Office Of The Mayor Of New York City: Transcript: Mayor De Blasio Appears Live On MSNBC's Morning Joe

West Village NY

22 December, 2021

12:51 PM

Description

Press release from Office of the Mayor of New York City: December 22, 2021 Joe Scarborough: So, let's bring in right now the Mayor of New York City, Bill de Blasio. Thank you so much for being with us, Mr. Mayor. We've been saying it all week, I know you've been saying pretty much the same thing, this is not March of 2020. We are in December 2021. We've learned a lot. You've learned a lot. Every leader has learned a lot through this crisis. Talk about how you strike the balance of, of hunkering down for this very aggressive variant, but, at the same time, keeping New York City open for business, open to the world.  Mayor Bill de Blasio: Joe, such an important point. We cannot fight yesterday's war. It's a very different reality we're facing now. We need to stay open. We need have to avoid shutdowns. Let me be really clear, shutdowns are unacceptable at this point not only in New York City, but in this country, because we have to, at this point, realize we have the tool to fight back – it's called vaccination. And if we want to get aggressive, use vaccine mandates as we're doing here in the city, use incentives. Yesterday, I announced a hundred-dollar incentive for the rest of this month to get people a booster. But shutdowns don't make sense. There's not another big relief package coming from Washington. There's not the cavalry coming in terms of our economy. We've got to keep moving. And we have the answer, it's vaccination.  Scarborough: So, we know there's a problem right now with getting testing. You drive around New York City and, my gosh, we see it – we've seen it over the past couple weeks, those lines for testing just keep getting longer. So, you need help from Washington on the tests. And apparently, you're going to get some help there. I'm curious about boosters. I've been joking in Florida, it's easier to get them a slurpy. What about New York City? If somebody in New York City wants a booster, can they get a booster?  Mayor: They can get a booster right now. We'll give them $100 for showing up. We will go to your home if you want. I mean, imagine this, this is how developed our vaccination program is – we will go to your home, we'll give a vaccination to any family member in needs it whether it's first shot, second shot, or booster. And you get a hundred-dollar incentive for each person. I mean, we're really bending over backwards.   Scarborough: That's amazing.  Mayor: But we, also, on Monday – this coming Monday, we're implementing the toughest private sector vaccine mandate in the country, because we knew Omicron was going to be a challenge and it's even bigger than we expected. Everyone needs to get vaccinated. It shouldn't be a discussion anymore. Unless you love a shutdown – you know, if you love shutdowns, then let's do the status quo. If you want to keep fighting through and get on to recovery, we need vaccine mandates and need to see more mayors, more governors, more CEOs turn to mandates. United Airlines did it, to their great credit. We found it worked here. Our public sector workforce, 94 percent vaccinated. Adults in New York City, now almost 91 percent have had at least one dose. That's because of mandates. Let's go. Let's just do it.  Mika Brzezinski: You know, Joe, there's all this talk about Bill de Blasio running for Governor – I feel like he should be, like, the vaccine czar.  Scarborough: Vaccine czar, right –  Brzezinski: Mandate czar –  Scarborough: You know, if I had to guess, I'd say he's still running for governor, but I guess –  Brzezinski: But he is good on this.   Scarborough: Well, let me ask him that question. You running for Governor?  Mayor: Joe, Joe, Joe, Joe – I am going to stay in public service –  Scarborough: I had to ask.   Mayor: And I'll have a lot more to say in the next few weeks, let's put it that way. I'll be going all over New York State to talk about the fight against income inequality, how to help our kids get a better education. I've got a lot to say.  Brzezinski: That's a yes.   Mayor: Listening, for sure. And also, offering a new vision of where this state needs to go, because the status quo is not working in New York State. That's abundantly clear. There's a huge inequality problem in the state that has to be addressed. And we've made some real progress in the city, Joe, I'm happy to say this. There's now evidence coming in. I said, we're going to fight inequality in New York City. We've actually changed the lives of working people in real ways, put money back in their pockets. We've got to put working people first in the State of New York as well.  Scarborough: So, tell me about the booster program. I know you just launched it. You're talking about $100 for people that get any shots, you'll go to their home. That's pretty extraordinary. How's the rollout started? Are people responding? What do your numbers look like?  Mayor: Yeah. We always see a real response when we put these incentives up. And, look, in the end, what we're also trying to educate people on is the booster makes a huge difference. Vaccination is the key to everything, but that booster provides an additional level of protection against Omicron specifically. And Omicron, our doctors believe we're going to see a sharp upsurge for a few weeks only, start to come down, hopefully, even by the end of January. So, here's what will protect people during that timeframe and also help us get back to recovery. We've got to start imagining a world beyond the COVID era and boosters are a big, big part of it. So, the incentive is going to help – I think at least tens of thousands, even potentially much more – to get people in to get them boosted. But the real powerful element is the vaccine mandate that starts Monday, that affects almost 200,000 New York City businesses that were not covered previously. And I'll tell you what I'm hearing from business leaders, they like the fact that the government's doing it for them. They don't want to be the "bad guys." They want be able to say their employees, hey, guys, this is universal. Government is doing it. You've got to do it, let's go. And they also like the fact that someone cannot say, oh, I'm leaving this company to go to some other company, because I'll be unvaccinated there if I want to. No, everyone's got to get vaccinated. That's going to be the rule in this city for the good of all so we can get out the COVID era.   Jonathan Lemire: So, Mr. Mayor, your successor, Eric Adams, announced plans to cancel his inauguration event. Big cities across the world – London, Los Angeles – have canceled their large New Year's Eve gatherings. In the wake of this surge of cases that are coming – and you say it's only going  to elevate in the next couple weeks – does it make sense to gather perhaps a million people, or however many actually gather, in Times Square for a New Year's Eve event?  Mayor: Well, let me say it this way. It does not make sense to do shutdowns. So, we think about that event in the same vein. We'd like that event to move forward, so long as we can do it safely. And that will be a decision with the health care leaders. Right now, good news – outdoors, fully vaccinated already, that's the rule. But we're looking at additional measures we can put in place. So, the preference is to keep it on. It's a very important event to this city and to the world. And again, we don't want to live in defeat or surrender to COVID. We've got to really fight our way through at this point, but only, of course, if we can do it safely.   Scarborough: Well, I just want to follow up with that, Mr. Mayor. And we've learned over the past year-and-a-half, like I said, many things. One thing we've learned is that outdoor events are so much more safer than indoor events where people are masked together and congregating. So, if you're in Times Square, even though it gets packed, you're outdoors. If you have – if for some reason you're uncomfortable, you can wear a mask. We know 91 percent of people in New York City are vaccinated right now. I don't know if there's some way you could have a vax mandate for people that are actually going to the event itself. But if that were possible, then my gosh, I can't imagine any medical advisor or epidemiologists saying that that would pose a grave risk.  Mayor: We, in fact, Joe – I'm happy to tell you, when we announced that New Year's Eve in Times Square was going forward – this was several weeks ago, ahead of Omicron – we said as a message to all New Yorkers, vaccinated folks only. So, that measure in is already in place. And we think we can add some additional measures, but you're exactly right. The doctors say outdoors is one of the biggest difference-makers. In the two years of COVID, we have learned, if you're going to do something and you have the option, go outdoors, it makes a huge, huge difference.  Scarborough: Yeah. New York City's incoming mayor, as you know, is defending in his plan to use a revamped form of solitary confinement in New York City jails. In a letter to Mayor-elect Eric Adams, progressive City Council members urged the former NYPD captain not to reverse your policy against the practice. But he called the current form of solitary confinement inhumane, but vowed to take the action to keep inmates and Correction officers safe. Take a look at what he said.  Mayor-elect Eric Adams: I am not going to be in a city where dangerous people assault innocent people, go to jail, and assault more people. If you are violent, you must be removed from population so that you don't inflict violence on other people. There's a body of people that are coming into the City Council. They have no desire in moving our city forward. Their desire is to be disruptive. What I am going to do, I'm going to ignore them. I'm going to stay committed, undistracted, and I'm going to grind.  Mayor-elect Eric Adams:  Scarborough: Mr. Mayor, is there, in fact, a middle ground between the policy that's been implemented and where he wants to go? What he talks about, he agrees with you that current form of solitary that was used before was inhumane. But he believes that a middle ground can be struck. Do you agree with him?   Mayor: I agree there's a middle ground 100 percent. Eric Adams and I have talked about this. We are very close. We talk all the time. And let me make it really clear, there was a horrible tragedy about a decade ago in this city that really woke everyone up the, the death of Kalief Browder, who ultimately committed suicide, because he had been in solitary confinement for quite a while on Rikers Island. And it woke up this whole city to the fact that we had something punitive and no longer appropriate for an age where we're trying to actually rehabilitate people. So, I said, let's get rid of the solitary confinement that we knew for year and years. It doesn't work. It's inhumane. It sets people back, not moves them forward. We have found a third way where an inmate is isolated from everyone else. It's not the same reality as solitary confinement. It doesn't have the same horrible mental health impact, but it is isolation enough to ensure that person cannot have a negative impact to on others around them. I've talked to Eric Adams about it. I think we are on the same track that there is that third way.  Scarborough: Yeah. And great to hear and great to hear that you have a good relationship with the Mayor. Final question, we've talked about this before. The homeless crisis continues to grow across the country. You had a message for west coast mayors last time you were on here. And your message was, letting people sleep outside in the winter, letting people pitch tents all over the place is inhumane. There's nothing progressive about it. I want you – I want to ask you, again, on this issue, because it is such a crisis in so many places. And you've admitted this is something that you underestimated, it's tougher to get your arms around than you expected. I think a lot of mayors have learned that as well. What are the lessons that you want to impart not just on your successor but, again, especially on those west coast mayors in San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, other cities about how they take control of their streets back for the citizens who live there?  Mayor: Yeah, Joe, you're exactly right. Having streets filled with that kind of human misery, it's horrible for those who are suffering it, because they're homeless. It sends a horrible message about our society's ability and willingness to help others. I had a very powerful conversation with Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who leads the Archdiocese in New York, who talks – and has talked very openly about the fact that he grew up with the impression of homeless folks as something wrong with them. You know, people used to call folks bums or a hobos – and he said, he started to understand we all had to see the humanity in each individual out there. I feel that deeply. I've talked to a lot of homeless folks who had what we would call normal life and spiraled down to the streets. We have to help each person back to their family, to a better life. But it started with saying, no one's sleeping on the streets. We offer every single human being a place to stay. That is the law. That is the rule here in New York City. Not everyone agrees to take us up on it, that is the blunt truth. But what should be the standard for this country? And it is worth every dollar we spend financially, but it also morally it is the right thing to do, is right to shelter. If someone – God forbid, if the bottom falls out their life, they have a right to shelter, and then we get right to work getting them the mental health treatment, or the substance treatment, or the pathway to a full affordable housing. But no, tent cities – or what used to be called Hooverville's once upon a time – when you see the tent cities of the west coast, it's not acceptable in America. And I feel for those mayors, they got handed a tough situation. But bite the bullet, build the shelters, build the affordable housing. It is the best investment you make on a very human and moral level, as well.  Brzezinski: Mayor Bill de Blasio, thank you very much. And we wish you a happy holiday. And also, happy preps for your run for governor.   Mayor: Thank you, Mika. And, you know, I'm just thinking about the Christmas season, the joy of it, and what you'd like to see under the tree. Something red that reminds you of the holidays – whoops, I've got to get the product placement a little better.   Scarborough: There you go.   Mayor: Because who would want a steaming hot cup of coffee in the morning that reminds them of their connection to all of America through this great network.   Scarborough: Yes, there it is. Is the Morning Joe label on the other side? Cause if you could turn it around, if it is.   Mayor: Wait, wait –  Scarborough: You picked up the wrong mug, you got the lesser mug.  Mayor: I got the lesser mug –  [Laughter]  Brzezinski: Yes, you did.   Scarborough: That and the Morning Joe clogs that you're wearing –  Brzezinski: And he could be a hand model –  Mayor: Thank you, Mika –  Scarborough: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. As always, great to see you.   Brzezinski: Goodbye.     ### This press release was produced by Office of the Mayor of New York City. The views expressed here are the author's own.