Deputy Mayor Meera Joshi, Operations: Good morning. Today we're here to ask Albany for one of the most effective tools to fight one of the greatest threats to our city's public safety. And that's roadway violence. We need this tool to fight against reckless drivers. Speed cameras and red-light cameras work. They reduce risky driving by 70 percent whenever they are erected, and in places where they have been erected, we see fatalities reduced by over 50 percent. This is not about enforcing new rules or creating new requirements. This is about enforcing the existing rules of the road—stay within the speed limit and don't run red-lights. The cameras are the only way the city has an effective tool against broad base enforcement of getting risky drivers off the road. Today, we're on a site where tragically, Isaiah Benloss needlessly lost his life.

Deputy Mayor Joshi: We're here today with Isaiah's family. They represent what the pain looks like, what that tragedy looks like when we don't have the right tools in order to enforce against reckless drivers. So I want to turn it over to our mayor, who has so eloquently talked not just about the importance of a mother's love, but the depth of anguish of a mother's loss, and the need to restore public safety to our streets. Today is our day that we ask Albany to give us the tools to make that happen. Our mayor, Mayor Adams.

Mayor Eric Adams: Thank you. Thank you, deputy mayor. And day to day all I do is hear about what do we do with the bad things that people do in this city. No one—we just forgot about the good people that are doing their lives every day. There's just a focus on, you know, the bad people, those who speed. Why should we have more cameras? Those who carry guns. Why should police officers arrest them? Why should we prosecute? There is just a fixation on the bad people in the city. I have a question today. What about the good people? What about the people that don't break the law? What about the people that don't speed? What about the people that don't carry guns? Like, do they matter?

Mayor Adams: And so for us to be here today, and before I talk about this horrific case, this is what we captured yesterday—and the DA and the police commissioner and others—33 guns from two people. And people asking why do I have an anti-gun unit? What the hell is wrong with you? Because a seven year old girl should not be shot. I am going to ignore the noise. And I'm going to hear the voices of New Yorkers who are tired of feeling as though their streets are unsafe. Gun violence and vehicle crashes. So a 10-year-old baby—I can't believe we're here fighting to get control of speed cameras when you're seeing a 70 percent reduction.

Mayor Adams: This family is mourning. I cannot even imagine losing Jordan at 18. This is just unbelievable that we are here trying to convince Albany to give us the speed cameras we need that has proven to be successful. The numbers are so clear on how these cameras are helping us. And Andrew Gounardes, the state senator, and others have been advocating for this for so long without getting the help we need. Here's a young man, basketball player at Lincoln High School, going to community college, everything we want our children to do. And not only does he have to dodge the metal of a bullet, but he has to dodge the metal of a car that sped through a light and hit the car that he's in. It's just devastating for the family that they had to experience this and it happened near a school, P.S. 245.

Mayor Adams: And the real crisis is that the law requires that we turn off the cameras at a certain time period. Who are we protecting? We're protecting the speeders. How about protecting Isaiah? Why don't we try something different in New York State? Why don't we try, just try something different? Let's just, let's just for the next four years, let's do something different. Let's protect the innocent people. Let's have advocacy for the next four years and use this as a test case. For the next four years, let's say we're going to protect innocent people in our city. Can we try that? And all of the loud voices of those who want to protect people who break the law, can they join us and protect people who are following the law? That's what I'm trying to do. So we don't lose this beautiful young child, 18-years-old, because someone decided to speed at three in the morning, when we had to, by law, turn off the camera, as though people stopped speeding after school hours. It's not acceptable.

Mayor Adams: And that's why we're here today, with our advocates, and saying that we don't want to continue to rob our children of a lifetime of success based on vehicle crashes. Family for Safe Streets, other advocates have been talking about this for so long. And to have the families here continuing to join in membership in an organization that no one wants to be a member in, and that's losing a loved one to a vehicle crash. And the number of fatalities is nowhere near the equivalent and exceedingly high number of people who are traumatized because they are the victims of vehicle crashes. And so we believe that if we get this home rule message, and have control over our speed cameras in our red-light cameras, we can make a difference. Since the pandemic 59 percent of traffic fatalities occurred during hours when the city speed cameras are turned off. Just doesn't make any sense.

Mayor Adams: "Well, you know, you guys are just trying to use the speed cameras to tax people." No this is not about dollars and cents, this is about common sense. A common sense approach to stopping the culture of speeding in our city. But, no, no, let's look at this—when we operate speed cameras, we see a 72 percent reduction in speed and a 14 percent reduction in injuries from traffic fatalities. Follow the numbers. The numbers are clear. And even in those intersections when we don't, we start to create a culture that people stop speeding. And so the job that we have is to make sure that we make New Yorkers safe, stop people from speeding, parking in bus lanes to ensure bus lane enforcement, red-light enforcement and make our city a safe place. That's all we're doing. So I'm sorry, I'm really sorry. And those who are holding this back, they need to hear from us and that's why we're here today. This is our life's work because we don't want to continue to see lives prematurely taken from us. This family is traumatized. But also our councilwoman who was in a school where this young man attended, she's traumatized. His fellow students are traumatized. People who watched him play, they're traumatized. His classmates are traumatized. These innocent people—does anyone care about innocent people anymore? I do. I do. I do. I do.

Deputy Mayor Meera Joshi, Operations: Thank you, Mayor Adams. I want to take a moment also to recognize some of our elected officials that are here today in support of the efforts to get the tools we need to get reckless drivers off the street. State Senator Andrew Gounardes, Councilmember Rita Joseph, Councilmember Julia Menin. And next we're going to hear from a voice I know you've heard a lot from on the subject of street safety. My colleague Commissioner Rodriguez, thank you very much.

Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez, Department of Transportation: Let's first dedicate a moment of silence in the memory. Vamos a dedicar un momento de silencio a la vida del joven que se fue a tiempo.

Commissioner Rodriguez: Gracias. Thank you. Thank you, Deputy Mayor Yoshi and thank you Mayor Eric Adams for your leadership not only on this but many other issues important for New Yorkers, ask you leaders to take the city back. Today is a sad day, hearing this story that this family has shared with us definitely brings us to a place of thinking of what is that we can do. And that's why we're here. Joining the [inaudible], Mayor Adams, and the family, and everyone to say, stay in New York, give the home rule, give all control to New York City on the speed camera and automatic enforcement.

Commissioner Rodriguez: This corner was the site of a tragic loss of life. A driver who sped through this intersection also ran a red-light. Isaiah's death came with the extra suffering for him and his family, of having a beautiful son lying in coma for more than a year. So horrible. We at DOT are doing so much this year to stop crashes like this, including making 1,000 intersections safer this year, as you heard in January from Mayor Adams, the deputy mayor and myself. We also know that we need more tools to stop the epidemic of speeding. So today we are focused on automatic enforcement and speeding. After all, DOT knows—the lower speed cameras, speed limits, red-light cameras and speed cameras save lives.

Commissioner Rodriguez: As Mayor Eric Adams said, we also know that a solid majority, almost 60 percent of all traffic fatalities since the start of the pandemic now happened on overnight and weekends. We also know that where we are located—where we locate the speed cameras, speeding declines by an average of more than 72 percent. We are standing right now in one of the 750 school zones citywide served by a speed camera. In fact, one of the most successful speed cameras in the entire city is about one block off Ocean Avenue. It is one of the cameras we first installed in 2019. Since it was turned on, speeding here along Ocean Avenue has declined by 89 percent.

Commissioner Rodriguez: I also asked my team to do a deeper analysis on crashes along this corridor since the camera was installed, and we found out more good news. Not only have speed cameras declined since we installed the camera, but as well as we all know—sorry, but also crashes have declined by 41 percent and total injuries have declined by 14 percent. But as we all know that one very effective speed camera and all the others are turned off at 3:30 in the morning when more people are speeding.

Commissioner Rodriguez: We need the authority to expand the use of cameras as well as when and where we can use all these critical tools. Having control of speed cameras and automatic enforcement combined with our work on intersections and protected bike lanes in both lane and so much more will improve safety for everyone, pedestrians. Let's say loud and clear so Albany hears: "Speed cameras save lives."

Crowd chanting: Speed cameras save lives. Speed cameras save lives.

Commissioner Rodriguez: Escuchamos al alcalde Eric Adams—está pidiendo que el estado de Nueva York le de la autoridad a la ciudad de Nueva York para que lo que pasó a esta familia, valiente, trabajadora, formando un hijo muy productivo no se haga historia de más familias en la ciudad de Nueva York. Le pedimos que nos den toda la autorización para controlar todo el uso de las cámaras que le dan tickets a los choferes que andan manejando en alta velocidad. Thank you.

Deputy Mayor Joshi: Thank you very much, Commissioner Rodriguez, and thank you for your lifetime of work championing road safety. Next we have Chief Michael Pilecki from the New York Police Department.

Michael Pilecki, Transportation Bureau Deputy Chief, New York Police Department: Thank you, Mayor Adams, Commissioner Rodriguez and our government and civic partners and good morning to you all. The New York City Police Department knows that traffic safety is public safety. Our officers know this and it's our mission to educate New Yorkers about this truth. The NYPD and our highway district also know that automated traffic safety measures work, as the mayor said. Automated tools are force multipliers that enhance the safety of the people that we serve, and they are a proven speed deterrent.

Pilecki: Speed was a factor in the crash that occurred here in this very spot. On August 18, 2020, a truly tragic night, 18-year-old Isaiah Benloss first suffered grievous injuries, so severe that they would ultimately claim his young life. I would like to assure everyone here and the public that from the moment that this tragedy occurred, the NYPD and its collision investigation squad have worked relentlessly on the case. The investigators and their prosecutorial partners working together have one objective, and that is to obtain justice for Isaiah, his mother, his family, and for all of us in the city. Their work continues in this case as the investigation remains active and ongoing.

Pilecki: Please note that because the investigation does remain open, we cannot take any questions related to the case. However, if anyone has any information that can possibly help us, we ask that they please call us at 1-800-577-TIPS. Again, we would like to assure everyone that we are doing everything possible to bring this case to a successful conclusion. Thank you.

Deputy Mayor Joshi: Thank you very much, chief and thank you for the New York City Police Department's untiring work in bringing justice. Our next speaker I'd like to welcome is the sponsor of the legislation, Senator Andrew Gounardes. Thank you.

Deputy Mayor Joshi: Thank you very much, senator. And I want to just point out something that we've seen across the nation, and we've seen especially in New York, speeding increased during the pandemic. Speeding increased during the pandemic because our streets were empty. The other time that our streets are empty is late at night, in the wee hours of the morning. So those are the critical times that we need to be able to employ tools against reckless driving, and actually driving that renders people losing their lives, losing the lives of their loved ones.

Deputy Mayor Joshi: So it's not as though it's guesswork. It's not as though we're testing something out. It's actually proven. And we're in a pandemic, again, we're in another pandemic against traffic violence. Across the nation rates have gone up, and New York City needs to do its part. We knew how to use vaccines, we knew how to use masks, we knew how to flatten the curve, we can do the same when it comes to traffic violence, if we are given the ability to use the tools. And again, I want to really reiterate, this is not a draconian measure, this is not adding additional burdens. It is reinforcing established rules of the road that we know. Stop at a red-light and don't go above the speed limit. It's not that difficult.

Deputy Mayor Joshi: And so I think what we are doing today is so important in terms of sending that message, but we need to have it reinforced by all those that are here with us in every way that you can so that we're able to be effective and we're not standing on this corner again a year from now. So with that, I want to turn it over to Rondelle Booker Adams—oh, we're going to go actually, I'm sorry, straight to questions and answers. But I do want to thank representatives of Families for Safe Streets who have been tireless advocates, both in the press and behind the scenes supporting families who never wanted to be a member of their group. So we'll turn it over to Q-and-A. And I want to thank everybody for coming today.

Mayor Adams: Before we go to Q-and-A, it's only fitting to have Councilwoman Joseph to say a few words. This was a student in your school, to hear from you, and you know, just personal condolences. I know how impactful it is as a teacher.

Mayor Adams: Thank you. Thank you.

Deputy Mayor Joshi: I'm glad that we are going to be able to hear from a member of Families for Safe Streets. Welcome Rondelle Booker Adams.

Question: Mr. Mayor. I know you're talking about Albany today and Albany control, but two months ago you were at another press conference, another street safety press conference couple blocks from here, and you talked about efforts that the mayor's office can do including redesigning intersections, which is ongoing, and also a stronger enforcement effort by the NYPD. But over the next full month of that enforcement effort, it turned out that the NYPD wrote less than one ticket moving violation ticket per day per precinct in that enforcement effort. So can you talk to us a little bit about more that the mayor's office can do whether it's enforcement or massive pedestrianisation of streets, power reduction strategies? What are you going to do?

Mayor Adams: I say this over and over again. Whenever we are dealing with crises in the city. There are many rivers that feed the sea of these crises, and there's some things we can do on the city level, the federal level and the state level. We're going to do our job. You keep holding us accountable on the city level. That is the job of the commissioner of DOT and the job of my police commissioner. You help us—you identify those locations where we're weak, we're going to respond to them accordingly. And if those recent numbers are not reflecting the issues in that area, the police commissioner is going to get on top of them. We're going to get them right. And if you point them out to us that we're failing, I'm not coming up with excuses. We're going to execute, and we're going to get stuff done.

Question: The previous mayor had a goal under Vision Zero, no traffic deaths by 2024. Do you think that's achievable?

Mayor Adams: If we don't have this support that we need...we're going to do our job and continue to do our job here in the city. But a lot of the goals we are trying to obtain—unfortunately, we're creatures of Albany. And this is a basic request we're making, as the senator stated, why can't we control our streets? And I believe the more we have the barriers removed, and from the outside intervention, we can achieve that goal and we're going to move towards that goal.

Question: Speaking of speed camera legislation, have you at all discussed this with Governor Hochul? Would you go into a little bit what those conversations have been like?

Mayor Adams: Have we had conversations on all of our priority agendas in Albany. And you know my rule, I don't talk about private conversations between lawmakers.

Question: Right, you're talking about how the city needs the state's help to get control of its streets again. What can the city do on it? So, in the first few months of 2019, the city wrote 183,000 summonses for traffic violations, compared to the first two months of this year, it's just 80,000. That's a drop of more than half. So what can the police department do to improve its own enforcement on streets when it seems to have virtually disappeared amid the pandemic?

Mayor Adams: They—we have to do a better job. As you know, we have been dealing with a real crises of gun violence. 29 people shot in a short period of time last week, almost 44 people shot dealing with a host of other items, but we want to get our traffic enforcement personnel involved and send a real message out to all of our police commanders, that public safety include vehicle crashes, and we have to get engaged and that's the message I'm going to give to the police commissioner.

Commissioner Rodriguez: We are looking to follow all intersections that the data is showing that we have issues with speeding. We want, the mayor and I, deputy mayor, we have said we are declaring intersections our sacred places and safe places. So we're going to be following the data. And in any intersection where it's shown that we need to have a speed camera, we will be analyzing with the team at City Hall, DOT, NYPD, and hopefully moving forward. But first we need to go home rule.

Mayor Adams: And it's important to point out that having these automation, you know. You know, I'm a big believer in automation. If we have the automation that we're looking for, it allows our offices and others to free up to do additional things. If we had the automation, you don't have to—you don't need a cop fixed a corner when you have that speed camera there. This is a smart way to integrate enforcement by using that automation. And that's why it's important. We're going to continue to use technology to make our city safer. And this is one of those tools that will be extremely helpful so that we can have police officers do a multifaceted approach, as in making sure they're doing the enforcement that's needed. But you have a permanent enforcement that's in place in those areas where we have high fatalities and high crashes.

Question: Hi, Danielle from Politico. I was just wondering, enforcement has been down since 2019, as other reporters have referenced, is there someone from the NYPD who could speak to why enforcement has dropped over so many years even before the pandemic and how they think they can correct that?

Mayor Adams: Okay, I can only tell you about January, February and March. So I will put you in contact with someone at the New York City Police Department. We used to have when I was a captain something called TrafficStat where you would analyze the heavy traffic areas where you had crashes or fatalities and what—if we don't have that still in place, we're going to reinstitute it. TrafficStat. I was a [inaudible] that was in charge of the TrafficStat, the sixth precinct. It was a great tool and we're going to find out if they're using that too. We need to be zero focused on being preventive, not not only reactionary in the process. But someone from the team will get back to you and see if TrafficStat is still in place.

Mayor Adams: Okay so when we free everyone up, unless the family would like to say anything. It's up to you—

Question: Can I ask you about the Amazon unionization fight on Staten Island. The workers are voting to unionize. I wonder if you have any feelings on that, whether you think workers should vote yes?

Mayor Adams: Oh, you know, there are restrictions that we have in interfering with unionizing. And I'm not going to violate any of those. I'm a union member, I believe in unions. I'm hoping that all the workers do a real analysis on the benefits of having a union. I believe in it. And I'm hoping that we can start the process of unionizing all these shops. I think union should be in every occupation.

Question: Just a couple of questions, Mr. Mayor, a couple. The first one is in reference to the other vaccine exemption that happened yesterday. A lot of talk today, the idea that despite open up for more lawsuits, how is the city prepared to handle that? Do you think that the city would be able to deal with those lawsuits? Have you had those discussions? And the second one was about broken windows.

Mayor Adams: It's clear that we, you know, we would not have made an announcement without speaking with our attorneys. And that's the beauty of our system of justice. If people believe that they were unfairly treated, they have an opportunity to go to our court system. And that's—those are the laws of our land, and I welcome the court system. I've sued people before. And so I'm happy to know we have a court system that we respect the rights of people, and the process will move forward.

Question: Broken windows. Recently the NYPD put up this new initiative for patrol officers, they're going to be going after quality of life incidents, and I wanted to get your take on this. Critics have said that it brought in a lot of excessive policing to a lot of low level crimes and with the Neighborhood Safety Teams, they've gotten extra training, but are there going to be any extra training for the regular patrol officers that are going to be doing quality of life enforcement that has caused issues in the past?

Mayor Adams: You know, it never ceases to amaze me how we create our own narrative. I never used the term broken windows, no one in a police department used to term broken windows. And so all of a sudden, you know, we almost created our own stories. We are not going back to the policing that I fought to change. All that you're hearing around right now about police reforms, those are all my reforms. I'm the one that advocated for what you are seeing in policing. Now, why do I go back on that?

Mayor Adams: So let's be clear on this, what's not going to happen in the city. You're not going to walk into Duane Reade, take whatever you want, and walk out, you're not going to hop over the counter and take codeine and other drugs and then walk out. You're not going to drive motorcycles through the streets, pulling people out and assaulting them merely because of a traffic accident. You're not going to openly inject yourself with drugs. You're not going to just do whatever you want in the city. And you know, we need to stop talking about the people who are committing crimes. And I stated I'm talking about people who are not committing crimes.

Mayor Adams: We won't go back to abusive policing. We're going to analyze video footage to determine if an officer is violating the law, if he needs reinstruction or he must be brought up on disciplinary charges for doing something wrong. We didn't have that technology in 84 or 5, 6, and 7, when I was a police officer and a sergeant lieutenant. We have it now. We're going to use that tool to make sure we're not going backwards. But the city is also not going backwards in crime. That is the key here—is the balance of justice and safety. I say that all over and over again. But only people hear is the safety part about it but does it’s justice also.

Question: Mayor, on the vaccine mandate, I want to ask you about the current city council speaker and the former city council speaker. The current council speaker, Adrienne Adams, pretty sharply critical of what you did, saying, "it is a step away from sensible public health and sends ambiguous messaging." The former council speaker, Corey Johnson, who is now a paid lobbyist for the Nets, either met with you or spoke with you before the decision. So can you clarify, did Corey say, "Hey, Mayor, I'm working with the Nets right now. I'd like to talk to you" within an informal conversation? Or put it in perspective for us so we understand what happened.

Mayor Adams: Okay, a couple things. Let's go to Corey. Corey reached out, clearly stated he was speaking on behalf of the Nets when he reached out. I receive calls from people who were against and for. That happens in this—in the city. I said, "Corey, like any other person, I'm going based on what my doctors stated." And so the city council's thoughts, others, individuals thoughts, that's all understandable. 8.8 million people. 35 million opinions. You know, they're things that the city council speaker is going to do I'm going to disagree with. But she has a role as the city council and I have a role as the mayor.

Question: I'm actually asking this question for colleague Marcia Kramer, who's working on a story today about there's a new poll out of 10,000 New Yorkers, New York City residents who say they are hesitant to come back to city offices, because they are worried about the level of crime in the subway system, in particular homelessness and as well as gun violence. So they don't want to have to come to work because of that. Do you have anything you want to say about that?

Mayor Adams: Yes, I respect their concerns. And my job is to talk about those 10,000 people who are concerned, those are the innocent people that we appear to ignore their voices. We allow the numerical minority who are the loudest to determine what every day New Yorkers want. New Yorkers want a clean, safe subway system, and they want to be able to return to their offices safely. That is who I'm fighting on behalf of. And I'm just really proud I'm fighting on behalf of them. So I understand that concern. That's why we're going to get crime under control.

Question: Because that's the fullest finding, these people think the city needs to do more so that they can feel safe coming back to work.

Mayor Adams: We always can do more. And you know, that's an interesting question of what are we going to do about it? I've been rolling out what we are going to do about it for the last few months. Put in place my anti-gun unit. In the first six days they made 10 arrests on guns, 30 arrests for other crimes. You just saw what the police commissioner did yesterday with, you know, ghost guns and others, high speed ammunition and guns. My complete program we're doing in the subway system of removing those who are there that can't care for themselves and are harmful to others. You know, it's what are we doing about it every day? We're talking about how do we deal with the quality of life. And when we talk about quality of life people talk about I'm for forced, unfair enforcement. I have to ignore all of that. Because those 10,000 people matter to me.

Question: I just wanted to follow up on that. Are you and have you since being elected carried a gun?

Mayor Adams: No, no, but seriously, let's be clear on what I said, I stated that if I receive a threat from my intel that states that there's a real threat that I will make that determination. Intel protects me. Many people were not happy to hear, but you know, my brother's with me. And sometimes he's my duplicate, he's my body double. But we are going to do what's right to protect the people of the city of New York. And if I feel the need to do something I will do so. I don't feel the need to do so right now. Because Bernard is around me.

Mayor Adams: No, no, I have not.

Question: I wanted to [inaudible] removal of [inaudible] off your Educational Policy Panel. You removed her citing her anti-gay comments, at the same time you decide to keep on the other pastors who made similar anti-gay remarks. What's the justification for removing her but keeping the other three?

Mayor Adams: Those, a long time—the three that you're talking about are a long time public figures that I had an opportunity throughout the campaign and after to sit down and speak with them. And I was clear that they apologize for their comments. And they have shown a history of really building bridges in this city. When we vetted the PP person, the information did not come up in the vetting. And I thank whomever we received it from in the press that shared it with us. And I just made the determination that the writing was not in line and I didn't have an opportunity to interview her the same way I interviewed the three other pastors that you were talking about, and I made the decision. This is about a case by case basis that I'm going to make those determinations.

Question: Did you offer her an opportunity to apologize in the same way the other three pastors—

Mayor Adams: I don't reveal private conversations.

Question: Mr. Mayor, to the issue of the double standard with Kyrie Irving and Aaron Judge don't have to get vaccinated to play but teachers have to get vaccinated to teach. I'm vaccinated, but I need that requirement to get into my newsroom. What's with the double standard?

Mayor Adams: No double standard. I made a decision based on the information that I received from my health team. And I have the obligation to make those decisions on how I'm going to move my city forward. So you may consider it as a double standard, I consider it an analysis that I made and I'm comfortable with my decision.

Question: That decision, Mr. Mayor, was to ensure the competitiveness of the Yankees and the Nets come playoff time. Aaron Judge and Kyrie Irving are two key players. Will the city be exempting them for many other regulations to ensure they can be on the field? And they speed to get to the stadium to make it on time.

Mayor Adams: I am clear that I am going to make the determinations for the city of New York as the mayor and I made that determination within the power vested in me as the mayor of the city of New York.

Mayor Adams: Thank you. Thanks all.

pressoffice@cityhall.nyc.gov (212) 788-2958