 for coming out on this gloriously moist day. Let's hope we just stay in this pattern for a few more minutes. My name is Mira Zoschi. I'm Deputy Mayor for Operations. I have the honor of overseeing the agencies responsible for the amazing playground you see behind you and the gate that you're gonna see in motion in just a few minutes. That is the Department of Design and Construction, the Department of Parks and Regulation, and the Department of Transportation. So I wanna thank them all for their hard work. I also wanna thank our first Deputy Mayor, Lorraine Grillo, who led the Department of Design and Construction in some of the critical decision points for this wall to be here today. And I also wanna thank the community because it takes patience to bear with us as we bring about a better New York. So thank you for your patience. The results are before you. What you see is the beginning of a wall that will be completed in the years to come. And it's not like Trump's wall. It actually does good things and saves lives. So it's a wall we can all be proud of deep down. I wanna call out a few community members for their undying patience and support. Susan Steinberg of Stytown, Jesus Perez of Community Six, Janet Handel and Shanique Sealy of Waterside Plaza. So thank you all. And without any further ado, I wanna introduce our Mayor, Mayor Eric Adams, who gets stuff done, including moving a 79-foot for 46-ton block of steel. Yeah. Thank you. Boy, these Deputy Mayors are getting my little human, you know? No, I thank you for all of our electives who were a partner in moving this forward. We're doing a lot of big things in the city and we know that this Eastside Coastal Resiliency Project is one of the biggest. It's an amazing achievement of human feet. And this is phase one of this massive plan. There are more phases to it. The goal is to protect lower Manhattan. I remember as we saw the hurricanes moving through this area, the flooding that impacted so many people. This is costing taxpayers dollars, but it's a real win. 1.5 billion climate adaptation project is the single largest urban climate adaptation project in the country, the single largest. This is more than just infrastructure. This is how we are going to protect our city and the people from rising seas and stronger storms that are just part of the normal living in big cities, particularly those like New York were surrounded by water and we have to take this in a very serious way. It is how we are also creating jobs, jobs right now. This project is about creating jobs and it is how New York City is leading this globe and climate sustainability. Climate change is happening now, right here on our planet and we have to be serious about it. The more we're seeing increasing temperatures and stronger storms and more dangerous flooding in our coastal cities, we have to be prepared for that. New York is not going to sit around and just wait for it to happen. We're going to meet it head on. We're rolling up our sleeves and getting the road done in the right way. And today we are demonstrating the results of that good road. 79 feet long, 45 ton gate is the second installment of 18 protective barriers that can be deployed when a hurricane or storm surge is headed our way. We're coordinating with Office of Emergency Management to make sure we have a clear coordination to deploy the resources that are needed and this gate is one of the resources. Once emergency officials makes a call, the deployment of this gate will take place and we're going to demonstrate that in a few moments. That is one of the best parts of the press conference. I'm looking forward to hitting that button and seeing that gate move. This project started under the previous administration and the Department of Design and Construction being head by no other than our great first deputy mayor, Lorraine Grillo. You know, the master of getting stuff done and we cannot thank her enough. The project will create nearly 1,000 new jobs in the schedule for completion in 2026. The gate is one thing to build great projects but how are we building them outside our city or country? Not this gate. This gate was built right here in New York State. Once installed, these gates would reduce flood risk due to coastal storms and sea level rise on Manhattan East sides from East 25th Street down to Montgomery Street on the lower East side. And I'm pretty sure Councilman Rivera is happy to hear that as well, you know? And ultimately protect over 100,000 residents of the East side from sea level rise. That includes often when we talk about storm preparedness, we often leave out and ensure that we don't have nitrogen residents protected in the process. That includes 28,000 NYCHA housing, as well as add a new landscape, green spaces and recreational opportunities for our community. So the sounds of children playing would be a normal sound in our community. This project is more than a marvel of engineering and technology. Love New York City and a clear signal that New York City is leading the nation when it comes to sustainability and climate action. Fighting climate change is a massive undertaking. It's almost as massive as talking over those people who are protesting right now, you know? But we have the technology to help mitigate the effects and draw it down on the emissions that they are causing. And New York City is going to be the place where we put these technologies into our first action first, right here in New York. Scientists and engineers are working closely with our government, techs, business sectors to rewrite the future and protect our city. And we're recreating jobs by building equity. And when I stop in Lower Manhattan, we're going to break ground and even more coastal resiliency projects as we go forward, including protective barriers in Red Hook, Brooklyn and our neighborhoods that are vulnerable to the effects of climate storms. That's getting stuff done. That's doing it the right way as we move forward in our city. We're excited about this project and we're excited about many more projects. And we are also excited about the countless number of New Yorkers. 8.8 million people and eight of them may have an opinion that's different from the other 8.8 million, but you can't focus on the numerical minority that's the loudest. You have to focus on the numerical majority that's saying, Eric, get stuff done. And I hit them every day. Thank you very much, Mayor. Next, we're going to hear from our Executive Director of the Mayor's Office of Climate and Environmental Justice, Executive Director, Kizzy Charles Guzman. Hi, everybody, buenas tardes. Thank you, Deputy Mayor. I'm thrilled to be here today to celebrate this achievement. It is an achievement, it's a feat. My name is Kizzy Charles Guzman, the Executive Director of the Mayor's Office of Climate and Environmental Justice. And everyone here today is part of one of the most ambitious infrastructure and climate justice projects here in New York City's history. One of the most technically complex resiliency projects anywhere in the world. We are proud to be on the cutting edge of urban coastal resiliency. Frontline communities like the East Side know all too well that our risks that the city faces are not in the distant future. Climate change is here, they're impacting our communities here and now. And not all communities are impacted equally. And this is why we have such ambitious climate goals as a city. This is why we are investing billions in working class, waterfront communities. And this is why we're committed to building infrastructure for people like the new Acer Levy Playground. The upgraded playground that provides this community with an amazing play and recreational space will now also keep this neighborhood safe during storm events and we'll be able to reopen more quickly after a storm and we'll continue to do so for generations to come. As we approach the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Sandy and the first anniversary of Ida, we know that we need to be prepared for more intense and more frequent storms and projects like this one. Yes, we are emblematic of our multi-layered approach to climate change that links together resiliency, equity and sustainability. Because building a stronger city must go hand in hand with building a fairer and more just city. And in this case, a city with more swings and slides and basketball courts too. So thank you to our amazing city team, DDC, DOT, everyone and to our federal and community partners and to everyone that made this milestone possible today. Thank you. Thank you, Kizzy. And for the swings and seesaws, we are gonna hear from our Parks Commissioner, Sue Donahue. Thank you, Deputy Mayor Joshi. And I'm thrilled to be here and celebrate these improvements to Acer Levy Playground where we can hear kids playing and screaming in the background, which makes this such a fun press event. This is truly a milestone for the Esker Project and our progress in making this city more resilient. As Kizzy so aptly said, I first wanna thank Mayor Adams, Deputy Mayor Joshi, our partners at DDC and Commissioner Foley and all of our speakers here today. I also wanna acknowledge the many who have worked on this project as well as the Parks Department employees who work right here at Acer Levy, including our maintenance staff, our pool and recreation staff, the people who provide so much joy to this community and so many others. Thank you so much for everything you do every day. We all know the importance of neighborhood parks like Acer Levy. This two and a half acre space offers a recreation center, an outdoor pool, play equipment and a basketball court. It's essential that we protect parks like this one from the effects of climate change. Thanks to this new massive flood protection, the parks recreation center and pool will now be protected from major storms. The basketball court and play equipment have also been upgraded with resilient materials. These improvements are an investment in New Yorkers who visit our parks and enjoy our parks not only today but for future generations to come. That's what ESCR is all about. It's looking to the future and improving and investing in our open spaces that are so critical to the quality of life for all New Yorkers. We're amazed by this feat of engineering here today and we look forward to continuing to work with DDC and our other great sister agency and partners on state-of-the-art projects like this one. Thank you so much. Thank you, Commissioner Donahue. And now I think we've come to the final moment. Everyone can gather around and we're gonna orchestrate the closing of the gate. I'd like to also acknowledge Council Member Powers, Council Member Rivera. Number two, if we wait until the tides rise then we're not coordinated. We meet with Office of Emergency Management to our entire communication plan. When is the storm coming? When are we expecting high tide? So we're going to be way ahead of the time. We're not gonna wait for the storm to be here. You know, you're talking about if the storm is here a day before, we're already moving this gate in place. And so it can move at a slow space because of how heavy it is but we're going to be well prepared. Do we know the exact amount of time it takes to close? About five minutes. Yeah, so it takes about five minutes and if we are preparing for a storm five minutes out we're in trouble. Yes, without a doubt. As we stated, although this is classified as a high income, 27,000 nitri residents. So in between of the high income earners you have nitri residents that are here also but we're looking throughout the entire city because a lot of areas that are surrounded by water are in low income communities like Red Hook. We have an amazing project taking place in Red Hook. So we're not leaving any coastal area unchecked. And yes, no matter where the economics are a climate change is impacting us all. Yes, yes, yes. Who has the metrics? I Tom Foley, commissioner of DDC. It is, it's 90,000 pounds, 45 tons. It's 79 feet long, it's nine feet high plus the wheel makes it 10 feet high. You can see the elevations on the side during Sandy, it came to 10 and a half. That was the elevation during Sandy. So you can see the protections that we're affording here. And then also as engineers we also have designed a two fit cap on the whole in the surrounding areas to provide that for years and years to come. Let's do a few off topics. Okay, folks, thank you. Thank you, thank you. Michael, go on back there. You up to Michael. And burn a day. Boy, it's gonna be a busy day. Good. You know, this national violence surge across our country is something that we need coordination from the federal government. We just appointed a new ATF head, which was important. We met with the special agent in charge here in New York City to look at some additional initiatives we're going to do to pinpoint the shooters. We're gonna continue to put more officers on patrol, but it's also the feeder. I keep saying this over and over again. We need to stop young people from getting guns in their hands. And so our continuous coordination efforts, you know the numbers, almost 3,800 guns off the street. We're doing our share. We need our courts up, operating, getting these shooters, these violent people inside. Many of the other crimes, although we're down in shootings, we have done a respectable not down to nothing homicides. But when you look at the repeated offenders and robberies, burglaries, grand larcenies, there's a clear problem that we're allowing dangerous people to come out of jail and come back on our streets. And so we cannot say it enough. We need help from the other criminal justice at parts of the system. Police are doing their job and we're gonna continue to do so. We, the initiative you saw over the weekend, the amount of shooters we witness is unacceptable and we're gonna continue to be as aggressive as possible to go after these dangerous people that our court systems are continuing to allow out. Well, we wanna maximize. Too many officers are doing clerical jobs. We have an entire civilianization plan to put new officers back on patrol while we put civilians in those jobs that you don't need a gun and shield to do. Now, the police commissioner to a credit, if you go to parades now, I was at a parade, the Cuban parade, you did not see that over saturation of police officers. You're not seeing police officers doing those assignments that is an over saturation of their manpower. We're deploying our police better in our subway systems and our housing as well as the streets. And it's about, as I've always stated, it's about properly deploying the resources we have. Nelson Mandela said the best, do as much as you can with what you have right now. And that's what we're going to do. It's a story day today. Yes, I was at the UN celebrating it. Hey, Mr. Mayor, I'm on a story. We had a brand this weekend in our education recorder about District 75 schools. And some of the conditions reported it. What, you know, a student who graduated high school in that district, not knowing multiplication tables, you know, people smoking weed in the hallways, fights breaking out. And these aren't programs to help out, you know, kids with emotional and behavioral challenges. I wanted to know what you thought about some of the conditions we reported on and what the city's doing to kind of address those conditions. Immediately, first of all, the reporting really inspired me in many ways, but I immediately spoke with the chancellor after reading the story to drill in on it. District 75, District 79, systemic problems. And the problems are not only in the school, because if we believe taking those children and only doing academics, then we're not going to hit the target. Some of those children are dealing with mental health illnesses. They're coming from backgrounds that are extremely challenging at home. And we need to zero in again. That is why I say we must de-siload the system. I need my homeless shelters employees to be part of it, our mental health professionals. So it's a holistic approach. And that is something that Chancellor Banks is clear on to really reexamine 75, 79 and make sure they get the supporting resources that they need. He's going to be announcing some new leadership over there and rolling out some of the things that he wants to do to zero in on 75 and 79. We believe they have been betrayed for years in education and we have normalized that betrayal. It's not acceptable. It's not about just promoting children. It's not about just pushing them through the system. It's giving them the support they need to be productive citizens. A teacher identifies a child that comes in every winter with a windbreaker on. Something's wrong with that. You know, how are we finding out what's happening to that child at home in 20 degrees weather? If we're just going to allow him to sit in that classroom with the windbreaker, let's find out what's happening at him at home. A teacher identifies that a child has a running nose all year long. Something is wrong. We have to start looking at the tell-tale signs, the tells, to say, should we find out what's happening in that child's life that's preventing them from coming in and being prepared to learn? And that could include, is he getting the, or she getting required number of meals? Are they clothed in soil that they need some support at home? Do they have bruises on them? There's mandatory reporting for domestic abuse. So we need the teachers to look at the tells and pass them off to the other city agencies that can investigate what are the barriers for children learning. I don't believe we have done a good enough job doing that historically, and we want to change that and create this deciloin and how do we compliment each other to identify the barriers to a child learning? The mayor wanted to ask about the Penn Station financing deal he reached with the governor. A lot of questions about the financing year could take up to 80 years to pay off. Is giving real estate interests a tax break similar to what happened with Hudson Yards and that did not end very well. How confident are you that taxpayers will not be left holding the bag with this deal? Well, we have to get it right. And, you know, my conversation with the governor and the tax incentives is going into other areas as we, one of the notes, 100% of the improvements to street sidewalks, public spaces, and other elements of the public ground, 100%. 50% of improvements to transit infrastructure, including underground concourse and subway entrance. So, some would like to say, well, we just giving rich cats tax breaks. No, they're going into improving the infrastructure. And when you start dealing with that infrastructure, it's cost money. And we're saying with those tax incentives, you have to improve the infrastructure, the much needed infrastructure. And we're excited about the project, no loss of local property tax revenue and commitments to joint governance entity. That's a project that we know the devils are still in the details. We're still mapping it out, but we feel confident that this project is a much needed improvement in the Penn Station area. Listen, we have to maximize the development, maximize the benefits. We know that Penn Station, a major hub, not only for the Long Island Railroad, but also for Amtrak, I took Amtrak every day that I went to Albany, we know it's time to invest there. And the only way you could protect your interests is to get good attorneys that's gonna be at the table making sure we're protecting the interests of New Yorkers. And we believe we put the right team together to do so. Listen, there's an uncertainty in the economic future of the city and country. But we cannot sit back and hold back development projects that we need for infrastructure being in fear. We have to be prepared, but we have to move forward as the city. And I'm just of the firm belief that the city is invincible and we always make it through these turbulent times and we're gonna do it now. People ripping down for staff. We, listen, listen, I am tired of these dirt bikes and three wheelers. So trust me. And we have a real focus, a few initiatives to zero in on them. One thing is for sure, we can't do it in a reckless fashion because you're dealing with dirt bikes and some of the people who are riding them and the three wheelers, they will go up on a sidewalk, they would go against traffic, they would do anything to evade police and continue of the just harassment on our city. And so we must be smart in our approach because we don't want to recklessly go after or pursue one an injured and innocent person. And so the police department has been doing a multitude of coordination. We were able to apprehend several bikes over the weekend but our goal is not to go after 20 or 30, our goal is to go after hundreds. It's time to end of the harassment of our city with those who have no regard for safety or following the rules. And it's a handful. We probably have a 500 bikers out there on dirt bikes, three wheelers, which are illegal. They're not allowed to be on New York City streets and we're zero in on them. We are very aware of this problem and we are going to rectify this issue. We have our OMB and the governor's people answer that question specifically. Okay, thank you.