Dr. Ricardo Fernandez welcomes Mayor Bill de Blasio to Lehman College. Standing in the photo are Lehman College Nursing students who are enrolled in the Career Pathways Program.
De Blasio said that under the previous mayor this program only gave real career jobs to 7 percent of the enrolled. All it did was to produce a high percentage of low paying dead end jobs. De Blasio is changing that so people enrolled in this program will get higher paying career jobs with future advancement.
During the hour long Press conference Public Advocate Letitia James echoed the mayor's words, as did his Deputy Mayor for Housing and Economic Development who is in charge of the Mayor's Workforce Development.
Students from the Lehman College of Nursing were standing with the mayor and One student Barbara told of the opportunities for higher paying jobs that she now has rather then having to take much lower paying jobs with no future for advancement. Also in attendance were local elected officials Councilman Andrew Cohen, Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, and State Senator Gustavo Rivera who the mayor acknowledged, but none of them spoke. You can see Councilman Cohen and Assemblyman Dinowitz in various photos below.
After taking a few Questions on topic the mayor opened it up to any questions from the media. Most of the questions were about the shooting in Brooklyn late last night. While the mayor said that the police commissioner was addressing the issue at another press conference, he did say that it was a rookie officer, it occur ed in a NYCHA area that was not properly lighted, and that cameras will be installed by the end of this year in all NYCHA houses. I got to ask the mayor why the Jerome Park Reservoir has an inner and outer fence to keep people away from seeing the water while the Central Park Reservoir has only one fence with a beautiful jogging path all around it. I added is this a case of your tale of two cities. Mayor de Blasio answered me by saying that he would talk to the Commissioner of DEP on it.
Mayor de Blasio talks about the previous administration, and the wrong priorities when it came to job programs.
Public Advocate James commends Mayor de Blasio for changing the priorities of this jobs program area.
One of the Lehman College students tells of teh new opportunities that this revamped jobs program has given her in the field of nursing, with many future possibilities.
Mayor de Blasio answers questions afterwards.
