Hi, can everyone please take your seats. We'll have conversations later on. Thank you Yeah, so Good evening. I Want to welcome everyone here to the mayor's mayor Eric Adams community conversation on public safety here in Queen South I want to first off. Thank our host Rajdale village President Jean Castro chair Clifton Stanley Diaz Thank you so much for hosting us this evening Thank you We'll just want to Explain what's been going on here the meeting started six o'clock with community conversations at each table There's three parts to these community conversations members of the mayor's office are taking notes at the tables You have agency facilitators or the mayor's office taking the notes and carrying the conversation You have department education representatives members of the police department at your tables It's important that we had the leadership in the community here. We have either with leadership through a representative Ladies and gentlemen, if you please stay quiet, we want to respect everyone's time We want to make sure we get to as many questions as possible So please if anyone seated and stays quiet, we could make sure to get to many questions as possible. Thank you So the community conversations took place for the first hour Giving a chance for people to have conversations with with various members of the police department The city officials at the table to be able to take notes to policy makers the city hall Also, we have Q&A cards in every table to ensure that if you have a question your question is not asked A member of the mayor's office will record this and ensure you get a question your question Answered within ten business days So we want to make sure that everyone has an opportunity to ask a question if it's not Addressed to the mayor we make sure we get an opportunity to go around the room and take questions a run of show basically will be the mayor will speak we'll give an opportunity to The speakers here the agent Adams then the borough president Donovan Richards and the district attorney Melinda Katz I'll hand her over to the mayor and after we finish the run of show We'll give it an opportunity for every table to ask a question to as many tables we could get to thank you Thank you. Thank you Fred and to our entire team. That's here all of my Commissioners or representative to hear directly from you. I spent many days running through the halls of Rochdale so, you know, I feel like I'm at home We just want to engage in a healthy conversation and look forward to hearing your ideas We walked away from any of these town halls with some amazing ideas of what we can do on the ground And this is not a one and done We're going to just continue this conversation with young people with seniors older adults and Everyday residents. This is a powerful Community very stable Southeast Queens and others that are part of Queens. We know what you mean to us and represent to this city So I'm happy to be here. I'm ready to listen We'll hand over to Queen's borough president now Donna from Richard. Thank you and let's give it up for the mayor Thank you for doing these round tables because it's important to keep Your air to the ground As we try to move this city forward coming out of a very rough time coming out of the pandemic And I must thank the mayor and of course to the police department to our police commissioner Thank you for being here and to all the agencies because when you think about public safety It's all of these things are really intertwined quality of life housing Transportation Department of our homeless services the chancellor. I'm gonna mess up calling all the agencies But I know I can say with confidence that public safety is a top priority for all of us here in Southeast Queens and I agree with you mr.. Mayor that the choice between public safety and police reform is a false one We all deserve the right to not just be safe But to feel safe on our streets as well And we also deserve a police department that protects and serves all New Yorkers the same regardless of their zip code They are color the color of their skin or how much money they have in their bank account And I will end because I know we want to get to the questions and just thank you the mayor for his commitment Just two weeks ago. We topped off the new 104 million dollar 116th Precent that is going to be built out in Roseville and Then on top of that because we understand that you can't police your way out of You can't police your way into safety always We have to have alternatives of course to handcuffs and to the department The Roy Wilkins Community Center, which there's a big victory where the mayor just added an additional 50 million Bringing a hundred and fifty million dollars to Roy Wilkins Park to build a brand new community center So that's the sort of strategies we need to invest in I want to thank the chancellor for being here Of course, we were out at Martin van Buren this morning where he talked about not just investing in school safety But in our crisis management system here are cure of violence groups who are doing the work on the ground to keep us safe And I'll just end in just thanking the police commissioner because she came down a few months ago And we talked a lot about revitalizing Downtown Jamaica and that starts with safety and we formed this task force and she immediately put the resources in To the 103rd priest and and I know many people can attest here tonight that we are seeing a lot more progress In downtown Jamaica, although there's still a lot more work that needs to be done. So that being said, thank you, mr. Mayor, thank you to all the agencies and now I guess I'm passing this over To illustrious district attorney Melinda Katz Good Good evening, Rochdale I want to thank the mayor of the city of New York for gathering all of us together It feels like he's in Queens so much Donovan. I'm worried he's running for borough president But this is the type of mayor that he is Comes out here brings his agency springs the borough president asks the district attorney to join all of the police department That is out there talking at the individual tables and we all know this is Rochdale village You want to get things done? You go through Rochdale. You want to hold office? You go through Rochdale village and we love that idea because it brings us back every single time So as the DA I'm happy to answer any questions you have but I am going to start with this We are about prosecuting drivers of crime. You're in Alabama. You're in Georgia. You're in North Carolina You want to buy guns? You want to bring them up the iron pipeline to the county of Queens? I'm prosecuting you. We're convicting you. You're not selling them to our children But on the other side of it, we need to make sure On the other side of it We are all here today because the youth the next generation can't pick up that same gun That we just got off the streets if you're selling drugs to the children in Queens County You will answer to law enforcement. You will answer to the district attorney But at the same time if you have addictions to drugs there are diversion courts And there's help that we can give to make sure that you help the problem not just increase the problem on the street You have to have a balanced approach. We do that every single day As we're doing that making crime safe on the street making our people safe making sure Grandmothers can walk their grandchildren to the park making sure we can go to school and safety. We're starting school tomorrow I know that's on everyone's mind Chancellor Banks And we deserve the right to walk our children to school and safety But don't let anybody fool you you can have equity and justice in the courtroom and safe streets You can have both we do that here in Queens County Mayor Adams, we thank you so much for the work you have done for this great city We look forward to the conversation I want to do a special shout-out to the academic tutoring programs that are here in Rochdale Village That we help fund and work with many many kids every single day Gene Castro Clifton Diaz Thank you so much for your leadership. God bless Thank you very much Thank you very much. We'll get started with a Q&A now First table. Let's get to the first question Tony Mr. Mayor greetings as always The awesome folks here of Queens New York asked me to ask this question of you Mr. May what is your plan to get resources into the community to address quality of life issues such as gun violence homelessness and mental illness and also how can the community be involved in helping to implement the administration's efforts Thank you. Thank you for that The table I think part of getting resources Was just mentioned by our Queensborough president He didn't he didn't say we brought a couple of thousands. He said a couple of millions and What we did not do we did not go and say here's what we want to do We went to the community and state what are the projects you want us to do and bring those dollars back into the community But we we believe in this administration in the upstream model. We don't believe in a downstream model That's why we did dyslexia screening putting dyslexia screening in all of our schools with Chancellor Banks is doing So we don't have 30% of the inmates that right is being dyslexic. That's why we had a hundred Thousand summer youth jobs for our children never before in history never before 110,000 were part of the Summarizing program so our children had a place to go over the summer a safe spaces We get ready to institute the Chancellor's going to help us navigate where we're going to do the extended use for our schools so instead of the nonprofits having to pay for school safety ages pay for the The cleaning services insurance and all of that. We're saying you do your service We will pay those fees and allow you to use the school builders in the process to have a safe space And then we have to do this We have to do this our best ideas come from engaging in the conversation and Learning from the people on the ground and civic leaders the organization Organization crisis management team members that are here hearing from each other and coming up with ways how to use all of these agencies as Donovan stated the bar president stated Public safety is not just the police Public safety is every agency that's here That is a success the police commissioner showed us over the Juve in the West Indian day weekend She brought all the agencies together We're going to utilize a full totality of our city and all the agencies this morning We had a meeting with our quality of life of Individual every agency is going to have a quality of life Person that you will be able to directly communicate with those days of calling 311 And they disappear in a black hole somewhere those days are over We're going to track those 311 calls and make sure that these agencies are responding to them So this is how we get it done. So thank you question number table number two Karen Good evening. Mr. Mayor This question here They have two, but I can only answer one. Sorry guys. I'm not getting in trouble What additional resources or initiatives are you on your agenda to enhance mental health? In shelters public private sector schools workforces Households because it's a serious issue. Yes, it is and I have a solid solid personal team our commissioner of the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Dr. Fassan is here used to run fountain house. That's how we recruited him. Dr. Fassan you want to answer that? Absolutely, thank you, mr. Mayor. Thank you for having me. I apologize for being late. The traffic was Something special But I will say that you know one of the reasons I came into city government and that I'm Proud to work for this administration is the focus on mental health the focus on community approaches to mental health You know, we're incredibly proud that even in the first few months of me starting and this administration starting We launched really historic expansion of our crisis hotline NYC well with over $10 million of additional resources in line with the expansion of the new federal Suicide prevention hotline 988 and so these are on-demand resources for community members to call to get help in their communities But also to get help for loved ones Who might be in crisis? And who might need support. This is just the beginning We are at the early stages of making a series of investments around serious mental illness people who are Experiencing homelessness people are experiencing crisis around youth mental health I'm a father of three school-age kids and I've seen directly how the pandemic has affected their mental health And we're going to be investing me working closely with the Chancellor and others to invest in school mental health and our Overdose crisis, which is a mental health issue. These are our three main priorities for our administration more to come But we are committed to this issue for the long haul Thank you very much Next table can I add something to that mr. Mayor? Thank you Can I add? Thank you. I would like to also announce that we have 40 Geriatric mental health Services across the city and under this administration. We're expanding to 88 We know that mental health and social isolation Greatly impacted the older adult population. So those services are also now available. Thank you Thank you Next table Angelica Good evening, mr. Mayor our table is concerned about teen violence How is the city engaging youth via community engagement programs and social media to promote programs that can help youth stay out of trouble I took touch on that PC or department of youth Dyscd Okay, okay, so it's listen. It's this is a couple of layers number one Pathways to opportunities for our young people and exposure to this Sheena Deputy Mayor Wright is working on we're Partnering with our corporations for 100% paid internship programs year-round not just over the summer But year-round exposing our children outside of the environments that they're in so that they can learn the real job Opportunities that are that are available. We're going to lean into Real after-school performances of Chancellor Banks I'm sure he could touch on some of the things that we're looking at when we want to de-escalate The environment of our youth our young people participating in some of the violence that we're seeing We have to give them the opportunities and we have to identify them earlier. We know beforehand Where some of the problems are coming from our goal is to find these young people upstream and not wait until they fall in the River that you pull them out downstream that mean go going into our homeless shelters with many of our young people if you grew up in a Homeless shelter you are less likely to graduate from high school if you don't educate you will incarcerate I keep saying this over and over again 80% of the inmates at Rikers Island don't have a high school diploma or equivalency diploma And so our goal is to be really proactive and for the first time we've partner 18 Mitchell who's represented a crisis management team with a deputy mayor to make sure every agency in this city is Having a program that's dealing with our young people so that we can connect the dots with everyone together We're going to bring on a sports and wellness Director that's going to tie Sports and wellness together meditation yoga Steam sports really teaching our young people how to engage together. This is something that's big for us Every town hall we went to people have talked about this topic and this administration is laser focused on it 100% Thank you Hello, Mr. Mayor our question is what are you doing to increase NYPD foot patrol presence in the main corridors? We want more police on the beat We also want to make sure that we want to know how our police improving and improving Relationships and also improving communication Yep, I'll take the deployment good evening everyone just a really quick just to touch on some of the How we increase in foot patrol and one of the things that we're doing this year that I'm very proud of is our field training program our field training program For the past few years wasn't on foot. It was being conducted By way of the patrol car and that's how our officers are getting trained I'm very happy that this year we put them back on foot because that's where they really learn how to patrol They learn how to go out there and talk to people they have to They have to basically learn how to do this to survive those eight hours out there They have to make friends out there. They have to know who's who in the community so it's very important That's I think that's one of the best things we did This year bringing the field training program back to foot They did on top of that this summer we did our supplemental deployment our summer violence strategy Which was all basically cops on footposts putting them on footposts Penetrated areas where we were having challenges. That's how we started bringing down the gun violence this summer So we had the cops out there in the right places when uh We're fortunate enough to have something over time we put them out there crime reduction over time again on foot So a lot of the models that the police commission has implemented is Going back to the basics going back to foot patrol getting out there in the community talking to the community Working with the people our NCO program my neighborhood coordination officer program And that's all about getting out there in the community walking around Working closely with the community increasing the communication Resolving issues our youth coordination officers. They were Directed to patrol parks all summer long every year youth coordination officer in the city had to adopt the park Because we wanted to increase that engagement with the youth. So these are some of the strategies we use To increase foot patrol and communication. I think your other question I just wanted to address your other question in terms of communication We recognize as the mayor said that those days where you call 311 and nobody responds like a tree falls in the forest Those days are over and the way we can increase communication with our communities through technology And we're leveraging social media to be able to do that We have a number of different things We're going to try to put in place so that the community can reach out to us and that you do have some feedback And you do have a record of that feedback if it comes to an application on a phone if it comes to Quality assurance survey some way where we can know our community hears us and we hear you But if I could ask just because I think it's very important that as a community You know who your representatives in the police department are so if I could ask the NYPD in this room to stand up for a moment So everyone can see who you are remember of the NYPD. Please stand up in this room. I am truly I could I could go all night about how proud I am of all of them and the work that they've been doing but They are here tonight because they care about the communities They serve and you should know who they are because you should be able to go to them with any issues or concerns And they should be responsive to your concerns. We're gonna make sure it gets better in the future. So, thank you Next question Tiffany. Good evening, Mr. Mayor my table posed the question and It's how will you work with the DOE and MTA to ensure the safety of our children that are returning to public Back to school On public transportation to and from school And I know today the Chancellor was speaking with the school safety agents. I'm a big school school safety agent person I believe in school safety agents of predominantly black and brown women When I speak with those school safety agents and see their commitment to those children is more than just security that they're Providing they provide a nurturing environment. I'm really proud of the men and women who are school safety agents our focus Our focus in the transit system of it's it's it's crucial our subway system must be safe We have a week we have something like 3.2 million people ride a day You probably have an average of six crimes a day. We look at the number of people that use the system You see that the system is relatively safe, but the perception of disorder is real and How you feel is how you're going to believe your status is so what do we do week one? We went in of our canvases system. I rolled the system. I ride the system a lot We noticed the encampments. We noticed the disorderly behavior We went in right away and stated that we have to remove all the encampments off the system We have to take people who are living off on the system dealing with mental health issues We stated that we need to place them Into safe havens first week only 22 people took us up on the safe havens that we wanted to give them Because we had to build trust now we're up to close to 2,000 people that were living on the system We were able to take off the system put them into safe havens and to wrap around beds and give them the services They need also way to deploy our police You all saw it because many of you showed me pictures five six cops standing at the token booth looking at their phones Not really doing the job. We're expecting them to do because previous administrations told them not to do the job We made it clear that we want our police officers riding the train doing patrol Interacting with the public doing something revolutionary. Good morning. Hello. How are you? Are you seeing something on the system? That is questionable. So we're being more proactive in our relationship to give you that comfort that you deserve And your children deserve while they're riding the subway system and why they're going to and from their place of birth That system must be safe and we're going to continue to move to make it safe Thank you next Next question Jerry Thank you Good evening, Honourable mayor and panel at this table We would like to know what there is a proposal that is restricting that reader. Excuse me redirecting Redistering excuse me Which splits roast there watch still in half This is a concern because the line goes straight through there's a you could pass on the paper. Yeah This is because this is a concern because the line goes straight through buildings and Potentially will split neighbors and communities There is also a public safety concern around this because it potentially creates Fiction within the community, which one side is against the other Number one what can be done to ensure that the redistricting doesn't split watch there and Number two, what is the what is the communication? Like between NYPD and the community to improve Relationships, it's important for both sides to understand each other Well, there's there's an independent redistricting committee and I only know I only know one Rochdale I don't know two Rochdale's so And so we're good we're going to look into this But Rochdale has been united it has been united as long as I can remember and I don't see any reason to divide it But there's an independent commission, but we're definitely going to look into this This should be one Rochdale of the commission Sure talking about improving communication and relations. We have a new Is the chief is sitting here, please stand up again This is who you need to see he is brand new. This is chief Kevin Williams. He knows this area very well And he has assured us that he is on point and he will make sure that the communication in this community with the police department Is where it should be and where we want to be going forward Kevin Williams Cheap chief Kevin Listen Kevin was one of my cops when I was a lieutenant and He studied hard he was committed he was dedicated and the community reached out and said there's an open for a chief We would like Kevin Williams to come back to our community. That's why he's here because you asked for him and you got him Thank you next question Malcolm You need to give your man. How are you? You you basically answer them you touched on the mental health issue We had two questions one was what safety resources is the mayor taking besides more policing to make our neighborhood safe especially After the rise in mental health in the mental health crisis in our community. That was one But there was another one because the gentleman was so Persistent nothing is more safer than having home ownership and all of an affordable housing opportunity What is the mayor doing to make sure the housing connect is is operating efficiently and effectively and Homanship and home ownership opportunities opportunity resources are available First mental health is crucial as dr. Fassan stated 48% of the inmates that Rikas have in mental health illnesses makes no sense Since that we've been using our prison system as a way of dealing with mental health illnesses instead of giving people the services that they need You know, we need our state law makers to open up the mental health beds That we lost during COVID and then we need to do the type of program that dr. Fassan is known for I asked anyone to look at fountain house when I'm when I met him on a campaign trail I said we got to get this cat as part of our administration He's doing an amazing clubhouse model and he's really leaning into how do we become more proactive with mental health? And as you heard the Commission of Department of Aging as even older adults loneliness is a crisis it is a contributor to some of the Indicators of real health issues and so we are taking a holistic approach to this manner I have a commission to carry on because I know the one of the greatest profits of our time has a quote that I live by The rent is too damn high and so So I'm going to give it to Commissioner carry on Thank You mayor. Good evening, Rochdale Great to be out here with the with the mayor and the team We all know that one of the most important building blocks for a family or an individual is a safe and healthy home and that's why this administration and this mayor has Made the most historic Unprecedented investment in affordable housing that we've seen in our history Five billion dollars over the next ten years To build new housing that's affordable for as we said this morning With the mayor at the steps of city hall whether you're a young family that needs housing You need affordable housing if you're a senior you've lit you've run your race You're now in the winter of your life. You need affordable safe housing with supportive services if you're a Person who works for the city for for government you need affordable housing if you're a cop If you're a nurse if you're a teacher We need to ensure that that affordable housing is available to every New Yorker and the key one of the keys and one of the differentiators for this administration and mayor Adams is that it happens in every single Neighborhood across the entire city not just in certain pockets that have been receiving The lion's share of the affordable housing another high priority for us is home ownership and the mayor has charged us With increasing the opportunities for home ownership just in this area alone We were here in the first couple of months of the administration announcing 13 sites for home ownership 24 homes The borough president was with us that day the council member that's the speaker of the city council was was here Large investments are being made in the Rockaways in this area of the city The one of the highest priorities for this administration is ensuring that we protect that that very Essential social contract that we stand on that we all believe in that every but everybody deserves a safe Healthy home, so we're committed. We're gonna work with you. I've been out here a lot, right mr. Borough president Quite a bit in the last couple of weeks mr. Mayor a little shoe leather out in Queens and Brooklyn So we're gonna continue to do this and it's a pleasure to be here with you all tonight Thank you. You get the next question to Anthony Eliano Thank you. Good evening the consensus question here at table 8 is all their plans to pilot a Program or a hub for the Southeast Queens youth Which would support them with services such as mental health screening internships and work-based learning programs and if so What framework can be put in place to publicize this in the area so the youth can access these resources? We have a dycd does here one thing we need to do and we're going to do is hold a series of these Town halls with just young people so we can hear from them They need to design the program that they want but dyd and One of the items hello. Good evening Darryl Ratchett associate commissioner use services at dycd One of the items that we have on throughout communities are community centers where young people can go They get services activities on community centers are open Seven days a week in the summer until 11 p.m. Throughout the year. We're open to 10 p.m Five days a week and on Saturdays. We also have our Saturday night lights programs that provide a safe space for young people Across the city in Queens. We have 28 Saturday night lights programs that are open five to 10 p.m Every Saturday night Throughout the communities providing those services next next question is number table number nine Lamona Good evening everyone Mayor Adams you open the schools to organizations Did you open the schools so all of the organizations or just some of them? All the goal is I say this over and over again We have these great resources in our School 7 a.m. We tell our babies welcome 3 p.m. We say get out and don't come back until tomorrow The great partnership that we want to develop I did this as the borough president We had something called extended use of da cats Can tell you about it? We were able to get money from the previous administration and we stated Why aren't we utilizing the gymnasiums the pools in some school the classrooms the auditoriums? Why are we allowing the communities to use this asset as an extension of the community asset these schools? Belong to you these schools does they don't belong to you know those outside your community And so every organization that presents the right proposal and come and let it let it be Ensure that it's vetted properly We want to find a space for them in the school hours that we're going to pay for the use of the building the lights To the school safety ages and all the things that are involved. We did this in Brooklyn. It's called extended use Let's get full use of our school buildings and not only during 7 to 3 p.m.. Hours And so it's open to whomever comes with a good proposal financial literacy H-back training carpentry Electrician all of these skills that we could be teaching not only our young people but adults Teaching them these different ways by using our school builders in the process to do so. So it's open to all Next table Ed Good evening sir our tables question focuses around vocational training Vocational training has always been an effective tool at engaging and empowering youth But it seems like these programs are becoming rarer and rarer in our high schools How can we increase how can we increase these programs and bring programs like D 79 co-op tech to Southeast Queens? Chancellor chance chance Back banks and before just answer I opened in Brooklyn in the Brooklyn avi yard something called the Brooklyn steam center First of his kind Young people attend the classes there. They get certifications OSHA training all of these certifications by the time they leave we want to duplicate that there should be a real Transit tech with a campus. There's going to be thousands of transit jobs that are going to open in the future Our children must be ready to fill these jobs that are available of Skill labor is a great job.  Have you played a plumber a carpenter our children can do these jobs? And that's what I'm happy about with chancellor banks is planning on doing around this area chancellor banks Yes, mr. Mayor up first for the young man who asked the question. Would you just stand up again? I just wanted what's your name? Jackson and Jackson hi, thank you so much for that question You should know that for this administration Career and technical education career pathways Career-connected learning is our new north star That is where we are going as an entire city administration we We have to and we are now starting to Re-imagine Re-engineer what the entire school experience is for all of our kids For far too long our kids have been going to school and we've done a decent job at schooling But we've not done a good enough job of fully preparing them for the 21st century economy And when we talk about career and technical education CTE, I'm not talking about your grandfather's wood shop The kinds of programs and jobs that are out here now in this CTE space When kids are graduating from high school They will be on the path to the middle class and beyond these are great jobs But we have not been developing our young people with the skills that they need to take those jobs And one of the people that's here today principal mitcheski. He's the principal of Hillcrest high school stand up for a second Scott it's a I'm I'm happy that he's here because first of all he's the principal of the school that I hold dear I know the mayor talks about base out high school at the time But I graduated from Hillcrest high school and so I'm glad that Hillcrest is represented He's the principal of Hillcrest and I've been to the school And the work that he's doing preparing young people for real careers is Critically important and so you should just know that that's where we're going. That's where we're leaning We have several of our superintendents who are here today. If you're one of the superintendents here in Queens, please stand up Tammy pay Josephine Van Ness mr. Sinchon Our superintendents with crystal bonds all the way over there Don't just applaud for them. I want you to know who they are and the work that they are doing right here in this Queens Community we have invested the energy the resources in our leadership They are the leaders for this Queens Community, so if you have not met them, please make sure that you meet them tonight If you have any issues questions concerns about what's going on in the DOE don't call me call them That's why we put them in place and All the educators who are here tonight, please stand I see the principal of Eagle Academy for Queens if you're a teacher That's what I'm talking about That's what I'm talking about Yes And you can feel you can feel the energy you can feel the spirit You can feel the love and that's what our kids feel each and every day I don't believe in the hype that I hear about all the negative stories that we hear all the time as though There's nothing good that's going on in our schools The mayor knows better than that he and I gonna be visiting three schools tomorrow We know it I visit schools all across the city and our parents who are here Who give us their best every day when they send us their children and we want to make sure that we are giving you the Absolute best that we have and so the question that was posed about Korean technical education is is a is a big piece of the puzzle But the puzzle is much larger than that we are we're reimagining how kids are taught how to read The mayor talked about all throughout the campaign 65% of black and brown kids never achieve proficiency In the DOE that has a 38 billion dollar budget that's shameful and it's going to change We are changing the way our kids are taught how to read Because you can't even take advantage of career Opportunities if you haven't had a solid literacy foundation at the beginning So we call it bright starts and both futures I thank you for the question and I'm very very happy to just celebrate our teachers and our educators and our Superintendents were starting the first day of school tomorrow. Thank you so much Thank you next question Anastasia Good evening, Mr. Mayor Which city agencies can collaborate with NYPD to assist them with a Enforcing illegal ATVs and dirt bikes and be enforcing loitering in front of homes or local businesses that are causing safety and quality of life issues Thank you for that question a Lot of city agencies partner up with us to enforce illegal ATVs and dirt bikes so Since I took over this spot. Here's a chief of patrol. That's one of the main things I started doing and since We started doing the illegal and the enforcement of the illegal ATVs We've taken about two two thousand twenty five hundred of them throughout the city We've partnered up with the sheriff's office Sheriff's office. Sheriff's office has been one of our biggest partners DOT has helped us out Not only with disinforcing illegal ATVs and dirt bikes a lot of things that we're doing throughout the city To help address chronic reelevering calls. We've been going out with DEP the department of buildings If you saw the press conference yesterday, we talked about labor day Western India day parade in Juve Now it's just so peaceful a lot of it was because of the planning and the Collaboration with the city agencies and the community a major part of it And even in enforcing the illegal ATVs and the dirt bikes the community has been a tremendous part People are calling us telling us they're storing illegal bikes in this location. They're hiding the bikes here They're riding out here every night. So when the community is providing that intel We know exactly where to be with time to be with location to go and they're not ready for us And we're taking them we're taking them By the dozens more than more than we the department really can handle The people who in charge of Storing the bikes and stuff. They're mad at me because we're bringing them down But I mean we're bringing truckloads of them down So far for the year we've taken close to five thousand So we're taking them and We'll continue to take them and we'll continue to collaborate with other city agencies and again the community You're our number one partner. We need the information and intelligence from you. So thank you all It's not only the ATVs Campaign trail you took me over on Springfield Boulevard And you said he's doing trucks are stored here overnight And you know we learned we learned that it was happening also in the Bronx we learned that it was happening in Staten Island so the commissioner and the Chief of patrol and chief of department we all got together and we did our operation on the illegal trucks And he's just started sending the right message. We either going to boot you or we're going to tow you But one thing is for clear we're going to clear that mess up And I want to thank the well president of Queens who you know took me around and showed me how these illegal trucks Have been just really destroying your community Staying overnight you can't if you can't park an illegal truck in front of Gracie mansion They should not be able to park it in front of your house Thank You mr. Mayor next question mark Good evening First I want to start out mr. Mayor by introducing you to the youngest constituent in the room mr Emanuel Washington nine years old. I told him I was gonna do that and he didn't think I would I thought he was gonna say me, you know, I Would have but I didn't want to call your age out in the room, sir And second police commission I want to thank you for allowing us to share with you the most amazing deputy inspector that we got to know tonight Don't get jealous fellas In our deputy inspector gray here, so thank you for it for his participation in the conversation And so amazing conversation So thank you for doing this first and foremost mr. Mayor, but the consensus around this table was To ensure that we ask a question that really encompasses what happens what this room looks like tonight And that is how do we integrate partnerships? Which will ensure a development of the village mindset to support our communities Deputy mayor deputy mayor right is she is deputy mayor of strategic partnerships and She's going to share some of the things that she's doing But also it starts from being in this room if you walk out of this room only knowing the Individuals you knew when you walked in then that's the Shakespearean Tragedy all of you are doing different things Whatever is your passion if it's financial literacy find out who else is here is doing that if it's crisis management All the crisis management team if it's our older adults if it's Mentoring we need to learn for from each other because you are the leaders and organizers in your part of the organizations here And we need to know each other We don't know each other as well as we should but deputy mayor right is doing some amazing things in that area deputy Yes, and thank you so much For for coming out tonight as the mayor said this is an essential step Some of the homeworks of this administration are this we center all everything we do on Community on families on individuals this mayor has said we need to have a customer centric point of view Not an agency centric point of view not an institutional point of view But a person and community point of view so the work that we are doing is focused on as you said We know there's not one silo not one agency not one program not one initiative That's gonna solve the problem is to coordinate it in a lined approach. That's gonna get it done So part of what we're doing is we're bringing nonprofits together. We're treating them like partners not vendors nonprofits that are in service of community and that are doing all of that work on the ground are our Partners and we need to treat them better. So one of the first things that we did is that we should pay them, right? We should pay them for their work. We should pay them on time. We shouldn't take a year And we should make sure that we're working with them in a coordinated and aligned way This year we had about five billion dollars that we owed Non-profits that are in service to community that that had not been paid to them in previous administrations We cut through the red tape and in 12 weeks got 4.25 billion dollars to those organizations And we're focused on solving the problem We want to build bring our philanthropic institutions There's a lot of resource and foundations and corporations that want to Participate and engage in partnership and we want to bring them to the table in Strategic ways, so we're doing that work as well and just community planning What we as we've said, you know this evening a couple of times Community knows what the issues are, but they also know what the solutions are and our job is government is to provide a platform and resource to facilitate this planning and Aligned action, you know, what's happening at a school should be reinforced by the after-school program Should be reinforced by the social services that our family is receiving All of those things should be working in concert and our job is government is to really make sure that that's happening Then to facilitate it so that's part of the work that we're doing across government Next question Patrick good evening, mr. Mayor My table Discussed about how we can build better community relations across community as well as breaking the Intergenerational cycles of poverty and violence That is having the community experience a lot of multi-generational trauma and lack of opportunities for a quality housing and quality jobs and opportunities And it's so true and we have to take that holistic approach And we have to hand off those who are needed to the next support group Something I spoke with the chancellor about the other day We often look at Those who are NYCHA residents and you look at the small number that are doing illegal behavior And you attempt to demonize the entire Housing community there, but people ignore those accelerated learners in NYCHA You have some young people in NYCHA that are a and B plus students yet They have to grind it out on their own so what we want to do We're going to look find them and give them the wraparound support services that they need So they can excel at the levels of that they can possibly excel to but even those C students and D students How do you continue to hand them off when they finish high school? We drop them off the cliff and say make it on your own that is just not right Particularly if you come from a foster care community or you grew up in this in the shelter We need to have these agencies Hand off to the next agency everything from job placement to college readiness We have to continue to nurture people so we could break that generational poverty that we witnessed so much That's the job of our agency. That's the job of ACS. That's the job of DOE That's the job of CUNY. We have to continue to nurture people throughout the entire process Because the support system that many of you and and I know is not the support system that many who are living in Institutional poverty is aware that we're supposed to be the safety net and not say okay Baby graduated from Bayside is no longer my problem. No, it is your problem You need to make sure he is in safe loving hands for the next step of his generation. That is what we're going to do as a city Mr. Mayor, can I just add one very important thing that you mentioned about foster care? I'm just an hazard from ACS Maybe one of the hallmarks will be no more cliffs because one of the things the mayor did first and foremost coming into this administration Was put 30 million dollars to make sure every young person coming out of foster care has a coach until they're 26 to make sure Because we know that's wasted talent that we've wasted year after year These kids are extraordinary and can accomplish so much We're gonna bring this to the justice side of our work at ACS as well But I think this theme of no more cliffs We can't be in someone's life and convince them that we're really there for them if we say goodbye as soon as the funding stops So the mayor is ending that we're really proud to be part of it Next table penny Good evening. Good evening mayor The question at this table was describe the city's plan to bolster the shortage of school safety officers and level 3 Supervisors in our schools and is there any forthcoming initiative that will force the stronger ties between the NY PD and our local schools Yes, and I'm chancellor banks should go into that And you know, I'm glad you remind me come I'm going to talk with the police commissioner about it later There was an initiative that was put in place that I advocated for when I was a Think I was a captain actually that We need to build a pipeline to law enforcement What we did back then they did it for two years and then it was removed under commissioner Kelly We told the school safety agent the hospital police a homeless service police Some of the law enforcement communities we said after you do two years in these agencies You should be able to get promoted into the police department. Why is that important? Over 80% of those other law enforcement communities are black brown and predominantly women If you are able to observe someone for two years doing the job as a school safety agent as a traffic enforcement agent As a hospital police for two years. You're able to observe them 100% live in the community Those are the type of pipelines we want to bring into our into our police department and build those relationships I am a supporter of school safety agents. I believe in what they're doing. I speak with them I see how to treat these children and how much they love these children We need to support them and give them path ways to Promotion instead of having a dead-end occupation or profession and we need to find ways to do that chancellor banks You want to touch on some of that? Yeah, we had a an announcement today Well, you know together with the the police commissioner We've just graduated almost 200 school safety agents who will be in schools tomorrow, and I think that is a great thing And I want to first of all I want to echo the mayor's comments I don't know how many of you know this but before I was an educator for one year. I was a school safety agent. I Was that's right. I was she said really I Were uniform and I worked at Clare Barton High School in Brooklyn Breaking up fights in the lunch room, but that's another story But but the reality is that we do what we need to do school school safety officers I don't know how this happened have gotten a very bad rap I mean this notion that they somehow bad guys in our schools If there's nothing that could be further from the truth In fact the people who complain about school safety officers are people who don't work in our schools the people who work and go to our schools every day are Extremely supportive of school safety because as the mayor said most of them are black and brown women They are miss Williams. They are mr. Vazquez. They are the people who kids look to as well as not just agents But they are mentors They are big brothers and mamas and auntie figures for these kids They come to work every single day and from not a lot of pay and They put themselves on the front line to help our kids every single day And I want them to know that this chancellor and this mayor Fully support them I tell them that any school that I visit the first people that I say hello to are the school safety agents And I thank them for everything that they do on behalf of our young people We will stick continue to stand with them. We have plans to bring in over 800 school safety agents for this school year Because the schools are desperately need more agents and more support But I will tell you that the answer to school safety is not just school safety agents It's just as the mayor said it's the village It's all of us the responsibility for safety is a responsibility for each and every one of us in the school Outside the school. We had a 15 year old in Brooklyn who was shot today Who's a truck a 15 year old charter school student? Why we were in here this evening. I got the word that that young man has died 15 years old My heart breaks for these young people Do you can't tell me that school safety agents don't matter We all matter they need everything from every one of us our superintendents our principals our Deputy superintendents everybody. We're all part of the fabric We will be announcing together with the mayor in the next few days Something that I want you to all pay attention to is called project pivot we've lined up hundreds of Men and women from our communities across the city who are going to be leaning in to be mentors big brothers credible messengers Helping to provide and fill that gap that so many of our young people continue to have So safety is about a collective response. It's not well. What is the mayor going to do? The city is too large for that. It takes all of us. I'd love to see us begin. Mr. Mayor's is just a suggestion right to talk about because the deputy mayor just said it The deputy mayor right said it our community know the issues, but we also know the solutions But I would love to see us even in as we engage in these conversations have the community give us solutions as well Because you you have the answers So we need to hear more and more of those answers as we work together as an administration To piece it all together and find the solutions for our entire community. Thank you Next Next question Valerie. Good evening, mayor I have the honor of facilitating the conversation at this table a table filled with community leaders in Education community boards and bid leadership their question is what do they do when dealing with unresponsive agencies You need you need to hit me You know listen nothing nothing nothing Angers me more than an agency that's not responding. That is the highest level of disrespect and You know, we've had a few not many But we had a few and I am my team would tell you up here I am quick to call them on a zoom with the person that's complaining My team would tell you I walked down the block I give folks my cell phone and I said text me and I'm gonna do a joint text with that agency Person and find out exactly why you didn't get back to that person People who know me I was this way as the board president You are not going to ignore people be if I can't solve your problem. I need to at least tell you I can't solve your problem, but it cannot be silent. It cannot be silent And when I speak with when I speak with my electives, they say all the time You your administration has been the most responsive administration. We've ever dealt with So if you have a problem that you are reaching someone and you can't reach them right here is Fred Kreisman Fred is my CA you person constituent assistance unit He'll tell you I text him joint text right away. I said Fred I got miss Jones on this test stream She's been trying to get such-and-such done and no one is returning her call By the end of the business day today get back to me and tell me about why this didn't happen and get that commission on the phone My reputation can't be that I didn't respond to you that is not going to happen I'm going to be the most responsive mayor in the history of this city And no one better not return your call if you reach out to them and give you an answer And then and let me just add on that what I will often tell people when I know 311 is imperfect You get that 311 number you can also contact your local elected officials So whether it be your city council members office the borough president's office Or the community board so that we can also follow up with the agencies because we often are Communicating with them on a daily basis. So it's just extra layer But I agree with the mayor with the mayor said I will say I've been in this government 20 years This is absolutely been the most responsive Government that we've had at City Hall when we call its agencies they pick up they respond and we want to thank you I'm not saying that just to say it even though I do want some more money next year. Mr. Mayor We'll butter them up a little bit, but it's just the truth Thank you Mohammed next question Good evening, Mr. Mayor before the question I was advised to give a shout out to August Martin High School and Epic South High School All right, there it is The question is how does the mayor's office plan to address the cuts made to programs and services That support the growing need for access to mental health and academic programs to keep our schools safe We're gonna we're going to lean into them more We're going to give more services and we're going to give them where the services are needed people often use the term Equality that is not the term the term is equity Equality is not the term if if you're giving everyone in this room a size 44 suit Then yes, the person I sit this size 44 You got what he needs if I fit 34 you didn't give me what I needed We got to move away from this mindset that everyone is supposed to get the same thing No, we need to give people the things they need and so what the chancellor is doing He's analyzing where the needs are and he's putting the resources where the needs are Every year we know the schools who are failing yet. We're not doing anything about it That's a real number the chancellor said how we in a city with 65% of black and brown children never reach proficiency and that's alright It's not alright with me and so we're going to invest in where the needs are and that is what our focus are and speaking of needs I meant to say this earlier. Listen. We got a lot of jobs folks We got a lot of jobs I there's no way you're not telling me you got a brother that's still home with mommy And you trying to get him a job We got a lot of jobs we need for people to apply to fill these jobs These are good paying union health care pension jobs in city government So we want to encourage you to tell people that these jobs are available So that we can make sure we start hiring people to give these agencies response that I needed Next question faith Hi, good evening, mr. Mayor our tables question was how will the city address lack of parking concerns? When new development is being built in our neighborhoods Well, there was a rule that was put in place. I know was removed that based on parking based on if you use Apartment buildings or housing you have to have certain number parking spaces online But if this I'm inside the site if there's a particular place that you're talking about Please let the team know and then we could identify that because we need to balance that that out as we continue to develop in the city Thank you next question you have Tia next question Good evening, mr. Mayor my question is what if anything is being done to address transportation access for students Who are often late to school because not enough buses on school routes and safety on subways Specifically the growing homelessness population living in trains and subway clean lines And I have two more questions if I threw you you're gonna give No, but we gonna we collected the rest of the questions as the as a commissioner state and we were we were respond But just just one chancellor you would address that well, I think One of the issues that we talked about even at today's announcement is really about Restorative justice and that we've not cut the funding to restorative justice Programs and supports for restorative justice And for us what that what that really means is that? You know when schools talk about they have zero tolerance or there are no excuses I think that's ridiculous Right when kids misbehave We all remember we were kids as well Kids misbehave. That's what they do They make mistakes They do things that they shouldn't do it's all part of the process of learning and growing up The react the response to that ought not be we throw them out of school like throwing them out of school is gonna teach them a lesson And so we want to make sure that they're learning from the things that they're doing and yet we don't want our schools To be places of chaos. That's not going to happen All right, so we're very focused in terms of what they're doing in schools Somebody other issues in terms of how they are traveling to and from school I don't know if there's some some others who may want to speak to that Thank you the next question will go to Edo Good evening. Mr. Mayor and everyone How do we create a system? Where principles and their school in their school leadership teams have input in the budgeting process? To articulate their needs before receiving their actual budget to address needs such as public safety. Thank you We did in Brooklyn some of the corporate Isabotary budget we would like to expand on that more and I'm sure that the chancellor will continue to engage You know because local stakeholders in school communities Should have some input and those public safety issues and that's what the young people did in Brooklyn And we would like to look at how I can do that from the city hall aspect of it as well and I would say also just from the school perspective and I'm hoping that our superintendents are hearing this clearly right because Schools and their school leadership team should be engaged in that process before they receive Their budgets we should be hearing very clearly from you about the very specific issues and needs that you have We do not want this to be a top-down system with as one size that fits all So the mayor just said if you give everybody the same thing, but if people have different needs then you're not really properly Responding I want this system to work from the bottom up and and there's nobody who knows the schools better Than the principals and their administration who are working in those schools each and every day So we want to lift up your voice love to follow up and learn more about that But that's the way the system actually should be working and that's what we're going to be leaning into for sure Thank you. We which is a I know we're past time. We want to thank the mayor for So now I want to go on a custom. I got a bounce about I want to get these last two Yeah, two more. That's three more Sabah next question. So we're gonna do the table Hello, everyone. Good evening tonight's table featured principles and community-based organizations such as violence interrupters and The question is how what funding exists to for these groups community groups schools NYPD To work together in order to create safe passage to and from school for youth Because part of the discussion featured The topic of you know, some students carry weapons because they've not because they want to use them necessarily But they don't feel safe going to and from school So the question is how can this these groups work together and what's the funding there for that some of the things that? AT Mitchell from man man up Is working on with she to write out deputy mayor of public safety and those who are part of the crisis management team Because they're now playing a larger role in our schools If there's some specific ideas that you have please catch AT and Sheena before you before you depart here May I you mind if I just add because today was also a press conference that we attended with the Department of Education and the Chancellor in that same regard and we actually announced today how we are going to partner With the DOE in Relations as it relates to the safety for the children going to and fro from schools So you will be seeing very shortly a large presence of the violence Interruptors incredible messages at certain schools throughout the city in here in Queens as well And so that's something that you should expect to see going forward with that said because a lot of them I've already had I noticed that they left but there are a lot of crisis management system Organizations that are still present. Can you please stand and be recognized as? The hard-working front line Kenny, please come on Kenny Carter stand up man with faith alive in the hood Brothers alive in the hood. I see Lance Patato King of Kings of course life Camp incorporated with Justin all of the other organizations that were here 100 suits We have a lot of great Grassroots organizations that work this borough of Queens and then we appreciate their work Of course mother Donna and others that are here and we hope that you continue to support us in our efforts. Thank you so much Thank you. I Don't want to leave until I finish the last question we haven't Okay, so Now I know what's gonna happen when you finish you guys are gonna come and rush me, but I got a bounce I got two more events tonight. Okay, so, you know, that's a lot of love, but I I got to get to another event Good evening, mr. Mayor. First of all, let me just Thank you and welcome to the beautiful Rochdale Village Grand Ballroom but Public safety has been and is impacted by the last 100 years and how communities particularly communities of color have been treated Historically with that said what is being done to change the mindset of the rank and file of the NYPD? When engaging with the community, what is the proof that these actions are being taken and what has been the impact? I? think it starts with diversifying the staff of the NYPD the men and women that do this job every day There is no greater billboard For the NYPD than the person you see who is walking the street who was riding the subway who is leading the command Who runs the borough? I Think the first engagement people have with the police department should not be negative And it should be someone who they can relate to and they can understand So fairness and as the mayor said it should be equitable is what we strive for every single day and the Outreach to our communities of color. It's what's important to us. I know that there is a history across policing with communities of colors But we are committed to bridging those gaps and making those connections to show that we are in this together And we want you to even consider careers in the NYPD because that's how we make a change from within Excellent in the last question Gilman Rose Yes last question good evening to everyone question on the table from our lovely seniors What resources is there to help migrants come into New York City and what is the comprehensive plan from the city? but we all see was was taking place down in in Texas of and New York has a legal and Moral obligation Legal the law states that we are sanctuary city. That's the law No matter who comes to the city if they want housing of we buy law We must give that housing and then we have a moral responsibility You know if a child comes here The chancellor has done an amazing job of making sure that they're going to be an educational system We are here to assist people and stabilizing their lives and we are focused on that I think the numbers now are up to closer over 7,000 That have come to our city. We believe there's going to be more we need help from the federal government We need help from the state To also make sure that we get to support we need and that we're not Ignoring the fact that we have folks in here in New York that also we have to fulfill our requirements as an administration And so we are going to do our job But we need you to add your voices to tell the federal government the state Government to say you have to be here for the city as we do our job here Thank you so much for allowing me to get here. I got I got I got two more We have borough directors here Raise your hand borough directors if you have questions our borough directors are here Please get them over to them as well, and we'll keep up. Thank you for coming out today I just wanted to thank the mayor and all the commissioners who are here in the dance I just want to call out Ido Chagall Kevin Morris the mayor's office borough directors for the borough Queens if you have any issues at any time They're always here available to help out with the concerns. Thank you Oh


Sain is overrated when you need a breakthrough. That's why you should all have some crazy people in your life. In fact, you should all have at least one crazy friend.  Thank you for bringing crazy to my life. Whatever they are in the world, wake them up with that text. You are my crazy friend.


Over the last 20 years, there has been economic transformation in South Africa. But this transformation has taken place at a different pace in different countries. Trade has been seen by some as an enemy for economic growth. For some, trade has been an opportunity. In the region, more than 60% of the population live in rural areas and most of them rely on agriculture. Having agricultural policies that look at agriculture as a key sector will move a lot of people out of poverty. Our research suggests that a strategy that ignores the smallholder farmers won't succeed because the bulk of the population in South Africa are smallholder farmers. There is a rise in imagined farmers who are going into farming as a business. So these are the farmers who are able to respond to the changing environment in the world and they might be able to pull the smallholder farmers with them. It's key that countries if they are to trade, the issue of grades and standards need to be looked at seriously. Because if grades and standards are different, you will find that it will be difficult to move products from one country to the other. The key messages are that our agricultural policies should be very progressive and respond to the changing consumption patterns, to the rising population that is rising demand and also our policies need to be consistent. If they change day to day, you find that private sector won't be able to respond to these opportunities. We have to look at trade as an opportunity rather than as a threat.


Polar Stern is a research vessel operated by the Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centrum for Polar UND Mearsforching. It is designed specifically for operations in the Arctic and Antarctic, providing ideal conditions for conducting scientific research in these remote regions. Its capabilities include breaking through ice up to two meters thick, allowing it to remain operational for extended periods of time in the harshest environments. Polar Stern has been used extensively over the past three decades to support research activities in both the Arctic and Antarctica, including supplying the New Mayor Station 3 and Conan Station with essential resources. This article was authored by Rainer Nust.