 You are actually rocking and rolling it, they thought it would be great for you to intro me. Okay, I'll go ahead and say it. No, do my part. We can talk later. So excited, this is a real exciting moment for us. What is fascinating about our administration is that I kept a list throughout my entire campaign and my time in government. And I sort of built a wish list of people I wanted to hold positions in government. Because the life that we are living, I wanted people who lived that life. And nothing personifies that more than the role of deputy commissioner or commissioner of our cultural affairs. I wanted someone that understood the fullness of what we need to do with our cultural institutions. Now, I know people find it hard to believe, but cultural institutions are more than the museum mile in Manhattan. In all of these outer boroughs, we have amazing cultural opportunities. And you don't have to only want to snug up to be on snug harbor. But this is an unbelievable space. I came out here some time ago to attend a wedding. And when I walked in, I saw the ceremony. I said, wow, maybe I'll get married. This will be a special place. But this is a beautiful place. And it is a jewel that has been hidden for a long time. And by doing the professionalizing, the constructions, having all of our teams come together and utilize these important spaces where we're doing music, culture, and art together. The heart and soul of the city is in our cultural institutions. Staten Island cultural groups asked for our support. And what was interesting, we heard them. We heard them. We were in the Bronx yesterday. We're now here on Staten Island to say that we're listening loud and clear. And we are given and allocating three million denarrals, moolah, money, dollars. No matter what language you said, it is in good sound. And the goal is to be part of the interior restoration, lighting, and structural reinforcement for this beautiful place. And this is part of the larger capital amount that I'm going to have our amazing, amazing deputy. I keep saying deputy. I feel like you're giving me a promotion. Our amazing cultural affairs commissioner. She had her museum. She knew what it was to struggle in the out of boroughs and get those capital dollars in. She came with a real, a real ball of energy on how do we improve our cultural institutions. And I'm just really proud to have her as part of our team leading this initiative. And I want to bring up our commissioner, Lori Combo. Commissioner. I am so excited to be here. This is such an honor and a privilege. And it's especially exciting to me because I am day three in being a new Staten Island resident. I brought you out here talking about snug and getting snuggly. A very handsome gentleman invited me to Staten Island about eight years ago. And I enjoyed the experience so much that I decided we would get married and have a baby and buy a house and become a Staten Island resident. So snug harbor does amazing things. Even got our mayor talking about wedding bells. So that really makes this space so special. And I want to give a special shout out to all of the summer youth employment students that are here today. Yay! You are what makes this space so very special. And I just wanted to come out and celebrate. I'm doing as a new commissioner a five borough tour going to each of our boroughs to celebrate the incredible commitment of funding that our mayor Eric Adams has made a priority of this administration. Many of you know as a result of the pandemic and so many of the challenges that we have had over the past few years. Any other administration would say times are tough. And when times are tough, typically you always know what goes on the chopping board first. The arts and culture are always the first to go. People see it as some type of superfluous activity that doesn't really matter to the fiber of the city. And Mayor Eric Adams has said we are not cutting the city's budget as it pertains to art and culture. We are not maintaining the city's budget of art and culture. We are increasing the city's budget for art and culture. With a $45 million increase to expense funding all across the city of New York. That is the largest investment ever in New York City's expense budget. And I'm so proud it also followed the capital budget where we have at this time $127 million in capital infrastructure in the city of New York. Largest infrastructure investment by any New York City mayor. And when Mayor Eric Adams appointed me to this position I said you are certainly going to go down in history as the greatest cultural mayor of all time. And so that's why we are here today. Staten Island we are from another major important borough in Brooklyn. That's where we grew up and raised. But we understand the struggle that many of the outer boroughs have had in terms of attention, investment and resources. And that's essentially why we're here today. To let the outer boroughs know that we are really the new hip hop and hat man thing. And we are part of the inner circle if you will. And we are going to make sure that we continue to invest in our outer boroughs. Because hey, we all pay taxes and each and every one of our communities deserve equal investment in our perspective communities. So at this time I want to make sure that you recognize and know our next speaker Snug Harbor President and CEO Jessica Vador. Come on up. Thank you so much Commissioner Combo and Mayor Adams and Borough President Vacella for being here today. And for your incredible investment and partnership here in Staten Island's cultural community. My name is Jessica Baker-Vador. I'm the Snug Harbor Cultural Center President and CEO. And I'm so delighted to welcome you all here to the steps of our historic music hall in celebration of New York City's historic investment in Staten Island arts and culture. I'd also just like to say a quick thanks to some of our local officials who are here with us today as well. Our friends from Council Member Camilla Hanks office and Representative Nicole Malyotakis' office. Thanks for being here with us today. I just have to say we are so grateful and enormously privileged to be the recipient of this amazing capital award this year. Thank you for fighting to ensure five borough access to culture through your investment in Staten Island. Thank you for recognizing that the significant role that these Staten Island cultural organizations play in our local community and in New York City at large. We're also so happy to be joined today by some of the 90 summer youth employment program participants that are working side by side with our team here at Snug Harbor this summer. Thanks to you all for your investment this summer and your hard work in making Staten Island a vibrant and beautiful place. And Mr. Mayor, thank you for your commitment to our community's future, these wonderful young people. I'm also here today with a number of my fellow cultural leaders from the Staten Island Museum, the Staten Island Children's Museum, the Staten Island Zoo, Historic Richmond Town, the Noble Maritime Collection, and the St. George Theatre. These fantastic cultural organizations welcome hundreds of thousands of visitors each year and we provide employment to more than a thousand New Yorkers of all ages and backgrounds. Our cultural organizations merge our city's history with the wonder and possibility of the future through world-class exhibitions and the possibility of the future. We are stewarding spaces of community connection, reflection, and healing. Our museums, our theaters, our historic sites, our gardens, and our zoos lift up our community with education and workforce development initiatives that build bridges of opportunity to the future for New York City's next generation of future cultural leaders and advocates. Snug Harbor is deeply honored this year to receive a city capital appropriation of $3.4 million for our music halls auditorium restoration. These funds will support new seating, assisted listening, and accessibility improvements for music hall attendees, and will make upgrades to the audience's air conditioning and filtration systems in the music hall's main auditorium. We're also deeply appreciative of the vision to invest in our stormwater resiliency, drainage, and campus infrastructure. Thank you, Mayor Adams. On behalf of all of us here at Snug Harbor, thank you to the entire New York City administration for your investment in the future of Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden. In celebration of this historic day and this historic support, we also just wanted to celebrate a historic collaboration that we're launching right here at Snug Harbor. Our entire campus community has come together to collaborate and announce a new discovery pass at Snug Harbor that will be launching at the end of this month. For the first time ever, an adult visitor will now be able to purchase a single visitor ticket, which will allow them access to the Staten Island Museum, the Noble Maritime Collection, the Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art, the New York Chinese Scholars Garden, as well as our 14 beautiful Botanical Gardens. The diversity and breadth of Staten Island's cultural offerings should be experienced by everyone, so I invite every New Yorker to come and visit Staten Island's cultural assets. There is something here for everyone, and you will be amazed what you find when you visit. I wish you all a very vibrant summer and filled with everything that all of these cultural partners provide. Thank you for joining us all here today. So much excitement is happening, and I'm so excited at this time to recognize the importance of partnership. All that you're seeing and all that's happening could not happen if all branches of government don't come together. It's imperative that we create these relationships between the city council, our borough president, our mayor, our governor, and our state and senate representatives. When we work together, our entire boroughs win. So it's important that we continue those strategic relationships to make sure that the next generation who's represented here have all of the things that they are truly deserving of. At this time, I'd like to bring up Staten Island's borough president who needs no introduction. Ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together for our borough president, Borough President Bossella! Thank you very much, commissioner. I know that the mayor said you're amazing three times, so you must be really amazing. And I notice how you said our borough president. There's a trend, I sense, Mr. Mayor, in your administration, how people keep flocking to Staten Island. And we love it. If you're interested in moving, I'm sure we can identify a couple of brokers to help you out. But it is such a wonderful day. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, for once again delivering for the people of Staten Island, specifically here at a landmark place in Snow Harbor, but really emblematic of the cultural organizations across Staten Island, across the city. And yes, there is always this feeling that when folks come to New York City for the arts, they tend to go to certain places. But we're here to remind everybody, not just across New York City State, but throughout the world, that when you come to New York City, go to the outer boroughs and you'll be amazed at what you see, the people you will meet. And that's what's special here about Staten Island. And yes, the commissioner talked about partnerships and to the young people on the back we love. I think I speak for Senator Savino, who's here in the mayor. We love when you come out and we love when you participate because, frankly, public service really is about exercising good judgment and deciding what's important and what's not. And you see here in the mayor deciding that this is important, not so much for us, but for you. And as you get through school and go on to college, wherever the world takes you, always remember it's important to give back and do the right thing for the next generation. I like to think that's what we're doing here today. People dedicate their lives to making our city better. People dedicate their lives to making Staten Island a great place to be, to get an education, to live and to thrive. So we're very happy to be here today to support our arts, support what's behind us. In short, it's music to our ears, Mr. Mayor. And I can't thank you enough for you. The mayor's been in office a little over six months and he said Staten Island will no longer be the forgotten borough. Thank you for fulfilling on that promise. That was like a drop the mic statement, right? He just put it all together because that really sums it up. But I would say since I've become the commissioner over the last four months, there has been no state senator who has called me more than our state senator Diane Savino because she wants to make sure that Snug Harbor receives adequate support, receives state funding, make sure that the funding that she has allocated is realized. She is a strong champion and a strong fighter for Snug Harbor. And I want to bring to the podium your New York state senator Diane Savino. Thank you, Commissioner Combo. And apparently for the last three days, I'm now your state senator. That's right. Only for a few more months though. But first, I want to thank my personal friend. And he is my personal friend, Mayor Adams, for being here today and his commitment to Snug Harbor. You know, I joke that this is the end of my tenure as a member of the state senate. At the end of this year, I will no longer be a senator. And I like to reflect on where we were in Snug Harbor when I first got elected. Many of these buildings were in disrepair. Think about what Snug Harbor looked like back in 2004 when I first got elected. None of us could have imagined the vision of Elizabeth Egbert, who is no longer with us. And her vision for what the Staten Island Museum could be and now is. I know Janice is here somewhere. I see Jenny Kelly in front of me. I see Dina back there from the Children's Museum. The promise of Snug Harbor has always been here. It is the crown jewel of the North Shore of Staten Island. But like so many of the out-of-burrows, you know, and I'm an out-of-burrow kid, I was born and raised in Queens and I moved here to Staten Island too, looking maybe not for a husband but for a house. I at least got that far. But I think, you know, the mayor and I understand what it's like to grow up in the out-of-burrows, where people look down on us. You know, he came from Queens originally too, and then he wound up in Brooklyn. And now, you know, as the mayor of the city of New York, and I guess anything is possible. But the cultural world always focused on Manhattan. It's always focused on the big museums, and that's fine. I mean, what would the world be without the Met, or MoMA, or all of those wonderful places that we learn from. But there are some amazing places in the out-of-burrows, and there is no place like Snug Harbor. Not just because of the museums, but because of its beautiful grounds. The botanical gardens, we have a farm by the way. You can't leave here without seeing the farm. Every one of us that has been privileged to represent the people of Staten Island, whether it's the North Shore, the South Shore, the Mid Island, whether you're a borough president or a member of Congress, we are all committed to this little patch of land because we understand its history first and its potential. And so whether we were bringing state money, city money, combining it, working together, we have always been committed to making sure that this place reaches its potential. And so this is another step along the way of reaching the potential of Snug Harbor. So I am so happy to be here today with my friend and other friends, and my new constituent for a few more months. You know, a lot of things happen here at Snug Harbor. Weddings happen all the time. My chief of staff got married in the Chinese scholar garden. There's a wedding hall around the corner. This is a beautiful place to come, enjoy a day, and sometimes to get married. So we hope that's what you'll do, Laurie. But it's a great day for Snug Harbor for its past, its present, and its future. Thank you. We are preparing now to go on our walking tour to see all of the great organizations that we've been able to support. I too want to just recognize Snug Harbor, the Staten Island Museum, the Staten Island Children's Museum. Dina, you're going to get really tired of us. We are going to be so there. And I also want to recognize the Noble Maritime Museum, and I also want to recognize the St. George Theater, which I've seen some incredible productions. We just saw the Blues Brothers, which was awesome. We had a great time. And before that, their Christmas show and so many others. So always have a good time at the St. George Theater. It's a very special place. I just want to give a special shout out to my team. Are they all here? The Department of Cultural Affairs team, raise your hand. Yay! Ryan, Kathy, Lance. I see Terry. I see Michael. I see a lot of folks. And I also want to shout out to Andy, who does incredible work. And we have our DDC Commissioner here, Commissioner Foley, who's doing incredible work and brought his whole hard hat team. DCLA, we've got to get like an outfit that we just travel in like this. Different colors, maybe pink and blue or something like that. I don't know. But we are going to begin this tour. And thank you so much. I want to again thank our Mayor, Eric Adams, for truly representing what he spoke about on this campaign. This is a realization of promises made and promises kept. Thank you so much. And let's go on this walking tour.