 at the twilight's last gleaming, whose broad stripes and bright stars. For getting started now, everyone's coming down. Good morning, everyone. Morning. Wow. My name is Lorraine Grillo, and I am first deputy mayor. And I am so thrilled to be here and to see this opening, because I had the privilege of being here when we broke ground. So to see it come to this beautiful end is just a thrill. As the mayor says, promises made, promises kept. And that's exactly what this project delivers on multiple levels, from hundreds of new affordable apartments to weather resilient infrastructure to a new plaza for the community. Downtown Far Rockaway will have a new quality of life that can't be measured. So thank you to all the community stakeholders, elected officials, and city agencies who work together on this project. You all got this project done and way ahead of schedule. So for more on that, I'll pass this over to our mayor, Eric Adams. I think that one of the best ways to do this is to feel the excitement and energy that's coming from. I'm one of the tenants, and so Jasmine, I'm going to call you up and allow you to say a few words as I give you the symbolic key that you can hang on your wall of making it happen. And before we do that, I don't know who on the staff made the decision to put us in the shade, but thank you. So come on up, Jasmine. Congratulations to you. Thank you, First Deputy Mayor Grillo. My name is Jasmine, and I'm a proud resident of Far Rockaway. As a young adult, I was previously living at home with my parents. I was working two jobs, and it was a challenge to find safe and affordable housing in our neighborhood. For so many people like me, finding an apartment at a young age is really a challenge. And when I heard about Beach 21st Street, I took a shot and I applied. When I received a call from the community builders saying they had an apartment that I could not only afford, I was really excited. It was really incredible. It was really incredible because my parents were so happy. We went to the Bronx to sign up paperwork. My mom was getting so emotional. She's really dramatic. So affordable housing is very important, and it creates opportunity. For me, it's financial independence because now that I live here, I don't really have to work two jobs anymore just to have some place to live and to go enjoy my life. So I really respect everything that everybody does for the community. I'm excited to have the freedom to pay my rent, play my career and live my life here at Beach 21st Street and in the neighborhood that I grew up in. So to everyone at the community builders, all of the city agencies, and especially to Mayor Adams, I thank you for my new home. Powerful story, and two parts of that story. I hope many of you didn't miss. Number one, the excitement of her mom because I cannot tell you how excited I was when my son finally moved out and I had freedom. I celebrated, I said, I'll pay your first two months rent. Just, you know, it's time for you to bounce. So, but also Jasmine stated she was working two jobs. Now she's able to do one. What does that do? That allows you to make the determination if you wanna go to school that night. If you want to do something else with your time and not have to work all day and can't afford to live in your community. But it also points out, as she stated, that she's standing in the community that she grew up in. We watched throughout the years that longtime residents watched themselves displace and removed from their communities because it became too unaffordable. And so the partnership and teams that are here, particularly the elected, borough president, Donovan Riches, for having the vision and the continuation of the vision because we fail when we come into office and believe we have to hit the restart button instead of continuing what was already in place. And that is what Savina Brooks Powers is doing. She's continuing to focus on what Donovan put in place. Now we have a new council person with her vision adding to a pre-existing vision so we can continue these projects moving forward. And then when you add it with just this young dynamic, assembly member, assembly member Anderson and what he's bringing to this conversation up on top on a roof, a roof garden, he was just known for healthy eating and how we could allow tenants to grow their own food and participate in a healthy garden. So that's just a complete package here. The solar panel of something that Senator Sanders has talked about over and over again. So you're seeing the complete package of people coming together today. So we hand the Jasmine a symbolic key to a future, not only a key to apartment, but key to a future. You know, house is more than just four walls. It's the precursor to sleep that allows you to experience the American dream. And when I heard that for the buildings here, 50,000 people put in for the lottery. That is how high the demand is and why this is so important. This is a great day for Rockaway. This is a great day for the future of our city as we continue to lift people up and give them housing. Government must work. That is what we're saying today. And this is a city of yes. We look for ways to say yes. 224 units of housing, 100% affordable. 100% affordable. And of my understanding, 50% is coming from Rockaway residents. That is just, that's a powerful combination. 23 of the homes are reserved for those who are formerly homeless. So we are continually looking out for our brothers and sisters who are on hard times. And yes, sometimes it's moved slow, but nothing is better than having transportation. There's a subway system right here that you could take the train into Manhattan, come home, go back and forth, and trust me, Savina's gonna push hard to get her ferry, so that she could have a ferry out here. That's the conversation we're looking forward to have. And on-site laundry. I do my own laundry, on-site laundry that's here. And if you were on the rooftop, the streetscape, the improvement, sitting down, all of those amenities that you normally see in other communities, of you're seeing it right here in Rockaway with this beautiful pool of rooftop and what it has to offer. So next year, we're also going to have a new public library in this community. So important to do new curbs, new sidewalk, better drainage, including two miles of new storm sewers and rain gardens, so important. Councilwoman Brooke Power, she talks about it all the time. We know what the hurricanes do to this community and how it impacts us. Audrey, you know, fights hard to say how do we make sure we deal with the resiliency aspect in this community. And you know, people talked about, hey, you guys cut down 13 trees to get this project done. Yeah, well, you know what? We also planted 84 more. Come on. You know, stop focusing on the negative and look at the positive. We went from 13 trees to 84. So that's a win and we should be proud of. And we know the impact of trees and how trees keep our community to deal with climate and resiliency and that's why we did this. And so this is a perfect example of how do we move into place of a city that a city is saying yes and how do we turn our plans into realities. The project was originally scheduled for completion in seven years. It was done in three. And the neighborhood was transformed but not only did we do it faster into the builders, normally when I see DDC and our entire team job well done, but not only did we do it in a shorter period of time, but this project was supposed to cost $292 million. It was able to shave off $25 million, bringing down the total cost to $267 million, saving money, faster productivity and getting the job done. So we believe this is a symbol of what we can do when we come together. Deal with resiliency, deal with homelessness, deal with housing, dealing with having our young people have a great start in their future. Beautiful apartments, beautiful environment and start to rebuild communities in a real way. And I am excited about this project and I'm excited about this team. And that's the one thing about this group of electors out here in Rockaway. They work together because they know that for far too long as I find in other places like Staten Island and the Bronx here in Rockaway, you have been forgotten for so many years. People have basically, they have written you off and that is why I'm spending so much time in these boroughs. We were in Staten Island yesterday, we were out in the Bronx several times last week and out here in Rockaway. We noticed you, you are part of the city. New York City is not Manhattan. New York City is not Manhattan. New York City has four other boroughs and all those boroughs are going to see a mayor that came from Queens and understand how we can't continue to be denied. So congratulations to the entire team, job well done. Thank you Deputy Mayor. Thank you. Thanks so much Mayor Adams. I'm also from Queens, okay? All right, right now I'd like to introduce someone who's been a partner with us and with the agencies that we deal with at every single step, our own Queensborough President, Donovan Richards. We did it for Rockaway. We made it, very emotional day. Today is such a historic day. So great to see the mayor because it signifies that as the mayor said that the days of Manhattan are a thing of the past, that Queens is where it's at, Queens is the future. So being here speaks to the, no offense Mark Levine if you're watching. But being here speaks to the importance of this historic moment. Seven years ago, I was a council member of this district sitting around a table with some of you at the first meeting of our downtown Far Rockaway Working Group and I have to acknowledge and please stand to Far Rockaway Working Group members. Betty, Jonathan, Danine, so many community partners who made today. Y'all could sit, but I wanted to thank you because it really was a team effort along with my colleagues in government. Sylvina wasn't even elected, but she was at the table. Neither assembly member Anderson. James Sanders was in the room shaping this project as well, assembly member Pfeffer. In that group, we all had dreams of a day like today. A day where we can say with confidence that Far Rockaway families were finally being heard loud and clear. A day where we can say the era of the East end of the Rockways being deliberately disinvested in are over. And today my friends, today is that day. The housing and infrastructure projects we're unveiling today were just two of the first plans the downtown Far Rockaway Group developed and out of these two there are 48 other strategies and budgetary allotments and new parks and things that are coming into fruition as we speak. And despite all of the political strife, Mr. Mayor, as we do rezoning and negotiating, we upheld our commitment to this community because leadership isn't about a popularity contest. It's about as what our mayor says, GSD, getting stuff done. And we preserved and delivered for the families who are blessed to call Far Rockaway their home. And as someone who not only represented this community, but called it home, I could not be prouder to stand here today. James Sanders will tell you about that mall across the street, how the pigeons overran it. Even when you went into the supermarket, the pigeons were flying around in there. But boy, a change has come. We're talking nearly 260 million in upgrades being announced today, including $120 million for 224 units of 100% affordable housing. Often we get this question of whom are we building for? Affordable to whom? Jasmine is who we're building for. New library coming, $40 million. Two new parks, one more than two new parks. Proud to say that the mayor will be the first mayor to really invest in healthcare in a big way here as we now bring a new health and hospitals corporation facility right across the street from this facility because of this mayor. And Sylvina Brooks Powers, of course, who every day talks about healthcare. We're talking about tens of thousands of square feet of new community space, retail space, and even a daycare. We're talking about units for formerly homeless residents because we take care of our own in this community. And yes, this is what I call full boot development for us and by us. And we're talking about 139 million in green infrastructure, a new public plaza, new sidewalks, new drainage systems and more. And these projects are nothing short of revolutionary. And these projects will strengthen this community. But more than anything else, they are yet another down payment on our commitment to you, the families of Far Rockaway. You deserve to be treated with respect. You deserve to be treated as a human being. You may live in a community on the outskirts of the city, but you deserve the same services that the residents of the Upper East Side get. And that was the goal of the Downtown Far Rockaway Working Group. So to EDC, HPD, DDC, DOT, the community builders, the mayor, I may be missing some. Deputy mayors, all of y'all, thank you on behalf of the people of our borough and the behalf of the people of the Rockaways. We are forever grateful to the families who call this development home. Let me be the first to say welcome home. And to Far Rockaway, I know that this is just the beginning, the days of looking down on us are over. And in closing, Queens will be and is the borough of yes. And as long as developers hold to this standard and working to truly ensure that community benefits are incorporated and that we're working on this affordability crisis, we will continue to lead the way into the future. Thank you and God bless you all. Congratulations to everyone who made this day possible. Absolutely the borough of yes. You know, today I had the honor of meeting someone I've heard so much about. She's so dynamic. And you folks in Far Rockaway are so lucky to have her as your council member, council member Brooks Powers. Good morning, everyone. Let me adjust this because you guys know I'm vertically challenged just slightly. But thank you, deputy mayor, for that introduction. I've heard wonderful things about you too. And I'm looking forward to continuing the work with you. I am Councilwoman Sylvina Brooks Powers. And I have the distinct honor and blessing to serve the 31st Council District. You can clap for yourselves. It's great to be here with Mayor Adams, first deputy mayor Grillo, borough president Donovan Richards. I have my colleagues in government, Senator Sanders, Assemblymember Anderson, Assemblywoman Pfeffer Amato. We have our community boards represented here with Dolores Orr and Jonathan Gaska. And the great leadership team at the Economic Development Corporation. And I know they're here because I saw Mr. Kimball here. Where are you at? There you go. OK. And I'm also happy to be here with many of our community leaders that we see sparse out here in the front, including our district leader, I think I see her, Valerie West, and all of our stakeholders. I applaud the administration, our city's Department of Transportation, the Economic Development Corporation, and all of our community partners who came together to make this project a reality. For too long, Rockaway has seen a surge of new development that has not been accompanied by a commensurate investment in local infrastructure. Transportation, health, sewage, education, access to economic opportunity. I know you guys heard that I'm the one pushing the needle code word. I'm probably annoying some people, but it's OK. Our community of small businesses have struggled throughout the pandemic. Many of them have shuddered for good. Those that remain need our support to remain operational and keep our community vibrant and prosperous. Thriving communities need open spaces, community engagement, affordable housing, and reliable access to public spaces and services. We need quality transportation that connect us to job centers. We need pathways to affordable home ownership, like Jasmine is getting from this project, and opportunities for accessible housing. We are committed to making community spaces that serve us. We are strengthened in our neighborhood, providing vital housing to our residents and building a stronger, better downtown for Rockaway. The new Beach 21st Street development is a big step for for Rockaway. With new affordable housing opportunities in a community facility and retail space, this project will improve our downtown for Rockaway streetscape and provide valuable open space for our community to enjoy. But we're not done yet. We are committed to making sure that our infrastructure investments and our health care investments matches the needs of this community. And I'm so glad that the mayor has made a commitment to the health and hospital facility that will be coming as our short term goal. And for the long term, we will be forming a task force to exploring trauma care that is needed here in Far Rockaway. So thank you all for your dedication and hard work in making this project possible. I'll hand it back over to our wonderful deputy mayor. Thank you. Thank you, council member. And I think now we're going to do a symbolic cutting of the ribbon. So if you can. The mayor will now take some on topic questions from the press. Thank you. We want to income ban. Where's somebody from? You have the income ban? This is a project that was financed through HPD's mix and match program. And so the affordability is 60% of the units are affordable below 60% of area median income and another 40% up to 80% of the area median income. And affordability is every from below 20% AMI all the way up to 60. So it's a very wide range of affordability for the community. Thank you. Thank you. And as a matter of fact, speaking, it's good to have Senator Sanders. And our amazing assembly woman, Stacey Pfeiffer Mato, as well. Going to do some more off top fuels. Hot. Sounds like a plan. On schools, I know there was the announcement yesterday about the additional $100, $150 million being reallocated. The speaker, I know you like to say is your law firm partner. She was not a fan of this. She called us a charade and said it's time to actually come up with some real solutions. Another council member, Shahana Hanif, called this a weak distraction. You're seeing so much vehement pushback from the council on this. Why continue this fight? Well, it's not a fight. And even those who are law partners, they disagree from time to time. Leadership is about making tough decisions. And as I deal with ferry crisis, monkeypox, COVID, polio, crime, all of these issues, we're going to agree. Sometimes we're going to disagree, but we shouldn't be disagreeable. Because how we're going to get through the crisis we're facing is by coming together. There's a court case to judge with rule. And whatever that ruling is, I'm going to follow. But when a court case is taking place, you should not be of any way trying to poison the waters. We're going to find out what the judges say, so we're going to move forward. We're going to do everything that we must do to make sure our schools are open. And everyone knows my investments in education. If you don't educate, you will incarcerate. I'm a mayor that's focused on giving our schools the resources they need. And I'm proud of that. Can I follow up real quick on that same topic? I heard from the UFT president, Mulgrew, and some other council members who were really questioning your intentions on this, wondering why this is such a vehement fight for you, wondering what your goals are with schools, especially with the connection with charter schools and privatization. Is that part of your conversation, part of your thought process here? No one has invested in schools throughout their elected official career as much as I have. As Bob President, I put $140 million into school. We have some tough choices. I've said it over and over again. We have decreased in population. The funding has changed. And if we don't make smart decisions, those schools that are in high need are going to be impacted, such as the class size. There are schools that are doing extremely well. And if we take resources from schools that are struggling for schools who are doing well for a mandated, unfunded mandate of class sizes, it's going to impact our ability to put funding in schools that are struggling. And so I know a lot of people want to turn this into talking points. I need to make sure that my babies, when they graduate, they can put a sentence together and talk. And those are tough decisions that I have to make. Listen, no matter what people say about how we've funded them before, here's one fact that no one likes to talk about. $38 billion, 65% of black and brown children never reach in proficiency. That's math I'm not going to live with. I'm going to make the right decision for these children. Yes, we have, first of all, it's to my executive staff. And nothing I think is more disrespectful than when people work for you on your executive team and you don't know who they are. I should know my employees. I should wake, walk up to them and say thank you. I should know what they look like. And so what I ask all of my commissioners to do is to create an org chart with the faces of my employees. So if I walk into the EDC or if I walk into DDC and I have a commissioner, assistant commissioner, deputy commissioner, before I walk in, I look over the org chart. I look at their faces so I can walk in and say hello and not walk past them. Well, if I come to a site like this and I'm a May 7th month in, I don't know all of my employees. So I'm able to walk in and look at the faces before I get here and say, OK, I can treat them with the respect they deserve. Now, for those who have other reasons that I decide that I want an org chart, that's up to them. A lot of people just start their day with saying, let me see what I could think hateful about. I start my day of saying, wow, I'm lucky to be the mayor of New York City. So I'm excited. I'm happy. I'm amazed at how much people are upset that I'm happy that I'm mayor. Why are you laughing all the time? Why are you enjoying being out all the time? Why are you like being around people? Why are you doing? I like being mayor. I wanted to be mayor. I'm mayor. I want the job that comes with it. And I want to be able to respect my employees. By knowing who they are and communicating with them. Hold on, brother. You got to do the press and then we'll get to you. Hold on. Yes. I call that mic. Mark. Oh, there's Mike. You mentioned monkey pots to be over. So in that period of time, what's the plan here? I mean, given that projection, what's the city's plan on how to deal with that? Great question, Michael. The production of the vaccines, the delivery to our country, that's beyond my scope as a mayor and the other mayors of these cities across America. We have to continue to make sure whatever supply we get, because the federal government is not going to allow us to order more until we get those, the ones that we have out the door. So we are immediately, we're expanding the sites where you can get them and we're getting the vaccines out the door. But there's a real supply issue. And until then, we have to educate. We have to make sure that we inform vulnerable populations how to make sure that they protect themselves and how we protect each other. We're not in charge of the supply. And this really goes to the other narrative of why we have to stop being dependent on other countries. We have to stop producing a lot of this stuff on our own. And it's unfortunate that we have to wait for those supplies to come in. We're not in control of that. We're going to get them and we're going to get needles in the arms of those who are in need. But it's a concern of ours that we need to supplies New York City. Once again, we find ourselves ground zero for these issues. But we're going to, as we get the supplies from the federal government, we're going to get them out. We're going to make sure we get them to the people to take the vaccines. How many doses is this? We'll get that from the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. But as soon as we get them, we get them out the door. But we'll get that exact number for you. Mr. Mayor, what's your response to the Texas governor's invite to the border? And can you explain specifically why and how are they being directed here by border agents? Yeah, the Texas governor invited us to the border. What the Texas governor should do is invite those who were trying to find housing in his state to give them housing instead of sending them here. We believe, based on our preliminary review, people were being interviewed at the border and say, what state would you like to go to? Who's not going to say New York? I mean, that's a setup question. If you, no matter where you are in the globe, knowing if you're asking someone that's just came to America, or where would you like to go? They're not going to say Idaho. They're not going to say, they're going to say the city that everyone knows. They're going to say New York. And so you basically set us up. And this is a real crisis. And I don't know why people are trying to downplay this crisis of almost 100 new arrivals a day. And when they come in, we do the preliminary interview. And we're discovering from our analysis that they are asylum seekers. And so we're asking the federal government, help us here. We already have a housing crisis. Help us here, because not only is housing, is translation services, is education, it is food. It is so much that goes into this. And we think that all of those border states that are not doing what we're doing and ensuring that we are welcoming people and helping people, they need to do a better job. But also the federal government has a responsibility. FEMA needs to kick in and give us the support that we need. You believe there are being bused in that from those border states? From what we're getting, people are taking the buses, but they're probably other ways. We don't know if they're placing people in vans. We don't know. They show up at our door here and we are right to shelter state. And we don't know the exact methods that everyone is using. I went to the Bedford and Atlanta shelter last Friday. And while I was there, I must have communicated with 30 people. I would say 25 of that 30 said they came from Al Salvador. And so it's clear that they're using various methods to get people here. This gentleman had his hand up. Yeah, I'll start out with that. Yes. It's been since at least the start of the pandemic that this has been an issue with service. In seven months, your administration has not been able to solve this issue. And how long should commuters expect to deal with these issues and what are your administration doing? Which issues that we didn't resolve? Which ones? You're talking about? The service instead of half hourly service is required by law. Hourly service just started yesterday. Correct. But there's been disruptions for at least two years. So what's being done to resolve these issues? Okay, I'm not sure what the disruptions were. Because this dropped in our lap yesterday with this Staten Island ferry that we had an issue around staffing and our team immediately jumped into action. We used a New York City ferry which carries about 300 people per trip. We immediately used that as part of our alternative. And then we went to hourly service because the ferry holds a little over 4,000 people. And when the terminals are filled, the ferry comes in, the terminals are emptied out. And so I think it's commendable with the New York City Police Department, DOT, our ferry staff, New York City ferry, how we responded. We pivoted and shipped. We had a crisis. We had a decrease in manpower. Instead of abandoning the Staten Island residents, they went from a half an hour to an hour to get home. We had New York City ferry was free. The Staten Island ferry was free. We got residents home. I was there yesterday and I went back late that night and I saw that we were moving and getting people home during this time of inconvenience. Now, there are issues around contracting issues that were in place for 10 years. I've been mayor for seven months. This is something I inherited. It was brought to my attention yesterday and we're going to try to resolve the issues so that Staten Islanders are not denied their services. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.