Government Affairs reporter Melissa Russo, Senior Politics Editor at Politico, Sally Goldenberg, and Telemundo 47 anchor Rosalina Breton. This is a two-hour debate live on all NBC New York and Telemundo 47 streaming and digital platforms, politico.com, Telexitos, and YouTube. The first hour is also live on Channel 4 and Telemundo 47. We do have a few rules for the candidates.
For traditional question and answer, you'll have one minute to respond and we'll offer 30-second rebuttals at the moderator's discretion. We'll also be asking questions where we will be looking for shorter answers. We also reserve the right to cut off your microphone if you ignore the rules but candidates you know we don't want to do that. The goal is for you to hear each other and for New Yorkers to hear everything you have to say. Good luck. We'll begin with Melissa Russo. Thank
you, David. And good evening, gentlemen. Thank you for being here. We begin tonight by asking you to do what every mayor dreams of, and that is to write your own headlines. Imagine it's January 2027 and you have been in office for exactly one year. We would like you to quickly give us one headline about what you think your biggest accomplishment will have been in year number one. We'll begin with you, Mr. Cuomo.
First, thank you very much for sponsoring the debate and having all of us. The one headline, how many characters in the headline?
You're familiar with headline length.
Rent down, crime down, How many characters in the headline? You know, you're familiar with headline length. Rent down, comma, crime down, comma, education scores up, comma, more jobs in New York City.
Now we're getting maybe a little over the average headline length, but.
Optimism high.
Thank you. Mr. Sliwa.
Curtis Sliwa is without his iconic red beret Because I'm talking to the people of New York City about the really serious issues of affordability the cost of living and Obviously what I spent most of my life doing which is public safety in the streets and the subway
We would love a headline from you. What will your headline be, your big headline in your number one as mayor?
Curtis Lewa exceeds all expectations and looks very mayoral tonight.
Mr. Mondani, you've had some time to think about it now. What's your headline?
It's a pleasure to be here, first of all, and I really want to thank the moderators and the opportunity to speak directly to New Yorkers about this moment in time and the opportunity to speak directly to New Yorkers about this moment in time, and our opportunity to transform the most expensive city in the United States of America. The headline would read in about a year,
Mamdani continues to take on Trump, delivers on affordability agenda for New Yorkers.
Thank you, Mr. Mamdani. Sally. Thank you, Melissa. We're gonna talk about leadership. Voters have reservations about all three of you as chief executive of New York City, a city with roughly 300,000 employees and a budget bigger than many countries. We
have questions for each of you and Mr. Cuomo, we will begin with you. As a former governor of New York, you obviously have the management experience, but you resigned from office amid sexual harassment and COVID related scandals. Why should voters now trust that you have the character to be mayor? You have one minute. Good. Thank you very much and thank you for the question.
First, you're right, I left office. There was a report that was done that had allegations of harassment. I said at the time it was a political report and that there was no basis to it. It was then sent to five district attorneys. They all reviewed it. They found nothing. It was in litigated for five years I was dropped from the cases. So none of that came to anything when it comes to executive experience I've run the Department of Housing and Urban Development built housing all across the nation I was governor for 11 years
The budget is double what it is in New York City, and I got government to work. I passed groundbreaking laws, minimum wage, paid family leave, built projects that had never been built before. This is no job for on-the-job training.
And if you look at the failed mayors, they're ones that had no management experience.
Don't do it again.
Thank you. Thank you, Sally. In the theme of leadership, Mr. Mondani, you work as a foreclosure prevention counselor for winning seat in the state assembly. You have no substantial management experience. How are you ready to lead the nation's largest and greatest city in the world in one day?
You have a minute.
You know, I have the experience of having served in the New York State Assembly for five years and watching a broken political system, the experience of seeing a governor in Andrew Cuomo who would rather have served his billionaire donors and the working class New Yorkers who voted for him, and the experience amidst all of that, of fighting and winning for working class taxi drivers to free them from predatory debt
and delivering the first free bus lines in New York City history, and in working with unions and working class New Yorkers to finally raise taxes just that little bit on Mr. Cuomo's donors to start to fully fund our public school. And more than that, I have the experience of being a New Yorker, someone who has actually
paid rent in the city before I ran for mayor, someone who has had to wait for a bus that never came, someone who actually buys his groceries in this same city. And what all of that experience has shown me, which Mr. Cuomo can't seem to understand, is that it is far too expensive and far too hard for New Yorkers to afford to live in this city. And the definition of experience is not doing the same thing again and again and hoping
for a different result. That's actually the definition of insanity.
Thank you, Mr. Mamdani.
If I can, I think I was invoked. In other words, what the assemblyman said is he has no experience. And this is not a job for someone who has no management experience to run 300,000 people, no financial experience to run $115 billion budget. He literally has never had a job. On his resume, it says he interned for his mother. This is not a job for a first-timer. Any day you could have a hurricane, you could have, God forbid, a 9-11, a health pandemic. If you don't know what
you're doing, people could die. And if we have a health pandemic, then why would New Yorkers turn back to the governor who sent seniors to their death in nursing homes? That's the kind of experience that's on offer here today. What I don't have an experience, I make up for in integrity. And what you don't have in integrity, you could never make up for in experience. May I? First, what you said was totally false, as you know. Which part was false?
During COVID, everyone did whatever they could in this state, and there have been numerous investigations where they've gone through it, and they said, we followed federal guidance, but yes, people died during COVID, and my heart breaks for everyone that died in this state and across
this nation.
But just to be clear, Mr. Just to fact check that there is a criminal investigation reportedly underway at the DOJ about your testimony to Congress about your nursing home record.
Yeah, but that was that is a political issue with the Congress. They made a referral, which has gone absolutely nowhere. But there have been multiple investigations where the DOJ found that the nursing home investigation
was politically motivated.
Okay, we're gonna move on. We might have time to come back to it. I do need to move on to Mr. Svihlat.
Yeah, may I just finish my rebuttal? But the assemblyman still says he has no experience
to do the job.
OK. Thank you, Mr. Cuomo. Mr. Sliwa, as founder of the Guardian Angels and as a radio host, you've been a well-known figure in New York City for decades. But you also lack substantial management experience.
So how are you prepared to be the chief executive officer of New York City? You have one minute, Mr. Sliwa.
First of all, I created the Guardian Angels to provide public safety in the subways and streets when government was incapable of doing so. I didn't do it to get a title or a paycheck. Secondarily, I don't declare myself to be all-knowing. I will hire the very brightest and best in their fields who have dedicated their lives to trying to improve the city of New York or the state or the federal government or the private sector.
But what I will say is, thank God I'm not a professional politician. We have the architect and we have the apprentice of no cash bail, which has been a disaster. We have the architect and we have the apprentice of no cash bail, which has been a disaster We have the architect and the apprentice here of raised the age My own son was almost killed because of that in a gang attack
We have the architect and we have the apprentice of clothes Rikers Island, which would just release criminals in the street Thank God. I'm not a professional politician because they have helped create this crime crisis in the city that we face and I thank you. Mr.
Sliwa. Thank you. Mr. Sliwa candidates. President Trump has expressed intense interest in this election and in all of you personally. Mr Mamdani, the president called you quote my little communist. Mr. Slivo, he said you're, quote, not exactly prime time. Mr. Cuomo, he has been critical of you, but said you have always gotten along. The president has threatened to cut federal funds to the city. Just yesterday, he killed the Gateway Project, the tunnel connecting New York to New Jersey.
You've all promised to resist him in some way. What would you say in your first official call with the president to set the tone for your relationship moving forward? We'll give you a minute for this. We'll start with you, Mr. Momdani.
I would make it clear to the president that I am willing to not only speak to him, but to work with him if it means delivering on lowering the cost of living for New Yorkers. That's something that he ran his presidential campaign on, and yet all he's been able to deliver thus far has been prosecuting his political enemies and trying to enact the largest deportation program in American history.
And what distinguishes me from Andrew Cuomo is the fact that he has gotten on the phone with that same president, not asking him how to work together to help New Yorkers, or not telling him that he would refuse to back down to protect those New Yorkers, are not telling him that he would refuse to back down to protect those New Yorkers,
but instead asking him how to win this race. That's something I can do myself. I don't need the president's assistance for. And what I'd tell the president is if he ever wants to come for New Yorkers in the way that he has been, he's going to have to get through me
as the next mayor of this city. but I'd like you to answer this question as well, what your first conversation with the president would be like. Okay, first, I never had a conversation with the president that the assembly was talking about. But he has a distant relationship with the truth. I would say to the president in the first conversation, look, we have had many, many battles. I fought with, we fought together every day during COVID.
And the battles were bloody. And I'd like to avoid them. You know, if you come after New York, you know what I'm gonna do. You know it's going to be ugly. And you know my chances are almost 50-50,
even though you're the president. I'd like to work with you. I think we can do good things together. But, number one, I will fight you every step of the way if you try to hurt New York.
Unless he weaponizes the justice system to go after the attorney general of this state, in which case you'll issue a statement that doesn't even name the president. And no matter what you think about Donald Trump, you know that not even being able to name him is an act of cowardice and that's what we would see from Donald Trump's puppet on the right over here. I do want to get to Mr. Sliwa, but Mr. Cuomo, I'll give you a few seconds to respond to that.
Yeah, I did mention, I said political weaponization of the justice system is wrong. Both sides do it. It's wrong when Donald Trump does it. It's wrong when they did it to Comey. It's wrong when Comey did it to Hillary. It was wrong when it happened to Chase James. Thank you, Mr. Cuomo. I want to give Mr. Slewa a chance to answer this. Mr. Slewa, your first official conversation with the president, what would you say to set the tone?
Well, first of all, there's high levels of testosterone in this room. I've had a love-hate relationship with Donald Trump that goes back over 30 years. But I know one thing. We have Andrew Cuomo. We have Zawin Mandami, they want to take on Donald Trump. Look, you can be tough, but you can't be tough if it's going to cost people desperately needed federal funds.
Zawin Mandami, the president has already said, is going to take $7 billion out of the budget right from the start if you're elected mayor. People are going to suffer in this city. People who need those federal funds. What I would do is sit and negotiate I would say look Mr.. President. We need that gateway tunnel
It moves millions of people from Washington DC to Boston, but take away the Q train project We don't need those three stations going from 96th Street to 125th It's not a necessity sit with the president and whoever he delegates and try to negotiate. But if you try to get tough with Trump, the only people who are gonna suffer from that are the people of New York City. Okay, Mr. Sliwa, thank you.
Brief response, Mr. Mamdani. You know, Mr. Trump is already suspending infrastructure grants to this city and he's doing it in a blatant act of political retribution. And what it requires is leadership that will stand up to him. And I disagree with Mr. Sliwa. We do need to extend the 2nd Avenue subway to 125th Street. It was a promise made to Harlemites decades ago.
It's time to actually fulfill it.
Thank you, Mr. McDonough.
Quick question for each of you. Quick question for each of you.
Mr. Cuomo, you've been asked. He mentioned my name. Don't I get a chance to respond? Well, we got a lot of ground to cover. So what I could I respond?
The last time you spoke with President Trump, Mr. Cuomo, you've been asked this before. And the last time you said you couldn't remember, I believe it was during his assassination attempt.
So last year in twenty twenty four. Mr. Sliwa, when was the last time you spoke with President Trump? Oh, many years ago, we were receiving awards. I was praising him for saving the annual Veterans Day Parade. Those were the conversations that I had with him. Can I please respond? I was asked about the Q train.
OK, real quick.
I am the mayor of mass transit. We do not need a Q train. I'm in the subways every day. We have more than a capable system of transporting people. Thank you. The infrastructure needs to be fixed in the system that we have.
Mr. Mamdani, have you ever spoken with with President Trump? No. OK, there you go. Sally. Thank you, Mr. Cuomo. A follow up to that. President Trump has spoken positively about you and your candidacy, even as his Justice Department, as we've noted, is reportedly investigating you for allegations you lied to Congress over your COVID record. Given that dynamic, how would you be able to stand up to this White House?
How are you not compromised? And just take into account that New Yorkers are troubled by what they view as a compromised relationship the current outgoing mayor has with the president.
Yeah, first, you're wrong when you say there's any investigation of me. That's not true.
Do you have evidence there is no investigation?
I've heard absolutely nothing. Congress did a press release. They said they sent a letter to the Department of Justice, which they do routinely to generate press. And that's what that is. I have been, I fought Donald Trump. He investigated me repeatedly with the Department of Justice. The Department of Justice Inspector General said that it was actually politically motivated.
That does not back me up. When I'm fighting for New York, I am not going to stop. And I'll tell you something else, if the Assemblyman is elected mayor, Donald Trump will take over New York City and it will be Mayor Trump who runs New York City.
We have to move on. Just a very quick follow up.
Yes or no, you're saying unequivocally the Justice Department is not investigating you,
correct?
I have one, I've heard absolutely nothing.
They could be and you might not have heard it, but okay, we'll move on.
David.
Okay, thanks Sally. That is virtually possible by the way. Okay. So Mr. Former you did put out an ad the day after the news first broke in the New York Times that you were under investigation calling it a political investigation saying they were coming after you as they had to you know after other Democratic politicians you haven't
denied this previously. That the Republican Congress was yes I believe they play politics with the justice system. I believe the Republican Congress was yes, I believe they play politics with the justice system I believe the Republican Congress does it I believe Donald Trump does it I believe the Democrats do it And that's why I think people are sick and tired
Justice system in the politics if you think that there's no difference between the Democratic Party and the Republican Party Then that's the candidate for you If you think it's time to have a Democratic Party that actually stands up to Donald Trump and his billionaire back assault on working people, that's the candidate. You're not a Democrat. You're a Democratic Socialist. You didn't vote for Kamala Harris, right? No, no. That's an incendiary charge. I want to be very clear.
You may have a chance to address it, but we do have a lot of issues to get to with New Yorkers. I'll be very quick. You didn't say leave it blank in the Kamala campaign? I said leave it blank in the presidential primary because primaries are a place to air dissent and like many Americans I was horrified by the Israeli genocide of Palestinians and if you want to look for me on the ballot you'll find me as the Democrat.
Mr. Mamdani, thank you. We have to move on. This week, the world is reacting to President Trump's Israel-Hamas peace deal and the release of the hostages. And many are cautiously optimistic about a lasting peace. Of course, the mayor has no direct role in foreign affairs, and we certainly have a lot of questions for you about city matters.
But this war has been a major topic in the campaign. And there are criticisms about your positions in the past and how you envision leading on these issues as mayor. So we have questions for all of you, but first for Mr. Mamdani, because of something you said that's been generating headlines in the news today
as we come into the debate yesterday on Fox News, you were asked if Hamas should lay down its weapons, key to the peace plan and ceasefire. And some say they found your answer confusing. You said, quote, I don't really have opinions about the future of Hamas and Israel
beyond the question of justice and safety and the fact that anything has to abide by international law. And that applies to Hamas and that applies to the Israeli military. So for the voters tuning in tonight, Mr. Momdani, what do you believe about Hamas
and how lasting peace will be achieved? We know it's a complicated matter, but we'd like you to keep your answer to a minute
if you could.
Of course, I believe that they should lay down their arms. I'm proud to be one of the first elected officials in the state who called for a ceasefire. And calling for a ceasefire means seizing fire. That means all parties have to seize fire and put down their weapons. And the reason that we call for that is not only for the end of the genocide, but also an unimpeded access of humanitarian aid.
I, like many New Yorkers, am hopeful that this ceasefire will hold. I'm hopeful that it is durable. I'm hopeful that it is durable. I'm hopeful that it is just. And for it to be just, we also have to ensure that it addresses the conditions that preceded this. Conditions like occupation, like the siege and apartheid. And that is what I'm
hopeful for. Yeah. If I may. That means from the river to the sea. I'm being marginalized out of this. I'm sorry. When you get to three, excuse me, Andrew, it's a debate of this. I'm sorry, when he really gets into it. It's a debate of three. Excuse me, Andrew. It's a debate of three. Do we acknowledge that? Three people?
Mr. Sleeman, go ahead and we'll give you a second. Go ahead, Mr. Sleeman.
The President of the United States should have been applauded by you, Zohar Mondami, and you, Andrew Cuomo, on the day that he brought together that international coalition in Egypt that came from the Middle East and the Persian Gulf. I certainly applauded him for bringing peace to Gaza and trying to end the hostilities in the war between the Israelis and Hamas so there can be peace between the Israelis and peace between the Palestinians. But you seem, Zoran, to be incapable of praising our president. And Angela, you were incapable of praising our president.
Give credit where credit is due. He's brought peace to Gaza.
Gentlemen, we want to hear everything you have to say. We have other questions as a matter. Mr. Cuomo, please, brief response because we do have other questions on this issue that you may be able to address. I did applaud President Trump and his administration. I think it was a great accomplishment. I hope the peace holds. The Assemblyman will not denounce Hamas. The assemblyman will not denounce Hassan Piker, who said America deserved 9-11. The assemblyman just said in his response,
well, it depends on occupation. That is code, meaning that Israel does not have a right to exist as a Jewish state, which he has never acknowledged. That is from the river to the sea.
That's why he won't denounce globalize the Intifada, which means kill all Jews.
Let's give Mr. Momdani a chance to respond to that.
I want to be very clear. The occupation is a reference to international law and the violation of it, which Mr. Cuomo has no regard for since he signed up to be Benjamin Netanyahu's legal defense team during the course of this genocide. And I find the comments that Hassan made on 9-11 to be objectionable and reprehensible. And I also think that part of the reason why Democrats are in the situation that we are in of being a permanent minority in this country is we are looking only to speak to journalists
and streamers and Americans with whom we agree of every single thing that they say. We need to take the case to every person and I'm happy to do that which is why I was on Fox News yesterday talking about I wish it was more like NASCAR so we could see all the billionaires who are sponsoring you right on your suit jacket.
Melissa has another question.
We're gonna turn it to Sally actually. Yeah actually this kind of flows and then we'll go back to Melissa. Mr. Mamdani, you told NBC's Meet the Press that you don't believe it's the role of the mayor to police
speech.
Your words about this war have comforted many New Yorkers, but they've troubled others. And I want to ask about some of this. There is your recent refusal, as we just discussed, to condemn the slogan, globalize the intifada, which many view as a call to arms. In 2017, you rapped lyrics praising the Holy Land Five.
These are men who were convicted of supporting terrorism. How would you assure New Yorkers, especially Jewish residents who might be concerned about this that you would be a mayor for all?
You have one minute to answer this.
Thank you for this opportunity. When I am speaking about the responsibility of leading this city, I mean leading not just those who voted for me, leading not just those who vote, but leading every single person who calls the city home.
And that includes Jewish New Yorkers. And I have been so thankful for the opportunity I've had to sit with so many Jewish New Yorkers over the course of the primary and through the general. And it's in those conversations that I learned that this phrase evokes many painful memories,
memories of bus attacks in Haifa, of restaurant attacks in Jerusalem. And I heard from a rabbi about their roommate who was killed on one of those buses. And in hearing that and the distance between that impact and the rationale that some use of saying it,
of speaking about the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land is why I said that I would discourage this language, language that I do not use. And what I'm looking to do as the first Muslim mayor of this city, is to ensure that we bring every New Yorker together.
Jewish New Yorkers, Muslim New Yorkers, every single person that calls this city home, that they understand they won't just be protected,
but they will belong. Mr. Sliwa, we will get to you first. I'm going to ask a question of Mr. Cuomo. While you are a strong supporter of Israel, you have also been slow to develop a relationship with the city's Muslim community. You have called Mr. Mamdani a terrorist sympathizer. How do you assure those New Yorkers, especially Muslims and Arabic New Yorkers,
that you will be a mayor for all? You'll have one minute
Yeah, well first I think the assemblyman are created the perception himself Why wouldn't he condemn Hamas? Why wouldn't he condemn Hassan Piker? Why did it take us here tonight for the first time for him to say it? He still won't denounce globalized the Intifada, which means kill all Jews. Just say, I denounce it. He won't do it. That's the issue.
And his divisiveness is chronic.
Mr. Cuomo, can you address the question that we're bringing to you? I think you've made the point, but can you please answer about your own relationship with the Muslim community? You did not visit mosques for many years.
More recently you haven't been. I don't think in any way the assemblyman is representative of the Muslim community, which is a vital community in New York City, and I am very fond of and I've been working with. I think he's playing his own politics. Many of his positions don't even follow the Muslim faith, so I see them as two totally
separate things.
Mr. Mamdani, do you want to respond?
You know, it took Andrew Cuomo being beaten by a Muslim candidate in the Democratic primary for him to set foot in a mosque. He had more than 10 years, and he couldn't name a single mosque at the last debate we had that he visited. And what Muslims want in this city is what every community wants and deserves. They want equality, and they want respect. And it took me to get you to even see those Muslims
as part of this city. And that frankly is something that is shameful and is why so many New Yorkers have lost faith in this politics.
Yeah, except that is totally false.
I've worked with the Muslim community for many, many years.
Name a single mosque you went to when you were the governor. Can you name a single mosque you went to in 10 years? Before you were ever here. Before I was here?
Before you were even in state government. I worked with the Muslim community. Imams presided over state of the states. We worked in religious working groups, tolerance groups, anti-Semitic groups, etc.
Alright, gentlemen.
Mr. Slewitt, Rosarito has a specific question for you, but I'll give you a second to answer. This is what disturbs me about you. You will be celebrating your birthday this weekend. In 1991, I was in the streets of Crown Heights with the Guardian Angels for 30 days and 30 nights when the first Democratic Socialist Mayor of New York City, that's right, David Dinkins,
was a proud member of the Democratic Socialists of America, abandoned the Jews for three days They were left to their own means and we protected them for 30 days and 30 nights Then your favorite mayor bill de Blasio in 2019 abandoned the Jews again when they were being attacked in Williamsburg And squirrel Park and Crown Heights. Mr. I had to bring the Guardian Angels in for 30 days, 30 nights. Jews don't trust that you are going to be there for them when they are victims of anti-Semitic
attacks.
Okay. Brief response, Mr. Mamdani. We have a specific question for you from Rosarito, but Mr. Mamdani, please.
I agree, by the way.
One of the most meaningful experiences I've had over the course of this campaign has been the conversations I've had with Jewish New Yorkers. Jewish New Yorkers who've told me about the door that they've had to lock that they had kept open for 40 years. Jewish New Yorkers who've told me on the M57 about an apartment the speech therapist was trying to sell when a realtor told her,
put the Jewish books off the table. Jewish New Yorkers who've told me about their fear in living in this city. And I will be a mayor who finally addresses that, not through the theatrics of the politics on this stage, but through action. I'll do that by ensuring that we have police officers outside of synagogues in the high
and holy days. Gentlemen, we have a lot to get to, and we do have a specific question for Mrs. Sliwa. Rosarina.
Thank you, David. Mr. Slee, while you've called for tougher policing of pro-Palestinian protests and you've suggested that Mr. Mamdani uses languages that is anti-Semitic. How do you assure New Yorkers that you'll be the mayor for all?
Oh, I've been there for all people at all times for 46 years as leader of the Guardian Angels here and around the world. Whether it is a religious violation of people's rights to worship as they choose in a mosque, in a church, in a synagogue or a shul, whether it's because of racial identity. Remember, in the summer of 2020, Asians were under constant attack because of the lockdown and pandemic. I don't remember Governor Cuomo coming to
their aid. You were the governor then. I don't remember Governor Cuomo coming to their aid. You were the governor then. I was out there going into all the neighborhoods, Flushing, Bayside. We were in, down in Bensonhurst. We were in Chinatown itself,
where Asians were being attacked indiscriminately because they were thought to be carrying COVID. We protected them then. Governor, you were not there for them. de Blasio was not there for them. We understand hate.
And in order to counteract hate, you have to get the community involved, along with the police, to protect people when they're under siege. Jews are under attack now more than ever before. And I don't believe either of you have the capabilities
of protecting them with increased anti-Semitism.
That is pure fiction. I passed the no-hate-in-our-state, the strongest hate-crime law in the United States of America. We tolerate no hatred, no discrimination.
We are from every place on this globe,
and we are proud of it.
And we're tolerant tolerant and we accept. If you notice, the assemblyman still won't say he believes that Israel has the right to exist as a Jewish state. He is a divisive personality all across the board. NYPD are racist, Barack Obama is evil liar,
and he gave the finger to the Christopher Columbus statue.
By the way, by the way, Cuomo, your laws with no cash bail turn the haters right back in the street to violate and attack again and again and again. You're the reason for that, no cash bail.
There have been a number of absolutely unfounded lies that have been said by Andrew Cuomo. I would just like a moment to address them directly. I've said time and again that I recognize Israel's right to exist. I've said that I will not recognize any states. As a Jewish state. I said that I will not.
As a Jewish state. If I would be allowed to finish. Okay. That I would not recognize any states right to exist with a system of hierarchy on the basis of race of religion. I have made that very clear. And part of that is because I'm an American who believes in the importance of equal rights being enshrined
in every single country, whether we're speaking about Israel, or whether we're speaking about Saudi Arabia. You can stand here and you can lie all you want,
but New Yorkers know the truth.
We have a question. We want to address some issues here.
All right, and we have another polarizing issue that we would love to discuss with you candidates. And let's talk about the National Guard here in the city of New York. Now let's go back to Mr. President Donald Trump. One threat hanging over the city is the deployment of the National Guard troops like he has done as you all know in other cities. The NYPD commissioner has rejected the idea as unnecessary.
But the president ordered troops to hit the streets of New York. Now,
how would you respond? Mr. Shlewa, you have a minute.
There's no need for the National Guard in New York. Kathy Hochul, the governor, when we had a crime crisis in the subways that I'm well familiar with being down there all the time, unlike my two adversaries, she sent 750 National Guardsmen down into the subways in 2024. Remember the horrible case of Dabrina Kauan? Does anybody even say her name anymore?
That woman who was set on fire by that migrant? As a result of that, the worst crime I've ever seen committed in the subway system, the governor did the right thing. She sent an additional 250 National Guardsmen, giving us a total of 1,000 National Guardsmen in the subway system, while our mayor, Eric Adams, was telling us it was all a perception. So Governor Hochul has responded.
I would tell the president of the United States, since I'm familiar with cities all across America having guardian angels there, if you were going to send the National Guard, you don't need to send them to New York City. There are other cities that could desperately use
their help in dealing with their crime crisis. Thank you, Mr. Sliwa. Mr. Mamdani,
how would you respond? You know, I agree with Police Commissioner Tish and that we do not need the National Guard here in New York City. We do not need them for the purpose of safety because if it was safety that President Trump was so concerned about, he would send them to the eight out of 10 states that have the highest levels of crime in this country, but he won't because they're all run by Republicans.
What New Yorkers need is a mayor who can stand up to Donald Trump and actually deliver on that safety. When Donald Trump sent ICE agents on people in Los Angeles, Andrew Cuomo said that New Yorkers need not overreact. That is the furthest answer that New Yorkers are looking for. They are looking for someone who will lead,
someone who will say that they will have their back, someone who will actually fight for the people of this city. And that's who I am because I'm not funded by the same donors that gave us Donald Trump's second term, which isn't something that Andrew Cuomo can say. Thank you, Mr. Mondani. Mr. β Yeah, first, the answer in the subways
is not more National Guard. I put National Guard in the subways also. It's more NYPD is the answer. But the National Guard is not β he's not sending in the National Guard to do any real function.
It's control. It's power. He's trying to say these Democrats don't know how to run these cities and it's a political gesture by sending in the National Guard
He has said if the assemblyman is elected, he will take over New York forget the National Guard
But this is he has said I'm gonna take the funds. They order the troops to come here. Well, yes the
Well, I went through this with him. He sent the National Guard to 20 cities when I was governor. You know what city he didn't send them to?
New York. Why? Because I said to him, don't you dare,
we don't need it, and he backed down, and he will again.
So that proves a good relationship with the president.
Wait, wait a second.
The president is gonna back down to you, Andrew Cuomo. I know you think you're the toughest guy alive, but let me tell you something. You lost your own primary, right? You were rejected by your Democrats. Why do you have a difficult understanding that what the term is? You're not going to stand up to Donald Trump.
I agree with Curtis.
You're not going to stand up to Donald Trump. And he can't stand up to Donald Trump.
Who knocked him right on his toes.
We have a follow up.
You negotiate with him. You don't fight with him because only the people of New York City will lose.
We do have a follow up.
We have a follow up.
We have a follow up.
I'd like to see a show of hands. Are there any circumstances where any of you would allow the NYPD to cooperate with the National Guard if Trump sent them to New York? Show of hands, yes? No takers, okay. Moving on, if history as a guide, National Guard troops in the city could trigger protests, and we have questions for each of you
about how you would handle that. So Mr. Sliwa, you have been arrested for protesting migrant housing and for trying to serve Mayor Bill de Blasio with court papers. How would your NYPD handle protests
and would you continue participating in protests as mayor? You have one minute.
Well, I have been arrested oftentimes in civil disobedience. That is a great American right. But demonstrations have a time and a place. And it used to be before Bill de Blasio, I know he was your favorite mayor,
Joe Amandami, that you'd have to get a permit, it was a time period, you were in a structured area, you get a sound permit, you'll be turned around in a day. If there was gonna be civil disobedience, you discussed it with the police department, and obviously you had an opportunity
of expressing your anger or your outrage at whatever it was that motivated you to sit down in the street to block traffic or block an egress. Now we have rampaging groups that go running through the streets
that enter all kinds of facilities and violate other people's rights. And there's no one who's willing to stop it. When I'm the mayor, there are rules and regulations. Everybody has a right to demonstrate, but you can't violate other people's rights or you yourself must be arrested. And I would remove the face coverings, remove those face coverings. Why are you afraid
of identifying who you are as a demonstrator? Unless maybe you're an agent provocateur who's been sent in here to cause chaos.
Thank you. Rosarina?
The next question goes to you, Mr. Mamdani. You were arrested for blocking traffic in a pro-Palestinian protest. And you participated in a sit-in at Grand Central. Protesters offered blocked streets, bridges, and hubs like Grand Central. How much of that would you allow as mayor? And what's your line in having the NYPD arrest protesters?
You have a minute.
Protest is a part of what makes this city's history what it is. It is a part of the First Amendment. We deserve to have a mayor who stands up for that First Amendment, especially as we have a president that's looking to shred it at each and every opportunity. And we will continue to have protests in this city
as we should no matter who is the mayor. And the line will be on the question of breaking the law. What we have today, however, is an attempt to intimidate so many who are looking to use that freedom of expression to share their opinions about the city and the world around them. And to be frank with you, what New Yorkers are looking for is someone who can show leadership in City Hall. Because when they don't see that leadership, that's when so many take to the streets.
And if you had a leader like Andrew Cuomo, who was telling people not to overreact, when they see ICE agents abducting girls as young as six years old to deport them, many New Yorkers will take to the streets. We deserve to have a leader who will actually be following through on the values of the
city. That's the leader that I'll be. Mr. Mandania, just a quick follow up.
If you're elected, would you still participate in protests?
If I'm elected, I'll be the mayor and I'll be leading the city from City Hall.
But no participation in protests, right? The important thing is to lead from City Hall. That's what I'll be doing. Yeah, if I may respond because I believe my name Yeah, I'm broke. Yeah, very brief response and then a question for I dealt with ice. I stood up with ice I had a war with ice you should have when I was going And I stood them down and they moved out what the assemblyman is saying is is he doesn't believe in law and order. He believes in defunding the police, disarming the police, disbanding the police.
That's who he is. Abolish jails.
Sorry. Sorry.
15 seconds. Very quickly. No, no, we have to move on. Just 15 seconds because we have a question for Mr. Cuomo.
Mr. Cuomo lies again and again and again. I am not running to def work with the police to deliver public safety. Andrew Cuomo says that he has stood up to ICE. He has not said a word about the abductions that are happening right now.
He's referring to a previous comment you made, and we will get back to this.
But, Mr. Cuomo, a question for you.
It's a comment he made.
I said that. Yes, I understand. I said that.
As governor, you put't deploy them. As mayor, talk about how you would balance the right to protest with maintaining order in the streets.
The right to protest is a sacred right. There is no doubt about that. But the law is the law also. And you have New Yorkers now who are afraid in this city. They're afraid of Donald Trump coming. They're afraid of that anarchy, and they're afraid of the anarchy in this city itself. We have to provide public safety that makes New Yorkers feel safe. Demonstration is one thing. Violating the law is something else. Blocking public transit is something else. Stopping students from going to class is something else. Harassment, intimidation, that's a
hate crime, that's illegal. Enforce the law. Respect the police. They're not racists, as the Assemblyman calls them. They're not a threat to public safety, as he says. They're not anti-queer.
They are here to protect New Yorkers, work with them, fortify them.
You know, that's ironic that you say that now. I'm sorry, Mr. Mazzoni. Because when you were governor for eight years, your parole board released 43 cop killers back into the street. Your father, when he was governor, released none.
I knew Mario Cuomo. You know Mario Cuomo, Andrew Cuomo.
You released cop killers. Don't Andrew Cuomo. You released cops.
Don't say you're pro-police.
Donny, do you want to respond briefly to the comments that Mr. Cuomo raised about things you've said about police?
You can do a brief response to that.
I have been clear time and time again that as much as Andrew Cuomo wants to bring up tweets from 2020, which is around the same time that he was sending seniors to their death in nursing homes. I am looking to work with police officers, not to defund the NYPD, looking to ensure that officers can actually do one job when they're signing up to join that department.
Not the many jobs we're asking them to do today
with the mental health crisis. We will come back to that, but we're out of time.
Okay, gentlemen, we're up.
Candidates. but we're out of time. Okay, gentlemen, candidates. We're moving on, thank you. Your words, your words.
We're moving on, thank you. Despite record low crime numbers, polls show that crime remains a top concern for New York City voters. The three of you have very different approaches to crime fighting and how to manage the NYPD.
We wanna get into your plans. So we'll start with this question. It's a two-part question, but it's short. How will you make the city safer? And how will you change the NYPD? You'll have one minute. We begin with Mr. Cuomo.
I would add 5,000... Well, let's take a step back. Remember what happened. The far left, the socialists that defund the police, defund the police. They took a billion dollars one of the lowest levels in modern political history. I would add 5,000 police, put 1,500 in the subways, raise the starting salary because you can't hire them,
you can't even fill a class right now, and you have to add additional police officers because the attrition rate is so high. Part of that is going to be saying to the NYPD, I respect you. I don't think you're wicked, as the assemblyman said.
I don't think you're corrupt. I don't think you're racist. I value you. I will have your back. I'll be a mayor to work with you. That's how you're going to get the police to apply for the jobs.
And then we have to work on the relationship between the community and the police.
The police can't police the community. They have to police with the community.
Thank you, Mr. Cuomo. You're up next, Mr. Sliwa.
This is amazing. I'm standing here with my two adversaries, both of whom have threatened to defund the police. You, Andrew Cuomo, during the summer of 2020, you said, if you don't reform police departments, I'm gonna defund you. And you certainly said that, Zorhan Mandavi. We need 7,000 police. We only have 32,500.
The problem in recruiting police, which neither of you are addressing, is that their insurance was stripped from them. The state, you did nothing when you were governor, and here in the city, 2021, the city council and Eric Adams did nothing. They don't have qualified immunity, which
you benefited from. Andrew Cuomo, with the 13 lawsuits filed against you for sexual harassment. Tom DiNapoli says we're paying out 60 million dollars. Why? Because you had your qualified immunity as governor. And yet people have stood by as police have lost their insurance that all civil servants. That's why you can't get recruits in because they're not insured. I will return their qualified immunity because they need to be protected like other civil servants.
That is not New York State. It's New York City under qualified insurance, unqualified immunity. It's not insurance at all. You are entitled to
pre-legal counsel, which is what he's referring to. Yes. You have spent. Yes, but it's
New York City that has revoked qualified immunity. It's not insurance, it's qualified immunity. It has nothing to do with insurance. Okay. So that protected you in all these lawsuits. Yes. The lawsuits, because there was a report filed, I said it was political. It turned out to be political.
And that's why...
All 13 women were lying?
Come on, Andrew.
All 13 women were lying?
After five years. A state trooper too?
Yeah, after five years, five DAs, five years of litigation, I was dropped from the case.
Mr. Mamdani, how will you make the city safer and how will you change the NYPD?
Thank you. This is the concern for so many New Yorkers and I'm proud to have a comprehensive plan to bring new ideas to this city. If you want more of the same, vote for Andrew Cuomo. If you want an actual approach to lower crime, look at our Department of Community Safety. That is something that has been hailed by experts as addressing so many of the pieces
of why New Yorkers are not feeling safe today. We will ensure that no longer are police officers asked to do the job of both policing and responding to the mental health crisis. We will have dedicated teams of mental health outreach workers in the top 100 subway stations
with the highest levels of the mental health crisis and homelessness. We will ensure that cops can finally go back to the response times they used to have in 2020, closer to 11 minutes, as opposed to the closer to 16 minutes today,
because they won't be asked to respond to the 200,000 mental health calls that are coming in through 911 every year. This is evidence-based. It's been successful elsewhere in the country. It's time we deliver it right here in New York City.
It's time for a change.
Thank you, Mr. Mondani.
Zora Mondani, we already had him.
He was called the homeless outreach unit of cops and mental health care officials.
I'm sorry, this is not a question for Mr. Mamdani. Mr. Sliwa. Mr. Sliwa. Thank you, Mr. Sliwa.
Thank you.
Excuse me. Mr. Mamdani, we're going to talk about disciplining police officers. The civilian watchdog that investigates police misconduct regularly recommends discipline for cops accused of wrongdoing, but the police commissioner often overrides them. You want to change that policy so that the board has final say. Please explain to viewers in 30 seconds why you believe the police commissioner should no longer have that final say.
What I've said is that I think it's time to remove much of the politics out of the question of accountability. We have the Civilian Complaint Review Board, which as you said, studies, assesses, and investigates into complaints of abuse and the violation of the law. Oftentimes, those recommendations
are then subject to political pressures and not followed through on. I think New Yorkers deserve a system where they know it won't then be assessed once again that there's actually more to the recommendation in the investigation that's being done by the CCRB.
Okay, we're wrapping up, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mamdani. Mr. Cuomo, do you believe changes are needed for how officers are disciplined? And are there any powers that you would give up? As mayor, you have 30 seconds.
Yeah, I would not remove the police commissioner from the CCRB. I'd leave it with the police commissioner. I think Commissioner Tiscia is doing a very good job. I would trust her. The difference between me and the assemblyman is
he doesn't like the police. That's why he won't hire more police when everyone else says we need more police. He wants to use social workers on domestic violence calls, which are very dangerous. And he's told you what he thinks. He thinks the police are racist, wicked, corrupt, and a threat to public safety.
Thank you.
Those are his words.
Very quick.
Mr. Mondani.
Mr. Mondani, very quick. Andrew Cuomo is a politician of the past, and all he can speak about are the tweets of the past in 2020. Those are tweets which I have apologized for to New Yorkers and police officers directly, and they are not what I am actually running on. No, you're incapable of actually speaking about the platform that we have here, which is one that will keep New Yorkers safe. Can we just quickly ask you,
because I think what some people feel they haven't heard from you, we hear you saying that you don't believe that anymore and you've apologized. People have not heard you sort of describe the evolution of your thought,
how you got from there to here.
You know, growing up in this city, I would think often about safety and justice and the ways in which that that relationship has been irrevocably harmed. When I learned about the exonerated five, when I learned about Sean Bell, when I learned about Eric Garner,
when I learned about Michael Brown. And then in 2020, when I wrote these tweets, learning about the death of George Floyd. And that was a moment where it felt as if the distance between these two ideals had never been further.
And in becoming an assembly member, and serving and representing more than 100,000 people in Queens, learning that to deliver justice means to also deliver safety. And that means leading a city where you recognize the bravery of the men and women who joined the NYPD and put their lives on the line. It means representing the Muslims who were illegally surveilled in my district and the black and brown New Yorkers who have been victims of police brutality.
So Mr. Sliwa, you've been out there, you've been on the trains and I would like to
know if you believe changes are needed of how officers are disciplined.
Let me just suggest, Zoran, what you've suggested...
Zoran, Curtis.
Zoran.
Thank you. Excuse me. Let me just suggest what you have proposed with this new police outrage unit will endanger women and children in domestic violence situations. I know I've been involved in so many of them
with the Guardian Angels. They will be killed. They will be maimed. Number two, in dealing with emotionally disturbed persons that I have dealt with for all my years as a Guardian Angels, you need trained professional police officers. Yes you can have
mental health workers with them, but that has been suggested it was done before by the homeless outreach unit and the guy you thought was the best man, Bill de Blasio disbanded them.
Brief response? To be very clear, the Department of Community Safety is not about responding to calls of domestic violence. We are speaking about mental health crisis and the homelessness crisis. These are the focuses of the work that they will do.
All right, we have other questions for that a little later in the debate, but we wanna just change the pace a little bit, candidates, switching gears to the high cost of living in New York City. To kick us off, we have a few quick pocketbook questions that New Yorkers wrestle with daily.
So we want to know how much you spend a week on groceries. We'll begin with you, Mr. Cuomo.
Depends how many times my daughters come over, but probably about $150.
Okay. Mr. Sliwa?
Oh, I'd say about $175 with a gallon of milk, now $5 and always rising up. Loaf of bread, simple loaf of bread that used to be 99 cent is like $3 now. The price is too costly.
Thank you, Mr. Sleeman.
It's too costly.
Just a brief answer.
Thank you, Mr. Mamdani. I actually agree with Curtis on that. It is too costly. are down to less than four bucks though my average spend every week is about 125 150. All right do you carry credit card debt or do you pay it off every
month? Mr. Momdani? I pay it off every month. Mr. Cuomo? I pay it off. Mr. Sliwa? I don't have a credit card I have a debit card. And for the record what is your monthly rent or mortgage Mr. Sliwa? About $3,900. It's not subsidized as of right now. Mr. Mamdani, what is your monthly rent or mortgage?
$2,300.
Mr. Cuomo? He has a rent-stabilized apartment that a poor person's supposed to have. Mine is about $7,800.
We are actually getting to that.
We're going to cover that subject.
Sally?
Thank you. We're going to talk a little bit more about the runaway rent in this city. Mr. Mamdani, you're pledging to freeze rent for nearly one million rent stabilized apartments. That really affects less than half of all rentals in the city. What is your plan for those who aren't in stabilized apartments but are struggling to pay the rent?
What are you going to do for them? Well, I'm proud to say that I, yes, will freeze the rent for more than two million rent-stabilized tenants, and I will also build 200,000 truly affordable homes across the five boroughs over the next 10 years to ensure that tenants, whether rent-stabilized or market rate, can actually have more housing such that they are not being priced out of this city. And finally, I'm also going to make it easier for the private sector to build housing in this city because what we see today is that it's not labor, it's not materials, it's the weight that is often costing so many,
so much to actually build the housing we need in this city. Thank you and a follow-up for you Mr. Mamdani, the cost of maintaining a building change year to year for landlords, the Rent Guidelines Board is legally required to consider
those costs when deciding whether to freeze rents. So how can you promise a rent freeze today before ever seeing that data next year?
You know, we've seen the data time and again.
It's data that's- But next year's data.
It's been data that's been overruled by mayors again and again. The last Rent Guidelines Board study showed that profits were up 12% for landlords of those units. And what did they do? the rent adding to more than 12% under Eric Adams' administration. What I am speaking about is actually reflecting the needs of these New Yorkers and the
state of the market today. These are New Yorkers who have a median household income of $60,000. We do not need to be pushing them further out of the city. We need to keep them in their homes. Aren't you saying in that answer that you are gonna pre-judge? You will not have seen the data for next year and you're making a determination based on data you haven't seen. I've seen the data year after year of the fact that salaries are stagnating, costs are up, New Yorkers can't actually afford their apartments and I will also take action to actually ensure that the
landlords of those buildings can better handle their costs by taking on their
insurance, their property taxes and their water bills. Mr. Cuomo, I do have a question for you on this subject. You have proposed something that you're calling Zoran's Law. You think that Mr. Mamdani earns too much to live in his rent-stabilized apartment, though I should note that there are no income tests for rent-stabilized apartments. But critics say your plan would force people to pay too much of their income towards the
rent. So if you think Mr. Mamdani is gaming the system, what about the other New Yorkers, thousands of them just like him, who earn similar salaries, who are living in similar apartments?
Okay, just to follow up on what Sally was saying, because she's right. This is not a new plan that the Assemblywoman is talking about. It's Bill de Blasio's plan. It was called freeze the rent. Bill de Blasio says the mayor can't say legally he's going to freeze the rent. There's a rent guidelines board. There are certain considerations that have to be looked at. You're right, Sally.
You can't say today what it's going to be in four years. Also, freeze the rent only postpones the rent because then you have to have an increase to cover the costs, otherwise the building is going to go bankrupt. And it does nothing for the majority of renters who aren't in these rent-stabilized units. There's nothing for NYCHA. There's nothing for homeowners.
There's nothing for people in black-brown communities who are getting priced out. I was the HUD secretary. I built affordable housing all across this nation. I built affordable housing in this city when I was in my 20s. I know how to get it done. I will get it done on the rent stabilized units.
What I'm saying is those are the precious units
and we should keep them for the most rent burden. But I have a question for you.
Sorry, he invoked me for much of that question. Just a very brief response here. He's very brief response here. You know, you've heard it from Andrew Cuomo that the number one crisis in this city, the housing crisis, the answer is to evict my wife and I. He thinks you address this crisis by unleashing my landlord's ability to raise my rent. If you think that the problem in this city is that my rent is too low, vote for him. If you know the problem in this city is that your rent is too high, vote for me. If I understand it correctly, Mr. Fuller, your program, Zola and Small, would not evict
Mr. Mondani. It would not evict him. It would apply to people applying for a pardon. But
the tenant advocates... He made it up. It would evict no one. This doesn't add up.
We have to move on. I have a question for Mrs. Fuller. This is like a spat in the schoolyard. Let me see.
No, no, no. Ms. Sliwa, Rosarita has a specific question for you on this.
Yeah, well, I wanted to talk about affordability and obviously address that issue.
So you've proposed, Mr. Sliwa, plans that would make a point of talking about the struggle of renters and property owners.
Describe your plan to help renters and landlords. Well, first off, we have 6,000 available apartments that our mayor controls in NYCHA and they've been empty for years. That you address number one. Then we talk about senior citizens who are living here. My whole goal is to improve and not to move. I'm concerned about the seniors, especially those that own homes. If they're 65 and make less than $250,000, no property tax, because the property tax is way too high. We need to cut it in half to keep people who are here.
And then in terms of rentals, we have affordable housing that can be built in these huge skyscrapers. You see them all throughout Manhattan and in northern Brooklyn and in Long Island City which we have 25 Empire State buildings full of commercial space that will never be occupied for office space. We should be converting them into affordable apartments.
They're in dense areas. The infrastructure can support it. I'm the only candidate here who's against city of yes, that would destroy residential neighborhoods.
I have to interrupt you because we have a programming moment right now. We're about halfway through the mayoral debate. Channel 4 and Telemundo 47 will return to regular programming, but we got a lot to get to and you can continue watching live on NBC New York, Telemundo 47 streaming and digital platforms Telexitos, political.com and YouTube. Stay with us, a lot to discuss.
βͺβͺ
Gentlemen, gentlemen, thank you. That was kind of a natural point for us to transition, and we want to talk now about
Transportation getting around town and we have a few quick questions about how you get around town show of hands
Even though they're in their waning days who has a MetroCard or maybe uses OmniPay
Uses OmniPay yeah, I'm gonna pay. Yeah MetroCard. I mean I, what do you use? I'm just curious. Omnicard, in fact I got a whole batch. I'm in the subways, I'm in the buses, the express buses. I'm the only candidate who rides mass transit every day. When you
need to get somewhere fast and you can't take the train, do you hail a taxi, do you use rideshare? Mr. Sliwa, what do you do? I try to avoid yellow cabs. you know I was shot in the back of a yellow cab in 1992 by the Gottis and Gambinos but I'd find my way around if I have to I uber if I can't get there by mass transit. What do you do Mr. Mamdani if you can't take the train?
I would either take a cab or ride a bike. Mr. Cuomo? I would take a cab, uber. Okay
all right thanks gentlemen. Sally? Thank you David. Let's talk about free buses. Mr. Mamdani, this is a centerpiece of your campaign. Can you explain how you will make buses free?
You have 30 seconds to answer.
Absolutely. We will make buses free by replacing the revenue that the MTA currently gets from buses. This is revenue that's around $700 million or so. That's less money than Andrew Cuomo gave to Elon Musk and $959 million in tax credits when he was the governor.
And the reason that we will do so is that making buses free doesn't just provide economic relief, but also public safety, because what we've seen is that it decreases assaults on bus drivers by 38.9%. New Yorkers deserve more than the slowest buses in the country.
I know that because I was on the M57 not too long ago, and its average speed is 4.9 miles an hour.
We're out of time, though, but the question is how you'll make them free.
We will fund the revenue that would have otherwise been brought in from fares, and that's something that we would do in partnership with Albany. And I've put forward two proposals. The first is to raise taxes on the top 1% of New Yorkers by 2%.
That would raise $5 billion. We're gonna move along, but I just wanna point out to viewers that Governor Hochul has opposed raising the income tax.
But Melissa, we'll move on to your question.
Could I address that on the buses? Because half the people don't pay their bus fare to begin with, Zorhat. And so it's- Zorhan, Curtis Zoran. Zoran, it's a complete disaster. If you have free bus fare and the Citizens Budget Commission said just last year, 2024, a billion dollars of fare evasion in all different forms, this MTA system will collapse.
There's not enough money out there to make up for fare evasion. Pay your fare. If you don't pay your fare, they have fare, fair programs for the poor and the indigent. But everybody should be forced to pay their fare.
Mr. Cuomo, you had both praise and some criticism for Mr. Mamdani's free bus pilots. You're sort of in the middle on this issue. What's your plan to make subways and buses more affordable?
I think free buses is a mistake. Of course, about $700 million, just to give you an idea, that we only raise about $500 from congestion pricing. It's been done before in other cities. It was a disaster. They stopped. They basically became mobile homeless gathering places.
What I say is free buses for working families who can't afford it, and free subways for working families. But don't subsidize rich people on a bus. And it's been tried, and it's failed.
Mr. Mamdani, can you just respond quickly on the point about the mobile homeless-gathering places?
You know, this is something that we heard when we were fighting to make buses free in Albany, when we delivered the first fare-free bus lines in New York City history. And what we saw is when we made one bus route free in each borough of New York City, there was no increase in homelessness on those buses. There was no increase in fare evasion in the surrounding area. What there was was an increase in ridership of up to 38 percent.
Thank you, Mr. Romdani.
Candidates, maybe we can dig deeper on this and get a sense of how all of you would pay for your big ideas. Mr. Ramdhani, we'll start with you. We've obviously been talking about free buses, you've talked about free childcare, city-run grocery stores, so essentially you're proposing about $10 billion in new spending. And as you've indicated, you want to pay for it with tax increases, but as Sally pointed out, Governor Hochul said no to raising income tax on millionaires. So tell New Yorkers tonight how you're going to pay for all of this in one minute if you can. Look a lot of people have called even my
campaign a non-starter when we first began and now I stand before you proud to be the Democratic nominee who got the most votes in city primary history and I believe we will see the same thing with our push to ensure that we are taxing the wealthiest and the most profitable corporations the fair amount that they should pay. Now there are those who will say that because it will be hard, you should give up.
We saw what giving up looked like when Andrew Cuomo was the governor. He gave up on fighting for working class New Yorkers and instead caved in to his billionaire donors. And what did we get? We have the fastest and most frequent helicopter service to the Hamptons and we have the slowest and more expensive bus service across the five boroughs. But again Mr. Ramdhani, I know
Governor Hochul indicated this week there may be some some open windows but more or less income tax on millionaires is off the table according to the
governor. Look I've said very clearly making buses fast and free costs about 700 million dollars a year. Making universal childcare a reality costs about five or six billion dollars a year. If you raise the state's top corporate tax rate to match that of New Jersey, you'd be raising five billion in and of itself.
I have a couple of, Mr. Slipper, you're next, but I have a couple of follow-ups.
I would just want to add one additional thing. We have also put forward a plan to save money here in New York City with a billion dollars in savings through procurement reform, through following the Independent Budget Office's assessment about hiring more fiscal auditors, and in actually collecting the fines and fees from bad landlords across the city.
Just a quick couple of follow-ups. If you could find some of the funding, but not all of it, which of your priorities would come first? What would be the first among equals that you would try to get done?
Well, freezing the rent doesn't require any fiscal infusion, so that will be something we'll be pursuing immediately. And universal child care, after housing, is the second cost. Child care is the second cost pushing New Yorkers out of this city. $22,500 a year is the estimate we've seen. That will be a priority for us.
And I just want to know, if you could get the money and funding elsewhere, would you drop the call for the tax increase?
Absolutely. The most important thing is funding these agenda items. I think these are the two most important and straightforward, direct ways to do so. But if the money comes from elsewhere, the most important thing is funding.
Okay, thank you.
Melissa has a question for Mr. Sliwa. Mr. Sliwa, you've been talking about cutting taxes and spending. So what is your plan and how would you pay for your programs like 7,000 more cops?
Well, Zoran, free, free. It's a fantasy. Let's deal with the reality. 7,000 cups. You already have a plan in Boston where you pay for taxes in the future. This is a great plan in which universities and others who have bought our properties that are now taken from the real estate market and taken from property tax paid. We could raise a billion dollars from Columbia University,
NYU that are in the real estate business, and Madison Square Garden, your friends, Andrew Cuomo, Jimmy Dolan, who pays no property taxes. That's how you raise a billion dollars to get 700 police officers trained, vetted, and out into the streets in the five boroughs.
And then the police will be on the subways and they will be patrolling the old-fashioned way where they're needed, going up and down the moving subway cars where people want to see the visual protection, especially women who are being assaulted, perv'd. And like we saw this morning on 86th Street, a woman with a gun to her head, an armed robbery because we don't have enough cops.
I have a question for you on this topic. And let's talk about history because as governor, you raised and cut taxes. Now you're proposing some tax relief. What's the price tag for your proposals? And where will you get the money for, for example, 5,000 new police officers?
You have a minute to
answer. Yeah. I think Sally's question was very well taken. The assemblyman's whole plan is based on a myth. He's going to raise taxes. Albany is going to raise taxes statewide on corporations, but the money's only going to
go to New York City. That could never happen. It's not just that the governor wouldn't support it. It's not just that the governor wouldn't support it. It's impossible. He said he's going to raise the taxes the same as New Jersey, corporate tax. No, it would be double the tax.
You would see New Yorkers on I-95 fleeing to Florida. We would be alone. So you have to be realistic with revenue. You have a $115 billion budget. You have to go through that city budget and find savings. I started the state, which is double the budget of the city,
at a $10 billion deficit. I closed it and added services. And we can do the same with New York City.
Governor, as mayor, you would not increase spending in the New York City budget, yes or no?
There would be, whatever additional spending would be revenue neutral.
So you'd find money somewhere else in New York.
You gotta cut taxes for people to stay here.
Thank you.
Corporations are not gonna stay here. They're being lured south to cities that are more corporate funded. You gotta cut the property tax. Income tax for those who are 19 to 28 with skill levels if they go
to school here.
Thank you, Mr. Sliwa. Andrew Cuomo thinks it's all right to spend $60 million to fund his legal defense from accusations of more than a dozen women of sexual harassment. But if I say we should spend the same amount of money on delivering cheaper groceries in this city through a pilot program, that is unfathomable.
Quick, David, I have a right to respond to that. First, I did not bring those lawsuits. That was brought by the Attorney General, which I said was political.
Well, those lawsuits were filed by individual women and some of them have still been making their way through the courts this year and now.
Yes, and I've been dropped from the cases. Not all of them. Yeah. And what the assemblyman doesn't say is all this money that he wants to pass, the one thing he did do is he voted for a pay raise for himself.
They're the highest paid legislators in the United
States. I did ask the state controller's office this week. I did ask the state controller's office this week. The total was above $60 million. But just those sexual harassment cases to defend Governor Cuomo and his staff was about 21 million dollars.
Sorry, it was the sexual harassment and our nursing home cases.
I just want to clarify because you said 60, but on those cases it was 21.
Thank you. We have to talk about quality of life in the city. Let's turn to everyday life in the city and some issues a mayor can directly impact. We start with a couple of questions about 3-1-1, the number New Yorkers call or text for non-emergency help. First off, have you ever called 3-1-1 and if so for
what? Mr. Momdani? I called 3-1-1 for issues with my heating in my apartment and I've spoken to New Yorkers time and time again who are frustrated by the fact that they can track their Uber Eats block by block, but when they call 311 for them to come to their apartment, it's just a question of hoping and praying that they do. There's no actual appointment. That's something that we would change.
All right, Mr. Sliwa, have you ever called 311?
You know, there used to be that song, 911 is a joke by Public Enemy. 311 is a joke. You can call it over and over and over again. Have you? The analytics are when the operators talk to you. Have you called?
Yes, I've called them many times and got no response. Most citizens I talk to on the subways and streets never get good responses.
Thank you. Mr. Cuomo. I've heard a lot of complaints about 311, so I actually made a call to 311 myself to see if the complaints were bona fide. And I was dropped twice. Then they were going to send someone to find help, a homeless woman in distress, and no one showed up.
You're all expressing frustration. Last year, 311 received 38 million contacts from New Yorkers, from calls to the website. I wanted to know if you had a sense across five boroughs what the top two categories of complaints were. What do you think they were, Mr. Sliwa?
Potholes. Constantly potholes. People's undercarriages ripped out, ball bearings, alignments.
Second one? Top two?
Rats. Rats, okay. The city is flooded with rats.
Mr. Cuomo, what do you think the top two complaints were?
Homeless and trash rats.
Alright, Mr. Momdani?
I think it was housing and noise.
Okay, so the answer is noise and illegal parking. And we're going to stick with quality of life.
Rosarina? We're gonna stick with quality of life. Rosarina? That's right. And let's talk about noise candidates because they fall into these two categories. First of all, it's the residential one, that's the neighbors and the loud music. And the second one is a street or sidewalk, everything with a loud construction and workers outside. So Mr. Cuomo, as mayor,
what can you do to help the city that never sleeps
get a little bit of rest, Mr. Cuomo?
Yeah, look, I think if the 3-1-1 system worked well, if there was actually contact with people, I think New Yorkers would get it. I think New Yorkers would be responsive. I think we have to change the ethos in this city, the ethic in this city. Right now it's toxic, it's divisive, everyone's angry at everyone. I think when we have public safety that's functional again and New Yorkers are part
of that system, I think they would be more cooperative than you think.
Thank you very much. There's no proposal.
Mr. Schlewa, how would you quiet a little bit the city that never sleeps?
In the outer boroughs, I see problems all the time quality of life issues 18 wheel tractor trailers RVs passed parked everywhere garbage That's not picked up and collected in the city. We've seen trash cans taken away by the sanitation department. Jessica Tish, when she was the commissioner, the quality of life has diminished noticeably. So naturally people are going to revert to 311. But it's important that a mayor be able to provide services to all the people. And they believe if quality of life is diminished, the next stop is sell your house and leave the city.
And my goal is to improve and not move.
Mr. Mamdani, your turn.
What we've seen is one of the biggest sources of noise in this city is from congestion. And with the implementation of congestion pricing, we've actually seen noise complaints drop in the congestion zone. And so I would continue to find ways to ensure
that we have reduced congestion across the city and one of the ways is by making the slowest buses in America ones that are fast and free so that New Yorkers can not only live a life of excellent quality of life, but also be able to get around the city without having to worry if they have $2.90 or soon to be $3 in their pocket, which is already out of reach for one in five New Yorkers.
We have here the author of Congestion Pricing and we have the apprentice of Congestion Pricing. I'm the only candidate who's opposed to Congestion Pricing. It is alleged storefronts are closing because they don't have enough food.
We have food.
We have other quality buyers. We need to move on, otherwise we're going to have to place a call to 311 about candidates going over there a lot of time. Okay, so we're gonna move on We're gonna move on to illegal parking plaques in many neighborhoods recently councilmember Lincoln Ressler released a study that found 450 vehicles parked illegally during the day in downtown Brooklyn many with fake or government placards That's just one snapshot of the city, but you hear similar complaints everywhere.
So how would you fix this specific situation? You'll have 30 seconds. Mr. Sliwa will begin with you.
Well, obviously placards have been abused consistently. You have people who've created fake placards. Not only that, you have people with fake license plates, paper plates. This all violations against the Department of Transportation rules and regulations of where you can park a vehicle. There's just no enforcement.
And that's because we don't have police. We have these e-bikes going up and down. We have the motorbikes. They're not following rules and regulations. They should be licensed. They should have a way of being identified.
This way, enforcement can take place because people are terrified walking out into the streets.
Mr. Mondani, your plan for illegal parking?
We have to showcase that accountability is true, whether for New Yorkers who are just living in this city or those who are working for this city. And the violation of traffic laws are violations no matter who is doing it, and to show that that accountability is something my city government's actually going to pursue.
Okay, Mr. Cuomo.
On the quality of life, you're right, is very, very important. On the placards, I would make it simple. I would recall all the city placards and reissue only those that are bona fide, period, on day one. On the quality of life issues, the worst thing that could happen is if the assemblyman's proposal for legalizing prostitution went through, that would be terrible for the quality
of life.
He also doesn't want to enforce misdemeanors.
We're getting to that, Mr. President.
That's assault, larceny, et cetera.
That would be terrible.
We're going to have time to address that. I want to be very clear. Not only have I never called for the legalization of prostitution, I'm not calling for that today either, and I also have never said anything about not enforcing misdemeanors. This is just yet another figment of Andrew Cuomo's
imagination. The DSA, which you give your part of your salary to, that's their position. Abolish jails, no new carceral facilities, don't enforce misdemeanors, and you're on the bill in Albany as a sponsor to decriminalize
prostitution.
The difference between myself and Andrew Cuomo, of which there are many, is that there is no one that is actually telling me what to do other than the eight and a half million people who call this city home. If you want my policies, you'll find them on my website.
Who told you to legalize prostitution?
Wait, wait, wait, wait, we actually have a question. Andrew, you can't escape this. You signed the law doing away with loitering for prostitution. That was the law put forward by Jesse Thomas. Gentlemen, you just started the prostitution in East Elmhurst and Jackson Heights and Flushing. And you want to add to it, which diminishes the quality of life.
Mr. Sliwa, when I talk over you, nobody's hearing you, and we actually have a question on that, so we'll let Rosarita ask.
And for this question, candidates, we want to come to Queens, where we know that prostitution has been an ongoing complaint. Mayor Adams forced... formed a task force and ordered sweeps by the NYPD, but the situation continues, especially around the very popular Roosevelt Avenue. As mayor, Mr. Mandani, how would you handle this situation?
You have 30 seconds.
I want to first be clear that I am not, and nor have I ever called for the legalization of prostitution. And if you are happy with what's happening on Roosevelt Avenue, then you should vote for Andrew Cuomo because his policy is to continue the exact same ones
we've seen under Eric Adams. My policy is to actually take on sex trafficking, to have a zero tolerance for violence against women, and to follow the advice of district attorneys that we have here in New York City, the current Manhattan DA, the former Manhattan DA,
the current Brooklyn DA, the former Manhattan DA, having said that prosecuting women for prostitution is something that actually leads to less safety. And what we need to do is provide an economy
of opportunity.
Just a quick clarification. So no legalization. How about decriminalization?
I do not think that we should be prosecuting women who are struggling, who are currently being thrown in jail, and then being offered job opportunities. I think we should be actually providing those kinds of opportunities at the first point of interaction. Mr. Cuomo, your turn.
Look, Bill de Blasio, the assemblyman is a mini-me BDB, okay? He's Bill de Blasio-lite. He proposed legalizing prostitution. He didn't get it, and he just told the cops, don't arrest any more prostitutes. There is a bill in Albany that he signed that says the prostitution that a woman who is a prostitute, that would be decriminalized.
That is what the bill says, and that's what he said, if you listen very carefully. That would take Roosevelt Avenue and explode it That is what the bill says. And that's what he said, if you listen very carefully. That would take Roosevelt Avenue and explode it, because it would make it legal for prostitutes.
But real quick, how would you handle this situation?
You have to enforce the law or it's illegal. I went to Roosevelt Avenue. I talked to the store owners. I talked to the neighbors. I walked down Roosevelt Avenue with prostitutes there
at 9 o'clock in the morning. Your turn, Mr. Siwa.
I've dealt with this back in the 80s and 90s in Hell's Kitchen in Chelsea when they were overrun with open-air prostitution and Times Square. You don't go after the women. The women are the victims here. You lock up the Johns, you shame the Johns. You let everybody know about the Johns. You let everybody know about the Johns. The madams and the pimps need to be prosecuted
to the fullest extent of the law. And these absentee landlords who knowingly rent their rooms, their apartments out for the use of prostitution. The Department of Building should come in, padlocked the building, seized the building. Because many of these landlords live in Delray, Florida. They did back in the 80s and 90s when we did it in Chelsea and Times Square and Hell's Kitchen and they're doing it again and there's no enforcement. That's why the prosecution for it is not going to work.
Thank you, David. We're going to talk a bit about experience and beliefs. We've covered a lot of ground tonight, but we want to probe a bit deeper into each of your mindsets and how you'll approach governing as mayor. Mr. Cuomo, you have touted your experience on the campaign trail time and again, but you pretty squarely lost the Democratic primary to Mr. Mamdani, forcing you, a lifelong Democrat,
to run as an independent. When you announced that decision, you said, quote, when you get knocked down, learn the lesson and pick yourself back up. What lesson did you learn and what do you feel it said about you, something you did wrong, something that you need to change about yourself?
Yeah, I think in the primary campaign, I did not do enough on social media, which is a very effective medium now. I think the assemblymen did do a better job on TikTok and social media than I did during the campaign. And that has changed now.
I've also increased my activity significantly, but my agenda is exactly the same. I am the Democrat, although I'm not on the Democratic line. He is a Democratic socialist called Barack Obama evil and a liar. Didn't vote for Kamala Harris. Fight and deliver is I will fight for people, I will fight the bureaucracy, and I will deliver results.
New Yorkers need the mayor to get something done. This is all words and
theories. I am a manager who can actually get things done.
This is a question about self-reflection. Is the thing you're reflecting on the most that you need to be on social media more? Was there any other deeper lesson that you
learned? Between the two campaigns, social media, more
accessibility. Okay.
I just have to say, it's been an hour and 20 minutes of this debate and we haven't heard Governor Cuomo say the word affordability. That's why he lost the primary. That's why he'll lose the general election. And you can lie all you want, but the truth is I voted for Kamala Harris. I'm the only candidate on this stage to have the endorsement of Kamala Harris.
And I'm not the one who's funded by Bill Ackman, who called Kamala Harris unqualified to be
the vice president of this country. Okay, may I respond? Yes, brief response please. Look, there are a lot of New Yorkers who support me. And there are a lot of Jewish New Yorkers who support me because they think you're anti-Semitic. So it's not about Trump or Republican, it's about you. You think he's anti-Semitic, Mr. Quon? I don't make those judgments about people. Are you a racist? Are you an anti-Semite?
I know there are many Jewish people who believe he is anti-Semitic. I believe not condemning the globalized Intifada, what he has said about Hamas.
But Mr. Quon, I covered your speech in an Upper West Side synagogue where you said anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism. There is no difference. And you were talking about Mr. Mondani. Is that not an allegation?
No, I make that statement all the time.
I wasn't referring to Mondani.
Okay.
All right.
Mr. Mondani, a brief response, and it will never be enough for Andrew Cuomo because what he is willing to say, even though not on this stage, is to call me, the first Muslim on the precipice of leading this city, a terrorist sympathizer, is to send mailers that artificially lengthen my beard, is to say to New Yorkers that they should be fearful. But what I will do is deliver the message.
Melissa has a specific question for you. You are the Democratic nominee, and you're also a member, as we've been discussing, of a political organization that may be less familiar to New Yorkers, the Democratic Socialists of America, which believes in dismantling capitalism. New York City is the global headquarters
of the finance industry. So how would you be the mayor of Wall Street and the DSA? You have one minute.
I would be the mayor of this entire city. And that means ensuring that the wealth that we generate in this city is also wealth that every single New Yorker can actually feel in their pockets. Because what we have today is a system
that has generated the most wealth in the wealthiest country in the history of the world, where one in four of our neighbors are living in poverty. That's unacceptable. We can't look at 500,000 kids hungry every single night as just the cost of doing business in this city. That's something we have to actually change.
And I'm going to do that by fighting for my neighbors in Queens that I've come to know who are not only the ones who own teapots and toy stores, who own diners and dry cleaners, but also the ones who work there. Because right now, all of them are being pushed out of this city by corporate greed, by private equity,
and by a politics that refuses to fight for them. I will finally deliver that politics.
Just a quick follow-up, Mr. Mamdani. A lot of Hispanic, definitely, socialism, and are a little bit scared to hear your policies. What would you tell them?
Well, I would first say that I wouldn't be here without the support of Latino New Yorkers, because it was the majority of their support that helped to make me the Democratic nominee. And what Democratic socialism means is a belief in the dignity of each and every New Yorker and the responsibility city government has to deliver that dignity.
That's why I'm speaking about childcare, because it's pricing out New Yorkers from the city. It's why I'm speaking about freezing the rent, because housing isn't a human right in the way that we practice our politics in this city. And that's why I'm talking about making buses fast and free, because one in five New Yorkers are being priced out of public transit today.
Rosarina. So, Mr. Sleeman, I would like to talk to you because you were here with us four years ago in the same stage for the general election debate, and you lost it.
Why do you believe New York is ready to elect a Republican this time around?
First off, did I not warn you four years ago that Eric Adams would be corrupt and we would have chaos? Did I not? Of course I did and I get praise for that. Now I'm trying to get people to vote for me, not just on the Republican line, but also my wife Nancy, who is the best thing that has ever happened to me, created the first ever independent protect animals line, which calls for no-kill shelters and putting animal abusers in jail.
But the other thing that differentiates me from both of my adversaries is that I am opposed to the city of yes, which will destroy the residential neighborhoods. Both of them are for the city of yes. So when you vote for me, whether on the Republican line or the Protect Animals line, turn your ballot over and vote no on all those initiatives and referendums. Imagine, they've said, how can you, Curtis, a Republican, work with a Democratic majority
in the council? Adrian Adams is in agreement with me. The Democratic city council people is in agreement with me. The Democratic City Council people are in agreement with me. No to the City of Yes, which will take your home and provide you instead with lithium ion battery warehouses next to your house, which are like mini Chernobyl. I'm the only candidate who is opposed to the City of Yes.
Thank you.
I have a quick follow-up to that, Mr. Slewitt. How do you bring down costs if you don't build more housing?
Oh, it's very simple to build housing. You just look in New York City. We have so many dense areas where you no longer can use the commercial space. There used to be office space and you just convert it into residential housing. You don't need to go into the out of roads. You don't need to use wetlands, parklands,
which they seek to do.
If you build a new building, it takes five years. If you convert an existing building, it can be done in a year. I want to change the pace and just get a sense of what you think about political leadership. We're curious about who you admire.
Who is the best modern day U.S. President? Mr. Cuomo? Modern day? Well, I'm partial. I was Bill Clinton's Housing and Urban Development Secretary. We built affordable housing all across the United States. To Bill Clinton?
Empowerment zones. I would say Bill Clinton.
Okay. Mr. Momdani?
I would say FDR. Mr. Mr. Momdani? I would say FDR.
Mr. Sliwa?
He's modern day.
Modern.
I'd say FDR also, but that's modern day.
Mr. Sliwa?
A man that ended up being loved by Democrats and Republicans alike. The greatest governor we've ever had in my lifetime, George Pataki. Three terms, no chaos, no corruption.
I was asking-
And he actually beat the better former U.S. father.
President, president, president. President, president, president.
President, president, president. This governor and this president.
President. Who's the-
Yeah, who you thought the best modern president. Best president in our lifetime?
Yeah. in our lifetime that I've experienced, I would go back to Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan, okay. How about the best New York City mayor, Mr. Salihwa? Best New York City mayor, Mr. Salihwa?
Rudy Giuliani, who endorsed me last week. Okay. And I'd have a little bit of Michael Bloomberg thrown in because he liked to delegate responsibility. Mr. Mugnani?
I think the best New York City mayor of all time is Fiorello LaGuardia. Mr. Cuomo. It was Bill de Blasio last debate. No, I've always said Fiorello is the best mayor of all time.
Who's yours, Mr. Cuomo? Is it of all time or modern time? Best New York City mayor in Europe.
Of all time, it is Fiorello LaGuardia.
We agree.
Recently, I would say Mayor Dinkins and Mayor Bloomberg. Okay. How about the political leader, dead or alive, you most admire? Mr. Mamdani?
I would say I admire Bernie Sanders.
Mr. Cuomo?
My father.
Mr. Sliwa?
I said it already, George Pataki, who is loved by Democrats and Republicans and the greatest mayor in our lifetime.
All right.
Greatest governor in our lifetime.
I just have one more before Sally starts to ask you about schools. A show of hands. Who supports Kathy Hochul for re-election?
It's a decision that should be made after this general election.
So no decision. Mr. Cuomo, you handpicked her as your lieutenant governor. No thought?
You have to know who's running.
Yeah.
Okay. So. Yeah, okay, so and I would add that I do think that Kathy Hockel our governor has been doing a good job And not only supported for re-election not only delivering for New Yorkers, but also standing up to Donald Trump Just what do you support for real? I'm focusing on November Appreciate her support
I'm gonna shout out for Lisa phonics and take out Kathy Hockel. No You have a Republican Mayor Curtis, a Republican Governor Stefanik, like Giuliani, attacking Save This City and State.
You want to talk about schools, Sally?
Okay, thank you, David. Let's turn to education. There are a number of issues facing public schools. One that's been controversial in the campaign is the Gifted and Talented Program, which offers accelerated instruction to elementary school children. Mr. Mamdani, you have said that you want to phase out the Gifted and Talented program, while Mr. Cuomo and Mr. Sliwa want to expand it.
Mr. Sliwa, we will start with you. What is your plan for the program? You have one minute.
Gifted and Talented.
Yes, Gifted and Talented.
I have two younger sons with Melinda Katz, the Queens DA. both attempted to get into Gifted and Talented as four-year-olds. They failed. It did not present a problem with their future education. We don't have enough slots. Right now, there are 1,900. We need to have at least 5,000 slots around the city. What they have not done at the Department of Education is make these tests available
in black and Hispanic communities. So for instance, you have 77,000 children who are four years old. Only 10,000 have taken the test. Only 2,000 are accepted. Why not offer the test to all 77,000? And even if a gifted and talented class
only has three or four in a minority school, give these children an opportunity to excel too. That would make it fair for everybody.
Thank you. Mr. Cuomo, how does your plan differ from Mr. Slew's?
You also have one minute.
First I support mayoral control. I think it would be a terrible mistake to roll back mayoral control. That's probably been the most dramatic educational reform in 40 years. We'd go back to the old system that had local school boards which were corrupt, patronage mills, etc. So who runs the system is number one. I would expand gifted and talented programs. Accessibility. I'd offer preparatory
courses to any student parent that wanted to take them I double the number of specialized high schools from 9 to 18 and I would keep the SH SAT
As it is
Thank you, and mr. Mudd had one thing
There's been no discussion about vocational high schools. We're so many young men and women We need we need to expand vocational training for those who are not going to achieve academic excellence.
We're going to keep going here with Mr. Mamdani. Why should the gifted and talented program be phased out, in your opinion?
You have a minute to answer.
So I want to be very clear. I have spoken solely of gifted and talented for kindergarteners. I do not believe that kindergarteners should be subject to a singular assessment. I have not spoken of any gifted and talented programs older than for kindergarten. I'm solely speaking about kindergarten. And I believe that we should be delivering the best education across the country here in this city.
We will do that by following through on the proposals I've put forward to hire a thousand more teachers every single year through our community to classroom program. One that will ensure that we're providing each student, whether they be in high school or someone who is an adult looking to become a teacher with $12,000 in tuition subsidies so that they can start to fulfill the seven to 9,000 additional teachers we need so that we can
actually deliver on the Class Size Reduction Act, which I was proud to pass in Albany, that will ensure that children and teachers actually have a manageable ratio in that classroom so that they can learn. Because today, that learning is being rendered impossible
by the number of kids in that same classroom. It's time to make sure that that number is lower.
Thanks.
But you don't believe the mayor should run this system?
I've been critical of mayoral control because of the ways in which it's been used to take away the voice of parents, of educators, of students. I think it's important that those same voices be a part of how we lead the system.
So are you for or against mayoral control?
I've been critical of it. I'm against mayoral control. And I think that there's an importance of developing something that actually enshrines
all of those voices together. Mr. Cuomo, you also tried to curtail it when Mayor de Blasio was mayor. Did you hear what she said? No. You proposed a curtailment of mayoral control when Mayor de Blasio was mayor. There's been multiple modifications of mayoral control. Some proposed curtailment at your hand, so if you are such a champion of it tonight. I never proposed reversing mayoral control. No, shortening the duration of time he would have control of schools.
Yes, for renewal.
The renewal period is counter to what you're saying. Mr. Mondani, how much control of schools would you be giving up? Is it just a sharing arrangement? I know you want to share with the districts and with parents. Or would you be giving up full control?
And is that an accountability problem if the buck doesn't stop with you? I think the mayor needs to retain the accountability so that New Yorkers know exactly who they can come to when they have critiques. And I think we also have to develop a system where we don't have what we saw just recently, where you have hours and hours of parents and teachers
and students testifying only to be overruled
without any consideration by the panel on education. Thank you. Mr. Muldani, I have to move on. That's called mayoral control. Switching now, it's a question for all three of you, switching to students with learning challenges. Parents of students with dyslexia, ADHD, and autism are very well aware of the fact that the school system in New York City is not doing enough to meet their children's educational needs.
How will you help these parents and students? We know that Mayor Adams has expanded evaluations specifically for children with dyslexia. It was an issue close to his heart, but what would you do more broadly, Mr. Mamdani?
You know, I think some of the initiatives that Mayor Adams has launched, especially with this chancellor, have been showing positive signs, especially for literacy and for preparedness, especially as we're in
a national crisis on reading and mathematical comprehension. And I think those are programs that should be furthered, should be invested in, all while also ensuring that we're giving teachers greater flexibility in the curriculum that they're actually teaching. Because what I've heard from many of those teachers
is that too often the curriculum that's being procured in the $10 billion a year in DOE contracts is one that has little relation to the classroom.
Thank you, Mr. Mamdani. Mr. Sleely, you have 30 seconds.
We have $41,000 that we're spending on each student now. By fourth grade, two thirds of these children cannot read, write, or do math at grade level. We should be ashamed of ourselves for that. 100,000 less students than we had last year. One third are truants.
We have 200 schools with 200 students or less, and Michael Mulgrew determines which schools stay open. Eric Adams is not exhibiting mayoral control. The mayor should run the Board of Education, the old Board of Education that is now the Department of Education.
The bureaucracy. You have 13 deputy chancellors, you have 50 department heads that suck up all the money and teachers are still reaching into their pockets to pay for badly needed supplies for the children in the class. The money should be going to the teachers and the children and young adults and it's
not. Mr. Cuomo, what is your specific plan to deal with the challenges of students who have learning differences? We are losing young families
when the child becomes of school age, they leave the city, they go to the suburbs, they go to New Jersey, they're not going to sacrifice their child on what they think is a secondary education system. The core competency, reading and math, below 50% is a disgrace. The gifted and talented programs gives people hope. I do believe Mayor Adams has made progress on the evaluations and services for children
who require special needs and assistance,
but obviously we have to do more.
So we have another question about improving schools. And in the last year, the schools enrolled more than 36,000 migrant students, many learning English for the first time. From class size to bilingual teachers that was a big strain in the system. Mr. Cuomo, what can you do to help
migrant students but also the staff? You have 30 seconds. Well first I think it
was wrong of the state to put so many migrants in New York City. New York City had the overwhelming majority of migrants.
But they were already here.
Close to about 80%. The state should have put them all across the state, Nassau, Suffolk, upstate, so other
governments could have also...
Well they were bused here from Texas, right? Yes, but if they're bused from Texas,
you could have brought something I saw,
20 miles, Westchester.
We're asking about the current problem.
Yes, well, that's how the problem was created.
Okay, we understand.
The state put them here. The state gave the city the bill. It has now increased the challenge in our education system, the state is going to have to help
financially.
So you didn't answer the question, Mr. Mamdan, it's your chance.
You know, when I spoke about our community to classroom program, the importance of it is not just bringing in a thousand more teachers every year. It's also that we would bring in a number of more bilingual educators, because what we've heard from a number of adults who have taught in other countries now, live in New York City, is the process by which they get their certification approved to teach here is one that is onerous and one that is actually pricing many of them out.
That's why this is a program that will directly address that, to increase that bilingual capacity in our school system so that we can teach every single child, no matter when they got here,
the public education they deserve. But Mr. Mamdani, this certification has been offered and it hasn't been successful.
So how can you make more teachers to be, you know, like they want to do this?
Part of what I've heard is that the tuition costs as part of the same certification exams are onerous for many of these adults looking to switch careers. That's why this program is built upon providing $12,000 in tuition assistance that would lead to a000 more teachers every year. And also salaries will be a good.
We have not just migrant children, we have the children of the homeless, over 120,000. We haven't yet discussed charter schools, parochial schools that are closing. Normally parochial schools would have been able to take some of these children.
We need to expand the number of charter schools that are doing an amazing job Especially in the inner cities and why not make that available to migrant children and to the homeless children who are coming from? Shelters all across the city who need the special teaching skills that have lifted children in the charter schools We need to give choice because that's our most precious resource our children
So allow me to now move on into the sanctuary.
I agree on the charter schools.
Thank you, Mr. Cuomo. So allow me now to enter into the sanctuary city situation and let's talk about also undocumented immigrants. 26 Federal Plaza has become a flagship in federal immigration crackdown. We reported that asylum seekers are showing up for like those routine appointments not facing any Criminal challenges and they end up being deported
So by the show of hands, we would like to know if you believe that you any of you could do something to stop this
Okay, so mr. Cuomo you have a minute to explain us. What would you do? The law is the law and I would have an attorney assigned to every person who is undergoing any Review by the federal government or any legal proceeding And put the full weight of the city government behind it
And make sure they are legally protected. Mr. Slewa, what's your plan? Look, going after the criminals, that's the job of Immigration and Naturalization Service ICE. But when they have to perform under a quota, because I speak to many of the men and women who serve this country, it's putting too much pressure to go outside of courthouses,
to go Home Depot, Shape Up's, or the backs of restaurants and hospitality businesses, which have hired these migrants and they are essential workers. Now, I can tell you, I have three sons. None of them are gonna do that work.
Some Americans will, but most won't. We need to protect the migrants who are workers, who are essential workers, and use ICE to go after the drug dealers, the gang bangers, the sexual predators, and those who are sex trafficking and involved in narco-terrorism.
Mr. Mamadani.
You know, I'd be proud to be the first immigrant mayor of this city in generations, and it's a 26th Federal Plaza that I've seen what used to be moments when New Yorkers would be getting their citizenship turn into moments of tragedy, where judges are asking New Yorkers who are there for a routine immigration check-in whether they're prepared to leave in the very same clothes that they arrived to that courthouse. I agree that we need more legal representation. I also think we need to actually be able to stand up to Donald Trump, because I heard from Pastor, in East Flatbush, Pastor Galbraith, who told me how he accompanied
a member of his congregation to 26 Federal Plaza. He sat there as a judge was determining her fate. They managed to convince the judge to replace the deportation order with a TPS order, but they knew that ICE would not care about that change, and they had to sprint her out of the building,
smuggling her into the elevator in order to get her back to Brooklyn.
Thank you.
Candidates, I want to talk about New York City's economy and change the pace a little bit. Everyone supports growing New York City's economy. The mayor is our chief salesman to the business world. So we want to mix it up, test your persuasive power. So we're calling it an elevator pitch. And we'll start with you, Mr. Mamdani. In this scenario, imagine you're talking to the CEO
of a big tech company, deciding to move its headquarters to New York City or to Dallas. The CEO is concerned New York just raised its corporate taxes and employees will pay more for everything.
Look into the camera and make your pitch to that CEO to come here and not there.
Do it in 30 seconds. New York City has something that Dallas or no other city across this country could actually offer. And that is the quality of life. That is the arts and the culture. That is the people that make the city so special. And I, as the mayor of this city,
will deliver that quality of life, will deliver the safety that is the cornerstone of an affordability agenda, and will ensure that companies choose to come to this city and also choose to stay in this city. Because so much of what drives the tech sector is a hunger for innovation,
a unrepenting desire to actually innovate. And those are the very things that are gonna characterize my city government in this.
But what do you say to the CEO about the corporate taxes and also the staggering costs for the workers?
We are going to make this city more affordable so that workers who want to work at those companies can actually be able to do so. And we're going to ensure that this city continues to be one where we see businesses opening and also staying open.
All right.
Thank you. Sal. Mr. Cuomo, something of a reverse scenario for you. The CEO of a similar company with 1000 good jobs tells you she's very close to moving her headquarters out of New York City. She cites everything from taxes to the crushing cost of living for her employees in New York City. How do you convince that CEO to stay? Please look into the camera and
make your elevator pitch. You have 30 seconds.
We know that other companies in New York City
That was for Mr. Cuomo.
I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
The question is to me in this camera? Yes, the question is how you would convince the CEO of a company with a thousand good jobs who's looking to move out of New York City because of the high cost of living for her employees and taxes, how you would convince her to stay in New York City?
In 15 seconds? 30. Okay. 30 seconds. Okay. I get it. I understand your frustration. I understand that the far left has been raising taxes and making businesses feel like the enemy. We get it. That's gone. The DSA, the socialist orientation, we're not socialists, it didn't work in Venezuela, didn't work in Cuba, didn't work here. We know that we have to work with business.
We wanna be your partner. We wanna have taxes that help us grow our city,
but are competitive for you.
We're at times.
And we wanna partner to grow your business and our city together.
Thank you, Mr. Sliwa, let's talk about business because let's assume the big tech company that we pitched to Mr. Mamdani earlier has decided to move to New York and it's a thousand good paying jobs and the CEO wants to be based in Astoria, Queens. But there's a loud pushback of residents who don't want the noise and the traffic. How can you convince the residents to accept the new neighbor? You're speaking to a very powerful community.
How can you convince them?
But we saw that with Amazon. Amazon wanted to come in, and AOC led the charge and local elected officials to say no to Amazon. That was a big mistake. I would say this. our companies are being recruited away by the day.
We have young people who are going to school here who could fill their needs in these high tech industries who also are being lured away. We need to cut their income taxes for five years. Tell them if you go to school here, graduate here, no income taxes for five years, it's an income tax holiday. And the most important thing, we have to be
able to assure the executives that this will be a city where we don't lock up toothpaste any longer, but lock up the criminals who make it intolerable to have a good quality
of life.
We need to move on to a subject that is-
That was the Democratic Socialists of America that stopped Amazon and cost us 25,000 jobs.
So thank you, Mr. Cuomo. We need to move on to a crisis that is very important to a lot of voters, and that is people struggling with mental health problems. Roughly 500 times a day, someone calls 911 about an emotionally disturbed person. And in a limited number of those cases, when the person is not believed to be violent,
social workers are dispatched instead of police. Mr. Mamdani, you wanna do that on a much larger scale. So we wanna know how will this work? When will you send police versus social workers? You have one minute.
You know, we have a program here in New York City called Be Heard that is attempting to do this kind of work, but we've had a mayor who has ensured that it's been
unsuccessful to the extent that even when there was an assessment of about 60 percent of calls that could have been addressed by Be Heard instead of the NYPD,
Be Heard was not actually responsive to it. And that's because we haven't had the political will to deliver on what is a crisis that affects so many New Yorkers, which is the mental health crisis. What my plan will do,
an innovative plan of the Department of Community Safety, will take what has worked elsewhere in the country, a program in Eugene, Oregon, where they took 24,000 911 mental health calls out of the police department. They were able to respond to all but 311
without police assistance. When there is a concern for safety or of violence, absolutely, you would have the police there. But what we are doing today is actually ensuring that every single call is going to the police and not allowing them to do the work
that they signed up to do. How will you determine whether there is a concern for safety or violence? What is the line between the calls in which police will be dispatched and the calls to which social workers will be dispatched? The line is also
going to be one focused on violence and the threat of violence and I also trust the operators who will be receiving those calls to make that determination
as they do every day today for so many emergency services. And just two really quick points, please. There has been a lot of discussion that you would send social workers to domestic violence calls, which police are concerned about. So you're saying no, okay.
And then the other question is, how can you be sure that a situation that does not sound violent when someone calls 911 does not become violent in the moment? Would police be assigned as backup?
I think what you do is you actually follow the experts that have shown us this can work when you're willing to ensure that you're trusting the mental health experts who have been doing this work elsewhere in the country, where they call for the police when they need the police, but their initial impulse when there is no violence
in that call is to actually address the mental health at the heart of it.
Okay, Mr. Sliwa, you have encountered plenty of these types of situations in your decades of work with the Guardian Angels, so do you see this approach working? You're not a police officer, but you've helped out in situations.
So Ron, boy, another fantasy that's not reality. Eugene, Oregon, have you ever been to Eugene? I've been to Eugene. Come on. This is New York City. We have so many emotionally disturbed persons that are in need of help. I will tell you this, Andrew, you closed the mental health beds that were taking care of them. Forty thousand when you came into office, down to four thousand because of your cuts, which forced these people to live in the streets,
in the parks, and the subways. These people need to be removed. They need mental health care. We need to make our shelters safe. I've been in one-third of the 300 shelters run by the Department of Homeless Services.
It's Darwinian there, survival of the fittest. If we can make our shelter system safe, we can get men and women who are homeless in there, especially veterans who we're not giving any attention to, who we put out at Ward's Island at 10 o'clock at night, released during the day, don't give any training, have them roam about, and obviously when you have nothing to do, you end up getting into trouble. This is a disastrous, homeless, and emotionally disturbed plan that we have in New York City and I'm the mayor that
can change it because I deal with them every day in the streets, in the parks, in the subways.
Okay, Mr. Cuomo, do you think that the NYPD handles these calls for emotionally disturbed people in distress well? Is there room for something in the middle?
Yeah, I think the assemblyman deals in theory. There's an advantage when you actually have experience. I've run homeless programs. I ran the homeless programs for the federal government. I worked with cities all across the nation. When you get a call on a telephone about
a mentally ill person who may be violent, it is a very dangerous situation. And I think you should have a mental health worker accompanied with a police officer, because these can be explosive situations. I have been in situations that seemed apparently calm and fine and then erupted into violence very quickly and it got very dangerous very quickly.
So I would have a social worker with a police officer, and get the people off the streets, that's the humane thing, and get them the care they need, not institutionalize 40,000 people again, we have supportive housing now, which is what we use, and forensic beds for people who need them.
Let me get this straight. A police officer is there first. He has to wait for the arrival of a mental health care worker?
No, I would send them as a team.
As a team. That's not realistic. You're dealing with fantasy also. The police officers are going to be the first one on the scene, and they're always going
to have to deal with it first and foremost. Mr. Cuomo says that he has experience running homeless programs. What he has experience doing is cutting funding for the very programs that prevented homelessness here in New York City. As the governor, he cut funding for the Advantage program, which was putting New Yorkers who had otherwise been in shelters, otherwise been homeless, into apartments. I met one of those New Yorkers and she told me how that pushed her out of New York.
Thank you, Mr. Mondati. Brief response, Mr. Cuomo. He's talking about a program 14 years ago that was a pilot program that had a work requirement. It was very controversial.
It was $65 million.
You're talking about Advantage, just so we know what you're talking about?
It was 14 years ago, $65 million. I added billions to the homeless budget. Funded the homeless budget larger than any governor in history.
Okay.
He cut that program. He cut that program. Homelessness skyrocketed after that.
Mr. Momdani, we have aired this issue.
It was 14 years ago.
All right.
It was during the Bloomberg administration. And yes. Okay. Okay.
I want to ask you about climate change. As New York City confronts the impact of climate change, one issue already on the desk of the next mayor is Local Law 97. It was passed in 2019. The law requires large buildings
to gradually reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. That may require very expensive upgrades to buildings, which some landlords and co-op owners say they just simply can't afford. We're wondering how each of you would enforce the law. You have 30 seconds. Mr. Cuomo. Local Law 97 I support. Implementing the law is going to be the key because it has to be done in
a way that isn't so disruptive to businesses and residences that they just give up and pay the fine and don't even try to comply. Which is what is going to happen now. It will be cheaper for them to pay the fine than comply. And that obviously will accomplish nothing. So, yes, I support the law.
Yes, we have to implement it. But we have to implement it in a way that is feasible.
Thank you, Mr. Cuomo. Mr. Sliwa. Local 97 will destroy those people who have invested in co-ops and condos. There's 100,000. It's forcing them to electrify. Now you, Andrew Cuomo, took Indian Point offline, 25% of our electrical capacity with no replacement,
which has caused skyrocketing electricity bills, and now we're gonna force condo and co-op owners to electrify. Maintenance fees will go up 30 percent. These people will be leaving their condos and co-ops. They need relief. When I'm mayor, I slow that process down.
We need our co-op owners and condo owners to stay here in New York City.
Thank you. Thank you. Briefly. Point. Yeah, Indian Point was started before me. It was a very dangerous situation. We have nuclear facilities upstate. And my proposal and what I did is run cables
from the nuclear facilities upstate to bring the power to downstate. Indian Point had 20 million people in the kill zone. Thank you, Mr.. Thank You Mr. Cuomo. Mr. Mamdani, local law 97 how would you enforce the law as mayor? I
support the law and I would also make it easier for condo and co-op owners to comply with the law because what I've heard from so many is that it's cheaper to pay the fine and to actually get into compliance and I think the city has a role here in procurement at a large scale of so much of what is necessary in these infrastructure investments. We've seen it be done in the clean energy challenge
within NYCHA. It's time to do it right here in New York City to assist those condo and co-op owners in meeting the standards we desperately need to hit.
Okay, gentlemen, New York City loves its parades and the mayor is often front and center. You have all said that you want to be mayor for all New Yorkers. So will you march in all the parades that mayors have traditionally marched in, or are there any that you would boycott? Mr. Sliwa?
I think a mayor has a responsibility, whenever possible, to march in parades to celebrate whatever that parade is performing at. I've been a grand marshal of the Pulaski Day Parade. I was proud to celebrate whatever that parade is performing at. I've been at Grand Marshall or the Pulaski Day Parade. I was proud to celebrate my Polish heritage.
Are there any that you would boycott, though? I just need to move this along. Excuse me? Would you boycott any of the city's parades?
No, I would not boycott any parades. Mr. Cuomo, would you boycott?
It's the mayor's responsibility to be available No, I wouldn't unless they discriminate it. Okay. Mr. Mamdani. There are many parades that I would not be attending because I'd be focusing on the work of leading this city.
Which parades?
A number of them. I've already missed a number of those parades because I've been trying to speak to as many audiences as possible.
Okay.
I don't have the list of all the parades I've missed.
Wow, that's a lot. The mayor should be going to all parades. Let me ask you this. Are there any parades that don't exist that you think should Mr. Mamdani? I haven't thought much about parades to be honest with you. Mr. Cuomo.
I have not thought I don't even know what parade doesn't exist. Could be for anything.
Mr. Sliwa. Every parade has the right to exist in New York City. I would ask you. Thank you. Mr. Mamdani, would you protect the Christopher Columbus statues that exist here in the city?
I'm telling you, my focus is on affordability. I'm not thinking about statues.
Well, you're not answering the question. You're not answering the question.
He gave the finger to the Columbus Day statue. That's what we call a desgraziado. Listen, we're in the last couple of minutes and we thought we'd have some questions. We thought we'd have some questions that maybe give a glimpse into your life, your personality away from the political podium. What's your go-to breakfast order at the bodega? Mr. Sliwa?
Oh, eggs and cheese on a roll. No salt, please.
Mr. Cuomo?
Same thing. No salt also.
Mr. Mamdani. Egg and cheese on a roll with jalapenos. Have you ever purchased anything in a cannabis shop and if so what did you buy Mr. Mamdani? I have. I have purchased marijuana at a legal cannabis shop. Okay Mr. Pomo. No. Mr. Sliwa. When I was shot five
times I've had Crohn's disease. I did use medical marijuana.
Yes. Okay. In a dream scenario, we know it's not possible, but the Mets are playing Game 7 of the World Series on the same night as the Knicks are playing Game 7 of the NBA Championship, and you can only go to one. Which one will it be, Mr. Sliwa?
Again, which baseball team? This is the Mets, game seven, Knicks game seven. I'm not going to the Mets game. I'm a Yankee fan. True baseball fans, either like one or the other, I'm going to the Knicks game. That's my team, the Knicks. Mr. Cuovo?
I'm going to go half and half. I can make it back and forth.
All right. And Mr. Mamdani? New Yorkers are sick of. Just pick a team. What's your answer? I'd be there for the Knicks. Okay. Well, there's a lot of ground covered. We'll leave it on that light note. Thank you, candidates, for a spirited debate. We thank you as well. We hope you got a lot out of it. New York City viewers, New York City voters,
the New York City Campaign Finance Board, the New York City Campaign Finance Board, we thank heartily, and certainly thank you for watching. And remember, go vote on Tuesday, November 4th.
Get ultra fast and accurate AI transcription with Cockatoo
Get started free β
