Ask the Mayor 'Tryouts': Scott Stringer

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Brian: Brian Lehrer on WNYC and if you haven't heard yet April is Ask The Mayor tryouts month here on the Brian Lehrer Show. Just like we do ask the mayor every Friday with my questions and yours for Mayor Bill de Blasio, we've invited the eight leading candidates for the June primary to join us this month to do an Ask The Mayor segment with my questions and yours for them. All eight have now accepted. We started this on Monday with candidate Maya Wiley and we continue now with candidates Scott Stringer. He is, of course, the New York City comptroller for the last eight years, one of only three citywide elected officials along with the mayor and the public advocate. People have experienced voting for Scott Stringer.

Before that, he was Manhattan borough president and before that a member of the state legislature from Manhattan. It's my questions and yours now for candidate Scott Stringer at 646-435-7280, 646-435-7280, or you can tweet a question just use the same hashtag we do on Fridays, #AskTheMayor and just let me remind you of the ground rules that we established on Monday. We want these to be policy questions not got you questions or negative attacks. If you get on the air and we think you're a plan from a rival campaign just trying to make our guest look bad, we will give you very short shrift. With all of that as prelude, Mr. Comptroller, welcome back to WNYC, and thanks for doing an Ask The Mayor tryout.

Comptroller Scott Stringer: Good morning Brian and good morning New York.

Brian: I know you've all done about a million and a half Zoom forums. Is there a most common ask the candidate question that members of the public tend to ask you?

Comptroller Stringer: I've done so many both in-house parties pre-pandemic and Zooms and actually one of the most compelling questions I get, and I almost get this every time is the mayor's relationship with Albany. It is an important question because as we saw with the passage of the state budget so much of the city's future depends on Albany, and as a former assembly member, I recognize we have to reset that Albany relationship. I find it very interesting that people really want to know specifically how that's going to happen.

Brian: I'll ask you an Albany follow-up question then since it's in the news headlines in the last day and that's that the candidates seem to be staking out various positions on the tax hike just approved by Albany and the state legislature on people with $1 million a year incomes or more are you for it? If you are does that distinguish you from any of your rivals?

Comptroller Stringer: I am for the tax increase package. I believe that people who want to see our city emerge from the pandemic and then become the aspirational city that we want it to be have to recognize the pain a little more or actually enhance how we bring our city back. I think this was a reasonable proposal. As we know many frontline workers, many small businesses were devastated during the pandemic, wall street firms made $50 billion, they made back during the pandemic.

I believe that we also have to have a level playing field. I think this budget was crafted in a very smart way. New taxes on the wealthy are going to raise $4 billion in new revenue for essential services. We also going to do some very important things. $2.4 billion in rental relief that's going to cover 12 months of back rent and utilities. My belief as we think about our education system, a huge down payment $2.4 billion for childcare and $100 million for more pre-K, that's statewide. I think this is how we grow our economy. This is how we protect all of our people. I believe that paying a little more, the wealthiest people will go a long way to bring you back our city

Brian: Many wealthier New Yorkers with the means to do so as you know have left the city during the pandemic. Presumably, you want as few of them as possible to permanently settle somewhere else. Some of your rival candidates say this tax hike is going to make more of them stay away. Do you have a strategy for convincing them to return or are you less say fair about that?

Comptroller Stringer: Oh, no. I want everyone who left to come back. I want everyone to stay in the city. I also want to attract the next generation of immigrants who will come and make our city so special, but here's the deal, the reality is that we have to return to what mayors do for the people. That is create a real value proposition for all people. Double down on building the best school system, double down on building real affordable housing, making sure that we are a resilient city, that we recognize climate change in urban America.

We need a mayor who's going to manage the hell out of the city. Having someone with a progressive vision, but also the government skills to get things done. I think that will send a signal to everyone who's paying a little more in taxes that this city will be a cleaner city, a city with real quality of life, with aspirations for children. We will also address the systemic inequity in our city that was brought to bear by COVID when so many communities of color were devastated in terms of health, in terms of death, and so much tragedy. We have to have a mayor who can focus on that because we've got to bring the city back as one city. I'm hope to be able to do that.

Brian: That is an ethical position, a moral position, but is it a strategy for retaining the higher-income New Yorkers?

Comptroller Stringer: People will thrive in this city rich and poor if we maintain the value proposition and what is that? Good schools, housing, open space, park space, quality of life. We could start by picking up the garbage on a regular basis. That would be something that would attract people. I feel that at the end of the day people will pay more if they get value for that payment. As mayor, I have every intention of creating a city where people will want to come here and be attracted.

By the way, we've seen this movie before. We had this fiscal crisis in the '70s, some people left, but then people came roaring back. After 911, people were fearful, they took time away, they came back. After the 2008 recession, there was that same feeling of, "Well, I don't know if I can make a living in New York and people came back." What I find is that when I tell people we're going to have a city government that is competent, that is visionary and that is strong in purpose, we will attract the wealthiest people in the city, but we're also going to create a place for all people.

I think that is also an attraction to keep the diverse people in the city, our frontline workers, the people who sacrifice and risk their lives so that the whole community in New York could do better. That's the balance we have to get to. I think Albany took an important step and asking people to come off the sidelines and pay more. The next mayor now has to make sure that those dollars go to work for all the people of the city.

Brian: It's Ask The Mayor tryouts, my questions in yours for the leading New York City mayoral hopefuls today comptroller Scott Stringer running for mayor. Frederica in Manhattan. You're on WNYC. Hi, there.

Frederica: Hi there. Scott, you came out very early and wholeheartedly in favor of rezoning SoHo and NoHo. I think it must've been over a year ago. Given the details that such as they are of the plan that have emerged in the last year, I wondered if you'd care to elaborate on your current position on this matter.

Brian: For listeners not familiar with that neighborhood's rezoning proposal, this has been in the news recently as a controversial for the plan now including more affordable housing, let's say lower-income housing than in the original rezoning plan for this very high-end district. Comptroller Stringer is that a useful framing to get into that? Anything else you want to say to Frederica's question?

Comptroller Stringer: I can certainly work with that. Look, we have an affordable housing crisis and when you look at how we rezone in this city, we have to make sure that every community is also there for people of diverse backgrounds and for affordability. What I was able to do is borrow precedent when you look at different rezonings, I think we have to have a comprehensive plan that allows every community to upzone for affordability, but also to protect the architectural heritage of our neighborhoods. How do we do that? We work with the communities.

As mayor, I'm going to replace this administration's selective rezonings because they have disproportionately impacted communities of color while benefiting basically handpicked developers. I think we did a real comprehensive planning strategy and that also includes SoHo. Now, one of the great things that have to change with this administration is charging into neighborhoods saying, "Here's a plan my way or the highway," that's not how you get a change. It's been abysmal failure under this mayor. I'm going to use my experience as borough president working with stakeholders to find common ground. At the end of the day, we've got to build affordable housing. We've got to do that in all of our communities.

Only rezoning communities of color has led to gentrification and increasing the homeless population. As mayor, I have a real affordable housing plan to build the low-income housing that we need through acquiring the city-owned vacant lots of giving those lots back to people, to community organizations and also to say, when we think about new development, we have to set aside 25% of that new development for affordable housing. We can no longer do a little housing here and a little housing there because we have 500,000 people in this city who're one step away from homelessness and my universal affordable housing plan will put affordable housing in every neighborhood.

Brian: That's to the particular question from the caller, that is a yes to the Soho/NoHo rezoning, as it currently is proposed, right?

Comptroller Stringer: I do support the plan as I've mentioned, and I supported it for a year. The de Blasio plan I think is obviously-- I haven't looked at it carefully as what he's talking about, but when I'm mayor of whatever the status is we're going to build affordable housing.

Brian: Will in Williamsburg, you're on WNYC with comptroller Scott Stringer. Hi, Will.

Will: Hi. The comptroller's website has a tab on reports that I've looked at because he's just announced other things from it. There are literally hundreds of reports that he's released since he's been in the comptroller's office. I'm just wondering if there are any that come to mind where the deep dive resulted in a change of position or reforming of position, or somehow significantly challenged the preconceived notion.

Brian: What a great question.

Comptroller Stringer: [crosstalk] Thank you for asking that question. One point, we thank you for actually going online and reading every single report. There's another 50 reports from the borough president today. Part of the reasons why I do this work is because I think that by providing data during the times of great discussion, we can make a difference, and one of the reports that I thought made a big difference in this city was when we were debating passing a $15 minimum wage and there was a lot of discussion as to who would get harmed by raising the minimum wage, which I thought was not accurate.

We did the data dive, looked at the numbers, and actually looked at how much of $15 minimum wage would actually spur economic activity in some of our challenged communities. That report coincided with the campaign to raise the wage and I was proud to be able to do that. We've also put forth detailed proposals in terms of how we can grow our economy, our small business plans over the years. The Red Tape Commission that I started when I became comptroller, talked about 60 ideas to make government agencies more responsive and we've seen slow change.

They're not as much as I would like, but I try to time and work on the reports that I think would give other elected officials, mayors, and others the opportunity to take a look at some these proposals, see what works and what doesn't. I think it's been useful as part of our overall audit investigation strategy, the proof has been in the pudding for our office. We've saved a lot of money. We've streamlined government, and we've made a big difference in those who just wanted two examples.

Brian: See, this is the kind of policy wonk who's included in the Brian Lehrer Show audience. Will in Williamsburg said he read the many reports on the tabs, on your website, the comptroller's deep dive. Your response to Will is, "Now go back and read my 50 reports from when I was borough president."

Comptroller Stringer: This is why you come on the Brian Lehrer Show because we all talk the same language. I love it. Thank you.

Brian: Will, you have an assignment. Just one follow-up question on the issue after you were talking about the report that indicated that the minimum wage was not going to hurt employers when it got raised to $15. You have a position on the tipped minimum wage, which some people want to abolish that is so there wouldn't be a lower minimum wage for people who also get tips, but I know the restaurants are very against that.

Comptroller Stringer: First and foremost, we haven't actually studied that, but I do have a strong feeling that we have to make sure that the back office or the backspace of the restaurant industry is also taken care of. We have to make sure that they too benefit from tips and so I support that. By the way, Brian, one thing I want to mention just to follow up if I could just quickly segue back.

One of the areas that I think has lended itself to our affordable housing plan was a report I did when I was comptroller exposing how the mayor's rezoning approach created more unaffordable housing, they did not give the affordable housing that we needed in our communities. We looked at those rezoning and calculated the damage to low-income New Yorkers and that led to the creation of our affordable housing plan. Just to give you a little more wonk.

Brian: It's Ask The Major tryouts today with comptroller Scott Stringer, 646-435-7280, as Will vacates his line to go and read those 50 Manhattan borough president reports 646-435-7280. We'll continue with your calls in a minute.

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Brian Lehrer on WNYC. April is Ask The Major tryouts month on the Brian Lehrer Show as we've invited and they've all accepted the eight leading candidates in the June primary for mayor to come on and do the kinds of Ask The Major segments that we do with Mayor de Blasio every Friday, it's comptroller Scott Stringer, as he runs for mayor today and here's a question from a listener via Twitter, Mr. Comptroller, the question is, "Given that New York City has the most segregated school district in the country, what is your policy for meaningful desegregation?"

Comptroller Stringer: Let me start, as a public-school parent, I have a third-grader and a second-grader, I got married a little late in life so I have my two little kids and I believe so much in the public school system, but I also want to make sure that education is no longer dealt with on the basis of what parent has a credit card and what parent doesn't. I believe we need a new holistic and decisive approach to education.

In terms of integration and segregation, the first thing I would say is that we have to end the SHSAT testing in our specialized high schools, almost no Black and brown kids are in those schools. We can no longer cover that up. I would swap out the SHSAT for the seventh-grade test. The seventh-grade state test is actually based on material learned in classrooms. I think we have to change that. I don't think we should be testing four-year-olds for G&T kindergarten.

Four-year-olds can't even spell their name and yet we're trying to determine whether they're geniuses, but overall, we need a new approach to education and mine is multi-pronged. First, I believe that we have to begin to have a robust childcare plan. I call mine NYC Under Three to triple the number of kids that could get subsidized childcare, zero to three is where 80% of the brain development is.

We have to do with Bill de Blasio started in pre-K and bring it to the very beginning. Thank you, Senator Jessica Ramos, for working with me to raise revenue in Albany to get childcare funding. This is how I'm going to build out this program. We also have to think about resources in classrooms. Look, I think it's time now K to five, and if I'm mayor, I'm going to do this, we've got to put two teachers in every classroom. The reason the private schools do it is because it works.

You have a senior teacher and then you have an assistant teacher, and that is a resourced classroom. Helping kids in every aisle and every seat in the classroom, having an overall teacher. This is why some of the gifted programs with wealthy parent associations do well because they're hiring that second teacher. I'm going to put that teacher in every classroom, in every district, in every neighborhood. That's how we create one standard of education. I also want to invest in the teachers.

We have 40% of our teachers leave the system after five years, they need professional development. We should continue that education just like we do for lawyers and for doctors. My teacher residency program is going to attract 7,000 new teachers, a thousand teachers a year with the goal of keeping the teachers we have, the way we do that is we create a teaching mentorship program with a stipend so that when a teacher is finished with education, a new teacher can come in and get that classroom experience. We're going to ramp up the teaching profession so we can make it the model for the nation and that's how we're going to be able to resource our classrooms.

Lastly, Brian, I want to say, and talk about my own experience. Look, as a person of privilege, when I look or my wife looks at what we're going to do for our kids, a lot of this has to do with after school. Some kids go to school from 8:40 or 2:40, this was pre-pandemic and some kids get to go to activities until five o'clock. That's because the parent has the means to pay for a chess program or an afterschool athletic program, a robotics program. We can no longer educate our kids by the money a parent has.

As mayor, every child in every classroom, in every school in the city is going to have equal afterschool. We do zero to three. We do two teachers that are in a classroom. We create a real residency program for a teacher, and then we equalize afterschool programs and that will begin to change the trajectory of so many students, so many kids who are living in homeless shelters and or in public housing with broken remote learning devices. This is the challenge that the next mayor has to do and let me say, what I bring to this is I know that DOE bureaucracy, it's time to upend it, and nobody knows that agency and its dysfunction better than me.

Brian: This is WNYC FM HD AM New York WNJT-FM 88.1, Trenton WNGP 88.5 Sussex, WNJY 89.3 Netcong, and WNJO 90.3 Toms River. We are New York and New Jersey public radio. A few more minutes with our Ask The Mayor tryout with comptroller Scott Stringer, running for mayor. We've taken a Manhattan question. We've taken a Brooklyn question. We took one from the sixth borough Twitter. Now we're going to go to Joe. Joe in a story in Queens. You're on WNYC. Hi, Joe.

Joe: Hey Brian. Thanks for taking my call. Hey, Mr. Stringer here in Astoria near Astoria Park, we shut down a Shore Boulevard that runs along the water, the East River between that and the Astoria Park, it's been great over the pandemic for people to walk, bike and there's so much potential for it but now that pandemic and open streets might be winding down. I'm concerned that, that can be reopened back to traffic. I just want to see how we can keep that open for pedestrians and bikers in Astoria and citywide what your plan is to take maybe some of the streets away that run through parks and maybe pedestrianize those spaces.

Comptroller Stringer: Look, I have every intention of being the street mayor and we're going to make open streets permanent. We're going to continue to do what works in this city, which is to move people into the streets. Look, we know our kids have suffered during this pandemic. They didn't get enough exercise and they were indoors more than they were outdoors, so I want to take those open streets in addition to creating economic and retail activity, but I want to put pools on our streets.

I want to make sure that kids have play spaces and that we have those dedicated busways and bike lanes. I want to make our city a model. I'm tired of hearing about Copenhagen and Barcelona and Paris. It's time for New York City to lead on our streets. You can look online at our open streets transportation plan. It is not just aspirational, it's actually real and doable. Just yesterday I was talking about somewhere in the city for our children and how we can create that excitement in the streets.

Let's remember, we've got to build more playgrounds on our streets. We have to service the entire five boroughs and people don't have open space. Everyone thinks that there's a park next door to every community and that's not true. Some communities have a lot of space and some have none. Let's make permanent our open streets and within those open streets, let's create outdoor communities for everybody. I'm excited to get to work doing this.

Brian: I see you announced a proposal this week that would have the city give entertainment vouchers to people who get vaccines. How would that work and why do that?

Comptroller Stringer: Okay. Stimulus money is for stimulating the economy. Under my proposal under Vaxpaxx, if you'd get a shot in the arm, we get a boost to the economy and we link our vaccination effort with our economic rebound. When you get the vaccine, you should also get vouchers for two-trip Metro card or a voucher to go to a small business or restaurant, how about movie tickets? The reason I want to do this is we got to start stimulating the economy and directing economic activity to our small businesses. We've got to get people back on mass transit. This is one way of creatively using our stimulus dollars to give us a shot in the economy.

Brian: Andrew Yang wants to offer cash incentives to commuters for returning to their jobs in-person in the city if they're currently working remotely. Are you, and he barking up the same tree here with these incentives?

Comptroller Stringer: I have a comprehensive incentive program, we're announcing multiple serious ideas to jumpstart the economy. These last few proposals that I've issued also talks to what we can do for our kids. I think Mr. Young and I have many substantive differences and if that'll come out during the campaign.

Brian: One more cost Scott in Gowanus, you're on WNYC with Comptroller Scott Stringer running for mayor. Hi. Scott.

Scott: Hey, good morning. Just a quick question.

Comptroller Stringer: Hi.

Scott: Hi, good morning. I'm definitely going to vote in the primary, but I'm also definitely not going to read dozens of reports, I'm sorry, so just basically, what are you offering that's exciting? What is the vision that voters should feel connected to or excited about? What is the emotional element to why you're doing this right now?

Comptroller Stringer: First and foremost, for me, I got skin in the game. I got two little kids that I'm raising. I know they've gone through a pandemic that they never could have imagined. They lost their grandmother to COVID. I worry about their learning loss and all the things that we have to deal with. When I wake up in the morning and say what gets me motivated, what gets me out into the streets and it's our kids, and it's not just my kids.

It's all the children of this city, especially those that are truly struggling with lack of investment. That's what motivates me. Look, I believe that we have to open this economy, but we can't open it the same way we closed it. COVID showed systemic inequity in so much of what government invest in and I believe we need a mayor who can be ready on day one to challenge and upend that bureaucracy. The only way you're going to do it is by understanding how the process works. Yes, those reports are difficult to read, but I want you to know, I grew up in this town born and raised in Washington Heights. I know how much this city has meant to me. I know what this aspirational city is all about.

You will have a mayor that will dance all night at every New York City parade, eat the great food of this city, embark on looking at all our great diverse cultural institutions, but at the end of the day, you're also going to get a mayor who knows how to govern the hell out of this city, who's going to build real low-income housing, change the education system, fight to protect our shoreline and initiate the greatest green economy this city has ever seen. To me, that's the most exciting plan a mayor who gets it, who can actually govern and govern in the most progressive way. I am ready to go.

Brian: One of the central questions in this campaign is how you would fight crime and mass incarceration at the same time. How would you?

Comptroller Stringer: Look, the largest mental health facility that this city has is called Rikers Island. We are holding thousands of people who were there because they have mental health issues. When we talk about ending mass incarceration, we can start by stopping to just put human beings with serious issues in carceral situations and I would change that.

I was the first elected official to say, "Close down Rikers, it's inhumane and it's cost-ineffective." We're spending $440,000 per inmate at Rikers. Imagine what we could do with that same funding to actually keep people out of the criminal justice system. Brian, one of the ways to do that is to recognize that we've overpoliced our Black and brown communities. We have to focus police on the work of finding the shooters and the gun violence, to up the clearance rates.

We can actually find the people doing this, but we also have to invest in a whole new strategy of keeping kids out of the criminal justice system. So many kids get caught up in gangs because there are no summer jobs, so many kids don't have mentorship programs. I want to build out a new system. 40% of 911 calls are not for crimes in progress, they're for mental health episodic events, so wellness issues. Why not have a skilled mayor who knows how to redirect resources to communities to keep kids out of harm's way?

This is not a new fight for me. When I was in the state assembly, I worked with senior assembly members, whether it was Roger Green or [unintelligible 00:08:52], when it came time to just bemoaning the fact that upstate Republicans would want to build these prisons in their districts, not to reduce crime, but to take mostly Black and brown children from downstate and bring them upstate and then build community around the prison.

Now, that hurt upstate to this day. I don't want our kids in that in carceral situation. We have to decarcerate. We have to make sure that we get people out of this criminal justice binds and speed situation, either when you come out, you can't get ahead. I would be a very focused mayor on a true justice system, a real public safety plan that's going to work-- [crosstalk]

Brian: What about in the shorter term? The significant increase in murders and shootings since the pandemic began?

Comptroller Stringer: Up the clearance rates. Crime is predictable. We know where it's happening. We know where the dangerous crime is happening. Let's go in and let's bring senior police personnel to find the people who are doing this where the low, an all-time low, our clearance rate is 26%. We've got to up that, but we have to walk and chew gum at the same time. We also have to keep kids away from over-policing.

The way to do that is by giving them a future that they deserve. I think as mayor, I can do both. I'm going to appoint the police commissioner who will work with me on real reform, we'll have a number of challenges to deal with, for example, I do think we have to reform the CCRB. We need to create a police disciplinary system that actually disciplines when you have a badge and a gun, you determine who lives and who dies. There has to be more oversight, but there also has to be ways to make police focus on the job at hand for them.

Putting them in situations to be the mental health professional, the counselor, the mentor, there's a different way to construct that they're doing it in other parts of the United States. When you look at places like Eugene, Oregon, and the CAHOOTS Program, 24,000 911 calls for mental health events in a community, and they send mental health professionals. The police were called only 150 times. Why can't we model that in New York City and have a rational discussion on how we have public safety?

Brian: You ready for a lightning round to conclude yes or no answers or very short answers?

Comptroller Stringer: I got to go.

Brian: You got to go. I know we [crosstalk]. Here we go. I get the joke. I know you don't want to lightning round. Nobody wants the lightning round, but here we go. Do you think Amazon headquarters in Queens would have been more good or more bad for the city?

Comptroller Stringer: The plan was more bad. I hope the lesson has been learned. Don't do deals in secret and not include the community. Never has worked never will.

Brian: Should gifted and talented programs exist at all in the public schools?

Comptroller Stringer: Yes, hopefully, that my plan of two teachers and equal resources will one day soon make every class a gift and talented program. I don't think we should start gifts and talented-- I'm sorry.

Brian: Oh, go ahead, but you don't think you should start them at age four, is that what you wer going to say?

Comptroller Stringer: Yes, but I realize we're in a lightning round, sorry.

Brian: Have you ever ridden a city bike?

Comptroller Stringer: No.

Brian: Do you own a car?

Comptroller Stringer: I've chased a lot of bikes with my kids. I don't own a car.

Brian: Do you have a favorite spectator sport?

Comptroller Stringer: Football?

Brian: Do you have a favorite team?

Comptroller Stringer: The Jets, God help me.

Brian: If you donate as a member to any arts organization, can you name one?

Comptroller Stringer: I'm not going to name the ones that we donate, but as you know my wife is very much connected to the arts and culture and worked for a wonderful museum. We're very committed to investing in arts for all of our kids in our city.

Brian: Name one thing that you do for fun in non-pandemic times that has nothing to do with politics?

Comptroller Stringer: The greatest fun and the greatest gift I have is running around this city with my kids. One of the great times we have is getting on the ferry to governor's Island, which is why we will never ever have a casino built on governor's Island while I'm there.

Brian: What have you done for fun independently?

Comptroller Stringer: Not so much fun, which is why I want to get my kids and all the kids from this city to have summer in the city like they deserve it. That means pools and outdoor activities. That's what I hope we can use some of this funding for, for our children.

Brian: Finally, with rank choice voting, is there anyone you would like your supporters to list second?

Comptroller Stringer: Look, I'm trying to get people to at least be number one, that's enough of a job, but I do think rank choice voting is better left to the voters to sort out and the politicians to focus on making a case to their candidacy. That's how I see it right now, but we'll see time will tell.

Brian: Comptroller Stringer, thanks very much for doing an Ask The Major try out today. If you're elected, we hope you'll continue the Ask The Major tradition on the show. Meanwhile, we're going to have you and each of the major candidates one more time in May. We look forward to having you back then. As I would say to all the candidates, good luck on the campaign trail.

Comptroller Stringer: Brian, thank you. For all the others who are reading my comptroller reports over the years, thank you.

Brian: Listeners, we'll do more Ask The Mayor tryouts next week.

 

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