Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani: Good morning, Crown Heights. It is a pleasure to be in Brooklyn talking about something that every New Yorker cares about, which is trash. And I am very glad to be here with leaders in our administration, including our Sanitation Commissioner Gregory Anderson. We are also here with our incredible Deputy Mayor for Operations, Julia Kerson. And we are here with our Council member of this district, Chi Oss\u00e9. And we are also here with the Council member of another district that is leading the sanitation work across the entire city, chair of [the] Sanitation Committee Justin Sanchez. And we also want to give an acknowledgement to Council member Crystal Hudson’s office, as well as members of DSNY that are here with us, and Dave Colon’s outfit for the day.<\/p>\n
Now, before we get into today’s announcement, I do want us to take a moment to just consider the trash bag. It tears, it leaks, and any rat will tell you that it’s easy to chew through. It has an impressive ability to self-multiply, filling our sidewalks. It both strains and stains DSNY workers who move each bag by hand across the five boroughs. Now for years, New Yorkers have wondered, if the trash bag could be contained, could our city not be transformed? And for a brief moment, it felt as if it could be. There was the promise of empire bin containerization in 2024. And yet, like so much that New Yorkers have come to expect from our politics, that promise was empty. Legislation was passed in support, but there was no date set for when this would be completed. There were no funds ever allocated beyond the first community district to make it real. There were no plans that were actually laid out. It was a suggestion, not a requirement.<\/p>\n
And today, I am proud to join here with leaders in our administration and our partners in the Council to announce that we are changing that in this very moment. This past Sunday, we announced that black bags are in their twilight. The era of empire bins is now dawning. We will deliver at least one fully containerized community district in every single borough by the end of next year. And we will achieve citywide containerization by the end of 2031. Now this is an issue for each and every New Yorker, no matter your politics. Frankly, the only disappointed constituency will be rats.<\/p>\n
Today, I am announcing that these first six districts, which we’ve selected for rollout by the end of 2027, first up, they include right here in Brooklyn, Community District 8. That includes Crown Heights, Prospect Heights, and Weeksville. We are speaking about 25,000 homes that will be served by 1,096 empire bins and 13 automatic side loader trucks, the first trucks of their kind in North America. We will also roll out in Bronx Community Districts 2 and 5, Queens Community District 2, Staten Island Community District 1 and Manhattan Community District 2. And now to say that same information in English: Hunts Point, Longwood, University Heights, Mount Hope, Morris Heights and Fordham Heights in the Bronx; Sunnyside, Hunters Point and Woodside in Queens; Stapleton, Randall Manor, Westerleigh, West Brighton, Clifton and Shore Acres in Staten Island; West Village, SoHo, Little Italy, Greenwich Village and Nolita in Manhattan.<\/p>\n
Now, once full citywide containerization is achieved, sidewalks across our city will be clean. Flowers will bloom. But one thing will never change, which is that as New Yorkers, we will continue to talk trash, we just won’t see that much of it. Now, initiatives like this are what we mean when we talk about the importance of pothole politics, the importance of delivering universal childcare hand in hand with the kind of containerization that will transform New Yorkers’ quality of life across the five boroughs. Because in our administration, we believe there is no problem too big, no task too small, because we want to make daily life better for New Yorkers, no matter what borough they live in, and no matter how much trash they talk. Thank you very much. I am now proud and pleased to be able to hand it over to our new DSNY commissioner, Gregory Anderson.<\/p>\n
Commissioner Gregory Anderson, Department of Sanitation: Good morning, everyone, and thank you, Mayor Mamdani. Our city has many great superlatives. We have the best food, the most vibrant culture, the most diverse communities in the nation, and I believe in the world. However, there is one thing we lack: alleyways, where many other cities are able to hide their trash. Here in New York City, trash is a very visible part of our daily lives. And for the last few years, the Department of Sanitation has been working to change that. It’s one of the projects I worked on as deputy commissioner for many years, and I’m thrilled to be back as part of an administration that is committed to getting this work across the finish line.<\/p>\n
Empire Bins, like the two behind me, have been serving the residents and building superintendents of West Harlem for nearly a year. They performed well in all seasons, including our very cold, very snowy winter. And we are now preparing to install them in Brooklyn Community District 2, including Fort Greene and Downtown Brooklyn. This work is overdue, but it is not easy. These bins are emptied by automated side-loading trucks that, until two years ago, did not exist in North America. Expanding Empire Bins beyond a one-district pilot requires significant investment in new sidewalks, and I am grateful that the mayor has committed to this expansion. It marks an investment in cleanliness and quality of life that will change the way our streets look and feel. Imagine a New York City with no trash bags on the street. That’s what we’re doing, neighborhood by neighborhood. We are ending the decades-long era of trash bags on our streets in New York City. Others have talked about containerizing the city’s trash, but we are getting it done, delivering cleaner streets and sidewalks and fewer rats to every corner of New York City.<\/p>\n
How will this work? Well, businesses and low-density residential buildings, those with nine or fewer units, are already required to put their trash in smaller wheeled bins. Today’s announcement covers higher-density buildings with 10 or more units, where building managers will put their trash in Empire Bins. These Empire Bins are assigned to individual buildings and accessible by building managers with a key card and, coming soon, an app. Building managers, by the way, love these bins. They can fill up the bins with trash according to their own schedule, rather than a specific schedule three days or two days a week. And they can also free up space inside their buildings that was once dedicated to the accumulating piles of trash.<\/p>\n
So, the mayor already went through the list, so I won’t do it again, but by the end of next year, you’ll see these Empire Bins right here in Community Board 8, as well as Bronx Community Districts 2 and 5, Manhattan Community District 2, my home district of Queens Community District 2, and also Staten Island Community District 1. That means at least one fully containerized district in every borough of New York City by the end of 2027. And during the course of next year, we will work with our partner agencies and property owners to assign these bins to every building in these districts with 30 or more units. We’ll also be doing extensive outreach to buildings with 10 to 30 units, offering them the option of an Empire Bin or the smaller wheelie bins that properties with one to nine units are already using.<\/p>\n
And when the next phase of expansion is complete, the city could have nearly 10,000 Empire Bins on our streets. And we are not stopping there. As you heard the mayor say, we are committed to full containerization in every district just five years from now. So, if your neighborhood is not part of today’s announcement, fear not, cleaner streets are coming your way soon. This is a challenging logistics undertaking, but it is not rocket-science. It just took the will to get it done. And now I’m pleased to announce the chair of the City Council Committee on Sanitation and the very proud host of forthcoming Empire Bins, Justin Sanchez.<\/p>\n
Council Member Justin Sanchez: Thank you, Commissioner Anderson. And can we get a big round of applause for New York’s strongest, the Department of Sanitation, all of our workers. When I ran for City Council, and I apologize in advance, Mr. Mayor, I ran on four simple words: clean the damn streets. And through the partnership with this mayoral administration and the leadership of someone [who] actually knows how to get things done, and our commissioner, Greg Anderson, I am so excited to be here announcing this rollout of containerization. For far too long, Bronx sites have seen dirty streets and have seen that we don’t get the pilot programs as they’re being implemented. We don’t get being put on the front side. In this mayoral administration, the Bronx is being seen, and we are so grateful. We will continue to do everything that we can and need to [do], to continue cleaning our streets. I look forward to working in partnership, not only with the commissioner and this administration, but all of my colleagues across the city council to making sure that we’re bringing containerization and a successful and clean city to all New Yorkers. Thank you.<\/p>\n
Commissioner Anderson: And now we have a Council member who represents this very block, Chi Oss\u00e9.<\/p>\n
Council Member Chi Oss\u00e9: Good morning, Crown Heights. First and foremost, shout out our DSNY workers. Thank you so much for your service in the city. They’re my personal favorite uniformed individuals here in New York. You know, I was complaining about Con Edison yesterday on the Internet and someone wrote to me, \u201cYou’re complaining about Con Edison, but why don’t you do something more about containerized trash?\u201d And then I got a call from the mayor’s office saying we were going to have this press conference. So, Jake4127, look at me now. There’s an amazing book written by Robert Sullivan, it’s called Rats. It’s an amazing book on the history of how rats came to New York City. And one of the most defining lines in that book is he relates that our mirror species as human beings are rodents. You know, wherever we go, there they are. And I know everyone knows that rats like to reproduce. They like to have a lot, a lot, a lot of fun. And they also arrive where we leave our trash and leave our food and leave our water.<\/p>\n
So, for us to take this massive step in containerizing trash across the five boroughs is exceptional, not only in the war against rats, but in terms of keeping our city nice and clean. You know, when the last mayor was in office, he wasn’t too fond of me. And I asked him time and time again, I was like, \u201cI really want these containerized bins.\u201d And he never responded. And you know, I think this mayor likes me a little bit more. So, I really want to thank this administration for providing me with something that \u2014 you know, I grew up around the corner and as a little boy, all I ever wanted was containerized trash bins in Crown Heights. And to be here now with containerized trash bins at Crown Heights, I mean, I’m living my wildest dreams. Thank you very much.<\/p>\n
Mayor Mamdani: Hey now, hey now, this is what dreams are made of.<\/p>\n
Question: So, two questions. Being that this is expected to mitigate rat consumption, picking up the trash, are you still or at all considering a rat czar? Is that not necessary? Or what else are you doing for rat mitigation? And second question, being that these aren\u2019t the most attractive thing\u2014<\/p>\n
[Crosstalk.]<\/p>\n
Question: Are you going to have a contest to decorate them or paint them or do something with it?<\/p>\n
Mayor Mamdani: I think these are quite nice. But I think what you\u2019re sharing is the classic New York need for us to always improve on what it is that we are delivering, so we\u2019ll keep that in mind. I think just to your first question, this is, it\u2019s not just about, as my colleagues have said, bringing our city in line with cities across the world. It\u2019s also about actually tackling the rat population in a way that has been proven to have a tangible effect. I\u2019d just like to invite our commissioner up to share some of what we\u2019ve seen in Morning Side Heights, which is the one district that we have seen containerization thus far.<\/p>\n
Commissioner Anderson: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So, in Morning Side Heights in West Harlem, Community [Board] 9 in Manhattan, we have seen not only that the streets are cleaner, but that rat complaints on 311 are down substantially. They\u2019re down \u2014 I just got the numbers this morning \u2014 I think as much as 25 percent in that district, compared to this time last year. And this time last year, they were already down substantially compared to the same time the year prior. So, we are making big progress in fighting the rats, and we think this program is part of that.<\/p>\n
Question: Those are 311 complaints?<\/p>\n
Commissioner Anderson: [Yes.]<\/p>\n
Question: I had a couple of questions about this. One is, you know, we’re very impatient here at Streetsblog, so we’re curious why this will take until the end of 2031, maybe not, you know, maybe the end of 2030 instead. You know, what’s the deal with the timeline? And the other thing is we’re curious, you know, do you think that there is a possibility of, in the future, when these are going forward, getting smaller buildings to share these as opposed to limiting them to only larger buildings?<\/p>\n
Mayor Mamdani: So, I think on the first piece, we \u2014 when we started having meetings about this as an administration, one of the driving questions was, what is the fastest that we can deliver this across the city? Because what we’ve seen is a conversation around containerization over many years that has yielded a single community district. So, these six that we have all put up, these will all be completed by the end of next year. We’re going to see, already by the end of this year, an additional community district, and then 2031, every single one of the 59 districts across New York City. And we set these goals not only to meet them, but also to serve as an example of what it is we’re looking at as an actual timeline. Too often, legislation and directives are given without a date that New Yorkers can hold an administration accountable to. I’m just going to pass it over, commissioner, on the second question that you posed.<\/p>\n
Commissioner Anderson: So, you know, I said this in my remarks, but I can’t underscore enough. These bins, and more importantly, the trucks that service them, did not exist in North America two years ago. And so, the process of getting North American manufacturers to work with European body manufacturers, so the chassis is North American, the body is European, marry them together, make sure that the, you know, the centimeters and the inches match up \u2014 which the space station had some issues with that at one point. That’s a complicated task. So, we are now building a new supply chain that crosses the Atlantic Ocean to get those trucks here, built, and ready to use. That takes time. You know, we did one district last year. We’re doing one district this year. That was the commitment from the previous administration. Six districts next year, 51 districts over the course of [2028], 29, 30, and 31. That’s an ambitious timeline, and we are committed to meeting it.<\/p>\n
Question: [Inaudible] Getting the smaller buildings to share them, maybe, as opposed to, you know, having it only be 10 to 30 units?<\/p>\n
Commissioner Anderson: Yeah, that’s something we’re definitely open to and looking at. You know, clearly, we want to make sure that people are maintaining the bins and that they’re not abusing the bins. So, we need to maintain the access control while also looking at sharing the bins. It’s something that we’re looking at, and hopefully in Brooklyn too this fall, we’ll be able to test that out.<\/p>\n
Question: Two questions. Can you talk to us about the cost of this and how the city was able to navigate its current budget shortfall to allocate funds for this? And then what can you say to New Yorkers \u2014 second question \u2014 about the process for high-density residential buildings? I know that’s further down the line, but can you speak to those two things, please?<\/p>\n
Mayor Mamdani: Yes, absolutely. So, I’ll let the sanitation commissioner add a little bit more to the process for high-density. But I think just to lay it out, we have about \u2014 and, [Commissioner Anderson], you can correct me if I’m wrong here \u2014 70 percent of trash in New York City is containerized at this point. This is addressing the remaining 30 percent. These are the larger-scale residential buildings that right now are putting their trash out in bags. And growing up in New York City, we’ve become accustomed to this. But I think, frankly, there’s too much in our politics that we exceptionalize, saying that this is just how it is in New York City. It doesn’t have to be this way. We look at cities across the world, this is not how they live. And this isn’t how we have to live either.<\/p>\n
And to your first point, we are adding about $15 million in the city’s expense budget for next year. We’re adding about $35.5 million in capital funding over the course of both this fiscal year and next fiscal year. Now, we are facing, as you brought up, a generational fiscal crisis. We are facing right now a $5.4 billion fiscal deficit. We are encouraged by the nature of conversations that we’re having with Albany. We’ve already seen that yield a new revenue proposal of a pied-\u00e0-terre tax that would tax the wealthiest of the wealthy across this city. And as I think you can see, everyone who’s clapping here doesn’t own a second home worth more than $5 million while they reside somewhere else outside of this city.<\/p>\n
And we know that as we tackle that, we also are doing so while ensuring we’re fulfilling our commitment to New Yorkers that we are never going to compromise essential services. Trash is one of the things that New Yorkers wake up in the morning and expect City government to be able to respond to. You’ve heard from our council members the deep appreciation that New Yorkers have for the hardworking men and women of DSNY. We want their jobs to also be a little bit easier. They don’t need to be picking up every single trash bag. They can also be dealing with modern technology for a modern city. And, commissioner, I’ll pass it over to you on the question about high-intensity residencies.<\/p>\n
Commissioner Anderson: Yeah, so these bins will be used by every building with 30 or more units. They’ll be optional for buildings with ten to 30 units. Clearly, there are some buildings that are very, very, very large where we start to see the number of bins get pretty big, around 300 units. And so I think what we’re going to do, and Brooklyn 2, which we’re rolling out to this fall, is a great place to test this, has a number of large buildings, is, you know \u2014 what are the approaches that we can take to limit the number of containers that are necessary? Do we have to increase the frequency of collection in order to reduce the number of containers? You know, are there other models of containerization that we can use? So, we’re looking at all the options on the table.<\/p>\n
Question: Okay, I have two off-topic questions. The first one is, wondering if you can react to the True Social post from President Trump last night saying that you’re destroying New York with the pied-\u00e0-terre tax. And then also, if you’ve spoken to him recently in the last 24 hours or ever about tax or taxing the rich in New York.<\/p>\n
Mayor Mamdani: So, what I’ll say is that I’m interested in what New Yorkers have to say about our policies, and 93% approve of the pied-\u00e0-terre tax. This is a tax that will raise half a billion dollars every year, and it will raise money to fund essential city services like free child care, cleaner streets, and safer neighborhoods. The president and I both want this city to succeed. This is how you do it. And in terms of the person here who’s spoken most recently to the president, I would point everyone to Timmy Facciola of the Judge Street Journal.<\/p>\n
Question: Had you spoken about that tax with him at all since the governor announced it?<\/p>\n
Mayor Mamdani: I’ve made it clear to the president and to the public that I am deeply supportive of taxing the rich, and taxing non-residents’ secondary homes worth more than $5 million falls right within that. How was your conversation with the president?<\/p>\n
Question: It was very brief, all too brief. Do you have any regret that he gave me an exclusive interview? I have a comptroller question, actually. That’s the thing about the Judge Street Journal. We talk to the president. We also have a conversation with the comptroller. You’re meeting with Tom DiNapoli later. There’s a lot of progressive challengers in that race. Are you eyeing anyone? Are you going to endorse DiNapoli?<\/p>\n
Mayor Mamdani: I have made a few endorsements thus far, and those are all ones that I’m very, very excited about. When I have anything else to share, I’ll be sure to do so publicly. But I’m looking forward to going back up to Albany this evening for SOMOS and to attend a number of receptions, including Comptroller DiNapoli’s.<\/p>\n
Question: I’m wondering if you have any more details on the pied-\u00e0-terre tax. Like, you know, will it \u2014 if you live in the city but you own a second home here, will it apply to you? How will you value the properties? It feels like there’s a lot of stuff that needs to be worked out, and I’m wondering, are any of those details ready to share?<\/p>\n
Mayor Mamdani: So those are exactly the details that our teams have been hard at work at, and the reason that we have even spoken about this publicly is not just a belief in the kind of tax but also in the administration of the tax. Our administration is confident in the tax’s ability to raise half a billion dollars on an annual basis and to do so by collecting these increased taxes on properties worth more than $5 million. The additional details of that we will be sure to share with you as they happen.<\/p>\n
Question: Albany believes that it might be technically difficult to actually enforce this pied-\u00e0-terre tax. I’m wondering, do you think it’s possible, you know, in terms of developing the values? A lot of these are owned by LLCs.<\/p>\n
Mayor Mamdani: I do think it is possible. I think there are times when technical concerns are spoken of, but I think they also mask political disagreements.<\/p>\n
Question: I wanted to ask you, you know, about what Trump said about you in relation to this new tax. Do you feel like it puts some backlash between you and him? And why do you feel like you were targeted versus the governor? Because it’s both of your proposals. And then I have one other question unrelated to that.<\/p>\n
Mayor Mamdani: You know, I’ll leave the president to answer why he writes his posts the way that he does and who he directs them to. What I will tell you is, you know, I think we saw in the Judge Street Journal’s reporting the president’s description of his opposition to this as a policy. And I’ll be honest with you, it’s not a surprise given the fact that the president and I have many deep policy differences. And I am not shy about airing them both publicly and privately. I’ve spoken to the president about my deep disagreement with him about ICE. I believe that ICE is a cruel and inhumane agency that does nothing to serve in the interest of public safety.<\/p>\n
Even the previous time that I met with the president at the Oval Office, I was there to speak to him about the prospect of the city working with the federal administration to deliver the most amount of housing delivered in a single housing project since the early 1970s. 12,000 homes, 30,000 jobs. In the process of having that conversation, I brought up that just that morning, a Columbia University student had been detained by ICE. And I gave the president a list of five individuals who had been detained in or around Columbia University. And I asked that those charges be dropped. 30 minutes after the meeting, he called me to say he’d made the decision to drop the charges when it came to that Columbia University student. These differences of opinion, they will continue. They are sincere. And also, the thing that we have in common is that we are both New Yorkers. When I speak to the president, I always bring it back to the city and what I think will help the city.<\/p>\n
Question: And just to go back, yesterday you announced this new city-backed insurance program for affordable and rent-stabilized buildings. How much of that is to grease the wheels when it comes to getting your rent raised, you know, to get them to back your rent?<\/p>\n
Mayor Mamdani: I’ve always said that I am committed in leading our administration to confront the cost-of-living crisis wherever we find it. And we’ve also seen that landlords of affordable housing units have seen their insurance costs skyrocket. And so, for me, if you’re a landlord, if you’re a tenant, so long as you’re a New Yorker and you’re facing a cost-of-living crisis, it’s the administration’s responsibility to have an answer to that. We’re very excited by this proposal because we think it could not only save the city more than half a billion dollars, but it could also make it easier to steward affordable housing across the five boroughs.<\/p>\n
Question: I’m wondering, on the pied-\u00e0-terre tax, are you concerned at all about the Tier 6 pension being passed, which could basically wipe out the gains from the penitentiary tax? And I have a follow-up.<\/p>\n
Mayor Mamdani: No. I think it’s critically important that we advance a vision that makes it easier for working people to live in New York City, and that we also do so while tackling this generational fiscal crisis. And I’m encouraged by the conversations we’ve been having with the governor and legislative leaders, and we’ve already seen the progress of that. And that is all working backwards from the fiscal responsibility we have to balance New York City’s budget.<\/p>\n
Question: And also, the CSOs, you said that you only need to find $2 billion.<\/p>\n
Mayor Mamdani: $1.7 [billion], yeah. What’s $300 million amongst friends?<\/p>\n
Question: Is that an indication that the governor has given you a number that she wants you to get the budget to?<\/p>\n
Mayor Mamdani: That $1.7 was something that we outlined many months ago as part of our preliminary budget on February 17, and it was part of our commitment to finding inefficiencies, fraud, waste, wherever we could in our city budget, and eliminating that as we deliver the most efficient city budget possible. And that is how we reduced the deficit to a point where we are now, $5.4 billion. Then those conversations continue with the governor. That $5.4 is obviously then reduced through the implementation of a pied-\u00e0-terre tax, through the additional kinds of savings that we’re talking about.<\/p>\n
Question: You\u2019re headed to Albany today. Are you going to push again for higher income taxes and corporate taxes, or is it your understanding that this pied-\u00e0-terre tax is all you\u2019re getting this session and maybe next year\u2019s?<\/p>\n
Mayor Mamdani: I will always be myself wherever I go, and I’m someone who believes in the importance of taxing the wealthiest to ensure that everyone in this city can actually afford to live here. And I will also be celebrating the pied-\u00e0-terre tax because I think that this proposal that we’ve worked on with the governor is one that speaks exactly to that need and does so while funding the kind of essential city services that New Yorkers cannot go without.<\/p>\n
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