Loomer Unleashed - LIVE: Final NYC Mayoral General Election Debate

00:00:55.000 Good evening.

00:00:56.000 Welcome to the final general election debate in the race for mayor of New York City.

00:01:01.000 I'm Errol Lewis, political anchor here at Spectrum News New York One, and we're coming to you live from the LaGuardia Performing Arts Center at LaGuardia Community College in Queens.

00:01:10.000 Over the next 90 minutes, you're going to hear from the leading mayoral candidates about the biggest issues in New York, including the cost of living, the education crisis, and public safety.

00:01:20.000 I'm joined tonight by Katie Honen of the news organization, The City, and Brian Lehrer of WNYC Radio and Gothamist.

00:01:30.000 Tonight's debate is brought to you by the New York City Campaign Finance Board, the city agency that administers the public matching funds program.

00:01:39.000 It's also sponsored by Spectrum News New York One, WNYC Gothamist, and the news site The City and Spectrum Noticias, and our co-sponsors, the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY, the Center for New York City and State Law at New York Law School, the Museum of the City of New York, and John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

00:02:01.000 You can watch tonight's debate without a paywall on ny1.com.

00:02:06.000 It is also being broadcast on NYC TV, WNYC Radio, C-SPAN, the Spectrum News YouTube page, and thecity.nyc.

00:02:18.000 It's in Spanish on Spectrum Noticias and YouTube.

00:02:22.000 The candidates joining us tonight have met a fundraising threshold established by the Campaign Finance Board.

00:02:28.000 The seat is currently held by Eric Adams, who has decided not to run for re-election.

00:02:34.000 In alphabetical order, Andrew Cuomo is a former governor of New York, running on an independent line.

00:02:41.000 Zaran Mamdani is the Democratic nominee, representing parts of Queens in the State Assembly since 2021.

00:02:48.000 And Curtis Liwa is the Republican nominee and the founder of the Guardian Angels.

00:02:54.000 Now for the rules.

00:02:55.000 The rules you see on your screen right now have been agreed to by all of the candidates.

00:02:59.000 Each candidate will deliver an opening statement of up to 45 seconds, and then answers to our questions will generally be limited to 60 seconds with a chance for rebuttals.

00:03:10.000 Candidates will have an opportunity to ask one opponent one question in our cross-examination round.

00:03:16.000 So let's begin.

00:03:18.000 This will be the last time all three candidates will be together on stage.

00:03:21.000 The next mayor will be sworn into office 71 days from now on January 1st, 2026.

00:03:27.000 He will inherit a city with an affordability crisis, a tense relationship with the federal government, and millions of New Yorkers who very likely did not support him.

00:03:37.000 Let's begin our debate with your opening statements to viewers.

00:03:40.000 You have 45 seconds.

00:03:41.000 The order was determined by a random drawing on live television this morning, and we'll begin with Curtis Liwa.

00:03:47.000 Good evening.

00:03:48.000 Thank you.

00:03:50.000 It's us versus them. 0.99

00:03:52.000 It's us versus the insiders and the billionaires.

00:03:56.000 It's us versus Cuomo.

00:03:58.000 It's us versus Johan.

00:04:00.000 This is a campaign not about power.

00:04:03.000 This is a campaign about you, the people.

00:04:06.000 And I know many of you hardworking New Yorkers, you tell me you've been pushed aside, you've been silenced.

00:04:12.000 These are the people that have all the money, all the connections.

00:04:15.000 They've made their backroom deals, but we have something more important.

00:04:20.000 We have you, the people.

00:04:21.000 And we're not going to be silenced anymore.

00:04:24.000 We're going to fight.

00:04:25.000 Tonight, I want you to look at the content of my policies, to know that I've served this city for more than 50 years, the city that I love.

00:04:34.000 And I'm going to share with you my vision to make New York City safer again, to make New York City more affordable again, and where everybody once again can live the American dream.

00:04:47.000 Thank you.

00:04:47.000 Next is Andrew Cuomo.

00:04:49.000 Good evening.

00:04:50.000 Thank you.

00:04:51.000 Good evening.

00:04:52.000 New York, first thank you to the moderators.

00:04:55.000 Thank you all for being here.

00:04:56.000 And go Nix, Go Nicks, Go Nix.

00:04:58.000 I hope we get an update on the score.

00:05:00.000 New York is the greatest city on the globe, but we are at a pivotal moment.

00:05:06.000 And the voters are going to have to decide in this election what candidate has the plan to save this city and what candidate can get it done, not just talk about it.

00:05:18.000 My main opponent has no new ideas.

00:05:20.000 He has no new plan.

00:05:21.000 It's built a Blasio rehash, and we know how that turned out.

00:05:24.000 He's never run anything, managed anything.

00:05:27.000 He's never had a real job.

00:05:28.000 I will hire 5,000 new police, build 500,000 new units.

00:05:32.000 I will cut taxes.

00:05:34.000 I will grow jobs.

00:05:35.000 And I will end this hate-mongering and division that is tearing this city apart because that's not who we are as New Yorkers.

00:05:48.000 You know I can make change.

00:05:50.000 You know I can make government work.

00:05:51.000 I've done it before.

00:05:52.000 I'll be right here on day one.

00:05:54.000 Okay, thank you.

00:05:55.000 Next is Aron Mamdani.

00:05:57.000 Good evening.

00:05:58.000 Thank you to the moderators and thank you to New Yorkers for tuning in.

00:06:01.000 I know you'd rather be watching the Knicks.

00:06:03.000 While there are three candidates on this stage, you will hear only two messages.

00:06:08.000 My opponents, who spend more time trying to convince the other to drop out than actually proposing their own policies, will speak only of the past, because that's all that they know.

00:06:17.000 I am the sole candidate running with a vision for the future of this city.

00:06:22.000 Andrew Cuomo will spend much of tonight attacking me.

00:06:25.000 He is a desperate man, lashing out because he knows that the one thing he's always cared about, power, is now slipping away from him.

00:06:33.000 He will amplify right-wing talking points.

00:06:35.000 He will share conspiracy theories, and he will do these things to make you feel that this should keep you up at night.

00:06:40.000 But I've been spending the last year listening to New Yorkers, and I know what actually keeps you up.

00:06:44.000 It's whether or not you can afford to live a safe and dignified life in this city.

00:06:49.000 I have plans for our future.

00:06:50.000 My opponents only have fear.

00:06:53.000 Thank you very much, candidates.

00:06:54.000 Let's start tonight with some breaking news that happened yesterday afternoon when federal agents descended on Canal Street, arresting street vendors who have been selling counterfeit designer merchandise for as long as any of us can remember.

00:07:06.000 This is the first time we've seen major federal law enforcement activity in the city outside of arrests at immigration court in lower Manhattan.

00:07:14.000 And some critics are now ringing an alarm bell, calling it a dangerous and unprecedented use of federal agents in New York City.

00:07:20.000 Others say that the vendors were a major quality of life problem in the neighborhood that the NYPD had ignored.

00:07:27.000 So the candidate, I'll ask each of you to respond to this.

00:07:30.000 How should the mayor and the NYPD have handled both the presence of the street vendors and then the federal action?

00:07:36.000 We'll start with you, Mr. Cuomo.

00:07:38.000 I've had a lot of dealings with President Trump, and there's only one way to deal with him.

00:07:43.000 He puts his finger in your chest, and you have to put your finger right back in his chest.

00:07:47.000 I've actually had this situation with ICE interfering in New York before.

00:07:54.000 It was upstate New York where ICE just showed up and started to take action.

00:07:58.000 And I called the president and I went down to the White House and I said, that doesn't work in New York.

00:08:03.000 You don't send ICE in without coordinating with our police.

00:08:08.000 It's not smart.

00:08:09.000 It's duplicative and it's dangerous.

00:08:12.000 We don't need ICE to do quality of life crimes.

00:08:17.000 We don't need them to deal, worry about illegal vendors.

00:08:21.000 That's a basic policing function for NYPD, consumer affairs, etc.

00:08:28.000 I would have called the President and I would have said, look, you're way out of bounds.

00:08:33.000 They're way out of bounds.

00:08:35.000 Call them back, or I'm going to have the NYPD step in and stop them because this is not their jurisdiction.

00:08:42.000 You're in the city of New York.

00:08:43.000 Okay, Mr. Maldani.

00:08:45.000 ICE is a reckless entity that cares little for the law and even less for the people that they're supposed to serve.

00:08:52.000 What we need to be doing here in our city is to end the chapter of collaboration between City Hall and the federal government, which we've seen under Mayor Adams.

00:09:01.000 What we need to do is actually pass the street vending reform bills that have been in the city council, some of which that this mayor has actually overridden.

00:09:10.000 That's an example of how we can both protect street vendors, ensure quality of life, and leave no stone unturned in delivering for the people of the city, as opposed to working with a president who's looking to declare war on those same people.

00:09:22.000 Mrs. Liwa.

00:09:24.000 Unlike both of my adversaries, I've patrolled that area many times, church and canal.

00:09:29.000 And as you said, Errol, that activity has been going on for a long time, selling the knockoff, sometimes stolen contraband by a series of people.

00:09:38.000 The local fifth precinct, they make arrests when they have obviously cause to do so.

00:09:45.000 And they complain that they have to release them because of no cash bail, of which both of my adversaries are in favor of and I'm not.

00:09:52.000 The feds should not have stepped into this situation.

00:09:55.000 There is not communication between the local authorities and the feds.

00:10:00.000 This is a matter that should have been left up to the NYPD.

00:10:03.000 But we can't tolerate citizens attacking our federal law enforcement forces in the street because then that will just lead to anarchy. 0.99

00:10:14.000 Let me ask a related question.

00:10:16.000 President Trump has been commenting on this race and all of you on a regular basis.

00:10:20.000 He's been less than glowing when talking about each of you, especially you, Mr. Mohamdani.

00:10:25.000 I'd like you each to describe whatever combination of defiance, diplomacy, and cooperation you will use as mayor if President Trump continues to increase the federal government's role in the affairs of our city while also threatening to decrease funding.

00:10:41.000 Start with you this time, Mr. Sleeward.

00:10:43.000 Both my adversaries have decided to bump chess with President Trump to prove who's more macho.

00:10:50.000 You can't beat Trump.

00:10:51.000 He holds most of the cards.

00:10:53.000 He's already cut federal funding for Medicaid, for the SNAP program, and it's threatening to cut funds for NYCHA.

00:10:59.000 So if you're all of a sudden going to get adversarial, you're going to lose.

00:11:03.000 And who gets hurt?

00:11:04.000 The people of New York City.

00:11:06.000 With Trump, it's always the art of the deal.

00:11:08.000 You have to go, you have to try to negotiate, whether it's with his minions or himself.

00:11:14.000 He'll want you to give in order to get a little bit.

00:11:17.000 But if you immediately act like you're going to take him on, like, you know, it's going to be a one-on-one fight, we're going to lose.

00:11:24.000 All the people in New York City are going to lose.

00:11:26.000 You have to be able to show respect.

00:11:28.000 And I think if you show respect, you'll get respect and you'll protect the New Yorkers who are so desperately in need of federal funds.

00:11:37.000 What's the good of it?

00:11:38.000 They'll bump chess with Donald Trump.

00:11:41.000 They won't get the money, and then they'll blame Donald Trump.

00:11:44.000 I will negotiate with Donald Trump and try to get the best deal possible for our poor and indigent citizens.

00:11:52.000 Okay, Mr. Cuomo.

00:11:54.000 Yeah, the difference on this question is I've actually lived it and I've done it with President Trump over many years through the most difficult situation that this country has gone through, COVID plus.

00:12:09.000 You're wrong.

00:12:10.000 You're going to have to confront President Trump.

00:12:13.000 He is hyper-aggressive and he is going to overstep his bounds.

00:12:17.000 And you are going to have to confront him. 0.87

00:12:19.000 And you can beat him. 0.99

00:12:20.000 I confronted him and I have beaten him.

00:12:23.000 He was going to quarantine New York during COVID.

00:12:26.000 And I stopped him.

00:12:28.000 He was going to cut aid to federal programs and I stopped him.

00:12:32.000 But you also want to be in a place where you can cooperate on good things because we need federal help if we're going to save our city and rebuild our city.

00:12:42.000 President Trump has to respect you.

00:12:45.000 He sent the National Guard into 20 cities.

00:12:47.000 City he didn't send it into?

00:12:49.000 New York.

00:12:51.000 Because I talked to him and I said, we don't need you here.

00:12:54.000 He has said he'll take over New York if Mondami wins.

00:12:58.000 And he will, because he has no respect for him.

00:13:01.000 He thinks he's a kid and he's going to knock him on his tucas.

00:13:05.000 So it is a balance.

00:13:07.000 But you're going to have to be adversarial when you need to, but you want to cooperate to get good things done in this city.

00:13:14.000 And you need federal help.

00:13:16.000 Mr. Mondami.

00:13:20.000 We first just heard from the Republican candidate for mayor, and then we heard from Donald Trump's puppet himself, Andrew Cuomo.

00:13:26.000 You could turn on TV any day of the week, and you will hear Donald Trump share that his pick for mayor is Andrew Cuomo.

00:13:34.000 And he wants Andrew Cuomo to be the mayor, not because it will be good for New Yorkers, but because it will be good for him.

00:13:40.000 Look, Donald Trump ran on three promises.

00:13:42.000 He ran on creating the single largest deportation force in American history.

00:13:46.000 He ran on going after his political enemies, and he ran on lowering the cost of living.

00:13:50.000 If he wants to talk to me about the third piece of that agenda, I will always be ready and willing.

00:13:55.000 But if he wants to talk about how to pursue the first and second piece of that agenda at the expense of New Yorkers, I will fight him every single step of the way.

00:14:03.000 Okay.

00:14:06.000 Short rebuttal from Mr. Cuomo.

00:14:10.000 That's not what Donald Trump said.

00:14:11.000 Donald Trump does an analysis of the race.

00:14:14.000 Donald Trump, I believe, wants Mondami.

00:14:17.000 That is his dream because he will use him politically all across the country and he will take over New York City.

00:14:23.000 Make no mistake.

00:14:25.000 It will be President Trump and Mayor Trump and he will come in and take over the city.

00:14:31.000 I have no doubt.

00:14:32.000 All he said was, his analysis is after the polls, it's a tough choice between a Democrat and a communist.

00:14:40.000 And he considers Mondami a communist.

00:14:43.000 He happens to be a socialist.

00:14:45.000 But between a communist and a Democrat, it's a tough choice for him.

00:14:49.000 Okay.

00:14:50.000 All right.

00:14:50.000 Thank you, candidates.

00:14:51.000 Brian wants to talk to you about some important issues on the minds of New Yorkers.

00:14:56.000 Hi, candidates.

00:14:57.000 Thank you for coming tonight.

00:14:59.000 Yeah, and the cost of living is our next topic.

00:15:02.000 You've all cited it as a major factor.

00:15:04.000 And of course, so many New Yorkers are experiencing this, especially when it comes to rising housing costs.

00:15:11.000 And many New Yorkers were shocked this week as a new report from the group Advocates for Children revealed that about 154,000 New York City public school students have been homeless at some point during the last year.

00:15:26.000 65,000 lived in homeless shelters.

00:15:29.000 Even more were in doubled-up situations with no home of their own.

00:15:33.000 It's never been over 150,000 before, they tell us.

00:15:38.000 And it amounts to one in seven New York City kids.

00:15:42.000 As mayor, how would each of you tackle this problem to help this vulnerable population?

00:15:49.000 And in this round, we're going to go Mr. Momdani, Mr. Cuomo, Mr. Sleewa.

00:15:52.000 So, Mr. Momdani, you go first.

00:15:54.000 This is a stain on our city to see this many children in our public school system be homeless and to know that this is the ninth consecutive year that it's more than 100,000 of those children.

00:16:05.000 What we need to do is ensure that next year is not the same.

00:16:09.000 And we are going to do that by building the housing necessary such that New Yorkers are not priced out of this city or forced to live in shelters.

00:16:16.000 And that's why my campaign is going to deliver 200,000 new affordable homes across the five boroughs, all while freezing the rent for more than 2 million rent-stabilized tenants.

00:16:26.000 Now, in the public school system, we also have a program called Every Child and Family is Known.

00:16:31.000 It links a child who is living in a homeless shelter with an employee of the public school system.

00:16:36.000 It also links that employee with the child's family.

00:16:38.000 It's been shown to increase attendance records, self-esteem, a level of belonging in that school system.

00:16:44.000 I am going to increase that pilot program to more than 200 schools, and we're going to do it because we have to deliver for these children.

00:16:50.000 Mr. Cuomo.

00:16:54.000 Zoron is a great actor.

00:16:56.000 He missed his calling.

00:16:58.000 Freeze the rent sounds great.

00:17:00.000 Yeah, it affects about 25% of the number of housing units in the city of New York.

00:17:04.000 It's not a new idea.

00:17:06.000 Bill de Blasio did it.

00:17:07.000 It turned out to be a debacle.

00:17:09.000 And it does nothing for 75% of the units.

00:17:12.000 And for the 25%, it just postpones the increase and actually causes us to lose units because landlords took them off the market.

00:17:20.000 I'll jump in and ask you to address the homeless children question, and we will get to rent freeze.

00:17:25.000 Yeah, well, the homeless answer to homeless children is you need more affordable housing.

00:17:31.000 And I'm saying freeze the rent was done in the de Blasio.

00:17:35.000 It doesn't work.

00:17:36.000 It's a canard and just a great three-word slogan for TikTok.

00:17:40.000 The way to increase availability of affordable housing is to build affordable housing.

00:17:48.000 I was the HUD secretary.

00:17:49.000 I did it all across the country.

00:17:51.000 We have 1% vacancy rate.

00:17:54.000 We're not building enough affordable housing, and you need a competent, productive government to do that.

00:18:00.000 And that's what I've done across the country, across the state, make government work.

00:18:05.000 You get the supply up, the rents will come down.

00:18:08.000 Thank you, Mr. Slewa.

00:18:12.000 Okay, Mr. Mondani, you will open your name, so you get 30 seconds.

00:18:16.000 We are in the ninth consecutive year of more than 100,000 children in the New York City public school system being homeless.

00:18:21.000 That means it began when Andrew Cuomo was the governor.

00:18:24.000 And what did he do?

00:18:26.000 What did he do about it?

00:18:27.000 He did not do anything.

00:18:29.000 He spent more money on a singing water fountain at LaGuardia Airport than he did on the average cost of an affordable housing unit.

00:18:35.000 That is the record that we have in display.

00:18:37.000 And what we need is a change in the city, not more of the same.

00:18:41.000 If I may, if I may.

00:18:44.000 The homeless issue, number of homeless since I left, has more than doubled during his administration and the state's administration.

00:18:54.000 Since I left, homeless rate has more than doubled.

00:18:57.000 When I left, the vacancy rate on housing was 4.5%.

00:19:02.000 It's now 1%.

00:19:04.000 This man never even proposed a bill on housing or education.

00:19:11.000 Never even proposed a bill.

00:19:17.000 It's your turn.

00:19:18.000 Andrew, you didn't leave.

00:19:20.000 You fled from being impeached by the Democrats in the state legislature.

00:19:26.000 Leave. 0.99

00:19:27.000 You fled.

00:19:28.000 But let's get back on topic because I'm the only candidate up here who's been into many of the over 300 Department of Homeless Services shelters and the family shelters are unsafe for the families there.

00:19:41.000 We have to make them safer.

00:19:42.000 We have to bring teachers into the shelter. 0.93

00:19:45.000 Many times, the mothers or the guardian have to get on bus after bus and take them to a school that's two or two and a half hours away.

00:19:54.000 This is a horror situation that's taking place.

00:19:57.000 And we have to prioritize this because this number of homeless children is going to grow.

00:20:01.000 It takes five years to build affordable housing.

00:20:04.000 We need to address it in the shelters itself to be able to handle it so that the teachers can come in, whether they're public school teachers, charter school teachers, and I know there are a number of parochial school teachers who love children who would volunteer their efforts to do that.

00:20:20.000 We're going to give it to Katie Honen now to ask about another aspect of affordable housing. 1.00

00:20:26.000 We're going to switch to the millions of New Yorkers who are renters, specifically those in rent-regulated apartments.

00:20:31.000 There are more than a million New Yorkers living in these units, most of them rent-stabilized.

00:20:36.000 Mr. Mamdani, you've proposed a rent freeze for these tenants.

00:20:39.000 Mr. Cuomo, you don't support that, and you've proposed a new means test for having a rent-stabilized apartment.

00:20:46.000 Mr. Mamdani, our question: How can you know in advance what the balance between landlord needs and tenant needs will be in future years?

00:20:55.000 We've seen a lot of inflation in recent years.

00:20:57.000 Haven't small landlords felt that pinch as well?

00:21:00.000 And then we have other questions for the other candidates.

00:21:02.000 You know, we've seen time and again mayors use their power with the rent guidelines board to hike the rent on those same more than 2 million New Yorkers.

00:21:11.000 This same rent guidelines board did a study that found that landlords of those units had seen their profits increase by more than 12 percent.

00:21:19.000 Their response: hike the rent on rent-stabilized tenants who have a median household income of $60,000.

00:21:26.000 I believe that tenants across our city deserve relief, and I also believe that city government can work to alleviate the pressures for landlords of those units without having to put that burden on those same tenants.

00:21:37.000 It's possible to keep New Yorkers in this city and to help landlords with rising insurance costs, water bills, Con Edison, and a broken property tax system.

00:21:46.000 Thank you.

00:21:46.000 Mr. Sliwa, what's your proposal for helping New Yorkers with the historically high rent burdens in either stabilized or market rate units?

00:21:55.000 Well, the first thing, we have 6,000 empty apartments in NYCHA.

00:22:00.000 That is a sin.

00:22:01.000 That's what the mayor can control right away.

00:22:03.000 We need to move those families with children in. 1.00

00:22:06.000 For those who live in rent-stabilized apartments and have their rent subsidized, Zoran Mandami, we need to make sure that the big realtors have to pay a vacancy tax because they're holding off on those apartments.

00:22:24.000 They're not putting them out into the marketplace because they want to flip the building.

00:22:27.000 Not for the mid-sized landlords or the small landlords.

00:22:30.000 They need the help.

00:22:31.000 And there are a number of people in the outer boroughs.

00:22:34.000 They own a home.

00:22:35.000 They live on the property.

00:22:36.000 They're not absentee landlords.

00:22:38.000 Two, three, four apartments.

00:22:40.000 And they're deciding not to put them in the marketplace when somebody either leaves or dies because they have to deal with tenant-landlord court, which is an absolute nightmare for small landlords.

00:22:51.000 We got to make sure it's a fair playing field so that the tenants are protected, but the landlords are protected so they're not stuck with squatters for four, five, or six years, which destroys their equity and forces them to leave.

00:23:06.000 Thank you.

00:23:08.000 Mr. Cuomo, you signed a law in 2019 repealing a means test to live in a rent-stabilized apartment.

00:23:15.000 What's your position now and what changed in that?

00:23:18.000 The 2019 law was added tenant protections that had never been added before and protections against tenant evictions.

00:23:30.000 But to answer your question, you cannot, Zoran said, the tenant doesn't have to pay more rent, but we're going to cover the landlord's costs.

00:23:42.000 No, you can't do both.

00:23:44.000 And that's not what happened.

00:23:46.000 We did freeze the rent with the Basio.

00:23:49.000 We lost units because the landlords took them off the market because you weren't covering their costs.

00:23:54.000 The reason the Rent Guidelines Board went up after the freeze was because you had to make up for all the backlog of costs.

00:24:03.000 And this, I'm going to freeze the rent.

00:24:06.000 People think it applies to all of them.

00:24:08.000 No, just the 25% of the units that are rent stabilized.

00:24:12.000 And by the way, it's all BS because the mayor doesn't have the power to do it anyway.

00:24:17.000 The Rent Guidelines Board does, and he doesn't control the Rent Guidelines Board.

00:24:22.000 So nothing is going to happen.

00:24:25.000 It's all this.

00:24:27.000 It's just more political blather.

00:24:30.000 Mr. Mamdani, you weren't bothered.

00:24:32.000 You know, if you want a candidate for mayor who tells you everything that he cannot do, then Andrew Cuomo should be your choice.

00:24:41.000 If you want a candidate for mayor who will use every tool at their disposal, including the nine appointees at the Rent Guidelines Board, all of whom are appointed by the mayor, then I am the candidate for you.

00:24:57.000 We have to go to Errol, sir.

00:24:59.000 I'm sorry, you aren't named, so I'm sorry.

00:25:01.000 We're going to go to Errol Talk for development.

00:25:05.000 Can I get the rebuttal?

00:25:06.000 Okay, quickly.

00:25:06.000 Quickly.

00:25:08.000 The mayor doesn't appoint the Rent Guidelines Board.

00:25:11.000 He's wrong.

00:25:12.000 They are appointed to a term, and they're on holdovers.

00:25:16.000 And when the term is over, you can appoint.

00:25:19.000 But it takes a number of years to get control.

00:25:22.000 Mr. Stood.

00:25:22.000 Candidates.

00:25:23.000 Candidates, right now, we are just blocks away from the site of the Long Island City rezoning plan, which has been under consideration for a decade at this point, and in its latest version would create 15,000 new apartments.

00:25:35.000 That plan, like the recently passed City of Yes five borough rezoning, reflects a reality that hundreds of thousands of units, as many as 1 million new units, will be needed in New York City over the next 10 years.

00:25:49.000 What is your plan to get new units built quickly?

00:25:52.000 And the order of this will be Mr. Cuomo, then Mr. Sliwa, then Mr. Mamdani.

00:25:58.000 Sliwa said before it takes five years to build affordable housing.

00:26:02.000 No, it doesn't.

00:26:02.000 No, it shouldn't.

00:26:04.000 That's an incompetent government.

00:26:07.000 You can actually get competent government and well-managed government.

00:26:11.000 I built LaGuardia Airport, even though he doesn't like it, in four years.

00:26:16.000 Okay?

00:26:17.000 So don't tell me it takes five years to build a housing unit.

00:26:20.000 You have to redo HPD.

00:26:21.000 You have to change the entire organizational structure.

00:26:26.000 You have the zoning, but you have to start hundreds, if not thousands, of sites simultaneously.

00:26:34.000 Private sector developers, partner with not-for-profits, partner with CDCs, use city-owned sites, use air rights, make a deal with the unions.

00:26:46.000 But this has to be the number one priority.

00:26:49.000 The way I did Second Avenue Subway or the Mario Como Bridge or the Kosciasco Bridge, this project is thousands of housing developments being accelerated, expedited, facilitated at one time.

00:27:04.000 And we need 500,000 units.

00:27:07.000 That's the way you're going to make New York City affordable and still allow the talent to come here.

00:27:11.000 Okay, Mr. Sliwa.

00:27:14.000 I'm the only candidate here on the stage who is opposed to the city of yes.

00:27:18.000 Both my adversaries are for it.

00:27:21.000 Make sure on Election Day when you turn over your ballot and you have the initiatives, you vote no.

00:27:28.000 And you know how oftentimes I've been at King's, how are you going to work with the Democratic-controlled city council?

00:27:34.000 I, Adrian Adams, and the predominant Democrats, including many of them very liberal and progressive, believe no to yes.

00:27:42.000 I have a simple plan.

00:27:43.000 It takes a year.

00:27:44.000 We have 25 empire state buildings that would be empty and just have office space.

00:27:52.000 It'll never be used because business doesn't operate the way it used to.

00:27:55.000 Retrofit them to affordable apartments.

00:27:58.000 Most are in Manhattan.

00:27:59.000 The infrastructure is there.

00:28:01.000 You set up a partnership with developers.

00:28:04.000 It'll put men and women to work and you'll get your affordable apartments a lot quicker and not be a burden to the outer boroughs and the residential communities because you're in the back pockets, Andrew, of the developers who wine-dined and pocketlined you.

00:28:20.000 Let me ask you a follow-up on that, Mr. Sliwa.

00:28:22.000 Do you think each elected city council member should have basically veto power over whether or not housing gets built in their district?

00:28:30.000 Absolutely.

00:28:31.000 Local control.

00:28:32.000 Community boards should have their say.

00:28:34.000 What happened is zoning.

00:28:35.000 We throw it out.

00:28:36.000 Eric Adams, this city of yes is on steroids and he went wild taking care of his developer friends as he knew he would be one and done. 0.97

00:28:46.000 I told you he was corrupt.

00:28:48.000 I told you there would be chaos and I warned you in 2021.

00:28:52.000 You should have elected me mayor then.

00:28:54.000 Okay, Mr. Mamdani.

00:28:56.000 We need to build more housing all across New York City.

00:28:59.000 Today, New York City builds about four houses for a thousand people.

00:29:02.000 Jersey City is at seven.

00:29:03.000 Tokyo is at about 10.

00:29:05.000 We need to do this by streamlining the processes of private sector construction across the city, by ensuring we're building more around hubs of mass transit.

00:29:13.000 And we also need to ensure that the public sector is building truly affordable housing.

00:29:19.000 And what I mean by truly affordable is housing that is built with the median household income in mind, which is $70,000 for a family of four.

00:29:27.000 And that's why my administration will do exactly that, scaling up programs we already had in HPD, like senior affordable rental apartments, SARA, like ELA, extremely low-level affordability.

00:29:38.000 These are the kinds of programs that will deliver a city that New Yorkers can actually afford.

00:29:43.000 There was reference to the three housing-related charter amendment questions.

00:29:47.000 I know Mr. Cuomo is on the record as saying he favors them.

00:29:50.000 We just heard Mr. Sleewa say that he's against them.

00:29:52.000 Where do you stand on those?

00:29:54.000 I'm appreciative that those measures will be on the ballot and that New Yorkers will be able to cast their votes for them.

00:29:59.000 I know that we desperately need to build more housing in this city, and I also know that the jobs we create in the building of that housing should be good jobs as well.

00:30:07.000 Lady Flancho, what is your opinion, Zoran?

00:30:11.000 Come on.

00:30:12.000 Yes or no.

00:30:13.000 What is your opinion?

00:30:15.000 Yes or no, Zoron.

00:30:17.000 True.

00:30:18.000 Don't be a politician.

00:30:19.000 I got it.

00:30:21.000 They're pointing out what I was about to say.

00:30:25.000 I think on the stage you can see two people appealing for the Republican Party's.

00:30:29.000 Don't surrender myself.

00:30:31.000 Answer the question.

00:30:32.000 Answer the question for once.

00:30:35.000 My question to you was: do you support the three ballot amendment questions?

00:30:39.000 I have not yet taken a position on those ballot amendments.

00:30:42.000 What a shocker.

00:30:45.000 What a shocker.

00:30:46.000 Once he takes it, he'll change it anyway.

00:30:46.000 No worries.

00:30:49.000 We're going to move on.

00:30:51.000 Candidates, the rhetoric on the campaign trail has become more heated in recent weeks.

00:30:55.000 We have reached a point where two of the candidates on stage here tonight have armed security.

00:31:00.000 I would like to spend a few minutes to see if we can dial down the rhetoric.

00:31:04.000 Mr. Mamdani, some Jewish New Yorkers continue to say that your comments on Israel and the war in Gaza leave them feeling unsafe and concerned about their future in our city.

00:31:13.000 Recently, several prominent New York rabbis took the unusual step of denouncing your candidacy, including the rabbi of the Park Avenue Synagogue in Manhattan and Rabbi Michael Miller, the longtime leader of the Jewish Community Relations Council, who is a friend to many of us.

00:31:27.000 Do you have any regrets about how you've dealt with these issues?

00:31:30.000 And will your long-standing views on the subject get in the way of your ability to be an effective mayor?

00:31:36.000 I look forward to being a mayor for every single person that calls this city home.

00:31:41.000 Not just those who voted for me in the Democratic primary, not just those that vote for me in this general election, but all 8.5 million New Yorkers.

00:31:48.000 And that includes Jewish New Yorkers who may have concerns or opposition to the positions that I've shared about Israel and Palestine.

00:31:55.000 You know, just a few weeks ago, I was on the M57, the slowest bus in New York City.

00:32:00.000 And as I was seated there, there was a speech therapist who was sitting next to me.

00:32:04.000 She told me that she was Jewish.

00:32:06.000 She said that her daughter was a huge fan, but that she was not yet decided on who she was going to vote for.

00:32:11.000 And she shared to me about her fears in this city about rising anti-Semitism.

00:32:15.000 And I told her what I will tell New Yorkers today, which is that I will be the mayor who doesn't just protect Jewish New Yorkers, but also celebrates and cherishes them, who doesn't just increase funding to hate crime prevention programs by 800%, who doesn't just ensure that the NYPD are outside of synagogues and temples on the high holy days, but also actually delivers on the implementation of the hidden voices curriculum in our school system so that children in this city learn about the beauty and the breadth of the Jewish experience right here in the five boroughs.

00:32:44.000 Okay.

00:32:45.000 I've got a different.

00:32:48.000 Can I just comment on that, please?

00:32:51.000 You know, not everything is a TikTok video.

00:32:54.000 You're the savior of the Jewish people. 0.99

00:32:56.000 You won't denounce globalize the intifada, which means kill Jews. 0.98

00:33:00.000 There's unprecedented fear in New York.

00:33:04.000 It was not several rabbis errors.

00:33:06.000 It was 650 rabbis who signed the letter, not several.

00:33:12.000 Let me ask you a related question, Mr. Cuomo.

00:33:15.000 Many New Yorkers have serious grievances with Israel and the way the Israeli government under Benjamin Netanyahu has conducted the war in Gaza and expanded settlements in the West Bank.

00:33:25.000 What would you say to and how would you handle New Yorkers who are in the streets, if you were mayor, protesting the actions of the Netanyahu government?

00:33:33.000 Fine, that's your right.

00:33:35.000 Protest, demonstrate, disagree.

00:33:38.000 God bless America.

00:33:39.000 God bless New York City.

00:33:41.000 And there is no doubt that there's two sides on what's going on and the passions are very high.

00:33:46.000 That doesn't, that doesn't justify anti-Semitic behavior in New York.

00:33:52.000 It doesn't justify having a Jewish population that feels unprotected in New York.

00:33:58.000 It doesn't justify leaders who stoke the flames of hatred against Jewish people, which is what Zoran does, in my opinion.

00:34:08.000 Give him a chance to answer, and then we'll go to Mr. Sliwa.

00:34:12.000 You know, I've heard from Jewish New Yorkers about their fears about anti-Semitism in this city.

00:34:19.000 And what they deserve is a leader who takes it seriously, who roots it out of these five boroughs, not one who weaponizes it as a means by which to score political points on a debate stage.

00:34:30.000 Mr. Smoiler.

00:34:35.000 Excuse me.

00:34:35.000 You did not.

00:34:36.000 Excuse me.

00:34:37.000 It's my turn.

00:34:39.000 It's like two kids in a schoolyard.

00:34:42.000 Yeah, I heard you on the radio this morning.

00:34:44.000 Joran, this is personal for me.

00:34:46.000 I know you are under threat.

00:34:48.000 The mother of my two youngest sons who were raised Jewish.

00:34:51.000 Melinda Katz is prosecuting this person who came up and tried to do you harm.

00:34:56.000 But let me speak on behalf of my two sons.

00:34:59.000 When they've heard some of the statements you've made, like in support of global jihad, and I hear some people out there saying the Jews, their time is due, which means the same thing. 0.99

00:35:09.000 They're frightened, they're scared.

00:35:11.000 They view you as the arsonists who fan the flames of anti-Semitism.

00:35:17.000 They cannot suddenly accept the fact that you're coming in like a firefighter and you're going to put out these flames.

00:35:24.000 You've got a lot of explaining to do, a lot of apologizing to do.

00:35:29.000 My sons are afraid.

00:35:31.000 Their family, their friends, many in the Jewish community are concerned if you could become mayor because they don't think when anti-Semitism rears its ugly head, which it's now doing more than ever before, that you will have the ability to come in and put out those flames of hate.

00:35:48.000 Okay.

00:35:51.000 I think there is room for disagreement on many positions and many policies, but I also want to correct the record.

00:35:59.000 I have never, not once, spoken in support of global jihad. 0.54

00:36:04.000 That is not something that I have said, and that continues to be ascribed to me.

00:36:07.000 And frankly, I think much of it has to do with the fact that I am the first Muslim candidate to be on the precipice of winning this election.

00:36:15.000 Now, I all the same, Curtis, I do still want to be the mayor that will keep your sons safe, that will keep every single New Yorker safe.

00:36:27.000 And it is my job to not only deliver on that commitment, but also to ensure that New Yorkers feel it every single day that they live in the city.

00:36:34.000 Okay, candidates.

00:36:34.000 Brian's going to take us into the next section.

00:36:37.000 Thank you, Errol.

00:36:38.000 And the next section is some individual political questions, one for each of you.

00:36:44.000 Let me start with you, Mr. Cuomo.

00:36:46.000 Then Katie will ask a question to Mr. Sleewa and Mr. Mandani.

00:36:51.000 Mr. Cuomo, the last time most New Yorkers saw you before this campaign was when you resigned your seat as governor under scandal in 2021.

00:37:01.000 The most recent Quinnipiac University poll in this race shows that 54% of likely voters say you're unethical.

00:37:09.000 Meanwhile, you also have strained relations with Governor Hokul, State Attorney General Letitia James, and others.

00:37:15.000 What would you say right now to New Yorkers who have questions about your moral compass and concerns that you cannot effectively work with other elected officials?

00:37:25.000 Yeah, well, first, you somewhat misstated the facts, but I resigned because there was allegations made.

00:37:34.000 I didn't want to waste the time and distract state government.

00:37:38.000 I knew it was going to take a long time to sort out.

00:37:41.000 I left, which I thought was respectful to state government.

00:37:46.000 We sorted it out legally.

00:37:49.000 Nothing came from any of the allegations.

00:37:52.000 I was dropped from the cases.

00:37:54.000 You know that.

00:37:55.000 We've had this discussion four times, but you like to talk about the past rather than yesterday.

00:38:01.000 I chose Governor Kathy Hochul.

00:38:03.000 I would have no problem working with her.

00:38:06.000 The legislature, I got 11 budgets passed on time.

00:38:12.000 Most in modern political history.

00:38:14.000 They haven't gotten one done on time since I was there.

00:38:19.000 So don't tell me who knows to work, who knows how to work with the legislature.

00:38:23.000 And a mayor being able to deal with that legislature is key, because don't kid yourself, I've watched every governor and mayor since Ed Koch.

00:38:33.000 There is a tension between the city and the state.

00:38:35.000 The city's arguing for its budgets.

00:38:38.000 The state is saying no.

00:38:39.000 And the city has been getting screwed by the state.

00:38:43.000 And that has to change.

00:38:44.000 And the city has to be doing better.

00:38:46.000 Thank you.

00:38:47.000 Katie?

00:38:49.000 Mr. Sleewell, to many New Yorkers, you've often presented yourself as more of a well-known New York character than a serious policy expert.

00:38:56.000 Your critics have said your candidacy is making it more likely that Zaran Mamdani can win the election.

00:39:02.000 What do you say to them and to others who feel that while your name recognition has seen a boost, your candidacy is not helpful to New Yorkers, including those who share your views?

00:39:12.000 Number one, I have 13 campaign offices open throughout the outer boroughs.

00:39:20.000 You see the excitement and energy of the working class people that I represent.

00:39:25.000 I am the Republican populist candidate representing the working class.

00:39:30.000 And I'm also, Katie, the candidate on the independent line, first ever put together by my wife, Nancy, who loves animals like so many.

00:39:38.000 Save the animals.

00:39:39.000 No-kill shelters.

00:39:41.000 Animal abusers go to jail.

00:39:43.000 So people know that I'm not just running to protect people, which has been my life as leader of the Guardian Angels.

00:39:50.000 I'm there to protect our pets and animals.

00:39:52.000 Because remember, Mahatma Gandhi said, a society that does not take care of its animals does not take care of its people.

00:39:59.000 Homeless, emotionally disturbed veterans. 0.96

00:40:02.000 I'm out there every day tending to their needs with their guardian angels, doing things that the city and state should have been doing a long time ago, but neglected them and instead spent $7 billion on migrants that we don't even know.

00:40:18.000 That is a disgrace.

00:40:21.000 We should be there for our own people who are suffering and wallowing in desperation and despair.

00:40:29.000 Okay, Mr. Malgani, you have criticized the politics of the past where leaders either avoid taking a stand on a key issue or try to be all things to all people.

00:40:38.000 But at times during this campaign, you've carefully avoided answering tough questions.

00:40:43.000 We saw an instance just a few minutes ago when I asked about how you plan to vote on those ballot initiatives next month.

00:40:50.000 We've asked whether you support a major rezoning push for part of Queens, some of which is in your district.

00:40:55.000 You've been unclear about how you think the city's schools should be run, its governance structure.

00:41:00.000 How is that different from politics as usual?

00:41:04.000 When it comes to our schools, I believe that every single child deserves to have an excellent public education.

00:41:13.000 And we have not seen that under the stewardship of those schools with this mayoral administration.

00:41:17.000 We have not seen it because we are not fully funding those schools.

00:41:20.000 We are not on track to comply with the class-size mandates of those schools.

00:41:24.000 We are not even on track to ensure greater literacy levels across those schools, despite the strides that have been taken with NYC REITs.

00:41:31.000 When it comes to rezoning, I've been very clear that I will always celebrate the addition of additional housing units across the city.

00:41:38.000 I also believe that Gantry State Park and Queensbridge Park should be one contiguous park.

00:41:43.000 Those are things that one can believe at the same time.

00:41:46.000 And my critiques of the politics of the past is right here on the stage.

00:41:52.000 You can see in Andrew Cuomo someone who had 10 years to deliver on so much of what he's spoken about.

00:41:58.000 He says that taking five years to build affordable housing is the sign of an incompetent government.

00:42:03.000 By his own words, that means he must have led an incompetent government.

00:42:07.000 That is what we are seeing because that is the record that is actually on offer.

00:42:14.000 I understand my friend doesn't really understand government.

00:42:20.000 The governor doesn't build housing in New York City.

00:42:24.000 Not if it's you.

00:42:24.000 No.

00:42:25.000 No, legally, there are jurisdictions.

00:42:29.000 The governor doesn't pick up trash.

00:42:31.000 He doesn't run the fire department.

00:42:32.000 That's what the mayor does.

00:42:34.000 The mayor builds housing.

00:42:35.000 The state allocates funding for localities.

00:42:39.000 And I allocated more funding for housing than any governor in the history of the state of New York.

00:42:46.000 All right.

00:42:47.000 I did things.

00:42:48.000 You have never had a job.

00:42:50.000 You've never accomplished anything.

00:42:53.000 There's no reason to believe you have any merit or qualification for 8.5 million lives.

00:42:59.000 You don't know how to run a government.

00:43:01.000 You don't know how to handle an emergency.

00:43:04.000 And you've literally never proposed a bill on anything that you're now talking about in your campaign.

00:43:10.000 You had the worst attendance record in the Assembly.

00:43:14.000 And you gave yourselves the highest raise in the United States of America.

00:43:21.000 You went from $110,000 to $140,000, and then you never showed up for work, and you missed 80% of the votes.

00:43:29.000 Shame on you.

00:43:30.000 Shame on you.

00:43:32.000 Now, it is always a pleasure to hear Andrew Cuomo create his own facts at every debate stage.

00:43:39.000 We just had a former governor say in his own words that the city has been getting screwed by the state.

00:43:45.000 Who was leading the state?

00:43:47.000 It was you.

00:43:48.000 Governor Holtz.

00:43:49.000 You were leading the state.

00:43:51.000 Governor Holcomb.

00:43:52.000 You were screwing the state.

00:43:54.000 You were the legislator.

00:43:55.000 You cut funding for the NGOs.

00:43:58.000 You lose all of these things with the USA. 0.72

00:43:59.000 That's the past four years.

00:44:02.000 It's the past four years.

00:44:04.000 Okay, guys, I didn't want to have to do this, but you understand how this works.

00:44:08.000 You can't talk over each other.

00:44:09.000 Nothing works if you do that.

00:44:11.000 I believe we've heard your response.

00:44:13.000 I wanted to give you a quick word, and then we're going to move on.

00:44:16.000 I've heard the both of them again fighting like kids in the schoolyard.

00:44:19.000 Zoron, your resume could fit on a cocktail napkin.

00:44:25.000 And Andrew, your failures could fill a public school library in New York City.

00:44:32.000 Okay, go ahead.

00:44:34.000 We're going to move now to public safety.

00:44:36.000 And there was some breaking news from the New York Times that you, Mr. Mondani, would ask Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch to stay on as police commissioner if you are indeed mayor.

00:44:46.000 I wanted to confirm that that was true.

00:44:47.000 And for Mr. Cuomo and Mr. Sliwa, would you ask the current police commissioner to stay on if you were elected?

00:44:52.000 So Mr. Mondani, we'll start with you.

00:44:54.000 Yes, I can confirm that reporting.

00:44:56.000 My administration will be relentless in its pursuit of safety and affordability for every New Yorker.

00:45:03.000 And the delivery of that will require us to put together a team of the best and the brightest.

00:45:07.000 Eric Adams stacked the upper echelons of the NYPD with corruption and incompetence.

00:45:12.000 Commissioner Tisch took on a broken status quo, started to deliver accountability, rooting out corruption and reducing crime across the five boroughs.

00:45:20.000 I've said time and again that my litmus test for that position will be excellence and the alignment will be of that position.

00:45:27.000 And I am confident that under a Momdani administration, we would continue to deliver on that same mission and do so while creating the Department of Community Safety to ensure that mental health experts were the ones responding to the mental health crisis because safety and justice is at the cornerstone of our pursuit of public safety and in doing so we will also be able to deliver our agenda for affordability.

00:45:49.000 Thank you and very briefly, quickly, Mr. Sliwa and Mr. Cuomo, would you ask Commissioner Tisch to stay on if you are elected mayor?

00:45:57.000 Yes, I would for stability, but then again, I don't think she would serve with either Cuomo or Zoron because she has railed against no cash bail.

00:46:07.000 Cuomo, the architect of no cash bail, Zoran, the apprentice of no cash bail.

00:46:13.000 That's why criminals are running in the streets.

00:46:15.000 And Mr. Cuomo, would you ask her to stay on?

00:46:17.000 I would ask her to stay on.

00:46:19.000 I don't believe Zoran when he says he would ask her to stay on.

00:46:23.000 The DSA's position, his position has been to defund this band of police.

00:46:28.000 His current position.

00:46:28.000 She wouldn't take that.

00:46:30.000 Today's position was freeze the budget.

00:46:34.000 That would cause a reduction in police.

00:46:36.000 She has called for more police.

00:46:38.000 I've called for more police.

00:46:39.000 Mayor Adams has called for more police.

00:46:42.000 So their philosophies are totally in Congress.

00:46:46.000 In Congress, DSA calls for eliminating misdemeanours.

00:46:50.000 He wants to decriminalize prostitution.

00:46:52.000 I don't think she would support any of that.

00:46:54.000 Well, we can't speak for her.

00:46:55.000 She's not here, but I will ask the public safety question.

00:46:59.000 And we'll start with you, Mr. Sliwa.

00:47:01.000 The issues of crime and disorder on the streets, the NYPD says the crime is going down in all major categories, most major categories, but to New Yorkers, they're still concerned with disorder and their own unique perception of crime.

00:47:14.000 Do you think addressing quality of life concerns helps prevent more serious crimes?

00:47:18.000 And how would you deploy the city's police force to deal with those serious violent crimes and also quality of life offenses like disorderly conduct and retail theft?

00:47:27.000 Mr. Sliwa.

00:47:28.000 First off, I've been in all 350 neighborhoods.

00:47:30.000 I'm the only candidate that's on the subway each and every day.

00:47:33.000 I've yet to hear from one New Yorker who said they feel safer either in the subways or the streets.

00:47:40.000 And Eric Adams constantly hackering at us like it's the perception, the perception.

00:47:46.000 No, it's the reality of crime.

00:47:48.000 We need 7,000 police officers.

00:47:50.000 We are badly understaffed.

00:47:52.000 We need to get police officers in the subways actually patrolling the moving cars where people are most threatened and most frightened.

00:48:01.000 And we need to bring back the homeless outreach unit that was disbanded when de Blasio took a billion dollars out of the budget.

00:48:08.000 These were men and women police officers who already had with them medical nurses and health care practitioners, but it was de Blasio who abolished it and they've been talking about bringing something back ever since, but they never do it because I'm out there in the subways every day and I never see it.

00:48:26.000 And when I'm mayor, it gets done on day one.

00:48:29.000 The homeless outreach unit is put back into the NYPD.

00:48:33.000 Thank you.

00:48:34.000 Mr. Momdani.

00:48:35.000 You know, when I hear from New Yorkers of where they feel least safe, they will often tell me the subway system.

00:48:41.000 And when they explain those moments to me, what they are often explaining is a mental health crisis in our city and a crisis of homelessness that has only continued to grow.

00:48:50.000 And that is why, at the heart of our public safety agenda, is a groundbreaking proposal to not only reduce crime, but address these very moments of unease for New Yorkers across the five boroughs by creating a Department of Community Safety that will be focused on the mental health crisis, focused on homelessness, and will ensure that police officers can focus on serious crimes.

00:49:11.000 Because in 2020, the response time for those officers was less than 11 minutes.

00:49:16.000 Today, it's closer to 16 minutes.

00:49:18.000 And that's because every year they are now responding to 200,000 mental health calls when those are calls that could by and large be taken by experts trained on responding to that very crisis.

00:49:29.000 Thank you, Mr. Cuomo.

00:49:30.000 Yeah.

00:49:31.000 The answer is always a new government agency.

00:49:39.000 It's manage the system.

00:49:41.000 Manage the public safety system.

00:49:43.000 We know how to do this.

00:49:44.000 Mayor David Dinkins did it when we had a real crop crime problem. 0.77

00:49:49.000 Hire more police officers. 0.85

00:49:51.000 Of course, you have to deal with the mentally ill. 0.73

00:49:54.000 Of course, that deal that requires mental health specialists with police, because the situation can be dangerous.

00:50:02.000 But hire the 5,000 more cops because they're all quitting because they're getting worked too hard.

00:50:08.000 You're going to have to raise the starting salary because nobody wants to be a cop today, the way they're treated.

00:50:14.000 Put 1,500 in the subways.

00:50:17.000 Forget this Zoron idea of not prosecuting misdemeanours. 0.99

00:50:22.000 Prosecute misdemeanors.

00:50:23.000 Those are quality of life crimes.

00:50:26.000 And that's very important.

00:50:27.000 Yes, the subways are scary, but it's scary in their neighborhood, too.

00:50:32.000 So those quality of life crimes also have to be addressed.

00:50:38.000 Mr. Murray.

00:50:42.000 No matter how many times Andrew Cuomo describes it as my idea or my policy, I have never once stated that we were not going to prosecute misdemeanours.

00:50:50.000 And that is what you see from the former governor is someone who spends more time talking about the platforms of other organizations and other individuals than the one that I've actually put forward or the one that he is supposed to be running on.

00:51:03.000 Now we'll hear from Brian for another question.

00:51:05.000 Excuse me one second.

00:51:10.000 Can I just respond to that accusation?

00:51:12.000 Misdemeanors are felonies, no cash bail, releases him back into the streets.

00:51:17.000 And both of you afford no cash misters.

00:51:20.000 Mr. I want to move on.

00:51:21.000 You'll get your opportunities, I think, because I want to bring up a particular crime concern, and that is violence among younger New Yorkers, specifically teenagers.

00:51:30.000 My question is, what is your stance on the statewide raise the age law, which increased the age of adult criminal responsibility from 16 years old to 18 for most crimes?

00:51:42.000 Police Commissioner Tish says, quote, the mentality on the street is that nothing happens to those under 18 who possess a gun.

00:51:51.000 So would you support modifying raise the age in any way?

00:51:55.000 And Mr. Mamdani, since you just announced that you would invite Commissioner Tish to stay on, would you go along with her on this?

00:52:03.000 I would not support changes to the state's legislation, and I would not support them because the major issue with the implementation of that legislation has been the fact that there is hundreds of millions of dollars that was supposed to be delivered alongside that law that is still languishing in Albany.

00:52:19.000 And I am excited to be the next mayor of the city to finally fight for the money that this city is owed to ensure that we deliver it to our young people across the five boroughs.

00:52:27.000 Mr. Palmer.

00:52:31.000 What I was referring to before is Zoron is a member of the DSA Democratic Socialists of America.

00:52:39.000 They have a charter.

00:52:40.000 He gives them 3% of his salary.

00:52:42.000 He has said multiple times, I am a DSA member, I pledge allegiance.

00:52:46.000 They say abolish jails, defund police, don't enforce misdemeanours.

00:52:51.000 Go to my website, AndrewCuomo.com.

00:52:54.000 It's right on the front page.

00:52:55.000 Now, is he lying to the DSA?

00:52:56.000 Is he lying to New York?

00:52:57.000 Is he lying to everybody?

00:52:59.000 Who knows?

00:52:59.000 On the raise the age, I passed the law.

00:53:02.000 I support the law.

00:53:05.000 We were one of only two states that put 16 and 17-year-olds in adult prisons.

00:53:12.000 It was inhumane.

00:53:13.000 It was cruel and unusual.

00:53:15.000 And I'm proud of that law.

00:53:16.000 It's administered by local governments.

00:53:18.000 Some are doing it better than others.

00:53:20.000 If Zoron thought that there was money locked up in Albany, maybe he should have gone to Albany and proposed a bill to release it.

00:53:28.000 Mr. Surah.

00:53:29.000 Once again, the architect of Raise the Age, Governor Cuomo, the apprentice to him, Johan.

00:53:35.000 It's personal for me.

00:53:37.000 My oldest son, Anthony, last October was the victim of a vicious gang assault that could have killed him.

00:53:45.000 And what happened to these juveniles?

00:53:47.000 Cut free because they went to family court, not criminal court.

00:53:52.000 So how can both of you look at me?

00:53:55.000 I almost lost my oldest son to gang violence, and the perpetrators went to family court and got a little pat on the wrist and was sent home to do it again and again.

00:54:07.000 No, we need to start charging juveniles who commit violent crime in criminal court, and I'll appoint criminal court judges who follow the law and don't just release them because of no cash bail.

00:54:21.000 A clear difference between you on that.

00:54:23.000 Ms. Errol, you're picking up.

00:54:25.000 Okay, candidates, I've got individual questions for you, and we're going to try and pick up the pace a little bit here.

00:54:30.000 I'd like you really just explain kind of where you're coming from.

00:54:33.000 Mr. Mamdani, you've called for reorganizing the NYPD to create this Department of Community Safety that, among other things, would handle calls involving people in mental health distress.

00:54:43.000 Your opponents have disparaged this as sending social workers rather than cops into dangerous situations like domestic violence disputes.

00:54:50.000 Explain really what you have in mind, and please include any evidence that this approach would work.

00:54:56.000 Absolutely.

00:54:57.000 What my opponents are clinging to is the past, because that's all that they know.

00:55:02.000 What I am proposing is something that will address the needs of New Yorkers in the present.

00:55:08.000 We speak and hear from New Yorkers across the five boroughs who outline how the mental health crisis is one of the major challenges in this city.

00:55:15.000 And yet what we have in our city is asking those same police officers who are being asked to respond to shootings, respond to murders, to also respond to these calls.

00:55:24.000 I trust the dispatchers who would be receiving these calls to make the determination as to whether there was any indication of violence.

00:55:31.000 If there is no indication of a threat of violence, then we would set the mental health experts and providers to respond to those same incidents.

00:55:38.000 The reason I believe in the efficacy of this approach is because of the fact that it has been delivered elsewhere in the country.

00:55:45.000 So no matter how often you hear those on this stage tell you that something cannot be done, know that there are others in this same country who have seen it, and it is time for that same policy to come to New York City.

00:55:56.000 Okay, Mr. Schliwa and Mr. Cuomo, I have a similar question for both of you.

00:56:01.000 The department currently feels about 33,000 officers down from 37,000 in 2018.

00:56:06.000 Public safety budget approaching $10 billion.

00:56:09.000 Mr. Sliwa, you want to hire 7,000 more cops.

00:56:11.000 Mr. Cuomo says 5,000 more cops.

00:56:14.000 Each of you, make the case for why you think that's necessary, especially given the fact that for crime decline, for much of New York City, crime declines over the last 20 years happened while the size of the force was also declining and not rising.

00:56:29.000 Errol, I have to revisit the last debate for a second when Joran was basing this policy on what they do in Eugene, Oregon.

00:56:38.000 You've never been to Eugene, Oregon.

00:56:40.000 Are you out of your mind?

00:56:40.000 I have.

00:56:42.000 And then Columbus, Ohio.

00:56:43.000 This is New York City, a major metropolitan area with thousands of 911 calls, domestic abuse, emotionally disturbed persons, and you want to have social workers go out there and risk their life.

00:56:57.000 And by the way, they're not going to get the results that a trained professional police officer can get.

00:57:03.000 That's why we so desperately need 7,000 new cops.

00:57:07.000 We'll use the Boston motto, which is pay now in lieu of taxes.

00:57:11.000 They do it at Harvard University and the other universities.

00:57:14.000 We'll raise a billion dollars, get them vetted, trained, and out into the streets so they can be seen in all the neighborhoods and most importantly, do the job they were sworn to do.

00:57:24.000 And I will make sure that their insurance, the qualified immunity that was stripped from them, the only civil servants who are not protected by the taxpayer, is returned so that they can freely go out and do what they were trained to do.

00:57:37.000 It's to protect all of the people of New York City.

00:57:41.000 Okay, Mr. Cuomo.

00:57:43.000 There is nothing new here.

00:57:45.000 We've had mentally ill homeless people going back to the Billy Boggs case, right, under the Ed Koch administration.

00:57:53.000 I ran homeless services not just for David Dinkins, but also for President Clinton.

00:57:58.000 I've worked in every state, all the large cities, on all homeless programs.

00:58:02.000 I've spent dozens of nights outbringing, trying to bring mentally ill people in. 0.99

00:58:10.000 It can be done with mental health workers and police workers.

00:58:15.000 You cannot tell from a phone call if a person is going to be dangerous.

00:58:19.000 And I have seen personally many times a person who seemed very calm and sedate explode into rage.

00:58:27.000 Why?

00:58:28.000 Because this is sometimes a symptom of mental illness.

00:58:32.000 So there's nothing new here.

00:58:34.000 It just has to be done and managed.

00:58:35.000 Yes, you need more police.

00:58:37.000 You need more police, first of all, Errol, because they're quitting because there are not enough to staff the force and they're working overtime and weekends and their family life is destroyed.

00:58:51.000 So you have the highest attrition rate in modern history.

00:58:56.000 You have to hire 5,000 just to slow down the attrition.

00:59:01.000 Thank you, Penny.

00:59:02.000 50,000 beds for mental health in the state hospital system.

00:59:06.000 By the time you fled, fearing impeachment, you cut the budget down to 4,000 beds.

00:59:12.000 Shame on you for putting those emotionally disturbed persons in the street.

00:59:17.000 You don't know what you think.

00:59:19.000 There's one better I'm going to say for you.

00:59:20.000 But no one is saying to go back to Willowbrook.

00:59:26.000 That's when there were 40,000 people in mental institutions.

00:59:30.000 We left that 40 years ago when we weren't the community-based.

00:59:33.000 We're going to stay in this century, guys.

00:59:35.000 Yeah.

00:59:35.000 The next we're going to do our lightning round where each candidate will answer our questions with a brief response, usually yes or no.

00:59:44.000 I'm going to do the first couple.

00:59:46.000 Candidates, if you had the power, would you keep, kill, or modify the congestion pricing program?

00:59:51.000 Just say one of those words: keep, kill, or modify.

00:59:54.000 Mr. Sliwa. 0.99

00:59:55.000 One and done.

00:59:56.000 Mr. Mondani.

00:59:56.000 Dead.

00:59:57.000 Keep. 0.92

00:59:58.000 Keep.

00:59:59.000 Okay.

01:00:00.000 Would you expand, decrease, or keep the same number of so-called safe injection sites for drug users in this city?

01:00:07.000 Mr. Momdani.

01:00:08.000 Can you say the options again?

01:00:09.000 Expand, decrease, or keep the same?

01:00:11.000 Keep the same.

01:00:12.000 Mr. Cuomo.

01:00:14.000 Keep.

01:00:15.000 Close them down.

01:00:16.000 Okay.

01:00:18.000 The last two mayors proposed allocated 1% of the city budget for parks.

01:00:22.000 Will you make the same pledge here tonight, Mr. Sliwa?

01:00:25.000 And another one.

01:00:26.000 2%.

01:00:27.000 Keep your hands off the parking lot.

01:00:29.000 My greedy developers.

01:00:30.000 1%.

01:00:31.000 Mr. Cuomo.

01:00:33.000 1%.

01:00:34.000 Okay.

01:00:34.000 2%.

01:00:35.000 2%.

01:00:38.000 Another lightning round.

01:00:40.000 Question.

01:00:40.000 The city recently enacted a 15-mile per hour speed limit for e-bikes.

01:00:45.000 And of course, there are the other motorized two-wheelers that also frequently ignore red lights and other traffic laws.

01:00:52.000 If you are mayor, would you direct the NYPD to ramp up speeding tickets and other moving violations on the motorized two-wheelers, Mr. Cuomo?

01:01:02.000 Yes.

01:01:03.000 So if this is a dangerous situation for many people.

01:01:06.000 Mr. Mohamdani, yes or no?

01:01:08.000 I would actually build on the city council's progress in holding the apps accountable, like DoorDash and Grubhub, to ensure that there weren't incentives for breaking those street tax rates.

01:01:17.000 You would not increase ticketing the riders.

01:01:20.000 I do not think the police should be the ones dealing with the failures of these app companies.

01:01:25.000 Mr. Sliwa.

01:01:25.000 License them, register them, and yes, do enforcement on them.

01:01:30.000 All right.

01:01:31.000 There is a ballot question to align mayoral election years with presidential election years in the future.

01:01:38.000 Do you support this, Mr. Sliwa?

01:01:40.000 Absolutely not.

01:01:41.000 All the attention would go to the presidential election, not to the mayoral election and all the down ballot elections.

01:01:48.000 All of our city council people.

01:01:50.000 That's a no, Mr. Mondani.

01:01:51.000 I haven't yet taken a position on any of the ballot references.

01:01:53.000 Shocker.

01:01:54.000 Again, again and again and again.

01:01:59.000 Yes.

01:02:02.000 Thank you so much.

01:02:04.000 First question: Do you support having a casino in the five boroughs like it's a full casino?

01:02:08.000 And do you have a favorite among the three current contenders?

01:02:10.000 Mr. Sliwa.

01:02:11.000 No, only if the community wants it.

01:02:14.000 Mr. Momdani.

01:02:15.000 I'm personally skeptical of casinos, but voters did choose to bring them to New York City.

01:02:18.000 And unlike Andrew Cuomo and Donald Trump, I don't view the law as just a suggestion.

01:02:22.000 Do you have a favorite of the three?

01:02:24.000 No, I don't have favorites of the casino.

01:02:25.000 Mr. Cuomo.

01:02:28.000 I do not.

01:02:29.000 I have not reviewed the proposals.

01:02:31.000 I was not in favor.

01:02:32.000 I did not vote.

01:02:34.000 It's not so hard to say.

01:02:35.000 I did.

01:02:35.000 Let me just so you understand some facts.

01:02:38.000 I did not vote to bring the casinos to New York City.

01:02:42.000 I did casinos in upstate New York as economic development measures.

01:02:47.000 I had no part of these three casinos, how they were done.

01:02:52.000 I think it's highly problematic, and I think there's going to be a lot more to come.

01:02:57.000 If this was a rank choice.

01:02:59.000 You and Zora had answered the straight question.

01:03:02.000 If there's a ranked choice election, how would you vote?

01:03:04.000 Mr. Mondani?

01:03:06.000 If there was a ranked choice election?

01:03:07.000 You'd have to rank these.

01:03:09.000 Myself, number one, and Curtis, number two.

01:03:11.000 Mr. Sliwa.

01:03:13.000 Oh, please don't be glazing me here, Zora. 0.97

01:03:17.000 Are you kidding?

01:03:21.000 Mr. Sliwer, do you want to add anything?

01:03:23.000 I support ranked choice voting, but I'd only vote for myself.

01:03:26.000 Mr. Cuomo?

01:03:28.000 I love that Zoron and Curtis ticket idea.

01:03:32.000 I don't know.

01:03:33.000 I'm just enamored with it.

01:03:34.000 I would just rank myself.

01:03:36.000 Would any of you accept Mayor Adams' endorsement?

01:03:39.000 Mr. Mondani?

01:03:40.000 No.

01:03:41.000 Mr. Cuomo?

01:03:42.000 Mr. Sliwa?

01:03:42.000 Yes, I would.

01:03:43.000 Absolutely not. 1.00

01:03:44.000 Put that crook in jail where he belongs. 1.00

01:03:47.000 And final, a fun one. 1.00

01:03:48.000 Be careful.

01:03:49.000 Be careful.

01:03:50.000 What is your favorite live music venue in New York City, Mr. Sliwa?

01:03:54.000 Oh, Chain Smokers.

01:03:56.000 EDM.

01:03:57.000 Under the K-Bridge, I'm presuming. 0.97

01:03:58.000 That's right, the Kostjusco Bridge.

01:04:01.000 Mr. Mandani.

01:04:02.000 Forest Hill Stadium.

01:04:03.000 Mr. Cuomo.

01:04:04.000 Under the Kushusko Bridge.

01:04:07.000 Have you seen a show under the K Bridge?

01:04:10.000 Who'd you see?

01:04:11.000 No, I picked up my daughters at a show.

01:04:13.000 That's as close as I got.

01:04:15.000 All right, candidates, it's time for the cross-examination round.

01:04:17.000 That's where each candidate gets a chance to ask one question of one rival.

01:04:22.000 The order was selected at random.

01:04:23.000 We're going to begin with Curtis Lewa.

01:04:26.000 Zoran, you talk about free, free, free.

01:04:32.000 But we know that somebody's got to pay for it, and that's you, the taxpayers.

01:04:38.000 And that's going to lead to bankruptcy.

01:04:40.000 The only reason that Zoran is on the stage is because of the failed Governor Cuomo, who was rejected by the Democrats in the primary and rejected by 13 women who charged you with sexual harassment.

01:04:53.000 Question, question.

01:04:54.000 Do you ever know that no means no?

01:04:56.000 You know what no means?

01:04:59.000 Your question is to Mr. Mandarin.

01:05:01.000 Who was your question?

01:05:02.000 To bifurcate it right?

01:05:04.000 No, no.

01:05:04.000 You know, you can't.

01:05:05.000 Who was your question?

01:05:06.000 Okay.

01:05:08.000 Your response, Mr. Cuomo.

01:05:12.000 I'm not sure what the man said, but the situation, my legal situation, as we discussed before, was fully litigated.

01:05:26.000 I was dropped from the cases.

01:05:28.000 If anyone has a legal situation to talk about, I think it's Mr. Sliwa, who runs the Guardian Angels, and apparently has a charitable donation, but never filed any tax returns for the Guardian Angels and has been accepting charitable donations, which is just a crime and tax fraud.

01:05:52.000 So I think that's the person who I was explaining to do.

01:05:55.000 Okay.

01:05:55.000 Your turn to ask a question, Mr. Cuomo.

01:05:58.000 To Zoran, I believe, as we've stated, that you have been a divisive force in New York, and I believe that's toxic energy for New York.

01:06:10.000 It's with the Jewish community. 0.87

01:06:12.000 It's with the Italian-American community when you give the Columbus statue the finger. 0.96

01:06:17.000 It's with the Sunni Muslims when you say decriminalize prostitution, which is haram. 1.00

01:06:23.000 It's the Hindus. 0.54

01:06:26.000 But then you take a picture with Rebecca Kadaga, Deputy Prime Minister of Uganda.

01:06:34.000 You take the picture with your father.

01:06:36.000 You're smiling.

01:06:37.000 He's smiling.

01:06:38.000 She's known as Rebecca Gay Killer Kadaga. 0.99

01:06:43.000 You're a citizen of Uganda.

01:06:45.000 You took the picture.

01:06:46.000 You said you didn't know who she was.

01:06:48.000 It turns out you did.

01:06:49.000 How do you not renounce your citizenship or demand BDS against Uganda for imprisoning people who are gay just by their sexual orientation?

01:07:05.000 Isn't that a basic violation of human rights?

01:07:07.000 I think he gets the question.

01:07:12.000 My politics is consistent, and my politics is built on a belief in human rights for all people.

01:07:20.000 And that extends to queer and trans New Yorkers, and it extends to queer and trans Ugandans.

01:07:26.000 And had I known that the first deputy minister was the architect of that legislation, I would not have taken that photo.

01:07:32.000 And yet I also know that this constant attempt to smear and slander me is an attempt to also distract from the fact that unlike myself, you do not actually have a platform or a set of policies to protect those same New Yorkers here.

01:07:47.000 All you have are the insults that you have lobbed at every single opportunity you have.

01:07:52.000 Okay.

01:07:53.000 No, that's it.

01:07:55.000 Cross-examination is just a question and answer.

01:08:00.000 Your turn to ask a question.

01:08:03.000 Mr. Cuomo, in 2021, 13 different women who worked in your administration credibly accused you of sexual harassment.

01:08:13.000 Since then, you have spent more than $20 million in taxpayer funds to defend yourself, all while describing these allegations as entirely political.

01:08:25.000 You have even gone so far as to legally go after these women. 0.86

01:08:30.000 One of those women, Charlotte Bennett, is here in the audience this evening. 0.99

01:08:35.000 You sought to access her private gynecological records.

01:08:41.000 She cannot speak up for herself because you lodged a defamation case against her.

01:08:46.000 I, however, can speak.

01:08:48.000 What do you say to the 13 women that you sexually harassed?

01:08:51.000 If you want to be in government, then you have to be serious and mature.

01:09:06.000 There were allegations of sexual harassment.

01:09:10.000 They were then went to five district attorneys, fully litigated for four years.

01:09:15.000 The cases were dropped, right?

01:09:17.000 You know that as a fact.

01:09:18.000 So everything you just stated, you just said was a misstatement, which we're accustomed to.

01:09:23.000 You say it was a misstatement because the cases were dropped.

01:09:29.000 That's what happened.

01:09:31.000 And my question to you, you still didn't answer.

01:09:34.000 Why won't you say BDS against Uganda if it's saying gays should be imprisoned for being gay?

01:09:42.000 You have no problem with BDS against Israel, but no BDS for Uganda.

01:09:47.000 This is just one question, one answer.

01:09:49.000 We all heard it.

01:09:50.000 Thank you very much, candidates.

01:09:52.000 Brian.

01:09:52.000 Our next topic is education.

01:09:55.000 The next mayor will oversee the largest school system in the United States, as you know, with roughly 900,000 students, thousands of schools, and billions of dollars in budget.

01:10:06.000 We have an education question for each of you.

01:10:08.000 Mr. Mamdani, you said you would give up mayoral control of schools and share decision-making with various stakeholders.

01:10:16.000 But in the last debate, you said you're still for mayoral accountability for educational outcomes.

01:10:22.000 This has confused some people about how you can give up final authority but still hold yourself accountable.

01:10:28.000 Can you try to clarify that?

01:10:30.000 I remain opposed to mayoral control, and I also believe that the mayor is accountable for that which happens in this city.

01:10:37.000 I will not shirk that accountability, even when we are putting together a system that has greater involvement for parents, for educators, for students.

01:10:46.000 Look, one in 300 Americans is a student in the New York City public school system.

01:10:51.000 This is a system where we are failing to deliver excellence to students, to teachers, to parents, and it is time to have a mayor who understands not only the crisis in front of us, but the fact that we have to change our ways if we want to change our results.

01:11:07.000 And that is what we are running on, a plan for the future, not to simply relitigate the past.

01:11:12.000 Mr. Sleela, you recently proposed reducing the education budget by $10 billion, or about 25%, to help pay for tax cuts.

01:11:21.000 But your website includes things like, quote, hire more therapists, expand services for students with learning differences, build new vocational high schools, restore arts programs, expand athletic programs, and increase teacher pay to attract and retain top talent.

01:11:40.000 Those are all exact quotes from your website.

01:11:42.000 How do you defund the Education Department by 25% to cut taxes, add in the Trump administration's various cuts, and do all those expansions at the same time?

01:11:53.000 Well, let me tell you, you have a bureaucracy at the Tweet Courthouse, perfect place to house the Department of Education because of the corruption in the top ranks.

01:12:03.000 You have 13 deputy chancellors.

01:12:05.000 You have about 50 department heads.

01:12:07.000 Nobody at this school level ever deals with them.

01:12:10.000 $41,000 we pay per student, and teachers still have to reach into their pockets to pay for basic supplies.

01:12:18.000 You cut at the top contracts that have been negotiated that have not been overseen.

01:12:24.000 You will save millions and millions of dollars.

01:12:26.000 And yes, you open up the schools as it was when I went to public school, after-school center, night center, weekend center, not just sports, but culture, plays, musicals.

01:12:37.000 People used to be able to take instruments home when they were in band and orchestra.

01:12:43.000 That attracted children.

01:12:44.000 One-third of our children don't even come to school each day.

01:12:47.000 And we need more vocational training like we had when I was growing up.

01:12:52.000 That's been depleted.

01:12:53.000 And more charter schools.

01:12:55.000 We need to raise the cap and have more charter schools for the children who have been waiting to get in for years.

01:13:01.000 Katie has an education question from Mr. Carbo.

01:13:04.000 Thanks, Brian.

01:13:05.000 Mr. Cuomo, there's currently a state law to reduce class sizes in the city.

01:13:09.000 You recently described the law as, quote, reckless and proposed that popular schools be exempted from this law.

01:13:15.000 You also want to start closing low-performing schools, one of the most controversial policies of Mayor Bloomberg.

01:13:21.000 Would you defy the class size law?

01:13:24.000 And if you close existing schools rather than work to improve them, what specifically helps the kids learn more and where?

01:13:32.000 The common denominator on all these things is the question is, what is your plan to change things and what is your ability and experience to do it?

01:13:43.000 These are management challenges and I have managed large bureaucracies.

01:13:51.000 The Department of Education, we lost 1 million students.

01:13:55.000 What's happening is young families have to make a decision when their child has to go to school.

01:14:00.000 They're deciding to go to the suburbs, go to Jersey.

01:14:02.000 They're not going to sacrifice their kid.

01:14:04.000 So it is a terrible problem for the entire city, the shrinking public school system.

01:14:11.000 I would double the gifted and talented programs, double the number of specialized high schools, keep the SHSAT, and keep mayoral control.

01:14:23.000 It is wholly inconsistent to say, I think it's a top priority, but I want to give up mayoral control, but I want to be a mayor who runs grocery stores.

01:14:32.000 Forget the grocery stores.

01:14:34.000 Run the Department of Education.

01:14:36.000 It was the most single instrumental reform.

01:14:41.000 Mayor Bloomberg was right.

01:14:43.000 The mayor in Boston and Chicago don't give up mayoral control.

01:14:47.000 Would you defy the law, the class size law?

01:14:49.000 The problem with the class size law is a nice idea.

01:14:51.000 The state didn't send the money.

01:14:52.000 The state has not been doing its fair share for the city.

01:14:57.000 If you have a nice idea, that's nice.

01:14:59.000 Send the money.

01:15:00.000 And just a fact check, I don't think we lost a million students.

01:15:01.000 We have just about under a million students in the DOE system, but just a quick show of hands.

01:15:05.000 I'm sorry, yes.

01:15:06.000 And just a show of hands, no talking.

01:15:08.000 Who is in favor of the cell phone ban in schools?

01:15:13.000 Raise your hands.

01:15:14.000 Everyone has raised their hands.

01:15:15.000 They all are in favor of the cell phone ban.

01:15:17.000 Thank you.

01:15:18.000 Okay.

01:15:18.000 Candidates, I want to talk about Rikers Island.

01:15:21.000 Under city law, the jail complex on Rikers is supposed to close in 2027.

01:15:26.000 That's something that the next mayor is going to have to navigate.

01:15:29.000 The population, however, has only gone up.

01:15:31.000 It's surpassing 7,000 detainees.

01:15:33.000 And a judge this year put Rikers on a path toward federal receivership.

01:15:37.000 So here's the question.

01:15:38.000 As mayor, will you commit to the closure of Rikers Island as required?

01:15:42.000 And if not, what is your alternative plan?

01:15:44.000 We'll start with you, Mr. Sleevo.

01:15:46.000 Number one, the architect for the closing of Rikers Island is on this stage.

01:15:52.000 That's former Governor Andrew Cuomo.

01:15:55.000 He was the first.

01:15:56.000 And his apprentice is Zohan Mandami.

01:15:58.000 No, you keep Rikers Island open.

01:16:00.000 There are seven functioning buildings, three others that need to be rehabbed.

01:16:04.000 You can move those who have mental health issues and give them the treatment they need as long as they're detained on Rikers Island. 0.59

01:16:11.000 Some people do a year of time if they're given that in the courts rather than be shipped upstate.

01:16:16.000 So there are a variety of inmates.

01:16:18.000 We have allocated $8 billion for four community jails.

01:16:22.000 The price tag is now up to $16 billion and will only house 4,000 of the 7,000.

01:16:28.000 Guess what?

01:16:29.000 We keep the inmates on Rikers Island and we turn those four units in the neighborhoods into affordable housing that we've all been clamoring for.

01:16:38.000 What about the law that requires the closing?

01:16:40.000 Oh, you go into court, you fight, fight, fight.

01:16:43.000 You fight for the taxpayers and you fight to keep inmates on Rikers Island so that we don't just have to lock up toothpaste in New York City, but we lock up inmates.

01:16:54.000 Mr. Cuomo.

01:16:58.000 Zoron has said he'd honor the law closing Rikers in 2027.

01:17:02.000 You can't.

01:17:03.000 You can't.

01:17:05.000 Unless you intend to release all the people on Rikers Island, which is the Democratic Socialist policy.

01:17:12.000 The county jails are not going to be built.

01:17:15.000 It was a mistake.

01:17:16.000 The whole plan was a mistake.

01:17:19.000 They are years late, billions over budget.

01:17:23.000 I would say scrap the county jails, build new jails on Rikers Island, provide ferry and bus transportation for people from the other boroughs to visit on Rikers Island, and then use the existing four sites for commercial residential.

01:17:43.000 But you cannot close Rikers on 2027 because there's no place to put the people unless you're going to release 7,000 people.

01:17:52.000 Well, you're familiar with the idea that a law is passed.

01:17:55.000 It's supposed to be followed even if it's difficult, even if the timeline is screwed up, even if the money's not there.

01:18:02.000 Yeah, so then, which is Zoron's position?

01:18:05.000 Then you're saying, release the 7,000 people.

01:18:08.000 And I'm saying, I'm not going to release 7,000 criminals into New York City.

01:18:12.000 Mr. Montgomery.

01:18:14.000 There is no one on this stage that is saying that.

01:18:18.000 Yet Andrew Cuomo will repeat it again and again.

01:18:20.000 What I have said time and again, I'll repeat it again, is that yes, we have to close Rikers Island.

01:18:26.000 Rikers Island is a stain on the history of this city.

01:18:31.000 And that this current administration has made it nearly impossible to do so by the stipulated timeline.

01:18:40.000 So what I will do is everything in my power to try and meet that deadline, knowing that Eric Adams has made it so difficult because he's had no interest in actually following through on it.

01:18:50.000 And as much as you will hear about experience and running a government, what Andrew Cuomo doesn't seem to understand is the city has already entered into contracts for these borough-based jails, and to end those contracts would be to incur massive fiscal penalties, but that's not something that he seems to care about, even as he speaks about the fiscal stewardship of this city.

01:19:11.000 If I may.

01:19:16.000 You want to talk to me about running government or managing projects?

01:19:21.000 I built the Second Avenue subway.

01:19:22.000 I built the Mario Cuomo Bridge, the largest infrastructure project in the United States of America, $5 billion on time on budget.

01:19:31.000 Second Avenue subway, Moynihan train hall.

01:19:34.000 Of course, there's costs incurred.

01:19:36.000 The question is going to be, how much more does it cost to finish the jail, and are you better off cutting your losses?

01:19:44.000 That's the question in the discussion.

01:19:47.000 And you sit down with a contractor and you negotiate.

01:19:50.000 But your position of I'm going to close it on 2027, the question is, yes or no?

01:19:58.000 Do you close it in 2027?

01:20:03.000 You will hear from Andrew Cuomo about his experience as if the issue is that we don't know about it.

01:20:10.000 The issue is that we have all experienced your experience.

01:20:14.000 The issue is that we experienced you taking a $5 million book deal while you sent seniors to their deaths in nursing homes.

01:20:21.000 The issue is that we experienced you cutting funding for the MTA to send money to upstate ski resorts.

01:20:27.000 The issue is that we saw you give $959 million in tax breaks to Elon Musk.

01:20:33.000 The issue is your experience.

01:20:39.000 The issue is you have no experience.

01:20:42.000 You've accomplished nothing.

01:20:45.000 You haven't proposed the bill on anything.

01:20:48.000 And you still haven't said if you close strikers in 2027.

01:20:52.000 Stop.

01:20:52.000 I got the answer to the questions I was asking.

01:20:54.000 Thanks very much.

01:20:55.000 Let's move on.

01:20:57.000 My next question is about another law that's already on the books.

01:21:00.000 The city has a climate law, Local Law 97, that will require a large percentage of the buildings in the city to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030 or face financial penalties.

01:21:15.000 As you know, some co-ops, condos, and landlords are afraid of crushing expenses, but buildings account for 70% of the city's climate pollution emissions, so reduction would need to include that sector.

01:21:29.000 You all have taken different positions on this.

01:21:31.000 I want our viewers and listeners to hear each of you, starting with Mr. Cuomo in this case.

01:21:37.000 Would you abide by and make others abide by Local Law 97 as it stands?

01:21:43.000 As it stands, is as it stands, you're going to have to be flexible in the application.

01:21:55.000 What's going to happen now is many, many companies will just pay the fine because it's cheaper than actually following the rules.

01:22:07.000 And that's the last thing you want.

01:22:08.000 That accomplishes nothing, right?

01:22:10.000 It's just another tax, in essence, on these units.

01:22:15.000 So there's going to have to be flexibility.

01:22:17.000 It's the right intent.

01:22:18.000 It's the right goal.

01:22:20.000 But how you implement it has to deal with reality and the costs.

01:22:26.000 Again, otherwise, I can tell you, I've had this conversation with many of them.

01:22:31.000 They're not even going to try.

01:22:32.000 They're just going to pay the fine.

01:22:34.000 What kind of flexibility, if he doesn't have to be?

01:22:36.000 It's going to be timing, and what do we mean?

01:22:38.000 And can it be phased in?

01:22:41.000 Mr. Mandari.

01:22:43.000 The climate crisis is one of the most pressing crises facing this city, and we deserve to take it on with the urgency it requires.

01:22:51.000 It is right now easier to pay the fine than to actually comply with this legislation.

01:22:56.000 We have to ensure that we make it easier for condo and co-op owners to follow these laws, and we do that by eliminating the application fees for J51, by extending that tax credit, by also creating a one-stop shop in New York City government that procures at a large scale heat pumps and the very kind of infrastructure needed to comply.

01:23:16.000 We've seen this happen before with clean energy work that's been done in Woodside houses.

01:23:21.000 It's time to bring that kind of work right here so that we can ensure full compliance with local law engineers.

01:23:26.000 I read that you're proposing the city buy those heat pumps and other tech in bulk and give them to landlords and other buildings for free.

01:23:34.000 Is that accurate?

01:23:35.000 No, it's to actually ensure that they can afford the cost of these things by purchasing using an economy of scale.

01:23:41.000 Thank you, Mr. Swieber.

01:23:42.000 I'm the only one on this stage totally opposed to local 97.

01:23:46.000 100,000 condo and co-op owners.

01:23:50.000 Their maintenance fees will go up 30%.

01:23:52.000 They won't have enough reserve fees.

01:23:54.000 You're going to see massive flight from the co-ops and condos.

01:23:59.000 Now, they want to electrify everything.

01:24:01.000 Well, there's a man on the stage who took Indian Point offline.

01:24:05.000 That was 25% of our electrical output.

01:24:08.000 We haven't been able to meet the need since.

01:24:10.000 And as a result, they're now starting to build, because of the city of yes that I'm opposed, these lithium-ion battery warehouses.

01:24:18.000 Where?

01:24:19.000 Staten Island 38, Brooklyn 12, 8 in Queens, 4 in the Bronx, and none in Manhattan.

01:24:26.000 Oh, no.

01:24:27.000 They're going to electrify and they don't have the electrical output.

01:24:31.000 So I say no to local 97.

01:24:33.000 And when I'm mayor, I tell all my commissioners, throw a monkey wrench into the process.

01:24:38.000 We slow it down because we want these condo owners and co-op owners to stay.

01:24:42.000 Mr. Cuomo, are you a name check on Indian Point?

01:24:46.000 I think I was.

01:24:48.000 Indian Point was a danger.

01:24:54.000 It was the nuclear power plant most closely located to the densest population.

01:25:02.000 There was no nuclear plant on the globe that close to a city.

01:25:06.000 There were 20 million people in what was called the kill zone.

01:25:11.000 Before I became Attorney General, there had been a number of lawsuits to stop it.

01:25:15.000 What we did is we brought cables down from upstate New York down the Hudson River.

01:25:21.000 We have nuclear upstate.

01:25:24.000 We're in rural areas to bring that nuclear power down the cables and then on that basis substitute for Indian Point's power.

01:25:33.000 Yes or no.

01:25:34.000 When FGC rates are too high to pay because of you and Jewel Justin, yes or no, you need to support new nuclear power plants to help bring down the rising cost of utilities in New York State.

01:25:47.000 Just yes or no.

01:25:48.000 Mr. Shlewa?

01:25:49.000 Upstate, they're already starting.

01:25:51.000 Yes.

01:25:52.000 Mr. Monday, I think it's something worth exploring.

01:25:54.000 Mr. Cuomo.

01:25:56.000 Is that a yes?

01:25:57.000 No.

01:25:59.000 Yes.

01:26:01.000 Katie.

01:26:02.000 We're going to move on now to the economy.

01:26:04.000 Ms. Condani, you're proposing to raise the city's minimum wage to $30 an hour by 2030.

01:26:10.000 How would you get the state legislature to go along with your plan?

01:26:13.000 And do you think it's realistic to feel that a small business owner would have to pay every employee this amount, especially when the city currently doesn't mandate that figure for its own public employees?

01:26:24.000 And I have separate questions for Mr. Sleewan.

01:26:26.000 Mr. Cuomo.

01:26:27.000 So this would be something where the city would have to start doing so as well, because any law that we want New Yorkers to follow, the city should be following it itself.

01:26:35.000 And the reason that we put forward $30 by 2030 is that that's the minimum that a New Yorker needs to be paid to be able to afford to live in this city.

01:26:44.000 And what we are looking at right now is the possibility of the place that we know and love becoming a museum of where working class people used to be able to live.

01:26:53.000 Our proposal that we've put forward would be phased in over a longer period of time for small business owners to ensure that they could deal with this.

01:27:00.000 And it's also one that we are confident we would be able to accomplish because of the fact that we are seeing from New Yorkers time and time again the absence of it is pushing them to live in Jersey City, to live in Pennsylvania, to live in Connecticut because they can't afford to live in New York City.

01:27:16.000 Thank you.

01:27:16.000 And for Mr. Sleewa and Mr. Cuomo, if you're not in favor of a $30 minimum wage, what are your plans to raise the salaries of workers in New York City?

01:27:24.000 We'll start with you, Mr. Sleewa.

01:27:25.000 First off, Zorhan Mandami deals with fantasy, not reality.

01:27:29.000 Look at all the Uber drivers.

01:27:31.000 Look at all the taxi drivers, the Lyft drivers.

01:27:34.000 They will now have driverless cars.

01:27:37.000 That's what they're pushing.

01:27:39.000 AI that's going to be wiping out so many jobs, especially for young men and women who went to school, got their four years of college, two-year degree, and they're making $155,000, and then they get wiped out.

01:27:52.000 You know what the corporate sector is going to do.

01:27:54.000 They're going to bring in robotics.

01:27:56.000 Zoron, stop dealing with fantasy and start dealing with reality.

01:28:00.000 You're pushing businesses out because you want to tax them.

01:28:03.000 I'm the only one here who wants to cut the corporate taxes, the income tax, the property tax we can cut in order to keep business here.

01:28:11.000 But if you raise the minimum wage too high, they're going to end up going in a different direction and they're not going to hire workers.

01:28:19.000 It's going to be robots and driverless cars and AI, and I'm opposed to that.

01:28:24.000 Thank you, Mr. Cuomo.

01:28:26.000 Yeah.

01:28:28.000 I half agree with Curtis.

01:28:32.000 There is, Zoron does have socialist theory colliding with practical reality.

01:28:39.000 I went through this.

01:28:40.000 We raised the minimum wage to the highest in the United States of America.

01:28:44.000 New York set the bar.

01:28:45.000 We said it at $15.

01:28:48.000 Every other state said that's crazy when we did it.

01:28:52.000 People in the state said that was crazy when we did it.

01:28:55.000 But it was calibrated.

01:28:57.000 It was doable.

01:28:58.000 We phased it in in different parts of the state.

01:29:01.000 We phased it in with small businesses.

01:29:03.000 We gave them assistance.

01:29:05.000 Because if you raise it too high, and I believe 30 is too high, I would raise it to 20.

01:29:12.000 If you raise it too high, you do two things.

01:29:15.000 People lose their jobs.

01:29:17.000 You bankrupt businesses.

01:29:20.000 You're talking about basically doubling payroll.

01:29:24.000 And you can have a negative effect where literally businesses close and people lose their jobs.

01:29:30.000 And overall, again, it's another tax on corporations, another reason to leave New York, another reason to pack up the family and get our I-95 and go to South Carolina and Florida and Texas.

01:29:47.000 All right.

01:29:48.000 Candidates, we are coming down the home stretch.

01:29:50.000 I want to alert our media partners, especially we're going to go over by five minutes, and we're going to have Brian lead a conversation about transit.

01:30:00.000 Right.

01:30:00.000 And we're going to have to do this very briefly to each of you because you each have transit things to answer to.

01:30:06.000 Mr. Cuomo, you say the city should take partial control of New York City transit away from the MTA, which is mostly controlled by the state.

01:30:15.000 Would the city then have to put more of the bill?

01:30:18.000 And if this is a good idea, why didn't you propose it as governor?

01:30:24.000 The capital thing is, first of all, New York City owns the New York City Transit Authority, not the MTA.

01:30:31.000 It leases the trains and subways to the MTA.

01:30:36.000 And then the question is the division of responsibility.

01:30:39.000 New York City does the safety along with the MTA.

01:30:43.000 The problem the MTA is having is the capital construction projects.

01:30:48.000 It has been an ongoing problem.

01:30:51.000 I came in, I took over Moynihan and finished it.

01:30:54.000 I came in and took over Second Avenue subway, the L-Train tunnel.

01:30:58.000 The capital construction projects are way overdue.

01:31:04.000 I would say, no, there is a budget set.

01:31:07.000 My only point is the MTA, which is a labyrinth bureaucracy set up by Rockefeller, which should have never been done in the first place.

01:31:16.000 It's an overwhelming task for the greatest managers, and I hired both of them.

01:31:21.000 But let the city manage the capital construction from the MTA budget.

01:31:27.000 Mr. Mamdani, make your case briefly for your proposal for free buses for everybody, even those who can afford to pay.

01:31:36.000 You know, first I'll just say that one of the most celebrated leaders of the New York City Transit was Andy Biford, who had such a terrible experience working under Andrew Cuomo that he would rather work under Donald Trump right now.

01:31:49.000 The proposal that we have put forward addresses the fact that today, in the wealthiest city in the wealthiest country in the history of the world, one in five New Yorkers cannot afford the bus fare.

01:32:00.000 It would cost $700 million a year to make the slowest buses in the country fast and free.

01:32:07.000 And by doing so, we would generate more than double an economic revenue for New Yorkers across the city.

01:32:14.000 It would be something that would reduce assaults on bus drivers.

01:32:17.000 It would increase ridership on those buses.

01:32:19.000 And it would actually have environmental impacts as fewer New Yorkers would drive their own car or take a taxi and would instead get on the bus.

01:32:26.000 And I know all of this because I delivered it as a state assembly member who won the first free buses in New York City's history.

01:32:32.000 And Mr. Sleeb, your website, according to my reading, has a section on transit safety, but nothing on transit service.

01:32:40.000 Do you have any core proposals for improving it?

01:32:43.000 Oh, sure.

01:32:43.000 First off, Joran.

01:32:45.000 I get a good belly laugh.

01:32:47.000 Oh, all right.

01:32:47.000 I'll keep practicing.

01:32:49.000 I got you.

01:32:49.000 I get a good belly laugh every time I hear you say free fare, the subways.

01:32:53.000 After people don't pay anyway.

01:32:55.000 How about fair enforcement?

01:32:57.000 I'm the only one who says we have all kinds of fare programs for the indigent and the poor.

01:33:02.000 But if you don't pay your fare, there needs to be enforcement.

01:33:05.000 And by the way, I've taken this subway almost every day of my life since I was five.

01:33:10.000 The worst time was the summer of 2017, the summer of hell, Andrew Cuomo, when you were running the subway system as the head of the NCAA.

01:33:20.000 I don't trust you with anything to do with that.

01:33:23.000 Why would you, how would you make it better?

01:33:26.000 Oh, very simply.

01:33:27.000 Everybody pays their fare, enforcement, more cops in the subway system.

01:33:32.000 And by the way, we can get more people to voluntarily actually sponsor their subway system stations, clean it up, and beautify them and add some life so the community has input into the subway that they have to go through the sleaze and slime all the time.

01:33:50.000 All right, candidates.

01:33:51.000 We've got just a couple of minutes.

01:33:52.000 Let's have another quick lightning round where each candidate will answer my questions with a quick response, usually yes or no.

01:34:00.000 Name one person you'd like to see run for president in 2028, Mr. Sliwa.

01:34:05.000 Wow, in 2028.

01:34:08.000 Man, I'm dealing right now with 2025.

01:34:11.000 Mr. Bomdani.

01:34:13.000 My only focus is on November.

01:34:14.000 Mr. Cuomo.

01:34:16.000 I haven't thought it through.

01:34:18.000 Okay.

01:34:19.000 We have a city of hundreds of languages and cultures.

01:34:22.000 Can you greet New Yorkers in a language other than your own, Mr. Cuomo?

01:34:25.000 Ciao.

01:34:27.000 Buenos dias.

01:34:29.000 Nihal with a pungyo. 1.00

01:34:31.000 Okay.

01:34:32.000 Buona furtona percendeane.

01:34:34.000 Okay.

01:34:35.000 Have you decided on a schools chancellor, Mr. Sliwa?

01:34:38.000 Yes.

01:34:39.000 I would ask Bob Holden, who's taught 40 years he leads Democrats for Sliwa.

01:34:44.000 Okay.

01:34:44.000 Mr. Mondani.

01:34:45.000 No, I haven't decided on a chancellor's yet.

01:34:47.000 No.

01:34:48.000 Okay.

01:34:50.000 Should people be arrested for the solicitation of sex?

01:34:53.000 Mr. Sliwa.

01:34:55.000 No.

01:34:56.000 The Johns, yes.

01:34:57.000 The Pimps, the Madams, and the absentee landlords.

01:35:01.000 Mr. Momdani?

01:35:02.000 No.

01:35:02.000 Mr. Cuomo.

01:35:05.000 Zoran's decriminalization for prostitutes, Johns, and pimps would be a disaster on the quality of life in the country.

01:35:13.000 They should be arrested, you say.

01:35:14.000 Should people be arrested for soliciting?

01:35:16.000 It is a criminal offense.

01:35:18.000 I would keep it as it is.

01:35:19.000 Okay.

01:35:20.000 Last question.

01:35:20.000 Can you name one thing that New York got right during the COVID crisis?

01:35:24.000 Mr. Sliwa.

01:35:25.000 New York got right.

01:35:27.000 Oh, wow.

01:35:28.000 He didn't get anything right during the COVID crisis.

01:35:31.000 No.

01:35:32.000 Mr. Momdani.

01:35:34.000 It only took me 15 minutes to get my vaccine shot when I went for that, and that was an efficient experience.

01:35:38.000 Mr. Cuomo.

01:35:39.000 Thank you for the compliment.

01:35:41.000 That was a city-run vaccine.

01:35:43.000 All right.

01:35:44.000 Gentlemen.

01:35:48.000 Thanks so much, Senator Man.

01:35:49.000 That is going to do it for this debate.

01:35:52.000 I would like to thank the candidates and our partners and all of you at home.

01:35:56.000 If you missed any part of this debate, you can watch it in its entirety at ny1.com and the Spectrum News YouTube channel.

01:36:02.000 Early voting is set to begin across the five boroughs on Saturday with several other races on the ballot as well, including city controller, public advocate, the five borough presidents, and members of the city council, as well as six ballot initiatives.

01:36:15.000 There's some district attorney races as well.

01:36:18.000 Election day is November 4th.

01:36:20.000 Thank you all for watching.

Loomer Unleashed - October 22, 2025

LIVE: Final NYC Mayoral General Election Debate

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