Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani: Hello, everybody. Good morning. Hello Rockaway Beach. I gotta say, I was very close to taking my shoes off and [taking] a quick dip. It is a pleasure to join all of you for an announcement that took a lot of determination, grit and today a little bit of sand. Starting today, 2-K applications are now open for New York City families in five districts, including in District 27, which encompasses all of the Rockaway Peninsula. We celebrate this milestone, which was made possible thanks to the partnership of Governor Hochul, who I am proud to stand alongside this morning.
Governor Hochul is a working parent herself, New York's first mom governor, and she understands firsthand how the lack of affordable childcare can derail parents' careers and force families to make the kinds of sacrifices that should never be the case. Now I want to acknowledge a number of leaders that we have here alongside us today. Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, who is here with us. We have Council Members Rita Joseph and Shekar Krishnan, who are here with us. Sheril Napier, the director of the Sheldon R. Weaver Child Care Center, who is here with us. All of the advocates who fought for this in the Rockaways and across the city who are here with us. If we can have a round of applause for them.
And I want to recognize them and recognize the parents and the childcare workers who have fought to make universal childcare a reality in this city. Parents who maybe had two free hours a week and spent them canvassing six-story walk-ups with a baby strapped to their chest. New Yorkers whose children had long moved out of the house but who still stood on street corners gathering petition signatures because they believed in a more affordable New York City. And childcare workers who raised their hands to talk about what it's actually like running a childcare center. The joys [and] the challenges, so that as we expand our childcare access across the city, we also improve the way that our system works.
And what we are here together today to celebrate is the direct result of so many New Yorkers who not only dared to imagine a brighter and a better future, but who worked tirelessly to deliver it. This morning, on what I must say is a perfect 72-degree day, sunny here in the Rockaways, we stand on the brink of a summer that will feel very different for the families in this area. Instead of stressing about how they'll be able to afford childcare come the fall, instead of picking up extra shifts or working overtime, parents can come to this beach with their children without having to worry.
As they enjoy the sun [and] the waves, they'll be able to rest easy knowing that their kids will be taken care of in high-quality childcare programs and that those programs will be free. It is truly a pleasure to be here to celebrate this moment as we embark on a new chapter in our city's history, a chapter where we make it easier to raise a family in the place that we all love. And I couldn't be more honored to now introduce someone who helped to make this day possible, Governor Kathy Hochul.
Governor Kathy Hochul: What I want to say this morning is to all the parents, all the true believers, all the people who said that New York can be that place where we finally focus on the most important priority, and that is our children. From the second that a new baby is born, you hold your baby in your arms. You are now mentally hardwired and emotionally connected to this little person. And all you can think about is how to keep them safe, how to keep them secure and how to give them the best of childcare. So, I want to thank the mayor for helping fulfill this vision, a long-standing vision I've had for years and years as a parent and a leader of this state to make sure that this was no longer a dream, but it became available for all. So, thank you, Mayor Mamdani, for accepting the support we gave you back in January - $1.2 billion to make this day a reality.
But the execution from your team from then and to now is nothing short of extraordinary. So to all the families who have beneficiaries, know that you have leaders in place who have lived the walk, who understand how challenging it is to raise a family in New York, and we're going to continue making these days the best ones for your families. I also want to thank our [Queens] Borough President Donovan Richards, Council Member Rita Joseph [and] Council Member Krishnan as well. And I want to thank everyone who believes in the possibility that those little babies born on that first day are entitled to the best life right here in the great State of New York. So, thank you very much, everyone. Appreciate you.
Mayor Mamdani: And now it is a pleasure to introduce [Queens] Borough President Donovan Richards.
Queens Borough President Donovan Richards: Thank you. Let's give it up for our mayor [and] our governor. It's always great to have you both down here on the Rockaway in the Rockaway Peninsula, the best beach on the eastern seaboard. So welcome. And yeah, take your shoes off and take a dip after this. But this is a community that has never really seen its leaders here on the ground. But you both have been friends to Rockaway, and we really appreciate that. I'm your Queens borough president, but my favorite title is "dad," and I'm the proud father of a public elementary school student graduating in a few weeks, by the way, and going to middle school, D3. And like every other parent in the city, I can't begin to put into words how important affordable childcare and early education are. If you're lucky, you can only afford one of those. But for the vast majority of New Yorkers, they would have better luck finding buried treasure here at the beach than a way to pay for both.
With the launch of 2-K, however, families will now be able to enjoy both at no cost, boosting their children's development while protecting their bank accounts in this community, especially [since] opportunities like this simply never came about. For generations, Rockaway residents were born into disinvestment, but we say no more. As someone who lived here in my youth, I know what the sting of marginalization and disregard feels like. So, I want to thank the mayor and the governor for making sure families across Rockaway and South Queens are the first to feel the joy of investment.
Education is the one true equalizer, and that's especially so when we can start that education as early as possible. The same goes for accessible childcare. As working parents, my wife and I have known that stress and that struggle at the beginning. For parents, the peace of mind that comes with knowing both their children and their wallets are being cared for is such a weight off of their shoulders. And in the midst of this affordability crisis, that's tens of thousands of dollars that can go back to better-allocated allocations toward housing, food and other necessities for families on this peninsula and across the city.
2-K is all about freedom for our kids and our families. Love Sheldon R. Weaver. Thank you. Thank you. We love you and your child are workers. Thank you for what you do, and I look forward to working with the mayor and governor on expanding it all across every part of Queens in the years ahead. But we will celebrate today on the Rockaway Peninsula. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And parents, please apply today. This is gonna be the hottest ticket in town. Let's go Mets and Let's go Knicks!
Mayor Mamdani: Okay, I'm now proud to call up a forever educator herself, Council Member Rita Joseph.
Council Member Rita Joseph: Good morning, everyone. As a forever educator, I know that the earliest years of a child's life are the most important. The learning, the care and support children received during these formative years laid the foundation for future success in school and beyond. That is why I'm so excited to celebrate this moment, as families can now apply for the city's first free 2-K seats this fall. On day eight of the Mamdani administration, a commitment was made to expand access to early childhood education. Today, our city is delivering on that promise. Families in the first 2-K communities can begin to apply for seats, opening the doors to new opportunities for thousands of children and their families.
As a staunch advocate for education, I have consistently advocated for investments in early childhood education because we know they work. When we invest in our youngest learners, we strengthen families supporting working parents and help ensure that children enter school ready to learn and thrive. This expansion is about more than creating seats. It's about creating opportunity. It reflects in our belief that every child deserves access to high-quality early childhood, regardless of their neighborhood or family income.
I want to thank Mayor Mamdani, Governor Hochul and our early childhood educators, providers and families for helping make this vision a reality. Together, we are taking an important step towards building a more equitable city where every child has the opportunity to succeed from the very beginning. Thank you.
Mayor Mamdani: Thank you so much, Council member. It is now my pleasure to call up Council Member Shekar Krishnan.
Council Member Shekar Krishnan: Good morning, everyone. How's everyone doing? Beautiful morning here. It is good to be back in the Rockaway, and I want to say, Mr. Mayor, I think we should forget about budget hearings for today and just chill out on the beach instead. What do you think? Can we do that? No pressure. That's right. It is so good to see you all. I am New York City Council Member Shekar Krishnan. I'm very, very proud to be here today and to join Mayor Mamdani, Governor Hochul, Borough President Richards [and] Council member Joseph to kick off the beginning of 2-K enrollment.
As the father of two young children, myself - one who's also graduating, Borough President Richards, next month as well, and another who turns eight years old today. So, it was a lot this morning to get here. Busy morning in our household. But I know firsthand from both my children, who went to went through 2-K, 3-K and Pre-K. I know very deeply and personally, far more than politically, but personally, what this historic development means for our city. The fact of the matter is a parent already has to worry about so much while raising a family, ensuring their kids are healthy, happy and safe. But worrying about the cost of childcare should not be a concern on that list.
And that is a value that I know Mayor Mamdani shares, and I know Governor Hochul shares. Now, I'm thankful to the mayor for championing this issue across our city. With universal childcare extending to two-year-olds. We are taking this burden off of New York families from an even younger age than before. We started with Pre-K, then 3-K. Now we're going to 2-K. That is historic and unprecedented, not only in this city, but across the country. Early childhood education can and should be a powerful economic engine for our city. It's the difference between a parent taking a job and not taking one. It's the difference between a workforce that values women and mothers because we know the burden of not having childcare exacerbates gender inequality.
Early childhood education is essential to ensuring the next generation of children can say proudly that they were born and raised New Yorkers cared for by the city that they are being raised in. With Mayor Mamdani and Governor Hochul championing universal childcare, we finally have a New York that prioritizes working families, and I know that I am looking forward to working with our mayor together to making sure that we make New York City more affordable, especially for our littlest ones. Thank you all so much.
Question: I'm looking forward to this application cycle. Can you talk a little bit about how you're getting the word out? Obviously, this is a limited number of seats to begin with. But how are you reaching families who might not be aware that this new program exists so they're not shut out in this first round?
Mayor Mamdani: You know, we want to be everywhere all the time, all at once. And I think you can see it right now that, as the borough president said, some of the places that were so excited to introduce free childcare for two-year-olds to are the very places that are often last on the list. And so, we want to make sure that parents know that those days are over, that now we are here in the Rockaways to begin a transformative program, not to end it.
And it will mean press conferences like this. It will mean a 2-K run that I'm a little bit nervous about; my time for that will be happening quite shortly. It will also mean putting out a jingle that New Yorkers can vote for right now for 2-K because we want to reach parents wherever they are. It is not enough for [the] government to pat itself on the back and say, "We have a good program. People should find out about it." We have to do the work of actually making it easier to know about that program. And we know that for years there hasn't been adequate investment in that outreach, and we're starting to turn that tide today.
Question: [Inaudible.]
Mayor Mamdani: We're gonna be everywhere.
Question: So, I wanted to ask you about there's been a push for limits on screen time and an AI ban for younger students. The State Teachers Union and the American Federation of Teachers have been calling for that, and your schools chancellor also said that the city kind of missed the mark, and he wants to push for stronger AI guardrails amid all the pushback from advocates. I'm wondering if you have given thought to the calls for [a] moratorium on AI use in schools and also if you support limiting screen time for elementary students.
Mayor Mamdani: Well, you know, I have been excited to see the results of the bell-to-bell cell phone ban that has been implemented. It's something that I was proud to support. I know others here were also supportive of that, and we've heard from a number of teachers as to how it's made their jobs far easier to actually do and easier for students to be able to learn from them. And I'm looking forward to considering any additional suggestions there are to make for a more productive learning environment, whether that means the proposals that you've mentioned. And then generally, I'd say that our administration as a whole is engaging with the topic of AI and seeing how we can ensure that we're responsibly stewarding not only our school system, but [also] our city through a moment of immense transformation.
[Crosstalk.]
Question: Since your endorsement last week of Darializa Avila Chevalier, there have been multiple reports on some of her social media history. I'm wondering, were you aware of any of those posts prior to your endorsement? Did they raise any concerns for you? And what do you think about this race becoming a national focus?
Mayor Mamdani: You know, I'm excited at the focus on Darializa's campaign in that it brings to light the possibility of electing a champion for working people. And one of the things that drew me to her candidacy was the fact that she's the daughter of a single mom caseworker who's dedicated her entire life to fighting for the people that our politics often leave behind. She's someone who brings with her a track record of securing the release of neighbors who have been unfairly detained by ICE And I think that what we're seeing is a real groundswell of excitement around that same candidacy. And I know that we have only just a few weeks until Election Day. I'm excited to help be a part of that.
Question: Any concerns, though, about, I mean, just because the social media reports, there have been so many of them, and they continue to come out. Where do you sort of stand on that?
Mayor Mamdani: You know, she said herself that that a lot of these don't reflect her views today, and I'm incredibly excited to be supporting her today and her vision for not only in New York City, but frankly, the United States of America, that working people can afford.
Question: I wanted to ask, yesterday, Commissioner Tisch spoke about, I guess, her communications or coordination with the Office of Community Safety, which was launched in March. I know another hire was made in May. I know they're perhaps set to meet this week. The commissioner with the deputy mayor for Public Safety and the new commissioner of this office. But I guess why did that take so long? Or maybe it isn't long. Maybe that's just the framing of it. Do you think they should have connected initially? And how do you envision the NYPD's communication and relationship with this office? I know, looking at the executive order, it doesn't mention NYPD. And it's a lot of sorts of ancillary offices. But how do you envision this to get to this public safety goal?
Mayor Mamdani: Well, the NYPD and the Office of Community Safety share a goal of delivering public safety for New Yorkers. And we've been having a long standing conversation about the ways in which we can ensure that officers are able to focus on the serious crimes that they signed up to respond to, and that we can have an Office of Community Safety that can start to build out our city's response to the mental health crisis, as well as so many other crises that are typically pushed into, as you described it, ancillary agencies. And this previously scheduled meeting this week is one part of the building of that collaboration between the two. However, I think you can see whether it be in the ways in which we combat gun violence, or the ways in which we respond to an incidence of mental health crisis, that there is room for that collaboration. We're excited for that to grow.
Question: Yesterday at the hearing, it came up, the B-HEARD, and the percentage of 911 calls that first qualify for B-HEARD and then that B-HEARD teams actually respond to. How do you see your administration increasing this? Especially, I know, when you were campaigning, you wanted to prioritize this to move the police away from some particularly mental health calls. The numbers are pretty low. How do you want to prioritize this to boost those numbers so the people who need help can actually get it?
Mayor Mamdani: I think you said it best yourself, which is the fact that for a long time, these are programs that have been under-invested in, not even given the actual opportunity to succeed. And that is one of the reasons why we increased funding for B-HEARD in our executive budget, to ensure that at the very least, we can start to respond to the calls that they qualify for, and then continue to build on that, to ensure that our city has a mental health response that is befitting the scale of that crisis for New Yorkers across the five boroughs.
Question: Your admin is moving forward with building the QueensWay, as you committed to in your budget plan. You would very likely -
Mayor Mamdani: Sorry, would you mind putting the -
Question: The QueensWay is in the budget, which would make it very difficult to build the QueensLink, which you supported as Assemblymember and told me on the campaign trail that you would support. Can you and will you try to build both in the future?
Mayor Mamdani: We've made sure that any investment in the QueensWay also ensures that it does not preclude any future investment in QueensLink. And that is something that our team has made clear to those who are excited by this prospect, and I've also said [it] myself, because we want to ensure that we are building more parks for New Yorkers today and that we're also not precluding the ability to do anything different tomorrow.
Question: I'm gonna ask you about the Knicks, so let's get into it. I appreciate my colleagues tackling some of the tough stuff here. Two questions. First, MSG watch parties - are they coming back?
Mayor Mamdani: So, it's not a question of if, it's a question of where, and we are incredibly excited for tomorrow to begin and for the chance to run back 1999 with a very different result. And we know that the Knicks organization will be sharing news soon as to where those watch parties will be.
Question: And I'm wondering if you have had any engagement with the Knicks organization, with Dolan [or] with MSG. They have still, as we reported yesterday, yet to offer any sort of wide-open sale of tickets. Do you find this acceptable with what it's doing to the secondary market? And will this play into conversations around their permit a year and a half from now?
Mayor Mamdani: I can say that our conversations have largely been focused on questions of protocol and procedure as it pertains to how excited New Yorkers are. I'm appreciative of the fact that they did release a few hundred tickets to a charity for those who would otherwise not be able to afford this. However, the conversations haven't extended beyond that at this time.
Question: So, no conversations about why [there is] no broad sale to the general public?
Mayor Mamdani: The focus has really been on the games themselves in terms of how the city will respond to it. However, I am someone who is looking at any possible avenue to ensure that every New Yorker can appreciate and enjoy this. And I think you can feel the magic in the air across our city and the excitement for the finals. Thank you very much.
