Video: Mayor Mamdani Announces Opening of Shirley Chisholm Recreation Center.
Feb 9, 2026First ever rec center in Central Brooklyn and now borough’s largest rec center will serve over 41,000 New Yorkers.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced the opening of the brand-new Shirley Chisholm Recreation Center in East Flatbush. He was joined by NYC Parks Commissioner Tricia Shimamura, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, State Senator Kevin Parker, Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, and Councilmember Farah Louis. The new center is the first new Parks recreation center in over a decade, the first ever in Central Brooklyn, and the largest recreation center in the whole borough. Located in the heart of Little Haiti, the center is expected to serve residents of East Flatbush and Midwood, with over 41,000 New Yorkers living within a 15-minute walk or transit ride of the new center. The approximately 74,000-square-foot recreation center provides space for swimming, team sports, exercise, educational programming, and even A/V production in a media lab. Like all Parks recreation centers, discounts are available for New Yorkers of all ages, and membership is entirely free for people 24 years and younger. The center will fully open to the public on Tuesday, February 10. For the first week, all New Yorkers will have the opportunity to use the brand-new center for one free day of their choosing, prior to becoming members. Parks is also hosting guided tours, registration events, and demonstrations to help New Yorkers experience what the new facility has to offer. Now Brooklyn’s largest recreation center, the Shirley Chisholm Recreation Center includes brand-new fitness resources for New Yorkers of all ages and backgrounds, including: • Competition-sized 6 lane pool, including a ramp, chairlift, and stairs so all visitors can comfortably enter the water regardless of ability • Three lane walking track • Competition-sized gym perfect for basketball, pickleball, and volleyball • Exercise rooms for cardio workouts, weightlifting, and spin classes The center also features spaces for events, classes, and relaxation, including: • Teaching kitchen • Afterschool space with its own outdoor play area • Dedicated teens-only space with supervision • Dr. Roy A. Hastick Sr. Media Lab with a mixing room for A/V production • Multipurpose rooms for events and classes The new center is named for Shirley Chisholm, the Brooklyn-born politician who became the first African American woman to serve in Congress, representing Brooklyn in the House of Representatives from 1969 to 1983 Shirley Chislom Recreation Center 3002 Foster Avenue Brooklyn February 9, 2026
– Today ( February 6, 2026), at the first annual Interfaith Breakfast (The NYC mayor’s interfaith breakfast was established as an annual tradition by Mike Bloomberg in 2002, ) of his administration, Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced sweeping new actions to uphold New York City’s sanctuary city laws and protect immigrant New Yorkers. The breakfast brought together nearly 400 faith and community leaders from across the five boroughs.
During the event, Mayor Mamdani signed a comprehensive executive order to reaffirm the city’s commitment to being a sanctuary for all New Yorkers. The order protects the privacy and data of immigrants and all residents; bolsters restrictions on federal immigration enforcement on city property; initiates an audit to make sure city agencies are complying with sanctuary laws; and establishes a committee to coordinate crisis response across city government in the event of escalating federal immigration actions or other major events.
Mayor Mamdani also launched a citywide “Know Your Rights” push, distributing nearly 32,000 flyers and booklets in 10 languages for faith leaders to share with their congregations. The materials provide clear, accessible information about New Yorkers’ rights during interactions with federal immigration authorities, including the right to remain silent, the right to speak to an attorney, and the right to a translator.
“Across this country, day after day, we bear witness to cruelty that staggers the conscience. Masked agents, paid by our own tax dollars, violate the Constitution and visit terror upon our neighbors,” said Mayor Mamdani. “That is why this morning, I am signing an executive order that will strengthen our city’s protection of our fellow New Yorkers from abusive immigration enforcement. This order is a sweeping reaffirmation of our commitment to our immigrant neighbors. We have also prepared 30,000 guides to New Yorkers’ rights in ten languages spoken by some of the most heavily targeted populations in our city, teaching our neighbors what to do if ICE comes for them. These guides are here today, ready for you to take. If you run out, we will print more. I urge you to share these with your congregants — even those who are citizens, even those whom you think ICE may not target. These materials apply to us all: those who have been here for five generations, those who arrived last year. They apply to us all because the obligation is upon us all. To love thy neighbor, to look out for the stranger.”
Executive Order 13
Executive Order 13 takes critical steps to keep not only immigrant New Yorkers but all New Yorkers safe from aggressive, unlawful, and xenophobic federal actions as well as deepen trust between New Yorkers and their city government.
Executive Order 13 reaffirms that information collected by city agencies for city purposes must remain protected and cannot be shared with federal immigration authorities, except as required by law. Under the order, each agency has 14 days to appoint a privacy officer, conduct training, and certify compliance with sanctuary protections limiting information sharing.
Executive Order 13 also makes clear that city property — including parking garages, parking lots, schools, shelters, hospitals, and other public spaces — is for city purposes only. Federal authorities may not enter city property without a judicial warrant. The order also directs core agencies to develop and distribute training for city employees on how to interact with federal immigration authorities.
Moreover, Executive Order 13 requires agencies — including the NYPD, New York City Department of Correction (DOC), New York City Department of Probation (DOP), Administration for Children’s Services (ACS), and Department of Social Services (DSS) — to conduct comprehensive audits of all internal policies governing interactions with federal immigration authorities, update protocols and guidance as needed, and provide public transparency into any new policies that are created as a result.
Finally, Executive Order 13 establishes an Interagency Response Committee to coordinate crisis policy across city agencies and ensure a whole-of-government response.
“Know Your Rights” Push
As part of the new “Know Your Rights” push, the city is distributing nearly 32,000 flyers and booklets to faith institutions across New York City. The materials are available in English, Spanish, Mandarin, French, Bangla, Russian, Arabic, Kreyole, Urdu, and Yiddish – languages spoken by those most targeted by federal immigration crackdowns.
The materials outline key rights and options during encounters with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), including the right to remain silent, the right to ask for a judicial warrant, the right to speak with an attorney and the right to request an interpreter. They also explain New York City’s sanctuary laws and provide information about the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs (MOIA) Legal Support Hotline.
The hotline — available Monday and Wednesday from 9:00 AM to 8:00 PM; Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM; and on the last Saturday of each month from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM — offers free information and referrals to immigration legal assistance at 1-800-354-0365. During his remarks, Mayor Mamdani called on faith leaders to help ensure this information reaches every corner of the city by distributing the flyers to their congregations.
Below are Mayor Mamdani’s remarks as prepared for delivery:
Good morning. What a privilege it is to be here with you all. I join everyone present in sending our best wishes to Rabbi Schneier, and our hopes for a quick recovery.
And I know that many of us are shocked by the news that we’ve just heard from Pakistan, where dozens of people were killed in a horrific attack on a Shia Mosque. Innaa lillaahi wa innaa ilaihi raajioon.
I look around this room, and I see the faces of friends I have marched with through searing heat and bracing cold. People I have mourned alongside, celebrated alongside, organized alongside. And I see so many others I have only just met, but whom I am eager to work alongside to improve New York.
And I see those whom the people of this city turn to for guidance and grace. This city may have only one Mayor, but it has countless leaders. When our neighbors seek to make sense of a world where sense is not there to be found, they often turn first not to those they elected, but to you.
Thank you for welcoming me today — and for all that you do, in ways seen and unseen, for those you serve.
I was raised in New York City as a Muslim kid with a Hindu mother. I celebrated Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha with my family, lit diyas in Riverside Park for Diwali, and like any New Yorker, encountered faiths different from my own. I still remember coming home from a friend’s Bar Mitzvah one night and demanding an explanation from my father. “Baba,” I asked, “Why don’t Muslim kids have Bar Mitzvahs too?”
And over the past fifteen months, as I ran to become Mayor of our incredible city, that encounter only deepened as I came face-to-face with the living tapestry of faith that is New York.
Faith, we’re told, is the belief in things unseen. And while it certainly took faith to imagine a thing truly unseen—a path to victory—it was nothing compared to the faith I saw New Yorkers summon just to make it through the day. Faith that the bus would arrive. Faith that somehow, some way, the rent would get paid. Faith that a leader would place the concerns of the many before the interests of the few.
I saw that faith everywhere. On subways and street corners, at forums and front doors. And increasingly, as the winter snow melted into the renewal of spring and then the heat of summer, I found it where many New Yorkers return, week after week, in search of meaning.
You welcomed a stranger into your sanctuaries. And whether we were together at Shul, at church services on Saturday or Sunday morning, at a Gurdwara or a mosque or a mandir or a temple, New Yorkers told me of the worries they hold close, the dreams they refuse to let go.
What a gift they gave me. Not just understanding New York better — but understanding how close we truly are.
Because for all our different faiths, we share a common belief: that our city can be restored, and it must. That the wealthiest city in the wealthiest country in the history of the world has enough for everyone to live a life of dignity. That we need not worship the same God to share the same values, or to fight for the same future.
If anything unifies every religion across our city, it is an understanding of faith not solely as a tool for reflection, but as a call to action.
Standing before you today, I think of Deuteronomy 10:17-18, which describes the lord as one who: “shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. He defends the cause of the orphan and the widow, and loves the stranger residing among you, giving them food and clothing.”
Over the past fifteen months, New Yorkers of all faiths built a movement inspired by that cause of the orphan, the widow, and the stranger.
Seniors spent hours making phone calls to strangers because they believed every kid deserves child care. If that is not defending the cause of the orphan, what is?
Neighbors climbed six-floor walkups to knock doors because they believed a single mother in a rent-stabilized apartment should be able to sleep easily on the last night of the month, knowing that her rent would not climb the next day. If that is not defending the cause of the widow, what is?
And today, my friends, I want to reflect on the third charge: loving the stranger.
Across this country, day after day, we bear witness to cruelty that staggers the conscience. Masked agents, paid by our own tax dollars, violate the Constitution and visit terror upon our neighbors. They arrive as if atop a pale horse, and they leave a path of wreckage in their wake. People ripped from their cars. Guns drawn against the unarmed. Families torn apart. Lives shattered—quietly, swiftly, brutally.
If these are not attacks upon the stranger among us, what is?
This cruelty is no faraway concept. ICE operates here in New York. In our courthouses. Our workplaces. They skulk at 26 Federal Plaza—the same building where I waited in fear as my father had his citizenship interview.
If these are not attacks upon the stranger among us, what is?
ICE is more than a rogue agency — it is a manifestation of the abuse of power. And it is also new. It was founded only in 2002. Four Mayors ago, it did not exist. Its wrongs need not be treated as inevitable or inherited. In fact, there is no reforming something so rotten and base.
I think of a story that Reverend Galbreath — the senior pastor at Clarendon Road Church — shared recently. Two Haitian immigrants in his congregation, a father and son, had traveled to 26 Federal Plaza for fingerprinting. The man’s wife, the boy’s mother, had gone the week before without incident. They thought little of the trip. It was routine. In New York, surely one would be safe at an appointment like this.
And then, without explanation or warning, they were whisked away. ICE took them first to the Brooklyn Detention Center. The next day, they were flown to Louisiana. They felt hopeless and helpless, Reverend Galbreath said. Hopeless and helpless.
If these are not attacks upon the stranger among us, what is?
As the federal government attacks our neighbors — those who worship in the next pew over — they command us not to believe what we see. They compel us, as George Orwell wrote nearly eighty years ago, “to reject the evidence of our eyes and ears.” And they would succeed, were it not for the many among us who have not only read the scripture, but who live the scripture—those who refuse to abandon the stranger.
I speak of Renee Good, whose final words to the man who murdered her moments later were: “I’m not mad at you.”
I speak of Alex Pretti, who died as he lived, caring for the stranger. Here was a man who held the hand of the afraid and the afflicted in their final moments. Here was a man who dedicated his life to healing those he had never met. ICE shot him ten times because he did something they could never fathom doing themselves: he extended his arm towards a stranger—not to push her down, but to help her up.
I speak of the tens of thousands across our city and nation who took to snowbound streets in the dead of winter, refusing to allow those with the most power to impose their will upon those with the least.
If that is not love for the stranger among us, what is?
In a moment such as this, I look to the Bhagavad Gita, which teaches us that the highest calling is to become someone “who sees the true equality of all living beings and responds to the joys and sorrows of others as if they were their own.”
Each of us has been a stranger at one point in our lives. Each of us has known the feeling of arriving somewhere new alone, of depending on the kindness of someone else. As ICE fosters a culture of suspicion and fear, let this city of strangers set an example for how to make the sorrows of others our own. Let us offer a new path — one of defiance through compassion.
In so doing, we can offer something more expansive and durable than a mere rejection of atrocity. We can rely on our faith to offer an embrace of one another. After all, few forces hold as much power to extend humanity to all. As Dr. King once said: “The church is the one place where a doctor ought to forget that he’s a doctor. The church is the one place where the lawyer ought to forget that he’s a lawyer. When the church is true to its nature, it says, “Whosoever will, let him come.”
That doctrine—whosoever will, let him come — is not limited to Christianity. Each of our faiths asks the same of us.
I think of Exodus 23:9, the words of the Torah: “Thou shalt not oppress a stranger: for ye know the heart of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.” Few have stood so steadfast alongside the persecuted as Jewish New Yorkers. I think of Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman, who gave their lives alongside James Chaney so that all could exercise the right to the franchise. I think of Rabbi Heschel and marched from Selma alongside Dr. King. And I think of Yip Harburg, born on the Lower East Side, who wrote ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow,’ and uplifted Americans waiting on breadlines during the Great Depression.
I think of the freedom from suffering that Buddhism teaches us is only possible if we remove the three poisons of desire, hatred, and ignorance from our daily lives. We need not accept suffering as unchangeable. We need not treat hatred as the natural state. We have the power to set ourselves free.
And I consider my own faith, Islam, a religion built upon a narrative of migration. The story of the Hijra reminds us that Prophet Muhammad (SWT) was a stranger too, who fled Mecca and was welcomed in Medina. Sura An-Nahl 16:42 tells us: “As for those who emigrated in the cause of Allah after being persecuted, we will surely bless them with a good home in this world.”
Or, as the Prophet Muhammad (SWT) said: “Islam began as something strange and will go back to being strange, so glad tidings to the strangers.”
If faith offers us the moral compass to stand alongside the stranger, government can provide the resources. Let us create a new expectation of City Hall, where power is wielded to love, to embrace, to protect. We will stand with the stranger today, tomorrow, and all the days that are still to come.
That is why this morning, I am signing an executive order that will uphold our city’s protection not just of our fellow immigrant New Yorkers — but of all New Yorkers — from abusive immigration enforcement.
This order is a sweeping reaffirmation of our commitment to our immigrant neighbors and to public safety as a whole. We will make clear that ICE will not be able to enter New York City property without a judicial warrant. That means our schools, our shelters, our hospitals, our parking lots.
We will protect New Yorkers’ private data from being unlawfully accessed by the federal government and stand firmly against any effort to intrude on our privacy. No New Yorker should be afraid to apply for city services like child care because they are an immigrant.
This order will mandate that essential city agencies are complying with city laws and conduct thorough audits of all policies guiding agency interactions with immigration authorities.
And it will establish an Interagency Response Committee, so that in the event of a major crisis, we are ready and equipped to do the job of protecting New Yorkers. We will create a centralized mechanism for coordinating policy across agencies, so that government speaks with one voice in times of need.
City Hall will not look away.
But we need our faith leaders with us. Your moral clarity, your integrity — they are the pillars upon which countless movements for justice have been built. Many of you have long practiced the tradition of supporting the forgotten and the downtrodden. When our immigrant neighbors are in trouble, they often turn first to their faith networks — for counsel, for legal aid, for someone to accompany them to court.
Today, I call upon you to help us give language to courage. Help us remind New Yorkers that they are not alone.
We have prepared 30,000 guides to New Yorkers’ rights, in ten languages spoken by some of the most heavily targeted populations in our city, teaching our neighbors what to do if ICE comes for them. These guides are here today, ready for you to take. If you run out, we will print more.
I urge you to share these with your congregants — even those who are citizens, even those whom you think ICE may not target. These materials apply to us all: those who have been here for five generations, those who arrived last year. They apply to us all because the obligation is upon us all. To love thy neighbor, to look out for the stranger.
If we are truly to champion the cause of the stranger, let these materials serve as instructions for how to stand in solidarity. If anything can turn back the rising tide of hatred, it is a chorus of those who worship differently and live differently, singing the same undaunted song.
For we are all New Yorkers. And yet that has not always been accepted.
My friends — for as long as people have called New York home, a question has been contested: who is a New Yorker? At each juncture, many have sought to narrow the answer. The stranger has been ostracized on job postings, on placards denying entry to restaurants and shops, in neighborhoods where only some New Yorkers were allowed to live. Every conceivable crack has been exploited into a chasm of division.
On every occasion where the forces of darkness have raised the question, “Who is a New Yorker?” The people of this city have offered our own answer. All of us.
And yet we know that that answer is not permanent, nor is it predetermined. Each generation must assert what we know to be true, because New York serves as living proof—we are stronger when we welcome the stranger.
This will not be an easy contest. Those on the other side, the ICE agents of the world, hold power and weaponry and a sense of impunity. And yet, we hold one advantage over them, one advantage that no matter how hard they try, they cannot overcome, as they mask their faces to attack and murder: we are not ashamed of our answer.
So let us answer the question — who is a New Yorker? — once more, with conviction, and without shame. It is all of us.
So together, New York, let us advance the cause of the orphan.
Together, New York, let us advance the cause of the widow.
Together, New York, let us love the stranger among us, because we are them, and they are us.
The segment argues that the Washington Post’s reported layoffs under Jeff Bezos reflect a broader collapse in trust and demand for legacy media, with Brianna Lyman claiming readers are abandoning outlets they view as partisan and credibility-damaged by major political narratives (Russia-collusion coverage, Kavanaugh allegations, and optimistic portrayals of Biden’s fitness). She frames the layoffs as a market correction—if a paid product doesn’t deliver value, it fails—rejecting calls for Bezos to subsidize the newsroom indefinitely. The discussion then shifts to Don Lemon, with Lyman arguing “journalism” is not legal immunity if someone obstructs or disrupts a church, and criticizing what she portrays as selective enforcement against conservatives in prior years. Finally, they highlight a U.S. investigation into Nike over alleged discrimination against white workers, using it as an example of DEI-driven corporate practices facing legal and political backlash and reiterating a merit-based hiring standard.
Washington Post layoffs, media trust
Host: I’m thrilled to be joined now by The Federalist’s elections correspondent, Brianna Lyman. Brianna, thanks so much for coming on the program tonight.
Huge news out of Washington: it looks like the paper that devoted itself to the idea of “democracy dies in darkness” is now dying a slow death itself — with publisher Jeff Bezos laying off 300 workers, about a third of the newsroom. What’s your reaction? Because while nobody cheers when a journalist is fired, it seems to me this proves the Washington Post’s business model of anti-Trump “hackery” doesn’t sell anymore. Does it?
Brianna Lyman: No. Right now — at least in the United States — trust in the mainstream media is at a record low, or as I like to call it, the “propaganda press.” And the Washington Post is a case study.
This is an outlet that pushed the Russia-collusion narrative, promoted the Kavanaugh rape smear, and insisted Biden was healthy and fully cognizant — which wasn’t true. Readers have lost trust. And when you’re being charged to read the Washington Post, you realize you’re not getting much for your money when you can go to free sites — you can go to Sky News, Fox News — and access news without the left-wing spin.
A lot of people say Bezos should have dipped into his own money and paid staffers for years. But that’s what happens when the real world collides with liberal fantasies: in a capitalist society, if your product doesn’t sell, you’re done. It’s unfortunate they lost their jobs, but if they have useful skills, they should be able to find new ones.
Host: Exactly. And you mentioned the hoaxes. This paper was used to launder all sorts of “deep state” narratives about Trump. It pushed the Steele dossier — full of claims and alleged lies — in what many saw as an attempt to influence an election. Once a newspaper is trying to be a political player in an election, it’s over, isn’t it?
Brianna Lyman: Yes. The Washington Post presents itself as neutral — “democracy dies in darkness.” But for them, democracy only “dies in darkness” when Republicans are winning.
When a Republican is in office, everything is framed as bad, illegal, unconstitutional. When a Democrat is in office, even when something is illegal or unconstitutional, it gets wiped away or swept under the rug.
Readers don’t want this anymore. They cut sections like books and sports. And people are tired of being told they have to accept ideological narratives in sports — they just want to watch sports. You can go to Fox Sports and they talk about the game, not constant political lectures. The Post could have changed years ago; it didn’t — and now it’s facing the consequences.
In a February 6, 2026 announcement, Mayor Zohran Mamdani outlined a package of emergency cold-weather actions aimed at moving unsheltered New Yorkers indoors during what the city describes as the two coldest days of the winter. Measures include adding about 60 hotel shelter rooms through mid-next week for people reluctant to enter congregate shelters, operating a total of 62 warming centers and warming vehicles (including reopening 10 public schools as warming centers and partnering with Northwell and CUNY), expanding mobile warming units, and intensifying street outreach with additional personnel such as trained school nurses, “peer” outreach involving formerly homeless New Yorkers, and support from community groups and Business Improvement Districts. The release also cites over 1,250 DHS shelter placements during the cold spell and urges residents to call 311 if they see someone in need, emphasizing Code Blue protocols and that no one will be turned away.
NYC Activates Emergency Warming Centers and Hotel Shelter Expansion Ahead of Winter’s Coldest Days
TODAY, Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced new efforts that the city will take ahead of the two coldest days of this winter. As part of a wide range of additional actions the city is taking, the Mamdani Administration is activating new direct street outreach workers, mobilizing additional mobile warming units with clinicians and resources, and recruiting health care professionals, non-profits, and providers to open up additional warming facilities — all part of the effort to keep every New Yorker safe this weekend.
Mayor Mamdani also announced a new expansion in hotel shelter units through the middle of next week, targeted towards individuals who have been resistant to other forms of more traditional shelter. In addition, earlier this week, the Mayor announced the opening of 50 safe haven beds in Upper Manhattan and the expedited opening of a safe haven, 106-bed shelter in Lower Manhattan. These shelter options provide New Yorkers a respite from the cold — and are a first step towards long-term stability. These new efforts build on the over 1,250 DHS placements into shelter, including 27 involuntary DHS transports, to keep New Yorkers safe and out of the cold. On the night of February 5th into February 6th, DHS saw a doubling of shelter placements from the previous night – indicating that our repeated efforts and additional shelter options are bringing more New Yorkers out of the cold and indoors.
“With this cold continuing to endure, so too will our efforts. While City government is doing everything in our power to offer warm spaces, shelter and protection, I am echoing my call to our fellow New Yorkers,” said Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani. “We all must do our part to keep one another safe over the days to come. If you see someone in need, please call 311 immediately so our outreach workers and first responders at FDNY and NYPD can provide assistance. And to those who may consider themselves more comfortable on the streets, I want to speak directly to you to implore you — come inside. These temperatures are too low and too dangerous to survive. Please wait out the cold in a safe place with a warm bed.
Mayor Mamdani announced that the city will take the following new steps to ensure that homeless New Yorkers have as many options to come out of the cold and indoors this weekend. Working with city agencies, local nonprofits, and through new public-private partnerships, the city is:
Adding ~60 new hotel shelter rooms through the middle of next week. This shelter type is specifically designed for individuals resistant to staying in more congregate settings.
Operating a total of 62 warming centers and vehicles over the weekend, including the addition of the following sites:
Reopening 10 NYC Public Schools as warming centers this weekend, building on existing capacity and access across the city.
Partnering with Northwell for 2 warming facilities.
Partnering with CUNY for 2 warming centers.
Keeping two Overdose Prevention Centers open 24 hours over the weekend to serve their clients.
Increasing the number of mobile warming units to 27 on Friday and 33 by Saturday night.
Bolstering our direct street outreach efforts by taking these new actions:
Enlisting the assistance of over 50 school nurses who have been trained on direct street outreach and will assist DHS outreach workers throughout the weekend.
Mobilizing the Crisis Management System (CMS), a network of neighborhood-based violence interrupters, to help do direct street outreach.
Partnering with Association of Community Employment Programs for the Homeless (ACE), an organization that works with New Yorkers with histories of homelessness, incarceration, and addiction, to deploy staff to enhance our direct street outreach efforts.
Recruiting Business Improvement Districts citywide to ask for their help in doing direct street outreach, and sharing messaging with them about how to help get folks connected to shelter and resources.
Piloting an innovative “peer” outreach model where formerly homeless New Yorkers are paired with outreach workers to try and bring homeless New Yorkers indoors.
Building on our direct communication efforts with New Yorkers by:
Implementing, alongside LinkNYC, a feature on kiosks citywide where people can look up the nearest warming center.
Mayor Mamdani continues to emphasize that no New Yorker will be turned away. The City remains in Code Blue protocols with expanded outreach canvassing and relaxed intake procedures. Being outdoors for even a brief amount of time this weekend will be dangerous and life-threatening. New Yorkers are encouraged to cover their skin, including their mouths, ears, and face.
As Mayor Mamdani has repeatedly said: if you are still outdoors, please come inside. We want to help you. We want to keep you safe.
Secretary Rubio discusses the Critical Minerals Ministerial (0:06), an initiative aimed at diversifying global supply chains for critical minerals (0:06-0:26). He emphasizes that the current concentration of these minerals in one country poses risks of geopolitical leverage and supply disruptions (0:52-1:07).
Key points of the ministerial and related initiatives include:
Goal: To establish reliable and diverse supply chains for critical minerals, essential for technological innovation, economic strength, and national security (1:11-1:18).
Economic Challenges: Foreign competitors often undercut prices through state subsidies and unfair practices, making it economically unviable for other countries to explore and process critical minerals (1:26-1:52).
U.S. Actions: The U.S. is leading by example with permitting reform for domestic critical mineral industries and creating demand through a strategic stockpile (2:09-2:26).
Global Response: The ministerial seeks to create a global forum and launched the Forge initiative (2:32-2:46) to address this challenge, with 55 partners and more expected to join (0:08-0:16).
Future Sessions: Upcoming sessions will cover a price floor mechanism to ensure economic viability for investments in these sectors (3:12-3:29) and showcase financing tools from various U.S. departments (3:31-3:41).
Bilateral Agreements: New critical minerals frameworks are expected to be signed with several partners (3:49-3:52), highlighting the billions of dollars the U.S. government has committed to this endeavor (3:57-4:03).
Secretary Rubio also addresses specific country roles and foreign policy matters:
Ukraine: Critical minerals are vital for Ukraine’s future economic prosperity and rebuilding efforts post-war (7:14-7:42).
Argentina: Recognized as a key partner in critical minerals due to its natural resources and expertise in processing (8:33-9:11).
Iran: The U.S. is open to engaging with Iran, but talks must include their ballistic missile program, sponsorship of terrorist organizations, nuclear program, and treatment of their own people (10:04-11:20).
Morocco: Plays a crucial role due to its critical mineral deposits and willingness to invest in processing, contributing to a diversified global supply network (15:08-16:01).
In this video, Governor Hochul discusses her proposals to reduce vehicle insurance rates and combat fraudulent claims in New York State (5:54). She highlights that New Yorkers pay some of the highest insurance rates in the nation, attributing this to rampant fraud and excessive litigation costs (6:44).
Key points of her proposal include:
Reforming tort laws (9:23) to prevent individuals who cause accidents (especially those driving under the influence, without a license, or committing felonies) from receiving large emotional distress or pain and suffering payouts from victims’ premiums.
Establishing a cross-agency task force (10:28) and reimagining the Motor Vehicle Theft and Insurance Fraud Board to crack down on scammers.
Strengthening penalties (10:52) for those who break the law.
She cites Florida as an example where similar reforms led to a significant drop in insurance rates (9:32). Matt Unger, co-owner of Tax Auto Body and Service, supports the Governor’s initiative, explaining how fraud manifests in repair shops and impacts honest customers through higher premiums and longer claim times (13:29).
Governor Hochul: “You can have a situation where someone causes the accident intentionally and gets a huge personal injury payout. So we’re putting the brakes on that fraud. Enough is enough here in the State of New York… I don’t want to have a system anymore that rewards dangerous behavior. So if you’re driving drunk, driving without a license or committing a felony at the time of the crash or cause the accident, you should not get a payday. I’m not sure who can argue with that. We’ll start by reforming our tort laws to protect people who play by the rules and insulate the personal injury system from abuse.”
Hochul: “We’re going to continue in the State of New York to find ways to reduce your cost of living. And if one of those drivers of high costs is your insurance rates, we’re going to peel back and find the causes. We’ve identified them and now we’re doing something about it in this session of the Legislature.”
Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul highlighted her proposals to bring down costs of vehicle insurance rates and tackle fraudulent claims across New York State. The Governor is taking common—sense steps to battle fraud, limit damages paid out to bad actors and ensure that consumers, not insurance companies, are prioritized. These proposals build on Governor Hochul’s ongoing efforts to make the state more affordable and put money back into the pockets of hardworking New Yorkers.
A rush transcript of the Governor’s remarks is available below:
Good morning, everyone. I don’t know if any of you have been here before, but this is a second generation car repair, known as TACS. Matt Ungererand his brothers, and Matt is the oldest. What’s your name again? Kevin is the second oldest, and then Ryan is the baby. So, a family business. We had a great conversation about what they’re seeing as they see hundreds of vehicles come through this repair shop, you know, since 1979 and why car insurance rates seem to be just going higher and higher and higher.
And so I’ve talked a lot about affordability. This is my, you know, one of my top priorities: public safety and affordability. And I’m proud that last year we found ways to put money back in people’s pockets, upwards of $5,000. But now we’re trying to say, “What else is disturbing you? What is that bill at the end of the month or quarterly that is just driving you crazy because you don’t know why it’s going up?” So, I want to put a spotlight on this issue once again and acknowledge that some accidents really are just that – they’re accidents. But others are a result of a system that’s just riddled with bad actors and fraud and excessive greed that rewards criminals in illegal behavior. And that’s one of the reasons why New Yorkers pay some of the highest insurance rates in the entire nation, averaging $4,000 a year, which is a whopping $1,500 a year higher than the national average.
So, this doesn’t exist just because every New Yorker did something wrong, but because as I said, the rampant fraud, the runaway litigation costs that are also jacking up prices. You can have emotional distress payouts to the drivers who actually caused the accident in the first place. It doesn’t make any sense. And here’s how it happens: you have these uninsured drivers, scofflaw motorists, even drunk drivers. They’re all distorting the risk pool. So you have these owners of a business, three brothers, who have never filed claims. You know why? Because they fixed their own vehicles. And yet their premiums are going up higher and higher and higher. So you’ve got to just ask why. What’s going on here?
So, someone could be driving drunk without a license, cause an accident, and recover for emotional distress. Or a reckless driver who hits another car will sue for pain and suffering. And a driver who causes an accident can be entitled to—not just modest payouts—but literally millions and millions of dollars from the premiums of regular policy owners, which means all of you. So a drunk driver hits you while you’re crossing the street, turns around and sues you for emotional distress, or the person who rear ends you and is found 80 percent at fault, is then suing you for emotional distress.
Also, this is frightening because there’s been an increase in this, the number of criminals who are now staging accidents. You know, you’ll hear about this, how this is happening with more frequency. The purpose is to defraud drivers through our no-fault laws and collect outsized payments. And again, who do these costs get passed down to? All the motorists in New York.
So you can have a situation where someone causes the accident intentionally and gets a huge personal injury payout. So we’re putting the brakes on that fraud. Enough is enough here in the State of New York. Obviously this is taking on a big fight. It’s been a problem for a while. It’s getting worse, but nobody else is willing to stand up and say, “Why is this happening and how can we do something about it?”
So I don’t want to have a system anymore that rewards dangerous behavior. So if you’re driving drunk, driving without a license or committing a felony at the time of the crash or cause the accident, you should not get a payday. I’m not sure who can argue with that. We’ll start by reforming our tort laws to protect people who play by the rules and insulate the personal injury system from abuse.
Now, another state, Florida—and I have to admit this, I don’t usually follow the lead of Florida—but this is one area where they took a serious look at what was driving up their high insurance rates. They instituted very similar changes to these and over a one or two year period, the insurance rates literally plummeted. In some cases by 20 percent, and they gave a rebate back to the policy holders.
So I want to be very clear, if someone is involved in an accident, they’re still entitled to fair compensation for damages. That’s just how we’ll continue this. But what they’re not entitled to is millions and millions of dollars of additional compensation from suing the victims of an accident they caused. That’s the scope of the approach we’re taking here. Other states already have these in place, so it’s not new, it’s not earth shaking, and so should New York. We’ll also have a cross agency task force and reimagine the existing motor vehicle theft and insurance fraud board so our State Police and the Department of Financial Services continue to crack down on swindlers and scammers. I want to make it easier to prosecute those who are involved in stage accidents. Again, that number, if you look statistically across the nation, we’re becoming one of the highest. Also strengthen the penalties for those who break the law.
So let me wrap up by saying this: It’s really simple, everybody. We’re going to continue in the State of New York to find ways to reduce your cost of living. And if one of those drivers of high costs is your insurance rates, we’re going to peel back and find the causes. We’ve identified them and now we’re doing something about it in this session of the Legislature. So, I hope you all join me in that effort.
And I want to thank our friends here from TACS and hear from them directly, not just what it’s like to be three brothers running a business—they all get along really well, I already asked this question—but to find out what they’re seeing firsthand as they work in a very well-known, popular, reputable repair shop here as well.
