Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani: Good morning, everyone. It is an honor to be here at NYU with so many friends and partners who have long worked to make our city a global center of innovation. We have leaders with us both inside and outside of our administration today. We have our deputy mayor, Julie Su. We have our EDC president and CEO, Tony Shorris. We have NYU President Linda Mills, NYU Tandon School of Engineering Executive Dean Juan de Pablo. We have NYU Board Chair Evan Chesler. We have Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal. "Hello, gorgeous," as he always says. We have Assembly Member Deborah Glick, who is welcoming us to her district right now. Council Member Harvey Epstein in his district. Assembly member and soon-to-be Senator Grace Lee. Council member and forever educator Rita Joseph. We have our deputy public advocate for education opportunity, Elizabeth Kennedy. And then, last but certainly not least, Community Board 2 Chair Valerie De La Rosa.
Decade after decade, scientific greatness has been imagined, pursued and achieved here in New York City. In 1931, in a basement uptown at Columbia University, chemist Harold Urey made the Nobel Prize-winning discovery of deuterium, an isotope now used in everything from new medicines to potential renewable energies to smartphones and refrigerators.
In 1944, at the Rockefeller Institute on the Upper East Side, Oswald Avery, Colin MacLeod and Maclyn McCarty discovered that DNA is responsible for heredity, completely transforming our understanding of genetics.
In 1961, right here at NYU, Cathleen Synge Morawetz proved what would become known as the first Morowitz inequality, fundamentally reshaping the modern understanding of how waves began. And in 2007, at 75 West 205th Street, between Paul and Goulden avenues in the Bronx, a 15-year-old scored a 91 on the biology regents. In case you're wondering, he's now the mayor.
Now, not all of these scientific achievements are the same, yet we celebrate all of them in our city because these scientists and countless others were able to innovate in our city in no small part because New York shared their drive to question, to create, to push the limits of what is possible. A city that helped to provide them the support, the tools and the space they needed to push the boundaries of human knowledge, to go where no person had ever gone before.
Today, City Hall is carrying on New York City's proud legacy of scientific innovation, providing our researchers with the resources they need to pioneer the technology of the future. I am proud to announce that, in partnership with NYU, New York City will invest nearly $30 million to bring a state-of-the-art quantum fabrication facility to life right here at 770 Broadway.
While I, of course, understand the intricacies and latest advances in quantum technology, I'm going to snap my fingers and pretend that for five minutes, I do not.
Right now, on a subatomic level, technologies are being developed that will revolutionize the way that we live. Technologies that will help us diagnose diseases and develop vaccines more effectively, that will help predict traffic patterns and ensure that our buses can run faster, and that will help us engineer the materials needed to build a greener future.
The quantum industry is projected to generate more than $2.7 trillion in economic value globally by 2035. This fabrication facility, or QFab, will help to place our city at the forefront of this moment of opportunity.
When it opens in 2030, it will be an epicenter of quantum innovation, offering researchers, professors, startups, companies and more than 5,000 students the resources they need to take these breakthroughs to the next level. It will feature 23,000 square feet of advanced manufacturing and testing space alongside specialized clean rooms, cryogenics and other equipment, the tools that are needed to develop groundbreaking quantum technologies right here in the city that we call home.
However, we know that for too long, investments in institutions like these have benefited only the wealthiest among us instead of extending them, too, to the working people who helped to make them possible. At City Hall, we believe that when the public invests in new technology, the public should benefit from its success.
That is why we have developed a first-of-its-kind governing agreement for QFab with our partners at NYU, one that will give New Yorkers both a stake in the future revenue of the technologies made here and a say in what those technologies are.
First, when new technologies are developed in QFab with tools that the city helped to fund, the city will receive 15 percent of NYU central administration's revenue. And second, the city will have three seats. And second, the city will have three seats on the QFab executive advisory board - thank you, Harvey. Harvey's very passionate about board seats.
To ensure that the voices of working New Yorkers shape quantum technologies for decades to come, this sets a new national standard, or, as we say in the industry, a standard model, for economic development in emerging industries. One in which the betterment of New Yorkers' lives is not a footnote and where economic justice and innovation go hand in hand.
Thank you all so much for making this day possible and thank you for joining in making what will be a day that we will long remember in our city. Thank you. With that being said, I'm going to pass it over to our deputy mayor, Julie Su.
Deputy Mayor Julie Su, Economic Justice: Thank you so much, Mayor Mamdani. From our first day in office, Mayor Mamdani has challenged us to make sure that economic development benefits the many, not just the few. That returns on city investments are measured by long-term gains for all New Yorkers. Today represents one way that we are doing that.
A quantum sensor can detect the tiniest changes in motion, capable of picking up faint signals from the body that today's scans can miss, which could help doctors catch the earliest and smallest signs of cancer. Those same sensors could allow a device to measure its own motion so precisely that it can track its position even underground or underwater, where GPS can't reach.
Quantum computers can work through enormous numbers of possibilities much faster than the computers that we have now do. And they can simulate the way materials interact, enabling scientists to work faster and make breakthroughs in clean energy and sustainable materials.
This technology, as the mayor has already said, can help to balance our power grid on the hottest days of summer and time traffic lights across the whole city so that fewer of us are sitting in traffic.
I am proud to be standing with all of the ambitious partners who will drive this work forward. I want to emphasize something the mayor said, a very significant part of today's announcement that reflects the mayor's and my vision. For the first time, the city is making an investment with public shares embedded at this scale. This is exactly what we mean when we say economic justice and economic growth go hand in hand.
When something created in New York makes money, we want some of that return on investment to come back to the city, to go to the public. That's how our city's investments become investments in New Yorkers.
Now, that also includes the people who will do the work. A sector like this is only as strong as the people who work in it. And those people should also come from right here, from our neighborhoods and from our classrooms.
This investment reaches beyond one private university. Students at CUNY, our public university, will train in these labs, too. And at a time when federal investments in science are shrinking, New York is investing in it. And NYU expects to add 35 new faculty and postdoctoral positions here over the next decade.
We are so excited about this initiative and what it means for a new era in New York City. And with that, I want to introduce the EDC president and CEO, Tony Shorris, and thank the entire team at EDC for getting us to this day.
Anthony Shorris, President and CEO, Economic Development Corporation: Well, thank you all. Thank you, Mayor Mamdani, for this and the broader vision you brought to the whole town; to Julie Su, my partner in crime on all matters; and to my good friends from NYU, especially Linda Mills, whose vision for NYU as a leader in science was there from the very first day we started talking about her role, and Juan de Pablo, the embodiment of that commitment, the executive vice president for global science and technology and the executive dean of Tandon. The leaders in bringing NYU to the forefront of science nationally and globally.
Also, our partners, as Julie mentioned, at CUNY, who are a very important part of this process and what is to come in a variety of places, and the EDC staff, which, as Julie said, did an amazing amount of work pulling this deal together - complex - I'll put the quantum part aside. Economically, financially, legally, a complex deal, and I give enormous credit to all the people who pulled this off, starting with Jeanny Pak, but I'll get back to that.
Look, this is just the kind of work New York City should be doing. It brings government, universities, community partners and the private sector together to build the next generation of industries here.
You've heard quantum can sound a little science fiction-y: supercomputers, some people mention time travel, complicated-looking machines, apparently. But today's about something more practical. The time travel may have to wait a bit. It's about turning great science into real jobs, real businesses and real opportunity for New Yorkers.
As the mayor said, quantum is projected to be as much as a $2.7 trillion industry over the next 10 years. So, at EDC, our view is straightforward. We want that industry to be here, and we want New Yorkers leading the work.
That's how we think about emerging industries more broadly. Our job at EDC is to put the basics in place - infrastructure, space, equipment, partnerships and the connection to talent - so these expanding sectors can grow here. But we don't want to just chase every big new thing, every shiny object, because when that next big thing is real, New Yorkers want to be shaping it to meet the needs of our people.
That's why EDC is supporting the work with the nearly $29 million capital award. And as you heard, these researchers on this floor will help move those quantum ideas from lab to marketplace. That means growing quantum companies here, creating good jobs, reaching more New Yorkers and building the pathway for New Yorkers into those jobs at NYU through CUNY and other mechanisms to connect our people to good-paying jobs and careers in a quantum economy.
That's part of the economic justice focus, too, we've all talked about, and the mayor and Julie have been leading on from the beginning. That's so closely tied to our view of growth: building the ramps to connect people to the jobs from the beginning.
It means training. It means partnerships. It means routes for young people, a CUNY student or someone changing careers, to find a place in this work. And that matters because this is not just an investment in technology. It's an investment in what technology can do for New Yorkers.
And as you heard, this is the first of its kind where we will see that manifest in an actual public return model, where the city's investment means that royalties created here on these floors allow New Yorkers to share in that.
And that's the larger point here. This is not about science for science's sake, important as that is and as much as we believe in that, and it's also not about investment for investment's sake. It's about making sure the work in these labs leads to new medicines, new treatments, more efficient energy, but also opportunities for New Yorkers.
That's how we guide our investment: support innovation in growth industries and core industries today and tomorrow across quantum and the green economy and life sciences and materials innovation and the other industries of the future. And ask the questions: Are we creating the jobs our people can get? Are we removing barriers? Are we opening doors that have been closed for too long?
The question is whether New York can build the future. We have always done that, and the mayor reminded you of a few of them, even with the lower regents score than we might have expected. The real question is how we can make sure New Yorkers get to help build that future and benefit from it.
Some of you may know the story of Schrödinger's cat, a quantum mechanics story, which I can barely recite. But it does remind us of the fact that something can exist in two seemingly contradictory states at once.
Economic justice and economic development create their own apparent paradox. Growth and economic justice, however, are not competing forces. They actually reinforce each other. So, the goal isn't just to build the next great industry. It's to make sure New Yorkers share what it creates. That's what we're working to do at EDC, not just [to] prepare the city for what comes next, but to lead it and make sure New Yorkers have a place in it for decades to come. Thanks.
Deputy Mayor Su: And now, the man whose future lab we are standing in, NYU Tandon Executive Dean Juan de Pablo.
Juan de Pablo, Executive Dean, NYU Tandon School of Engineering: Good morning. It is such a joy to be here. You have no idea how much work went into getting to this point. Thank you to everyone who contributed to this project. Thank you, Mayor Mamdani, Deputy Mayor Su, President Shorris, President Mills, Chancellor Matos Rodríguez.
NYU has been part of New York since 1831. Our collective scientific vision is geared around using technology to solve some of humanity's greatest challenges. Today, we're adding something new: the NYU-CUNY New York Quantum Fabrication Facility. And in the spirit of the goals of this facility, I'd like to take a minute or two of your time to tell you about some of the technologies that are going to be taking place in this facility.
So, what is quantum? Beyond Schrödinger's cat, we're gonna call it. It is a new kind of technology built on the anomalous behavior of the tiniest, smallest things in nature. It will let us design medicines faster, detect earthquakes - that's important in New York. It will make airplanes and even submarine travel safer. It will keep our communications from hackers. It will make them safer.
Now, for all of that to happen, someone has to build the chips and devices that will enable all of this to happen. QFab is going to do just that here in Manhattan, here on this floor. QFab brings together research, industry and hands-on training under one roof to create one of the most advanced fabrication facilities in the nation. That is true. One of the most advanced facilities in the nation, right here.
A facility that will include equipment like a deep-UV lithography stepper, a tool that is simply too expensive and too complex for startup companies to utilize or acquire on their own. Of course, these startup companies need to use that for prototyping.
This photolithography system is a semiconductor manufacturing machine that uses short-wavelength deep-UV light to project and shrink circuit patterns from a stencil onto a silicon wafer. With this device, we can print on the order of 300 million transistors - 300 million on a tiny 8-inch wafer. That's what you need to be able to produce professional-grade quantum devices.
To give you a sense of the scale, these transistors are going to be 1,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair. For those of you who have hair - yeah, I don't know. Anyway, let's move on.
QFab will lower the barrier for discovery by providing companies the opportunity to use some of the most advanced, high-precision equipment available on the planet. This will not only ensure New York remains home to the existing startups, but it will also attract more to the city.
So, why New York? Well, first, New York is where the future gets tested. I don't know how many of you know this, but a little over 10 years ago, NYU researchers right around the block proved on our streets that 5G could actually work. 5G was first deployed here, a few blocks away. Only three years ago, an NYU team and a local startup sent quantum signals through the fiber already on our sidewalks, building the nation's first urban quantum network right here in the city. And very recently, a team of physicists, led by Javad Shabani, who's the director of our Quantum Institute, uncovered a new state of matter, a breakthrough that would increase the storage capabilities in electronic devices and enable new approaches to quantum computing.
So, my point is that the next chapter of technology should continue to happen right here. With this facility, we can do that.
Second, and very importantly, the people and companies are already here. No American city has more quantum researchers packed together. In just six years, the number of quantum startups in New York City has quadrupled to more than 80. And they are building alongside quantum computing giants, such as IBM, who's been a tremendous partner to all of us. What they've been missing, of course, is a facility like this one. That changes today.
Finally, the opportunity is enormous, as several of my colleagues here have already pointed out. The quantum industry could grow to over $2 trillion over the next several years. Two trillion is a very, very big number.
The city's investment of $30 million will catalyze much of this research [and] much of this entrepreneurship over the next decade. With CUNY and our Bridge to Quantum Certificate, we will train over 5,000 New Yorkers for more than 1,900 high-wage jobs. That's just going to be extraordinary.
Now, this is an industry that is in its infancy. Now is the time to get on board and try to get ahead of everybody else. We have the people, we have the talent, we have ambition, and now we have facilities.
The quantum future is not going to wait for us. It is actually up to us to get ahead of it. Thank you so much for everything. Thank you.
Deputy Mayor Su: Our next speaker is a visionary leader and our partner, president of NYU, Linda Mills.
Linda G. Mills, President, New York University: Good morning, everybody. Thank you, of course, Deputy Mayor Su, for your leadership on this project. And thank you, Mayor Mamdani. It's a pleasure to meet you. President and CEO of the Economic Development Corporation Tony Shorris - longtime friends, indeed. I need to add: former NYU Wagner professor, former director of the NYU Rudin Center. Big thanks also to CUNY. The chancellor, I think, couldn't be here this morning, but [thanks] for his creative and ambitious plans. And, of course, to our provost, [Georgina] Dopico, who's here with us this morning, and NYU's executive vice president, including Executive Dean Juan de Pablo, and to all our elected officials here today.
So, let's take a step back. New, cutting-edge scientific disciplines are opening up all the time. The breakthroughs are clearly on the horizon. One of the key questions is - and several people who've spoken already have asked - where are these discoveries going to happen?
When I became president of NYU roughly three years ago, one of my top goals was to make sure its scientific research - the leaps and innovations we are witnessing - happen right here in New York City.
Since joining NYU in 1999, I've been a builder. From student life to our one-of-a-kind global footprint, with 16 campuses and sites all over the world, I've sought to find and create what's next for our university and for our great city. And so, I can confidently echo Juan de Pablo in saying quantum computing is the coming frontier.
Thanks to Mayor Mamdani and the EDC for their major investment today, underscoring their commitment to New York City's future and our university's ability to help lead it.
Alongside the EDC's funding, NYU is investing $255 million - $100 million in capital here in this building and $155 million in operating over the next decade - to build a 23,000-square-foot nanofabrication and prototyping facility right here at 770.
NYU's extended home of science and tech [expand] on our existing strengths throughout the city, including the Tandon School of Engineering in Brooklyn, the Courant School of Mathematics, Data Science and Computing, and joining our strengths in arts and science, biology, chemistry, neuroscience and so much more.
Thanks to the City's funding, we can expand our vision of what QFab can do and who it can serve, fueling not just NYU's research, but research and training for CUNY students, New York City public school students and our industry partners alike.
QFab will provide researchers, students and companies access to specialized equipment for building and testing quantum devices. That's as far as my knowledge goes, I have to admit. Sorry, in full disclosure. And it will bridge the gaps - and this is really important - between work in academic labs and commercial chip foundries.
With quantum technology projected to generate $2 trillion - we've already talked about this - this has to be one of the smartest investments our city could make. It's a project that will generate 2,000 new permanent jobs for New Yorkers, and perhaps even more importantly, QFab gives New York City a position from which to lead the future, to be in the vanguard of this vital technology that is set to solve problems where traditional computing cannot.
When you return for the ribbon-cutting in early 2030 - that's not that far off - you will find NYU and CUNY students working side by side. They'll be here, right in this space, doing this research and getting trained for what is fast becoming one of the most exciting new industries, and one that will take New York and its residents into the next era.
We are grateful to have strong partners at City Hall who believe, as we do, that the future should be built right here in New York City. Thank you.
Question: You spoke about the 15 percent share that the city's getting out of this investment and the board seats. I understand you want to see more of this with future investments. Can you speak about that? Do you see this being a requirement for economic funding from the city? And what kind of projects do you want to see this apply to?
And a quick off-topic - it's easy, I promise. Did you watch the debate last night, and do you expect to hear more of your name than you did?
Mayor Mamdani: I didn't get a chance to watch it live, but I did have the chance to see the governor this morning. We met with a family who saved more than $27,000 because of the 2-K seat that their child had. And as we were helping AJ get ready to head out to 2-K and we headed outside, there was a woman who stopped the governor and congratulated her on a great performance. So, I think that's the general feedback on the debate.
And to your first question, you know, I think you've heard it from the president of NYU, from the executive dean as well, which is that we're talking about an industry that is at the cutting edge of innovation. This is the perfect time for the City to be investing because what we're investing in is opportunity.
And for the first time, we're developing a new kind of model that ensures that not only does it come with three board seats, not only does it come with a revenue-sharing agreement, but also it expands the benefits of this facility to CUNY students as well.
And I think in many ways this is a model that we have been very excited about since the first day we've been in office. It's one that we are so happy to be partnering with NYU on here. And it also showcases what we want to bring to the rest of the city, which is the kind of economic development that will be felt by every single level of our city, because for far too long, we have both generated immense opportunity and still had a city where one in four are living in poverty.
Question: Good morning. I'm glad I have the three of you - the mayor, Deputy Mayor Su and EDC President Anthony Shorris - because I get to ask you about something I've been writing about, which is Hunts Point.
You know, I visited the site. As we know, it's on city-owned land. Those refrigerated trailers, there are as many as 1,000 of them. And it's been described to me that the emissions they put out are akin to a small power plant.
Now, as I've reported, there was a deal that the Adams administration put together late last year. It fell apart in the summer, and you've indicated that you still are concerned about the environmental injustice. But what I'd like to know is what exactly is your administration doing to revive those conversations, particularly with the co-op operators, the co-op members, on addressing that?
Mayor Mamdani: You know, I think, Liz, I would say that the term "deal" is an overstatement of what the prior administration left us with. They announced something - I think it was on Dec. 30 of their term. It was a framework they put forward that would also have the city lose a significant amount of its leverage for negotiating what the next stage of this plan would be, because it stated that if this deal was not accepted, then the current lease would be renewed for additional years.
And so, I think that not only did that framework fall apart, [but] it was also a framework that I am not sure many people ever had confidence that it could sustain itself.
Now, we are incredibly concerned by both the falling apart of that framework - what they had put together - and now, the work that we need to do to ensure that we actually create a new path forward. It's a path that will be charted in partnership with all of the co-ops that are there, and also one that addresses the question of emissions. Because what we are also talking about is a neighborhood that we are so incredibly thankful for, the fact that if it wasn't for Hunts Point, a lot of New Yorkers wouldn't have food on their table every single day.
And yet we also know that there's too much of a cost that comes with that food distribution for many in that same neighborhood. So, alongside the development of what will be the first city-run grocery store that will open up in that neighborhood to ensure that food access is also something that is true for those who live there, one of the next priorities for us is charting a new course on efficiencies.
I'm going to pass it over to our deputy mayor as well as our EDC director to add some additional details to that.
Question: I'd love to hear about the timeline. Like, what is the timeline for coming up with a plan? And can the city use - there were state grants, there were city grants and there's a federal grant. I think that people are also concerned about if the city is walking away from that money now.
Deputy Mayor Su: Thank you very much, Liz. We treat this with the urgency that is demanded from it. I don't have a lot to add, besides what the mayor said, other than to say that we have been in touch with the co-op.
We know that the produce market itself is a treasure, and there's a lot of work that needs to be done to make sure that it is both delivering food and the economic justice that the people living in the neighborhood deserve.
The plans for the market itself are not the only ones. We have been in conversations and in planning with EDC around things like the blue highways, which is not a new idea, but something that we intend to deliver because we know that it's gonna take a very holistic approach there.
And to echo the mayor's point, I think it's cynical at best, irresponsible at worst, to, on your way out the door, announce something like it's a final deal, only for us to find that it was not one. But we are very committed to making sure that we do what is needed in that space with the people most directly impacted to deliver what New Yorkers deserve.
Question: Hi, Mayor Mamdani. I was hoping you could give a little bit more information on how CUNY students will benefit. I know it's to BMCC and City Tech. How many students? And would it ever expand to four-year colleges?
And since we are here at NYU - many, many years ago, when you were just an assembly member from Astoria, you and Sen. John Liu proposed a revocation of the property tax exemption for two colleges, NYU and Columbia. Do you still believe that NYU and Columbia should pay property taxes to benefit CUNY, which was in your original bill?
Mayor Mamdani: You know, initially I was worried you were gonna ask about Schrödinger's cat, and now I'm like, maybe we should have gone there.
To your first question, one of the key things here is about how we can expand the use of this lab space to CUNY students. In terms of the exact number of CUNY students that would have access to [it], I will get back to you on that number, unless anyone up here -
de Pablo: Over 3,000 students.
Question: Only limited to those two colleges?
de Pablo: No. In fact, this is the beginning, we would like to expand this as far as we can and build more bridges.
Question: To the whole CUNY system, you mean?
de Pablo: That would be fantastic, yes.
Mayor Mamdani: And then, with regards to your question on the Repair Act - you know, conversations that we're having right now are about changing our property tax system and reckoning with all the different inadequacies of it. And as soon as we have updates on that, we will share them.
Question: So, you mean you would - I know we're talking about residential property taxes with your other initiatives, but is that something you would want to revisit? I know it requires state intervention.
Mayor Mamdani: I think when we're talking about the property tax system, we have to be talking about the fact that the inadequacies are not only at a residential level. There are a lot of different classes that have been set up for many years that, quite frankly, they are not coherent in the way that many New Yorkers would expect. And so, what we're doing right now is a full review of the entire system.
Question: This is a follow-up to Katie's [question]. NYU has the opportunity at the end of this lease for the room we're sitting in right now to take over all of the offices in this building through a purchase. Do you support NYU expanding its footprint further into the neighborhood, and do you think that they should be receiving the same tax exemptions when they do?
Mayor Mamdani: I will leave it to NYU to make the decision of what they would like to do with the rest of this building. What I will say is that the reason we are so excited about today's announcement is precisely because we are working together to advance a shared vision of what economic justice can look like in this city.
And in providing nearly $30 million of support, what we're also doing is unlocking an opportunity for far more students across multiple campuses and also ensuring that the city isn't simply a spectator to the creation of an entirely new industry, but it's helping to shape that industry and also potentially benefiting from that kind of an industry.
And I think that's critical in a city like ours where we are so proud of all the scientific discoveries that have been made here, and now we also want to answer the question of: how can we ensure that those advancements go back to helping working-class New Yorkers also afford to dream that maybe they themselves could also be at the forefront of that scientific discovery?
[Crosstalk.]
Question: But I did have one more follow-up question about this, because President Trump has also followed this model that the city seems to be following, where they take an equity stake in companies in [turn] for their investment. So, I'm wondering, what's the inspiration for this? Is President Trump your inspiration for this?
My second question is about the horse carriage situation. I'm told that you're in agreement with the legislation, but there has been concern from unions about whether workers will properly be compensated for the loss of their livelihoods, sometimes in the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars, I'm told. So, I'm wondering, are you committing - can you commit today to make sure, are you saying that those folks will be compensated for losing their businesses?
Mayor Mamdani: So, on your first question, no, he's not the inspiration.
On your second question, we have stated our commitment before, and I will continue to echo it, that it is a commitment to ensuring that we are protecting the workers in this industry, the owners in this industry. And every single day over the course of the negotiation - of both this legislation as well as the broader framework around it - is one that we're spending to advance that kind of an agenda. Because we want to ensure that this is a resolution that also comes with a measure of a just transition for those who have earned their livelihood from this kind of work.
Question: [inaudible]
Mayor Mamdani: The idea around ensuring that the city has a stake in future revenue is one that is driven by a larger conversation around what public subsidy should generate. So often, public subsidy is just put forward as an incentive without a question of whether the city should also be a part of the revenue that it often creates.
And I'm answering this question for you, Jeff, in the wealthiest city in the wealthiest country in the history of the world. And yet we know that oftentimes that wealth does not come back into the lives of working people who keep the city running.
And so today, what is so exciting about it is [that] in that revenue agreement of 15 percent of what would otherwise be going to NYU central administration, it is revenue that will continue to ensure that we can create the next generation of scientists as well, not just celebrate this one.
[Crosstalk.]
Question: I wanted to follow up on the horse carriage ban. Earlier today, Janno Lieber from the MTA mentioned about possibly taking on some of the workers that will lose their job with this ban on the industry; that they're looking to possibly employ them. Could you - he said that he's having conversations with the city about that. Can you tell us a little bit more about that?
And then I wanted to follow up on your comments yesterday about not firing the police commissioner. You know, many of your allies have obviously wanted this. They demanded that you fire her. I spoke to a City Councilwoman yesterday [who] said she believes you're wrong on this issue, that the trust has been lost when it comes to the police commissioner.
I'm just wondering your calculus on keeping her. Do you feel like you're creating this divide within your own political base? And what have been your conversations, I mean, with her in the last couple of days? And do you think she has a time clock? Do you see possibly replacing her after this year, holding on to her till the end of your term?
Mayor Mamdani: So, I'll start with your second question, and then we will go to your first. There's no one in my administration that I'm keeping in their position that has a time clock. When I have - when there is somebody in their position, I've made clear there are no plans to change that, whether it's with respect to the police commissioner as well as with respect to any other leaders, agencies and departments across our city.
And I think I also just want to take a moment to say that a lot of the anger that New Yorkers are feeling, it begins with the horrific ICE shooting of Oscar Belgal on Thursday afternoon. Again, this is a shooting of a moving vehicle in which there's Oscar and his 5-year-old child in broad daylight during school hours, where ICE agents were dressed up as construction workers wearing vests and carrying long guns.
And New Yorkers were terrified, and they continue to be terrified, and I understand that. And as it pertains to our Police Department, I have directed a full review of the 24-hour period that starts with the horrific ICE shooting, that extends to the Police Department's response to that incident as well as to the ensuing protests.
It also extends to ICE's use of privately owned parking lots as staging locations, and then to a broader review of what more the city can do to protect immigrant New Yorkers across the five boroughs. Because I can tell you people are in a real sense of fear around what ICE is doing across the city. And we know that as much as we are focused on Thursday, that it is a microcosm of what ICE does on a day-to-day basis.
And then on your first question, and I was saying this earlier to Jeff, that our focus is on providing real support to the workers and the owners in this industry. That support can look like equipping them with skills for a new kind of job. It can also look at the importance of compensation when it comes to medallions. We are having a broad conversation about what that can look like so that none of these workers and owners are the ones that are made to pay for the sunsetting of an industry.
Question: Mr. Mayor, I'd like to follow up on the horse carriage bill because the bill itself leads to the administration to come up with a plan of financial compensation as well as training and to find a home for the horses.
So, I'm wondering, first of all, how much compensation do you think is acceptable? Where will that money come from? And then what kind of training will you offer? And then lastly, what about the horses? Is there a place that you have in mind where the horses can go? Or will they be sent to some sanctuary? Will they be sent to a zoo? I mean, do you send them to another city where they can continue the business of being horse carriage animals? I mean, what's your vision?
Mayor Mamdani: That is a lot of the work that will now come, is ensuring that we are putting forward, over the course of this year and next year, because, again, what this legislation does is set a sunset date of 2028. And we have to both protect the workers, protect the workforce that has found their livelihood from this job.
And then, when it comes to the horses, I don't think the vision is that the horses would then continue to perform this kind of work elsewhere. There have been a lot of different proposals that have been [put] forward; whether it's sanctuary, whether it is then being taken in by farms, things of that nature. That's everything we're going to be investigating.
But I want to be very clear that our commitment to the workforce is going to be one that will become more explicit than what is broadly gestured at in the legislation.
Question: I want to just follow up, because I wonder if you think that the city has a financial obligation to these carriage drivers who have built their whole economic activity, their lives, their homes, everything on this business. Do you feel that the city has an obligation to compensate them financially for the value of their business that's going to be lost?
Mayor Mamdani: I think that we have a civic responsibility to ensure that we are not leaving anybody out to dry. And that, to me, is why over the course of this entire conversation, I have always spoken about the importance of taking care of the workers in this industry, because they have earned their livelihoods from this work. They should not be ones that are simply left as an afterthought of what comes after this.
I think that's also why it's important that here we are on Oct. 14, 2026, and we're talking about legislation that will come into full effect in 2028. It is the kind of runway that's required to ensure that we can fulfill all of these different obligations.
Question: [Inaudible] the city's voucher, do you think? Or would you try to find foundations or people like that?
Mayor Mamdani: I think that - I think that's still an open question. We'll get back to you. Thank you.
[Crosstalk.]
Question: Do you welcome the city comptroller's decision today not to reinvest in Israel bonds? And do you view that as a victory of your position or your effort to reshape the city's relationship with Israel, both economically and politically?
And I have a second question since I've been away for seven weeks.
[Crosstalk.]
Mayor Mamdani: I welcome the comptroller's decision. It is something that I've said in the past, that I don't believe that our city should purchase Israel bonds. We don't purchase the bonds of any other sovereign nation. I don't think that we should make an exception when it comes to Israel. And also, this is the decision that the comptroller is making, and it's one that I support.
Question: So, have you met with any Jewish leaders or Jewish groups who have been critical or have expressed objections to your plan to combat antisemitism and also following the backlash that you received after the statement on Oct. 7?
Mayor Mamdani: I meet with Jewish leaders, some of whom agree with me, some of whom have criticisms, and frankly, the meeting is never contingent upon agreement. I think if we were to do that, then you would just end up building a mirror for yourself, and that's not the way to lead a city.
Question: Two quick questions on the debate, or maybe not so quick. But we heard - sorry, we heard Gov. Hochul, we heard Gov. Hochul last night defending the NYPD police officers against some of the comments by Bruce Blakeman, saying that your administration would allow riots to continue unchecked in the Jewish community. But we didn't hear Hochul defend you specifically against some of Blakeman's even more serious allegations. He called you an antisemite, and I didn't hear Gov. Hochul address that directly. Why do you think that is? Are you OK with the way she handled that?
And also, just a question about Gov. Hochul, her strategy - well, Blakeman waited 45 minutes in the debate before bringing up your name, which was a departure from standard operating procedure. Yet Gov. Hochul seemed to pivot back to Trump many times throughout the debate. I've heard you say that Democrats need a better argument than to simply be anti-Trump. Do you think she accomplished that?
Mayor Mamdani: So, I think, you know, it is hard for anyone to keep up with all of the bigotry and racism that Bruce Blakeman exhibits on a regular basis. So, I think that the governor did a good job, and I'll never fault someone for not being able to catch all of it, because that is a fool's errand when it comes to Bruce Blakeman.
And I think the governor also made clear - you know, I said that I didn't watch the debate beyond the clip - but I think that the governor has made clear time and time again what her vision is. It's a vision of a more affordable New York.
And when it comes to Bruce Blakeman, his vision seems to be making life harder for working people. When the governor and I announced putting our city on a pathway to universal childcare, Bruce Blakeman went on television and said this was rewarding lazy parents who would sit at home and watch "The View."
When we were speaking about concerns about what HR 1 was going to do with regards to health care access across the state, Bruce Blakeman went on TV and said that he would cut Medicaid in half.
When it comes to - even just kind of to Jacob's question - keeping New Yorkers safe at large, just yesterday evening, I had the privilege of seeing our soon-to-be congressman, Brad Lander. And Bruce Blakeman went on television and smeared Brad in a way that is just completely unacceptable, saying that he would be a prison guard for the Nazis during the Holocaust.
That's who we're talking about with Bruce Blakeman. And so, I'm not surprised that he would try and incite a real sense of fear by engaging in this kind of - it's not even a dog whistle. It's just directly racist to say that I would not respond to Jewish New Yorkers being killed and raped.
That is what Bruce Blakeman would like New Yorkers to think this election is about. What the election is about is, how can we make the city a little bit easier for working people? The governor is doing a good job in making her case. I think he doesn't have much to say to that end.
Question: So, in light of what Blakeman said at the debate last night - "you're an anti-Christian, you're an antisemite, you don't believe in American values"-
Mayor Mamdani: He probably said I was anti-quantum, too.
Question: That might not be his subject. I don't know. But, sir, in light of what Blakeman is saying and the way he's trying to link you to the governor, do you believe you're an asset or a liability to the governor's campaign?
Mayor Mamdani: I think the work that we're doing is an asset because the work that we're doing over 10 months has been to make the city more affordable for working families.
And I think that the reason that Bruce Blakeman didn't bring me up for much longer in the debate than he had telegraphed to others was because it's hard to attack universal childcare for parents. It's hard to attack $131 million in back pay for 260,000 delivery workers. It's hard to attack more than 220,000 potholes being filled. It's hard to attack that kind of a record.
It's easier to engage in bigotry on the basis of someone's faith. And that's what he does.
And I think, you know, earlier we were being asked the question - I think Kelly was asking about ICE. Bruce Blakeman is somebody who has said that he likes working with ICE. He says he has a successful relationship working with ICE. He created a private militia in Nassau County.
We're talking about the same force that New Yorkers want to see expelled from this city is what a gubernatorial candidate wants to bring across the state. And I am not surprised to see that he is struggling in polls. I'm not surprised to see that he doesn't have much policy. And I'm not surprised to see that he couldn't answer a question as to how he was actually going to cut utility rates in half because he doesn't have plans around them. He's just looking for different ways to try and make himself relevant.
