NYC Gazette

Brendan McGuire, Chief Counsel to the Mayor and City Hall: Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Brendan McGuire. I'm chief counsel to the mayor and City Hall. We are here today for another important labor announcement. We've already reached historic contract agreements with DC3 7 and the PBA. Today we're proud to announce another tentative agreement that will impact one of the most important groups here in the city's workforce, that is the women and the men who serve our city's children. So without further delay, I'll now turn it over to our mayor, Eric Adams.

Mayor Eric Adams: Thanks so much, Brendan, Renee, Jacques, and Michael, president of the UFT and your team, for really fighting on behalf of your members and New Yorkers because your members are New Yorkers. And we are fighting for our children. And we want to be clear how important this moment is, and how much has gone into ensuring that we can get this right, and to make sure that we are able to move the city forward.

And before we even start the conversation about this contract, as you know, probably my proudest appointment, Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell is leaving after 18 months as the police commissioner. And I cannot thank her enough. I remember when we started in January, seeing what this city was going through. Many of you line these halls often, talking about the level of violence, homicides, shootings, just about every major crime category was moving in the wrong direction.

The two of us, we were in hospitals where we saw the family members of police officers who were shot, Officer Rivera, Mora, who lost their lives, as well as those who were shot that did not lose their lives but were seriously injured. I remember being together when the 11-month-old baby was shot, and sitting there speaking with the mother. And a number of crime scenes that I responded to over and over again, just so I could have a firsthand look at what was happening on our streets.

But the commissioner was there, 24 hours, seven days a week of running the largest police department in the country. And I was proud that day when I appointed her. She came in with a hammer, and she broke the glass ceiling, of being the first, not only woman, but one who just led this department from the front.And we are going to continue to move this department forward with the amazing men and women that are part of our police department. But I wanted to just really take the moment, as we start this conversation, to thank her for her service to the city and for being there during the most difficult times in the city. And we're seeing a New City. The city is moving in the right direction, and we believe that we are going to continue that pathway to make sure this city is a city where we can raise healthy children and families.

Speaking on our children, this agreement today sends a real signal that public education is one of the most important things we do as a city and as a society. Because if you don't educate, you will incarcerate. This morning I was on Rikers Island talking to a group of young people who are graduating from Rikers Island School receiving their diploma. And many of them have been abandoned for far too long.

And the chancellor and I, with the partnership of the UFT and the CSA, and all those professionals in the school system, need to ensure they have the resources and the proper pay so that they don't have to worry about their children at home as they educate children in the classroom.

I'm a blue collar mayor. I've made it clear that we were going to ensure that our city employees receive the salaries and benefits that they deserve, because I am one of them. And I know what it is to go and fight for a contract, to fight for the proper healthcare and the items that you need. And I'm proud to announce that the City of New York has reached a tentative five plus year contract agreement with the United Federation of Teachers, that provides substantial wage increases for the people who teach, support, and safeguard our children, and secures a fair deal for taxpayers as well.

The agreement will cover approximately 120,000 municipal employees and include annual raises, employee retention payments, and a ratification bonus, all of which will help retain our educators, which we are losing at an alarming rate. And it will ensure that we are able to provide the educational support year after year. This contract also established, which I'm really proud of, and I want to thank the chancellor for the vision of establishing a virtual learning program that will create new opportunities for our students, including those who want the ability to take classes at non-traditional times, like evenings and weekends, as well as those whom traditional in-person schedules don't work for them.

For an example, some of our young people are working, some of them have jobs, some of them are dealing with real obligations that a traditional classroom setting does not address. The tentative agreement is retroactive, beginning on September 14th, 2022, and expiring on November 28th, 2027. It's a great deal for workers. And as I stated, it is fair for city taxpayers.And it would not have happened if it wasn't for the willingness of Michael Mulgrew, and the UFT, and our team are being led by our Commissioner of Labor, and my legal counsel, and Jacque, and the entire team coming together to come into a place of yes. The input from Chancellor Banks, and the dedicated members of this great union, allowed us to land this plane. And we're doing it today if the ratification goes through.The contract agreement underscores how important educators are. I see them all over the city, and they ask for a fair contract. I told them we had a fair contract with DC 37, with the PBA, and you better believe we are going to get it with the UFT as well. And so particularly for Ms. Johnson, who's an educator, I promise you and I'll deliver it for you, so I know you're watching this right now.

The administration will also stand with broken people throughout this city. And as I indicated over and over again and never let you forget, I'm probably one of the few modern day mayors that was a member of a union. I know what unions do for this city. They're the backbone of this city, and we must ensure the challenges that they're facing should not be a hurdle of ensuring they receive the necessary benefits that they deserve.

So I want to thank the UFT and my team for bringing this contract to the working people of our school system. Congratulations to you all.

McGuire: And now to discuss the tentative agreement in a bit more detail, I'll introduce our labor commissioner, Renee Campion.

Commissioner Renee Campion, Office of Labor Relations: Thanks, Brendan. I'm very pleased to have reached this significant settlement with Michael and the UFT. I want to thank the mayor again, as he has continued to put his trust in me to represent him as his chief negotiator. I also want to thank the chancellor for his support and ensuring that his team and my team work so closely together these past nine months.I also want to thank the entire city leadership team, First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright, Chief of Staff Camille Varlack, Chief Advisor Ingrid Lewis-Martin. And of course, I want to thank Brendan, Brendan, Brendan for his tremendous support over these past 18 months. We've done a lot together and we'll continue to do just a little bit more as we get through this summer.

I also want to thank the budget director, Jacques Jiha and his team, Ken Godiner, Kerry Gao, for their support and difficult work, working days and nights, and days and nights, and by the way, more days and more nights. I want to thank Michael and his team. One of the important and most essential parts of the labor relations process is this process that people, externally to this world that we live in of labor relations, is that we spend a lot of time talking to each other.

We talk, and we talk, and we talk, and we talk. And people are like, "Aren't you finished talking yet?" We're done. And we say, "No, no, there's more talking." And that's a good thing. And this administration stands with that. And my relationships with the union leaders have proven that out.

We'll continue to have a respectful working relationship into the future. I also just want to thank my negotiating team, my First Deputy Commissioner Dan Pollac, my entire negotiating team at OLR, including Tamara Lake and Matt Campisi, who were instrumental in resolving this contract. They were there for these months, and months, and months of subcommittee meetings that we held, which did seem to go on. And they were just many, many dozens and dozens of them. And of course, I want to thank Regina Fuchs, the chief of our research team at OLR.

This agreement with the UFT is pattern conforming in the city's round of negotiations. It brings our settlement numbers to nearly 67 percent, which is more than two thirds of the entire public sector workforce. And let me go through some of the details.

The term of the contract is from September 14th, '22 through November 28th, 2027. That's 62 months and 15 days. The general wage increases, effective September 14th, '22, a 3 percent general wage increase. Effective January 18th, '24, a 3 percent general wage increase. Effective January 18th, '25, a 3 percent wage increase. All of these are compounded, of course. Effective September 14th, 2025, a 3.25 percent general wage increase. And in the final year of the contract, effective September 14th, 2026, a 3.5 percent general wage increase.

There's also the ratification bonus of $3,000 to all active members on the date of ratification. And as the mayor mentioned, for the first time there is a payment that we are calling a recurring retention payment that will be paid in May of each year starting in 2024. In 2024, there'll be a $400 recurring payment that will be paid to every member of the UFT. The 2025, in May also, there'll be a $700 payment. And in 2026, and every year thereafter, there will be a $1,000 recurring payment to aid in recruitment and retention.

I just want to give you a few numbers regarding the teacher salaries. So a teacher who starts off with their Bachelor's, the minimum salary prior to this agreement, they were earning $61,070. By the end of this contract, the minimum salary for a teacher with a BA will be $72,349. That includes the recurring payment.A teacher with a Master's started out, prior to this contract, at $68,652. By the end of the contract, that teacher with the Master's will be making $81,201 to start. And finally, those teachers with the longest years of experience, who have a Master's plus 30, with 22 years of experience, before this contract started, they were making $128,657. By the end of this contract, that salary will be $151,271.

In addition to that, as the mayor has mentioned, there are many other historic parts of this contract. The virtual learning program is a very important part of this contract. It's something that we probably spent most of our time working on, together with the UFT and all of the city representatives.

It will be, as the mayor said, supplementing students in the classroom. It's not in lieu of student teaching in the classroom, it is in supplementing it. And it provides better options, some more flexible options for students who require it. There will also be parent engagement. And as a result of the virtual learning, we'll be able to do parent engagement, which was already an existing part of the contract, going back years, that will be able to be done with parents remotely on evenings and weekends.

This is very important to parents, who obviously or cannot, who were working during the day, are not able to have the flexibility for the most part to talk to the teachers of their kids. So being able to remote work, remote in for parent engagement on evenings and weekends, is a tremendous benefit. And then I'll defer to the Chancellor and his remarks about some of the other programs, including the Student Pathways.

So with that, and as I mentioned, more than two thirds of the contracts are settled. I look forward to negotiating with the rest of the unions. There are probably almost a hundred specific bargaining units still to be settled. But again, that is about a third of the workforce. So we've taken another big step forward and I'm looking forward to negotiating those contracts with the rest of the workforce. Thank you.

McGuire: And now to hear about how this tentative agreement will impact the Department of Education and all of the adults and children within the city's public school system, I'll introduce our Chancellor, David Banks.

Chancellor David Banks, Department of Education: Thank you, Brendan. Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. I'm very happy to be here. I think this is a great, great day. First of all, I want to thank our Mayor for not only his vision, but also his directive that we get this done. And we've had some amazing, hardworking teams who worked around the clock to do this. And, Michael, you drive a hard bargain and you do it on behalf of all the teachers around this city and we want to thank you so much for being a great, great partner in doing this work. I also want to acknowledge a couple of people that are on my team as well. Our lead negotiator, Kim Moore-Ward, who is here today. Kim, thank you so much for your work and your leadership in this space. And thank you to our first deputy chancellor, Daniel Weisberg. Thank you so much, Dan. A lot of hours have been put into this and making this agreement come to fruition.

And I also just want to acknowledge also the superintendents representing every district around New York City are here with us here today and I'm just thankful that they're all here as well. Thank you all for your leadership. This tentative agreement also establishes, which I think is a really big deal, New York City public schools as the first major school system in the nation to offer an expansive virtual learning program ultimately available to all high school students and at least some middle school students. The virtual learning program will give students access to a much broader set of cost offerings across the city and the ability to take classes at non-traditional times like evenings and weekends.

We learned during the pandemic that some students, especially non-traditional students, benefited from the additional flexibility in their schedule. Students who were at risk of dropping out were able to continue their coursework on a schedule that works best for them. This expands those types of opportunities across the entire system. Crucially, it also allows educators to work virtually in support of those students, becoming experts in the craft of virtual learning. The days of simply working in the classroom in the four walls of the school are over. This agreement allows us to do what the mayor has said from the very beginning of this administration, which is to reimagine how we even do school in the first place, and to think out of the box with new and innovative and creative ways to engage all of our young people.

So this contract takes the best of what we've learned over the last three years and it refines those takeaways. From teaching our kids to read with our NYC Reads to innovative career pathways programs to virtual learning, New York City public schools are the places to be for cutting edge education, and this contract represents that. So, in closing, I simply want to say to every educator and teacher who's hearing me now, I want to take this opportunity to say thank you. Thank you for the hard work and never ceasing dedication that you show every day to our youngest New Yorkers. You are critical members of our school communities and our city and I'm proud to be able to express my gratitude to you on this day.

It is very, very important that this administration have a good working relationship with the United Federation of Teachers and all of our unions, and I'm just really proud that we are working very, very closely with Michael and his team together. And I've said this to him many, many times. "If we work really well together, we can finally crack the code. We can get beyond the point of contention and one-upsmanship and seeing who's going to be the winner on this day or that day." Every one of our kids can win, but we have to work together in order to make that happen, and this agreement is the beginning of what it looks like. I'm going to thank Michael Mulgrew for his dedication to making this happen. Thank you, everyone.

McGuire: And now to close us out, I'll introduce the city's partner in this effort, UFT President, Michael Mulgrew.

Michael Mulgrew, President, United Federation of Teachers: Thank you. Thank you, Brendan. And I want to thank everyone who was involved in this endeavor. Negotiating a contract is not an easy thing. It is not. There's a ton of labor involved with it, so I want to thank both of the commissioners, both Renee and Jacques. Thank you. I want to thank the DOE team for spending many, many, many late nights having difficult conversation. And I want to thank, of course, my UFT team who understand that this is the important piece of paper for us all. But I want to start first with the chancellor and the mayor. The clarity of vision, the fact that this chancellor and this mayor both said, "We need to get literacy right," and said, "Enough. We're not allowing anyone to figure this out on their own anymore. We need to first get literacy right." That is the foundation that we all as educators know will make a big difference.

But this contract then reflects the next pieces. How do we make our school system adaptable? How do we allow the flexibility as students grow that we are meeting them where they need to be met instead of telling them, "You need to come here. And if you can't come here, then too bad, you will fail"? Those days are over. We learned a lot during the pandemic. We learned what works in virtual learning and what doesn't work. We learned that you don't put a camera in the middle of a classroom and then try to just push it out. It does not work. But we also learned things that really do work and that's what's inside of this agreement. And we want to be able to tell a child, "If you fell behind in Ninth Grade, and we know this is a critical piece, it's just as critical as literacy, you fall behind in ninth grade, don't worry. You now have access to take classes online so you can get your credits back to get you on track because that brings your ability to graduate to a much higher rate."

And we also want to know the children who are facing so many of the challenges of this city. The school system just doesn't work for them the way it's designed. We want to give them access. And we also want the children who say, "I want to accelerate and I want to move faster," we give them access to all of this. And we want equity. We don't want it to be dependent upon if a school was lucky enough to get an AP teacher or a physics teacher, only the students in that school could get that class. We want to open up that equity to all. And that's what you see inside of this agreement. And to the teachers of New York City, this is the hardest and most challenging school district in the country to teach in. Hands down. I travel this country. It is the most challenging, most diverse, but our teachers love it. Our guidance counselors love it. Our therapists, social workers, psychologists, they take that challenge on. They wear that badge proudly. "I am a New York City educator."

Not everyone can teach here, but if you learn how to work here and you can work here, you can teach anywhere. And that is what the educators, and no matter what has been thrown at them, the pandemic, a large influx of children seeking asylum, they don't shy away from these challenges. What do they do? They say, "We need to organize even more. We need to run clothing drives and food pantries and everything else. We want to help these children." That is the beauty of the work of the teachers and all educators in this city. They take that passion and love every day into those buildings. And, yes, it's frustrating, it is extremely frustrating at times, and we always want everything to be perfect and it will not. But we've said to them in this contract, "We heard you loud and clear."

One thing about teachers, they're not quiet. They were loud and clear. "We want to be given respect that we can do the work you're asking us to do. And we don't need to be micromanaged." The Mayor always says this, "We want the people we hired to work to be able to do what we hired them for. We're not here to feed bureaucracies." And that's what we see in this contract. They wanted more time to actually do the work that brings meaning to the job and actually helps children to do that. And they wanted to be able to see that they can live in New York City and afford it for themselves and their families. And we have that. Renee spoke about the top salary, but the more significant part to me is when I started as president, it took 16 years for you to make $100,000 in New York City. And that was a big problem. And we are losing more and more teachers.

This contract, if it is ratified, and at the end of it, by the end of the eighth year, the teachers of New York City will now be at $100,000. They will have their retention bonus, whatever we're calling it at this moment. And that goes on forever in perpetuity. And we're saying to all of our titles and every member, whether you're in the first year or your 25th year, New York City is saying that we appreciate you, we recognize the challenges that you take on every day, and you will receive $1,000 every May for that. And that is what the teachers and all of the people who work in our schools deserve.

So to the Chancellor and to the Mayor, I fully support your vision and I am glad we were able to get this done. And I do believe when you have a tough process, you'll end up with a better product. And that's what we now have here today. And to the UFT members, we will do our process to send it to you for ratification, God bless you all for what you do for the children of this city each and every day.

Question: Mr. Mayor, I was wondering…

[Crosstalk.]

Question: I wanted to ask, I guess this question is for the negotiators, does this contract also include healthcare savings? And will there be added premiums and managed care added to city workers as part of this contract?

Commissioner Campion: Okay. That's okay. Right. There is not any additional agreement other than the economics that we've outlined about health insurance. Health insurance remains as it is.

Question: Was that an issue when you were negotiating? I know, especially when it comes to the retirees, the healthcare, that was a big issue. So there was no discussion about healthcare savings [inaudible]?

Commissioner Campion: So we were negotiating with this union, the UFT. The Municipal Labor Committee is who we actually negotiate with on all things healthcare. So those are the conversations that we'd be having there.

Mulgrew: Hold on. I want to add on this one. This is something we deal with a lot, and I know there's a lot of different information out there. I will tell you this. The unions and the city are doing something that nobody else is doing in terms of a labor management relationship in this country. We are not allowing insurance companies to just dump high premiums on us. We are not allowing hospitals to just get away with over-billing and overcharging. We are aggressively negotiating with all parties because the goal of the unions and the city is that we will maintain a premium free healthcare system. We do not give up our benefits. We use it in our negotiations. People say, "Oh, it's cheaper." It's only cheaper because we bargain better and we're not getting rid of our benefits. I wish the rest of America would do what we are doing here in New York City because healthcare is a crisis and it is destroying the pocket books of so many families across this country.

Question: Does the contract include extending the school day or extending the school year? And if not, why not?

Mulgrew: No. Look, it's how you use your time and how do you use it effectively? The virtual piece of this contract is going to be quite impressive when it's fully up and running, because it does allow great more flexibility. We still do, we'll do our traditional summer schools, which will be there, and in terms of time itself, it's now you might have a teacher working three periods one day in school personally and then they might be teaching two periods at six or seven o'clock at night. What we've done is create flexibility so it works for the student.

Question: Mr. Mayor, you said this is a good deal for taxpayers, but I'm wondering if this addresses at all the class size bill that was supported by the UFT you opposed. You said it would cost multiple million dollars to the city budget. Does this contract address that at all?

Mayor Adams: No, it does not. And sometimes I think people forget, when I talk about taxpayers, I'm talking about teachers also. They're taxpayers, the paraprofessionals. Those who are city employees, they want to protect their tax dollars at the same time. And so this does not deal with the Class Size Law that was passed. As always, we're going to comply with the law.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. This is a question for either you or anyone on your team. But, Michael, you said that the $1,000 retention bonus is in perpetuity.

Mulgrew: Yes.

Question: That means forever?

Mulgrew: As long as you still work for the Department of Education of New York City, yes. So you don't retire and continue to get it.

Question: Yeah, but how is that process? That goes beyond the length of this contract?

Mulgrew: Okay. Renee, do you want to explain rate and how that works?

Commissioner Campion: The fun times. The fun part. So a recurring payment is, this payment is not unlike other payments where people get longevity increases, they receive different differentials for different things. That is in perpetuity. I'm sorry?

Question: Similar to the police, in other words, right?

Commissioner Campion: So there are different differentials that we negotiate that are not one-time cash payments. This is not a one-time cash payment. This is a recurring payment. It was costed as a rate increase that goes up, continues year after year after year, and that's how it was costed. And that's how it was funded internally within the contract.

Question: Is this the first time that the UFT has gotten something like this?

Commissioner Campion: This is, I refer to you, but this is the first time we've negotiated this sort of payment for the UFT, yes.

Mayor Adams: But it's also the first time we had a mayor who was a union member that I could…

Question: On the virtual learning piece, I was just wondering if you guys could discuss how that came about. Was this something that the union was pushing for? Was it something the administration wanted? What were the seeds of this? How did it originate?

Mayor Adams: And the chancellor can go through it, but I don't know if many of you remember on the campaign trail that I stated that good teachers can teach a larger body of people. And I became… Go back and look at that when I made that statement how I was attacked by many people. But you have good quality teachers, and I think, Michael, you alluded to that, you have good quality teachers that are only in one school building teaching one group of people. Colleges are different now.

So really what the chancellor figured out, we're going to prepare our children for what they're going to expect. Many of these colleges are going to remote learning. This is rarely cutting edge stuff that the UFT and the Chancellor are able to come together on, of what teaching is going to look like in the future, and how you take that great teacher and have a wider pool of young people who can learn from their knowledge, particularly the accelerated learners. The accelerated learners, really giving them an opportunity is amazing. And many of our young people are living a different lifestyle that the traditional classroom setting is just not fitting it. Chancellor?

Chancellor Banks: Not much more that I could add other than to say that I think the seeds of this were in fact planted by the mayor. I think the concrete conversations happened between Michael and myself, just saying an opportunity to reimagine. And it's not just a reimagined experience for kids, it's a reimagined experience for teachers as well.

And so when you want to really focus on how to make the profession respected at an even higher level, you have to engage in new and creative ways for teachers to even be able to teach. And I think this is 21st century thinking. We're the first major school district in the nation that is even taking this on. I credit Michael so much really for being a willing partner on this. And we are looking many years down the line. And I think once our teachers and our principals wrap their arms and their minds around this, the opportunities, the places that they are going to take us that we've not even been thinking about, I think are just tremendous. And that's what I meant earlier when I made the point that I said the days of just the brick and mortar, being in the four walls of the classroom are over. The world has changed and it is moving very, very quickly, and it's kudos to everybody involved here that this contract represents the beginning of being able to represent a new experience.

Mayor Adams: And I remember one day, Chancellor, when I was across the street showing a group of educators the first original telephone Alexander Graham Bell did. And I showed them the classroom. I held up both pictures. I said, "Here's the original telephone. Here is the classroom at that time." And then I stated, "Here's where the phone is now. Here's the classroom." The classroom was the same. The phone went to a smartphone, but we're still using dumb environments to keep our children prepared for the future. We can't educate children based on Alexander Graham Bell when we have Apple. That's what we are thinking about.

And these are bold moves initiatives. And listen, look, y'all not going to appreciate what I'm doing until I'm done. You going to look back and say, "This guy was just ahead of what other people wanted to say." This is New York. We lead from the front. And that is what this chancellor and this union president is doing with this bold initiative. And you know what? It's not going to be perfect the first time. I'm perfectly imperfect. But we're dedicated, and that is how we're going to get stuff done.

Question: I have a question for Mike Mulgrew. If you could talk about what language was needed in the contract as it pertains to virtual learning.

Mulgrew: Well, the virtual learning is the things that we learned during the pandemic. It's a whole different instructional style that we learned to be effective, it's not that it's a different instructional approach than being a regular classroom teacher. So we had to put language as flexible inside of it, because we're all, as the mayor said, we all know we're going to learn as we keep moving this on and we want to be able to build that into it. So that's the language that you will see in there. And we're going to bring it up with 25 percent of the high schools will start this coming year, and then we go right up to 50 percent if they want to do it.We're also going to have a virtual, basically a virtual citywide school. And that's where we want to be able to have students can register in with their guidance counselors, register right into that school. And if they want to take classes again, accelerate, make up, or they just want to switch the time that they want to take their classes.

So it really was creating that language that we realized of things we did during the pandemic. I don't think people realized that during the pandemic we were constantly doing new agreements to meet whatever challenges we were facing. So there were dozens and dozens of agreements that were done at different times throughout the pandemic to ensure that we were doing things the right way and protecting children and teachers. So that's what you see inside of it, is what we've learned through that experience and the flexibility.

Mayor Adams: Yes. Just one more, then we do off-topic. We're going to do one more, because they're not disappearing anyway. Michael's still going to be the union president, so if you have another question, you can catch it. One more, then we do off-topic.

Question: For the mayor, [inaudible]. On one of the unsettled contract negotiations, the marine engineers for Staten Island Ferry. What is the status of that, what is the hold up, and when should commuters expect a resolution?

Commissioner Campion: Yes, hi. So the status is that we're continuing in mediation with the union, with the union itself and the mediator. The mediator has hung on with us, I think we believe. We started mediating in August of '22. It is now June of '23. There's actually a mediation session next week. So we will continue to work with the mediator to try and come to a settlement agreement.

Mayor Adams: Let’s do some off-topic.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor Adams: Hey, Marcia.

Question: How are you?

Mayor Adams: Good.

Question: So to no great surprise, [inaudible], I have two questions about it. First of all, did her decision to [inaudible] Chief of Department Jeff Maddrey play any role in your losing any confidence in her because she wanted to dock him 10 days pay for [inaudible]?

Mayor Adams: I have confidence in the commissioner today. I think that, as I stated, it was one of my proudest appointments to be able to find a woman who, I stated when I was campaigning, I wanted. I wanted to show the expertise of how women in law enforcement can actually run the largest police department in the country, and by doing so aloud.

I think that the tide is rising boats all over the city, and I think anytime I had the opportunity to talk about Commissioner Sewell, it has always been with just glaring admiration of her ability, of how she turned around the morale in the department. And it was a tough challenge. All of us knew what was going on in the city when I took office January 1st 2022. And she took those tough challenges and I never lost confidence in her. I always thought she had the ability to do the job.

Question: The question is this. When you were running for office and when you got elected, you said you wanted a female police commissioner. Do you still want a female police commissioner or is it going to be a nationwide search? Or are you going appoint somebody from within the department?

Mayor Adams: I'll figure out what I'm going to do. I need to continue the success of the department. We have more work to do. We got to get these GLAs under control. We've, we appear to have gotten violent crime under control. GLAs are just really driving our number, and they're repeated offenders. As I stated, we need help with extreme recidivists. But I'll make the right decision for the department.

Listen, New Yorkers have to be safe. And I've always stated over and over again, the prerequisite to prosperity is public safety and justice. That is what I must do as the mayor of the City of New York. It is my responsibility to keep New Yorkers safe, and I'm going to do that and we will put the right team to do so. And the right team has done that. She put a good foundation in place.

Question: Good afternoon, Mr. Mayor. Did Commissioner Sewell give you a reason for her stepping down? Did she say why? And specifically because of the success we've been seeing with crime being down, all of her work. When she came to you to say she was resigning, did she give you a specific reason?

Mayor Adams: You know I don't go into private conversations on what I have with my commissioners and others. I was very clear to her that you can stay until you ready to do something else. I said that over and over again to her.

Not only did I believe she was a great professional, but I just liked that as a person. I just thought that she was extremely impressive from the first day that I interviewed her. I believe she had all the tools I needed right now to turn around the morale of the department, to be able to manage and be just poised under pressure. That's what we needed. Because you're inundated as the police commissioner over and over and over again. And she was just poised and I'm just happy that I had her for those 18 months.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. I have a question in regards to management. You've had some…

[Crosstalk.]

Question: …to the administration. You've had many top leadership individuals leave your administration within the first 18 months. Do you have any concerns that the leading commissioner of the NYPD, who was also recently just [inaudible], resigned as well? Do you have any management concerns when it comes to your administration? And separately, there was a Rikers court hearing today. The judge in that case decided that the two parties should start discussing possible receivership. Could you give your initial reaction, if Rikers were…

Mayor Adams: Okay. First let's go to the management concern. I have 302,000 employees, my last count. My style is a very unique style because of the unique perspective I bring. And so in administrations on every level, presidential, gubernatorial, city, people come and go. You don't sign up and say, "I'm a lifer." You come, you provide your expertise, you lay the foundation and then you go on to do other things. There's nothing wrong with that. And I have a rule, do not stand in the way of a person's desire to pursue their careers. I've always stated that.

Now what's unique about my administration, which is going to be part of my portfolio when I be in the museum of the City of New York and they look back on this administration, is that I am the only mayor, and probably, I don't know who's the last one, I think Beame, that has actually worked in a city agency. I know city government.

And so when I sit down with my DOE chancellor, when I sit down with the Department of Parks, when I sit down with everyone, I know what is happening. Every other mayor had to turn over those agencies and allow people to just run them the way they desire. That's not how I function.

New Yorkers elected me to be the mayor. Part of being elected to mayor, they want diversity, they want ingenuity, they want to make sure government is responded to them. And listen, mommy said, "If you don't inspect what you expect, it's all suspect." And so, I constantly inspect all the time. That's how I function. That's how I operate. That's how we get the product that we're getting. That's how we're able to settle union contracts because I'm watching what is happening in labor. That's how we're able to bring down crime. That's how we're able to improve our educational system. I'm watching the product that New York has asked me to do as the mayor of the City of New York. And so, some people will say that's a management problem.

I don't. I say it's that, listen, I'm going to work harder than every New Yorker in this city to get the product that we deserve as taxpayers.

Question: [Inaudible.]

Mayor Adams: I have to read it. That must have happened while I was-

Question: Yeah. Do you have any initial reaction if Rikers were to go into a possible receivership? What's your initial?

Mayor Adams: Well, I don't know why people think the federal prison system is successful. I'm curious that people believe that the federal prison system is the model for prison systems because I don't hear that. I hear just the opposite. And so people who think years of dysfunctionality is going to be fixed because of a receiver. That's just not making sense to me. I do know this. I know if you compare our 18 months to the previous eight years, you are seeing a qualitative difference. I've inherited a department where overwhelming a number of employees were out sick.

That has turned around. Inmate on inmate violence was up. Inmate violence on officers were up. The conditions were problematic. So I find it hard to believe that a few months ago people looked at what was happening on Rikers and saying that these guys are moving in the right direction. What happened in a few months, we're thinking differently. So I have to read what came out of the court. But we are going to continue to do what we have been doing, and that is moving Rikers forward. Rikers was a mess. I don't know where all of this creative thinking is coming from that all of a sudden Rikers was this beautiful place.No, it was a mess. Commissioner Molina went in and corrected and moved us into a place of a dysfunctional system.

Question: Mr. Mayor.

Mayor Adams: Yes.

Question: If you could first tell us were you surprised by Commissioner Sewell's resignation and then talk to us about the timeline process, the expected timeline in selecting the next commissioner.

Mayor Adams: I was telling someone the other day, being the mayor of the City of New York, you can never be surprised. Every day there is a new venture, a new journey. And I'm an adrenaline junkie. I love every part of being the mayor of this city helping people every day. I'm never going to get in the way of people pursuing the things they want to pursue. And so my question to someone when that sit before me and say, I want to try something else, my only question to them is, how do I help? What do I do to help you? You helped me. How do I help you?

And that is out of the, I think we have 70 something agencies. Out of those 70 something agencies, I think we have four or five commissioners that left. That's not a bad ratio. So people who think that all of a sudden people are running for the door, let's do the math. People are staying here and helping and continue to help make the city, the city that we all believe in.

Question: And the timeline for selecting… 

Mayor Adams: The commissioner is here until the end of June. She wants a smooth transition to whomever is going to take her position. She wants to be as helpful as possible. She's made it clear that she wants to be there to help. She says she loves this city. This is the city she loves.

Question: Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor Adams: What's up, Dana?

Question: Two questions. First, can you tell us when precisely Commissioner Sewell told you she was leaving? And then secondly, how do you feel about the perception that your first female and for the city's first female police commissioner left in part because she felt undermined by the men around her?

Mayor Adams: I'm sorry. She told you that? No, ask the question. Did she tell you that?

Question: I mean, it's been reported.

Mayor Adams: Oh, it's been reported. Okay. So she didn't tell you that. Would you acknowledge that? Would you acknowledge she did not tell you that?

Question: I mean, she also had to report to Phil Banks…

Mayor Adams: I'm sorry.

Question: …Was around her.

Mayor Adams: Yeah. So because it's reported, you automatically assume that that must be fact. I mean that's problematic for me. There's a whole lot of things that are reported, especially on Twitter. Listen, if Commissioner Sewell wants to tell you why she's leaving, then you should speak to her. She's not disappearing. But for you to assume that well, she's leaving because of A, B, C or D or that Brendan McGuire is leaving for a reason or that Max is leaving for a reason because it was reported. Come on, let's stop this. Let's stop creating the narrative.

This commissioner was given an amazing opportunity to show her skill set and she did an amazing job. Now, if you want to create some type of narrative on why, then that's up to you. But don't put words in her mouth that she did not tell you. She made the decision that she wanted to do something else, and I respect that. So when you say that because so-and-so was around her, that's the same creative writing that you guys have been doing throughout this whole administration. And I find it fascinating that the same people that made life difficult for the commissioner are now standing up acting like they were treating her with the love and nurturing that she deserved.

She was bringing down crime. And some of the City Council members that are speaking now, they were tearing her apart. They were putting obstacles in front of her every day no matter what she did. And some of you are writing stories right now about, oh my God, when you were destroying her when she was here. Every day finding innuendos and rumors. We heard this and we heard that when she was doing what she was hired to do in a very professional way. I mean, you're talking about how she felt in the department. How did she felt in the city when she was turning the city around?

And I don't see, let's look. Matter of fact, we need to search some articles, Jonah, of how often y'all wrote how well she was doing. How often did y'all write how well the first woman commissioner did? How often did you do that, Dana? You have one article you could point to?

Question: I don't cover cops.

Mayor Adams: Okay. Yeah. I'm pretty sure. So everybody's talking about how much you loved her. Did you show her love when she was here? I showed her love. I adored what the commissioner was doing. And the rest of you should ask, what role did you play? What's up Michael?

Question: Another narrative that [inaudible].

Mayor Adams: Yes.

Question: Some people I've talked to today view this as an early departure, there's other departures [inaudible]. They feel like it's going to be viewed as a mark against you because she left at this point in your first term. Can you kind of address that and respond to that idea that this is kind of in the negative column?

Mayor Adams: Just what, I don't know the question. What's the question you're asking me?

Question: That people do this as kind of a mark against you, that she left so early in your tenure.

Mayor Adams: Why?

Question: Well, I mean…

Mayor Adams: What number of years would make it not a negative mark? Is there a predetermined number of years?

Question: I don't know that there's a rule book for number of years.

Mayor Adams: Yeah. I know you don't.

Question: Think about that kind of thing that's floating around now.

Mayor Adams: Floating around where? In room nine? Listen, people out there, you know what they say to me? Eric, how safe is the city? I mean, you guys live in this bubble where y'all all talk to each other and y'all all come up with these different, oh my God, these conspiracies. You know what people say out there? How safe is the city? That's what they want. They want the city to be safe. My number one skillset is that I'm able to ignore noise and do the job. We are doing the job. Even while we are dealing with asylum seekers, we're setting union contracts. Even while we're bringing down crime, we're improving our school system. We're dealing with housing. So I'm doing the job because I'm able to do the job because I ignore all the noise that I'm constantly bombarded with.

Question: Do you wish she would stay? I mean, would you like to see her stay on or what's your feeling on that?

Mayor Adams: I told the commissioner from the beginning, as long as I'm mayor, you can be my commissioner. I like you as a professional and I like you as a person. Your poise, your character. She reminds me of my older sister, very poised. She's a good character and I think she's a good human being.

Question: Mr. Mayor?

Mayor Adams: Yes.

Question: On your shortlist for the next police commissioner-

Mayor Adams: I'm sorry.

Question: On your shortlist for the next police commissioner, are you considering Deputy Mayor Phil Banks or Eddie [inaudible] also on Banks and to cite some of the New York Times is reporting.

Mayor Adams: It's true.

Question: Well, but just I would love your thoughts on this.

Mayor Adams: Yes.

Question: The Times did report that Sewell told a city official.

Mayor Adams: Who?

Question: A city official, hold on, let me finish. And that she felt pressured that Banks was acting as a shadow police commissioner and she was a little bit undermined. She wasn't able to go through with her job. Just wondering if that's true. Was there that undue pressure? And again, is Banks on your short list to be the next PC?

Mayor Adams: Okay. At first, you guys were saying in January that Banks was undermining her. In January, you were saying that. You were saying it in February, March, April. That's been a narrative that you had all along. You've been saying that Deputy Mayor Banks is a deputy mayor of Public Safety. All of those pieces that fall under public safety, he's responsible for. That's what deputy mayors do. And so I have a short list. You're even on my list. I think you would make a great public official. And so when we're ready to make an announcement, we're going to make an announcement.

And the New York City Police Department is a well-oiled machine. It continues to function. When we started decreasing crime when I was a rookie cop under Bill Bratton. Bernie Kerik came in, we still decreased crime. Bernie left, Saier came in, we still decreased crime. It's a well-oiled machine. She put in place a platform that we can all build on and we're going to continue to build on it. And so that's the role. The role of the police department is to keep New Yorkers safe, and we're doing that. How's it going?

Question: Good. Good. Was hoping you could talk a little bit about the role of the police commissioner in your administration because I know it's different from previous ones. But does the police commissioner now have less power than in previous years? And the next police commissioner that comes in, would they be able to say to the administration, we'd like to do X strategy, we'd like to put in X personnel if they wanted to from the office, could they?

Mayor Adams: Differ from?

Question: From-...

Mayor Adams: City Hall?

Question: Right.

Mayor Adams: The people of the city elected me to be the mayor. We need to be clear on that. Every agency, every agency, we keep trying to isolate this into the NYPD. I would encourage you all to speak with all of my commissioners, every one of them, Department of Parks, HPD, they will all tell you, this guy is up all night making sure New Yorkers are getting the product that they expect. It doesn't matter the agency. I was elected or hired by this city to make sure they get the product they deserve.

And so if you are asking me that am I going to ensure that whomever is the police commissioner, that they're going to provide the product that New Yorkers have articulated to me? Yes. And every agency understands that this is a mayor that wants to know what product are you giving New Yorkers. That's not going to change. That is who I am because I know how good the city is, I know how good the workers are, and I know how good my commissioners are. And so when you look at the number of commissioners we have, like I said, four commissioners left. Gary left. The police commissioner is leaving. Who else left? Now I think about it.

Question: [Inaudible.]

Mayor Adams: Huh?

Question: [Inaudible.]

Mayor Adams: I said Gary. I said Gary. So we talk. Out of how many? How many agencies do we have? Agencies? What we got, 70?

[Crosstalk.]

Mayor Adams: 70 something agencies, 70 something agencies. Let's say five. I'm going to give you five. Five decided to do something else out of 70 something agencies. And we're saying, is everybody running for the door? No, everybody's running to do their job. I mean, come on guys.

Question: Are you confessing to be a micromanager?

Mayor Adams: Am I doing?

Question: Are you confessing to be a micromanager?

Mayor Adams: No. I am… Listen. I keep remembering what mom told me. Inspect what you expect or it's all suspect. That's all she told me. Trust but verify. Now, some people may call that a micromanager. I call it being the mayor of a city that you love. And taxpayers elected me to give them the product they deserve. And I don't think they've been getting the product they deserve previously. They're going to get it now.

Original source can be found here.