Janno Lieber, Chair and CEO, Metropolitan Transportation Authority: Good morning, good morning. Thank you, folks, for being here. Very exciting day. I'm Janno Lieber, MTA chair and CEO, and I want to welcome Mayor Mamdani to one of the most historic and notorious stations in the subway system, which is the Chambers Street Station on the J and Z. Anyone can see that this place is long overdue for a full renovation, and there are literally stalactites hanging from the ceiling.
Well, folks, better come see them while you can, because we are launching today a comprehensive renovation funded by revenues from congestion pricing - a renovation, a modernization that's going to bring this station finally into the 21st century. A huge thank you to Governor Hochul for standing up to Washington on congestion pricing and for delivering the MTA's $68 billion five-year capital program, which is allowing us to fix and upgrade this station.
And it's not only that, but the MTA is also partnering with the city to study a much more complicated issue, which is extreme heat in our subway stations. I don't have to tell any New Yorker that it is brutal underground in the summertime, especially here in this Chambers Street and Municipal Building-Brooklyn Bridge complex. Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall - in fact, where the 4, 5 and 6 stops, is one of the sweatiest in our system. Its average temperatures last summer peaked at 96 degrees, and every year it's actually getting hotter because of climate change.
But bringing down [the] temperature is a really complex challenge in a system where the stations are 100 years old and they have open entrances, stairways [and] vents. As I always say, the subway is not a submarine. It's not an enclosed environment, and air comes in and out.
Now, the best way to combat the experience of excessive heat is with fast and reliable train service, so people get on and off the platforms as quickly as possible into an air-conditioned subway car. But at the same time, we are exploring a lot of possible solutions to make the stations more comfortable, starting with the feasibility study we're doing right here at the Chambers Street, J and Z, Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall complex.
Together with the city, we're looking into an innovative Thermal Energy Network. They're called TEN, T-E-N, and the geothermal concepts that will allow us to capture, store and then transfer the excessive heat in a subway station like this so that it can be used come the winter to heat the buildings upstairs. This technology has never been tested before in a transit system here in this country, but it is being used elsewhere in the city, like at St. Patrick's Cathedral - they're using it - and also at the New York Botanical Garden and it's also being used in Canada and in Europe.
We're excited because it could be a real win-win: cooler stations for our subway riders, and the City of New York gets to save on energy costs, potentially. Now, it's not clear just how much cooling we're going to be able to deliver or how much money it is going to save. That's what the study is supposed to figure out. But we look forward to getting that data and sharing the analysis when we have them.
I want to thank the mayor, who has elevated transit at City Hall to match Governor Hochul's tremendous five-year energy [plan] that we've had in Albany. When we all get on the same page, we can do great things. And we're already seeing [that] with buses. So, with that, let me turn it over to the mayor, and then we'll hear from our comptroller, from the public advocate, from the DCAS commissioner and from the CCO of the City of New York as well.
Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani: Good morning, everyone. Thank you, Chair Lieber. It is a pleasure to be here alongside so many partners in government as we announce the transformation of the Chambers Street Station. However, I cannot say that it is a pleasure to be here on the Chambers Street J and Z platform, a subway stop that has been described by New Yorkers as a poster child for dilapidation, a Street Fighter II arena, or, simply, "I'm getting off at Canal."
I want to thank the governor and the MTA for leading this work and for using the funds from congestion pricing to improve New Yorkers' lives. I want to acknowledge, as we've heard, we have our New York City comptroller, Mark Levine, who is here with us; our public advocate, Jumaane Williams; our DCAS commissioner, Yume Kitasei; our chief climate officer, Louise Yeung; and our New York City Transit president, Demetrius Crichlow, who is with us.
When this station opened in 1913, it was a testament to a city ahead of its time. A city that built great things. Bridges that were feats of structural engineering, buildings that soared into the sky, a transit system that would become the envy of the world. And it was also a testament to the city workers who labored in municipal offices directly overhead who made that city possible.
The station's grand vaulted ceilings and marble and terracotta detailing made real the conviction that our public infrastructure should reflect the ambition of the city it serves. And yet, as the years passed, this station slowly fell into a state of decay and disrepair. More than 100 years later, the Chambers Street Station has become somewhat of a chamber of horrors, no longer a testament to the greatness of our city but physical proof of generations of neglect.
Today, as we announce the comprehensive renovation of a station that Twitter user @exenezoom described as the "stuff of nightmares," we are bringing that legacy of abandonment to an end. This restoration will bring the station back to its original grandeur and deliver the dignified commute that every New Yorker deserves. It will rebuild crumbling stairwells and broken doors. It will make critical structural repairs, including fixes to the ceiling and to the underlying issues that cause regular leaks. It will install new station lighting and security cameras to keep New Yorkers safe. And it will restore the ceramic tiles, mosaics, terracotta decorations and marble bases that make this station so unique.
As we stand together to celebrate the restoration of the station's past, we also will renew our ambitions for the future. Those ambitions, as you heard from Chair Lieber, extend to transforming the only thing that causes more anxiety than descending into the Chambers Street Station: the prospect of standing on the subway platform in the heat of summer.
That is why I am proud to announce that City Hall's partnership with the MTA will extend to the Joint Thermal Energy Network Feasibility Study in the adjacent Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall station. Anyone who has stood on a subway platform in August knows that our stations do not just get hot; they turn into underground saunas. And if you, like me, do not know what a summer suit is and choose instead to commute in a wool one - let me tell you, it is far from a therapeutic experience. During the summer, the Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall Station becomes one of the hottest stations in New York City.
This Thermal Energy Network Feasibility Study will explore the possibility of using the heat that accumulates in this station over the summer to heat the Municipal campus above us come winter. That includes not only the David Dinkins Municipal Building but also Tweed Courthouse, Surrogate's Court and City Hall.
To do so, we would capture heat in boreholes that would run 500 to 600 feet underground and install a system of circulating pumps and pipes that will use the heat from below our city's surface to warm the offices where our municipal workers are hard at work powering this incredible city. This would be the first thermal energy system of its kind in any American transit system, a historic feat that would not only help the city to save money and limit steam consumption but help us mitigate the extreme level of heat in our subway stations.
Through both the renovations and the Thermal Energy Network, we would be making these stations cool again. And we'd be making what is old new again. After all, one of the original plans for this station's ventilation system consisted of four large cooling fans connected to groundwater pumps, a system designed to protect New Yorkers from the summer heat.
While more than a century has passed, the conceit remains the same. New Yorkers deserve subway stations that give us a glimpse into our future, and that is exactly what we intend to deliver. Thank you very much. And now, with that, I'm going to pass it over to our comptroller, Mark Levine.
Comptroller Mark Levine: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I lost way too many quarters on Street Fighter. That was a painful reference there. I have to say I still don't take it for granted that we have the MTA and the City government working together as partners right now. I think it's pretty awesome and wonderful for the people of New York City that we're putting our joint interests forward. I also want to say to Janno and Demetrius and all the hardworking women and men of the MTA - congrats on your progress, and I know on-time services [are] continuing to creep up. It's a big deal, and we feel it down here every day. So, thank you for that.
I don't think you could find any policy that was more maligned before it was implemented and more successful once in place than congestion pricing, which has just proven to yield so many benefits to the city, one of which is the ability to finally renovate stations like this that desperately need it.
To be $100 million or more, I believe. And among other things, to deal with the really searing heat on the platform, as both the speakers have explained, when you have a car dwelling in the station that itself is air conditioning and is throwing off heat to a surrounding platform - you feel like you're in an oven here. And we can help to address that through this technology. The underlying mechanics here of heat pumps and thermal transfers sounds exotic and maybe foreign to a lot of New Yorkers. These are not new technologies. They've been used successfully all over the world.
What's complicated is that the place the heat is being produced and the place we need to get it to are not in the same location. This is the challenge. We have to build a network here, and often it requires different buildings, different owners, different jurisdictions and that's why it's so important that we have this partnership between the MTA, these properties and the city. With these properties, all the surrounding municipal buildings, including the Dinkins Building. But building out that network of pipes will allow us to get the heat from where it's produced to where it is needed.
And that will do great things. For example, the building that Jumaane and I spend our days in, which is not a new construction, and the windows leak air in and out. We also get caught in the elevators occasionally, Jumaane. I know you're working on that, commissioner. But the commissioner was just telling me that the city spends $1.5 million a year to heat the Dinkins Building. And if we could cover all or most of that by pumping the heat out of this station, it would just be a huge win-win.
And this is a test to study what's possible, but if it works, and I expect it will, it can be applied in many, many, many other places, other subway stations, but also other heat-producing facilities all over the city. So, supermarkets, their freezers throw off a ton of heat. Data centers - and, yes, we have many data centers in New York City, not as big as the ones you see in the news now, but they throw off a ton of heat. Hospitals, 24-hour facilities consuming and producing a ton of heat.
So, this could be a model which we could take citywide to bring energy resiliency and more clean energy and solve problems in hot parts of the city as we confront global warming. So, I'm really, really excited about this partnership and this innovation. Thank you to the mayor and to the MTA for making this possible. And now I get to introduce my fellow occupant of the David N. Dinkins Municipal Building, your public advocate, Jumaane Williams.
Public Advocate Jumaane Williams: Thank you, thank you. Peace and blessing, love and light to everybody. Welcome to the original J-Z. It's not doing as well as the Jay-Z we know and love, [but] that's why we are here. Who would have thought all it took was either the Knicks or thermal energy to bring everybody together. But I'm glad that we are here dealing with energy resiliency. Thank you to the mayor, to the administration, to the MTA [and] to [the] governor's administration for being here with my colleague Comptroller, who talked about our days and some nights in 1 Center [Street].
Extreme heat is not simply a matter of discomfort; it's a public health, infrastructure, environmental justice challenge and one that is becoming more urgent every single year. Addressing that challenge will require sustained investments in resilient infrastructure, equitable neighborhood improvements, modernized transit systems and coordinated climate adaptation strategies. That is why this innovation is so important. New York City has an opportunity to take something we traditionally think of as a problem, which is excess heat and turn it into a resource.
Buildings account for a significant share of New York City's energy use in greenhouse gas emissions. That's why we passed Local Law 97, establish - establishing limits on building emissions and requiring buildings across the city to become more energy efficient. But we just can't stop at buildings because there's so many other places where we're not using energy appropriately. So, this pilot program gives us an opportunity to think about our [subway] system in the same way. How do we make the infrastructure we already have work harder and smarter for New Yorkers?
Our subway system generates enormous amounts of heat; instead of simply allowing that heat to dissipate, innovative technologies can capture and potentially reuse it, turning waste heat into a climate resource. And that is the kind of thinking we need as we confront the climate crisis, particularly as we have a lot [of people] in Washington right now, who don't understand the difference between the temperature, the weather and the climate. And are actually paying people to stop doing these types of innovative procedures. So, it is exciting that we have a local government that is fighting back and pushing back to make sure that my children's children actually have a world to come to.
This is not only about reducing emissions, it is also about our long-term affordability and energy security. The more efficiently we use energy all around us, the less dependent we are on volatile fossil fuel prices and energy sources beyond our control. Fighting extreme heat requires more than one solution. It means green corridors, it means healthier parks, expanding our tree canopy and trees along our sidewalks, improving buildings, modernizing transit and finding innovative ways to make our existing infrastructure more sustainable. The lesson is very simple, in my opinion: We don't have to accept heat as waste. We can turn it into a resource.
And if we can demonstrate that here in New York City, we can show cities across the country how to build infrastructure that is cleaner, smarter, more resilient and more equitable for generations to come, irrespective of what's coming out of the federal government. And, of course, with that, I'm actually going to have a cooler office, so that's pretty cool too. What I get to do now is, I'm hoping for the first time since I've known her, pronounce her name right: DCAS Commissioner Yume Kitasei. All right, thank you.
Yume Kitasei, Commissioner, Department of Citywide Administrative Services: Thank you very much Public Advocate and to all of you for coming here and exfoliating with us. My name is Yume Kitasei and I'm the commissioner of the Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS) and I am so excited to be part of this announcement today. Today we are showing how partnership across government can propel our city into a cleaner, more resilient future.
Among many things, my agency, DCAS, manages energy for City government, and our team plays a critical role in the city's decarbonization efforts. We also manage city office buildings, including the one right above our heads, the David Dinkins Municipal Building at 1 Center Street, which is the largest city municipal building in the world. As the owner and manager of this office building and others across the city, we're working hard to modernize our operations - yes, including the elevators - including reducing our emissions and our energy bills.
Just a few months ago, thanks to the work of our Division of Energy Management, we announced that the city had achieved its lowest greenhouse gas emissions in 20 years. All told, the city has reduced emissions 31 percent over the last 20 years and cut building energy use by 16 percent. This tremendous progress is not achieved overnight; it's achieved in partnership with our sister agencies and organizations. But reducing emissions even more is going to require creativity, dedication and tenacity.
And that's why we're partnering with the MTA in this effort to test the potential of a thermal energy network for our city buildings downtown. Thermal energy networks can capture waste heat in the summer to heat buildings in the winter, which could reduce the amount of carbon emissions we expend to heat our buildings. And given the convenient proximity of the historic unused platform and the city offices above, we think this is the perfect place to study the impact of this technology.
And as one of the many strap hangers who steps off the train every day onto these steaming platforms, I'm very excited for it to be cooler. And yes, I do wear a suit that is wool.
It may sound like science fiction, but I promise it's not. And these are exactly the kind of ideas we need to tackle the climate crisis. Thank you all to our partners here for taking this step today in unison toward a greener and hopefully more cooler New York City. And now I'm going to introduce our great partner, the brilliant Chief Climate Officer Louise Yeung. Thank you.
Louise Yeung, Chief Climate Officer, City of New York: Thank you, commissioner. Thank you, mayor and Chairman Lieber. One of the worst commuting experiences in New York is walking into the subway to escape the hot summer sun, only to find that the subway station is even hotter than it was outside. Sweltering subway platforms are not just uncomfortable, but they are a matter of health and safety. Amidst one of the hottest summers on record, we need no reminder that our aging infrastructure is not keeping pace with our changing climate.
That is why we are so excited to join our partners at the MTA to launch this feasibility study for a Thermal Energy Network System that will service the buildings above us. This study is an important milestone in New York City's work to reimagine how our world-class transit system can keep people safer and cooler during severe heat waves and provide sustainable heating to nearby buildings. Across the world, Thermal Energy Networks are proven, scalable technologies that connect multiple buildings to a central heating source.
This project would be the first-ever thermal energy system integrated with our transit system, serving as a model of innovation for other places in our city and across the country. Delivering cooling to some of the city's hottest subway stations is a concrete solution that will help New Yorkers to ride safely and comfortably for generations to come.
This project will also provide additional benefits. At a time when New York faces some of the highest energy costs in the nation, Thermal Energy Networks will also lower utility bills, save the city money and improve energy efficiency in our buildings.
As we and the MTA embark on renovations to the subway station, we're excited to demonstrate how new investments can go hand-in-hand with climate-smart, sustainable designs. We expect this to be the first of many collaborations to expand Thermal Energy Networks so that they not only benefit city buildings but also neighborhoods in need of reliable, low-carbon, affordable energy. Above all, our partnership with the MTA demonstrates how climate leadership is possible when all levels of government work together to take bold action to confront the climate crisis. Thank you.
Question: Janno, I know that it's going to cost about $800,000 to do a pilot study. How much would it cost to expand this to all the subway stations if it turns out to be a workable thing? And the second thing is, how much would you save in terms of energy costs if you could heat all the municipal buildings down here?
Lieber: I don't think you're looking for a second career, but I would say you asked all the right questions. Those are the questions that the study is meant to answer. How much did it cost to do this here, Marcia, where we actually have a network of underground pipes connecting City Hall and the other buildings? How much energy savings, what energy savings for the city, but also what is the benefit in terms of a reduced temperature for the subway station? So those are the questions that this is meant to answer. If we get good answers, you know we're going to be looking for other opportunities to deploy it elsewhere in the city.
Question: So, just as a follow-up, what would you like to say to strap hangers who are going to see - you hope - a big difference when they get off the subway at the station?
Lieber: Here's the bottom line: You know, the New York I grew up in, the trains didn't come and they weren't air-conditioned. We have, even with the low level of investment in the MTA, we finally have a fleet which is mostly air-conditioned. We all know that it ain't perfect, and service is a lot better, so you get on an air-conditioned train faster and more predictably. Now we are attacking the third leg of that stool, which is to make the stations more livable. We know that this is no fun for New Yorkers. We're determined to do something about it.
Mayor Mamdani: I would just add that when we're talking about the heating costs, as you heard from the comptroller, it's $1.4 million to the city just to heat the David Dinkins Municipal Building. So, this has the potential to save the city money. It has the potential also to help us combat the climate crisis and to better the experience of riders across New York City.
We have; I think it's almost 20,000 riders who use this station daily. For too long, it has become synonymous with the use of this station. And I think what you're hearing from Chair Lieber and from so many others here is that we're incredibly excited to be writing a new chapter of our city and one that matches the ambition that we've seen in our city about a century ago.
[Crosstalk.]
Question: Three years ago, you and Jamie announced a study of whether it was practical to potentially air-condition some stations. Is this related to that or wholly different, and what became -
Lieber: Let's be honest, air conditioning is a big challenge in a system where you have so many openings. We have the vents. We have the stairways. We have all these other exits. It's really hard to create an enclosed environment to air-condition. We're still studying it, but this is in some ways a more promising approach, which is just to capture the waste heat, take it out of the system so temperature goes down and then use that heat to heat adjacent buildings in the winter. We love this idea, but we gotta study the heck out of it to make sure it works.
Question: And for the both of you, if you'll pardon the pun, is this event proof that you guys are cool with each other? Because you weren't exactly on the same page when it comes to the free buses.
Mayor Mamdani: I think that the two of us are New Yorkers, and that means that we're never going to agree on every single topic that comes to us. What we do agree on is the critical importance of delivering for New Yorkers and making this public transit system the envy of the world. And I never thought I'd want to bring the heat of the Chambers Street Station into my office, but that's basically what we're talking about. And what we could see is a first-of-its-kind approach that could lead the nation. And that is in many ways what the MTA has done for many different decades. It's time to now bring that to 2026.
Lieber: My response: I agree with the mayor.
Question: The question for both of you is, I know that this is preliminary, but just in terms of what potentially this could look like, how much cooler are we looking at, and what would be a success in terms of this station if the average is 96 [degrees] in the summer?
Lieber: I'll tell you, when you look at the goals for even modifying temperatures in subway stations, to take it down by a few degrees would be a significant improvement when those temperatures peak in mid-summer. So, we're not projecting, Stefanos, exactly how much it would deliver, but we wanna see if we could get it down a few degrees. That would make the difference between total misery and merely sweltering on some of our worst days, and we want to make sure that we're just improving the environment. We're not going to create an office air-conditioned environment, but our goal is to improve it dramatically.
Mayor Mamdani: I think just to give you a sense, Stefanos, we are talking about a timeline where we are aiming to confirm geothermal feasibility by the end of this calendar year, and then design work, if it was found to be implementable, would begin as early as next year.
Question: This is what this one's for you, unless Janno has some really big thoughts on Summer Streets. You know, there's an op-ed in Streetsblog this weekend from a Manhattan Community Board member. He argued that instead of using police cars for traffic control and security, the city should invest in some kind of proven anti-vehicle technology that you could put barriers for security purposes. And since it would be kind of a bother to put up [to] do it for an entire weekend to make Summer Streets Saturdays and Sundays. Just curious if you have any thoughts on that if you've read the op-ed?
Mayor Mamdani: Summer Streets is one of the many things that we care very deeply about. It's also a day that so many New Yorkers look forward to, and each year has built on the successes of the last, so I will take those recommendations and I will read that op-ed.You were saying it's about extending the day, perhaps, to an entire weekend and adding in -
Question: [Inaudible.]
Mayor Mamdani: Yeah, we'll look at all of that. Thank you for flagging.
Question: So, something similar was done in 2000 at Grand Central. How is this different? And is that still happening at Grand Central, the cooling system at Grand Central that was put in?
Lieber: I'm pretty sure the cooling system in Grand Central is a very spotty kind of spot air-conditioning network that you experience when you're on the platform. So, this is a much more systematic and comprehensive approach that captures heat and stores it and transfers it in a way that Grand Central, as far as I know, that Grand Central initiative did not. I'll look at it, Sam, see if I'm wrong, but that's my understanding.
Moderator: Yes, Sam, that air flows down from the terminal above, so it's an unusual situation [in] the commuter terminal.
Question: I wanted to ask about something that happened on Friday with TPS for Haitians. What do you say to New Yorkers who saw you folding to Trump potentially and firing Haitians who work for the city who have TPS?
Mayor Mamdani: So, when it comes to the decision that the city made, it was one that we were forced to make by federal law, and that was as recently decided by the Supreme Court to review the work authorization of Haitian TPS holders and separate from any employees who have not established alternate paths to legal work. Only President Trump has the ability to restore TPS or to grant Deferred Enforcement Departure to affected TPS.
And doing so would provide not only those TPS holders with the certainty of knowing that they can continue to work and live in the city, [but] it would also demonstrate an immigration policy that is just and a commitment to an economy that is flourishing here in our city.
Now, we are doing everything that we can to support recipients in a time of incredible instability. That means free legal consultations to assess eligibility for other forms of work authorization. It means assistance navigating health insurance. It means ensuring that every employee is connected with agency staff.
And what I will also add is that we are talking about communities, Haitian New Yorkers [and] Syrian New Yorkers, who have been critical parts of this city. Just the other week I was at National Night Out in Bed-Stuy at Restoration Plaza. I got on the train. As I was waiting for the train at the platform, a young woman came up to me and burst into tears as she shared that she was, in fact, a Haitian New Yorker who was on TPS. She was terrified.
This is something that is true for so many. And we are only taking the actions that we are forced to take. When it comes to what we want to see in this city and in this country, it is the extension of TPS. It is ensuring that these New Yorkers are recognized for what they are, which is New Yorkers, and that they are here; they are at home. I don't know if -
Question: [Inaudible]... directly to Trump about this?
Mayor Mamdani: Yes.
Question: Directly?
Mayor Mamdani: Yes.
Question: Over phone or by text?
Mayor Mamdani: I spoke with the president and made it very clear that this is something of immense importance to this city, to our economy and to the welfare of all those who call the city home. And also, that the president is the only person that has the authority to extend TPS or to grant the Deferred Enforcement Departure and that that is something that would be welcomed by many of us.
Question: When it comes to your pick for the city's Board of Standards and Appeals, obviously it seems that some Council members aren't as happy with the pick. How do you feel about that, especially seeing as you have housing advocates that are actually supporting your pick, and you also have people that don't necessarily agree with you that more so lean conservative that are siding with you this time?
Mayor Mamdani: I believe that we have made the best possible pick for this position. We are speaking about someone who has all the requisite experience to combat the affordability crisis and build the kind of housing the city has not seen for a long time. And we know that the absence of that kind of housing has led to an increase in rents across New York City. We are talking about a city that has not been building at its required level since 1961. I know the comptroller is very passionate about housing construction. I don't know if there's anything you'd want to add.
Comptroller Levine: We're in the midst of a housing affordability crisis. We desperately need to build more housing, and you have a leader in John Mangin who has been at the forefront of some of the biggest successes we've had in zoning in New York City of the last decade. He was instrumental in City of Yes, which modernized zoning around the city. He was instrumental in the Charter Commission that's now gonna allow for expedited approval of desperately needed housing all over the city. I couldn't imagine a more qualified leader. I definitely have - he has my full confidence, and to me he is the kind of leader we need right now amidst this terrible housing shortage.
Question: Wondering if you can respond to the pied-à-terre tax lawsuit that was filed on Friday. It's going to court today - how your legal team is working on that? And then also, do you have any regrets on how the rollout was done? And what are your thoughts moving forward on that?
Mayor Mamdani: You know, there are a few things more certain in New York City than death, taxes and Randy Mastro filing a lawsuit against this administration. So, we look forward to vigorously defend our city's position in court as we have done so with the previous lawsuits that he has filed and I'm sure with the lawsuits that we will continue to file in the months and years to come. And we are confident in our position.
And that is a confidence coming from both the legality of the city's actions as well as the importance of a surcharge on secondary homes worth more than $5 million, a surcharge that will help fund safer streets, that will help fund stronger schools, and it will help fund the city that New Yorkers deserve.
Question: Do you have any regrets on the rollout?
Mayor Mamdani: You know, this is - we always know that with any new tax, there are more questions than there are answers. And we're looking to make sure that every New Yorker that is potentially affected - again, we're talking about 17,000 homeowners out of a city of 8.5 million - have all the information that they need, and we've extended the deadline for them to appeal to the Department of Finance to September 18. Again, if they do not appeal by that point, they can still appeal to the Tax Commission by March of 2027.
Question: If this is starting in 2027 for the feasibility study, realistically, how long do you think that study is going to take? And when exactly would this all go into effect when people could actually feel a difference on the platforms?
Mayor Mamdani: So, we are actually aiming to confirm the geothermal feasibility by the end of this calendar year. And if it is found that it can be implemented, then the design work would begin early next year.
Question: And do you know how long that will take, the design work? Is there a timeline for that process?
Mayor Mamdani: I think a lot of that depends on what the findings are of the study, as Chair Lieber shared.
Question: And then secondly, I just wanted to ask if you have any update or any comment on the investigation into the boat crash near the Statue of Liberty over this weekend?
Mayor Mamdani: I was heartbroken to learn about the tragic boating incident in New York Harbor that killed a young mother and her five-month-old daughter. And my thoughts are with the family and their loved ones as they grieve this devastating loss, and I know that many New Yorkers feel exactly the same way.
And I'm deeply grateful, as well, to the members of the NYPD and the FDNY who responded to this emergency swiftly and performed vital, life-saving work, which ensured that many New Yorkers' lives were actually saved in the process of that. Now, we will continue to update New Yorkers with any information as we have. That is what we have at this time.
Question: I'm just hoping to get some more clarification about your conversation with the president. Did you speak with him before you issued that statement on Friday, and then just kind of trying to get in your head as well about why you decided to issue that statement on Friday night? It was past 5 p.m. It seemed like, from some talking to people, it seemed like it was a little hidden. Why not hold a press conference and maybe explain your frustration with this ruling?
Mayor Mamdani: You know, I spoke to the president prior to that, and I made clear to the president, as I've made clear to anyone across the city, the vital importance of TPS. Again, TPS is something that is granted, also in recognition of the conditions of anyone's home country. When we are talking about the conditions in Haiti today, they are very similar to the conditions that led to the authorization of TPS. We are talking about a place that the United States government is recommending to Americans to not visit, even going further than that. And for us in this moment to tell Haitian New Yorkers who have made the city their life for years that they have to go back to that; it is terrifying to imagine what might be waiting for them there.
And we're also talking about Haitian New Yorkers who have been truly at the heart of so many of the industries that power this city - health care, construction, hospitality, city workers - so many different aspects that, without which, we wouldn't have the city that we have today. And we also wanted to make sure that we only took this action at the point at which it was legally required to do so, because this is not an action that we want to take in any which way or form.
And we also took this knowing that if we waited any longer, it might come to the detriment of those who hold TPS today, who might be able to find an alternate legal status here in New York City due to whatever other status that they also may enjoy. We've seen this before. For example, someone who holds TPS might also have a secondary student visa [or] things of this nature. We don't want to be hurting those New Yorkers' abilities to stay in the city.
Question: The DCAS commissioner mentioned that something about this station having an abandoned center platform was part of why this might work. Can you tell us a little bit about - and I know that we're studying the feasibility - but what about this station makes this something that can be used for the heat pumps, and are there some technological restrictions about where this can be put?
Lieber: Evan, I'm going to have to give you a bit of an 'I-owe-you' because somebody will get into that level of detail, but the way it's going to work is that they're going to do burrowing holes for geothermal right below the platform we are on, which is this unused center platform.
And we think that that's the most advantageous location relative to both the underground conditions and also the connectivity to the underground piping network that feeds City Hall and the other buildings that are served by this connected network. But for more detail on that, I'll have to ask someone to follow up with you.
Question: Kind of along the lines of Evan's question, this station seems like it has ideal conditions with other stations; you know, the heat, where is it gonna go? In this case, there's municipal buildings where it's kind of clear what the path would be, but with more like private building ownership, would it be as easy to do this?
Lieber: I mean, [the] mayor and I were talking about this before we came out this morning. We are taking advantage of an existing underground connectivity and network that makes it easy to feed it. But the key is that you're actually capturing the excess heat, storing it and that is taking place here in this station complex.
And seeing how efficiently that can be done - how much heat we can store, how that reduces the temperatures in the stations - are two of the three big variables. There's obviously the piping network that will allow you to deliver it to adjacent buildings. But there are a lot of places in New York City where there's connectivity below grade. We all know the Con Ed steam network and so on and so on, and there are individual campuses like Rockefeller Center, which might be advantageous opportunities.
