Wednesday, July 1, 2020

Acting Manhattan U.S. Attorney Announces Consent Decree With Chestnut Petroleum Distributors, Inc., And Affiliates Resolving Violations Of The Resource Conservation And Recovery Act


Defendants Admit to Failing to Follow Environmental Regulations Governing Underground Storage Tanks at Gas Stations; Agree to Injunction and $187,500 Civil Penalty

  Audrey Strauss, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Peter D. Lopez, Regional Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”), announced today that the United States has entered into a Consent Decree settling a civil lawsuit against Chestnut Petroleum Distributors, Inc., and its affiliates CPD Energy Corp., CPD NY Energy Corp., Chestnut Mart of Gardiner, Inc., Chestnut Marts, Inc., Greenburgh Food Mart, Inc., Middletown Food Mart, Inc., and NJ Energy Corp. (collectively, “Defendants”), for violating the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (“RCRA”) in connection with their ownership or operation of underground storage tanks at 20 separate gas stations within the Southern District of New York and adjoining districts. 

Acting U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said:  “Today’s settlement holds Chestnut Petroleum Distributors, Inc., and its affiliates accountable for repeatedly failing to comply with regulations designed to prevent gasoline leaks from injuring public health and the environment, and ensures ongoing oversight of the defendants’ operations to protect the public in the future.”    
EPA Regional Administrator Peter D. Lopez said:  “Failure to regularly monitor underground storage tanks and address possible leaks risks contaminating groundwater, which is one of our most valuable natural resources. This settlement requires the companies to follow laws in place to mitigate safety threats and protect the environment.”                  
Petroleum products such as gasoline contain chemical compounds that pose substantial threats to human health.  Service stations typically store gasoline in underground storage tanks.  When operated conscientiously and monitored closely, underground storage tanks are a safe and effective means to store gasoline.  But when those tanks are not subjected to basic operational safeguards, they can endanger the public and the environment, for example by leaking petroleum into the water supply, discharging toxic vapors into the air, or even triggering fires or explosions.  EPA’s regulations under RCRA are designed to protect the public by requiring underground storage tank operators to reduce the likelihood of leaks, monitor for leaks so they can promptly be addressed, and maintain adequate insurance to conduct corrective action and compensate injured third parties should a leak occur.
The Consent Decree, which is subject to public comment and approval by the district court, resolves a lawsuit filed by the United States in May 2019, which alleges that Defendants repeatedly violated RCRA and related regulations at various times between 2011 and 2014 with respect to their ownership and/or operation of underground storage tanks at 20 gas stations. 
In the Consent Decree filed today, Defendants admit, acknowledge, and accept responsibility for failing to perform required actions at one or more facilities on various specified dates between 2011 and 2014.  This includes:
  • failing to perform release (i.e., leak or spill) detection;
  • failing to maintain and provide records of release detection monitoring;
  • failing to operate corrosion protection systems (including inspecting and testing) for steel underground storage tank systems and failing to maintain and provide records of corrosion protection monitoring;
  • failing to cap and secure underground storage tanks that were temporarily closed;
  • failing to perform release detection for underground storage tanks that were temporarily closed;
  • failing to report suspected releases or unusual operating conditions for underground storage tanks;
  • failing to conduct release investigations and confirm suspected releases or unusual operating conditions; and
  • failing to maintain insurance policies sufficient to take corrective action and compensate third parties for bodily injury and property damage caused by accidental releases arising from the operation of the underground storage tanks.  
Pursuant to the Consent Decree, Defendants are required to comply with the regulations applicable to underground storage tanks for all underground storage tanks at the facilities at issue, and to take various measures to ensure such compliance, including undertaking inspections, maintaining and operating an electronic environmental management system providing centralized electronic monitoring of release detection at all underground storage tanks at the facilities, monitoring the under-dispenser containment systems at all underground storage tanks at the facilities, and providing semi-annual reports to EPA.  Defendants also agree to undertake certain measures with respect to newly acquired facilities containing underground storage tanks, including providing notice to EPA of the planned acquisition, conducting a pre-acquisition assessment, and ensuring that all underground storage tanks at newly acquired facilities are promptly brought into compliance with all applicable regulations.
In addition to this injunctive relief, Defendants will pay a civil penalty of $187,500.  Defendants will also be subject to substantial penalties if they fail to comply with the terms of the Consent Decree.
The Consent Decree will be lodged with the District Court for a period of at least 30 days, and notice of the Consent Decree will be published in the Federal Register before the Consent Decree is submitted for the Court’s approval.  This will afford members of the public the opportunity to submit comments on the Consent Decree to the Department of Justice.
Acting U.S. Attorney Strauss thanked EPA’s attorneys and staff for their critical work on this matter.

Statement by New York City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer on FY 2021 Adopted Budget


  “A budget is as much a moral document as a financial one. It should reflect our values and the strength of our commitment to progress. The budget the City Council is set to approve fails that test. It fails to answer the calls of New Yorkers who deserve and demand systemic change.

“The ‘$1 billion cut’ to the NYPD proposed by the Mayor and the City Council is not a $1 billion cut—it’s a bait and switch and a paper-thin excuse for reform. That is especially true of proposals to slash uniformed police overtime by 60% with no plan on how to get there. And the same is true of the gimmicks in this proposal that only reshuffles the deck and folds our opportunity to bring change. Meaningful change in this moment won’t come by shifting police from one agency to another, and budget tricks won’t bring an end to the status quo. The movement in the streets won’t be suppressed by manipulated math.
“Black and Brown New Yorkers are disproportionately dying from COVID-19, are disproportionately policed and killed by law enforcement, and are disproportionately victims of mass incarceration. A budget that does not reckon with these realities and does not make real investments in community safety and an equitable recovery is not the budget this city needs.”

Mayor Bill de Blasio on State of the City and COVID-19 July 1, 2020


Mayor Bill de Blasio: Well good morning, everybody. It is hard to believe it, but we are now in the month of July, now beginning the fifth month that we've been fighting together against the coronavirus. So, it's been a long battle and it will continue to be, but as we enter the month of July, it begins with thinking about July 4th and the meaning of it, thinking about the pride we feel in our city, in our country, in each other, as we fight together in common cause. It is a reminder of what July 4th is all about – one of the most profound concepts underlying what happened in 1776 was the fight for freedom. We are fighting shoulder to shoulder in a fight for freedom from the coronavirus and the people of this city have been earning, every day, more and more of that freedom through hard work and work together. So, we today can talk about some additional steps forward we're going to make.

Today we can talk about some of the things that are going to advance because we've been doing the right thing together, but there is also some tough news today. And as I've said before, I want to always start with the bad news and then go to the good news. And the bad news is regarding a situation that we've seen now all over the country. Look, all of us in leadership at this moment in history, we have to be willing to make tough decisions and we have to be willing to look at the facts and act on the facts. Let the facts take us to the right decision. We know a lot of other parts of this country, very sadly, made decisions based on something other than the data and in the heat of the moment. And now what we're seeing in Florida, what we're seeing in Texas, even California that tried really hard to get it right, slipping backwards. We see a lot of problems and we particularly see problems revolving around people going back to bars and restaurants, indoors. And indoors is the problem more and more, the sciences showing it more and more.

So, I want to make very clear. We cannot go ahead, at this point in time, with indoor dining in New York City. Look, even a week ago, honestly, I was hopeful we could, but the news we have gotten from around the country gets worse and worse all the time. We're going to work with the State of New York and we have been working together throughout this crisis. We're going to work with the State of New York to figure out what is the exact right way to do this, how to postpone indoor dining until the right moment, what the approach would be to determine when it makes sense to go about it again. As I said, we have been in absolute unity with the State on the focus on data. The data in this city and this state's been getting better all the time, but the data around the country has been getting worse and worse and worse – in the last few days, shockingly worse. And what Dr. Fauci said about the potential in other parts of the country, for the surge that gets so bad, that we could be talking about 100,000 cases a day in the United States. We've got to honor those facts and it is not the time to forge ahead with indoor dining.

But it is the time to double down on outdoor dining. And so far, we have 6,600 restaurants that have taken advantage of our Open Restaurants initiative. I believe there are many more that could benefit from it. We're going to have a huge outreach effort. It's been going on for days, but it's going to deepen over the next few days with Small Business Services, that department and the Department of Transportation, going out into communities, helping to show restaurants that qualify that they can take advantage of this right away, get a lot more business and do it in a safe way, which is outdoors. So, I am very convinced we can help restaurants survive, we can help bring in a lot more revenue to them. We can help bring back a lot of jobs, but do it safely and do it outdoors. Now, outdoor dining unquestionably has been a great hit. And I think the bottom line is that outdoors is working period. This is one of the things we've learned. Outdoors is where we need to be to the maximum extent possible this summer as we fight back this disease. Face coverings are working. We've learned some things that actually make sense. Social distancing works. We now have seen through experience the power of doing things outdoors, the power of the face coverings, the power of the social distancing. So, let's double down and let's make sure that New Yorkers can do as much outdoors as possible going forward.

So, that begins with today's very good news. We announced it before, but today is the day our New York City beaches open today. We are ready for a great holiday weekend. The lifeguards are ready to go. New Yorkers can stay cool. This is something people have been waiting patiently for – maybe not always patiently for, but it's here and that's going to help a lot. But now we're going to go the next step with the outdoor pools. And we were not sure before whether we got available to open some of them, but now we will be able to open some of our biggest outdoor pools and some of the outdoor pools in the communities hit hardest by the coronavirus. And for families, for kids in particular, this is going to be so important, something to look forward to and to enjoy this summer and a place to stay cool. Fifteen outdoor pools will open in the next few weeks. There's a list on your screen. Three open on July 24th, the remainder open hook – excuse me – on August 1st. Now it's not all of our pools. The truth is we had to choose the ones that we thought would have the maximum benefit for the communities hit hardest, the largest pools that we could open, the ones for folks who were the farthest from the beaches. We had to make some choices, but I think these 15 pools are going to make a big, big difference for people in communities all over New York City. Now, again, we're going to do it the right way. There will be social distancing, there will be face coverings when you're not in the pool. We're going to do this with all the standards the State has rightfully set for keeping people safe. And, yeah, there are restrictions. It's going to be different. There's going to be spacing when people are waiting in line to go in, there's going to be a lot of things to make sure we really hold on to the progress we made on health care, but it will all be worth it. And for our kids, in particular, it's going to help for them to have a better summer.

Okay, speaking of young people, they've been through a lot. I've talked about this a lot. They have been through so much. We have to be there for them and a very good result of the budget process, working with the City Council that really prioritized young people and I give them credit for that – $115 million will now be invested in summer programming. And that's going to reach 115,000 young people in this city. And I want to tell you about a couple of the pieces. One, so important, we're going to use young people as social distancing ambassadors and ambassadors for our Test and Trace program, getting the word out in communities. They'll get paid to do this good work, give them meaningful productive work to do, rewarding work to do, and they'll help us to keep people safe. We're also going to have summer camps, combining our pre-existing efforts, the COMPASS initiative, Beacon programs, Cornerstone programs, we're going to have a summer camp initiative. A lot of it will be online. Some of it will be outdoors. All of it will be done safely, but it'll be very enriching for kids. And then the Summer Bridge program, this takes what we have done, historically with summer youth employment, makes a variation on that for the coronavirus moment, makes sure that our young people will get financial support, that they'll be able to work on career readiness and be able to explore the future and do important community service. A lot of that again will be online, but it will be very positive and rewarding for our kids. They'll make a difference in their communities. They'll prepare themselves for their future. It will help our kids on the right path and help them to get compensated because we want our young people to have a positive and productive summer.

Now let's turn to our indicators. And again, today, good news in New York City, which you have earned. Indicator number one, daily number of people admitted to hospitals for suspected COVID-19, that threshold is 200 and today there are 61 patients. Indicator two, daily number of people in Health + Hospitals ICUs, that threshold is 375 – today, 293 patients. And most importantly, the percentage of people testing positive citywide for COVID-19, threshold of 15 percent – today, two percent. That's the number we've been at most of the time in the last few weeks and that is a very, very good number. 

Partnerships for Parks - Panel Discussion, #PeopleSpeakSundays, Juneteenth Grove




As the city begins to re-open; communities are still reeling from the devastation of COVID-19, rising up to demand justice after the killing of George Floyd, and doing significant work on the ground in both areas. Join us for a discussion with community leaders about their work during these critical times, check out SummerStage Anywhere — The People Speak, and read about what NYC Parks is doing in solidarity with the struggle for racial justice.

Photo by Justin Mashia of Bronx Sole

COMMUNITY WORK DURING CRITICAL TIMES

New Yorkers have been rocked by crisis — facing COVID-19 and the resulting economic fallout on a local level; and rampant, racially motivated violence on a national level, sparking protests and demonstrations in the streets and parks across our city, country, and world.

In New York City, community groups normally working in parks have shifted gears to address these critical issues, engaging in direct COVID-19 relief and racial justice work in their respective neighborhoods. Join us for a discussion with community leaders from Bronx Sole, Clean Bushwick Initiative, and Friends of Harlem Art Park about the role their groups are playing in community health and social justice during these turbulent times.

Thursday, July 9 from 6:00 pm - 6:30 pm on Facebook Live
MORE INFO



#PeopleSpeakSundays
SummerStage Anywhere recently debuted a digital episode titled “The People Speak,” in collaboration with VOICES, a nonprofit arts, education, and social justice organization centered around Howard Zinn’s book Voices of a People’s History of the United States, which brings to life the extraordinary history of ordinary people who built the social movements that made the United States what it is today. Readings performed during "The People Speak" give expression to rebels, dissenters, and visionaries from our past—and present—and educate and inspire a new generation working for social justice now. You can watch the archived performance now on the SummerStage YouTube page.

This summer, every Sunday at 2:00pm, #PeopleSpeakSundays will take over the SummerStage Instagram channel with guest curators from a wide variety of backgrounds who will showcase artists and highlight crowdsourced performers who submit #PeopleSpeakSundays entries on Instagram. The series begins on July 12 with guest curator VP Records, an independent reggae, dancehall, and soca record label based in Queens. Want your voice to be heard? Use #PeopleSpeakSundays and #SummerStageAnywhere when posting to social media this July and August for a chance to be featured on #PeopleSpeakSundays.
LEARN MORE



Photo by Daniel Avila, NYC Parks
JUNETEENTH GROVE
On June 19 — also known as Juneteenth — NYC Parks Commissioner Mitchell J. Silver, FAICP, announced that the agency stands in solidarity with the Black community and the fight to end systemic racism, and is demonstrating this commitment by addressing issues within the park system, renaming a park in each borough for Black Americans, and creating the Juneteenth Grove.

Seated in Cadman Plaza, Brooklyn, the Juneteenth Grove celebrates both Juneteenth and the homegoing of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and countless others with 19 new flowering trees to symbolize the fortification of life and 19 existing benches newly painted in the colors of the Pan-African flag (red, black, and green). The steward of nearly three million trees, NYC Parks recognizes the Black community’s complicated relationship with trees as their branches represent thousands lynched and their roots symbolize a deep connection to this Nation.
LEARN MORE

Partnerships for Parks is a joint program of City Parks Foundation and NYC Parks that supports and champions a growing network of leaders caring and advocating for neighborhood parks and green spaces. We equip people and organizations with the skills and tools needed to transform these spaces into dynamic community assets.

Congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, and Rashida Tlaib Announce Endorsement and Joint Launch of the ‘Squad Victory Fund’


WASHINGTON, D.C. - Building on their history of sisterhood and collective advocacy for bold, progressive change, Congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14), Ilhan Omar (MN-05), Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), and Rashida Tlaib (MI-13) today announced their official endorsements of one another for re-election in 2020. 

Together, the legislators also announced the creation of the Squad Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee that will support the Congresswomen’s re-election campaigns and their leadership PACs, which will provide vital resources to organize and mobilize a broad, diverse grassroots movement across the country.

Since their election in 2018, the four Congresswomen - all first-term members, friends, and women of color - have introduced bold, progressive legislation and championed policies centered on justice and equity, despite repeated, racist attacks from Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans. Their continued leadership is especially critical at this moment, as our communities struggle to recover from the COVID-19 crisis, grapple with the racial injustice that led to the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Elijah McClain and so many others, and fight to end deeply entrenched inequities in healthcare, housing, education, and our economy.

“We are in an unprecedented historical moment. Our country is facing three simultaneous crises of unemployment, public health, and systemic racism.  The progressive policies that my sisters and I are fighting for - Medicare for All, a Green New Deal, racial justice,  an end to mass incarceration - have never been more important.  But, make no mistake, last week’s victories put an even larger target on our backs. Wall Street and Trump donors poured over $3 million into an attempt to defeat me and now they’re preparing to do even more to stop this progressive momentum in its tracks. The Squad Victory Fund will help us fight back,” said Rep. Ocasio-Cortez.

"In the wake of George Floyd’s murder, Minneapolis inspired a movement. Right now, people across the country are taking to the streets to demand an end to our broken systems of injustice. The American people are demanding a comprehensive response to the public health and economic crisis we face. While GOP and corporate donors fight to silence us, we are building a multi-racial grassroots movement to take on entrenched systems of inequality. Our movement is for justice. Our movement is for equality. Our movement is for peace. And our movement is for a better future,” said Rep. Omar.

“I am so deeply grateful to call Alex, Ilhan, and Rashida my sisters-in-service, and to work alongside them to advocate for our communities, and to fight for those who have been left out and left behind for too long. We find ourselves in unprecedented times that call for unprecedented organizing, unprecedented mobilizing, and unprecedented legislating. Alex, Ilhan, and Rashida are bold, activist leaders who share a deep commitment to the communities they represent. Together, we’ll continue to do the work of ensuring that those closest to the pain are closest to the power, and we’ll continue building this movement to make real, positive change in pursuit of racial, economic, education, and environmental justice,” said Rep. Pressley.

“Shared values of being rooted in justice, freedom, and equity brought me together with my sisters-in-service, Alex, Ayanna, and Ilhan. During our first term in office, we’ve remained rooted in the communities we serve, pushing bold and transformative solutions to the issues impacting our neighbors. We lead by centering vulnerable communities and ensuring that we do not leave anyone behind. I’m proud to endorse their re-election campaigns today and to push forward to make sure people are truly represented with transformative leadership in Congress with the Squad Victory Fund,” said Rep. Tlaib.

NYS Office of the Comptroller DiNapoli Releases Bond Calendar for Third Quarter




DiNAPOLI RELEASES BOND CALENDAR FOR THIRD QUARTER

Tentative Schedule Includes $5.06 Billion of New Money and Refunding Debt Sales

New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli today announced a tentative schedule for the planned bond sales for the state, New York City and their major public authorities during the third quarter of 2020.
The planned sales of $5.06 billion include $3.48 billion of new money and $1.58 billion of refundings as follows:
  • $4.71 billion scheduled for July, of which $3.48 billion is for new money and $1.32 billion for refunding purposes;
  • $350 million scheduled for August, all of which is for refunding purposes; and
  • No planned issuances scheduled for September at this time.
The anticipated sales in the third quarter compare to past planned sales of $3.68 billion during the second quarter of 2020, and $7.68 billion during the third quarter of 2019.
The State Comptroller’s office chairs the Securities Coordinating Committee, which was created by Gubernatorial Executive Order primarily to coordinate the borrowing activities of the state, New York City and their respective public authorities.  All borrowings are scheduled at the request of the issuer and done pursuant to their borrowing programs.
A new schedule is released every quarter and updated as necessary. The schedule is released by the committee to assist participants in the municipal bond market. It is contingent upon execution of all project approvals required by law. The collection and release of this information by the Office of the State Comptroller is not intended as an endorsement of the proposed issuances it contains, many of which will be subject to approval by the Office of the State Comptroller.
The prospective third quarter calendar includes anticipated bond sales by the following issuers: the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York, Empire State Development, the New York State Housing Finance Agency, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey.
Find out how your government money is spent at Open Book New York. Track municipal spending, the state's 170,000 contracts, billions in state payments and public authority data. Visit the Reading Room for contract FOIL requests, bid protest decisions and commonly requested data.

Learn More

Mayor de Blasio on FY 21 Budget and Covid-19


  Mayor Bill de Blasio: Well, good afternoon, everyone. We’re at a different time today, because this is such an important day for our city – the day that we close down our City budget for next year. The Council – the City Council will be voting later on this afternoon as we prepare for the year ahead. A very, very important day every year, but this day, this year – different than any other way face in decades in this city. In many ways, the toughest budget challenge this city has seen in a long, long time. Remember, we started this discussion with a painful reality. Because of the coronavirus, because of the economic crisis, because of so much that has happened to us – layer upon layer, crisis upon crisis – we have lost so much, particularly in human terms in this city, but we also lost to people's livelihoods. We've lost so any things, including the money that helps our City government to run, including the revenue we depend on to provide basic services to our people. $9 billion evaporated – gone in the course of just a few months. And that's what we've had to deal with here. And it was a challenge when you suddenly are missing $9 billion to come to an agreement to figure out the priorities. It's not easy, but I do want to report that we have reached an agreement with the City Council. The vote is going on later today.

It's been a challenging, but very productive process. I want to thank the City Council. I want to thank Speaker Cory Johnson, the members of the Council, the staff of the Council. Of course, want to thank everyone here at City Hall and our team at the Office of Management and Budget. Everyone worked really, really hard, literally around the clock to get this done and to make sure this was a budget that was, of course, balanced – we were going to live within our means – we were also going to do the things that matter most protect the things that matter most. I always say four things we're focused on now, your safety, your health, putting food on your table and a roof over your head. That's what we need to focus on at this moment of history given all the challenges facing us, that's what this budget does. And this budget also sets our foundation for us to continue the restart of our economy, continue our recovery, but do it in a way that just doesn't bring back a status quo that existed before, but helps us to become a fairer city. So, a lot getting done here, even with the challenges.

So, we're about to start Fiscal Year ‘21 tomorrow, and the Fiscal Year ‘21 budget will be $88.1 billion. Contrast that to the budget that I announced at the time of our annual preliminary budget presentation in February, a time that feels like a long, long time ago. At that point, the budget was projected to be $95.3 billion. We've lost so much for the new fiscal year. We lost so much during the fiscal year ending now, but we're still going to move forward together.

So, how did this happen? With some very, very tough decisions – very deep cuts to city agencies. A lot of savings had to be found. Of course, we drew on our reserves, which we never want to do, but this was the moment in history that we needed to do that. So, we had hoped – for months and months, we had hoped there would be a stimulus bill voted in Washington to help New York City, to help cities and states around the country. We thought it would happen in May. We thought it would happen in June. It hasn't happened. We don't know when it will happen. We have to move on without the stimulus. We've hoped for borrowing authority for all from Albany, did not happen. We had to move on without it. New York City on its own, doing what we could do with what we have – something New York City has had to do before in our history, we're doing again. So, we put together a budget that will work within that budget is a billion dollars in labor savings. And I want to be very clear, we're going to get to work with our labor unions to find that billion dollars. We're going to keep working on trying to get that stimulus in Washington, that borrowing authority in Albany. But if we cannot find a way, then October 1st looms as the day we would have to put into effect layoffs. And that's the last resort, to say the least. We do not want it to happen. We're going to fight hard to make sure it does not, but we did have to include it in the budget as a last resort because we had no other options. So, with all these challenges, we still found a way to get to a budget that, again, focuses on your health, your safety, putting food on your table, making sure you have a roof over your head. That's the focus. And let me give you examples – the expansion of NYC Care. NYC Care, guaranteeing that hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers who don't have health insurance or can't get health insurance will still have a primary care doctor and will only pay that which they can pay and will have health care available to them across the board – that now is coming to Manhattan and Queens. This year, in just a few months, will be in all five boroughs. The creation of specialized clinics in some of the communities that have been hardest hit by COVID and clinics that will focus on making sure we stop the spread of disease in some of the areas where it's been most prevalent – this includes Jackson Heights and the surrounding area of Central Queens; Treemont, in the Bronx; Bushwick in Brooklyn, those new clinics coming. And then of course the efforts to feed hungry, New Yorkers. I have to tell you, I've talked to so many people who do this important work. Everyone reports to me, those lines, growing, growing for people who need food. Folks who lost their paycheck, lost their livelihood, and now need food. This has been a primary focus in this budget, and I know the City Council feels the same way. The amount of money we are now committing between the efforts in the fiscal year just ending now and the new fiscal year is approaching a half-billion dollars. That's how much we have had to spend to keep New Yorkers fed, to make sure we do not have a hunger crisis in New York City – $450 million so far and I expect that that number will grow. And I'm sorry that number will grow, but we have to keep fighting to make sure people have the food they need. Their families have the food they need until the day that, thank God, one day our economy will come back, people's livelihoods will come back and we'll be able to see people go on to a much better situation.

So, this budget is about all those basics. And it's also about change, it's also about progress. It's about ensuring that we act in the spirit of social justice. I hear the voices all over the City, calling for justice. I know the City Council does too and we're acting on that call for justice. I believe it is our mission to redistribute resources, to those who need them the most, to act on our values, to say that the community has been hardest hit by the coronavirus and so many other challenges need more. And the truest act of equality is to take resources and give them to those who have the greatest need. And it's time to do the work of reform, to think deeply about where our police have to be in the future, where the NYPD has to be in the future, how we reimagine what the NYPD does to make it ever more connected to the communities it serves. We have done that with neighborhood policing and we need to go farther now in new directions that will keep the City safe, but also really create the trust that we need between the NYPD and our communities. So, look, as we've looked at the question of public safety, I had three ground rules, when we went through all these discussions with the Council to figure out the right way forward. I said, we have to keep the City safe. We have to protect the levels of patrol strength throughout our communities. And we had to make sure that we were really doing something to refocus resources on young people and on communities hardest hit, that we were reinvesting in ways that would help us address a lot of the root causes of the problems we face. I am confident that this budget does exactly that. $1 billion is shifted away from the NYPD in a variety of manners. We will be canceling the upcoming recruit class that would have started in July. And we're going to make sure that patrol strength is consistent by reassignments from administrative duty to patrol duty, by ensuring that the NYPD will make revisions in some of the functions it performs, ceding certain functions to civilian agencies. We're also going to focus on overtime. This has been an area of real concern with many agencies, but obviously with the NYPD. And so, we're going to make sure there are major reductions in overtime expenditures, use that money for other important needs. And we'll be reducing non personnel costs and contracts. All in all, a variety of actions to take a billion dollars and move it to other needs, other approaches. Now, where are we going to focus those reinvestments? Well, particularly on young people. So, summer youth programming – this has been an issue – such an important issue. Look, back in April, we didn't know what the future would bring. We didn't know whether the City would be able to reopen. We didn't know what things would look like. Now, we know that we can really energetically recreate a variety of types of summer youth programming, whether it is online or in-person, summer youth employment, or community centers and youth centers. So, we're going to ensure summer programming for over 100,000 New York City young. That's going to be an investment of $115 million. Another $116 million will go to education. Another $134 million will go to social services and family services in the communities hit hardest by the coronavirus. And another crucial piece – so, this is something I felt very deeply about. You remember back in my State of the City of remarks in February, before the coronavirus. I said, let's focus on young people, let’s focus on community centers, recreation centers for young people, let's invest in a way that gives young people more positive options. This is why I think it's so important that we take money from the NYPD’s capital program and put it into the needs of our young people and our communities, and particularly young people who are in public housing.

So, $450 million, will go to youth centers and recreation centers focused on communities of greatest need. And this will include money redirected from the plan for a 100th – excuse me, for a new 116th Precinct in Southeast Queens, that money will be redirected to a new Roy Wilkins Community Center in Jamaica, in Roy Wilkins Park. Also, $87 million will be moved to create widespread broadband service in NYCHA for families that don't have it now, that don't have access to the internet. We want to make sure that families and particularly young people are able to bridge that historic digital divide. We're going to invest to answer, to give young people and families the service they deserve in that developments that don't have it now. So, this is real redistribution. This is taking resources and putting them where they're needed most with a particular focus on our young people. 

So, the very important while we are doing this work, many, many New York City graduating high school seniors have a whole different thing on their mind. Their families are thinking about tonight, the virtual graduation ceremony, never before done, obviously nothing on this scale is ever been done before. And we want to honor the class of 2020 that have gone through so much, fought so hard, fought their way to graduation, no matter what was thrown at them, we want to honor them tonight. There will be that extraordinary citywide telecast to show our graduating seniors we care about them. There'll be a number of special guests and performers, and there will also be two keynote speakers and I'm going to announce them now. One deserves the title legend in New York City legend the pride of the Bronx, she makes us proud with everything she has achieved in her career. And the other is famous for his achievements on the baseball diamond, not someone we think of first and foremost coming from our City, but he had the wisdom to become the fiancé of the New York City legend from the Bronx, J-Lo and A-Rod will be our keynote speakers for the virtual graduation. We thank them both, and it's going to be exciting to not miss it tonight at 7:00 PM. We want to thank PIX channel 11 for a broadcasting live. Thank you so much. And you can also watch online NYCclassof2020.com. And again, congratulations graduates, we are very, very proud of you.

Finally, I do what we do every day, our indicators. And as we're dealing with the budget and so many other challenges, this is a great day in terms of our indicators. And it's attributed to all of you for the hard work you have done. So, indicator number one, daily number of people admitted to hospitals for a suspected COVID-19 threshold is 200, today it is 40 patients. Number two, daily number of people in Health + Hospitals, ICU threshold of 375 today's report, 301 patients. And most important, percentage of people testing citywide positive for COVID-19, threshold to 15 percent, today down to one percent, which is wonderful. Congratulations, New York City. A few words in Spanish –

Tuesday, June 30, 2020

MAYOR DE BLASIO EXPANDS ANTIBODY TESTING FOR NEW YORKERS - DO NOT GET TESTED BY BIOREFERENCE SEE WHY BELOW


Bioreference appointments can be made on this site or by calling 1-888-279-0967 
(DO NOT GET TESTED BY BIOREFERENCE - SEE WHY BELOW)

As the City continues to expand antibody testing for New Yorkers, Mayor Bill de Blasio today announced that free antibody testing is now available at NYC Health + Hospitals Gotham Community Health Centers across the city. Through a partnership with BioReference labs, the City will also conduct its second antibody survey at community testing sites in the five boroughs. Tests will be available by appointment through Friday, July 24th, expanding on the 47,000 New Yorkers who were tested in round 1.

"So many New Yorkers are wondering whether they've had the virus, or if they've exposed their own families," said Mayor Bill de Blasio "While antibody tests are not a fix-all solution, they will give our communities the knowledge they need to help us safely reopen our city.”

Antibody testing will be offered on an appointment-only basis from Monday, June 29 to Friday, July 24. Tests are free for all City residents over the age of 18, and available at the below sites Monday- Friday from 12:00 PM-8:00 PM or Saturday through Sunday 8:00 AM-12:00 PM. Appointments can be made on this site or by calling 1-888-279-0967:

Brooklyn
Brooklyn P.S. 12
430 Howard Avenue

Queens
Queens High School of Teaching
74-20 Commonwealth Blvd

Manhattan
Gregorio Luperon High School for Science and Mathematics 
501 West 165th Street
 

Bronx
James Monroe HS Campus Annex
1551 East 172nd Street

Staten Island
Former St. John Villa High School
57 Cleveland Place

Free, walk-in antibody testing is now available at H+H Gotham Community Health Centers across the city. Additional information, including hours of operation, can be found here.

Brooklyn
Cumberland, 100 North Portland Avenue
Ida G. Israel, 2925 W 19th Street
Jonathan Williams Houses, 333 Roebling Street
East New York, 2094 Pitkin Avenue

Queens
Woodside, 50-53 Newtown Road

Manhattan
Gouverneur, 227 Madison Street
Dyckman, 175 Nagle Avenue
Sydenham, 264 W 118 Street

Bronx
Belvis, 545 East 142nd Street
Morrisania, 1225 Gerard Avenue

Staten Island
165 Vanderbilt Avenue

EDITOR'S NOTE:

Here is the reason not to get tested by BioReference.
I took an anti body test from BioReference on May 16th. I still do not have the results of my test because I would not agree to the very long list of terms one has to agree to when you try to get your results. It states that you become a patient of Bioreference, that your information is not secure because BioReference uses third parties which are not mentioned, the agreement can be changed at any time, and there is a paragraph about payment of services. The anti body test is priced at $82.00 on their website.

I told this to Mayor de Blasio during a press conference, and he said his office would get me the results. The mayor's office tried, but could not unless I agree to BioReferences terms, which I will not. 

People are getting rich off the testing, and the CEO of BioReference has been accused by the SEC of dumping stock two tears ago when the company stock he owned went up in price.