Mayor Eric Adams, NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell, and Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY) Commissioner Laura Kavanagh hold a media briefing about New Year’s Eve security. NYPD Substation West 43rd Street & Broadway Midtown Manhattan…
Deputy Commissioner Julian Phillips, Public Information, Police Department: Good afternoon everybody. I’m Julian Phillips, the deputy commissioner of Public Information for the NYPD, and welcome to Times Square, the crossroads of the world. Starting tomorrow tens of thousands of people will descend upon this area, these few square acres here, to welcome in 2023. The main question that all of you have is, will everybody be safe here and around the city? Well, I’m glad you asked that question because I have an all-star team assembled here to answer each and every one of those questions to satisfaction. We have a few speakers, not many, but the first will be, of course, the Honorable Mayor Eric Adams, who will lead things off. Then he’s going to be followed by the police commissioner of New York City, Keechant Sewell, then the fire commissioner, Laura Kavanagh. Then Tom Harris will come up of the Times Square Alliance here. And then we will have Chief McCarthy of Midtown South, and we will also have Chief Tom Galati, who is the chief of Intelligence and Counterterrorism.
So now without further ado, I wanted to introduce the man who never sleeps, the man who gets stuff done, the Honorable Eric Adams, mayor of New York City.
Mayor Eric Adams: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. Folks in the background, how many of you are from out of town? Anyone visiting? One thing, spend money. Spend a lot of money. That’s what we ask when you’re here. Spend a lot of money. We are really excited about bringing in the New Year’s here, and I think Julian is accurate when he states that this is the crossroad of the entire country right here in Times Square. Last year I was here swearing in as the mayor of this amazing city, but the goal is a very clear goal, and that is public safety. We must be safe, and we can do it in a very organized fashion. But on that day, you see the actual sausage. So much goes into making that sausage, and it’s the coordination of all of our agencies. NYPD, FDNY, DOT, all of our agencies coming together to make sure that the people of not only this city, but the millions of people who are coming here to visit, are going to feel as safe as possible.
I want to thank the alliance. Tom has been a real partner. We met earlier this week to talk about how we continue our enhancement of public safety in this area. The alliance has a real partnership with our various agencies to make sure just continue to attract the magnet that we deserve. You look at how well we’re doing not only in hotels… We are leading the major hotel market out of the 25 major markets, New York City is number one. When you look at how well we’re doing in our Broadway productions, you’re seeing we’re getting record numbers of pre or post pandemic returning. Then our tourism, 56 million tourists are predicted to be here this year, 72 million next year. New York is becoming that attractive place for not only our international tourists but also our domestic tourists… I’ll let the fire truck…
But the goal of public safety is both seen and intentionally unseen. The NYPD and our other local public safety apparatus, they’re going to have a visible presence. But at the same time, they’re going to be among the crowds so that people don’t know exactly who’s present and who’s here. We want you to be safe this time of the year during the celebration, bringing in 2023. Want you to enjoy yourselves. And then go on our website, get the items that will slow up your screening into the safety area. There’s certain items you cannot bring into the safety zone, the safety area that we have. So become knowledgeable of it beforehand so you can come in without a problem. The lucky ones that are going to be up front and able to see the ball drop, dress warmly. It’s going to be a nice day. We expect some rain. But as I recall, years to come, rain or sunshine, it doesn’t stop those who come in to bring in the New Year’s here in the greatest city, we would like to believe, on the globe.
And so I want to turn it over to our amazing police commissioner who has really brought about the whole theme of public safety in our city. I just wanted to thank her and the entire team that we have here, on how we’re going to protect those who come here to bring in the New Year’s. Happy New Year’s everyone. We’re looking forward… Hip-hop is 50 this year, so we are going to have a real celebration around hip-hop is 50. That’s part of the celebration as we come in and bring in a new year this year. I wish everyone a very safe and prosperous New Year as we move into 2023.