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Brian Lehrer: It's the Brian Lehrer show on WNYC. Good morning again, everyone. Now our Friday Ask the Mayor Call In, my questions and yours for Mayor Bill de Blasio at 212-433 WNYC, or tweet a question using the hashtag, #AskTheMayor. Good morning Mr. Mayor. Welcome back to WNYC. I know you wanna start with some COVID news, so let's start there, whatever you got for us.

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Well, I got some good news, Brian, I'm happy to say. Good morning to you. First of all, we have had extraordinary success reaching the youngest New Yorkers with the vaccine. This is really an effort that's basically a week old, but first let me tell you the schools, the sites in the public schools have been incredibly popular more than we imagined honestly.

As of yesterday, of course yesterday school was off so it was only three days of the week, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, 17,000 vaccinations administered at our elementary schools and the grand total for New Yorkers in the age group five to 11 is now over 51,000, 51,000 vaccinations already after just a week. I'm really encouraged.

I just want to emphasize to all your listeners, getting our youngest New Yorkers vaccinated is absolutely key especially as we go into the colder months. It's working and you can get vaccinated at your local school or other sites in the community, obviously for free. It's really time to make sure our kids and families are safe.

Brian Lehrer: Now, 51,000 sounds good. That's still by my calculation less than 10% of all the five to 11 year olds in the city. Do you think there needs to be something more? Governor Hochul has said a vaccine mandate to go to school is on the table as far as she's concerned statewide, she hasn't imposed it. I know you've opposed that for the city, would you advise against?

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Look, right now I still think the priority needs to be getting kids to be able to recover from what they lost for a year and a half. Most kids were not in a classroom for a year and a half, they suffered greatly, not just academically, emotionally, socially. A lot of the other things kids get in school, physical health support, mental health support, nutrition, I think kids have to be in school and they don't get to make the decision whether they get vaccinated the parent does.

I still think the best plan is to allow all kids into school regardless and of course to energetically get kids vaccinated. With the group right ahead, the 12 to 17-year-olds that has been vaccinated over the last few months, we're almost at 80% there and we continue to make progress every day. That, to me, is let's focus on getting kids vaccinated, make sure every kid is in school. If down the line we see a particular challenge, we can discuss any and all options, but that's how I'd handle it right now.

Brian Lehrer: You know that other parts of the country and parts of Europe are seeing steep increases in COVID-19 cases and their emergency rooms are filling up. In the international case, this comes just as the US reopened international travel and New York city from what I see is starting a big tourist to come here, advertising campaign. To look out west, Colorado's governor just expanded booster shots to everyone older than 18 rather than just for over 65 or vulnerable populations because they're having such a spike.

Cases are starting to rise again here as well even though thank goodness hospitalizations and death remain low. From a policy standpoint, is it right to encourage European tourism right now? Do you think governor Hochul should recommend boosters for everybody or make them available as a matter of policy to all adults right away?

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Look, I think boosters are a great tool and there's a lot of people eligible right now. All adult recipients of the Johnson & Johnson original shot, I'm one of them, are eligible and all Pfizer and Moderna recipients six months after the original if they are 65 and older and some even younger in some cases. A lot of people are eligible right now.

I think the first thing to do is get everyone who is eligible for a booster to get that booster. I am totally open to the notion of expanding the eligibility because I want everyone to get a booster. I think there's a lot we can do if we have expanded eligibility.

As for folks coming in from other countries, remember it's with some really strict requirements, vaccination and proof of having a recent negative test. We do need international travelers to come back. We need it for the livelihoods of New Yorkers. We need it for the recovery in New York city, but we're doing it and the federal government is doing it in a way that's safe requiring vaccinations. I don't see that as the challenge for us. I think the challenge for us is getting our own people vaccinated. I think New Yorkers should be very proud.

Brian, let me give you the latest figure today. It's 5.78 million New Yorkers have received at least one dose. That pretty much always means that people come back for that second dose. We have literally one of the highest levels of vaccination at any place in the country, but there's still more to do. We got to keep using the mandates to reach people. We're doing that with the public employees. We got to keep encouraging parents to get the young people vaccinated and we have to maximize on boosters.

One more fact you'll find very interesting, Brian, if anyone wonders do mandates work? Well, right now, as of today, the New York city fire department, where there was a certain amount of controversy obviously on the firefighting side of the fire department, the vaccination level is now 80%, excuse me, 86% and rising is now met the same level the NYPD has reached. 86% as a huge amount of distance covered in just a few weeks. Clearly, these mandates are working.

Brian Lehrer: I see in my newsroom asks about an agency by agency breakdown that despite the vaccine mandate, you've said 12,400 city workers are seeking exemptions. Our reporters have been asking for a breakdown of which agencies have the most exemptions apparently with no response from your office yet. Can you give us anything more specific about how many NYPD officers, for example, you just gave us something on FDNY and also sanitation are seeking exemptions.

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Let me see if I can get that while we're on the air. I think I can, or at least we'll get it back to you in the day. What I can tell you overall right now, those who have a reasonable accommodation request in, and that's from the group of employees covered from the October 20 announcement. That's 12,400 employees out of a total workforce of about almost 400,000.

The number on leave without pay has gone down markedly. It's now down to 2,600, and I can tell you right now, a number of those folks on leave without pay are going to come back and get vaccinated. A number of the folks who request accommodation, if they don't get it, if they exhaust the appeals, don't get it, a lot of them are going to get vaccinated. This number's going to move, but if you want the break up by police, fire, sanitation, let's see if we can get that for you right now.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you. Jenny in NoLita, you're on WNYC with the mayor. Hello Jenny.

Jenny: Hello. Good morning, Mr. Mayor. Good morning, Brian. Can you hear me?

Brian Lehrer: Sure can.

Jenny: Hello? Okay. I'm calling about making the eats in the streets the policy permanent. Our CB2's voted no for this. It doesn't seem that any thought was going into the differences among various communities. In NoLita, we have narrow streets, narrow sidewalks. In some places they are barely passable for a car, no less a fire engine. Our police department hates it. Fifth precinct hates it. The sanitation hates it.

We have so many rats, the trash can't be cleaned up because of these constructions that are in the street. They're hideous. They're being graffiti'ed. They just have destroyed the street scape totally. I understood it as a temporary measure for struggling restaurants, but it seems that the influence of the hospitality industry has just destroyed any consideration of what it has made life like for actual resident.

Brian Lehrer: Jenny, I'm going to leave it there so we can fit a lot of calls in with the mayor today. Mr. Mayor, you know we've been having a few debates on the show about permanent outdoor dining or not, getting calls like that. On the one side, there are definitely calls on the other side, but you hear those concerns from NoLita, which for those of you who don't know means the neighborhood north of little Italy and elsewhere around the city.

Mayor Bill de Blasio: They're entirely valid concerns. I hear them. I go all over the city, obviously. I see what people are talking about. Now, I come to a different conclusion honestly, but let me put it this way. The initial impulse for outdoor dining was to save 100,000 jobs immediately, which we did, and save a number of cherished neighborhood institutions, restaurants, bars that are really part of the fabric of the city. I'm absolutely glad we did it. We continued it now because a lot of these restaurants, bars, community institutions are struggling to survive, and we've been able to really help them.

We gave them space for free. They were able to expand the amount of customers they could have. I've heard so many good stories of really beloved places that were saved because of this and hundreds of thousands of jobs overall that are going to be saved in the process.

You could argue, "Hey, should we reassess it for the future?" It's not my view. If people want to do that in the next administration, they can, but I don't share that view. I respect the caller, but I would say, I think what we have here is something that has greatly enhanced the life of the city. It has created and preserved a lot of jobs, it has brought back energy and life as we're still fighting back COVID and we will be into next year.

I think it's opened up an amazing set of possibilities. If there's some particular tweaks that are needed, that makes sense. If there's places where more sanitation services are needed or whatever, of course we can do that, but I really think it's been pretty magical for a lot of the city and I would support continuing it.

Brian Lehrer: Have you looked at, and this is based on a caller that we got when we were discussing it in a previous segment, requiring some kind of structural code, I guess you call it, that keeps rats at bay more than other kinds of structures that apparently enables them?

Mayor Bill de Blasio: I think that's the great example of the kinds of things that we can keep working on and improving. The fact is, for example, if we can do something to improve sanitation the way things are structured, I want to do that. I also very much want to make sure, and I've given this order very clearly, that if a restaurant is not using that space and holding it fallow, that should not be allowed. Either use it or give it up.

There's absolutely things we can do to tweak it. We all have eyes to see. Some places have done an amazing job creating really beautiful spaces, and some are rather perfunctory, shall we say, and could use some improvement, but I would not want to throw the baby out with the bathwater. It's a great idea that's working. If we have to tweak it and we have to make improvements, of course that's something we can do.

Brian Lehrer: Here, I think, is another road use question. Charles in Manhattan, you're on WNYC with the mayor. Hello, Charles.

Charles: Brian, thanks very much. I want to apologize to you for leaving your show abruptly the last time I got on the air. Anyway, Mr. Mayor, I'm one of your admirers and I wanted to say that I'm a bike rider. All my life, I've ridden bikes and I helped build Casino Park, the bike track there, when I was younger. I was in the Long Island Wheelmen. I think that people that have bikes that are battery-motorized should be licensed because if you go to Central Park, what we would do, guys that would race, we would train in the morning from 5:00 AM to 7:00 AM, 8:00 AM we'd stop because everybody and their children come in then.

Right now, because you got rid of the cars, you've got motorized bicycles going to work in the morning like it's their highway. Most people cannot ride the way a professional bicycle rides, but now you've got these people that are on electric bicycles with you. If an emergency happens, their reflexes are not as sharp as someone that is a professional. Also, you've had one thing in the street where an actress got killed. They never caught the motorist that did it. I have to say, an electric bicycle is a motorcycle.

Today, after COVID, they are like wagon trains with groceries, and now they're going up and down both ways.

Brian Lehrer: Charles, what do you think the policy fix is, if you have one in mind, Charles?

Charles: I think there should be a license. They should be licensed because you've got the motor scooters, then you have the tourists that come that can ride motorized scooters. They're not used to the city. Riding in the city is an experience, and it takes a lot of experience to ride in Manhattan safely.

Brian Lehrer: That's right. Charles, I'm going to leave it there. Mr. Mayor, it's becoming a new world out there between the proliferation of e-bikes and revel scooters and all this other stuff. Does it require a different kind of policy response?

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Yes, I think it does. I'm going to say this, I hope carefully and wisely, that there's almost become a dogmatism about this that I think is a little dangerous. I appreciate what Charles is saying. He's reflecting reality as people are living it. I actually start from pedestrians. I start from families, seniors, kids, and I work my way up through bicycles to then motorized bikes, scooters, et cetera, and on up to the car.

My attitude is, we need to start by protecting spaces for people who walk and cross streets and be sensitive there, and that when we try to move towards a smarter approach, because it is getting more and more crowded and it is these mix of speeds, Charles makes a great point. It's one thing if someone on a bike and then someone on a motorized bike, it's a really interesting, challenging reality, if you're crossing that or trying to engage that. We should talk about what needs to be licensed. We should talk about requirements for helmets. We should talk about all these things.

There are some folks out there who really support bicycling, who sometimes, I think, get affronted by that conversation. I don't think it's an affront. I think it's a recognition that this is a lot more of the future. I want to see a future where fewer and fewer people use individual automobiles. I want to see fewer trucks on our streets. I want to see a greener reality, but there's nothing wrong with having some more rules and protections in place. We should just be able to have that conversation and find some common ground out of it. I think we will. I think we can.

Brian Lehrer: I guess that's going to be a conversation for the next mayor. In fact, now that the election is over and you're officially in a transition period with Eric Adams, I wanted to ask you, how does that work and what did you learn from your transition from Mayor Bloomberg about how to do it and maybe how not to do it to help the new administration coming in?

Mayor Bill de Blasio: First of all, with all due respect to Mayor Bloomberg, and everyone knows there's areas where I agreed with him and areas where I really didn't, but we were not personally close. We didn't communicate that much. Eric Adams and I have been talking constantly. To his great credit, he has been extraordinarily inquisitive and thoughtful in his questions about the day-to-day workings of city government and how to make it work best. I think that is far superior to what I experienced.

Teams, obviously, and this is the virtue of people coming from the same political party and a lot of the same history, a lot of us know each other, there's been constant dialogue. I think it's been a very good process. I think Eric has a tremendous head start because he knows the city so well, and he's worked at not only the local level, he's worked at the state level as a state senator. He comes in with a huge body of knowledge already.

What I'm finding is, the best way to do it is we're constantly talking about the issues before us right now and running different scenarios, if you will, about how things are happening now, what it's going to look like next year, and just that preparation is really, really healthy.

Brian Lehrer: Let me ask you about one of those issues, because Adams is starting to lay out a few positions that will be different from yours by the sound of him, and one that made some news this week is his plan to restore the Plainclothes anti-crime units that you disbanded at the NYPD after their outsized role in police shootings. When Commissioner Shea announced the end of those units last year, the New York Times described them as having been involved in some of the city's most notorious police shootings, and they gave some examples. Do you want to urge the Mayor-elect not to restore those units?

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Look, no one understands public safety better than Eric Adams, and everything he's done in his life as an elected official, as an officer, a police officer for over 20 years, as a police reformer. We have a really respectful difference on this. I think Commissioner Shea was right, and I really want to give him credit. It was his decision to disband that unit for a lot of reasons. I've talked about this, Brian, but it's not going to shock you when we get into a little deeper conversation. A lot of things don't survive the blaring headline.

Commissioner Shea, who's been at this work now for most of 30 years, he felt that the unit, as constructed, was not only creating a disconnect with communities and ill will and some bad incidents. He thought it was also not the best way to get guns off the street and the best way to have successful prosecutions. He wanted more of those officers in uniform, same talented officers doing the work a different way. That happened and gun arrests have gone up, up, up. We have the highest level of gun arrests in 25 years.

I think he was right. I stand by him. He was right. If the Mayor-elect says, "Hey, I have my own body experience, I want to do something different," you got to respect that, but beyond that, he's also said he does not. The Mayor-elect has said, he does not want to repeat the mistakes of that unit in the past, he would structure it differently. I respect that choice. We have a respectful difference, but I also respect that he's not trying to repeat what was, he's trying to create something new within it.

Brian Lehrer: Tyrus in Harlem, you're on WNYC with the mayor. Hello, Tyrus.

Tyrus: Hi, how are you doing? Good morning. My first question to the mayor is, are you concerned that many officers will leave the NYPD and go to Suffolk County Police Department due to the fact there's no vaccine mandate and currently they're hiring 700 officers? Then my second question is, there's a video on YouTube called Mayor de Blasio lies to Allen Patterson space, where he showed you that your administration in bad faith illegally recording him as terminated when he had already resigned.

Did you investigate and will you let Brian Lehrer know the outcome of that investigation?

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Well, the second point, I don't actually know what you're specifically talking about, but I'd be happy to look into it and get you a real specific answer if you please give your information to WNYC, we'll follow up with you today. On the bigger question that you raise. No, I think what's happening right now is that folks who join the NYPD overwhelmingly want to serve in the NYPD, it's the most renowned police force in the country, even the world, profession tremendous benefits.

People who come to NYPD make that choice, 86% now are vaccinated and that number is going to go up substantially because as these reasonable accommodation requests get adjudicated, I'm absolutely certain, a lot of people are going to end up deciding to get vaccinated. Some folks may go elsewhere, I think a small number may retire. Some may go elsewhere, but overwhelmingly, we already see the trajectory, the vast majority of folks are vaccinated and staying.

Brian Lehrer: Well, Commissioner Shea has said 6,000 officers are seeking vaccine mandate exemptions, so are you concerned that there could be a staffing shortage if a lot of these officers get denied?

Mayor Bill de Blasio: In the scheme of things, no and I'll tell you why. First of all, we have a lot of history from what we've done up to now with our health care workers, with our department education employees. Clearly, most people have put in the request don't meet the criteria. The health care exemption is very specific criteria, the religious exemption they clearly have to have a really clearly defined belief structure that has a lot of history to it. Not something that just popped into your mind recently.

Most people have asked for accommodation, don't meet those standards historically. Anyone who does, they'll keep working. Remember anyone who gets the-- Go ahead.

Brian Lehrer: I think the concern is, if a lot of them do get denied that then they would leave the department because they couldn't go back to work with their exemption.

Mayor Bill de Blasio: No, I want to clarify. This is different than what we experienced with the schools because the schools were this own very particular setting because of kids and everything else we were dealing with in the school buildings. You can receive an exemption, not end up having to be vaccinated validly and continue to work in uniform service in the appropriate setting. I think for those who do get the exemption, they'll continue to be serving in our first responder agencies.

For folks who don't. I think the vast majority will then get vaccinated. That's my point, we've seen this pattern constantly. When folks come to the realization that they have exhausted their appeals and options, overwhelmingly, they choose to get vaccinated.

In the end, will a small number of people, either resign or retire, probably, but a small number and anyone we lose will be replaced quickly because there are more police and fire academy classes coming regularly. I really don't think it changes the final reality. I hope everyone gets vaccinated. I hope they'll stay, but I think in the end it's going to be a very small number that leaves.

Brian Lehrer: Ross in the Bronx, your on WNYC with the mayor. Hello, Ross.

Ross: Good day. I would like to ask the mayor, these apartments that were rented by New York City landlords, the ones in the basement where people drowned, everything was flooded, they lost everything. I'd like to know as of today, what criminal charges have been lodged against these specific landlords in these buildings and I'd like to know who's looking at the New York City Department of Housing to see who okayed these buildings claiming that they were safe? Somebody's on the take.

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Well, Ross, please give your information to WNYC and I'll have someone follow up because look, on the first question you ask I don't know of criminal prosecutions, but there may be some depending on the very specific situation. On the second point, I've spoken about this very, very openly. The reality is we have a big challenge in this city. By the estimates of our housing agency, we've got over 100,000 apartments that are not currently legal and are not easily made legal and that those apartments hold and house over 200,000 New Yorkers who if they couldn't live in those apartments would not necessarily have an option.

This is a big fundamental problem in the city. To fix it, is going to be billions of dollars and will take a number of years. There is a potential series of things we could do to fix it, it will take very matriculation work, but no, it's not that they were approved and then these horrible tragedies happened. I feel awful for everyone who lost a loved one, it was horrible, it was shocking and unprecedented. The problem is, we've got a situation that's in plain sight, it's been that way for decades that we don't have a solution for right now. We just literally don't have a solution.

Ideally, you'd say not a single illegal basement apartment anywhere, but until we have enough places for people to live or until we can find a way to fix those apartments and make massive investments to do so, we're stuck in a situation that doesn't have the options we need right now.

Brian Lehrer: Question from a listener via Twitter, who posts with a picture of himself holding a small child and says, "If vaccine distribution in public schools has been so successful, why can't we get second doses there too?" What would you say to that listener?

Mayor Bill de Blasio: I think it's a great point and so to the listener, what I'd say is we are seeing a totally different reality with the younger kids than we saw with the older kids. We had for the first whole week of school vaccination sites in every school building that served the 12 to 17-year-olds and very few people came. They preferred to get their vaccinations elsewhere.

We've seen the exact opposite with the younger kids. Parents are coming in droves to their elementary schools to get vaccinated. That's great, so we're going to keep adding. Any school where there's demand, we'll have a vaccine site. We'll keep adding. If it makes sense to do it for the second doses, that's great. Wherever we're going to get people is where we're going to be, it's the bottom line. If that's where parents want to be, we'll have vaccinators there for them.

Brian Lehrer: I'd like to get your take on one result from last week's election, that's become clear in recent days and then I'm going to ask you a big picture question going out, but parts of the city with many East Asian Americans voted mostly for Curtis Sliwa. On yesterday's show Assemblymember, Ron Kim of Flushing said in his opinion, they were mostly voting against you not Adams, per se, largely under treatment of gifted and talented education and the SHSAT exam, similarly, and your treatment of small business.

Want to respond to that and maybe give your own analysis of what happened with Chinese Americans and other East Asian Americans who usually go for Democrats.

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Well, I think your point there, I do want to respond to it and I appreciate Ron Kim, someone I respect. I saw in some of the reporting Grace Meng spoke about this too, and I respect her greatly and I think people are right to say that we as Democrats need to have a deeper and better dialogue with East Asian communities. What I'd say is the history should not be forgotten overwhelmingly East Asian and South Asian New Yorkers have voted democratic overwhelmingly. They elected officials who've come from those communities have been democratic.

I think there's a lot of positive history. There's a lot of appreciation of the way Democrats have supported things that I've done, for example, pre-K for all is deeply appreciated in East Asian and South Asian communities. Clearly, the focus on respecting immigrants and embracing immigrants is something the democratic party is known for and is deeply appreciated in those communities.

I think if there are immediate issues like gift and talented education or specialized high schools, that people are feeling something about that's valid, it means we've got to have more dialogue because we've got to have more fairness when it comes to education. There's too many kids being left out, too many kids in Asian communities being left out as well.

I think as people get to understand the full scope of the gift and talent proposal, that's going to reach tens of thousands of more kids, including kids in the Asian community, I think they'll be more embrace of it.

Brian, I've been honest. I wish I could go back in time and have the conversation about specialized high schools over again. I did not handle that right. I didn't mean to offend anyone or disconnect, but I didn't communicate it right and I should have had a whole different dialogue with the community.

I think we should not mistake whatever motivated the votes in this moment. We shouldn't mistake that for the bigger history or where we can go. We've done a lot for small businesses and we'll continue to do a lot for small businesses, so I know people will feel that but I think it is about engaging the community. Grace Meng made this point and I think she's right. Democrats need to go much deeper into dialogue with Asian communities. It's a huge, important part of the city, a growing part of the city. We got to do better at that.

Brian Lehrer: I think, listeners, we have Congresswoman Meng schedule for next week. Last thing for today, as you know, Mr. Mayor, we talked about this last week and we agreed that we're going to look back on these remaining Friday segments together on specific areas of policy over your eight years as mayor. It'll be education as the first of those next week as we've agreed.

In a general way to get the ball rolling on the idea of these retrospectives, what would you say has been the biggest surprise or one big surprise about being mayor that even as close to it as you were as public advocate. Before that a city council member and similar for Eric Adams, who's been a borough president and other things. What surprised you about the job that you also might want your successor to be prepared for?

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Oh, there's so many things I could say, but I want to pick up where we just were. I think it's a great example. Being mayor of New York city is incredible experience. It's incredible privilege to serve the people of the city and you could probably get more done in this job than just about any public service job in America. It's fantastic, but one of the things that I was surprised by is the bully pulpit is legendary. It's an extraordinary platform to work from, to tell people of a vision and work on the vision and listen to what people need and act on it.

The amount of misinformation, the amount of noise, if you will, the ability for something to be misunderstood is unbelievable. The example I just talked about and I put this on me first, Brian, for not understanding how easily something could be misunderstood. When I saw what happened with the specialized high schools, and I think you reported on this a lot, we were seeing a place like Stuyvesant 1% or 3% African American or Latino. I think people were just hurt by that, but that's not the values of New York city.

I thought I was speaking to the whole city and saying, "Of course we have to do something different and we want to do something different that benefits everybody." What I learned in is in that experience I understood after the fact, after having some really good, honest and critical conversations with leaders from the Asian American community that so many struggling hardworking people, immigrants, folks who had just put everything into the next generation and having opportunity.

They didn't hear it as we need to be fair to everyone in the city. They heard it as something was about to be taken away from them. That was never the intention. The intention was trying to figure out a solution that would be fair for everybody.

I think what I would urge for the mayor elect, I think he's a really fantastic public servant and a fantastic communicator is just recognize how quickly even a good and noble idea could be misinterpreted. Or how much you have to over communicate the vision and make sure that if there is a criticism or concern, it's heard and acted on early, because I tried it with all the things swirling around the city. I tried to keep up with so many issues simultaneously, but I didn't realize in a case like that, how much people were feeling hurt or misunderstood or that their needs were not being met.

That became sort of a huge theme. The theme of wait a minute, this is none just structure was getting lost. The constant communication, constantly listening to people and making that adjustment is a big challenge, but something I think every mayor has to try and find their way to.

Brian Lehrer: Well, very candid and very interesting. Thanks as always, Mr. Mayor, we'll pick it up next week.

Mayor Bill de Blasio: All right, Brian, take care, now.

 

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