00:00We're proud to be the host of the United Nations General Assembly, and we're proud because what this event represents
00:08is also a recognition of the fact that we are all part of something larger than ourselves.
00:13We are having countries from across the world come here, and I think as you've heard it from many who've
00:19come to this podium today, it is in the hopes and in the spirit of international cooperation.
00:23Now, my job as the mayor is to ensure that the impact to New Yorkers is as minimal as possible
00:29in terms of their ability to go from point A to point B, and we will never be satisfied with
00:35what we are delivering.
00:37We'll always look to make it a little bit easier each and every day.
00:39Today I come to you on the day we've filled in our 200,000th pothole.
00:43So it's making sure the streets are smoother, people can move across them.
00:47And I think to what both I and the commissioner have also said is that people, encouraging people to use
00:52mass transit in this time, because it is going to be serious gridlock over the course of those days.
01:13The conversations that I've had with the PD have been purely on standards.
01:17standard preparations for this event, as well as standard preparations for keeping New Yorkers safe.
01:23And I'm fully confident in our police department's ability to do so, and I'm fully confident in their ability to
01:28do so each and every day, even outside of the General Assembly.
01:32Before we hear next, is your name on the other, please?
01:34Eric, this is Christy from ABC.
01:37As a follow-up, maybe...
01:39Please.
01:40So private students, the office is going to land in Newark, apparently not at JFK, I don't know.
01:45Is that a security decision, or should we read something into that?
01:50And then secondly, does the presence of the Prime Minister, President Trump, and the President of Iran, all within the
01:57same couple of days,
01:58how does that add to the complexity or perhaps your approach?
02:08So each movement of each head of state or foreign minister or dignitary is coordinated based on logistics,
02:17and you shouldn't read anything into any particular movement at all, except that these are all collective decisions to maximize
02:26security for everyone.
02:28And also, remember, 200 dignitaries from 200 countries coming here and moving around the city presents a big coordination challenge.
02:38Every year for the last 81 years, there have been geopolitical hotspots whose governments have come to New York City
02:47presenting just that sort of issue.
02:50So this is no different. Last year was the 80-year anniversary, and there was a lot of turmoil around
02:57the world.
02:57The whole point of the UN is to try to work through that diplomatically, and as you've heard from our
03:03commissioner and from my colleagues here, as well as the mayor,
03:07we do that to keep people safe, no matter who you are, visitor or resident,
03:13no matter what sort of instability is happening around the world.
03:17In New York, you come, you talk about it, and you move around the city safely, and we keep the
03:22city residents safe as well.
03:25Welcome over here. Hi, I'm Mark Brown. I'm seeing that.
03:28I wanted to ask you about demonstrations, specifically for one time this event, Yonka was here.
03:33Can you speak about what that day would look like in terms of the protests, what, you know,
03:39if you can get me in contact with some of those organizations and how many of them have been there?
03:43And on the flip side, in terms of air and warm-ups, with those demonstrations,
03:49how much of a challenge would that present when you have some of the characters in the city of New
03:54York City?
03:56So the NYPD, as you know, handles thousands of protests and demonstrations
04:02each year, and there is no organization better trained to facilitate First Amendment activity.
04:10As I mentioned in my prepared remarks,
04:14obviously every year around the U.N. General Assembly time,
04:19we do see an uptick in the amount of protest activity,
04:24and this year I do not expect to be any different.
04:28So the NYPD is prepared to work with organizers of protests and facilitate First Amendment activity.
04:38And as always, we have no tolerance for violence or destruction of property or breaking the law.
04:47We'll go to Marsha, Kramer, CBS.
04:51Commissioner, I wanted to follow up on the idea of the demonstrations.
04:54I'm wondering if, first of all, any of these organizations that are planning demonstrations
04:59have had to get permits from the NYPD,
05:02and also are there going to be demonstration areas that they will be limited to
05:08so that they will not be able to get directly near the U.N. or directly near the Israeli embassy
05:14or directly near Gracie Manchin where tomorrow is going to be there?
05:17So, yes, we work very closely with organizations that facilitate protests,
05:25both on permitting, on logistics.
05:29Most of that work is done through our Community Affairs Bureau,
05:33which is actually the people who are on site often first with those groups helping to facilitate First Amendment activity.
05:42As I mentioned in my remarks, there will be frozen zones, as there are every year,
05:49where vehicles cannot access and pedestrians cannot access,
05:54but we are not planning anything for this year that is out of the ordinary,
05:59i.e. different in terms of those frozen zones than what we've done in years past.
06:03Is there any interest rates to how many groups have asked the permits?
06:07Do we have the number?
06:08Marsha, we can get that to you, how many have asked so far.
06:12Are you expecting protests every day?
06:16Yes, we're definitely expecting protests every day.
06:19I can tell you we're expecting multiple protests every day,
06:23and we will get you the number of permits and organizations that we've worked with so far.
06:29All right.
06:30We have time for one more question.
06:31We'll go to the Wall Street Journal.
06:35Hi, Mayor.
06:37I'm wondering if next week can you plan on meeting with President Trump on the town
06:41or any other foreign dignitaries while you're here for the General Assembly?
06:46No, I will have a few meetings that we're in the process of setting up at this time
06:51that we'll share more details about soon.
06:53When it comes to the president, we continue to have a conversation about how best to deliver for this city,
06:59and that is a conversation that has been done in person, it's been done over the phone,
07:03and it will continue so long as either of us have the ability to deliver for this city.
07:07I want to be clear, there are no known specific or credible threats against the United Nations General Assembly
07:14or our city at this time.
07:16However, our security posture will be elevated out of an abundance of caution.
07:21This is standard procedure.
07:23New Yorkers can expect to see a visible increase in officers deployed across our city,
07:27as well as a heightened police presence surrounding the United Nations building.
07:32New Yorkers on the east side of Manhattan should expect to see a whole of department response.
07:37with NYPD assets deployed on the ground, in the air, and on our waterways.
07:42I know that for many New Yorkers, the General Assembly is more synonymous with questions around traffic.
07:47When the world visits New York City, our streets are inevitably impacted.
07:52New York City DOT has issued a gridlock alert beginning on September 21st and ending on September 25th.
08:00There will be rolling pedestrian and vehicle closures both surrounding the UN building and across the city as delegations travel.
08:08At certain times, portions of the FDR will be closed.
08:11New Yorkers can also expect disruptions to ferry service during this period of time.
08:15I want to encourage everyone traveling in Manhattan to use public transportation wherever possible
08:21and to allow for extra travel time.
08:23And I want to thank New Yorkers in advance for their patience.
08:26For additional updates on this event, I encourage New Yorkers to sign up for Notify NYC
08:31by texting NOTIFYNYC to 692692.
08:35Both the NYPD and NYSOM will also be sharing real-time changes via their social media accounts.
08:42Our city has hosted the UN General Assembly many times before, and we have been able to do so
08:48thanks to the dedication and hard work of the NYPD and thousands of city workers.
08:53I want to thank in advance every member of the PD, every single person who has devoted themselves
08:57to protecting their fellow New Yorkers, and every city worker who is working to make this event a success.
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