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ASKTHEADVOCATE512B

Thanks so much for staying with us here for another edition of Ask Your Advocate on News 12, and the number to dial if you have a question this evening for public advocate Jumani Williams is 718-861-6800, and we're gonna get to some of those calls starting now as we turn to Anne Marie, who has dialed in tonight from East Flatbush. Anne Marie, thanks for the call and what is your question for the public advocate? Anne Marie, are you still with us on the line? I am. Oh, great, thanks so much for dialing in. What's your question this evening? Um, I would just like to say to the advocate, thank you for supporting us always, and today was a day without childcare, um, and I know that the governor only gave us 350 million with the caveat that the city gave us another 350 and so again as a childcare provider, I want to know. How secure is that money going to be for us because we need childcare and I don't think, you know, the people in the city is taking this seriously. Thanks, Anne Marie for bringing that to our attention. I think she's specifically referencing the childcare assistance program which provides. Families with vouchers of up to $300 to offset that cost. You know this is interesting. This was uh something that the mayor said he had uh been talking about, but really I don't think most of us really started hearing about it until the city council started talking about it, you know, shout out to council member Ressler and. And the speaker, uh, Adrian Adams and others who really started sounding the alarm. It was really late in the process and so we're still looking through the numbers. It does look like, um, the state should have picked up more and so I wanna see how much is actually left for the city to pick up because now we got to find it in in the budget. I would say. To the question of how secure it is, um, that's a hard one to answer because I don't want to pretend like we don't know, uh, what's happening in the White House and we don't know what kind of cuts are gonna come down, um, and we're gonna have to figure out where we're going to make up some of this, um, some of the losses that may come, but to the caller, uh, point. You know, child care is, it's a necessity. So, um, it is and as a, as a, and I didn't even know how bad it was until I needed child care for my 3 year old. You, you could send the person to college, uh, for this kind of money. It absolutely is. And so you have had people who had to leave the workforce because they couldn't get childcare, uh, and so I wanted. Be clear of how much a necessity is the city can't move unless parents have child care, and we don't operate that way. So we've been pushing for universal child care, um, across the board in, in spaces that don't have it now and we think we have it with 3K, we wanna have two universal 3K we might need to move down to 2K and so we have to provide the money and service for this. So people can get quality um child care um but it is an investment but we know it's an investment that uh that pays off well you actually see dividends in children who get these kind of services early on and so it pays so much dividends and I really wish it was brought up much sooner in the process. It wasn't again, shout out to the city council for for elevating when they did, and we probably got some more money because of that, um, but I mean I, I, I need to look at the numbers some more to see how much the city has to cover, uh. And uh, you know, the Trump White House and this Doge thing is uh and, and other cuts that they're making is a real X factor here, so we're not 100% sure, but I know that. The council is gonna do the best that they can to make sure that people have the child care that that not just they deserve that the city actually needs to operate. Like you said, so many families dependent on this to be able to work and just for day to day living, so it's something that I hope the council definitely considers as those conversations play out. I believe we have another caller on the line in William who's dialed in from Fordham tonight. William, thank you for the call and what's your question? William, can you hear us? Yes. Great. What's your question for the public advocate? It's the, the crime situation is like, it's like it's out of control, you know, every time somebody's getting stabbed, somebody's getting killed and, and just yesterday on Fulham Road in Fulham Plaza, somebody almost got stabbed to death last night. That's my neighborhood, Fulham Road in Webster. So the crime problem has come up once again and I think really I'm just talking about overall crime in that case he's specifically mentioning we had some exclusive video of the suspect waving a huge kitchen knife in the middle of Fordham Road. I mean, I imagine anyone just walking by, driving by sees. That and they're going what's going on and I think um I think there was a loss of life uh I think um yeah I see the video there you know and it's important to point out that we're talking about violence because sometimes we focus a lot on the gun violence, but we see people getting stabbed. A you know, numerous times also losing their life and so the focus is violence and the focus is crime. Now, you know, I, I wanna make sure I'm reading the room, but you always have to mention this when we look at our data compared to across this country whether people wanna just accept it or not, we are actually doing better than a lot of places and we always have been. Um, people play on that in election times depending which way they want to go, but if you look at the city to city, we're one of the safest big cities and one the safest cities, uh, Republican or Democrat, and that's important so that we don't copy the wrong thing and what people are doing with that said, that man was stabbed. The woman was the young, the young girl we were talking about, it means nothing and what we need to do is figure out what is causing this is this person that had a mental health crisis or what happened there, um, and you know there people try to again pretend it's about involuntary commitment and not involuntary commitment whenever most people agree that sometimes you need to take people off the street involuntarily. The problem has been what happens after that because they've been in the hospital, they've been in right because they come back on the street, they haven't had a continuum of care. The problem is who's making that decision? Is it a clinician or is it someone who's untrained like law enforcement unless there's an emergency? So those are the questions we have to figure out what exactly is causing these folks to respond this way. Another thing we have to talk about is after the pandemic, everything seems to be a little bit more. Just a little bit more whatever that is we see it from people in the airlines in the sky we see it people, young people who didn't get to really reset their minds since the pandemic and we can't ignore that. So the question is what are we doing as a city as a state of the country to really address that so we can get everybody to just take a second and breathe again it's multi-layered. What I know it can't be is ignored and sometimes I think we try to brush it to the side. People have a right to be safe and feel safe, and they need leaders who are gonna address those and not try to brush on the rug with just mere statistics because this is a scary scene, a very scary scene for a family who's walking around and for that young man. For William, who was even living in the neighborhood and witnessed something like that, I appreciate your thoughts on that, and we have more to come right after this quick break. Stay with us here on News 12.

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ASKTHEADVOCATE512C

Thanks so much for staying with us here on Ask Your Advocate on News 12 on a Monday evening right after Mother's Day, and I hope you were able to celebrate with your loved ones and enjoy the day. May also marks the start of maternal mental health month, so a real focus on mental health in that space specifically, and I believe that you just released a report called Silenced Crisis. Black maternal mortality and the birthing center solution, can you elaborate on what some of the biggest takeaways were for you from that report? You know, it's interesting, as you know, you know it's a personal thing for me, uh, what my wife and I went through and uh a miracle baby, uh, and our family first, uh, you know, my office started working on, on these issues before it even became personal for me. And it really showed the um the benefit of having a diverse staff because it was black women who brought this to my attention. I had no idea the crisis that were going on uh this it's just incredible and it's actually worse in New York City. Than across the nation, which is, which is shocking, it's already bad across the nation. Um, one thing I will say thanks to, uh, people like Speaker Adam Adams and the city council, uh, shout out to Councilwoman Gutierrez and Vanessa Gibson and, and Tony Reynoso and Brad Land who just put out his own report, but we have the majority woman city council led by the first, um, black woman speaker, and for the first time we have a package of legislation that was passed. Justice and I'm proud to have been uh uh 11 of the people who had a piece of legislation in there and so at minimum I think it's finally being spoken about and we have women who were really being um being in pain and the pain was in silence and their voices weren't being heard and one of the things that was, you know, even hits me is that I remember when my wife was going through what she was going through and making known what she wanted, I actually, uh, and I it just sits with me I. Wasn't sure, uh, I, I, I, I wanted her to stay with the doctor was saying and it wasn't until we found a doctor that actually was listening, a black female doctor, and I felt so bad and so these reports that are showing one moving in the right direction. But it's still so much to go, uh, we need to have an open more birthing centers we need to really concretize how we look at doulas and integrate them in a way, uh, that's not fully integrated, uh, yet. Uh, we have to make sure that things can get paid for, doers can get what they need, but we need to reorient, um, how we actually allow women to give birth. We have to believe women. We have to believe black women who say they're in pain before it's too late, and our report, uh, sort of showing some of the things that are going right and some of the things that we need to continue to do like the birthing centers and the doulas. Thank you so much for shining a light on that because so often it does go unspoken, so to know that it's being talked about is important. Stay with us. We'll be right back.

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ASKTHEADVOCATE512D_2025-05-12-20-38-45

Thanks so much for being with us here on News 12 for another edition of Ask Your Advocate with New York City Public Advocate Juani Williams, and we're getting back to more of your. A moment, but I do want to ask about a trip that you took last Monday, a week ago today to Rikers Island to survey the conditions there. I know that this has been a topic in which you've been very outspoken about. What did you encounter during your visit there and what. Action, if any, do you think needs to be taken in the short term and the long term to address any issues you saw? We want to be just to be clear, this was a very specific, uh, sometimes we go there on a broader ask, but actually these this call that we got came from corrections officers that were concerned about some things they saw happening. At a building called Rosie's is where they house um primarily uh women and female um um detainees and they started putting men there because of the population growing and so we wanted to make sure that we understood what was going on and make sure everybody was safe and felt safe and by the way. That's on both sides of the bars. I always make sure that I mention that they often come from the same neighborhoods, uh, and, uh, it's not a place that we've seen where people have felt safe, I returned home safe with the detained or working including our corrections officers, um, so we want to see what was happening and there were some things that were were concerning. um, I will say that to the administration's credit here some of the population that is being uh ballooning is not fully their fault. We have seen, uh. Um, what happened in the state, um, so people who are state ready as they call can't move upstate because of the crisis that happened previously and they're down 2000 correction officers. We also see, and everyone agrees is about 188, I believe it is people who shouldn't be on there because of their mental health, uh, but no place to put them and so that is making the population grow. What is the administration's fault? I think they're trying to get even more people on Rikers by making certain changes they're now. Criminalizing, uh, um, cyclists that used to just get civil penalties and now making it criminal so changing some of the things that are more criminal can get more people on to Rikers and we need to get less people on Rikers because of the way it's situated. So that's the part I think, um, they can play, but we want to make sure that we were talking to folks, corrections officers and detainees, some of the women were concerned because it changed their behavior, how they're able to move some of the spaces, so we're working with them on that. uh, I do think and hope that the administration continues to. Say and move forward with Rikers closing. The last thing we need there is ice on Rikers, and we saw what happened with Mayor Ras Baraka. Uh, this is not a federal government that is trying and focusing about public safety, uh, they focused on fair demonization, uh, so we wanna make sure that we're moving in the right direction, not the wrong direction. We made the visit, um, and I'm glad we're continuing to have a conversation with everybody. You talked about Newark's mayor there, Ras Baraka, who was detained after he was just on site at an ICE facility over, uh, not over the weekend on Friday afternoon I believe. That same day our mayor was down in DC visiting with President Trump. He said about New York priorities and the president said from the Oval Office, I think he was here to thank me. What was your take on the juxtaposition of what was happening here at home you know it's down in DC? It's embarrassing at times I have to tell you, but I call it the tale of two mayors. Uh, we have one mayor that was really doing their best, uh, to do whatever they can with the power that they have because mayors don't have all the powers, but the powers they have to say I'm gonna do the best I can to protect my residents and then we have a mayor who's doing the opposite who is putting out the red carpet and saying that's how best can we coordinate with you, sir, uh, to harm our residents. And then to say that you were down there by the way, I always say as a mayor you have to meet with whomever is president. That is the correct thing to do. I don't trust this mayor administration or this presidential administration, so who knows who's telling the truth, but I do know if you're saying that you went there to talk about how to help New Yorkers and the president saying you came to thank me and literally said we didn't discuss much of anything that's a problem at the same time you're trying to figure out how to further work. With the federal government and the deportation machine and after they've deported citizens after they've deported the wrong people and is not listened to the Supreme Court and you say they're doing a good job hats off to them that's very, very concerning for the space that we're in all New Yorkers should be concerned about. The tack that this administration is taking when it comes to ICE and the federal government. All right, food for thought for those watching at home right now. Let's get back to some of those callers that we have on the line and kick things off with Lorene who has called in from Baychester. Loreen, thanks for the call and what's your question tonight? Now my question to Mr. Gani D. Williams is that how close are we to opening up after school programs for junior high school and high school and receiving funding to help get our children off the streets into educational and mentorship? Great question from Lorene. I believe the mayor just made an announcement not too long ago about expanding it to elementary school age children. But a lot of people asking about where are the junior and senior high school kids in this equation. Now, if we go back very often, um, for some reason people uh credit Rudy Giuliani with some of the declines in in crime in the city when most of the credit actually should go to Mayor Dinkins who started, uh, a lot of programs before July came in and one of them was Safe Streets safe cities and so, uh, depending where you. Why you talk about one part of it, but he actually um he hired some additional officers. He also started something called Beacon schools. He often, he also, uh, opened after school programs and actually made every school into an after school program with the Beacon programs. I actually worked in 11 of my first jobs and it kind of use the resources that we have. That's the kind of ingenuity that we need. We did begin to see a decline in crime. There's not. Any one thing that we can ever point at, but it is a layered approach, and we do know our young people have some rambunctious energy no matter where you are. Being able to utilize that energy and harness it in a constructive way, uh, is very helpful. And so we, these are the type of programs that we need. We do have to make those type, make sure these types of funding are uh, these programs are funded. And we have to use the resources we have in an intelligent way and we have spaces in schools that we can utilize in these communities in a constructive way so the call is exactly right it's the type of thing we should be talking about uh the hyper mentorship model is one that we saw work um in. Um, DA, uh, Gonzalez's shop is, uh, as a matter of fact, and actually it was led by community groups, but it was, uh, spearheaded and, uh, with the DA so that we can make sure that we were focused on the right people, the people most likely that according to the DA might get involved in the shooting and there was a hyper mentorship model that really focused on those and we saw great results. And he's still having trouble getting that funded um and that's what type of thing we should be expanding so people innately know what we need um but very often we just respond with one thing and they're asking for a lot of those things. But to see that historically it's something that has worked hopefully gives our lawmakers here and now a little extra motivation to get it across the finish line. It does, but what often happens, particularly during election season, particularly where we are now, feeding the anger and feeding the fear wins the day. As opposed to actually pushing measures that we know work and can actually stop this in the long run, so what we need are courageous leaders that will respond to that, not. And not ignore the fear but respond to it responsibly um in a plan that people can understand and then begin to execute and when I go around I talk to folks and say who who thinks crime is an issue raise your hand who thinks that law enforcement are are part of what we need to do to address or raise your hand if I raise your hand, who thinks they can do it by themselves Raise your hand from the most Republican space in the city to the most democratic space in the city, most people say yes, yes, no. And that third one is where we seem to have all of the trouble and it's where we don't have the courage of leadership to say this is what I'm going to do so that all of this does not fall into law enforcement and we can actually get people to be safe and to feel safe and we failed so often, uh. And actually in the same communities and even when we see a decrease in some of these numbers it's the same communities that still feeling most of the pain and trauma of this. We're seeing the theme of safety really emerge during this episode tonight, and I think another thing that so many New Yorkers are talking about right now also is affordability, something else that we've talked on. And I do want to get to a question that was posted on social media by Dominic, and he asks that Housing Connect is not an affordable housing option for the middle class. This is something we've heard time and time again during this show with callers on the line. He asked how does someone making $86,000 gross afford a $2000 studio or one bedroom, abolish the AMI and actually make them affordable? And I want to focus in on that AMI because I think that's what often drives up those prices, and that's the average median income, I believe. Please correct me if that's correct, but it's driven by. And so what uh people sometimes don't understand is why is the AMI the way it is and the federal government is the one that makes that decision and they're also the one that sets this, the area that is called the area made of income and it includes places that drive other communities up so I agree we shouldn't just, I don't know if we should abolish it we should definitely. Change it so that it is not bringing in communities that drive that AMI up we can also have and try to create housing models that uh don't use as much federal government as much as possible. We created the Michell Lama program which is a state program. We should create something like that again so that we can have our own, um, uh, AMIs as well. We should also be preserving. The affordable housing that we actually have and if we're going to build, we have to build so that the communities can actually afford it because something's affordable to everyone. um I will say affordability and public safety are two issues that people have been talking about for many, many years how we allow uh a party that is the worst at this, um, to take it over it's probably another conversation, but we, there are a lot of answers here if. You know we can lean into it. We have to stop leaning away and quite frankly we may have to make some wealthy people upset, um, and that's OK because most people who are leaving New York City are leaving here because they simply cannot afford it and we have plans to address it if we have the courage to actually execute them. So with that in mind, what do you think are the odds of changes even to the AMI under this administration? Who, right, that says it all. Stay with us, we'll be right back.

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ASKTHEADVOCATE512E

Welcome back to Ask your advocate here on News 12 and right before the break we were talking about affordable housing and whether it's truly affordable and who really has the ability to make it affordable for New Yorkers so I just wanted to give you a moment to finish up those thoughts. You know, because I mentioned one party, but I wanted to be clear, even the party I belong to, um, it is leadership in both that has allowed us to get here, and a lot of that is because, um, a lot of leaders are beholden to very wealthy. Interests and then make the type of changes that we need to make we're gonna have to you know not you know you know just in in either way go after his interests but we have to to go after them because many people are getting wealthy while people are becoming homeless and a lot of that has to do with our housing policies and what we think of and how we think of housing how it's monetized and those changes need to be made and so there's blame. Across the board, um, and but we just have to be honest about that and the fact that the party I belong to kind of just ignored this is a big reason where we are where we are right now. Alright, so it takes two to tango essentially in this situation and in all situations as well. I want to get back to some of our callers that we have lined up on the line and we'll kick things off with Greg for this segment who's dialed in from East Flatbush. Greg, thanks for the call and what's your question for the public advocate? Hey Jumani, this question is specifically for you. I've been reading various polls saying that you lost your home or you in the process of losing your home. I wanted to know, can you clear it up for everyone, you know, it's probably the media trying to, you know, um, destroy your name, but yeah, I just wanted you to clear that up. I appreciate it. You read it from one place, the New York Post, uh, but no, I appreciate that question. So just to put it in framework, I think. They're actually using something that's not new, so this story has been around for about 10 years, um, just to be clear, they're trying to put it as a public advocate, second in line who has this great, you know, salary and position. We gotta go back about 20 years and. Twenties, uh, purchased a home, uh, uh, and then I wanted to open a cafe, uh, yes, we have, and we've talked about as a matter of fact, all of these things I've talked about and you'll see stories about it and we steered to a, a, a very bad subprime loan that if you there's literature about how black homeowners were steered into these predatory loans and that precipitated a a a some years of of difficulties uh and so. What happened after that subprime loan, a very bad loan, we had, uh, banks, I'm not even sure who owned it at the point, uh, where the foreclosure took place, didn't want to work with us. They didn't try to modify and so it became very, very difficult, um, it's almost a relief, uh, where we are now, uh, but again the biggest piece here is that this is a 10 year story. The only thing that happened is it completed. You go back in time and you see the story, uh, come up usually usually during election time, uh but they they were able to do it like it was something new, um, and again we tried our best to work with the banks. A lot of people know that story. Um, what I would say and I always try to point out is that. This ended up being an investment type property after I, I, I, I moved there's a lot of people who lost their primary homes and so I went through this and we, you know, it was just something an investment that we were struggling with, but there were people on the same day who lost their homes that may have been passed down to them dealing with those banks it was amazing and thinking about what if I was with my family working two jobs trying to keep a home. Where was information I couldn't even get from these banks and so it was a difficult situation but nothing near to what people are uh are going with as they're trying to save their primary homes and so I'm thankful for that call. Um, it's unfortunate that as we get into the city season people try to make these things uh larger than they are, um, but you know we've been open about this for a very long time and I take all my experiences with me. And that's why I legislate and try to lead the way I do having gone through the business haven't gone through Sopranos haven't gone through uh what the foreclosure process is, and I wanna make sure that we're protecting New Yorkers from some of the things that that we've experienced as well. Consider it a lesson learned, and I appreciate the clarity on that and I appreciate Greg with the question on that front. We have Mary who is also on the line from Old Mill Basin so Mary, I'll hand things over to you. What is your question for the public advocate tonight? OK, great. Hello, Mr. Williams. It's a pleasure to speak to you. It's my first time. I would like to address one thing. I would like to address the, um, garbage and dirt on our streets. Um, I live in a neighborhood that has no alternate side of the street for many, many years, and it's a blessing, and that's our privilege to go outside and sweep and keep our streets clean. And I'm living here 44 years in this neighborhood, and I have swept for many years and I notice now the streets are dirtier than ever and I know it's a law that you have to sweep, I think, 18 inches into the curb. So my question is, how can we get the people, store owners, and um, you know, people to start cleaning up and making, you know, our borough here look good, you know what I'm trying to say? Yeah. Uh thank you, Mary, and, and it's nice to speak to you as well. And my mom doesn't live too far from there as well. Um, so this is interesting because, um, You know, you have places that are alternate um alternate side and specifically for this cleaning and then sometimes people complain about having the alternate side. So you have some places we should actually do a whole discussion of who has it and who doesn't. That's a whole another thing, but the places that don't have it, uh, then they're responsible for sweeping. To Mary's point, the one thing you can do in that situation is enforcement. Uh, when you start to enforce, people start to complain. And so, um, I do think enforcement may be necessary at times. What I would hope is that if there's a civic association, there's a black association, if there's a, uh, a business, uh, a business association that they can get together, uh, and try to figure out how best to encourage each other to do that. But if they can't. Then to Mary's point, the only thing you can do is actually get sanitation in there and that might be what we have to do. I would suggest to Mary, if there is no black association, uh, you can actually start one. And so I always encourage folks, just go ahead and get a couple of neighbors. You don't need to sign any papers, you don't need anything. Just get a couple of neighbors, get some chairs and start a meeting, and this could be the first thing that people talk about is, you know, how do we get the, the, the street to be a little bit cleaner and you can get the businesses involved as well. It's things that I've done before I was elected and working in a nonprofit space and so I wish Mary luck uh with. I love to hear that recommendation. Get involved in your community and, and really spark the change that you wanna see. And Mary says she's been sweeping for years, so I feel like she might be up for the, so we'll follow up with her on that. And very often people believe that you need some kind of uh paperwork or something to start a black association, a merchant association. You don't you. Let's get it done. That's exactly the way to get it done a lot of the time. More to come here on Ask your advocate. Stay with us right after this.

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ASKTHEADVOCATE512F_2025-05-12-20-40-10

Welcome back to Ask Your Advocate here on News 12, and we've made it through almost an hour without me acknowledging that you've got your New York Knicks fandom on display. You had a prediction it was. I tweeted out Knicks in 4 and I said, if you're gonna dream, you might as well dream big. Uh, I would say those two games in Boston was incredible. I was trying not to wake the baby up, uh, as much as possible I'm sure, you know, it's, it's been an amazing run, um, you know. The boss was to come out, uh, to the garden. Everybody loves to play in the garden. They just, they just love to do that, um, but, um, you know, they're playing right now and so I almost canceled this. I said no, I cannot cancel. I said I grateful for your appearance here today, but you know if and when we get this win and we move on. Shot and so it's, it's good to end on a lighter note when the Knicks are doing well, you know, the city feels better, it feels good and so I'm excited about it. I'm a Knicks fan. Knicks fandom is a disease, so you know, get your, uh, baby aspirin out, your EKG machines so it's a roller coaster of emotions, right? The highs, the lows. You touched on exactly what I wanted to kind of segue into that this is a moment that really brings New York all together. Everyone really rallies behind the hometown team. It's a fact. The Knicks in particular have a special uh connection. Those of us who diehards, it's been a long time. I've not seen championship in my lifetime. We had some really rough years where I'm not even sure who the players on the on the on the court were. And for, for young players who don't know about the Ewing era, who don't know about Oakley, don't know about those 90s, this is it for them. So this is they're, they're seeing this in real time. And it's exciting to see in real time, uh, so I, you gotta have a gear out there. We gotta be screaming, Let's go Knicks. Let's go New York City. It's just always a great, you know, have the liberty the way we did last year. We were champs in the WNBA. It's the first time I was ever in an arena when someone won a championship, so that was incredible to be in the building for that moment to be anywhere near MSG, uh, if I get this. It's gonna be that energy is infectious. I was talking to you about uh the Pope connection. Oh yeah, they got deep connection. I was gonna say Villanova sprinkle of the Holy Spirit, maybe this is finally what takes us all the way. We got the Pope, we got Brunson, we got, we got Bridges. We owe apology. We all owe Bridges an apology. So let's just, let's just say we owe him an apology, but tonight I'm feeling good. I'm feeling good about this series. Let's go next. If they keep going and next time. A note to end on. Honestly, we can all rally behind a little bing bong for the New York Knicks. Public Advocate, thank you so much for answering all the questions tonight. We appreciate it and thanks to all of you for tuning in and calling in with those questions. We'll see you next time.

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News 12's Amanda Bossard sits down with New York City Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams to answer YOUR pressing questions in this month's edition of Ask Your Advocate.

Ask Your Advocate Jumaane D. Williams: May 2025

News 12's Amanda Bossard sits down with New York City Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams to answer YOUR pressing questions in this month's edition of Ask Your Advocate.

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