Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Governor Cuomo Announces Northwell Health Will Begin Vaccinating Workers at Belmont Park Redevelopment Project Site Today

Earlier today, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced that Northwell Health will begin vaccinating union workers on the Belmont Park Redevelopment Project today, April 14, at 1:30 p.m. 900 doses have been set aside for workers and will be administered at a rate of 50 per day. Vaccinations will proceed at the Belmont site six days per week until May 1. After May 1, vaccinations will be conducted three days per week and will continue on a rolling basis until all Belmont workers are vaccinated

VIDEO of the Governor's remarks is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format here.

AUDIO of today's remarks is available here.

PHOTOS will be available on the Governor's Flickr page.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

Good morning, everyone. Good to see you here today. It's a pleasure to be at Belmont Park. First I want to speak to an incident that happened here yesterday where there was a bonfire as you know and due to really extraordinary efforts by first responders, the fire department, the staff here at NYRA, 58 horses were saved, two horses perished, but they did a really outstanding job. Let's give them a round of applause. We have here with us today many great guests. You're going to hear from Michael Dowling who is the president and CEO of Northwell Health.

Northwell Health has been extraordinary throughout this COVID pandemic, I mean not just on Long Island but statewide and literally across the nation. Northwell has really stepped up all through the state. We've also visited other states that needed help and Northwell, their capacity and their generosity and just their loving spirit has been fantastic. Let's give Northwell a round of applause.

You'll then hear from Matty Aracich who's the president of the Building and Construction Trade Council Nassau and Suffolk. He has stepped up through this COVID situation. We didn't want to lose any time obviously but we had to be safe during COVID and it was a delicate balance and Matty and the building and trades unions have been fantastic. Let's give Matty a round of applause.

You'll then hear from John Ledecky who is the co-owner of the New York Islanders who is having a great season. I just said to him, kiddingly on the side I said, boy it all looks good. Just don't blow it now, John. Don't blow it now. To John Ledecky and the Islanders who are having a great season, let's give them a round of applause. You'll hear from them in a moment.

I also want to acknowledge Paul Leo who is here, Brian Nigro, Tim McCarthy, Danny Grodotzke, Steve Mazza, John Jovic and John Durso, who is the president of the AFL-CIO for Long Island, beautiful friend. I thank all the women and men of labor for stepping up again and again and again. Let's give them a round of applause.

It's a beautiful day. You feel that spring is here and a chapter is turning. We've had a long, ugly winter in this state, across the country, across the world, COVID winter, winter of darkness. It was a winter of isolation. It was a winter of death. It was a winter of fear. It was a winter of anxiety. I hope and pray none of us ever go through what we went through this past winter. I hope we learn from it. I hope we learn as a nation, as a world.

You know, COVID was not the first coronavirus. We had Ebola. We had Dengue. We had these pandemics over the past 20 years. We just didn't learn from them and we weren't really prepared, and I hope we learned this time. I know that we learned in New York. New York had, by far and away, the worst assault of COVID on the globe. We had the highest rate of infection of any place on the globe because COVID was coming here from overseas and nobody knew and then once we found out it was too late and the infection rate went through the roof and we were on our own. Don't kid yourself. And it was New Yorkers who came together and who brought that infection rate down. We want from the highest one of the highest infection rates on the globe to one of the lowest infection rates and we saved tens of thousands of lives. That's what New Yorkers did and we should never forget that. That's the spirit and the unity and the strength of New Yorkers and let's give them a round of applause.

People say to me now all the time, well what happens? What happens next? What happens to New York? Will we be what we were is a question they often ask. I don't think it's about that. I don't think it's about will we be what we were. Life is not about going backwards. Life is but going forward and we took a serious blow from COVID, not just us, everyone everywhere took a serious blow, on a lot of levels, economically, physically, the death, loss of jobs, loss of businesses, pain, anxiety, fear, isolation. So what will happen? What will happen is what we will make happen. I believe that. I believe that's the story of life. Life comes by once in a while and knocks you right on your rear end. Why? Because things happen. Things happen. Somebody gets sick, something happens at home, you lose your job, something happens in the family. Something will happen, and then what happens? Then what happens is what you make happen. It's a test of who you are and your courage and your strength. When you get knocked down, what do you do? Do you stay down? Do you get up? Do you get up smarter? Do you get up stronger? Do you get up more resilient? Do you get up learning from that lesson? And do you go forward? Can we go forward, can we learn, can we grow? Yes, and that's what our goal is, and that's who we are, I believe as a people.

This is not the first time we got knocked on our rear end. Remember 9/11? And remember all the chatter after 9/11? Oh, New York will never be the same, we're a terrorist target, we're afraid to live in New York now, this is never going to stop. That was the chatter. The flipside was, you're damn right this is New York and we're going to build it back and we're going to build it back better and stronger than ever before and no one is going to intimidate us and you knock us down and we get up stronger and we did.

We went through it with Superstorm Sandy here on Long Island - decimated the island. Well, I don't know if we can build back. We built back better than we were before. We learned. We progressed. We advanced. We said we're ready for the next time. So that's our spirit. We're going forward. We're building back better than ever before, and this today is an example of it.

Two challenges - build back stronger, smarter than ever before in this international race to build back because everyone is trying to do it and the winner is going to be the person who does it best but at the same time COVID is not done with us so you have to do this and you have to be smart and safe in COVID.

This is a perfect metaphor for it. Belmont Park - we're going to build here a magnificent Islanders arena, 19,000 seats designed specifically for hockey as a permanent home for the Islanders. It's going to be one of the best facilities in the United States of America. That's what we're building here. 19,000 seats, $850 million of annual economic activity, 3,200 permanent jobs will be right here in the Islanders arena but that's just the start of it. The Islanders arena is part of the Belmont Park redevelopment which Jeff Wilpon and Sterling Equities is building. That's going to be a full comprehensive redevelopment - retail spaces, entertainment spaces, restaurants, hotels, a whole city onto itself generating jobs and economic activity for Long Island. Let's give Jeff Wilpon a round of applause. It is going to be an economic engine and catalyst for Long Island in a way we haven't had for a long, long time. It's the physical manifestation of what we have to do.

But we also have to do more. We have to take this moment and solve problems that we haven't solved for a long time. We know that we've been destroying our environment for a long time. We know we need alternative power sources for Long Island and the state for a long time. Now is the time to do it. Everybody talks about the green economy and the green revolution and the green world, but they talk. You know what we're going to do? We're going to actually make it a reality in this state and lead the transformation to renewable energy with wind turbines, with solar energy, with the new green grid that can unite the entire state and bring renewable energy all throughout the state with good union paying jobs, with protections - that's what we're going to do.

We're going to rebuild that Long Island Rail Road because commuting in this new world cannot be running the gauntlet. I can now stay home, remote learning, I just went through Zoom. Long Island Rail Road has to be reliable, has to be safe, hasto be clean. We're going to rebuild the LIRR, we're going to rebuild Penn Station, which should have been rebuilt 50 years ago, so we have a mass transit system that rivals anything in the United States of America, and it's going to be done with union labor because that's how it's done right and that's how it's done on time.

We also have to reduce middle-class taxes on Long Island because we are taxing people out of this state. We are taxing people out of this state and most of all, we have to get property taxes down on Long Island. They're the highest in the country. You can't afford to buy a house. Now the property taxes are more than the mortgage. I can't tell you how many people I talk to that say I can afford the house, I can afford the mortgage, but I can't afford the property taxes. They raised the property taxes in the prior administration. This administration, President Biden and our senators and Congress people have promised to repeal what's called SALT which actually raised our property taxes artificially. They repeal SALT, property taxes will drop dramatically because you'll be able to deduct them the way we used to be able to deduct them. It will change the tax structure of Long Island. The federal politicians promised. Now, politicians promise. I know what you're saying. That's all right. We're going to hold them to it. They promised it. They're in power. No excuses. Repeal SALT or don't come home to New York until you have because the taxes have gotten out of control and we need our property taxes lowered and it's going to happen now because there are no more excuses. President Biden promised it, the Senate promised it, the Congress promised it. Live up to your promise and repeal salt and lower our property taxes.

We have to do all of these things, rebuilding better than before, and as I said before, we have to be safe and we have to be smart. COVID is not gone. Well, I'm tired of COVID, I'm tired of the mask, there's a vaccine. COVID is not gone. 58 people died yesterday from COVID. People die every day. Nurses, doctors put themselves on the line every day. Thousands of people go into the hospital every day because of COVID still. And they talk about new variants and you see states and countries around the world where you're seeing COVID come back. Don't get cocky with COVID. So yes we're going to rebuild and we're going to build this arena and we're going to have this arena ready by the end of the year for the new hockey season. We're going to do that. And we're going to do it safely. Northwell is going to vaccinate the women and men who are building this complex so we can build it and we can build it safely. Thank you, Northwell.

And to me this is a metaphor. What are we going to be? We're going to be what we say we're going to be. We're going to be what we build and that's the story of New York. We built all of this. We built the greatest state in the United States of America. We built the greatest state in the nation and on the globe and we're going to do it again and we're going to do it safely and smartly and we're going to do it together. And this is a beautiful illustration of it. God bless the women and men of labor. We don't say thank you enough but from the bottom of my heart and the bottom of the heart of all New Yorkers, thank you for what you've done this past year. While everybody stayed home to be safe you went out and you kept working and our health care workers went out and kept working because you allowed other New Yorkers to stay home and be safe. We thank you from the bottom of our heart. Thank you. Michael Dowling.

Michael Dowling: Thank you, Governor. It's an honor for me to be here with all of you and obviously to be here with all of the partners behind me because when you are engaged in anything serious and difficult it takes a team, it takes partnerships, it takes collaboration, takes people working in unison. Governor, thank you very much for allowing me to be here for a few moments as we take another giant step to try to defeat this virus. And if we do it right and we do it correctly we're going to look back on this a few years from now and say, guess what we went through, and it's important just for a second just to reflect and just think about the past 12 months and ask yourself, how would you define it? Complex? Unique? Difficult? Transformative? Extraordinary? A year that basically nobody else that we know has been through in a lifetime. So it's important to think about it just for a few moments, because what happened, we were at war with an invisible enemy. An enemy we couldn't see, couldn't touch, couldn't feel that came on relatively subtly and we were at the epicenter at the beginning, as the governor has said many, many times. Each day was a battleground. Making decisions on the fly. Making the best decisions you possibly could to deal with it. It tested on us. It tested health care. It tested every organization because we've all been transformed by this. We're all a little different today than we were the beginning of COVID. All of our organizations are different and will be different going forward.

But I also want to say, governor, to you, a special thank you for your extraordinary and exemplary leadership during COVID. I was there. I know what went on. This was tough. You're were the leader. You were the commander. You were the person that guided the state through an extraordinary time, an extraordinary difficulty, and on behalf of everybody that's worked in health care over the past 12 months, tough decisions had to be made. Quick decisions had to be made. Complex decisions had to be made, and you made them. Without your leadership, we would not have been able to deal with what we dealt with. We were out front. You led from the front, and you led from the rear. You didn't stay up in Albany in the mansion. You were out on the ground. You were in the facilities. I was with you during many of those occasions. And the other thing I just want to mention is the sense of optimism that you portrayed all during COVID, the daily briefing sessions that people universally across the world watched. My family's in Ireland, I have a sister in Ireland, and you could not talk to her in the afternoon because she'd say to me, do not call me in the afternoon each and every day because I have a date with the Governor. I'm watching him on TV. And that was pretty universal, that sense of optimism, that you can beat this, we will deal with this, we will win, we will come out on the other side. Your true character as individuals and your true character as a state comes forward when you have to deal with a crisis like this. And Governor, that sense of optimism, that sense of win, you will win, I want to say on behalf of everybody that's been dealing with this over the last 12 months, a special, special thank you. And it's important to remember this. You know, it's very easy to be a spectator. You know, it' very easy to say okay, on Monday they should have played the game differently on Sunday. Being a spectator is easy. When you're in the arena, and you're fighting the war, and you're in battle, you're in the game, that's a different story. All those others that have come up to me and said you should have done this, you should have done that, yeah, that's fine. I didn't see you when the problems were happening. You weren't there when the problems were happening. You were someplace else, probably out of state, relaxing someplace. So anyway, this was not a spectator sport.

So just a few other general comments. Over the past 12 months, I would say that we have been what I would consider for most of the past 12 months we've been in the treatment phase of COVID. Taking care of sick people. Very, very sick people. And when you're in the hospital business like we are at Northwell and the other player on the providers' side, you saw enormous sickness, illness, death. But also remember that while that gets an awful lot of attention, and as the Governor just alluded to a few minutes ago, we saved thousands and thousands and thousands of lives. We tested people and we provided treatment. And we're still doing this, because as the Governor said, this is not over. We still have COVID patients in our hospitals, not like we had before. Back the Spring of last year, we had on a daily basis at Northwell 3,500 COVID patients in the hospitals every day. Every day. So, now I think it changed. It changed in December, when Sandra Lindsay was the first person in the United States to get the vaccine. That was in December. So now I'd say we're still in the treatment stage, but we are now moving into the prevention stage.

Vaccination. We can do all of these other things, but if we get everybody vaccinated, that provides the prevention against this disease, against getting very, very sick from this disease and this virus. And we have at Northwell, we have been vaccinating hundreds of thousands of people. In this site alone, we have vaccinated about 50,000 people to date as of now, and we will continue. We've been, at the Governor's direction, we have been out in the minority communities and the churches and the communities all over the place, and as you know, the Governor has been leading the effort to make sure that everybody in New York State gets vaccinated, setting up hundreds of pods all over the place and large vaccination sites like Javits, et cetera, et cetera. So, all of us have an obligation now. We have an obligation now to make sure that we become ambassadors out there in the community to get everybody to get vaccinated. This is a must. It's an obligation we have to make sure for those people that are somewhat hesitant about this to tell them that it is safe, we can move forward, this is how we defeat this virus, this is how we can put the pandemic in the history books. This is what we all need to do and so again, Governor, my thanks to you for your leadership and making sure that we communicate this message on an ongoing basis. And I just want to say a special thank you to all of the staff, my staff, the Northwell staff - some of you are here so thank you for everything that you're doing each and every day to make sure the people get vaccinated. We have about 500 Northwell employees right now doing nothing else but engaged in the vaccination process. Five hundred people and they will be doing that for as long as it takes so the rest of us, the rest of the people out there is to make sure that you convince everyone to do it. Protect your family, protect your neighbors, protect your parents and that goes for young people as well as non-young people. It means everybody.

So, it is a pleasure to be here with all of these people and as the governor just said, none of us can wait to just be able to attend large events, go to the arena as the Islanders are on their way to win the Stanley Cup. That's the future. That's what's positive. We can be part of that future and just as the governor just a few moments ago laid out a vision for all the things that we need to do. That's the view you have to have, looking forward. Looking beyond what is to what it is you can be in the future. So again, to everybody, to all of you, and to all the union workers and all of the people building this beautiful facility next door, my special thank you. We're partners with you. We will continue to work with you, and it is a real pleasure by the way to be in the business, to be able to do something special. We're in the business to help the community get healthy, and the way we can do that right now is to make sure everybody gets vaccinated so again thank you to all of you. I'd like to now introduce Manny Aracich to make a few comments.

So again, Governor, thank you.

Matty Aracich: I'd like to begin by saying that I feel very comfortable with the people that are here, simply because I represent many of them and they are from my family. 65,000 men and women of the building trades are fairly represented by someone who decides that everything that we do it for the benefit everybody else and for that that's why we do the job we do as labor leaders. Thank you, Governor Cuomo. I want to thank you for all you've done during the past year or so to keep New Yorker safe. Representing the building trades is something that we have a great relationship with you, and I've never forgotten that. I'm here because I have great trust for the Governor. Great trust that he does the right thing.

We've been involved with the Governor for a period of time, but that period of time is not small. In fact, it goes back to when he had a relationship with his father working for the prior Governor Cuomo. We actually started our relationship when he started to become involved in politics and although I didn't have any personal relationship with him during the HUD routine he had in Washington, D.C., the one thing I can tell you is once he started to run for office in New York, we were intricately involved in everything because we wanted to become partners with him. The reason we wanted to become partners, as you can see, is everything that has transpired over that time. It is evident that he is the leader of leaders and I'll tell you that because if this the case, if you look at a position where, if you head the Governors Association across the country, that is the pinnacle of achievement in what you do for the state. So, for that, congratulations. People working here in Belmont Part arena - many of our members, as I've said - we broke ground on this project probably 16 or 18 months ago and never did we think we'd be in this particular position, saying that we'd be in any kind of delay or that we'd be faced with Covid. Despite all odds, what I can tell you is this Belmont Park arena is not only becoming the pinnacle of Nassau County's achievements, it is also an achievement of the building trades. It also something that it is a sign of hope with good things to come for the future. Where this is going to be a place of importance, where people will live, work, and play in both Nassau County and Long Island. So, now with the vaccine in place, the one thing I can tell you is thatthrough this whole pandemic I have already gotten my shot and I'm getting my second shot this Friday. I urge everybody to go ahead and get their shots. The reason is it's not about you. It's not about me. It's about the people that you represent. The fear is it's not that you will get sick, like everybody else I'm a tough guy and we know we can get through this. However, it's the other side of that which it's the fear of bringing it to somebody else and the guilt that you have if someone is ill or much worse. So, for that, making sure the vaccine is available for everyone is actually a primary objective of the building trades because I will tell you, I urge all of the building trades affiliates and their members to take it. I am urging all of local organized labor to take it because it's the right thing to do. It's the weapon of the war against Covid and I think this is the best case scenario and ought to go ahead and knock it on its ass. Quite frankly, that's the only way you have to treat this. There are no things in war where you look to have a good outcome other than annihilating something on the other side. That is whole purpose of war.

So, governor thank you for your amazing leadership again, thank you very much for leading us through this pandemic and if you make a comparison to anybody else across the country there is nobody who holds the same regard as you do when it comes to fighting this disease. Thank you and one last thing, I'm sorry because I want to recognize John Durso. As much as we've said there's a lot of heroes here. We've built two hospitals on Long Island whether it be West Bury or Stonybrook. I can tell you that we had multiple shifts there, thousands of people on each shift for six and seven weeks. With protocols we put in place there was not one infection in that whole time on either site. However, the real heroes here are people like John's workers, people like the ambulance drivers, people like the nurses, and the people who work in the stores to provide everything and essential services. So for them, they need a round of applause as well.

John Ledecky: Good morning everybody, I'm truly humbled to be surrounded by heroes as I look out into the audience. Heroes behind me, heroes in front of me. Thank you so much. I want thank a bunch of people, first the construction workers. The men and women who everyday throughout the pandemic have worked through the most challenging environment to get the job done. You see the photos that are up on the screen, that's what's happening here at Belmont. It's an amazing accomplishment and it's due to your incredibly hard work. I've met so many of you visiting the arena site as the progress has gone on. Your commitment to the project and your in many cases love of the Islanders and talking about the team has really gotten me through and gotten our team through this pandemic. I will never forget your dedication and professionalism in building the UBS Arena, the Belmont Park site, and the new Long Island Railroad station. I echo the governor's comments about the Long Island Railroad. We are building the first new station in 50 years and it will be a beautiful station that everyone in this community will be most proud of. I next want to thank my colleagues at the Islanders, the team lead by captain Anders Lee, the coaching staff lead by Barry Trotz and the management team lead so capable by Lou Lamoriello.

These guys played hockey last season during the pandemic. They lived in a bubble. They were at risk constantly. The same as the construction workers who are building the arena for us. And their efforts have been heroic.

What happened out of that has happened here as well. The band of brothers and sisters at this construction site and the band of brothers on and off the ice. We are truly blessed to have them in our lives.

I next want to thank our fans. Your support for the team has inspired every member of the Islanders organization. Your commitment to the team has led to UBS Belmont Arena selling at a pace that is well ahead of schedule despite the disruption of the pandemic. That's commitment. That's love of the team. And that shows how we want to return to normal and we will return to normal by beating this pandemic.

Last but certainly not least, I want to thank Governor Cuomo. I want to thank you governor for your belief in the great state of New York. I want to thank you for providing the leadership that has made UBS Arena at Belmont Park possible. Your leadership allows us to celebrate today the powerful symbol of UBS Arena at Belmont Park as proof of New Yorkers' incredible resilience. We are, as you say governor, New York tough. Thank you.

Now we look forward. Now we look forward with great anticipation. To the opening of UBS Arena at Belmont Park this fall and to celebrating the bright future for both New York and the New York Islanders. Thank you very much.

Governor Cuomo: Let's give a big round of applause for everyone. You heard from Jon Ledecky, Michael Dowling, Matty Aracich. Thank you very, very much.

Look, Matty said something and John said something that I just want to echo. The vaccine only works if you take it. The vaccine only works if you take it. We have, thanks to Northwell and other providers, the largest distribution network of vaccines probably in the country. Mass vaccination sites. Local community popups. But it only works if you take it.

Now Matty said 'I'm a tough guy.' Yeah. John said, 'New York tough.' We are New Yorkers. People think we're tough. You know what else? We think we're tough. You know what else? We are tough. You have to be tough to make it in New York. But tough is only part of it. There are more dimensions to being a New Yorker. There are more dimensions to being tough. And when you're really tough -New York tough -you're also loving. You're also united. You also care about one another. You're also a community.

So yeah, I'm a tough guy. I'm not afraid of COVID. I should be, but I'm not that smart. I'm a tough guy. But I can get it and I can give it to someone else. And I don't have that right to be irresponsible and reckless where I could give it to someone else. You want to be irresponsible and reckless with your own life, that's your business. But you have no right to walk about and infect somebody who might die. It is your civic duty. So get the vaccination. And again, Northwell is going to be vaccinating workers who are on this site. Now, I happen to be, by virtue of my position, a semi-authorized vaccine distributor myself. I can actually give a vaccine. So anyone here who would like to get a vaccine from me today? You really don't want a vaccine from me. I offered, I offered. I had no takers. But, we do have Northwell, that's going to administer a vaccine, and I want to introduce Ashwinkoemar Soechit, a sheet metal worker from Local 28 who's going to come up and who's going to get a vaccine today, administered by Northwell. Thank you all very much for being here. And to Ash, everybody should follow his example.