 It's lovely everybody ready ready Frank all right thank you everybody for being here I'd like to acknowledge everybody who is up here with me of course the mayor who will speak shortly our chief of training Frank lead deputy mayor banks who oversees the fire department the speaker of the city council our Congress member promoted you sorry our council member and a chair of the fire committee Joanne Ariola our CDIO Kwame Cooper and the president of the UFO agent McCarthy thank you everybody for being here this is a very special day for me this is an issue that I have worked on not just at the fire department my entire career has been about creating positive change for the city of New York and certainly positive change for an already great place the New York City fire department so it is you know my incredible honor to be standing here today with my partners in change and folks who I know feel as passionately as I do about the strength of diversity of the city and all of the wonderful things that diversity can do for our department for our team I have said this over and over since I was appointed a few weeks ago change and tradition can live side by side and I know that because I have lived it my entire life has been about honoring the greatest traditions of my family even as we've incorporated change and wonderful new traditions into our lives and it has always made us better I really think that is the story of the city it's a story of the fire department I know that this is an organization that we talk about with tradition and it certainly have those has those great traditions we will always be brave and honorable but change has also been a fundamental part of our story and of the city's story without change we would not be here it is how we have risen from our darkest days we've adjusted to the future and right now we look forward into a really great future a new horizon for our city and our department I'm so proud to be here celebrating that with my partners in government and especially proud to be doing that alongside someone who has again lived those values the 110th mayor of the city of New York who has worn a uniform who has spoken up for what is right even when it is hard and is now leading us and guiding this agency so I'm so proud to be here so proud to be standing alongside him as he signs these bills the 110th mayor of the city of New York Eric Adams thank you and that was a that was really a powerful commentary because it does sort of lay out our pursuit and I think sometimes when we are moving in that direction people tend to believe we want to tarnish tradition and it's not and that is you know as the commissioner stated that was my life I appreciated every day of wearing the uniform of a member of the New York City Police Department watching my kid brother follow me and several of my first cousins followed me and it was a rich tradition but they needed some change and I advocated for that change and that's what we here today is something that my high school classmate the speaker of the city council Adrian Adams the two of us knew that if we were going to take these positions we're going to take the positions with the understanding of how do we allow change in tradition to live side by side and that comes with diversity today we acknowledge two police officers who jumped on the tracks to save the life of a New Yorker one of them was from Bangladesh the other one was from Haiti our city is changing our city is evolving I think is evolving for the better and when we allow the change to embrace your tradition make ourselves a better place no matter who we are that are in these various places of profession at one time we were locked out at one time we were denied access and through the change of time we were allowed to open the doors to all groups and we produced a better product because of that and I was reflected I believe on November 5th of New York City Bravis dangled from a rope 20 stories above ground as they rescue their fellow New York is from a burning building we acknowledged them last week and it's something we were going to we're going to continue to do to point out what our first responders and members of the finest the bravest the boldest and our health care professionals are doing every day those firefighters and I worry about the agenda ethnicity or background of their colleagues or the people they were rescuing they put their lives on the line for the fellow New Yorkers and they trusted each other to get the job done even as I sat here today and watch the different troops walk by holding the flag in front of them you see that rich tradition and that carotery being built up it starts here at the academy today I'll be signing into law five bills that continue to promote diversity within the FDNY diversity that reflects both the demographics in the spirit of our city and all of these bills have a significant reason and purpose and your 516 a sponsored by speaker Adrian Adams requires the FDNY to recruit and retain firefighters fighters from underrepresented groups into post an annual report on its efforts intro 519 a sponsored by council member Joanne Ariola requires a survey of fire houses so that we can upgrade facilities to create a working environment that is suitable for a mixed gender workforce intro 552 dash a sponsored by council member Kevin Riley requires the FDNY to produce a report on the demographics of employees stationed at each firehouse broken down by gender race or ethnicity as well as the demographics of the residents who live within the immediate service area of each fire company intro 553 dash a also sponsored by council member Riley requires the department to offer trainings on diversity inclusion anti-discrimination and anti-harassment an intro 560 dash a sponsored by council member Natasha Williams requires the FDNY to submit an annual report on equal employment opportunity complaints and the actions including disciplinary actions taken in response to those complaints and I want to thank again speaker Adams and council member Ariola Riley and Williams for sponsoring these bills and helping us to build an inclusive a stronger bolder braver look of fire department and we're excited about each step we take towards diversity it makes us better as a city and it makes us better to do our job as first responders thank you another friend of the FDNY and an advocate and certainly a first in her own right as well as the mother of one of our future leaders of paramedic and FDNY so she is truly family to us the speaker of the New York City Council Adrienne Adams thank you so much commissioner it is such an honor to stand here and call you our commissioner it is such an important day good morning everyone it's an important day for the future of New York City the fire department and I also of course want to thank mayor Adams for hosting us here on Randall's Island for this important bill signing ceremony thank you so much mr. mayor I also want to thank my colleagues in the city council for their leadership to advance this legislation that's being signed today especially council members Kevin Riley and Natasha Williams the black Latino and Asian caucus and council member Joanne Ariola chair of our council's committee on fire and emergency management we could not have done it without your work and your support I also of course want to again acknowledge our fire commissioner Laura Kavanaugh who is the first woman commissioner I need to tell you that of our city's fire department as the largest fire department in the entire country responding to over one million emergencies every year members of the FDNY exemplify bravery courage and sacrifice they truly are without question New York's bravest and as the mother of an FDNY paramedic I know how hard our first responders work how much they care and sacrifice for our city and how much they mean to all New Yorkers yet for many decades the FDNY has struggled to provide opportunities for all New Yorkers to serve our city it's not been representative of our city's rich diversity and we must acknowledge these shortcomings if we want to make progress simply put the diverse makeup of our city's neighborhoods has not been reflected in the fire department and that's an outcome we can't accept the fire department like many fire departments around the country are disproportionate disproportionately made up of white men only 8% of our firefighters are black 13% are Latino and just 2% are Asian less than 1% of our city's firefighters are women taken together the racial and gender disparities are not just staggering they're bad for the department the communities they serve and public safety we undoubtedly celebrate the historic appointment of commissioner Laura Kavanaugh as the FDNY's first woman leader but the reality is that more work is necessary to address the diversity of the department for decades advocates and organizations like the Vulcan Society have fought to advance changes that the legislation passed by the council aims to achieve many of our black Latino and women firefighters themselves have sounded the alarm about the need for their equal representation and treatment in the department in order to succeed in making the department more diverse their calls were not always heard supporter considered but indeed that's changing this council has been focused on advancing solutions to correct historic injustices including the lack of diversity and exclusionary practices that have prevented applicants of color and women from becoming firefighters and succeeding once they are firefighters my bill introduction 516 a requires the FDNY to develop and implement a concrete plan to recruit and retain firefighters from diverse racial and gender backgrounds and report on those efforts the various parts of this legislative package should not be overlooked and together provide a comprehensive approach it's not enough to just diversify the ranks of the FDNY through recruitment as a city we must ensure that our cities firefighters like all municipal workers are protected from harassment discrimination and other forms of bias firefighters of color and women in the department must be treated equally and have the same opportunities for advancement in their careers this is how we create a fairer more just and more equitable city today alongside my colleagues in the council I'm so proud to be here to witness the signing of the legislation we've championed with advocates of this decade's long struggle our work is not done but we're another step closer to achieving the equity that we deserve and is needed to make us safer so thank you again to all those who have been a part of this struggle for justice and equity including many who were not previously able to benefit from these changes we dedicate this work and its accomplishments to your efforts thank you very much thank you another friend and advocate for the New York City fire department and also someone who I believe counts many of our members as her constituents in the Rockways council member Joanne Ariola thank you commissioner mr. mayor and madam speaker it really is an honor to stand here as the prime sponsor of intro 519 a many of my constituents as the commissioner said our firefighters many of those firefighters are women and they visited my office and said that they just don't have the privacy in the facilities that that they need in order for locker rooms and for for rest areas and we immediately spoke with the speaker's office and and with the mayor's office and with our commissioner and that's why I was so proud that that we are now at a point where we're going to survey firehouses and where they can the female firefighters will be afforded the rest area that they need the locker rooms that they need and the privacy that they need as chairman of the fire and emergency management committee I was honored to be able to shepherd these bills through to you and to a unanimous vote to bring them to the floor of the city council so that they could be presented today to be signed in the into law by our mayor I thank you for the privilege and the honor to do so and I commend my colleagues in government the speaker council members Riley and Natasha Williams and and and everyone else who worked so hard to bring these bills forward thank you all right thank you so much you know fdny has always set the bar for the fire service and we will in this area as we have in all others so thank you so much and time to sign some bills