Transcript: Mayor Adams, OLR Commissioner Campion Announce …

April 5, 2023 Brendan McGuire, Chief Counsel to the Mayor and City Hall: Good morning everyone. I'm Brendan McGuire, chief counsel to the mayor and City Hall.

Thank you all for joining us this morning. About a month after our last major contract announcement, we have another one for you this morning. Today we are very excited to make an important announcement with our partners at the PBA and to do that, I'd now like to introduce Mayor Adams.

Mayor Adams: Thank you. Thanks so much. Thanks so much, Brendan, for your role.

This contract is a significant one for the administration in general, but specifically for the police commissioner and me. It goes back to last year, I think about Officer Rivera and Mora every day and I think about the day that the commissioner and I walked into the hospital and I heard his family member come in and I remember when the two of us walked inside and spoke to his family. We've responded to many cases like that when officers were injured or even when some we lost in a line of duty, but the intensity of that pain was just so real.

When you reflect on the fact that we all talk about how important public safety is and year after year the men and women who placed themselves on the front line cannot come to the table and just get the adequate financial support they deserve so they can provide for their families. We were very clear in my conversation with Pat, that we were going to sit down and do a fair negotiation for the men and women of the New York City Police Department. We all call on them, they run towards gunshots when we run away.

They place themselves on the front line and I gave my negotiation team very clear and direct orders. We will be fair, we will make sure we look after taxpayers, but we will also make sure we look after the people who are protecting taxpayers. We saw an example of that yesterday.

It was clearly the president of the men and women of the New York City Police Department that took a very challenging and difficult time to ensure that we brought about public safety in this city. Even with the energy and spirit of outside agitators, we kept the city safe and navigated the challenges. NYPD does not have to get ready because they are always ready.

Today we're making it clear that New York City will support the men and women of the NYPD as they do one of the toughest jobs anywhere. We are here to announce a new deal with the Police Benevolent Association that would do just that. This is a historic deal, only the third voluntary contract with the PBA in 30 years, one that will make sure our officers get the benefits and compensation they deserve, allow them to work a more flexible schedule, build morale going forward and ensure that New York remains the safest big city in America.

I want to thank our team, Brendan, Renee, Jacques and his team and their teams. For the last few months we have been in conversation working throughout the weekends, coming to the table repeatedly. Then I want to thank Pat, a person that I've known for many years and he stood firm and tall to make sure he could deliver for his members.

It is so important that we understand another key aspect of this deal is a new pilot program that will allow some officers to work longer shifts. We cannot lose sight of the fact that our police officers are essential workers who must report to work in person, not remotely. Public safety is not a remote occupation and in order to do that, we are continuing our commitment we made with DC37 that we will look at flexibility in work schedules.

These offices keep our city going through a global pandemic where every shift carried extra risk to their health and wellbeing. The new scheduling option will allow for much needed flexibility for our police officers, decrease travel time and most importantly improve morale. As some of you know this is something that our officers have felt for many years, a lack of morale, a lack of belief that the City of New York administrations supported the duties that they performed.

I know all too well as a person who wore the uniform for 22 years and had that badge pinned to my chest, this is important. This isn't just another deal. This is acknowledgement that working people keep this city running.

I've said it over and over again, I'm a working class mayor and we are going to uplift the men and women who are working class people in the city. We saw it a few weeks ago with the DC37 contract. We stood next to Henry Garrido and we're seeing it again with the head of one of the largest police departments on the globe and this administration is going to keep putting working people first.

From day one of our administration, we were focused on driving down crime. I said it over and over again, public safety is a prerequisite to prosperity, but you cannot say that and be vocal, but not willing to do what it takes to produce a first class police department and continue to allow them to do their job. We're supporting the first responders on every level.

Our city's recovery is underway because of their dedication and our city's future depends on keeping our relationships strong with those first responders. Everything in this city is tied to public safety. That is the foundation that we will build our city on, that is going to attract the business leaders.

99 percent of our jobs recovered because people see we are moving in the right direction. We called the police department when we needed them to regain safety in our subway system and we saw them step up long hours, but we saw the New York City transit system moving in the right direction. Earlier today the police commissioner and I honored three officers who were attacked during New Year's Eve.

As the ball was dropping at Times Square, officers were being attacked and they responded accordingly. Incident after incident, we've witnessed the men and women who wear the blue uniform staying in the front line of danger to protect New Yorkers. They did it.

They did it in spite that for far too many years they were not compensated. That ended today. Today these officers will be compensated, to say that as New Yorkers we thank you for the job you've done.

Thank you very much. McGuire: This agreement along with, of course, all of the city's labor agreements would not be possible without the dedication, the credibility and the creativity of the city's labor commissioner, Renee Campion, her deputy, Daniel Pollak, and their entire team. We would not be here today without them and so now I'd like to invite Renee to come say a few words.

Commissioner Renee Campion, Mayor's Office of Labor Relations: Thank you, Brendan. I'm very pleased to have reached this significant settlement with Pat Lynch and the PBA. I want to thank the mayor again for putting your trust in me as your chief labor negotiator.

I also want to thank the police commissioner for her ongoing support and ensuring that her team and my team worked so closely together these past few months. It was absolutely essential. I want to thank the entire city leadership team, First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright, Chief Advisor Ingrid Lewis-Martin, Deputy Mayor Phil Banks, and of course I want to thank Brendan who has been there for me over these last 15 months for his tremendous support and counsel.

Also, as the mayor said, I want to thank the budget director Jacques Jiha, and Ken Godiner, his first deputy, for their support and steadfast support work throughout the process. I also want to thank someone who doesn't necessarily get accolades all the time and that is a very important person of the labor team at OMB, Kerry Gao. She's the assistant director and chief of Labor Analysis team and she's there for me and my team day and night.

I'd also like to thank the panel that assisted us in reaching this agreement. Marty Scheinman as the neutral, Ken Feinberg for the PBA and Bob Lynn for the city. Of course, I want to thank Pat and his leadership team, including John Puglisi, specifically for reaching out directly during these past few months to ensure that we were all understanding where the other was coming from.

This is a very important and essential part of the labor relations process. We've always had a respectful working relationship and I know we'll continue to be in the future. I'd like to thank my negotiating team, Dan Pollak, Tamara Lake, and I'd also like to thank Regina Fuchs, assistant commissioner and chief of our research team.

Regina's going to be retiring after 40 years of dedicated service to the City of New York and she's dedicated almost all of her professional life to OLR and I want her to know how much the city and I appreciate her endless dedication. Getting to the details of the agreement. This voluntary agreement with the PBA will provide the economic framework in the city's labor negotiations with the uniformed unions for this round of bargaining.

This is an eight year term agreement, beginning on August 1st, 2017 and ending on July 31st, 2025. The first three years of the agreement conformed to the uniform pattern for the last round of bargaining and the last five years establish a uniform framework for this round. Let me go through the wage increases.

August 1st, 2017 and this is all retroactive of course, 2.25 percent general wage increase. August 1st, 2018, a 2.5 percent wage increase. August 1st, 2019, a 3 percent wage increase.

August 1st, 2020, a 3.25 percent wage increase. August 1st, 2021, a 3.25 percent wage increase. August 1st, 2022, a 3.5 percent wage increase.

August 1st, 2023, a 3.5 percent wage increase and the final wage increase in the eighth year is August 1st, 2024, a 4 percent general wage increase. After the final wage increase on August 1st, 2024, the top pay at basic max, which is five and a half years of service for police officers, including all differentials, longevity, holiday pay and uniform allowance, will be approximately £131,500 per year. We've also provided additional funding in this agreement dedicated to improving the entry level police officer salary in the early years of the schedule.

Funding was provided to improve the early steps, that make it as effective as of this August 2023 of this year, we are going to be bringing starting pay to £55,000 per year, including the neighborhood policing differential. The uniform differential for this new round of bargaining is consistent with the historical precedence. The uniform differential is the equivalent of a little less than a third of a point, so 0.32 percent on average per year for each of the five years, consistent again with the prior uniform differentials.

The other very significant part of this landmark agreement is the pilot work chart program. This is going to be a program that will start with approximately 400 officers. I will defer to the police commissioner on more of those details, but generally it will have police officers working 10 and 12 hour tours, allowing them to make fewer appearances while working the same number of hours.

The longer tours will allow them to work the same number of hours that they're working today, but it's reducing the time spent commuting and improving officer morale. As the mayor said, it's consistent with the goal of exploring work flexibility for those who cannot work remotely. The initial pilot will run for six months with the intention to expand after that, after the pilot is successful.

Thank you. McGuire: Thank you, Renee and now I'd invite the leader of the Police Department up, our police commissioner, Keechant Sewell. Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell: Thank you, Brendan.

Good morning everyone. We are fortunate to have a mayor who is uniquely situated to understand the importance and value of New York's Finest. Thank you, Mr.

Mayor, Chief Counsel McGuire, Commissioner Campion, and PBA President Patrick Lynch. The women and men serving as police officers in the New York City Police Department who dutifully serve New Yorkers in every neighborhood throughout our great city deserve this agreement. They've been working a long time without a contract and they have more than earned the benefits that have been agreed upon by the city and the PBA.

The mayor, the commissioner, the PBA, my own team, Robert Galgano and Deputy Commissioner Delatorre have worked very hard to reach this settlement. And if I have not named you, Jacques Jiha, I apologize. I do not intend to forget anyone because it took everyone for this to come together this way.

This agreement achieves a better work schedule for our officers, more family time, and a better quality of life. Enhanced deployment flexibility for the department and allows the NYPD to compete with the private sector and other agencies to recruit the best to join the finest. The people of the city deserve nothing less.

Thank you. McGuire: Thank you, commissioner. And just on behalf of City Hall, would like to also extend a thank you, obviously, to director Jacques Jiha for all of his work on this contract and all the others, as well as to advisor to the commissioner Bob Galgano, who the commissioner referenced, for his tireless efforts to bring this agreement to a conclusion.

I'd now like to conclude by introducing our partner in this effort, PBA President Pat Lynch. Patrick Lynch, President, Police Benevolent Association: Thank you, counselor. I must say I've done this for a day or two and I've stood outside this building and came up with creative chants and held many signs.

I must tell you it's much better and more productive to be inside the building with all the folks that played a part in this. Over the years in doing that, I like to say oftentimes I'm a work in progress, and I'm skeptical about many things. And sometimes I'm skeptical about the words and the discussions that we have.

When this administration came in, literally on the first day we met in an office in a hospital, "mayor, we need a couple of minutes," and we started this discussion. And it went on a daily basis practically every day with the mayor, the staff, our commissioner, both in OLR and of course in the NYPD. And in a short amount of time, you knew that we were having a real discussion.

Not talking around the issues, talking about the issues. That the words that were said to us were real and they meant something. That there may have been a problem that the city in some aspect had to deal with, and, obviously, we had a problem, too.

But from that came to a point where you really put down your swords, you picked up your pens, and you started having the discussion that meant something real. Now, many folks talked about Jacques here. The only problem I have with him, my calculator always has a different number than his calculator, but nonetheless, we come to a compromise to make sure that number comes out right.

Commissioner Campion, an open door that we can have a real discussion, a real debate. Sometimes loud debates, but to get to the day where we sit down, sign the paper, smile for the cameras, and then, more importantly, take out the calculator again and make sure our members get the money that they deserve. Commissioner Sewell, we have discussions probably more often than you'd want to see my name on your phone about every issue under the sun, but I must tell you this.

She was instrumental in the overall contract, I'm sure speaking to the mayor, saying, "This is what we need, this is the issues we have," and of course, having a mayor that understands those issues. But especially on our modern chart, which we've strived to get for many years most of my tenure, and we were in a hospital, seems like we were in a hospital mayor talking, we were in a hospital commissioner speaking. And while we were doing a bedside visual, quite frankly, we started a discussion, and many of the folks around us didn't understand the modern chart.

Commissioner Sewell immediately started rattling off what it means, the good, the negative, and mostly the positive, but understood every aspect of that chart, which led us to here today. And of course Bob and of course my team were constantly speaking back and forth to work through to make sure this gets done. Why is that important?

It's for the quality of life. Yes, the money is always the most important so our families can live and thrive in the city we police. Over 60 percent of our members live in the confines of New York City and we wanted to get to a point where they can work in New York City and live in New York City, and we've made strives to get there.

But we also wanted them to be able to have a quality of life to get home to their families. Twelve hour tours, five days a week. This chart now will allow us to do that, have a quality of life at home, help us solve our staffing issue, which we have always on issues, especially in this great city.

But it also does this. It allows our members to decompress. There's mental health issues when you are working five, six days a week, 12 hour days, and not to go home and decompress.

This allows them to start down that path to be able to afford to live here, and we've closed that gap towards a market rate of pay, to be able to decompress and spend time with their family so they can continue to not only make this city better and thrive as police officers on the street, but participate in their neighborhood, in their churches, and with their families here. Most important, those real conversations and the thanks that leads all of us to have the real conversations regardless if we're commissioners, PBA presidents, staff within the organization and within the NYPD. It's all steered by one person, the mayor, that's willing to have the conversation that, in this case, understood what it is to have a shield on their chest, understood what it is to answer that radio run, to understands how minutes and moments of your life change when you hear that little beep on a radio when a 10-13 comes.

Taking all that he knew from being in that world to being in this world allowed our folks here to have real conversations and, more importantly, solve problems. Thank you, mayor. We appreciate what you've done.

We appreciate you leading our department and allowing the folks that lead with us to do what they need to do to make the city prosperous. Thank you, sir. Mayor Adams: Thank you.

We're going to open up to some questions, but I just really appreciate the very clear, methodical, dissecting on how we got here after over six years of the inability to do so. It did not take standing on the steps. It took us sitting down in the seats.

And I think that's something that's missed, oftentimes, when we talk about this administration, former civil servants, member of the DC37. As many of you know, I'm a former police officer and know what it is to be a union member. I came here with that energy.

And if we want to be honest about it, supporting our first responders and working class New Yorkers, it's more than a hand clap at 7 p.m. It's making sure we can give them a hand to provide for their families. And I was committed to do so.

And we accomplish and we have more to do, we have more union negotiations that are underway, and we're going to bring the same level of commitment and dedication with this team to carry it out. We'll open up to some questions at this time. Question: Thank you.

I have two questions. On the city side, now that you have this settled, what do you need in Albany on bail reform in order for New Yorkers to feel a thrust of improvement? And then a question for Pat, which is morale of your members has been something of great concern.

What will New Yorkers see differently on the streets of its police officers now that this is settled? Mayor Adams: First, Albany is now dealing with the issues around how do we improve our criminal justice system. I said it over and over and again, and I'm sure eventually it's going to resonate.

Bail reform is a bumper sticker slogan. We have a broken criminal justice system and we want people to look into discovery, the hemorrhaging of attorneys, both defense attorneys, district attorneys, the extreme recidivist, zero in on them. This administration is not going to tear down this important issue just to one item.

There's a broken criminal justice system that has taken far too long for people to seek justice, those who are accused of committing crimes and those who are the victims of crimes. And we are hoping the deliberation that's taking place in Albany now is going to assist us in doing that. Our intergovernmental affairs, Tiffany Raspberry, and our team, they have done an amazing job, have been back and forth to Albany.

Very fruitful conversations with all the leaders and the governor. And I believe we are going to come to a good place to continue the public safety. And Pat can answer what's going to happen differently on the street with our police officers, but I would like to say, nothing.

Even when they did not have a contract, they were running towards the gunshots. Even without a contract, they were down in front of the criminal court building keeping us safe. Even without a contract, Officer Mora and Rivera went into the house and we saw them assassinated.

And so, we're not going to see police officers acting differently. This is what they know. No matter who's the mayor, no matter who's the president, no matter who's in office, they're here to serve and protect.

Pat. Lynch: The mayor is absolutely right. What you'll see on a police officer on a regular basis, you'll see a police officer standing sternly on the corner, their eight point cap squarely on their head.

And what you may see is maybe a little stress. It's a stressful job, worrying about our safety, worrying about your safety. But what they won't be worrying about now is how do we pay to rent?

Yes, our police officers focus on crime each and every day and they'll continue to do that, but what we don't want them do is their focus to be split, to have to worry about home as well. So, the aspects of this contract, both financially and quality of life with our chart, will maybe give a little relief to our police officers so that maybe while that eight point cap is squared on their head, maybe they'll smile more often. Question: [Inaudible] questions about the flexible option.

Can you talk about what those tours look like now and what that flexible option, how that change will look like? Police Commissioner Sewell: Sure. We're starting it as a pilot program in four different commands.

There is a 12 hour option for officers, and that would be three on and three off with rotating days off. There are two 10 hour options. There are 10 hour tours that will be four days on, two days off, four days on, four days off.

And the final option is the 10 hour tour, which is four days on and three days off that'll rotate and stay that way. Question: Where did you say the commands will be? Police Commissioner Sewell: It'll be the 45, the 47, PSA 8, and Transit District 11 as we roll this out.

Question: Who can talk about why the length of this contract and is it at least partly about keeping people on the job? Commissioner Campion: Sure. So, this contract goes back to 2017.

With so much retroactive time, it was most appropriate to have a lengthy agreement. We didn't want to renegotiate an agreement that was just for a couple of years and it would be old already. We wanted to make sure that our police officers receive their retroactive pay, which will be fairly significant.

And then also, prospectively, going until July of 2025, they will continue to see those wage increases in the normal time. And they won't be working with an expired contract. Question: One question for the mayor and one for Pat.

Mayor, New Yorkers who hear about this today are probably also hearing about the new letter asking for 4 percent cuts across all the agencies, so help them understand how it makes sense to deliver a big retro pay agreement on the same day you're asking agencies to also cut 4 percent. Mayor Adams: I often hear this conversation. And if we go back to the videotape, I stated when I was running for office that we're going to find efficiencies inside our agencies.

I said it over and over again. That's the beauty of when I was running in comparison to others, what I said I did. We need to find efficiencies.

And part of finding efficiencies is to make sure we are paying our public servants a respectable salary. Nothing breaks my heart more than to have a civil servant who's given everything to the city and then they need to figure out if they can get food stamps, if they're living in the shelter, if they're going to have adequate childcare. We must have a public serving population that is being paid an adequate salary.

Jacques Jiha, our budget director, made it clear we have to factor in our budget to bring our civil servants to a respectable level. Number one, we must remain competitive. Everyone is talking about the hemorrhaging of workers is because we're not competitive in the city.

And we must remain competitive. We must give that quality of life to our employees and that's what that's doing. And so, when we talk about specifically with this contract and the other contracts, because of how the team and our budget office, they factored in all of our union contracts.

Just about all of our contracts were outstanding and we had to settle them. And you can't balance the books on the backs of those who have been providing so much for the city. There's really a disconnect in reality that's taking place around now about the economic challenges the city is facing.

We must find efficiencies in our agencies, then we have to deal with the crises that are in front of us. We know that. The £4.2 billion is real.

Some of the battles we are having to make sure that we are not overburdened in Albany, those are real issues. What's happening in Wall Street. The returns on the dollars we normally get in Wall Street, they're not here.

The country's going through a fiscal crisis. The money that was available during Covid is running out. We were putting in place permanent programs with temporary dollars.

We have to make smart decision. There is a reason -- something that has not been reported -- but there's a reason that Fitch raised the bond rating in New York. With all of these things going on, Fitch said we are going to raise New York City's bond rating to a AA because this mayor gets the problems and he's putting the right things in place.

There's confidence that people are having in this team and what we're doing, this contract falls in line with the recovery of our city. This is so important. Question: I've got a question about the longer tour hours.

How will this impact overtime and will this curve those costs or will officers still end up working longer hours? Will they be pulled in for additional shifts? Police Commissioner Sewell: Well, offices are working longer hours now with the productivity that we're seeing.

We've had more arrests, we've had more summonses, they've been working long tours already. To be able to extend those tours and have fewer appearances, we hope will mitigate a number of the overtime hours that we're seeing. This is a pilot and we're going to evaluate all the aspects of it.

Response time, things of that nature to make sure that it is productive for the police department but also we think it will have a significant impact on our members' health and wellbeing. Question: Do you have an estimate of how it'll impact overtime hours? Police Commissioner Sewell: Well, we were able to surge more officers during certain times because we have more officers that are working longer tours so that should have an impact.

We're going to evaluate that and we'll be able to tell about that once we have the pilot done in six months. Mayor Adams: Hold on [inaudible], because I think that's one of the untold stories that many people have failed to see, what the police commissioner just stated. In spite of all that these police officers were going through, in spite of not having a contract, in spite of not being paid what they should have been paid in spite of the violence, in spite of the changes in how we police, in spite of being inundated with new rules and everyone looking over their shoulders.

In spite of all of that, arrests are up in felonies. Cases being solved, people who are victims of crimes having their cases solved. Making sure the quality of life issues...

People talked about how our city was over-proliferated with ATVs and dirt bikes harassing our community. Thousands of those bikes removed off our streets. Going after the quality of life issues.

In spite of all that they've gone through, they have produced at a record level in the city under this police commissioner and that has never really been reported. They've got up every day, pinned a shield on their chest, put that gun belt on and went out and said, we trust enough in the promises that this mayor has made that we are going to continue to produce at record levels. Over 8,000 guns removed off our streets.

Record levels day after day they've been doing the job under the leadership of this police commissioner and that trust is now materialized today and what we're seeing in this contract. Question: My question is for Pat. I know in years past the union has said that the pattern is not enough, especially taking into consideration the costs of the wages for Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester County police officers.

What changed now that it is enough and if you want to speak a little bit about why it's different negotiating this with this administration. Lynch: What happens is we took every problem we are dealing with. You always have to take a contract and look at it as a whole.

What benefits are you getting, what negatives may be and at the end of the day, does it help solve the problem and continue our march towards a market rate of pay? We've done that in a number of ways and including the quality of life but also on the pattern argument, our contract is straight 12 month contracts each time with no extensions so also brings value into the contract as well. When you take the contract as a whole, where does it bring us?

The quality of life aspect we spoke about with Commissioner Sewell, it was well worth accepting this contract. All we've ever asked for is when you negotiate with New York City police officers, you negotiate with us, about us. Question: I wanted to ask about the longer tours but fewer appearances.

How will that impact public safety, especially as you have a smaller force now because there've been departures, resignations. Police Commissioner Sewell: It's important to know that they're working the same number of hours per year, they're just making the fewer appearances. The way the chart is staggered, public safety is not compromised in any way.

We are actually able to have more officers during peak times of school dismissals, rush hour because of the modern chart. Mayor Adams: I always say to the commissioner all the time because of her laid back calm style, people just don't really understand the depth of her policing knowledge. This is an unbelievable leader.

It wasn't since Bill Bratton did I see someone that has this depth of knowledge in policing. Her full understanding of the scope of how to deploy her resources, her manpower, how to be innovative, how to be a listener. When we heard the PBA talk about the 12 hours, she actually sat down and explained it to me.

I think that we are just really underestimating how great of a commissioner... It just really shows the level of brightness that I had to pick her as the police commissioner of the City of New York. Her knowledge and depth of understanding these issues are just really unprecedented and I think we're going to continue to see the benefit of it and I just thank her for what she brings every day to the table on dealing with these issues.

Question: Mr. Mayor, as was pointed out, the timing of this deal is pretty close to the latest round of cuts that were announced yesterday. Was that, the newest PEG, was it spurred by this deal?

Was there a connection between the two? Mayor Adams: Well, I'm still trying to figure out how the press even knew about the PEGs. We didn't send out a notice.

We spoke to our very team, Jacques was clear, I was clear that we were going to do a round of PEGs. We stated that, that we have to find efficiencies during these times to, number one, make sure that we give a suitable contract to our union members, our working class New Yorkers, and at the same time make sure that we deal with the economic challenges that we are facing. There are many rivers that are feeding the economic crisis we are facing.

Wall Street, migrants, asylum seekers, the lack of tax revenue, dollars that are being absorbed at the end of next year that was part of the federal government. There's a combination. This wasn't timed at all.

Remember what happened. We produced a budget that Jacques and his team balanced. Albany introduced new equations into our dynamic.

We have to do a two-year budget. Jacques had to go back to the table and say how do we refactor as this argument and conversation is taking place? We're a creature of Albany and we are a creature of the federal government.

No one would have thought on January 1st, 2022 that we will have a £4.2 billion hole in our budget. No one would've fathomed that and we had to continue to pivot and shift based on that. We are making the right decisions, the smart decisions.

Sometimes it's not the popular decision, but if you are going to be the CEO of this corporation, you have to be willing to make these tough decisions. No one likes cutting anywhere or telling people you have to find a more efficient way of doing something with less dollars. Nope, we don't enjoy that, but the reality is the money that's comes in must match the money that's going out and that's what we are.

Question: This question's for Pat. You mentioned in your remarks repeatedly, the ability to have real conversations with this administration and regular contact, almost daily contact. What was the difference in this negotiation as opposed to the past administration just in those terms?

Lynch: Just the fact that the door was open. The phone will be answered at many times, day and night, quite frankly, including with the commissioner on all issues. That alone is that you can try to understand each other.

Many times in the rhetoric, that's part of our job to get what we need. Sometimes the words and the meaning get lost, but in order to get to the words, you have to have the door open and the phone answered and then have real discussions. From real discussions can come real compromise.

At the end of the compromise, it's that we are solving a problem. Andrew asked a question earlier about the budget issues that others will answer there, but the budget will never get fixed. The money will never come in if people aren't safe.

We had an issue with crime and of course, how do us city folks get to work? We take the subway. If you don't feel safe on the subway, you're not going to get on that subway.

I'm a former subway conductor and I worked PMs. And when you were standing on that subway, when the folks -- and you saw it in their face -- when they felt safe is when a police officer stepped into that car and looked left and right. And you saw it in their face, they took a deep breath.

Think about yourself. You'll tell your family members, get on the car with the conductor. That's where the cop gets on.

Then when that cop gets on you say, I'm good. It'll lead you to get on the subway tomorrow and go to work tomorrow so that we can get the work done. Businesses can happen, tourists can come.

People feel safe, they spend money, we get paid, the city prospers. Mayor Adams: We don't have to... One thing about this administration's than others, Pat had to introduce himself to mayors.

Pat didn't have to introduce himself to me. Henry Garrido had to probably introduce himself. He didn't have to introduce himself to me.

I think it was the New York Post that wrote the story of the high school student that texted me because she was doing a protest and 30 seconds later I texted back. One day, you're going to realize that I am not a mayor that's detached to what people are feeling. You'll never be a good shepherd if you don't hang out with the sheep.

I'm with the sheep every day. People communicate directly to me. If Pat was having an issue, it could be 1, 2 a.m. in the morning.

He will shoot me a text. Eric, can we talk? That is how all the union members feel.

On the ground, person, that's wanting to solve these problems. Question: Mayor, you've previously spoken in support of a residency requirement for incoming cops. Mayor Adams: Yes.

Question: Obviously you personally own some property in the suburbs, but wondering if the residency requirement has been part of these negotiations and if there's a reason why it was left out of the contract. Mayor Adams: Listen, I've always made it clear. Matter of fact, the police commissioner and I were talking and she was saying I believe that residency shouldn't be a requirement.

I said, well, I think it does and that's good. I did not bring on a commissioner to agree with me with everything. I brought on a commissioner that will engaged in respectful conversations with me on everything.

We are not here to agree on everything. The only thing we both agree on, the city must be safe. I've always had an opinion on residency from the time that I was a police officer.

If you go back and look at it, I was talking about it back then, but the quality of our police officers should not matter which county you come from, it should matter that you're going to protect the counties of New York City or five of them. Question: Mr. Mayor, despite disagreements, are you going to be able to stop the City Council from cutting NYPD budgets and potentially reducing headcount?

Mayor Adams: This is a negotiation time. I like Adrienne. We're high school classmates from back from Bayside High School and I think she's conscientious, I think she's thoughtful.

We've had some great conversations. Her and her team was at Gracie Mansion a few weeks ago. They're going to raise the issues that are important to them.

I made it clear that public safety is a prerequisite of prosperity in this city and while we go through this negotiation process, they're going to hear our stance and we're going to hear theirs and we will have a balanced budget. We're going to do it with as minimum pain as possible in all of our agencies. Question: I was wondering if you could tell me the total cost of the contract and if the retro pay is going to be lumped or there's going to be some sort of stage payout.

A quick question about the arbitration process that I think PBA had pursued in the past. I think you've got some raises for that if I'm not mistaken. Were those factored into this and subtracted from the [inaudible].

Commissioner Campion: In regards to the first question, the first question regarding, sorry... Question: The total cost. Commissioner Campion: The total cost.

The total cost is 5.5... Jacques Jiha, Director, Mayor's Office of Management and Budget: It's £3 billion. £3 billion including the 1.5 percent that we already had in the budget. Question: Okay.

Commissioner Campion: Right, sorry. I'm sorry, and your next question. Question: I was wondering if the retro pay is lump or if it's staged?

Commissioner Campion: We haven't gotten to that point yet on that decision. Ordinarily what happens is the contract needs to be ratified by the membership, which will happen hopefully by the end of the month of April. Then we will talk with the union and with our Office of Payroll Administration on how we want to do that payment, but usually we take a little bit longer because this is a longer look back in the retroactive so we may divide it up, but that's still to be determined.

Question: Yeah, I was just wondering if the arbitration process affected... Were they getting below the pattern because the union had got some raises smaller than the pattern over the years? Commissioner Campion: The arbitration process started over six years ago for the round that would start August 1, '17.

It was at that point the arbitration process actually is a very limited process. As far as an award, the most that the panel can award is a two year award. And that goes to what I was saying earlier, which is to the extent that if this was a two year award, it would have been over and done, started over and done back in the end of 2018.

So what we have been working on for many months, the city and the union is trying to see if we could come together on a long-term agreement to get away from the arbitration panel, go do a long-term agreement, and that's what we've done with the eight years. Mayor Adams: Juliet, how are you? Question: I'm good.

How are you? Give us an example of efficiencies that you're looking for for productivity, like reducing the number of people in a specific type of job or will they get more things to do? Mayor Adams: I like that.

That's a great question and I think one of the examples, we should bring Commissioner Tish in from the Department of Sanitation to see how she has just really been probably the poster child of efficiency on how she has changed pick up times, placing out the garbage in different times, the success on some of the programs that she has initiated. What we have done in government is that we have moved forward just continuing or adding on things year after year after year with no real reasoning. So when I came into office, we stated that...

Like I said before, the first thing I did was I need flow charts on exactly how we are providing the goods and services for the city so we could identify what is duplication. I had every agencies to specifically deal with efficiency.At every agency, let's look at our fleets. We had agencies where they had vehicles that they were supposed to turn in, but they were not turning them in and then they were getting new cars on top of that.

And so we said, "No, by this date you are going to turn in all your old vehicles and you are going to only get the vehicles that are allocated." And then we decreased the fleet size. In my New York City Police Department, all of you have witnessed it, when I'm at a parade, I'm not just marching down the street. I'm doing an analysis of how many police officers do I have here?

Why do I need 20 officers per block for the Japanese parade? That makes no sense. So if you go out now and we're going to release an analysis of how many officers were on overtime at parades and friendly events to where they are now based on what the police commissioner did, those are the type of efficiencies that add up that we want to continue to have our agencies look at.

Duplication, too many man hours doing something, having people do something over and over again, using technology to improve how we run our city. That's what I talk about when I talk about efficiencies. Question: Hi Mayor.

Mayor Adams: How are you? Question: Good. I have a question about a bill of the City Council that would ban discrimination based on a person's weight.

I spoke with Kathy Wylde and she says she had concerns that it would lead to more litigation for complaints. And I know that you used to be overweight yourself, so I was curious what you thought of the idea of whether you have concerns that people are being discriminated against because of their weight? Mayor Adams: Well, no one should be discriminated because of anything.

So I have to look at the bill and make a determination. There's two parts of the bill. There's the weight and then there's the tattoo, which are two parts.

So we have to really take them into account. I don't think anyone should ever be discriminated based on their weight, and I think it's wrong to do so. But we want to look at the details of the bill.

But when you have the conversation about the tattoo, we have to be clear on what we're saying because sometimes you could ask for something but not know the intention. If someone is having a tattoo all across their face of something that's derogatory, disrespectful, and you are my customer service rep, I'm going to take that into account. So it's one thing if one have a tattoo on their arm or something that's small, they have a picture of their mom or their dad or a little heart, but if your whole face is tattooed with something that's derogatory, like, "I love Trump," or something like that, then do you want that person to be your customer service rep?

Let's be careful when you pass a bill, what's the impact of that bill? Because if you say no denying employment based on a tattoo, then that means all tattoos. So we have to think that through.

Question: They're two separate bills. Do you feel you ever faced discrimination with your weight when you were heavier? Mayor Adams: No, I don't.

I think even when I was heavier, I was still a good looking guy. And, you know, different strokes for different folks. There's no one size fits all of the body type that someone likes.

I know people who will go into a location and they would see a person of a certain weight and they want to patronize that place. So anyone that believes there's a one body type for what everyone's like is just wrong and we should never treat people differently because of their weight. Question: On the PEG note...

Mayor Adams: Did you agree that I looked good back then? Question: I don't like to make opinion statements, I'm not a columnist. So I'll refrain.

We can talk privately afterwards. On the PEG thing, the note that went out yesterday talked about service cuts, which I believe is kind of the first time that's been floated as a possible outcome of some of the austerity that we're talking about. What are we talking about specifically there when we're talking about service cuts?

Mayor Adams: Well, we clearly have stated over and over again no layoffs because that would only aggravate the problem and prevent service cuts. The goal is not to go and say, "I want to cut services," but I think I've been very honest with New Yorkers. Because of this fiscal issue of all of those items, the asylum seekers and the migrant seekers aggravated them, and every agency, every service that we provide is going to be impacted.

I've said this over and over again. This issue, every service delivery we have will be impacted and we have to be honest about this. And again, I need help in my conversations with the speaker, she says, "Eric, we're going to start hitting and going to Washington because I agree with you.

We need to get the assistance." We have not gotten the assistance. So it's unfair that taxpayers are carrying the weight of all of this. Think about this, what we said, Michael.

We said we are going to give you 52,000 people that can't work for a minimum of six months. It is solely your responsibility for taking care of them. Although this is a national problem, it is solely the responsibility of New York City.

That's just wrong. We've done a good job that unlike any other municipality, but we reached a point that we're at a cliff. And so the money has to come from somewhere.

So those who are saying that are, "Well, don't look for these efficiencies," then they have to give us an idea of something else. Question: When it comes to service cuts, I mean, how do you envision that being prioritized? What would be cut first or what are the kind of one, two, three, four things that you'd say, "Well, those are the things we need to start with and try to avoid cutting these other things"?

Mayor Adams: We're not looking for service cuts. We're telling our agencies to go in and find efficiencies. That's the term we're using.

Find efficiencies. Like we just mentioned, we gave two examples of those efficiencies. I believe there's more efficiencies in our agencies.

We're going to work together to do so. We spoke with all of our commissioners yesterday and stated that, "Here's where we are." We want to be honest with the commissioners. "Here's where we are. This is what we're up against and we need to find more efficiencies."

And this is what the everyday New Yorker is doing in their household. If you had a two family household and one of the family members was fired or furloughed or laid off, the family will adjust. The family's going to say, "We no longer have two incomes coming in, so what do we do differently that's not going to take away the quality of our living arrangement?" Every day New Yorkers are doing this.

People were laid off, people lost their jobs, people were ill. They had to make those adjustments. Why do we ask everyday New Yorkers to do something that we're not going to do in government?

We have to make the shift based on the economic realities that are in front of us. Question: You talked about the many rivers, as you put it, in the economic crisis. Mayor Adams: Yes.

Question: Do you see any of those factors changing, improving, getting worse within the next fiscal year? Mayor Adams: Great question. I think damming the river of the asylum and migrants seekers have to get better.

As you know, Senator Schumer, Congressman Jeffries, an entire congressional delegation, they were able to get £800 million in the omnibus bill. We still don't know how much we are going to get, so that will be helpful. I think the governor is looking at the dollars that are coming from Albany around this issue.

That can be extremely helpful. It's the Senate Albany, both leaders in Albany, in their one house bill, they put in to find alternative methods to fund the MTA instead of taking a half a billion dollars a year from New York City. If we can get from under that, that's going to be helpful.

So just as there are many rivers that's feeding this economic crisis, there are many dams we can build to prevent that river from overflowing. Question: Since we're a day after the indictment of former President Trump, I was wondering if you could just give us a little bit of an insight as to how your conversations took place with Manhattan, as you know ahead of time that he prepped you with all of the indictment that was coming down. Any sort of discussion about the actual indictment?

And in the future, have discussions already started about the next few appearances by the former president when it's going to come down to potential security issues for [inaudible]. Mayor Adams: That's a good question because yesterday was just a prelude to... We are going to be dealing with this for a little bit.

But as I stated, we don't have to get ready because we're always ready. Chief Maddrey did an assessment of our response with his team and stated from learning from that how we are going to figure out the flow in the future. I think the court officers, the NYPD and all the personnel, DOT, everyone came together to make sure we minimize the disruption to our city.

So they're going to continue to do an assessment and figure out what's the best flow. We have high profile people all the time in the city, unlike other municipalities. But my conversation with the DA was solely around his private protection to make sure that our team did what was right.

The police commissioner communicated with them often to make sure that he had the right protection. I have a lot of faith in DA Bragg. His job is [inaudible] mandate to make sure that what cases he's going to bring forward and we're going to let this fly its course.

He has his job, I have my job. Question: [Inaudible.] Mayor Adams: The actual?

Question: [Inaudible.] What did you think about it? Mayor Adams: I don't think about it. I think that he has a job that he's doing.

He's a former US attorney, ASA. He's extremely knowledgeable around case laws and I think his team made a decision and now they're going to go through with it. Question: Mayor, thoughts on Chicago?

Mayor Adams: New York.

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