Question: Can you respond to the mayhem from Saturday night? I know there's a 17-year-old who got shot and several school buses, I believe that were being used for World Cup transit, were damaged and set on fire, etc. And then I'm also wondering if you think that the deployment of the SRG on that night was an appropriate use of that unit.
Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani: So, I think what we saw on Saturday evening was the vast majority of New Yorkers celebrating responsibly, celebrating appropriately, given that as a city, we've been waiting for this for 53 years. As you mentioned, there were a select number of New Yorkers who celebrated in a way that was, frankly, unacceptable. It was not celebration, it was an excuse, whether it be to attack someone around them or to be violent even towards our police officers. And I'm deeply appreciative of the work of the men and women of the NYPD for keeping our city safe, not only Saturday evening but throughout this Finals run and, frankly, every single day. And I think what we will see in the days to come is the celebrations will continue and so will our focus on ensuring that this is a time when New Yorkers can do so safely and responsibly.
Question: [Inaudible.]
Mayor Mamdani: I think that the NYPD handled themselves appropriately in delivering safety across the five boroughs.
Question: Mr. Mayor, I wonder if you can talk about the security that you're going to be using during the parade. I'm wondering if there's going to be counterterrorism, if there's going to be a no-fly zone for various things, if there's going to be more cops on the street - the kinds of things that people can expect so that we don't see what happened after Game Five and Game Four.
Mayor Mamdani: I think that a large part of preparing for the parade is also working in partnership not just with the Knicks Organization but also with the NYPD. And we're going to be releasing additional details in the days to come about the parade. What I can share at this time is that the parade will begin at 10 in the morning on Thursday. It will begin at Battery Park. We encourage New Yorkers to show up early. I would say two hours, but I know that New Yorkers will likely come far before then. And we're going to make sure that we take every precaution that this be a safe and joyous moment for New Yorkers. Because as we all know, people have been waiting their entire lives for this.
Question: I know you want it to be as happy and as joyful as possible, but there are always some things that happen. What are your specific concerns and what are you trying to do about them?
Mayor Mamdani: You have to be prepared whenever there's a large gathering of people for the safety and security of those people. And we want to make sure that we're building a parade that can really meet this moment in terms of how much it means to our city and also ensuring that we're taking every single step to keep New Yorkers safe as they do that. And I think by and large we saw that over the last few games through the Finals run over the vast majority of our city. And what I will also say is I think there will be something distinct also about the time and the nature of the celebration being at 10 in the morning on a Thursday and not midnight on a Saturday.
Question: Can you talk a little bit about where this lovely Champions Way sign is going to be going? And then, secondly, I know a lot of parents are a little upset that the parade is falling on the same day as the Regents exam. I know you signed a mini executive order to forego bedtimes when the playoffs were going on, so any message to students who are going to be missing out on this parade while they take this much-needed exam?
Mayor Mamdani: I know that many New Yorkers have built their entire lives around this team, not just for the course of these last few weeks and months and years, but, frankly, for decades. And for our students, I will still encourage them to be studying hard for their Regents exam. There will always be any number of people who will not be able to make it, no matter what day that we choose. However, this date was chosen in accordance both with the Knicks as an organization, as well as with the PD, and other city agencies and departments. These incredible signs will be going up on Wednesday. They'll be coming down soon after the parade, and they will be going up along the parade route, which will be the Canyon of Heroes, and then ending at City Hall.
[Crosstalk.]
Question: You said these signs are going to go up. Can you give us a few more details about the look and the feel of what Thursday will be like?
Mayor Mamdani: It may well be the largest parade in New York City history, and I think that speaks to what this team means to this city. It also speaks to 53 years of waiting. It speaks to 26 years since the last time we were in the Finals, and it speaks to the beauty of what one family story has meant to the whole city. Rick Brunson was on that '99 team when we lost 4-1 to the Spurs, and now for his son to be Captain Clutch 26 years later and deliver us this championship, it's an incredible moment. And it will be a parade where we will see ticker tape. As we know, the Knicks won in '73, but they've never actually had a ticker-tape parade. This will be the first ticker-tape parade in [the] New York Knicks' history, and it will also be one where we will see the players. Part of the reason we're having this parade on Thursday is to ensure the players have enough time to bring their families, because they've been working their entire life for this, and we will see city workers doing what they do every single day, oftentimes unrecognized, making that joy possible. And there will be performances, there will be New Yorkers, there will be the team, and there will be history.
Question: The estimates might vary about how difficult the cash flow situation could become in the fall unless the city takes action. I think most people seem to agree that it's not looking great, especially in the fall. So, can you explain - I have two questions, if you want me to do one at a time?
Mayor Mamdani: Just go for both.
Question: Can you explain - if the budget is balanced, why is the city's cash flow worse this year than in the past?
Mayor Mamdani: So, I think first and foremost, it is that revenue collection does not always align with the timing of expense payments, and that is during any given fiscal year. This is also the first year that this law that was passed will be implemented, and what I can say is, no matter the conversation that is happening, there is no doubt in my mind or anyone's mind in City Hall that every single nonprofit will be paid in full for the services that they have rendered. And a lot of this also has to be a reflection of the fact that they provide critical services to New Yorkers across the five boroughs.
Question: So, how will you ensure that they'll be able to meet their needs, considering that several of them have already told us they're already millions of dollars in the hole, they're owing interest payments because they've had to take on debt? This is something that you promised to work on, and they credit you with caring about. So, how will they - I mean some of the nonprofits are planning a protest for tomorrow, and they say they're gonna have trouble meeting payroll and remaining open unless they get their 50 percent.
Mayor Mamdani: I think, as you shared, we are inheriting a system of dysfunction as it applies to the ways in which nonprofits, the timeliness with which they are reimbursed, [and] also their relationship with the city. We will have more to share soon on how we are going to ensure that we continue to work with our critical partners.
Question: I wanted to ask you then, you know, in the wake of what happened on Saturday, what's your message to those that are gonna be celebrating on Thursday? And I also wanted to ask you, because I believe that's the same day that you're also gonna headline something different at night with Senator Bernie Sanders. I wanted to know what your, you know, your goal with that particular event, especially as we're in early voting right now?
Mayor Mamdani: Absolutely. So, on the first question, what I'll say is I would encourage New Yorkers, as I have done over the course of this incredible Finals run, to celebrate and to celebrate responsibly. And by and large, that's what we've seen New Yorkers do. We've seen New Yorkers come out of their homes and shout and embrace people they have never even met before in their life. We've seen New Yorkers organize foot races impromptu at one in the morning to try and channel their energy into something. And I think what we've seen is New Yorkers transforming the largest city in the country into what feels like the smallest town in the world, where we are all thinking, all praying [and] all hoping for the same thing.
And Saturday night, it happened. And it's hard to believe that it was real. There's a part of me that wants to watch the entire game again, because I'm still having trouble grasping it as reality. But it is a beautiful thing in our city's history. And, you know, I've said time and again, there is no amount of excitement or celebration that can ever excuse violence in our city. And I'm deeply appreciative to the men and women of the NYPD for keeping our city safe as we've gone through this Finals run and also as we go into Thursday.
On your second question, I really am looking forward to rallying alongside Senator Bernie Sanders to stand with candidates that I've endorsed for State Assembly as well as for Congress. We will be having a rally in the middle of early voting to remind New Yorkers of the fact that this is their opportunity to vote for their leaders, not just of today but of tomorrow.
And I was elected on a message of tackling the affordability crisis within our city, of transforming the most expensive city the United States of America into one that's affordable. And I want to share with New Yorkers the fact that no one can do that alone. You need partners. You need champions at every level of government and that's exactly what I see this slate as being.
Question: I'm wondering; I have a question on World Cup transit on Saturday or over the weekend at MetLife Stadium. Thousands were stranded due to many people opting to take ride shares instead of public transit. I'm wondering, is your office doing anything, specifically your Office of Mass Engagement, doing anything to get info out to World Cup goers about public transportation options, specifically in and out of New York City?
Mayor Mamdani: Absolutely. We will continue to have a live stream every morning of match days of games that are hosted in New York-New Jersey. We had our first game on Saturday, Morocco [vs.] Brazil, for a 1-1 draw. Tomorrow will be our next game with France playing Senegal, and we will have six more after that. We saw a significant number of ticket goers buying their tickets for mass transit just in the hours before the game, and we continue to encourage everyone to do so far in advance. And we'd also say that there continues to be additional capacity on NJ Transit, and so for those who have yet to buy their tickets, that is one way that we are going to encourage them to do so, and I appreciate the efforts of all of City government in sharing this message out.
Question: Have you communicated with the governor of New Jersey at all on, you know, what could be done to get the message out more clearly?
Mayor Mamdani: You know, it was a pleasure to watch the match alongside Governor Sherrill, as well as Governor Hochul, as well as the mayor of East Rutherford, and this continues to be a point of coordination across both state and local levels.
Question: My first one is: Do you think that the response should have been more from the NYPD on Saturday, or do you think that the response method was enough? And a second one is off topic from that, but Representative Espaillat has characterized an insurgent left movement as non-New Yorkers or non-native New Yorkers. As a DSA mayor, how do you respond to that as well, because you are a native New Yorker, to that kind of framing about this insurgent left not being from here?
Mayor Mamdani: You know, I think that we've long seen a debate about who gets to be a part of this city, and I think that we are at our best as a city when we don't distinguish between who deserves to call themselves a New Yorker, and we appreciate everyone who is here in this city and is helping to build this city. And I am proud to be a mayor of all 8.5 million people who call this city home. I'm proud to be the first immigrant mayor of our city in generations, and I'm incredibly excited to support Darializa Avila Chevalier's campaign. Hers is a campaign that is uniting so many across that district, where no matter when their family set down roots in that district, they are being affected by an affordability crisis; they're being affected by a crisis of conscience, as we see ICE unjustly detain many a New Yorker.
And this is someone, Darializa, who has a track record of freeing New Yorkers unjustly detained by ICE, and she also has a message of the importance of investing in babies, not bombs. And I think that is something that any New Yorker, no matter when they got here, can resonate with. And to your first question, I think that the NYPD handled themselves appropriately, keeping New Yorkers safe and doing so in a manner that makes it very clear that while we want New Yorkers to be able to celebrate, that is to celebrate responsibly. And if you're attacking someone else around you, if you're attacking a police officer [and] if you are violating this principle and engaging in violence, there's no tolerance for that.
Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. I was wondering, you've talked about your New York City specialty jerseys for the World Cup. What about Team USA? Can you talk about your relationship with the team, or if you'll be wearing their jersey?
Mayor Mamdani: I definitely will be wearing their jersey, and I'm incredibly excited by the team. I think seeing them win 4-1 against Paraguay was something that we'd both hoped for and felt even beyond our wildest dreams. It looks like the team is peaking at exactly the right time, and we're proud of the fact that there's a lot of New York City roots in that team. And even when we announced the $50 tickets to the World Cup, it was a real pleasure to do so alongside two U.S. Men's National Team players, including Tim Weah, who is very much a son of New York City. And I'll say that over these next days and weeks to come, we're really looking forward to celebrating. And I'll just say also, I don't know if you know the writer of this, but there was a Times piece that I really loved about what it meant to the city, which is something that I think has resonated with a lot about how it's often been tragedy that brings the city together, and this time it's joy. If you can just pass that on. Thank you.
[Crosstalk.]
Question: I was hoping you could go into some more detail about - there's reportedly a box that the local elected officials can access as part of an agreement with the New York-New Jersey host committee for the World Cup. Just explaining more, if you can, about that agreement. How many times do you plan to go to this box? And then separately, reporting in Politico today said that you're planning to put the World Cup in those LinkNYC kiosks. Just hoping you can explain more. Is that a concern as well, to have people kind of maybe congregating around one of those Link kiosks in a busy intersection? Thank you.
Mayor Mamdani: We are incredibly excited to be working together with a number of different partners, including LinkNYC, to put a number of World Cup games on kiosks across the city. And as we were getting into that work, we were hoping to surprise New Yorkers with that. And we found an opportunity to actually pilot that with Game Four of the finals. And I think it speaks to the fact that we want our city to meet the moment at the level of excitement that exists across the five boroughs. And especially when we're thinking about Team USA as one of the host nations of this World Cup, this is an opportunity to make history. And so many young kids see themselves in this team. We want to make it as easy as possible. I don't have concerns around what it will mean to share the game with more people. I'm frankly looking for more ways to ensure that no one feels priced out of this World Cup.
When it comes to your first question, as part of a contractual obligation between the City of New York as well as the New York-New Jersey Host Committee and FIFA, I am obligated to attend a few matches. I will be attending three matches in total; I've attended one, I'll attend two additional ones. And I began the game seated with other elected officials - governors of New Jersey, of New York, the mayor of East Rutherford - and then spent about a majority of the game alongside winners of our $50 ticket program. And it was lovely. I sat next to a woman who is actually a city worker who showed me a Facebook status that she posted when USA won the right to host the World Cup. And she said, "This would be my dream. It would be a bucket list moment." And there she was. And I think that's what we want this moment to be. We don't want people to have to forego a rent payment in order to be able to attend the game of their dreams. And I'm really thankful to all of the work that everyone put in to ensure that for 1,000 New Yorkers, we could actually deliver that for $50. I'll just end by sharing one of the two - there was a brother and a sister who entered the raffle. And they committed to each other that if either of them won, they'd bring the other. And one of them won, and they both went. And it was a beautiful thing.
Question: N+ Univision 41. I interviewed Governor Hochul this week and we talked about security for the World Cup. She said she feels confident that city officials are working with the state. There will be local enforcement with state enforcement as federal enforcement. We even talked about ICE. And she said that there's a possibility that ICE agents might work on a capacity of safety measures, be deployed. And I was just wondering if that's something that you had discussed with her, even with President Trump, contemplating that - ICE agents on that capacity as far as safety?
Mayor Mamdani: That's not something I've discussed at this time. I am fully confident in the work of the NYPD as well as our state partners in delivering that safe experience. As you've mentioned, we are the biggest city in the country. We are used to big events, and we are incredibly excited for this one. We know it coincides with the Knicks Finals run. We know it coincides with July 4, America 250, Taylor Swift's wedding all happening at the same time. And we are so excited to welcome the world here. And I'll say - one of the beautiful things about Saturday was you walked around the city, you saw people in Brazil jerseys; you saw people in Morocco jerseys; you saw people in Knicks jerseys. It feels like a city that is coming to life, especially with the love of the game, whether it's basketball or football.
[Crosstalk.]
Question: DSA is criticizing the NYPD's rising headcount. They're also criticizing the fact that SRG and the gang database are still in place, which you promised to do away with. You've talked about why you think the rising headcount is justified. Is there justification for why SRG and the database are still in place? Have you changed your thinking on that at all or your plans to just ban them given the commissioner's defense of those two programs, units?
Mayor Mamdani: When it comes to the gang database, I've made my critiques clear. And also, the NYPD has implemented a number of reforms on recommendation of DOI and we're now seeing how those reforms are playing out. And when it comes to SRG, I continue to believe in the importance of decoupling our response to protest from our response to threats of terrorism. And that's something that I am continuing to work with the commissioner on, to disband SRG and ensure that we have responses that are separate from each other. And we're doing so on a timeline that will ensure we keep New Yorkers safe as we deliver that.
[Crosstalk.]
Question: First, you did mention having the LinkNYC kiosks show the games. I did watch Game Five and tried to do it on LinkNYC. But it's very difficult to find which ones were actually showing it. It's only about 2 or 3 percent. Can you talk about maybe efforts to ensure that people can find places to see the games on LinkNYC? And the brief follow-up is, you did mention Taylor Swift's wedding. Have you been invited? Are you going? Thank you. Thank you.
Mayor Mamdani: No and no. I wish them a lovely wedding. I'll listen to "Only the Young" at home on my own. And when it comes to LinkNYC, on Game Four, we had the game playing on a few dozen kiosks. On Game Five, we went up to about, I think it was 130 or so. And we're continuing to look at how we can deliver this to as many New Yorkers as possible. I think one of the key things is that LinkNYC has never streamed something at this bandwidth before, and so, we're incredibly appreciative to them for working so hard to deliver this to New Yorkers. Because one of my favorite things is, New Yorkers who are just walking on their way home, chancing upon the game, and getting lost in a moment. And you will always remember where you were for OGs tip for Game Four. I mean, there are some New Yorkers who were walking on the street, there were other New Yorkers who were at a bar, you know, I was standing and then all of a sudden, I was jumping. I mean, we remember where we were and we want that to be something for every New Yorker.
Question: Quick question on the World Cup jerseys from last week. They were obviously a large hit. Any reaction on them sort of being re-sold on the internet for a significantly higher price than they were sold for? Are we going to see another drop, if so, when? And then, do you have any changes to how they were being sold, just based on the line and the time that people waited for them?
Mayor Mamdani: So, as you mentioned, there were New Yorkers who lined up as early as one in the morning. I followed Katie Honan's reporting about two of the first who bought jerseys having not known each other, then realized they had both seen Disclosure Day, becoming friends and deciding that they were gonna watch World Cup matches together. And that's one of the hopes of this tournament is bringing people together. We will be releasing more jerseys. We wanted to do this in a way that also celebrated a small business here in New York City. And so, we are working together on what that new timeline will be, how many jerseys. But, if you are a re-seller and you are looking to sell these jerseys online, just know that there are more jerseys coming out; and if you are a New Yorker who is interested in this, just know that you don't have to pay $1,000 on eBay to have a chance at getting one of these jerseys.
Question: [Inaudible.]
Mayor Mamdani: We'll be sharing those details soon. Thank you, guys.
Question: I just wanted to [inaudible] about Anthony Miranda [inaudible]. What's the status of the DOI investigation into him, and is the city going to keep paying his legal fees?
Mayor Mamdani: I will follow up on the status of it and let you know on that. I appreciate your focus on the position and we are incredibly excited about our new sheriff.
