De Blasio Talks IDC, Schools, Housing At Park Slope Town Hall

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN — Mayor Bill de Blasio held court for two-and-a-half hours on Thursday night with constituents in the Park Slope area at a town hall meeting.

The mayor touched on topics ranging from housing to schools to the Independent Democratic Conference in the state senate.

The town hall was held at M.S. 51 and was emceed by City Councilman Brad Lander to talk about issues in District 39 — which includes Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Gowanus, Park Slope, Windsor Terrace and Kensington.

You can watch a replay of the town at the bottom of this post, and re-live the night through our live blog below:

LIVE UPDATES BELOW:

6:30 p.m.

Doors are opening, and people are starting to file in. This was what the line looked like just before then. This is from the side door of M.S. 51, about halfway down Fourth Street. It's stretching almost to the end of the block.

Also spotted hamming it up with constituents waiting in line: Perpetual mayoral candidate Sal Albanese.

7:05 p.m.

The room is filling up quickly here less than a half hour out. The far back and right sections in this picture are just about full, and folks are filling in the rest. It should be a full house.

7:42 p.m.

And we're just about to get underway — about 15 minutes behind schedule. We're told this will go until 10 or 10:30, so strap in.

7:45 p.m.

Here's a look at the crowd as we get underway. De Blasio and Lander are joined by Assemblymembers Jo Anne Simon and Robert Carroll, along with state Senator Jesse Hamilton.

7:57 p.m.

Lander is kicking things off with a lengthy introduction of the mayor, while going over some neighborhood highlights. He notes that he's proud of helping save a movie theater on Prospect Park West, the work to save Kensington Stables and how welcoming his district has been to two homeless shelters.

7:59 p.m.

De Blasio takes the mic reminiscing about watching his kids' basketball games in this same gymnasium. He says he was "not the most progressive parent" and got a little too into the games sometimes.

"This place, anyone who has had anything to do with M.S. 51, it's a magical place in so many ways."

Lots of talk about keeping questions short, but no questions taken more than half an hour into the event.

De Blasio says he'll take questions until 10 p.m., and then his staff will be available "for any question you didn't get to ask or anything you want to follow-up on."

8:04 p.m.

De Blasio still going in his introduction. He's handed a note by an aide and jokes, "No, we have not just declared war on another country." He was being reminded to introduce U.S. Rep. Yvette Clarke, who's in the crowd.

8:08 p.m.

Still not to questions, but de Blasio is now talking about President Trump and him pulling out of the Paris Climate Accord.

"Cities around the country immediately rejected the president's action and came forward — over 300 American cities — said we will achieve those goals on our own," de Blasio says.

8:10 p.m.

De Blasio going on now about this week's announcement that private vehicles will be banned permanently from Prospect Park starting early next year.

"On Jan. 2, there will be no cars at all in Prospect Park."

8:20 p.m.

Now the mayor is updating folks on crime, which has decreased across the city and this district. He also goes over some Vision Zero changes, which include banning truck deliveries on Flatbush Avenue during rush hour.

Still no questions taken nearly an hour in here.

8:30 p.m.

It's almost exactly an hour since this town hall was scheduled to start, and we've got our first audience question. It comes from the Park Slope Civic Council. A representative asks two winding questions about potential upzoning in Gowanus and protecting jobs with the city's bid for Amazon and the city's "incentive package" to get them here.

"We're not providing a package to Amazon," de Blasio immediately says, then reminds the audience to keep questions short and snappy.

On Gowanus and small businesses, de Blasio says he wants to look into penalties for landlords who keep storefronts vacant for a certain amount of time.

He concludes: "Don't forget to shop at those mom and pop stores that you love and give them some money too so they can survive."

8:34 p.m.

The next question comes from a parent asking about school segregation and how to combat it. De Blasio notes zoning changes and altering the admissions process for some schools.

8:39 p.m.

A Scholastic kid reporter asks de Blasio about removing "controversial" monuments in the city. (It's also the most concise question of the night.)

De Blasio says there needs to be "one approach for the whole city" with respect to monuments so the city so it can move on and address other issues important to New Yorkers.

8:42 p.m.

And here's first question about the IDC (with state Senator and IDC member Jesse Hamilton in the room). "What's your stance on the IDC?" a questioner asks. She also wonders why de Blasio thanked Hamilton when acknowledging the elected officials in the room.

"Anybody who is representing this city, I'm going to work with. I'm still going to be respectful of them," de Blasio says.

But he also adds that the IDC is holding the state back on issues such as rent regulation and a millionaire's tax. And he thinks that if Congressional districts were drawn fairly, New York would pick up three or four more seats. That is also on the state senate to draw.

8:50 p.m.

A representative of the Fifth Avenue Committee asks about bringing affordable housing back to Park Slope that was lost during a Bloomberg administration rezoning.

De Blasio noted that when he was public advocate, he asked that administration for inclusionary housing but was told no, which is why he put a focus on it as mayor.

8:55 p.m.

A middle school student has a question about expanding participatory budgeting and encouraging youth engagement.

"Given the moment in history, determining how to best foster youth participation is on my mind," de Blasio says.

And he says he wants the girl's help to strategize about getting more kids involved in government. She agrees to do so.

8:57 p.m.

Another middle schooler asks whether the mayor supports lowering the voting age to 17.

"I'm not there yet, but I'd love to hear the arguments," de Blasio responds. And he takes time to slam the state's voting laws. "They're broken. They're backwards. People of all ages aren't voting because of our state election policy." De Blasio also puts in a plug for more early voting and same-day registration.

9 p.m.

A parent from P.S. 282 asks about a sink hole in the school's play yard and the timeline that keeps getting pushed back to repair it. NYC Department of Environmental Commissioner Vincent Sapienza says work can only be done during the summer and promises that it will get done this coming summer.

9:08 p.m.

A Rockaway resident says she still has oil contamination at her home from Hurricane Sandy. "How can a family of five live on an oil spill?" she asks.

De Blasio asks her to get in touch with Sapienza to sort out her situation.

9:12 p.m.

Another woman asks about a comprehensive plan for Prospect Park with respect to wildlife. She thinks the approach is "piecemeal."

Sue Donoghue, president of the Prospect Park Association, and Marty Maher, the Brooklyn Parks Commissioner, say they do and de Blasio asks them to all pow-wow afterward.

"I also hear they're working on a cow plan for the park," Lander adds to laughs.

9:15 p.m.

A Carroll Gardens resident asks whether the mayor would support expanding the Carroll Gardens historic district. The mayor says he can't commit to a position but says he'll personally be involved in the process, noting his familiarity with the district.

9:18 p.m.

Another question about Prospect Park. This time from a driver who worries about congestion on side streets once the car ban goes into place.

De Blasio says he wants to speak as a person: "Cars whooshing by when you're going for a walk or going for a bike ride just doesn't make sense. That's not what the park is for."

DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg follows up and notes studies that will happen over the next few months to adjust traffic patterns around the park.

9:23 p.m.

Another question about Gowanus rezoning, this one about saving industrial jobs.

De Blasio says the first thing he considers in a rezoning is affordable housing. And if that is on the table, "then everything's on the table" in a potential rezoning. "Everything is on the table. Everything is in play. Affordable housing first."

9:27 p.m.

An observation: The mayor sometimes comes off as combative sometimes when going back and forth with constituents, challenging some of their assertions and getting them to keep their questions short. It's not necessarily rude or disrespectful, just direct and to the point.

A NYCHA resident asks "who's watching the watchers" to make sure money to that agency is spent in the right place.

The mayor gives a laundry list of levels of oversight: the mayor's office, the office of management and budget and the city council.

"We take watching the watchers real seriously," Lander adds.

9:31 p.m.

An trio of eighth graders asks when there will be speed cameras in front of every city school after their school lost three students to hit-and-runs.

"We have been stymied regularly in Albany," the mayor notes.

Assemblywoman Jo Anne Simon takes a mic and notes that the effort has been held up in the Senate and tells people "it's incumbent on everybody to let the Senate knows at stake here."

Senator Hamilton also takes a mic and notes that he supports the effort and will vote for it.

9:36 p.m.

Now a question about snow removal and a buildup of gray snow banks on curbs that hurt accessibility.

NYC Department of Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia says the priority will always be clearing the streets. She says they can work with the office of disabilities to prioritize clearing certain areas first.

UPDATE: In case you didn't think the mayor's office was serious about following up on some of these issues:

9:40 p.m.

An audience member has a stack of papers that he says is research about street vendors and how they hurt local businesses. The mayor says he will review them.

9:47 p.m.

One person asks if there are plans to build affordable housing in Kensington. "Yes, we want to be in every neighborhood," but notes that part of the plan is preserving current affordable units. Then jabs: "With all respect to the media, they have not done a good job explaining this to the people."

9:50 p.m.

A parent at K-280 says they're down one crossing guard since the beginning of the year. "You're going to get another one," de Blasio says. And a police commissioner notes, "That was filled today."

9:54 p.m.

The kids have the most concise questions of the night. An eighth grader asks how to make the high school admissions process simpler.

De Blasio responds: "Do we have a right now plan? No. But my mandate to the Department of Education ... is to look for ways to simplify it."

9:57 p.m.

A question about 8th Avenue and Union Street and how to make it safer.

Trottenberg says DOT staff is looking at putting a leading pedestrian interval at the traffic light to let pedestrians walk before cars go forward.

10:02 p.m.

The final question comes from a woman who lives on 15th street and said she had a housing issue and was hung up on by a mayoral staff member. De Blasio directs her to the HPD commissioner, and she shoots back, "and your office stinks, too."

And just as things start to spiral out of control, Lander officially puts a cap on things.

Thanks for following along with our live blog!

REPLAY:

All photos by Marc Torrence, Patch Staff