Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani: It is such a pleasure to be here in Greenpoint alongside partners, friends and advocates to make this announcement that this neighborhood has waited years to hear. So, what's a couple more minutes?
I first want to acknowledge a number of leaders, both inside our City government as well as outside partners, who have helped to make this day possible. I am proud to be standing alongside our Parks commissioner, Tricia Shimamura, who is here with us; our Council member, Lincoln Restler, who is here with us; our Assembly member, Emily Gallagher, who is here with us. We also have our EDC executive vice president of the capital program, Elizabeth Arnaiz, who is here. We have local residents, Acacia Thompson and Zach Eisenstadt, who have been critical parts of this fight.
We have former City Council Member Stephen Levin, who is here with us. We have representatives from Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez's office who are here with us. And we also want to shout out all of the local organizations, advocates, tenant associations, commercial and manufacturing partners that made this day possible who are here with us. And finally, staff from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the MTA who are here with us.
So, a year ago, a Google Maps user named Henry Walker left a review for Box Street Park. In his list of pros, he wrote that it provided, "desperately needed park space in North Greenpoint." His list of cons contained only one item: "does not exist." And still, he gave it three out of five stars. New Yorkers are nothing if not optimistic.
As you can see from the cracked patches of pavement around us, Henry is correct. Box Street Park does not exist. More than 20 years ago, City Hall promised to transform this lot into a park. That was 2005. When that promise was made, movies came out on VHS, Tobey Maguire was Peter Parker and I'm pretty sure I wasn't even born.
Even then, the people of Greenpoint knew they deserved better. And they intended to hold government to it. They saw a lot that sat on the banks of Newtown Creek, one of the most polluted stretches of water in America. But they knew it could be transformed from an abandoned site into a place of community.
So, they did what New Yorkers do best. They laced up their shoes, they canvassed their neighbors, they held meetings in cafes and on street corners, and they organized.
After years of Greenpoint residents testing the water and pushing for change, Newtown Creek was listed as an EPA Superfund site in 2010, an act that federally mandated that the creek be cleaned. But cleanup is only half the job. The other half is returning this stretch of the waterfront back to the people.
And year after year, City Hall continued to let this site languish in disrepair. But our administration believes what residents of Greenpoint have long known to be true: that access to our shoreline should not be a luxury, but a right that is afforded to every New Yorker.
This morning, I am proud to stand here alongside the relentless advocates, both in elected office and outside of it, on delivering on that very conviction as we finally turn a decades-old promise into a park.
Beginning today, workers will prepare this site to transform it into a park. And in November, demolition and excavation will begin. Never clapped for demolition and excavation. But it will take a concerted effort to transform this shoreline from broken asphalt and overgrowth into two and a half acres of new public waterfront.
But once complete, New Yorkers will finally be able to enjoy the Box Street Park they have long awaited and deserved. An esplanade will let you look out over the skyline, and an accessible path and terrace seating will bring you right down to the water's edge. There will be a basketball court, a dog run and a picnic area for families.
Throughout the park, you will find black gum and eastern Redbud Trees, Purple Lovegrass and Little Bluestem, Virginia roses and seaside goldenrods, all native plants that will cool the air and clean the water for years to come.
And it will connect existing esplanades to the east and west, filling a gap that has interrupted the North Brooklyn waterfront for years. For the first time, New Yorkers will be able to walk this entire stretch of shoreline without a fence in the way.
In short, Greenpoint is going to be greener.
For too long, this neighborhood was told that a park was coming. Today, we are making good on that promise. We are building a Box Street Park that will turn that three-star Google Maps review into a five-star review. And maybe, maybe, just maybe, Henry Walker will one day write, "Great park, it exists."
With that, I'm going to pass it over to our emcee for the day, New York City Parks Commissioner Tricia Shimamura.
Tricia Shimamura, Commissioner, Department of Parks & Recreation: Good morning, Greenpoint. Finally, I do not need to tell anyone here how critical our open space is. For far too long, Greenpointers have been cut off from parts of the waterfront, one of our city's greatest natural resources.
Important public access projects have faced years of delays and obstacles, but as seen by this crowd and known very much in the hearts of our elected officials and advocates, this community does not give up, and neither does the Parks Department.
This groundbreaking is an important step toward giving Greenpoint the public access and waterfront it deserves, and this project builds on the work that we're doing up and down the Greenpoint waterfront.
Earlier this summer, we cut the ribbon on the new Motiva portion of Bushwick Inlet Park, a $10 million construction project that restored tidal wetland ecosystem and provided access to the shore for kayakers. And yes, our Council member was there celebrating every single inch of the park.
Spaces like these are not luxuries, they are absolute necessities. At the new Box Street Park, New Yorkers will be able to relax by the water on terrace granite seating, take in the Manhattan skyline from a picnic blanket on the central lawn, and work up a sweat on our brand-new basketball court. And of course, this new park will be accessible, welcoming space for all, including our four-legged friends at the new dog run.
Before I introduce our next speakers, I would like to acknowledge some of the people who have been critical to this project. Many of you know her, our North Brooklyn Parks administrator, Mary Salig-Husain; our chief of Planning and Neighborhood Development, Nick Molinari and our entire planning division; and of course, our Brooklyn Borough commissioner, Marty Maher.
Now it's my pleasure to introduce our next speaker, our New York City Council member and park lover, Lincoln Restler.
Council Member Lincoln Restler: Twenty-one years ago, when this waterfront was rezoned, the central premise was that we were going to get a whole lot of housing, but we were going to finally open up our waterfront, our industrial waterfront, to our community. But the park space largely never came.
The MTA promised that they were going to vacate - in writing - they promised they were going to vacate this site 21 years ago. There are kids, there are Greenpoint children who are born and can now legally drink, who are still looking at a damn parking lot on this site.
When I ran for district leader back in 2010, which also was before Mayor Mamdani was born, the first action I organized, with a number of the people who are standing behind us today, was a rally here in front of these gates, where we issued an eviction notice to the MTA. We posted it on the gate, and we demanded that we get our damn park.
Over these years, our community has organized again and again and again. Acacia founded a friend's group for a park that didn't exist. When neighbors across the city were celebrating "It's My Park Day," here in Greenpoint, Emily and others were celebrating "Where's My Park Day." And we kept fighting and fighting and fighting.
And when I ran for City Council in 2021, there were a handful of commitments that I made to myself. I said, "Come [] or high water, these things are going to happen." And Box Street Park was on that list.
We started organizing monthly meetings with the Parks Department and EDC and DEC to make sure that the site was cleaned up and that we had the funding fully in place. We secured nearly $10 additional million to take a project that was originally supposed to be $14 million and today costs $41 million.
We were able, in the most recent rezoning over at the Monitor Point site, to finally relocate this MTA ERU unit over to East Williamsburg, so that we'll be able to break ground on the second phase of this park in two years' time to get it fully completed. And with the mayor's generous support, we're already securing additional dollars for phase two to help make that a reality.
This park will be an oasis for newer residents here in 77 and 35 Commercial and Blue Slip and for lifelong residents like Laura Hoffman and so many others from Krakus and across the neighborhood who have been desperately fighting for this park space for decades.
Yes, this is about reclaiming our waterfront. Yes, it's about securing the park space we deserve, but it's about something that's bigger than that. Something that I think is really the fundamental essence of this mayor's leadership. It's about restoring faith in government.
For too long, we've had broken promises that have led neighbors to believe that nobody's looking out for us, that nobody's actually fighting for us. And by stepping into office, partnering with us, and saying, "We are going to secure every inch of park space that we were promised, we are going to make this happen together," Mayor Mamdani is delivering something that's even more important than a park: faith. Thank you so much. We really appreciate it.
Commissioner Shimamura: Next, I'm thrilled to introduce our Assembly member, Emily Gallagher.
Assembly Member Emily Gallagher: Good morning, everyone. I am so thrilled to be here with two of my dearest friends, who I have been fighting with for this kind of faith in government my entire adult life. And I am so proud to be here at Box Street Park as we are opening the next phase. Much like what Lincoln just said, I really have learned two major things from this community, and I think it's the glue that holds this community together. It's a combination of faith and fight.
We deeply believe in Greenpoint and Williamsburg, that we will get what we deserve. But we are not willing to just passively wait for it. What we do is we band together, we form associations, we create opportunities and we fight to the death for what we want.
And when I first moved to this neighborhood in 2006, the rezoning had just been passed. And I met people on street corners who were pulling me in, who were preaching to me about what this neighborhood was promised, and what we had to fight for, and what we had to get, to get what we deserved.
This neighborhood has a long history of being sold out by the City of New York. In the 1980s, the City of New York saw no promise for this neighborhood beyond polluting industry and parking lots and storage. But this community said, absolutely not. This is our home. We deserve good health. We deserve open spaces, where we can be with our friends and family and dogs. And we deserve to have the same kind of beautiful life that the better - the more resourced neighborhoods had in other places.
As time went on, the resource level of this neighborhood changed because on top of the exploitation of this neighborhood from industry, we also got exploitation from real estate. And it means that a lot of the people who fought with faith for this community are no longer here.
What I am so proud of, and what I'm so excited about in Mayor Mamdani's vision for our city, is that that trajectory does not exist anymore. We will no longer let people be displaced or given terrible public health because they don't have the resources that other people have.
And now this neighborhood will finally get what it deserves. And I want to dedicate this win to every single person who fought for this neighborhood, who fought through cancer diagnoses and other things that came out of this toxic past, and who are continuing to fight today, whether they live here or elsewhere.
This is a park for all of us. Every Greenpointer who has ever lived here belongs in Box Street Park. And I will continue to fight for the future of Greenpoint and New York State in the same fashion. Thank you.
Commissioner Shimamura: Nothing ever is able to get built or thrive without our local community neighborhood partners and advocates. And with that in mind, I'm thrilled to introduce Acacia Thompson to speak from Greenpoint Library and founder of Friends of Box Street Park.
Acacia Thompson: Good morning, everyone. I want to thank you, Mr. Mayor Mamdani, for coming. You've been giving Greenpoint a lot of love since you've been in office, and we're very grateful. I'm Acacia Thompson. I've lived across the street for 11 years. And when I moved back to the community in 2015, I learned about this proposed park, part of the 2005 waterfront rezoning plan, right? So, I was surprised to find out that nothing had been done in the 10 years since it had been promised.
I'm an environmental justice coordinator here in the community and a librarian. So, I want to give you just a little history so that you know a little bit about the advocacy of this park from your neighbors.
As a parent and a burgeoning open space advocate, I rallied to draw attention to this park that had yet to materialize. For several years, I spoke to NYC Parks Department, our local electeds, neighbors and other local activists to bring attention back to the fact that we still did not have this park and what can we do about it.
I learned from the intrepid activists like at Barge Park Pals Laura Hoffman, Steve Chesler at Transmitter Park and Bushwick in the Park Friends of - about how to do it, how to advocate for open space here with the city. So, I started Friends of Box Street Park.
Meanwhile, super towers were going up, and new neighbors were moving in, and we desperately needed this park. We need this park. So, as we all know, Greenpoint has a rich history of industrialized pollution, and our community struggles with the environmental justice issues from that legacy. Every New Yorker deserves access to open green space for the quality of their life, the health and the well-being of their friends and their families. This park is a much-needed public good in a rapidly developing neighborhood.
So, backtrack to April 2018, Parks Department held a design scoping meeting and I pestered all the local electeds at the time with some neighbors to attend and rallied other neighbors to come to let the community or Parks Department know about, like, what they wanted in this park.
The park design at the time was a soccer field, which would not serve the needs of our growing community, and given the fact that we already had several fields in the neighborhood, and a diverse group of people living in North Greenpoint, we advocated for a passive and active park that can be enjoyed by all of our neighbors.
So, the next year Parks Department brought a design that would afford us passive and active space and after community input, they also added greater access to the waterfront. So, that was a while ago. We all know we've had a series of a lot of setbacks. The community has continued to develop and advocate for over eight years.
And I really want to shout out to Mary Salig, Parks Department, for always being very communicative and helpful and answering questions when we are getting very frustrated about the development of the park.
I'm grateful to our electeds, Council Member Restler and Assembly Member Gallagher. I know - I know your name, you've been in my living room, I know your name. You never forgot about the promise of this park to this community. And for 21 years, right, working to make this right and pushing it forward to hold the city accountable and to provide the much-needed green space that will benefit the health and the wellness of our community for years to come. So, we are deeply grateful this is finally happening. Thanks so much. Thanks a lot. Thanks, everyone.
Commissioner Shimamura: Greenpoint, I hope you know our next speaker. If not, you should sign up with him because this is going to be a bit of a long process, a little bit longer while we go through construction. And it's a great way to stay informed, stay involved and be up to date on every single step along the way. So, with that, I hope - I'm thrilled to introduce Zach Eisenstadt, our Greenpoint resident and street safety advocate.
Zach Eisenstadt: All right, nothing like batting cleanup after these heavyweights, but I'll try as I squint at my phone. I am Zach Eisenstadt. Yeah, there you go. At least there was one woo.
Now, some of you might already know me because of the work we've done trying to calm Commercial Street or because of the work we've done trying to organize tenants to hold landlords accountable. But I've come to Greenpoint about a decade ago, which by many accounts makes me pretty new to the community.
And in that time, I came here as a struggling performer who was hoping to find an affordable place to sleep. And now I'm a dad. I'm a husband. I'm a community activist. I'm still a struggling performer. But now I have this outrageous hope of helping create a community where we can all not only afford to live, but enjoy and thrive living in.
Now, as I witnessed these high-rises rise up around me, I got a firsthand seat to see how Greenpointers fight. They've all talked about it. And a lot of you have been witness to or participated in it.
We helped ensure that the NuHart site got cleaned up. McGuinness is now much safer and not that much slower for anyone complaining. And now we're finally getting the infrastructure we were promised over 20 years ago.
This moment is a testament to the years of organizing this community has brought to bear. Speaking up for ourselves and our neighbors, whether they're new or old. No, no, no. I was saying to the general public. No, no. But 2006 is a lot sooner than 2015. Calm down.
Look, Greenpointers fight. And now how incredible it is to finally see that fight come to bear alongside elected and an administration that shares that same outrageous hope that we all do.
Now, I want to quickly thank Council Member Restler, Assembly Member Gallagher. And honestly, the face of hope in our city right now, Mayor Mamdani, your support and dedication to Greenpoint has transformed it for the better in just a short amount of time that I've been living here. And it's really exciting to see what's about to come.
This stalwart support has already helped make this a better community. And I think there's a lot more work to be done. And I'm excited to be a part of it with this administration and these elected officials.
Now, as excited as we are to celebrate this groundbreaking, we are excited to welcome you back for the ribbon cutting, also for the ribbon cutting when Commercial Street gets a little safer and the school opens around the corner and, you know, Greenpoint Playground gets a few more swings in it.
But in the meantime, I want to just say that we are very excited and we want to thank you all, all of you, to everyone who fought, everyone who - you know - from the government on down, everyone here who has made a phone call or sat in a meeting. Thank you for helping them finally fulfill the promises of a past administration. This is a really exciting moment. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Question: First question, when will this project be completed? Is there a deadline? But I have a second question on the topic of Greenpoint. As you know, I'm Polish-American. This is Little Poland. Mr. Mayor, will you attend the Pulaski Day Parade, which is marching this Sunday? I know you were invited. And the second question is, it true that you plan on canceling the dedicated event to Polish heritage at Gracie Mansion, Polish Heritage Night? If yes, then why? Thank you so much. October is Polish Heritage Month. So today is Oct. 1. Thank you very much.
Mayor Mamdani: You're very welcome. Thank you for those questions, and happy Polish Heritage Month. I will get back to you on both of the questions about the Pulaski Day Parade as well as the event. I have to be honest with you, I'm not as well-versed in what my schedule is beyond the next day and in terms of the Gracie Mansion events, but we will get back to you on that. On your first question, the construction is, we're going to be beginning it this fall. It's going to be completed by the end of summer 2028.
Question: Good morning. I wanted to ask, you know, there was a reporting today on the 12 neighborhoods in New York City that have the lowest share of new housing. Which neighborhoods would you like to see rezoned for more housing immediately beyond the South of Prospect Park Neighborhood Plan? And do you want the second question now or -
Mayor Mamdani: I'll take the second question.
Question: The second question is, you know, the City Council is having an AI hearing on Monday. It's a committee of the whole, so all the Council members will be there to discuss both threats to the city from AI companies, but also AI policy. Do you want to talk - I know you've spoken about this months ago, but about the city's approach to AI and any concerns you might have about increased threats from AI companies and attacks, and whether the city is capable at this point of protecting the city and its assets from that.
Mayor Mamdani: I think in the conversation that we've been having about artificial intelligence, I've shared a few of my concerns. One of the earliest iterations of this conversation was in the context of our students across New York City. We put forward a nation-leading plan of a moratorium on generative AI from 2-K through eighth grade, and for students in high school, that the maximum they could use generative AI would be 45 minutes per week, and that this would actually be coupled with instructions on what artificial intelligence is, what it portends for our future, how to also be equipped with that knowledge, given how much it is influencing the landscape also of job opportunities and what comes next for so many of our students.
Now, separate from that, there was also the Hugging Face incident, and the assertion by a number of leaders within the artificial intelligence who stated that the Hugging Face incident has occurred at every single AI company, and therefore, it should not be viewed as a company-specific vulnerability, but rather something that is endemic to this industry as a whole.
We've also heard a number of them share their concerns about the potential end of humanity as a result of the technology. So yes, I am concerned. I'm concerned by the fact that we are finding out about this technology almost exclusively from those who are creating this technology, as opposed to from any federal government regulation of the technology.
It feels as if the very place where there should be urgency and decisiveness is where we are years behind even understanding the scale and the scope of what is being developed by these companies, and I continue to hope that there will be a very different approach taken to the question of artificial intelligence than simply couching it in the language of an arms race with China, because the conversation is not about the supremacy of one nation over the other.
The conversation has now become about humanity and the safeguards that need to be implemented, and we also know that when the only motive at hand is profit, then there are a lot of things cast at the wayside, and one of it is the consequences for people, and that is something that we are very concerned about.
Then to your question about the fast-tracking. So, this week, we did release the bottom 12 districts that will be a part of the Affordable Housing Fast Track. In the fast track, just to give people an overview, we are talking about an expedited review process for new housing projects, and the community board, the borough president, they will still retain a review period within that.
To your question of where would I like to see it - frankly, I want to see housing across our city. I think it is incredibly important when we are talking about the cost of living crisis, a recognition that housing is the number one driver of that crisis, the lack of affordable housing, and frankly, when you look at our city's history, the fact that we have not been able - it is not actually a question of technical; we have not chosen to build the amount of housing we need to since 1961, and so we are looking to bring that era to an end and start building the amount of housing that can ensure that the Greenpointers who first fought for a park like this can afford to stay in this neighborhood to enjoy a park like this.
Question: What kind of infrastructure commitment [inaudible] from existing residents - if you want to build a 30-story tower, what kind of infrastructure commitments is the City willing to commit to neighborhood by neighborhood?
Mayor Mamdani: I think that, you know, we heard earlier that so much of this conversation starts with a rezoning around the promise of more housing, but that rezoning was coupled with a promise about increased access to green space; and so I do think that as we are building more housing across our city, we have to understand it as part of a larger context of also infrastructure that's required. Sometimes that's infrastructure like green space, sometimes that's also infrastructure like ensuring there's capacity across the board for the new residents that will be moving in.
Question: As you know, landlord groups have challenged your rent freeze, your promised rent freeze, which takes effect today. Is there a scenario where if the city loses that case, tenants in rent-stabilized units could be forced in the future to pay even retroactive rent increases, and what steps is your administration taking, if any, for that possibility? And then I have a second question.
Mayor Mamdani: So, first what I will say is that the Independent Rent Guidelines Board rent freeze for one-year and two-year leases goes into effect today. So, if you are in a rent-stabilized apartment, whether you're here or you're watching from home, any lease renewal starting today must remain at the same rent that it was last year. In some ways, Fat Joe once says, "Yesterday's price is not today's price." This is one of the places where it's not correct.
Now, if you are wondering, does this apply to me? where do I stand in this? I would recommend that you call 311 because they do have a tenant helpline that can let you know whether your building is covered by this, what your rights are as a tenant. I know there are many rent-stabilized tenants who don't actually know whether or not their status falls into this. They should call that line.
And then I am confident in the Rent Guidelines Board's, their decision, their independent decision and the Law Department's continued defense of what they have done and the fact that they made that decision on the basis of all the information that they had in front of them.
Question: So, no contingency planning at this point, at least not yet?
Mayor Mamdani: We are confident in this, and what I will also say is that it is ironic to have seen reporting that the former first deputy mayor who is leading the lawsuit against the rent freeze allegedly sought to influence members of the Rent Guidelines Board in past years.
Question: And since we're here talking about open spaces, Mr. Mayor, your administration has said that it will sue unless Columbia University reopens its pathway between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue immediately. How immediately do you want to see them do this? And for instance, should it be before Oct. 7, given that they ultimately closed their campus the first time because of concerns about protests? How should this be handled? Why is it a priority for you?
Mayor Mamdani: So, the reason this is a priority is that decades ago, the city reached an agreement with Columbia University, on the basis that College Walk was supposed to remain open for public access. This is something that I know personally also as someone who grew up on Riverside Drive right next to Columbia University, whose father is a Columbia University faculty member.
And what I have heard and what so many have heard in that neighborhood is that when you close what is public space in the very site that is supposed to be a protection for academic and public freedom, you are not only taking a very different path, but also quite literally, you are forcing so many members of the community to take very different paths to get around their day-to-day life.
And we've heard from a lot of older members of the neighborhood that having lived on 116th and Amsterdam, now to get to 116th and Broadway and take the 1 train, they now have to take many more blocks. And that is something that is not in alignment or accordance with the original agreement.
When it comes to the specifics of this lawsuit, I want to just lay out very clearly that what we stated is that unlike the past administration, we do support the reopening of the walkway and that we've actually reached an agreement with the petitioners who had initially taken the university and the city to court, which makes clear what the original purpose was of College Walk, as well as commits us to taking prompt legal action if Columbia does not immediately reopen the walkway. And as to the definition of immediate, I would say it speaks for itself.
Question: The BQE. Speaking of detours, are you sad about ruining tourist photos with the bypass that's going to go over the Brooklyn Bridge for 12 years? Have you seen those renderings that came out yesterday? How are you going to overcome -
Mayor Mamdani: Of the tourist photos?
Question: And also, the entire rejection of what some have called a failure of that plan to think bigger and to not sign us up for 40 years of cars and trucks going through that space.
Mayor Mamdani: First, I do want to appreciate your DMX t-shirt. Second, I think to the question of the BQE, some of the most pivotal questions that we have to answer that led us to this decision is, one, how do we ensure that we're keeping New Yorkers safe? We're talking about a highway that was constructed for less than half of the number of vehicles that are currently using it at this time.
We also see a significant number of those vehicles being heavier than what was originally anticipated at the time of construction. The second is, how do we make these repairs while also not increasing the amount of traffic on local roads in the neighborhoods around? Because we know that's been a longstanding concern.
And third is that we've seen administration after administration kick the can down the road on what they're going to do. And we know that when it comes to this, there simply isn't that much more room to postpone.
And what we need to do is make it safe, ensure that we can continue to prevent any of that traffic spilling over into local neighborhoods, and doing so on a timeline that New Yorkers can actually hold us to. So that's what we've laid out. That is the timeline that we've put forward.
It is something that we will be completing over the next decade. And it is to ensure that we do not have to come back to this in two years or five years or eight years and say, "we still don't know what we're doing about it."
Question: In light of the Gothamist reporting about Randy Mastro potentially interfering in the Rent Guidelines Board, do you think New Yorkers should sue Mastro for -
Mayor Mamdani: Sue the suer?
Question: Sue the suer.
Mayor Mamdani: You know, I mean, I've said there are a few things that are more certain than death, taxes and Randy Mastro suing our administration. I leave it to other New Yorkers of how they want to engage with Randy Mastro.
But you know, yeah, I think it was ironic to read the reporting in Gothamist that the man who is suing our administration on the basis that we have influenced the Independent Rent Guidelines Board is now being accused of having influenced the Rent Guidelines Board when they raised rents.
[Crosstalk.]
Question: Was talking about how he's concerned about the city on the flip side of the AI debate, not being quick enough to adopt these technologies and potentially falling behind as others do use them. I wonder what you think of that?
Mayor Mamdani: I think it's always a balance where we're looking for any tools that we can use to make a more efficient, more excellent City government. And we're also looking to ensure that this is not a technology that is coming at the expense of a workforce or of the quality of the work that we're putting forward.
And that is a balance when it comes to what it means for our kids. We've laid forward that moratorium for 2-K through eighth grade and the very strict limits for high school.
When it comes to City government as a whole, it's a conversation that continues. What I will say is that we are an administration that appreciates what technology can deliver for New Yorkers. We are now in the month of October today, where we will be launching the first municipal Click-to-Cancel rule in all of the United States of America, which is a portal where New Yorkers can go to report any subscription that they do not know how to get out of.
And that is, you know, if it's Peacock or it's your gym membership and you don't know how to get out of it, this is a portal that we assume is going to save New Yorkers more than $100 million. It's only possible because of the technologists that we have on our team at OTI and the fast-track work that they're doing.
Question: On the fast track plan. You've got some members of the Council who feel that it is an attempt to get around them to cut them out of the process. Can you explain why you're taking this approach? And do you see yourself as the Robert Moses of affordable housing?
Mayor Mamdani: No, no, no, no, I don't. But I've also never been asked that. To the question that you put forward. Look, I think that we need to build more housing. A city that does not build, a city that does not grow, is a city that will then die. And for too long, it has felt like we are comfortable to just rest on our laurels.
We all know that we're the greatest city in the world. But the way that we became the greatest city in the world was not that we told ourselves that. It was that we pushed ourselves to become that. And when you look at examples of the very icons of the city, the Empire State Building, it's built in 13 months, that is something that State Senator Zellnor Myrie often reminds all of us. And yet the idea that you could build that today in that same timeline - it sounds like a fantasy.
And so, for us, we have to expedite the amount of housing we're building, the speed at which we're building it. And we have to interrogate every single rule and regulation that we have in City government to ensure that there is an actual purpose for it. And if there isn't, then to ensure that we're doing everything we can to change that, to deliver on it.
And when it comes to these specific districts, you know, we are talking about districts that have been found to be - they have not developed enough housing over a long period of time. And we do need this to be a responsibility that is held by all neighborhoods, not just by specific neighborhoods.
You heard Assembly Member Gallagher speak earlier about the disparity between neighborhoods with more resources and less. We don't want that to be the case when it comes to building more housing.
Question: If a Council member says you're cutting them out of the process, what is your answer to that?
Mayor Mamdani: My answer would be that we're looking forward to working with Council members through this process. This is, you know, we have seen Council members who have even put forward their own ideas for what it could look like in their neighborhood. These are things we take very seriously.
And what I appreciate is that it has shifted the conversation from "should we build more housing to what kind of housing should we build, when and how?" And that is at least a step forward. Now we just need to get to the building.
[Crosstalk.]
Question: So, this morning it was reported that Ken Griffin gave a historic $3 billion donation to Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, with $2 billion of that going toward setting up a new campus in Miami. You and Ken Griffin had some internet beef earlier this year. And he said that it was, you know, making him question how much money he was going to give to the city. And I'm just curious if that money was, you know, something you would have liked to see come to this city and if it made you rethink sort of like the video that you had posted.
Mayor Mamdani: I think we'll always appreciate more investment in our city and more support here in our city. And that's something that is true for anyone who is looking to be a part of this city. You know, just yesterday we had the first convening of our Business Advisory Council at Gracie Mansion. And I got the chance to sit with and speak to a number of leaders across a wide variety of industry, whether it be, you know, one of the leaders of our New York Liberty, who we are incredibly excited about, to leaders in health care and finance and building and food and restaurants.
And what was so exciting about that is celebrating in the fact that of every state across the country, New York's economy is growing at the fastest rate, and asking ourselves, what more can we do to build on that? We will welcome anyone's support, anyone's involvement. And we will always do so because this is a city that belongs to all who live here. Thank you so much.
