Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani: Good morning, everyone. It is a pleasure to be here back at David Dinkins Municipal Building to make an announcement that honors Mayor Dinkins' legacy, to make New York City fairer, to make it more affordable, to make it more accessible. And it is a pleasure to be here joined by our DCAS commissioner, Yume Kitasei, who is here with us; our Department of Finance commissioner, who will be joining us shortly, Commissioner Richard Lee, who is right over here. And by shortly, I meant when I would look up. We have our Department of Veterans Services commissioner, Yesenia Mata, who is here with us.
And we also have with us - we are speaking typically about city administration leaders, about elected official leaders - we also have a labor leader with us who has been fighting that same fight to make this a city where working people can actually afford to keep calling it their home, the executive director of DC37, Henry Garrido. And alongside me, we have our comptroller, Mark Levine. We have our Manhattan borough president, Brad Hoylman-Siegel. And we are also here in the building where the headquarters of Public Advocate Jumaane Williams is located. Now, we are here, even though it is very quiet, I would just like to remind everyone that it is an active construction site. And it is a site that we are building for the few New Yorkers who can be louder than an active site, which is New York's cutest.
And this fall, it is a center that will be transformed into New York City's first ever on-site child care program for municipal employees. This is a site that will be 100 percent free with the child care that it provides. It will provide full day care from children as young as six weeks to as old as three years old. And on April 30th, these applications will open for every single worker in the David Dinkins building, as well as every single DCAS employee, regardless of their location across the city. This will be managed in-house by DCAS and operated by a contracted child care provider that we will be announcing later this spring.
Now, this is a building of over a million square feet of office space and more than 2,000 city employees from over a dozen agencies. Now, for too many of those employees, finding affordable child care has long been one of the greatest obstacles they faced. And we never want city workers to have to choose between a job that they love and raising their kids in the family in the city that they call home. This is what Wall Street would call a good investment. We've seen that every dollar invested in child care delivers a 13-times return on investment. Providing free universal child care saves families $20,000 a year at least. And we know that after housing, the cost of child care is what is pushing working families out of this city.
This center is just one example, one step that our administration is taking to make it that little bit easier to keep calling this city New Yorkers' home. And we're so proud to be here, standing alongside so many of the very workers who are bringing this to fruition. Because what it does is it makes it - it makes it the kind of city that we want to be living in. One where we can not only think about our present and our past, but also how we build and deliver our future. So, I'm excited to see this center open its doors in just a couple of short months. Serving the parents who keep this city running. And with that being said, I'm now going to pass it over to our DCAS commissioner, Yume Kitasei.
Commissioner Yume Kitasei, Department of Citywide Administrative Services: Good morning, everyone. Thank you, Mayor Mamdani, for being here today to celebrate our upcoming child care program. I would like to acknowledge a few others here today. Public Advocate, Jumaane Williams; Comptroller Mark Levine; Borough President Brad Hoylman-Siegel; and also a big shout out to executive director of DC37, Henry Garrido, who is here today, and who helped create a child care center for workers at Bellevue years ago, which is a great model for the center today, and who has been a big supporter of this project. So, thanks for being here.
We're excited to advance work on this municipal child care space. Both literally, as you can see around me. And figuratively, as we make some exciting announcements today. At DCAS, we are focused on transforming our workplace for the future. We have a responsibility as employers to ask, "How can we make life more affordable for staff? How can we ease the burden of child care? And how can we foster a more supportive workplace for our workers?" And we see this project as an answer to these questions. That by meeting workers where they are, and providing on-site free child care, you'll have city workers who are less stressed, healthier and better able to serve New Yorkers.
One of the things that was important to us was that this demonstration project include all of the city workers in 1 Center Street, because we as an agency serve all city workers. From our inspectors, custodial staff, engineers, community liaisons, auditors, preservationists, DCAS police officers and more. And because of this, we decided to expand it to all the city workers who call One Center Street home. I'm also pleased to say that applications will be open by April 30th.
Before I conclude, I would also like to give a few shout-outs. And that includes the many DCAS teams that have been working diligently to get this project off the ground, including our Office of Procurement, our IT Department, StratOps, Facilities Management, Construction and Legal and also my first deputy commissioner, Shanna Midelton, who has been fearlessly leading the charge on this. We're leaving no stone unturned in our pursuit to transform and modernize our workforce. And it is my promise, throughout my tenure, that we will continue to prioritize thinking outside of the box. Thank you all. I can't wait to see you this fall as we cut the ribbon on the city's first ever municipal child care program. And it is now my pleasure to welcome up Public Advocate Jumaane Williams.
Public Advocate Jumaane Williams: Thank you so much. Peace and blessings to you. Love and light to everybody. Actually, I apologize for the tiredness, but part of that reason is actually because of child care. So, it works out well. But welcome back to the Dinkins Building. Many of us were on the roof. It's not that cold, so we'll probably stick around this time. Today we're on the ground floor. I do want to say the 15th [floor] is in the middle, so next time [would] be happy to meet in the middle. Thousands of people in this building make our city run for millions of folks. My personal favorite is, of course, about 50-60 on the 15th floor.
But as dedicated as our employees are to the city, they're even more dedicated to their families. Providing this opportunity through a pilot program will help ensure that both are cared for and that we can grow responsibly. The city should be setting an example for new models of workplace, and providing child care to employees is a valuable service, as well as an important statement about our commitment to child care. Employee-provided child care is a major boost to employee retention and to recruiting top talent in the first place, so it's actually good for everyone all around.
A 2023 survey found that with reliable and affordable child care, 86 percent of working parents were more likely to stay at their company, and 78 percent said child care support is having a positive impact on their careers. Employees with child care support were also more productive, reported feeling happier at work, more satisfied on their jobs, and more involved in company culture. So, I'm excited to welcome our newest neighbors to the building. Every day should be Take Your Child to Work Day. Now it makes it possible. I'm also thankful for the mayor who's been pushing on universal child care, and it's even easier to lead when you're leading by example.
And we are creating a space that I absolutely would have used. I just learned my daughter's about a year out of it, from two to three, I think. She just turned four, so I missed it. But I am responsible for taking my daughter in the morning, my wife picks her up, so it can get a little funky. Also, when she was just born, before we could find babysitter child care, we had to figure it all out. And child care is expensive. It really is. So having a space like this is amazing, even for the public advocate. I can't imagine for the folks who work for me and work for this city. You don't really fully comprehend the importance of it until you have a child. And that is all that matters, because you can't do anything else unless your child is in a safe space. So, thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you to the commissioner. Thank you, everybody. I will be pleased to introduce someone, but I don't know who that is. So, I'm going to send it back to the mayor. Thank you so much.
Yume Kitasei: Thank you, public advocate. The next person that we're going to call up is New York City Comptroller Mark Levine, who plays a very important role as our partner and will be reviewing our contracts on this. So, thank you.
Comptroller Mark Levine: Thank you, commissioner. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I see you've overcome your aversion to wearing hats. Very good. Ideological evolution. I love that. You have picked an incredible leader in Commissioner Kitasei. She's off to an amazing start. I really value our relationship. Thank you and thank you for doing this. Great to be here with the public advocate.
[Crosstalk.]
Great to be here with you too, BP, and Henry Garrido. Welcome back to our monthly press conference in the David Dinkins Municipal Building. You complained last time. We're providing you heat today. I don't know about the 15th floor next month. We've got vaults on the 8th floor, so maybe we'll do something on cybersecurity there. We'll figure it out. Anyway, today is a very, very exciting announcement. There are 2,000 people in this building on a busy workday, and it is a wonderful, beautiful, diverse workforce that is New York City in microcosm, with all the hopes and dreams and challenges that New Yorkers face every day.
And one among them is the challenge of securing child care and affordable child care, especially. To build this out, as the mayor's inspiring vision has instructed us, is going to require many different kinds of venues. We are going to need school-based programs, we're going to need community-based programs, home-based programs, ACS centers and we're also going to need workplace sites, which have a very, very special role to play because community-based programs, while they have a lot of advantages, mean that working parents have to hustle to an early drop-off and then commute in, and if, God forbid, something happens midday, they have to leave work and rush home. The normal nightly routine might mean leaving work early or finding a child care site that can keep your kid late.
And if you have the facility in your building, all those problems are solved. And you can commute together, you can drop them off right before you go in, you can come down on your lunch hour, you can be there right at the end of the day for pick-up. And it is a reminder that this is an important social service project, but it's also very good for our economy. It would be great for the workforce to have people who can have this infrastructure in the place they work and stay in the workforce instead of dropping out, as so many do. So, I am thrilled about this pilot. I'm really grateful to you, Mr. Mayor and commissioner, and I can tell you there are going to be many, many, many members of the comptroller staff who are going to be vying for a seat at this site. So, we hope one or two of them win the lottery. Thank you very much.
Yume Kitasei: Thank you very much. And the next person I'm going to call up is the borough president, who I have actually known longer than anyone else here, which is why I always look at you when I'm panicked, I guess.
Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal: Thank you, commissioner. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, comptroller, public advocate and our executive director of DC37. Brad Hoylman-Sigal, Manhattan Borough President. I love the fact that the wedding bureau is just across the hall, Mr. Mayor. It's kind of like the city playing mother-in-law asking you when the grandchildren are coming. But this is such a boon for my team on the 19th floor. And I just wanted to share with you what one of my staff members said, who has two young children, Alex and Emeralda.
She said, when hearing about this, commissioner, she said, "The opening of a child care center at the municipal building means so much to me, not just as an employee, but as a parent. Child care support isn't optional. It's what makes it possible for me to show up fully. With this new center, I won't have to choose between being present for my family and giving my best to the city I love. I can finally bring my whole self to work." So, thank you very much. I really appreciate that.
Yume Kitasei: Thank you. And lastly, we're going to hear from Henry Garrido, who's the head of DC37, somebody we consider to be a thought partner as we work on this endeavor. So, thank you.
Henry Garrido, Executive Director of DC-37: Good morning. First, let me give a big shout out to the construction workers that are here. And without them, this space literally could not happen. You know, in the world that I live, there are those who say and those who do, those who pontificate, and those who execute. This is an example of the mayor putting his money where his mouth is and actually doing for the workers what he promised he would do during the campaign. You may find that as no surprise that for many of our workers who have residency requirement, the top two priorities besides wages was affordable housing and child care, which is one of the big reasons why we supported this mayor and continue to support him.
And for those members who work in this building, sometimes they have a very tough choice. Do they sacrifice sometimes working extra hours to be able to do for the city what the city needs? Many of them are first responders and are required to do that in emergency situation. Or do they sacrifice having to not have some money to care for their child and then risk at times to even be called by [the] Administration for Children's Services for being derelict and not being present? That is a tough choice for city workers and one of the reasons why we're so happy to see this new center.
We championed the center in Bellevue Hospital for the same reasons. We are very honored to support this one. We want to see more, Mr. Mayor. You know, as a union who represents not only 150,000 city workers who really make the city work, but also represent child care workers, thousands of them who are providing it, we're excited we laid it. And we're so serious about this that during the last round of bargaining, we set aside $3 million to create first-ever child care trust fund for our members. And that's something that has become very popular.
But unfortunately, the availability of child care is not something, especially in this area, with rent and everything, it's very hard to open a center. So, we want to thank the mayor, we want to thank the commissioner, obviously the elected officials that are here for fulfilling a campaign promise that it's just a start, I like to see. And, you know, we're happy to see more city workers coming, hiring more of that. But the truth is, a lot of the overtime was forcing a lot of people to make tough, difficult choices. So, we're very happy to be here and we support on behalf of workers. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
Question: What's the capacity for how many kids this facility will be able to accommodate?
[Crosstalk.]
Mayor Mamdani: This will be able to accommodate 40 children, and the applications will begin shortly. They will be available to every employee who works at this site, as well as every DCAS employee across the city.
Question: [Inaudible] jobs for the employees who will staff DC-37?
Mayor Mamdani: Yes, this will also have a vendor that is contracted to provide this service. But also, as Executive Director of DC37, Henry Garrido, mentioned, we're also seeing so many DCAS workers making this a possibility today.
[Crosstalk]
Question: How much is this contract specifically going to go out for, and what do you expect that to be? And is this any different than what Eric Adams had announced last October? Or has there been any changes since then?
Mayor Mamdani: There are a few things. Um, the first change is that we're expanding eligibility Expanding eligibility to include everyone who works within this building. Prior, it had only been eligible for DCAS employees to be able to apply. Secondly, the prior administration had only put capital funding towards this, no actual operating funding towards the running of this site. We are going to be putting that funding into the executive budget. We anticipate that that will be around $2.3 million.
Question: And that's just for this?
Mayor Mamdani: That's for this site, yes. For this site, yes.
Question: I know it was announced - the pilot program in October. When do you anticipate expanding that to DCAS-run facilities, even city-run facilities, beyond here and other boroughs? Or are you waiting to see the success here before you expand that?
Mayor Mamdani: We are pursuing every possible avenue to make it easier to have kids and raise those kids here in the city, especially when we're talking about for so many of the workers who keep this city running. And so, this is something that we're pursuing for children from six weeks to three years, alongside pursuing universal 2K for every single two-year-old by the end of four years. And I appreciate also what Henry was saying earlier, which is it's part of a longstanding advocacy we've also seen from the champions of city workers across the city. And we look forward to seeing the results of this and uncovering every potential avenue to build on it.
Question: A colleague recently reported that, in addition to the $1.7 billion in savings that you've identified, that you're expecting to save another $1.3 billion with the delayed cost-size mandate and the deal to not fully implement the CityFHEPS expansion. And we were wondering where else do you plan to identify potential cuts to savings, given that the governor appears to want those savings and doesn't appear to want raising income taxes?
Mayor Mamdani: We directed every city agency and department to find $1.7 billion in savings over two fiscal years. And we made this directive to them with a focus on efficiency, on rooting out any instance of fraud or waste. Now, we will not rest even after we hit that $1.7 billion because wherever there is an example in efficiency, it's an opportunity for City government to rise to meet the moment. However, we will not use the fiscal crisis as a justification to cut the very kinds of services that New Yorkers rely on. That is what New Yorkers are looking to us for, to have a responsible stewardship of the city's fiscal health while continuing to provide those essential services. That's what we anticipate. That is exactly what we will be doing. And as we continue these budget negotiations, it will always be the focus of what we do.
Question: Juliet, go ahead. Yeah, Mr. Mayor, I wanted to ask you about municipal madness. How did you decide on what? About issues and in those particular neighborhoods, because I saw them on the chart and people are voting, you know, Sunset Park, let's say, a lot of fountains. How did you decide that?
Mayor Mamdani: These were a number of suggestions that were put forward by our city agencies. The beauty of this bracket is that every suggestion wins in that even if it doesn't win its bracket, it will still be fixed. The competition is just which one I'm going to be there to fix. And that is something that we've been excited to see so many New Yorkers engage in this process. Because our point that we're making to New Yorkers is that we have to be able to focus on the biggest expenses in their lives, things like child care, and also the kinds of annoyances that are too often overlooked when it comes to living in the city.
Question: Are you going to do final fours or just the winner?
Mayor Mamdani: Just the winner.
Question: Can you give us a sense of when you were looped in about the NYPD foiling the assassination plot against Nerdeen Kiswani; were you given an up-to-date info as it unfolded? And separately, like, she made criticisms. She said that you betrayed the pro-Palestinian cause since being elected. What do you make of that?
Mayor Mamdani: I think any New Yorker is - they have the right to critique. And also, we need to be able to critique. We need to protect them from any threat of political violence. That is the truth for Nerdeen and for anyone who calls this city home. I was informed by the NYPD of this attempted plot on Friday. I am thankful for their and the FBI's efforts to ensure that this plot, which could have endangered Nerdeen's life, as well as those of other New Yorkers, was thwarted. And I want to be very clear that we do not tolerate any kind of violent extremism in this city. We do not tolerate any kind of violent extremism in this city. No one should face violence for their political beliefs or for their advocacy. And I'm relieved that Nerdeen is safe.
Questin: Mr. Mayor, Bruce Blakeman, as you know, is running for governor. He's having a press conference on the steps of the City Hall today to announce his affordability agenda and to attack your tax policies. He's specifically upset about the policy that you've announced about us cutting the amount of money people could leave in their estates and how much they pay estates in tax. I wonder if you could talk about why you want that policy and why it's important for the state and how you feel about him going to City Hall to try to attack you and make you part of his governor's campaign.
Mayor Mamdani: I'm not sure quite what to say about Bruce Blakeman. What I can tell you is the proposal that he might be focusing on is one that's often been mischaracterized. What we've put our support behind as part of a menu of options to raise revenues to bridge the city's fiscal deficit is an estate tax that would also have an exemption of an additional $1.75 million when it comes to primary residences. So, we've seen Blakeman and others try and characterize this as if it would impact middle-class homeowners, when the truth of it is that it wouldn't. And look, we're talking about a man who espouses so much of what has diminished New Yorkers faith in politics across the city and across the state. Someone who looks at what ICE is doing and thinks it's exactly what the city needs to see.
We are all here representing different levels of government, advocacy, organized labor, commissioners. And yet I would dare to say amidst all of that, we agree on the fact that what New Yorkers deserve is dignity, safety and not having to deal with elected representatives who are looking to determine which one of us belongs and which one of us should be deported. And it's no surprise to me that he's coming all the way to City Hall to talk about affordability because we're one of the only places that is taking affordability seriously. In Nassau County, his focus is on how to round up as many people as possible and send them as far away as he can.
Question: How do you feel about the fact that he's making you a focal point of his campaign to try to defeat Kathy Hochul?
Mayor Mamdani: You know, I think there have been a lot of attempts to make us the focal point, and a lot of times it also spreads some of the message of what we're talking about. And I'll just - I'll welcome the opportunity.
Question: What do you say to Republicans or others like David Paterson who seem to think that your Inner Circle skit with Curtis Sliwa proves that you were engaged in some kind of conspiracy?
Mayor Mamdani: Great skit. Thank you very much. I think the only conspiracy that's on offer is two people who have a sense of humor and are willing to poke fun at themselves. And, you know, we reached out to Curtis and asked him if he'd be willing to be a part of a sketch where he played a cat allergist doctor. And we shot that sketch. And I think that what New Yorkers want to see is a city where we can vehemently disagree with each other and also still know that we live in the same city. And a sense of humor, I think, is a prerequisite to being a New Yorker. And all of these people who can't distinguish between a sketch and reality, I think it shows some of the problems they're having with their politics.
Question: The state budget deadline is tomorrow. It's safe to assume, I think, that they're not going to hit that deadline and have a deal by then. But do you think it's reasonable to assume that you're going to get more indirect aid from the state, given the state's budget surplus, without any sort of, like, as a one-shot budget addition?
Mayor Mamdani: We're encouraged by the nature of the negotiations and the conversations we're having with the state legislative leaders. And what has been heartening is a recognition of the fact that we came into office looking at a $12 billion fiscal deficit. And over the time, with the accounting for Wall Street bonuses and revenues and savings, as well as with $1.6 billion in commitments from the state, we were able to reduce that to $5.4 billion. That is still a significant fiscal deficit that is one that we want to meet in partnership, with our partners at the state. And we've seen an understanding of the scale of what this deficit is, as well as the many different options the state has of providing a structural solution to a structural crisis.
Question: Do you think it's possible that the total deficit gets closed without any of the recurring revenue-raising proposals that you've backed?
Mayor Mamdani: So, I'll just, I'll lay it out a little bit. We inherited this crisis. The importance of stating that out loud is that it's not a result of spending decisions we've made over the last three months. This is a result of under-budgeting and financial mismanagement that preceded our administration. If we seek to meet this kind of a deficit with just one-time funding, then it will mean that in a year from now, we will all return with the same issue in front of us. That's why we talk about this both being a structural crisis, needing structural solutions. And I think structural solutions are the shifting of the cost burdens we've seen over the last decade, going from the state to the city, back to a fairer place. What we've talked about is ending the drain. And a taxing of the wealthiest New Yorkers and the most profitable corporations, that little bit more, so that we can afford to make a city where each and every New Yorker can actually keep calling it its home.
