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Hello everyone and thanks for joining us here on News 2 The Bronx. We're Local Matters. I'm Amanda Bossert, and this is Ask the borough president. We're taking your questions for the next hour, so grab your phone right now and dial into the number at the bottom of your screen. That is 718-861-6800. And with that we'd like to welcome back to our studios once again Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson. Always great to have you with us here. Thank you. Good to be back. Happy New Year. Happy New Year. What a year it's already been, only 4 weeks in, so a lot to get to. Tonight as we wait for some of those calls to come in, I'll kick off the conversation off the top tonight, uh, talking about that migrant shelter that is now set to open here in the Bronx. I know just moments ago you were at a community board meeting where that is the topic of conversation right now. 2200 bed facility to house single male migrants set to open in the South Bronx, Mott Haven specifically. You've been vocally opposed to this. Yes I have. What do you think is the latest status update on where these plans stand right now? Do you. Think that the pushback these plans have been receiving could ultimately impact whether or not this facility opens. Yes, I hope that the administration City Hall is listening to the residents that are at the community board one meeting tonight, but also to all of the opposition that they've heard in the last several weeks where many of us found out about this on the news. Um, I was notified by a phone call on January 10th, uh, from City Hall about the announcement of closures throughout the city of New York, the large hk. I said, OK, great. I know. Roy Bennett, I know Randall's Island Hall Street. OK, where's the closures for the Bronx? What's happening with our family shelters or single adult migrant facilities? What's happening? Oh no, madam borough president, we're opening a 2200 bed migrant facility for single adult men, essentially transferring the single adult men from other boroughs to the Bronx and the South Bronx at that that has been oversaturated, uh, disinvested in for many, many years, uh, it is an area that we want to thrive and strive and not continue to be. Over saturated and so my hope is is that this contract was not executed uh the site is not being retrofitted for 2200 beds which are cots because if you build it, we'll fill it, right? And as the city talks about an overall reduction in the single adult population and also the wave that's leaving the system because of this White House administration all of that says that there is a decrease so why are we purposing this to 2200 instead of looking at 2200 manufacturing. Jobs which are career pathways that young people that you know many of our struggling families need access to jobs and that area is zoned for manufacturing so that's a real possibility you know we posed your concerns to the mayor when he was here last week asking him about why the Bronx he says because it's an area where you can centralize all the resources, uh, job opportunities, legal services for potential migrants. What are are your responses to that line of argument? If we tried we could find another location that's more suitable to address the issue and does not further inundate the Bronx. So no, I don't believe that centralizing services, the only option that this site provides compared to Randall's Island and Floyd Bennett is that it's a building. It's not outdoor tents. Remember a year ago when they wanted to open up orchard. Each parking lot and we said no it's a flood zone it's a hurricane zone and no one listened and then they came they fell back and so I feel like they're not listening to the people on the ground we're not experts in any of this we're leading and learning at the same time, but I realized that that there is a possibility that this could go through if they do what they want and their intent on this. They don't care what we say and they'll just keep dumping on the Bronx but we have to stand up because if we don't stand for something we'll fall for anything. The Bronx needs programs, jobs, opportunities. No one is talking about any public safety plans, anything that's gonna support the residents, the families, the businesses in that area. No one's talking about adding more offices to the 40th precinct, supporting the business community there, none of that. There is no plan except to open this site, and that I cannot accept. I will always work with the administration. I've been a team player. The Bronx has done a lot over these 3 years, but I will not support a project that does not make sense for the Bronx and does not make sense for the South Bronx. As of right now have they communicated with you when it is set to open and then given your stance on this project, what happens between now and then? I have my suspicions initially I was told the end of February, and I know this administration prides itself on 3 year contracts, so that's another issue you say temporary, temporary. To me is 3 weeks or 3 months, not 3 years, and so I find fault with that that we're talking about this is just temporary borough president no there's no guarantee we have shelters right now in this borough that were temporary 20 years ago, right? We are the only intake facility for homeless families coming in the system at PA that was supposed to be temporary too 20 years ago and so there is a history with City Hall perpetually. Not being truthful and being honest with the people, if you engaged us last year, over a year ago that you were even looking at this site, I'm not saying that we would not be opposed at this stage, but at least there will be an understanding that you respect us, that you're gonna come to us and talk to us about what your plans are and engage us as members of this community, taxpayers, homeowners and residents that live here work here and raise our families. We know where you stand on this issue. It's one that we are gonna continues from the. As it continues to develop, I do want to expand tonight on the issue of the migrant crisis here in the city and touch on these ICE raids that so many have been talking about in the last week or so. Have you learned of any potential immigration enforcement that's gone on here in the borough specifically since the start of the new administration? So you can, I, I still am just in awe that this is only week two and so much has happened with executive orders and lots of changes at the federal level and over the weekend we were getting. You know static that there was some potential ICE activity uh in terms of individuals walking down commercial corridors asking for identification, uh, even as early as today potentially in one of our areas near a school nothing confirmed but still the anxiety is there. I worry about parents sending their children to school attendance is going to be impacted. We have to prepare and we're working with Immigration Coalition legal service providers, Mayor's office of Immigrant Affairs to make sure that we. Can equip residents with information accurate information we don't want pandemonium and hysteria, but we wanna make sure that we equip our families with the information, understanding that ICE has boundaries they cannot come into certain places without a warrant signed off by a judge, right? There there's a legal process to this that has to be followed, um, and so we worry we saw what happened in Newark, New Jersey, and the mayor was on the news talking about that where a US citizen who was a veteran. Was picked up and so it's concerning for a lot of our families and we're talking about a majority of individuals who are not criminals who are here that want that pathway to citizenship that want to work that wanna be productive members of our community give them that opportunity. This administration is harsh but as I said to many, he's doing everything he said he would do when people show you who they are, believe them, and this is only week two, and this is the environment in which we're working and living in today. You talk about unconfirm. Reports as recently as today of some ICE activity near a school and I think those sensitive locations, schools, hospitals, churches has really been at the forefront of this conversation and this wave of fear that so many immigrant communities are feeling right now. Now the message from Mayor Adams's administration has been carry on as you will go to school, go to church, go to the hospital. Do you agree with that messaging? Do you have a different message for immigrant families here in the Bronx? I want our immigrant families. And undocumented residents and families to go about their normal business as best they can, but I can only imagine what it's like to live in fear and I worry about them going into the shadows of darkness and so any mother any father, they have to make a decision about what's best for themselves and their families and their safety. They may not want to send their child to school because they may not be there when their child returns and as parents and as leaders we have to understand that we have to be sympathetic. What I would rather do is make sure that there are spaces where they feel comfortable where we can bring them in churches, houses of worship, schools, community centers, you know, safe spaces where we can be assured that their safety is our primary goal and we can give them information, give them resources so our plan as elected officials in the Bronx are to occupy the blocks to go to heavily trafficked areas, foot traffic, pedestrian traffic, commercial corridors and share information. Because we don't expect everyone to come out to know your rights events we get it right and so there's a fear of going into buildings that have a metal detector. I get it, right? Uh, it's because it's, it could be happening so randomly and that's why people are so concerned but you know, of course I want everyone to live as normal as you can, but I also know that you need to be safe and so if you are in need of support we've already had people reach out to us please call our office we will connect you with a lawyer for free pro bono. Gratis free uh to make sure that you can get a uh free legal services and legal advice so that you can figure out your next steps. Such a great reminder of the resources that do exist out there, so no to contact the borough president's office if anything on the topic of the executive orders that we've seen from this new presidential administration, one of them, uh, aiming to undo birthright citizenship. We already saw our attorney general push back on that and then a judge temporarily blocked that but are you at all concerned about. That moving forward and the impact that could have on the country and future generations absolutely I have the utmost confidence in our attorney General AG James is no joke as she's doing with other attorney generals across the country and they're going to fight in court, you know, we always have the, the law on our side, right? The Fourth Amendment is a constitutional right, and I think our president needs to go back and look at the 14th Constitution and the amendment, uh, and know that if you are born. In the United States you are a citizen, right? You can't take that away through an executive order and so we have to push back and we use the, the, the sword of the the the law to push back on that. We fight in court and we will win when we fight we win, right? And so I fully believe that we will be victorious, but this is just one of many executive orders and one of many things that we'll continue to follow as they unfold and ask the borough president, just getting started here on News 12 The Bronx this evening, call in with your question. We'll be right back.

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Welcome back to Ask the borough president here on Newspell the Bronx with Bronx BP Vanessa Gibson. 718-861-6800 is the number to dial if you have a question for BP Gibson tonight, and I believe we have some callers on the line, so time to get to some of those questions right now, and we'll kick things off with Ms. Buchanan, who has dialed in from Highbridge tonight. Ms. Buchanan, thanks so much for your call and what's your question for the borough president? My question is that I live in a complex Fulton Terrace, and our building has not had any aspects of repairs the multiple molding, the unlocked doors, the unsafety elevators, and we've been fighting in court and we're trying to find out what do the residents have rights on to mitigate these effects. Something we hear all too often on this show and I actually am very familiar with that building. I know tenants that live there at Fulton Terrace, and I used to represent that part of the Bronx in the city council, and I really think that legal action is necessary against this landlord. Uh, he has been negligent. There was a bad fire there a couple of years ago when I was leaving the city council. Uh, someone had to jump off the. Terrorists just to escape um and then since then there have been numerous issues and I know the tenants association there has organized and there's you know a 7A uh procedure that you can take action against the landlord, uh, legal services, legal aid, you know, all the legal defense organizations are are available to help in situations like this, but they really have to take legal action. It is unacceptable that this landlord has been negligent the way he has, and this is a prime example of what happens in instances where tenants are calling, calling, calling 311. They expect an answer and a response and for the situation to get better, it usually doesn't if there's a response at all and then you have fires, right? That is the ultimate end. Result and we don't wanna get to that in Fulton Terrace so we definitely wanna talk to the tenant leadership there um so that we can see where they are in the process of working with attorneys because I really think legal action is necessary. You mentioned, uh, legal action but also fire specifically and and trying to mitigate the risk and what a start to the year we've had here in the Bronx. Hundreds of Bronx sites forced out of their homes after the streak of fires that we've seen. And in some of the cases, tenants telling us we called 311. There were open violations. In one case in particular we saw similarities between a recent fire and then fires at buildings owned by the same landlords years prior. What more can the city be doing to hold negligent landlords accountable proactively and not reactively after something like that happens? Evit the landlord. If you have documented history of neglect, housing court actions where the city either is in litigation. You know there are ways in which we can take buildings away from landlords. We produced the 10 worst landlords of New York City every single year comes to the public advocate's office, right? And we know who they are. This particular landlord of this building in Allerton also had two previous fires at two other buildings a year ago. Unacceptable. The residents were crying out for help in this building at 98 units over 300 people that have been displaced because of a full vacation. On January 10th and then after that January 15th, another fire on the west side of Fordham Heights another full vacate this consistently happens. We had a bad fire last night in Brooklyn. There's always these fires that displace families and disrupt their normalcy working class people, people that have to go to work, their kids go to school, and now they're in hotels, they're in family life centers, they're in SROs, they're all over the city and because the Bronx is at capacity with commercial hotels when these fires happen. I am completely outraged because many of them are not even housed in hotels in the Bronx so what an insult to say to a client, a tenant, sorry there's a fire in your apartment now we have to move you to another borough and then expect you to get to work and get to school and provide your own transportation, not acceptable. It has been a nightmare for the residents of Wallace and the residents of Heath and I wanna acknowledge their pain and I wanna acknowledge that the trauma that they have endured, uh, and let them know that we're not leaving them be. officials are all working together to support we've identified a location on Allerton Avenue where we are receiving items, baby items, baby food, pet food, clothing, outerwear, footwear for the families, a lot of children, a lot of families with pets. You can't go into a hotel with pets. You can't go into shelters with pets. What do you do with those clients? We know these things. We've been through many, many fires. It's like I can write a manual on this because I've been through so much and I've learned from every experience, including. Parks which we recognize 3 years and so at what point do we say as a city that we are not going to allow unscrupulous negligent landlords to still possess these buildings now again to all the good landlords out there stay being good keep providing a service because we want to lift them up because not all landlords are bad, but these are not good and we need to make sure that there is a system in place to take those buildings away they try to evict us. We need to evict them in the short term. What else can we be doing to provide some semblance of relief to these poor families who have nowhere else to go? It's either shelter or find a relative it seems like at this point with the hotel stays expired, right? Many of the families have found loved ones and friends to stay with and still accessing HPD services. Uh, there will be some clients at Wallace that may not be able to return because of the damage of their apartments or because of the severity that it will take just to repair. We have someone that's not worked with us and so to me the expectation that he and his team will repair these apartments is very minimal. I feel like the city will have to go in and do it, but there have to be opportunities where we do find permanent relocation for clients and help them out as best we can. It is ongoing. We are not leaving them. This is a work in progress, but also the trauma, the counseling services. Thank you to Astor for coming in to help the families' legal aid, legal services, HCR is involved. So this is all hands on deck because we're going to make sure that the families of Wallace and Heath get the services that they rightfully deserve and a good reminder that it really is so multi-layered, multi-face yes it is. It's not just the physical need, the homes, the necessities, but also the psychological support throughout something like this as well. All right, well, the conversation will continue here on Ask the borough president right after this quick break. A reminder 718-861-6800 is the number to dial if you have a question for the BP. We'll be right back after this.

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Cause our health tip this month is recognized in February as Heart Disease Awareness Month. Uh, recognizing premature death due to heart disease has been increasing unfortunately. Early detection helps reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes. Our regular blood pressure screening as well as screening for cholesterol and blood glucose and body mass index combined with a healthy lifestyle can significantly reduce the burden of heart disease. So we want to recognize that. I do believe we wear red, my favorite color, to recognize our Heart Disease Awareness month absolutely and always an important, an important reminder to go and make sure that you're doing your screenings. It's you know the beginning of the year, best time to get back to those doctors appointments as we also look ahead to February, we're also recognizing Black History Month and so much black history has been made here in the borough and your office hoping to celebrate it later on in February later on in February we're going to recognize both. Black History Month as well as Dominican Heritage Month, uh, we are going to just really highlight a lot of our African American and Dominican American leaders, uh, just celebrate and come together and celebrate the, uh, cultural diversity and heritage of who we are as a community and as a people and so be on the lookout for that we will share the information and make sure that everyone gets all the details. I know we're gonna touch on this in a little bit in in more detail but one event that I am looking forward to. In February is the return of Saver the Bronx after a four year hiatus, we get to spotlight some of our restaurants across the borough and get some deals if you want to dine out too. Yes, we have over 40 businesses that have already signed up to participate. Save of the Bronx 2025. Bronx Restaurant Week is coming back bigger than and better than ever before. February 18th through February 23rd. The deadline to sign up is this Friday, January 3. First, please visit www. IoThe Bronx.com for more information. Save the Bronx, Bronx Week, February 18th, February 23rd. So already more than 40 restaurants on the menu, so to speak, and there's still time to get your restaurant on it if you want to participate as well. Can I ask why now after such a hiatus? I would imagine that was put on pause because of the pandemic. Something we were like anxious to start, we just wanted to do it right. We work with BXC DC and Bronx Tourism Council and we wanna boost our economy. We wanna boost tourism. We wanna highlight the beautiful cultural diversity we represent in the Bronx from our eateries, our restaurants, our delicacies, you know, beautiful uh cuisines that just really make a difference whether it's City Island, whether it's Little Italy, it's Riverdale, it's all parts of the world have it all to enjoy. We'll be right back right after this.

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Welcome back to Ask the Borough President here on News of the Bronx with Bronx BP Vanessa Gibson. 718-861-6800 is the number to dial in case you have a question for the BP that you'd like to ask her tonight, and I believe we have a few callers lined up ready to do just that. So let's dive into that with Trisha who has called in from Morris Heights. Trisha, thanks so much for your call and what's your question this evening? Hi, good evening. My question is, as someone that currently works in the social service spectrum, coming from MIA shelter to family shelter now to supportive, seeing where a lot of families have been in and out of the shelter system due to the vouchers. Not paying the city, not paying the landlords, so it's a repetitive for families to end back up in the situation that they are. New York City is very getting very, very expensive. How do we assist with our clients to help them with that transition and not come back in the same situation? Because there are no apartments, the landlords don't wanna accept certain vouchers because they've been duped previously from HRA not paying them, clients not paying them. It's a, a repetitive how do we, how do we make this transition, this system work for clients that are currently in shelter right now. OK, Trisha, thanks so much for that question. It's a great question to vouchers and getting of the shelter system long term. So assuming that you know she works for a not for. Profit that runs one of our family shelters or you know HASA or MICA clients those are all acronyms and terms, um but the housing specialists and assistants that are in these locations are the ones really tasked with helping clients but also clients have to help themselves too, right? There's a lot of responsibility put on clients, but it's based on uh the availability of some of these protection programs. I call them safety net programs, FEPS vouchers, SEPS, you know, and other forms of just income rental assistance. Uh, first, it is a crime to discriminate based on your source of income, and if you are a Section 8 client you have FEPS, you have SEPS, that is a source of income and so we have litigated, uh, and taken, you know, landlords to court. We get tied up in litigation, of course, when it comes to discrimination, um, and we had a major civil penalty on, uh, Parkchester, right, the management company, uh, in the East Bronx that discriminate on many of their clients as well, right. Million dollars civil penalty which is a lot um and so that has happened that there is a precedent but I think for us it's really about educating uh the not for profits on the availability of what resources are there because they in turn can help clients all of that critical work is how fast you get clients out of temporary housing into long term permanent housing, right? And so if that is not working that will only mean that clients languish in the system even longer so I would love to keep talking. I'm certain I know. The not for profit that you may work for but definitely we always try to support not for profits because they are the ones that run most of our shelters. Most transitional housing is not run by the city they're run by not for profits. So shout out to the not for profits that do the work and are really trying to make a difference and help clients and families. Have you seen in your experience there being maybe one or a handful of factors that you can point to that really make a difference between someone staying in the shelter system or having access to that voucher or having access to that next opportunity? Yeah, I've had lots of cases over the years. I think you have to have, you know, clients that really understand that you're there to help them. Many of them are down on their luck they are traumatized because they're in and out of the system they're recycled back and forth. It's really sad with children and I think a lot of the work of the not for profits is to support them, to meet them where they are, but to also help them through the system and the goal, like the caller said, is to not return to get you out into permanent housing but. Sure that you can be self-sufficient, you can live independent you don't fall behind in your rent and then go back into the homelessness system, right? That's always the goal to keep them out, right? You leave and you stay out, but there are many times, you know, you're working at the federal poverty level or your your wages are stagnant, so there's a possibility you lose your job, you lose your income, you fall back. There are lots of factors that will, you know, can occur that will really determine the outcome sometimes of how quickly. Able to move out and stay out, but I think the goal for us is to always make sure that we have those success stories. A family that was in a shelter that now has a brand new apartment, the greatest gift we can give them is stability. A key to your apartment means you're independent, you have power, you are empowered. It means that you can raise your families and with a roof over your head and not have to worry. That's like the greatest gift and so every time you see me at ribbon cuttings, it is because I'm so excited because we welcome new. Families and we do that as a borough but we don't have enough we have to accelerate housing we have too many families in shelters and temporary housing now and not enough brand new construction housing that we really need to meet the demand. Took the words right out of my mouth. I was gonna say a dream for so many families. It just comes down to that opportunity and increasing that. I do want to get to another caller that we have on the line. Rose joining us from Class and Point this evening. Rose, thanks so much for your call and what's your question for the BP tonight? OK, so, um, my question is that I live in Classen Point. I'm born and raised in the Bronx. We have a problem with people dropping cars off and abandoning them. I have an RV that's been sitting on the corner of Newman and Gildersle for 6 months. I have a car right across the street from me on Newman Avenue that's been there close to a year. I've called 311 to report this and uh we have no issue, you know, we haven't gotten any results. I live here. I'm here 46 years. I raised my daughter and my grandchildren. I take pride in my community. I come out, I sweep the streets, and I still see these cars sitting there, and I call when I call 311, they say that, you know, it's not a priority, but it's a priority to me because This is my neighborhood. I live here. You bringing it to our attention so that we can hopefully get it addressed. I just wanna make sure that the BP has enough time to respond. Thank you so much for caring and always looking out for your neighbors. That's exactly what we need in our borough across the borough. Um, we will reach out to the 43rd priests and DLT and sanitation. So there are lots of sometimes complicated issues when it comes to derelict. Cars I call them, those are cars that are left vacant, they're abandoned. They may or may not have license plates and tags on them and so there's a process by which from the 311 call that call should have gone to sanitation, right? and then sanitation gets the ticket and then they should have had a process to actually pick up and tow that vehicle or that RV. I mean we have trailers that get abandoned or trucks just incredible in residential communities. Like these are people that purposefully do these things. I get it. Uh, Class and Po is beautiful like many neighborhoods, so we wanna make sure that we'll get, you know, her information and we will follow up directly with DSNY. I speak to them almost every day and I send them lots of visuals and pictures because this borough needs to be better and they do great work, but even as they do this work we have to have people buying into it as well and so we can have a system where you know. Folks are just dumping cars and do whatever they want and thinking that's OK. That is why in this budget now FY 26, you're going to see a big announcement from me on major funding the sanitation, um, and they probably don't know it but they'll hear it now, but it really is for sanitation for cameras because I want to focus on illegal dumping. People complain to me a lot about that and you know you have to catch people in the act and certainly when people. Purposefully drive and come into the neighborhoods and dump trash all over and think it's OK. No, it's not OK. We are coming for you, right? And so cameras will do that. So I'm really looking forward to working with DSNY because it's not acceptable. We will follow up and if need be we'll involve the 43 as well, which is right in the area. Uh, since you're talking about cameras, had you heard any of these rumblings about DSNY potentially launching drones to be able to better enforce certain streets? Uh, what are your thoughts on. Exploring that path because that's what they say right now it's just conversations, nothing really set in stone. Yeah, I've not been informed officially from anyone at City Hall or the borough from DSNY but I did hear that on the news too and I was like, wow, we're using drones for everything. 2025 I guess, right? And you know, and again I know technology is great we embrace it, but we also have to get used to it. I would be very concerned about drones doing that because if you. Remember a couple months ago when we had the drone sightings like around Yankee Stadium and you know people are worrying like who's surveilling me like who's watching me right? You, you think all this negative stuff because that's just what sometimes is done, right? We surveil people that's not right. It violates our rights, um, so I would be concerned about that and I would definitely want to understand what the plan is, uh, if it's a pilot where it's starting, what the goal is, and you know how much money. We're investing because at the end of the day I feel like that could be taking away jobs too and I don't want that to happen because we still need bodies on the ground that's always a concern with the uh AI part of the conversation for sure real quick before we go to commercial, I wanna get to a quick question from Gregory who is dialed in from the Grand Concourse. Greg, thanks so much and what's your question tonight? And if you don't mind asking it quickly just so we have enough time for the BP to respond appropriately. Sure, thank you. So my question is with the Concourse Multiplex closing last year in May. Uh, what would be your plan to collaborate with elected officials and other local orcs to advocate for another space for cinema in our borough? Great question. So that's already a work in progress. We are working with the landlord of the Concourse Plaza Mall. We were devastated to learn that that movie theater closed and they closed to others in Queens at the same time. Um, we are working with other organizations that will likely provide similar, uh, cinema service. but you know, think about the world we're living in. People don't go to the movies anymore, so we really have to get back to that. There has to be a clientele that gets back to physically going to the movies because right now we're sitting with Bay Plaza. That's the only one we have, which we love, but we hope that there'll be an announcement this year on a new tenant at the Concourse Plaza 161st Street. So many people looking forward to that announcement and what's to come with it. Stay tuned right here to News 12 The Bronx. More ask the borough president right after this quick break.

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Welcome back to Ask the borough president with Bronx BP Vanessa Gibson here on News 12, the Bronx. Your last chance to ask her a question this evening is right now 718-861-6800 is the number to dial, but I have a question about subway safety, something that we talk about all too often here on this show, uh, since the last time we've been talking about it, we've now seen more action from the governor. She's trying to get two officers on board. Every overnight train, and then right after we see that announcement made this weekend here in the Bronx we see a 25 year old man stabbed multiple times on board a subway. uh, what do you think about the governor's approach? Is there anything more that you want to see done beyond police presence and police power? Right? I recognize the governor and mayor's leadership on police presence and deploying more officers, but remember we don't have additional offices for them. At number one, so they will be probably taken from the boroughs and put into the transit system in order to meet that demand. The state will pay for it. I hear that, but I think we also have to look at the root issues of what we keep dealing with, which are people who are mentally unstable that need access to mental health care and wrap around services likely uh unsheltered right homeless and just in need of. Help and unfortunately accessing weapons they have weapons on them they have knives they have guns they have weapons and they're using them uh the unprovoked attacks are scary and what you're seeing on our subway system, right? I will never forget the images of a woman being burned to death on a subway. I have never seen that in my entire life. That was scary in itself, but all of the multiple infractions. This is the call to action and attention. The millions of subway riders and commuters deserve safe subways, right? And we wanna make sure that they see that we're making an effort and we're not being reactionary, but we're trying to prevent crime from happening in the first place. Now crime overall is down as a city and I get that, including in transit, but one infraction is one too many, and if that is your loved one, that is your child, your husband, wife. Spouse, you are pissed off that your your loved one was pushed onto a subway platform or stabbed in an unprovoked attack, right? And so it's personal to all of us because it can happen to any of us and so I applaud the governor and the mayor for their efforts, but we have to keep doing more we have to really talk about getting individuals into care and I know there are proposals now before the state when it comes to, you know, just different ways. Was to mandate individuals going into programs and that will have to go through the legislative process, but I look forward to being a part of any conversations as it relates to the Bronx our subway system working with NYPD with transit with our transit leaders because we have to make sure that our communities are safe. Yeah, I wanna get to another caller that we have on the line this evening. Carrie has called in from the South Bronx. Carrie, thanks so much for the call and what's your question for the borough president tonight? Yes, hi, um, my son goes to South Bronx Literacy Academy. It's the first school in the state that's designed to help kids with dyslexia. The problem that I'm having in a few other parents is we are entitled to bussing, but we're not getting it. It's 4 months into the school year and I still don't have bussing. 149 in Grand Concourse is the stop that I get off with my son. And it's scary, 22 stops in a bus ride to get to a school that's supposed to help him when he's entitled to a bus and it's, you know, unfortunate. I was wondering if you could help us, the school or someone you know would be great. Oh wow, I didn't know that. I hear 2 stops on a bus for a kid. I was with former Chancellor David Banks when we opened South Bronx Literacy Academy. And my PET representative, we unanimously approved that this will be the first school that that actually screens you for dyslexia. It is such a model down in District 7 in the South Bronx. I did not know that parents were struggling with transportation, so that is something that I will take back to my team, my education and you team, and my ombudsman team. We will work on this. We will reach out to the superintendent of District 7, to the prince. at SBLA because we definitely wanna make sure that parents do not have to experience that all of that traveling just to get to school, uh, is, is concerning and very alarming, especially with the climate of everything that's going on so we definitely will talk offline to um to mom and to figure out how we can help support her and her fellow parents. I'm glad we were able to connect you with Carrie and hopefully we'll follow up with that as that rolls on. On a little bit of a more somber note we're talking about our kids here and we just saw you were talking about unprovoked attacks earlier, uh, just a few minutes ago and we saw the, the brutal killing of a 14 year old on his way to school stabbed in one of these unprovoked attacks. It then came to light that the suspect in this case was a repeat offender and the family of that boy Caleb Brios uh said in light of that that the system had failed them. What's your response to hearing them say that after suffering such a horrible loss? I agree with them. And I feel we are all to blame. Caleb was a 14 year old young man, high school freshman on the football team, popular, well loved by his siblings. His mom and dad are inconsolable. I have been with the family since this happened on January 10th. I was actually dealing with the fire and I was at the school site when I learned about what happened to Caleb walking to school, and it is so painful for any parent to think that their child was attacked in that way, being in the wrong place at the wrong. Long time and what we learned this individual who's now in police custody was also being eyed for a stabbing of someone at a subway station the prior week before right? someone who is known in the system who needs help, uh, and this is a clear classic case of what happens when individuals are left to roam our streets. It is not acceptable we don't wanna lock everyone up and that's not our job and that's not what we're here to do, but there are individuals. That need help and now unfortunately he's in police custody. Do you think he's going to get the help that he needs? He should, but who knows because now he's in the criminal justice system, right? And so there are lots of things we can do and it is so heartbreaking we have failed Caleb and his family and too many other families who are hurting just like Caleb's parents we have to do better in honor of Caleb, his school, his community, and all his friends that loved him. That he left behind of course mental health is a huge component of this, but a lot of people also pointing to bail reform. Is that something you think lawmakers need to reconsider or look again at in Albany this session? So I will acknowledge that, uh, I support bail reform because I do think a majority of individuals do return to court and there are certain components of bail reform that have been changed twice, uh, but the conversations will continue with our members of the state legislature and something we'll continue to follow here on 12. Stay with us, we'll be right back.

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Welcome back to Ask the Borough President as we close out one night, one night, my goodness, one month, we are already looking ahead to another one night too, but more so the month and a jam packed February on deck. So walk us through some of the events we're looking ahead to. So we are hosting World Hijab Solidarity Day on Tuesday, February 4th from 120 p.m. to 2 p.m. at Borough Hall in our rotunda, a 51 Grand Concourse, and then on Wednesday, February 5th from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. we are empowering the Bronx virtual immigration. Know your rights forum. Uh, it's virtual, so please use the QR code to sign up. Uh, the mayor's preliminary budget we are hosting our public hearing for FY 2026 on Monday, February 10th at 11 a.m. at Borough Hall 851 Grand Concourse in room 405A. We are bringing back Bronx Fashion Bronx Fashion Week on Thursday, February 13th. Uh, doors open at 4 p.m. and we're gonna be at Borough Hall 851 Grand Concour. dressed to impress it's gonna be excellent. We talked about Save of the Bronx Bronx Week coming back on Tuesday, February 18th through Sunday, February 23rd. Please visit IloveThe Bronx.com. We are celebrating Dominican heritage, uh, Thursday, February 20th. Uh, we will let everyone know the location right now we're at the Rotunda. If that changes, we'll let you know our higher education task force, we're hosting our college fair on March 12th from 10:00 a.m. to 2 p.m. at M. University at the Bronx campus at 1200 Waters Place, please bring your high school scholars and then on Thursday, March 27th from 5 to 8 p.m. at Borough Hall in our rotunda 851 Grand Concourse, we're hosting our African Immigration Resource Fair and also wanna call all Bronx fathers. We are actively recruiting new members to our BIFTA Bronx Fathers Taking action. Please reach out to our education unit Angel Gal, our deputy director. If you are interested in being active with our Bronx fathers, a little bit of everything to look ahead to and look forward to in the month to come we might be getting a little ahead of ourselves here, but then in March you give your state of the borough address. Yes, every year we do our state of the borough where we lay out our blueprint for the borough, economic development, tourism, transportation, education. We talk about everything, uh, as much as we can in an hour, uh, and we are hosting our state of the borough 2025 on Thursday, March 20th. If, uh, please Save the day is the day after my birthday, so we'll still be celebrating my birthday Thursday, March 20th, 2025, uh, and we're gonna celebrate our state of the borough 2025 so you present to the BP can be being there for the state of the borough Retri community board applications open now. So reminder, uh community board applications are open now. Please visit our website. The deadline is March 9th in English and Spanish and it's online. Join your local community board, be a voice. Thank you, BP, and thank you all. Perfect. That's.

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News 12's Amanda Bossard sits down with Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson to answer YOUR pressing questions in this month's edition of Ask the Borough President.

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News 12's Amanda Bossard sits down with Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson to answer YOUR pressing questions in this month's edition of Ask the Borough President.

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