without your community in the room or even
04:44being thought of or maybe you voted or even volunteered and never saw the change that you
04:50had hoped for be delivered. Now I would bet that seeing this many hands in the room at each one of
04:56these questions is not a surprise to any of you. These all feel like near universal realities for so
05:02many who call the city home. It's something that we've become accustomed to almost. But that is also
05:08what happens when systems are built to be confusing, to be unaccountable, to be disconnected from
05:14the people that they're supposed to serve. What we are doing differently in my administration and
05:21what we have already delivered in the past six days since I was sworn in as the mayor of this
05:25incredible city is about changing men. So first, we've stood up for tenants by revitalizing the mayor's
05:31office to protect tenants, announcing rental ripoff hearings across all five boroughs, and announced a new
05:38commissioner of the Department of Housing Preservation and Development named Dina Levy, who has spent
05:43decades fighting fiercely on tenants behalf. Second, we are going after fees and deceitful
05:50practices that drain New Yorkers bank accounts. I am talking about the junk fees that add $20 to your
05:55gym membership each month, the $30 that comes out of nowhere when it's time to buy those Lucy Dacus
06:00tickets, the added fees that your landlord thinks that they can burden you with. And third, we are making our
06:07city safer and easier to get around. Whether we are paving the Williamsburg Bridge bump that causes so
06:15many bike accidents each day, or announcing that we are going to complete the redesign of McGuinness
06:21Boulevard as it was originally intended, so that New Yorkers can actually bike through Greenpoint without
06:27fear. We are improving the streetscapes and the physical infrastructure of our city. And finally,
06:34we are placing New Yorkers, not billionaires or career politicians, at the heart of these efforts.
06:40On our second day in office, we established a new office, the Mayor's Office of Mass Engagement,
06:47led by Tasha Van Auken, who served as the field director on our campaign and helped us build a movement of
06:53more than 100,000 volunteers who knocked on millions of doors and made even more phone calls.
07:01This office is going to be something that ensures that people powered is not just a buzzword or how
07:06we describe how we got here, but it is instead something that continues to define our politics and
07:12governs our decision making and our policy proposals. We are moving at a pace that is as fast as the city
07:19that we love. In six days, we have signed 11 executive orders. Historically, it would take
07:25months to get to that number. Now that I know we built a movement around some pretty ambitious concepts,
07:32dignity, affordability, a government of the people, for the people. Now that we're in government,
07:38we have both the privilege and the responsibility to free those concepts from abstraction and put them
07:45into practice. Already we are seeing that it is not only possible to do so, but it is transformative
07:50when we do do so. Because when people see themselves and their interests reflected in governance,
07:56they care more about their democracy, they feel like they have a greater say in their city,
08:01and they participate more themselves. We can only deliver for all of us if all of us work to deliver.
08:08So thank you for being here, for continuing to share the not always glamorous work of government
08:15with the people of this city and far beyond, and for holding those of us fortunate to be your public
08:21servants to account. Thank you so much.
08:26Now we're going to enter your questions. We're going to get through as many of these as possible,
08:31but just a heads up for a little bit of time on time. So we'll try to prioritize it next time.
08:38Um, we're, and also if all of you can get by you in the crowd, we'll do that, but we'll start with,
08:44um, let's start with Layla. Oh, hi. Hi, I'm Layla.
08:49We met briefly at the primaries walking from Trump Tower to your debate. Um, I'm a Persian
08:55Lebanese content creator here. In the past six months, I've had so much fun making content for
09:00you. We've, I've personally reached over 120 million people around the world. So it's really
09:06impactful and it's just been really an honor to do that for you. And I do it through just dancing and
09:11spreading joy. Um, so now for my question, I have been living in Upper East Side for eight years
09:17in the same apartment. Every year our rent goes up a tiny bit, but this year on the eve of November
09:243rd, my landlord, who is kind and does try very hard, texted me and my roommate that he will be
09:30raising our rent 9.4% if we sign for one more year or 6.25 if we resign for two more years.
09:38I love my apartment. I love its quirks, but there are several issues, which I'm sure a lot of other
09:43New Yorkers have like falling apart walls, things being painted over, whatever is broken. I had a
09:49stalker that lived next door to me for five years that is now gone. Thankfully, um, lack of security,
09:57broken intercom system, things like that. Um, and so I was wondering how will the rental ripoff hearings
10:04be able to address concerns like this for myself and then other fellow New Yorkers who probably have
10:10much worse issues than this? Well, first of all, thank you for both sharing this question
10:16with us and the experiences that you've lived through as a New Yorker. The intent of the rental
10:21ripoff hearings and also my selection of Sam Levine as our new commissioner for the Department of
10:28Consumer and Worker Protection is to finally give New Yorkers a place where they can register these kinds
10:36of complaints and concerns. Some of the ripoffs that New Yorkers will speak about, I am sure the
10:40ones they've already shared with me ripoffs like being charged fees that they cannot explain ripoffs
10:45like being charged for services that are actually now supposed to be incorporated within the rent.
10:51Some of them, however, will also align with what you have just shared, which is a denial of repairs
10:56oftentimes or an inability to actually get the services that you are owed. And what we are looking to
11:02these ripoff hearings to do is not just to collect testimony, but rather to use it as an opportunity
11:07to create proposals for policy implementation and enforcement. And the last piece is critical
11:14because a law's worth is only so much as a New Yorker's knowledge of that same law. And there are
11:20many laws that exist already to protect tenants, to protect workers. And yet if those tenants and workers
11:25do not know of them, then they can be taken advantage of. And so our work will be equal parts
11:29of deliberation and legislation in partnership with the city council, as well as enforcement.
11:36Thank you. Can everyone raise your hand so I can have a check-in form just to make sure?
11:40Um, okay. Uh, I'll raise at Bronx Theater.
11:45Yes. Right here.
11:47Yes. Yes. Uh, first of all, how's everyone doing?
11:49Good!
11:50Good!
11:50Good!
11:51Good!
11:51Good!
11:51Good!
11:52That's awesome. I just want to say you've done an amazing job.
11:54Thanks. We're so happy to be part of this movement, this new era.
11:57Uh, my question is, uh, how can you help, uh, local entrepreneurs and business owners that are
12:02struggling to acquire physical spaces to run their business in the city, as well as help struggling
12:07local businesses to keep their spaces through this tough season right now, January, Feb, first quarter?
12:13Yeah.
12:13You know, I, I think it's so critical to highlight the entrepreneurs and the small businesses across
12:18our city. And too often we measure these small businesses by how many open, but we don't ask ourselves
12:25as much by how many close or how they're doing in between those two moments. And so we made a
12:29commitment over the course of the campaign and how we would cut red tape, how we'd make it easier
12:33for those small businesses to navigate the bureaucracy. And one of the critical things that
12:38I've also appreciated in making my appointment of Julie Sue as the deputy mayor for economic justice,
12:44is this is someone who will bring the understanding that what workers are facing in this city and what
12:50small businesses are facing in this city are part of a similar struggle that we have to deliver on.
12:54So it comes down to cutting red tape, cutting fines and fees, and also ensuring that where the city
13:01actually owns commercial properties, that we are doing everything we can to fill those properties.
13:05Thank you, brother.
13:06So it's obvious that like fewer rental ripoff hearings that addressing bad landlords and
13:18affordability are immediately within your timeframe. Where in your timeline is addressing long-term
13:23housing solutions for homeless New Yorkers?
13:27So this is a key part of the portfolio of our deputy mayor of housing and planning,
13:32Layla Bozark, who has done incredible work in the past and is already hitting the ground running
13:39in putting together a housing plan for the long term. Because we have to build an incredible amount of
13:46additional housing across the city. And we also have to do so with a view towards how we can ensure
13:52that New Yorkers can afford to live in that kind of housing. So a lot of that work of planning, a lot of that
13:57work of building across the city will fall within her portfolio, then the question of taking on
14:03homelessness is also critically important. And I'm so proud to have our deputy mayor for health and
14:09human services, Helen Anteaga, who comes from running Elmhurst hospital in Queens, who will be
14:15doing a lot of the work of ensuring that our social services are actually being delivered to those who
14:19are in dire need of it.
14:24Thank you. Hey, how's it going, Kevin?
14:26How are you? I have two quick questions for you.
14:28Please.
14:29First, we know that you're inviting new media here. And earlier this week, you were meeting
14:35with New Yorkers on the bus and having direct communication with them. How important will
14:40communicating directly with New Yorkers be during your term as mayor? And do you foresee that getting
14:45more difficult as we get further along? It's going to be a critical part of the work that we do.
14:51You know, there are so many New Yorkers, as I shared as we began this press conference,
14:56for whom all of you in this room are how they start their days and how they end their days.
15:01There are so many New Yorkers for whom social media is the medium through which they understand
15:06not just their life, but the struggles of their life. And we are looking to speak to those,
15:12especially who have long regarded government as if it is somebody else's concern, as if it does not
15:16have a relevance in their own life. And the longer you spend in government, the more tempting it is
15:22to think only of government, to only have your press conferences in this room. For example,
15:27I have been meeting with the press corps every single day, and we have done so across the entirety
15:32of the city. We will meet here as well, but it's important to also take this message out to New York
15:37City, as well as bring the rest of New York City into this same building. And, you know, when I
15:42went on the Q70, which is the one fare-free bus here in New York City, what I loved about it is
15:49you hear what it actually means for people in their life. So often politics gets distilled into
15:55statistics, into the narratives that we have read time and time again. But then when you sit with a
16:02young man who tells you that this bus being free means he can get home every single day without
16:07having to worry about how much money is in his pocket, when you sit with someone and you hear
16:11from them about how that bus being free is means that they don't have to cut into the check that
16:15they're about to make at LaGuardia because of the cost to get there, you remember what is driving this
16:22moment and what is driving this movement. And so I will always have to get outside to make sure that
16:28this is a politics that reflects the rest of the city, not just the confines of this place.
16:31We also saw what happened in Minneapolis, an ICE agent shot a woman directly and killed her
16:39instantly. And we know that in the previous administration, there were a lot of run-ins
16:42with ICE in the city where New Yorkers thought that NYPD officers were either protecting or assisting
16:48ICE agents. So how can New Yorkers, under your mayororship, trust that NYPD, when those situations
16:55arise will be there to protect them and not to protect mass secret agents?
16:58Well, I first just want to make clear that the news coming out of Minneapolis is horrific. This is
17:08one part of what has been a year full of cruelty. And we know that when ICE agents attack immigrants,
17:14they attack every single one of us across this country. And this is a city and will always be
17:19a city that stands up for immigrants across the five boroughs. And I have made it clear to
17:27everyone within my city government, and that extends to NYPD, that we are going to uphold our
17:32sanctuary city policies. We are going to adhere to them. That is why one of the 11 executive orders
17:38that we signed was to repeal the previous administration's order to allow for collaboration
17:44with ICE on Rikers Island. What we are going to be doing is following the laws that we have set,
17:51laws which have kept New Yorkers safe. And we are going to make it clear to each and every person in
17:56the city what their rights are. That's why we took the time to make a know your rights video,
18:00because it goes back to the earlier question. If you don't know of your rights, then how can you
18:05be expected to actually use those rights? So we are going to take every opportunity we have to inform
18:11New Yorkers of what they already can do. And also to make it clear to our own city government agencies
18:17and departments across the board, including NYPD, that we are not here to assist ICE agents in their
18:23work. We are here to follow the laws of New York City. Thank you very much.
18:31You said stop. That's me. Hi. I'm so grateful to be here. Congratulations and thank you.
18:38My question is about government bureaucracy. You've addressed it before as it pertains to small
18:42businesses. And I appreciate you acknowledging that it is an issue in the interviews you've done
18:46even before you were elected. I'm curious now that you're in office, what bureaucratic incentives do
18:51you feel like are the biggest obstacles for you and your agenda? And what are you doing to address them?
18:55You know, when in one of the earlier conversations I had with Lina Khan,
19:01she told me that when she got to the FTC, it felt like she was experiencing the great forgetting,
19:05where people had grown accustomed to forgetting the actual potency of the tools they had in front of
19:11them. And the challenge that that represents is having to push past an answer of this is how things
19:18are done, or this is how we've always done them, and instead ask, what are we able to do? And so what I've
19:24been so appreciative of is that we are building a team that is looking at these tools in the full
19:32sense of what they are able to accomplish as opposed to what they've been used to accomplish for the past
19:37few years, the past few administrations. So even the references we've made to rental ripoff hearings or
19:44the city's intervention in a bankruptcy court case against Pinnacle Realty, these are examples of a city
19:50that is not going to be afraid to use its own power to stand up for working New Yorkers. And what I'm
19:55excited about is that all of this is animated by a belief in government's purpose as being one that
20:02serves working people. And if you understand that, then you are willing to do everything that it takes
20:07to actually deliver on that. Very welcome.
20:12Taiwan.
20:18Good afternoon, Mayor. Good afternoon.
20:19I really appreciate the time that I got following you, and that's what really changed my mind and
20:24made me vote for you during that cab sync for the taxis. So I have two quick questions.
20:29First of all, I'm a vendor and a music producer from Jamaica, Queens.
20:34Okay.
20:36And I want to know, because I lost a lot of contracts when the Trump administration came in,
20:41are we going to get contracts back with vendors for after school programs because that's what our
20:46children need? Look, this is a focus of our work. You know, when we ran the campaign, we spoke again
20:54and again about the importance, especially of universal child care. After school is also critically
20:59important for so many. And I think that one of the first tasks we have in front of our administration
21:05is stabilizing what we have seen over the last few years and then also simultaneously advancing our
21:10vision. So we've said that the days of spending a budget process, forcing the public library to
21:15justify its own existence, those have to come to an end. The days now that we are starting to embark
21:21upon will be one where we are honest with New Yorkers about the fiscal challenges we have,
21:25but also create a budget that is a reflection of our own values. And for me, those values include
21:30taking care of our children across the city. And so that's where we're hard at work at right now.
21:34The second question would be about St. Elvis, Queens. We have this battery issue that we're having.
21:38So we have private homes that are being built next to these battery farms. So lithium batteries,
21:43they explode and they're five feet away from these private homes. So people are concerned in
21:49the Jamaica, Queens. Can we get some help with that issue? So that is an issue that I'm going to
21:53follow up with after this meeting. Thank you for raising it. Appreciate it.
22:05My name is Juan Bago. And actually, to that I do not have a question, my son has a question for you.
22:12I'm going to read it to them. Hopefully your staff doesn't verify if it's real or not.
22:16Dear Mayo Zozo, you and I have a parent that is a filmmaker, one of more successful than any other.
22:25My question is, as mayor, do you and your staff have a plan to support independent filmmakers and
22:32content creators in New York City? P.S. My dad bribed me $5 and a trip to Chuck E. Cheese to ask this question.
22:38Wow. Tell your dad not to bribe me because we don't do that here.
22:48Thank you for that question, my friend. Thank you for being here as well.
22:52I think that the arts are a critical part of this city. And too often we think about the arts as if
22:59they are separate from an agenda of affordability. And so we don't want to just make it easier for
23:04filmmakers to tell the stories of this city, though we do. We also want to make it easier for
23:09filmmakers to be able to afford to live in this city. And I always think back to the conversation
23:16that you may have or your father may have seen. You probably didn't see it. Maybe others in this
23:20room have seen it. Where Timothee Chalamet and Coleman Domingo were having a conversation and they
23:25realized they actually lived in the same building. And they lived in that same building because it was
23:28a building that was built with the intent of providing subsidized housing for artists. And so what we
23:34need to do in the city is ask ourselves if we want to have this city continue to be the cultural
23:40capital of the country, we also have to invest in it such that artists can actually afford to live
23:45here and not just dream of coming to stay here. And that's going to be a big part of our housing plan.
23:50Mayor Maldani, thank you so much for having us here. It's such an incredible experience as a content
24:02creator to be able to come into the space. My name is Avani and I make fitness content. And if it's okay,
24:08I'm going to ask my question first in Spanish and then in English.
24:11Go for it.
24:11Siendo alguien que hace contenido en el ambiente atlético, soy muy consciente que el acceso a
24:19gimnasios y a espacios seguros es un privilegio. Por ejemplo, las multas innecesarias de los
24:26gimnasios cuando una persona ha intentado mejorarse puede limitar su acceso. ¿Cuál es su plan para mejorar
24:33el acceso del residente promedio de Nueva York a espacios de actividad física? Y en términos
24:40generales, ¿cómo ayudará su agenda económica para mejorar la salud física y mental de los residentes
24:46de Nueva York? As someone in the fitness space, I'm very aware that access to gyms and safe spaces
24:52is a privilege. For example, the gym fees while trying to make strides towards self-improvement can
24:58hinder someone's access. What is your plan to improve the average New Yorker's access to fitness
25:03spaces? And generally, how would your affordability agenda help improve the physical and mental
25:09fitness of New Yorkers?
25:11That's a lovely question. I think the first thing that we are focused on is that New Yorkers
25:21actually be able to trust that the subscriptions they're signing up for or the memberships are
25:26ones that they can also get out of and ones where they agreed to pay the amount that's being charged to
25:30them. Because what happens when you are ripped off or you are overcharged or you face a junk fee
25:37is it also diminishes your trust in that activity as a whole. And we do not want to turn people away
25:44from exercise and physical activity. We want, in fact, to make it as easy as possible for them to express
25:50themselves in the city that is theirs. And so we are going to make clear to gyms as well as any and all
25:57businesses across the city that the law is something to be followed, not something to simply be
26:02considered. And that means to end the practice of subscription traps. It means to end the practice
26:09of junk fees and overcharging. What we also have to do is invest in our public spaces as well.
26:14And we have to make it easy for New Yorkers to exercise outside as well as they can inside.
26:19And that is something that I appreciate very deeply as someone who grew up in this city and also
26:26someone who has run very, very slowly around this city and has done so because of the parks of this
26:33city. And I think that for a long time we have thought of some of these questions, some of these
26:39points, whether they be arts or physical activity, as if they are just footnotes to what should be the
26:45focus of city government. But they are, in fact, so much of what makes this a city people want to
26:50live in. And so we need to actually treat it that way. Thank you so much.
26:53Very welcome.
26:53The slow runners still run marathons. I'm a slow runner and I've done too, so you can do it.
26:58Thank you. Thank you.
27:01I also enjoy running a marathon, but I have a three part question.
27:06Okay. One is the mayor of Minneapolis.
27:09We'll do one at a time.
27:09Okay. Mayor of Minneapolis, Frye, has said I should get the F out of Minneapolis.
27:15Do you have the same attitude in New York? And do you have any idea whether President Trump
27:21plans to surge ICE agents here? And even if he doesn't, how to protect New Yorkers?
27:29No, I can't speak to what the president will do. I can tell you, however, what I've also said to him
27:34directly, which is that I believe that these raids are cruel and inhumane and they do nothing to
27:40actually serve the interests of public safety. And what New Yorkers want to see is a city that
27:47they are safe in, a city that they can also feel comfortable leaving their home in. And I can tell
27:52you when we did The Mayor Is Listening, when I sat for 12 hours at the Museum of the Moving Image in
27:56Astoria, I had a number of undocumented New Yorkers come and speak to me and share with me the anxiety
28:03that they live with each and every day, the fear when they leave their home, and also the sense
28:09that when they hug their aunt, it may be the last time that they do so. And so we will continue to
28:15make clear that this is a city that stands up for immigrants. And also, this is a city that will
28:18follow its laws of sanctuary city policies, precisely because these are laws that keep New Yorkers safe.
28:24And prior to this moment in time, these were laws that were defended by people of both parties
28:29because of what they were seeing as actually delivering.
28:33Just very quickly follow up about the Trump administration, ending $10 billion in funding to
28:40five Democrat-led states, which for child care, for low income, in our case, New Yorkers, what is your
28:47plan right now on universal child care and to subsidize people who are going to be losing
28:54that support for everything from child care to paying for diapers.
28:57This is a cruel decision that seeks to play politics with the future of our kids' lives here
29:02in this city. And I am looking forward to working with our partners in Albany to not only fight this,
29:09but I also take heart from the fact of what the governor said yesterday, which was her confidence
29:14in being able to defeat this move in court. And we also know that it is insufficient to simply
29:19protect that which we do have. We also have to meaningfully advance our vision of universal
29:25child care. It costs a family $22,500 a year to take care of a single child in this city. 80% of
29:32families with kids under the age of five cannot afford to live here any longer. This is an imperative
29:36for us. And so our task in this year ahead, and in every year, is to meaningfully advance this vision
29:42of universal child care. We said that the beginning of that would be to fix 3K and then start to provide
29:47additional child care for ages younger than that portion. And that's what we have to be doing.
29:53And now don't leverage your position against President Trump.
29:56I'm sorry, Amy. I have to go on to other questions. Thank you.
30:00Thank you. Thank you. Laura Serrari.
30:08Hi, Mayor Mamdani. How's it going? I met you briefly on election day,
30:10and I haven't had a chance to say congratulations. Thank you very much.
30:14I work in fitness too, and I echo Alan's sentiments about how important affordability
30:19and accessibility is. You've talked about the junk fees specifically, like it's a huge joke in the
30:24fitness industry, about what horrible offenders' gyms are with memberships. When we talk about things
30:31like the junk fee actions and the rental ripoff boards, it sounds great in theory and in practice
30:39for a lot of New Yorkers, these things end up being a lot more bureaucracy and a lot more red tape.
30:46How can everyday New Yorkers expect to see these things in practice in how much we're paying to live here?
30:53You know, I really appreciate the question and the framing of it because I think what it speaks to
30:59is why so few people have hope in government's ability to actually deliver. And in Sam Levine,
31:06we have a commissioner for the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection who has demonstrated
31:10his track record of results at the national level. This is someone who was a key part of the FTC
31:16under Lina Khan's leadership and someone who has shown the ability to take on junk fees,
31:21subscription traps, exactly these kinds of things at a nationwide level. And so what I appreciate in
31:27this is we are not looking to make an announcement that we will then not return to. What we are in
31:32fact looking to do is empower a leader within our city government to collect testimony from New Yorkers
31:39and then start to make rules on the basis of that testimony, create policy, and deliver a new landscape in
31:47this city where those kinds of fees are not ones that you come to accept as the cost of doing business,
31:53but they are in fact things that we know have no place in this city. Thank you.
31:57Hello, nice to meet you again.
32:05Hi Toya, nice to see you again.
32:07We met Espenard a couple months ago and asked me a question, so I will not do that today.
32:11So I'm a historian and my question is like everyone's talked about already, you've moved
32:16really quickly on the rental ripoff hearings. I'm excited to see what that's like and the junk fee orders.
32:21Are there historical mayors, I know you said LaGuardia was your favorite mayor on the tour,
32:25or moments in New York history's past, like I think about the Harlem Tenants Council and Harlem
32:31strikes, um, Harlem Rachel strikes in the 1930s that have impacted you and how you prioritize,
32:38what you prioritize early on. And then my second question to follow up with that is how does it
32:43look from a vantage point of not being like an activist or a person, but now being a person inside a
32:49mayor who can actually make change. You know, my favorite mayor will continue to be Fiorella LaGuardia,
32:58and I think of his example often. LaGuardia founded what is today called the New York City Commission
33:09on Human Rights. At that time it had a different name. And today we announced our new executive
33:14director, our new commissioner and chair of that entity. And in doing so we announced our commitment
33:23to actually follow through on allegations of housing discrimination that take place across the city,
33:29on allegations of discrimination on the basis of race or religion or sexual orientation or disability
33:34status. And in announcing new leadership, we continue to fulfill that same vision from decades
33:41ago. I think what appeals to me so much about LaGuardia's legacy is it was one that measured
33:47itself by the work that it did for New Yorkers. And it delivered for working New Yorkers
33:54also at a time of incredible anti-immigrant animus. And it did so without trying to pit the
33:59two against one another, but instead speaking of a vision of the city that was for all. And
34:04a vision of the city that was built around the importance of public goods. And as much as we
34:10think about the New Deal as we should, we also have to recognize that those words were in fact
34:16first spoken here in New York. And there are examples that we should emulate in learning about
34:22that history. And then to your second question, you know, it is so incredibly exciting to be part of a
34:29team that is actually delivering on this kind of work. And now delivering doesn't just mean taking on
34:37the crises that we have all spoken about and known about. It also means showing that there is no job
34:42too small. No job too small, no crisis too big for city government to actually concern itself with.
34:49And, you know, the other day we covered over the Williamsburg Bridge bump. Now, this is something that
34:57I myself have biked over many a time and have done so with real anxiety about how I'm going to look
35:03and feel at the end of that bump. But it was also more importantly, something that New Yorkers had
35:08flagged for me over the course of the campaign. And what I appreciated about it is what they were
35:13flagging for me was not just that particular instance, but also an example of if you can't fix this,
35:19how are you going to do anything else? And what we want to show New Yorkers is we can do both.
35:25And we are going to do both. Thank you.
35:36Well, I will say before we take this photo, I really do want to say thank you to everyone here
35:46for the work that you do, for the ways in which you keep New Yorkers engaged and involved,
35:51and also to make a commitment to you that this kind of engagement is something that will continue
35:56to characterize our administration, because we need to speak to New Yorkers through every single
36:02medium that they see themselves and see the world around them. And all of you are such critical parts
36:07of that. And now I'm going to take a very poorly composed selfie, and then I will walk out of this
36:13room, and I will see you all very soon. They told me to do 0.5, but I don't know how to do this.
36:20So here we go.
36:24No, I'm not doing 0.5. I'm not doing 0.5.
36:28Here we go. You guys in?
36:30Didn't elect a Zoomer. You elected a Millennial. Thank you, guys. It's a real pleasure.
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