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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Time now for our weekly Ask The Mayor call-in, my questions and yours for Mayor Bill de Blasio at 646-435-7280. Or you can tweet a question, just use the #AskTheMayor, and yes, it'll be truncated today. As, hey, a ceremonial reopening of Coney Island has to happen on its own schedule. Good morning, Mr. Mayor. Welcome back to WNYC.

Mayor de Blasio: Good morning, Brian. I want you to know I am sitting here in P.S. 90 in Coney Island, just steps away from the cyclone. I am honored to have been one of the first riders on the cyclone, and the rides are open at Coney Island. It's an amazing feeling as part of the rebirth of the city. I have one other piece of news for you which is yesterday in New York City, we set a record 104,600 vaccinations in one day in New York City, which is more vaccinations than there are total people in the city of Albany, New York. It's like we vaccinated a whole city in one day. Pretty amazing--

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Brian Lehrer: Is that our first day over 100,000?

Mayor de Blasio: It is the first day-- We broke 100,000 once before, but now we've broken it by substantially more, and this is the shape of things to come. I think you're going to see, in the weeks ahead, 500,000 a week, even more, 600,000 a week or more as we get more and more supply. The demand has been really amazing, especially now that everyone is eligible.

Brian Lehrer: Well, I thought maybe you'd be doing Ask The Mayor from the roller coaster. That would have been an experiment.

Mayor de Blasio: I could do that. [laughs] You get very dramatic responses, Brian.

Brian Lehrer: Yes. We'll say this is just a metaphorical roller coaster ride, not a literal one every Friday. There's a lot of education news today. Let me get to some of that with you. Today is the last day for the families who've been choosing all remote learning for their kids to opt back in for the rest of the school year, and for our listener's contacts, the large majority of students had been previously opting out, how many are opting back in?

Mayor de Blasio: Today is going to be the decisive day and really important for parents to know you have till the end of the day today to opt-in. We announced, obviously, that the two-case rule has been ended, a new rule in place that will allow schools to stay open much more consistently, and still be safe. We expect there will be a decent amount of activity today, but right now we're well over 40,000 opt-ins, but we'll have the final number on Monday when we get a chance to really add up everything that comes in today.

Brian Lehrer: I saw though that registration for any kindergarten for the fall in the public schools is down by 12% compared to this year, is that more privileged parents leaving or deciding on private school or parents of any means deciding on homeschooling for now because it's also complicated? What do you make of their 12% drop in registering kids for kindergarten?

Mayor de Blasio: I think it's too early to really judge what it means, honestly. I think what you're going to see is the recovery is going to move very quickly, the economy is going to come back, we're seeing amazing facts about the economic comeback already, thanks in large measure to the stimulus. Obviously, seeing the vaccination rate is astoundingly fast now and I think you're going to see case levels go down. I expect, Brian, a lot of people who have been away are coming back.

I expect a lot of people who are not sure what they wanted to do in terms of their kids' education will solidify their plans, and, of course, families can sign up for kindergarten all through the spring, all through the summer. In fact, some families even sign up September, October. I think we'll see a lot of folks come back in the course of the coming months. We're ready. New York City public schools, I want to emphasize this, will be fully open in September. We are assuming that every single child can be in school five days a week, based on everything we know now.

Brian Lehrer: Raquel in Clinton Hill, you're on WNYC with the mayor. Hello, Raquel.

Raquel: Hi. Good morning. Thanks for taking my call this morning. I have a subject where my nephew, he's 18, but he's disability, and he goes to a special school. I've been trying to get his ID on the non-driver's ID card. We went to the motor vehicle, and they said there was not sufficient documents that he needed, he needed our IDs, but now we don't have an ID with his picture on it. They refused us, not to him to get an ID card. We have the point, but he didn't have a picture with his ID on it.

Mayor de Blasio: Well, Raquel we can definitely help you. Raquel, please give your information to WNYC. Department Motor Vehicles, DMV, is the state, but we can still help you work with them. Also, we can get him IDNYC which is a absolutely formal, official photo ID and it will help with everything you need, so we can get that for you right away. Just give your information to WNYC, please.

Brian Lehrer: Ann in Park Slope, you're on WNYC with the mayor. Hello, Ann.

Ann: Hey, Brian. Hey, Mayor de Blasio, how are you gentlemen doing today?

Brian Lehrer: Okay, thank you.

Mayor de Blasio: Very well, Ann. My head's spinning a little from the cyclone, but otherwise, I'm well. How are you?

Ann: Well, glad you and Luna Park are out there and having a great time. I'm calling because I have a situation. I applied for the New York State COVID rent relief extension back in December. After many emails and delivering a paperwork, I qualified and was granted an award at the end of February. I was told to wait two weeks for the funds to get dispersed to my landlord. They were not dispersed. I called, they said that there was a backlog and to keep trying.

Back on March 24th, this program shut down. I cannot find anyone to help me get these funds to my landlord. Brad Lander sent me on to Robert Carroll, and I'm assuming they're working on this, but I can't get a warm body, and I know I'm not alone in this. I'm hearing that a lot of people who qualified for rent relief in this second program have not been able to get their funds to their landlord. I don't know where to go to for help for this.

Brian Lehrer: Mr. Mayor, is this the first you've heard of this since Ann says she knows a number of people having the same problem?

Mayor de Blasio: Yes, and part because if I'm hearing correctly, this is the state funding stream that somehow the state is not getting the people. I'm always confused by the State of New York, but we're going to help Ann anyway. Ann, will you please give your information to WNYC. We'll have our tenant protection office follow up with you. I have to imagine there's a way to get this corrected. If the money was allocated, it still should be available. We'll work with you to find a solution.

Brian Lehrer: Good. Ann, you hold on too, we'll take your contact information. Speaking of being confused by the State of New York, the state budget got passed this week as of course you know, me and others have been discussing the details. One factor was that with the federal COVID relief bill money, Albany no longer had a deficit to close. Is the same now true of the city for its budget year, which begins July 1st?

Mayor de Blasio: We're in so much better shape, thank God, because of the stimulus, and because of the actions. I really want to get the state legislature credit and Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Carl Hastie, really deserve credit here. They did something incredibly important by raising taxes on the wealthy, finally ensuring that the wealthy would pay more of their fair share of taxes, and then devoting that money largely to our kids and families and honoring the campaign for fiscal equity. A court decision from years ago, the state had ignored it for years and years, multiple governors had ignored it, and now the state legislature took charge and New York City can get its fair share of education funding finally. So we're in much better shape.

In two weeks, I'm going to be presenting the formal city budget to the people of the city, to the city council. That will reflect all of the changes, but we're in so much better shape than we were before.

Brian Lehrer: How do you convince wealthier New Yorkers who may have left the city for pandemic reasons to come back especially in light of the new tax rates, if they're really that wealthy. We are talking about people who make a million dollars a year or more under that, no impact, but you want them here too, paying their city taxes as well as their state taxes. Is it related to the job you have to convince reluctant families that the schools are safe to send their kids into either to return for this school year or to register for kindergarten?

Mayor de Blasio: I'd say it's a little different. Brian, I think for this year, it's a very personal decision. A lot of families have a groove they're in now with remote and they want to keep it that way. Other families really want to get their kids back in-person learning with teachers and experiencing being with their friends again. It really depends on the family, but in September, everyone will be welcome back five days a week. I think that is crucial for the entire recovery of the city, and things are moving really well. The New York City public schools have been the safest places in New York City, and that's going to help make everything else work.

To the wealthy, look, this is a great place to live for everyone. There are so many people, including folks who've done really well. This is the place they want to be because everything is here, the cultural community, the restaurants, every industry is here. For those looking to build their careers and their businesses, there's no place better to do it. Yes, there's higher taxes, and that also means a lot more investment in things like education, and culture, and things that people want.

I think a lot of wealthy people understand that but remember also Brian, they got a massive tax cut from Donald Trump just a few years ago. They've been benefiting from that and many other previous tax cuts. I don't think there's anything that's happened here that's going to fundamentally change the decisions of most people who have done well.

Brian Lehrer: Nicole in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC with the mayor. Hi, Nicole.

Nicole: Hi. Thank you for taking my call. Tuesday afternoon, I parked my car with my four-year-old son. He walked in the house and I got another car. I was parked about two doors down, I was excited to find a spot on the block. I live on a very difficult spot block to park on. This man in front of me, in front of the neighbor's house, was calling down the block, these people down the block, all of a sudden he turned the man in, shots were fired. I was right there as it happened. I was happy my four-year-old got in the house and they found bullet casings right where I was standing, in addition to other places on the block, two bystanders were injured, although they were I think around the corner side next we've seen the people who were shot.

I live right below the parade grounds on Prospect Park on 18th in [unintelligible 00:12:21]. I know gun violence has increased in our area. This is in broad daylight, four in the afternoon. I've thought about this, and I want to know what's being done, what's being done there where 40 police officers or more who covered our block for hours. I don't know what that means. What comes of it, or whatever out--

Brian Lehrer: Or how you feel safe tomorrow, right Nicole?

Nicole: Right. So I walked out my door now and I know this is only three days later, but when I open the door even to put the garbage outside or something like that, I very carefully look from one side to the other, to the other. When I had to take my son down the block, I carried him. I have a one-year-old and a four-year-old, I carried them right in front of me. If we have to head back and cover, we could do that.

Brian Lehrer: Your younger one is making their radio debut right now. Thank goodness your four-year-old got in the house safely. Mr. Mayor, gun violence is increasing in the city. You don't need me to tell you.

Mayor de Blasio: Yes. Nicole, first of all, as a parent, I'm feeling what you're saying very deeply, and it must have been terrifying. A parent's first instinct obviously is anything to protect their children. I'm very, very sorry you went through that, and I'm sure it was very upsetting. Look, we have seen something after years and years of reducing gun violence steadily, we saw something horrible last year. We saw a lot of things disrupted in all our lives, but one of the worst parts of it on top of all the pain and death of all the illness from COVID, we also saw more gun violence.

I think it comes back to this horrible combination of things we saw, people didn't have jobs, and almost a million people lost their jobs, schools were closed, houses of worship were closed, things really were falling apart. I believe this fundamentally, this year is going to be very, very different because we're going in the reverse direction, thank God. The city is coming back. Jobs are coming back. Kids will all be in school in September. We are also bringing communities and NYPD closer together. There was a lot of work that had to happen to build up more trust. I think that work is starting to really be felt. We're investing in community-based solutions to gun violence like the Cure Violence Movement in the crisis management system.

The NYPD also is taking more guns off the street now than it has literally in 25 years, and there's way too many guns in our society. We all know this, and we all know they come from outside the state, but the NYPD is getting more of them now and that will continue. It's very upsetting, but I know we will turn the tide and New York City has before and we will again.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you, Nicole. Best of luck to you and your kids. We've just got 30 seconds left. Can you give me a quick take on vaccine passports, the Excelsior Pass from the state? I see the Daily News describes you as giving a kind of qualified support to the Excelsior Pass. 30 seconds.

Mayor de Blasio: 30 seconds. I think passports will play an important role and I understand why not everyone wants one and I understand the privacy concerns, but I think they will help. Magic bullet, no, part of the solution, yes.

Brian Lehrer: Mr. Mayor, thanks as always. Stay safe out there. I hope your stomach settles down after your ride on the roller coaster, and talk to you next week.

Mayor de Blasio: [chuckles] Sooner or later. Thank you, Brian.

Brian Lehrer: Have a great weekend, everyone. Brian Lehrer on WNYC.

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