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Tiffany Hansen: It's The Brian Lehrer Show. Welcome back, everybody. I'm Tiffany Hansen, in for Brian today. Now it's time for our weekly Reporters Ask The Mayor segment, which we hold on Wednesdays, the day after the mayor hosts his off-topic press conference for the media. Joining us to talk about the biggest issues concerning City Hall this week is Gothamist and WNYC reporter Elizabeth Kim. Hi, Liz.

Elizabeth Kim: Hi, Tiffany.

Tiffany Hansen: We've been talking a lot this hour about immigration, President Biden's executive action, so why don't we just start there? The city has seen roughly 4,000 migrants seeking asylum arrive each month of late. That's according to the mayor. That number includes only people seeking services from the city. What I'm wondering is, do you think that executive action will actually have any impact on the number of migrants coming into New York City specifically, and has the Adams Administration said anything one way or the other whether they think that will have any impact?

Elizabeth Kim: They are expecting it to have an impact, and they are expecting that this will decrease the number of people who have been coming in. Just to give you a picture, the past week they've counted about 1,200 migrants coming in. Now that seems like a lot, but it's actually not the high, it's been as high as 4,000. The numbers--

Tiffany Hansen: Per week?

Elizabeth Kim: That's per week. The numbers have been coming down, and a lot of that is due to what's been going on in Mexico, and that's been reported by people who have been following the border. President Biden asking Mexico to take a tougher stance and try to divert some of the asylum seekers from coming into the US. Yes, this is a huge number that should have an impact on the number of asylum seekers in New York City.

With that said, though, I think it's important to note that asylum seekers aren't just coming from Latin America. They're not just coming from across the border. We have seen Africans, we have seen Asians, we have seen Russians, so it's a global movement and that's actually normal. That's just part of the story of immigration in New York City and in America as a whole.

We also don't just see people come straight from the border to New York City. Sometimes people will stop at another city first. They might go to Chicago, they might go to Denver, they might go to LA, they might go to Miami, and then decide to come to New York City. This by no means will result in like that there are no asylum seekers coming, but it should stem the flow because a lot of this surge was attributed to economic instability in Latin America. If we think back to when this started in the spring of 2022, Venezuelans, they were escaping poverty, they were escaping violence so that is what triggered it, and that's why we've seen so many numbers from the border.

Tiffany Hansen: President Biden's announcement yesterday, Governor Hochul was there, notably absent Mayor Adams. I want to just play a clip here, Mayor Adams responding to questions about him not being present at that event.

Mayor Eric Adams: 200,000 people entered our city. 200,000 people larger than other cities. 200,000. Whatever could be done to slow the flow, give us the resources, allow people to work, I'm all for it. To the invite to the event, people should be asking, "Did Eric invite you to his events?" I have too much to do to worry about what guest list I'm on or not on. My day is non-stop. I enjoy going to the events in New York, and I do not have to raise my hand and say, "Please invite me somewhere." Trust me, I got too much to do on my calendar. They should be asking, "Why can't I come to Eric events?"

Tiffany Hansen: Well, to be fair, he did try to go to Washington DC at one point and turned around. It's not that he maybe didn't necessarily want to be there. If we could speculate, he has tried to go to Washington previously even though he's saying the opposite here. I'm just curious how you would characterize his comments there.

Elizabeth Kim: Let's be honest. If the President of the United States invites you to be at an event with him at the White House, you go, you show up. The mayor kind of dodged the question. The question was, "Were you invited?" and he's just basically saying, "I'm too busy." How would I characterize his comments? I was watching the mayor very carefully yesterday as he was talking about this issue.

I would say that he was begrudgingly thankful because in that comment you hear him say that he welcomes anything that will slow the flow. He welcomes more resources, he would welcome more expedited work permits. What's important to note is he got the first thing, but he didn't get the other two things, which is money and the policy changes that need to happen to help migrants work legally faster.

Tiffany Hansen: How much of his response to President Biden's executive action is politically motivated?

Elizabeth Kim: I think a lot of it is motivated for his own political future. This has been a political thorn not just for him but also for the governor. He has had to make budget cuts because of the billions of dollars that he's being forced to spend to take care of migrants. They are staying in city-run shelters. He has to help provide them with food, he has to provide them with pathways too, pathways to becoming legal in the United States and New York City. This is no small feat for a mayor.

I think it's important to emphasize that this is an unprecedented challenge for the mayor. What he's asking for is not unreasonable. He's asking for assistance. He calls it a humanitarian crisis. I think that many people would say that is a fair way to characterize it, but the city has not gotten the amount of funding that would help defray some of this cost. They've gotten some money in the millions, but again, this is a cost that has been estimated to be as high as 4 billion dollars a year so the mayor needs money.

The other thing that he's asking for, which is the policy change that I talked about, is how can we get migrants on a path toward financial self-sustainability. His answer is, "Let them work legally." I don't think that the mayor is unreasonable in that request either. Those are the two things that he's still asking for. Yesterday he did get a big policy win. He got this kind of intervention to temporarily close the border. I think looking forward, he still sees this as an issue that the city will be grappling with in the years to come.

Tiffany Hansen: Listeners, we want to bring you into this conversation, the issue of migrants and the migrant crisis, as Mayor Adams has laid it out, is front and center again this week both because of the president's executive order and the mayor talking about it yesterday. Do you agree with Mayor Adams? Would expediting work permits to migrants help alleviate some of the strain on New York City? That's one of the things the mayor has talked about.

You can ask your questions to Gothamist and WNYC reporter Liz Kim, who's with us. 212-433-9692. 212-433-WNYC. You can also text us at that number. We would love to hear from you. One of the things reporters asked the mayor about yesterday, Liz, was his relationship specifically with Biden and whether or not he'd be campaigning for the president. What did he say on that?

Elizabeth Kim: The mayor from the beginning, he has tried to characterize himself as a Biden Democrat. He's called himself the Biden of Brooklyn. What happened was this issue essentially fractured their relationship because the mayor went on a pressure campaign against the federal government and Biden specifically to try to get the president to help him on this issue. He used some inflammatory language to try to get his point across.

I think many listeners might remember that he had said that the migrant crisis was "destroying New York City," and that was a remark that ricocheted across right-wing media. Republicans seized on it, and as we know, the president is facing a tight reelection race in which this issue of immigration has been a real political vulnerability for the president. It fed into that so that has resulted in what has become a very strained relationship. with the president.

I'm not sure how he recovers from it, but what the mayor has said is, listen, this is not the only issue I'm dealing with. This is not the only issue that Democrats are dealing with. There will be some issues in which I am staunchly on the side of the president and he named gun control as one example and there will be other issues in which we disagree. This just so happens to be that issue.

Tiffany Hansen: We will probably see him walking more of a fine line here about immigration going forward. I'm looking at the comments from his advisor, Ingrid Lewis-Martin yesterday about funding specifically that there was no funding that came from President Biden yesterday attached to this executive order. We've seen President Biden now trying to walk a very fine line here about saying he's doing something on immigration and also maybe not necessarily the thing you would want, but he is doing something. I'm just curious how you will see or will we see Mayor Adams walk a similarly fine line the closer we get to-- I know his election isn't until next year, but do we see an evolution in his language?

Elizabeth Kim: He has pulled back somewhat from the initial rhetoric of the migrant crisis destroying New York City, which I think politically for him is not very good as well. It makes it seem as if it's a crisis that's beyond his control. As to whether he walks back some of his criticism, I don't know because he has repeatedly stressed this issue of work permits. That is something I think is questionable as to whether Biden is willing to do or whether he can do it, to what extent can he expedite these work permits. It's unclear.

It's an issue that is difficult for both Democrats. On the one hand, the mayor wants to be an advocate for his city. This is a huge challenge for him and he's trying his best using his bully pulpit to get his message across. On the other hand, you have President Biden who understands that this is a real challenge, but he's facing Republicans in Congress that are not willing to play ball on this issue because they understand that this is a weakness for the president going into the election, and they want it to stay that way.

Tiffany Hansen: Listeners, we're talking with Liz Kim, WNYC reporter for people in power. We're talking about Mayor Adams who had his press conference yesterday. We definitely want to hear from you about Mayor Adams, not just on immigration. We have some other topics on our list here, Liz, including vendors, we have the public restrooms that the mayor has been touting. We're going to get to all of that in just a minute.

Listeners, we definitely want you to chime in here on the other side of our break. You can call us, you can text us anything about Mayor Adams, ask a question for Liz, 212-433-9692 212-433-WNYC. You can also text us at the number. I'm Tiffany Hansen in for Brian Lehrer. We'll be back with Liz in just a minute.

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Tiffany Hansen: This is the Brian Lehrer Show. I'm Tiffany Hansen in for Brian today, and we're talking with Gothamist and WNYC reporter Elizabeth Kim talking about the latest issues raised by Mayor Eric Adams in his press conference this week. Liz, I want to dive into vendors. Let's start with a clip we have here from the mayor.

Mayor Eric Adams: That area has received a substantial number of 311 complaints because of illegal vendoring. It's impacting the quality of life. We hear it all the time. People are calling us and saying, it gives appearance that our city is having a level of disorder, in anything everything goes. The park enforcement officers must respond to that. We have to respond to complaints that are coming from citizens. The parent there is a habitual abuser of it and she has been told several times and she refuses to comply.

Tiffany Hansen: Liz, give us the context for that.

Elizabeth Kim: This is an incident that occurred in Battery Park on Sunday afternoon. A woman was selling fruit with her 14-year-old daughter. She did not have a license to sell fruit. According to park officials, parks enforcement tried to confiscate the fruit because they did not believe that it was safe for consumption. Then what the video shows-- the video was taken by a bystander, it shows a struggle between a parks officer and members of the public who were trying to stop him from arresting the 14-year-old girl. You see the officer holding handcuffs in the video. This video went viral. The last time I checked, it had over 11 million views.

This is not a new issue in New York City. In 2019 New Yorkers might remember that police were sharply criticized for arresting and handcuffing a woman for selling churros illegally in a Brooklyn subway station. This is an issue that comes back again and again because one of the problems is that there are not enough licenses to go around. There is huge demand from people who want these vending licenses, but the city has just been unable to keep up with demand.

Just to cite one example, the New York Times had a story last year that said, "Between the beginning of the year until mid-September, the city had issued only 14 vendor licenses. There were 10,000 applicants." That just gives you a look into the kind of demand there. There's also the other issue. The mayor talks about the fact that there have been a lot of 311 complaints that this is a quality of life issue. It also is legitimately a food safety issue too.

I think though, what some critics would ask him though is does the punishment fit the crime or does the type of policing of this fit the crime. Here was a woman that the mayor and city officials have identified as a migrant and the mayor himself has spoken, and with this issue specifically said that herein lies the problem. People need to work. They can't work legally, so they're doing the best they can. I guess the question that we would put to him is, in this case, this woman along with her 14-year-old daughter, did they really have to be part of what looked like a very chaotic and physical kind of altercation with the NYPD?

Tiffany Hansen: Particularly when there are other public safety issues that might be of greater concern for the mayor, did he at all mention that like this isn't the only way we're tackling public safety, we're also doing X, Y, Z?

Elizabeth Kim: That's correct. Although I think what the mayor views this as is a quality of life crime.

Tiffany Hansen: Not a public safety issue.

Elizabeth Kim: Maybe public safety in the sense that perhaps the fruit is not safe to eat. That's a legitimate concern. I think the city is coming up with ways to regulate these kinds of unlicensed fruit vendors to make sure that at least they may not have the license, but that they should be following proper safety guidelines in handling and selling the fruit.

Tiffany Hansen: You mentioned migrants being able to obtain work permits. Mayor Adams has been pressing for migrants to get these permits, as you mentioned before obtaining legal permanent residency. Just curious about what the mayor is saying even more specifically about these permits specifically for migrants.

Elizabeth Kim: You mean specifically in terms of how it's impacting the quality of life.

Tiffany Hansen: Yes.

Elizabeth Kim: This is one example that the mayor cited. The mayor also cited another example that happened early Monday morning. This was a lot more dangerous and this did impact public safety. Police basically tried to apprehend a man in Queens that was riding in the wrong direction on a moped. They tried to pull him over, but then he started running on foot according to police, and he shot at them.

The two officers sustained bullet wounds, but they survived and were released the same day. The man who's 19 years old was described as living as a migrant shelter. The mayor and police have basically described him as a man who came several years ago from Venezuela. The mayor used this example once again to underscore his demand for work permits.

Tiffany Hansen: Let's take a call here Liz from Troy in Brooklyn. Good morning, Troy.

Troy: Good morning.

Tiffany Hansen: Yes. You had a question for Liz or a comment?

Troy: I had a comment. I appreciate her balanced approach to how she's reporting this because oftentimes the mayor gets blamed for things where it's so complicated because you have demands on both sides.

In reference to the migrant issue, the comments that they mayor made in reference to needing assistance. The president took it personal and pretty much turned his back to a situation that I guess we deserve the assistance as far as citizens of New York because it is a national and a federal problem and he hasn't addressed that. What it means that he has addressed that was by turning his back on the mayor, which I think it shows a level of pettiness in regards to the reality that we are facing and the expenses that we're covering in regards to this.

On all levels, like people who want to vend and want to do things to earn a living, I understand that. I'm an immigrant from Central America. I understand the struggle, but you just can't have a laissez-faire attitude in regards to, okay, they want to deliver food and scooters can drive all over the place without regulations or licenses or helmets or any anything that's--

You want to sell churros, you can't vend. There's no way you can vend food in the subway in that manner. It's unsafe. It's not healthy, not clean. It's not allowed by MTA regulations, not even the city. It's so complex and then people get offended and upset because the police have to enforce the rules and regulations, but the migrants and everyone has to follow the rules and regulations to a certain extent, at least for the safety of the public in general.

Tiffany Hanssen: Troy, thank you. Troy, there expressing some support, sounds like, for the mayor. I'm wondering, Liz, if you think that-- Obviously, that was probably Mayor Adams's intention with dealing with what he considers to be an issue around vendors, is that he'd gain a little more support from people like Troy.

Elizabeth Kim: I think the mayor is a law-and-order mayor. I think the mayor sees things in some ways. I think he recognizes the complexity of the issue, but to him, the law is the law. The rules are the rules, and you can't be caught breaking the rules and not expect some policing or enforcement. Again, I would emphasize that these were two very different crimes. One was a woman selling fruit illegally in a park. The other, of course, was much more serious, and it could've endangered and killed not just bystanders, but these two police officers who sustained bullet wounds and had to be hospitalized. That's of a different magnitude.

I think it's important to separate those out and talk about them in different ways. I don't know that the mayor always goes into that nuance. He did say in response to the 14-year-old girl being accosted in that way. He did say, "We never want to see that." I think maybe more should be said in the way that that was handled. Can parks and can NYPD do better the next time an incident like that comes around?

Tiffany Hanssen: Liz, let's move on to public restrooms. This announcement is the launch of a "Ur In Luck." The play on words there, Ur In, urine, Luck.

Elizabeth Kim: I didn't get that the first time. I had to listen and think about it a bit, but I'm glad other people got the joke. [laughs]

Tiffany Hanssen: Thank you. I also did not get that joke. The administration investing $150 million in building 42 new public restrooms, renovating 36 existing ones. Before I talked to you about that price tag, let's just hear from the mayor here on bathrooms.

Mayor Eric Admas: You should be able to move around the city and deal with some of the basic essentials of being a human being, a parent, and finding the right restroom facilities. We all know the hustle. I walked into many diners and said, "Listen, I'll buy a cup of coffee, man. Just let me use the John." Of having to find a way to figure out the codes of getting inside a place. It's just a combination of creative ways just to use the facility. We're saying no to that.

Tiffany Hanssen: We're saying no to that apparently by building 42 new public restrooms, renovating 36 existing ones to the tune of $150 million. Am I the only one that thinks that's a lot of money for 46 new public restrooms?

Elizabeth Kim: No, you're not Tiffany. This has been a perennial problem in the city in capital projects. It costs a lot of money to build some of this public infrastructure that I think to the average person, they wonder, "Why does it cost so much?" I think the reasons are very complicated, and I think you can see it in the fact that the mayor said it's going to take five years, it's over five years. Just the length of that, I think might puzzle some New Yorkers as well as the cost. That's just what it is to do business in New York City.

They did say that they were doing something different this time and that they were prefabricating these restrooms. They're going to be prefabricated and then brought to the site. That is something new. I think what they were suggesting there is that the price tag would've been even higher had they not gone to this new strategy.

Tiffany Hanssen: Mary, a New Yorker, has not seen someone who is urinating in public. It is an issue for a lot of New Yorkers, and as the mayor said, it is an issue to try to find a restroom when you're out and about. Is this really just a play to get some public support for himself in a time when his poll numbers are heading down?

Elizabeth Kim: Undoubtedly. He himself framed this as a livability issue, and that's been something that he's been hit on since taking office. It's not completely something that I think is fair to pin on the mayor. This talk about the quality of life going down in New York City has occurred basically since the pandemic began. I think the mayor is still trying to deal with a lot of these issues. Yes, this is something that I think that most mayors would consider a win. Everybody wants to have more bathrooms in the city. I will though say that, he has proposed $55 million in cuts to parks at the same time. That sends a mixed message, I think, to New Yorkers.

Tiffany Hanssen: Yes. Before I let you go, Liz, one quick comment on the fact that he really didn't mention in context of these restrooms, anything about homeless New Yorkers.

Elizabeth Kim: Right. This would've been an opportunity for him to address that and the needs of homeless New Yorkers. It didn't surprise me because I don't think that the mayor views them as his constituents, although they certainly are. Providing those services for homeless New Yorkers recognizes that they are New Yorkers as well.

Tiffany Hanssen: Liz, I think we're going to have to leave it there. Thanks so much for coming in and for our weekly chat with you. I have enjoyed it.

Elizabeth Kim: Thank you, Tiffany. Same.

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