Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul Unveils Vision for NYC's Comeback at ABNY Breakfast

Governor Kathy Hochul today unveiled her vision for New York City's comeback at a breakfast hosted by the Association for a Better New York. Governor Hochulcommitted to complete the Second Avenue Subway expansion, advance plans for the Cross-Bronx Parkway, and push for the swift transition to the use of electric vehicles in New York State. Governor Hochul also announced a State University of New York and City University of New York Scholarship Program, called the "Nurses For Our Future Scholarship", that will cover tuition for 1,000 new healthcare workers to get RNs at SUNY and CUNY.

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

AUDIO of the event is available here.

PHOTOS of the event are available on the Governor's Flickr page.

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

"Thank you, Steven, for the introduction and a reminder of how not just my family, but many families started with humble beginnings, and I see many of their successes in this room.

And I thank all of you, as part of ABNY for being there, we needed him the most and Melva, I had a chance to work with you closely. When I spent like every day of my life in Queens with Melinda Katz when she was Borough President, and our District Attorney, and to all the elected officials who joined us here today.

But 50 years, ABNY, Congratulations! That is outstanding. You know, it seems like whenever we're in trouble, we need ABNY. Look back exactly 50 years ago, and the names of the families that you've heard here, who are just legendary and viewed as the dreamers and the doers for generations. But back then, when ABNY was born during the financial crisis of the seventies, a lot of people gave up on New York City. That is a statement of fact. It had fallen so far financially and the crime, and just people saying "It's just not working," but ABNY was created by true believers. Business leaders, labor leaders, civic leaders who never, ever gave on the promise of New York City. So today ABNY, you are called once again to help us lead our way out of this pandemic and into a better future. So I thank you. I thank you, ABNY, for being there and the time right now, yes.

We feel the optimism this year. I feel the energy. I love to see it, but there are people questioning our future, and what it will look like. In this moment, there's a lot of people saying, can we really get through this? But my friends, this is not a moment to despair. There's a moment to seize the great possibilities that lie before us. And we will reimagine the post-pandemic world in a way that only the dreamers and doers of New York City are capable of.

My vision for New York is bold. Post-pandemic, we rebuild, but also we unlock New York's incredible potential. Now it's the time to make transformative investments in infrastructure, public safety, and find new pathways to jobs for those who are unemployed, but also in those industries where there's a severe shortage of workers.

We have to address these as our highest priorities. And Steven mentioned one, I guess, rather obvious fact. First female Governor of New York. Yes. I understand the weight of my shoulders to be successful. And to all the women in this room, there's one fact that we all know. Women are held to higher standards or have we not my sisters? Yes we are. Yes we are. But it also gives us a chance to not meet those expectations, but exceed those standards. And that is what I intend to do as your governor.

And how are we going to do this? I will govern with strength, but also compassion. And I'm ushering in a whole new era of collaboration based on the model of ABNY, which you've always done for these 50 years: bringing people together to solve problems. And it's no longer about who gets the credit, it's about who gets it done. It's that simple. And I'm sharing success. Shared success, what does it actually mean? It's something I'm hard-wired to do. And for long-time observers, politics and government, the city, it may seem a bit radical.

It is how I've governed for the last two and a half months here, but my entire life. So get used to a whole new era of collaboration. I work with local leaders, for example. I come out of local government. I know it was like as a local government official, councilor, for 14 years. And all we did was say, why is Albany doing this to us, don't they hear us? Don't they understand that we're the closest form of government to the people, but for far too long, we've not listened to their voices.

I've worked with them starting from day one with the pandemic saying, I'm not going to dictate to you how to handle this in your community. You get it right. And I'll support you. You need some help, I'm there to back you up. And they so appreciated being empowered, local governments, a whole new era of cooperation. I worked across state boundaries. Just recently, we had a big challenge. They said there's a big log jam out there: there's billions of dollars of federal money for transit. There was a log jam because there could not be an agreement between New York and Connecticut and New Jersey, my God, how could this ever happen? So really? It's that hard? "Phil, how you doing? Let's watch football together. Let's solve this."

There are simple ways to get this done and to my former colleagues in Congress, who I stood with on the White House lawn on a rather chilly day on Monday, witnessing history being made. When President Biden put pen to paper and literally with the stroke of a pen was able to ensure the long-term viability of our states and our country with $1.2 trillion of infrastructure dollars. And that is extraordinary.

I worked as a staffer for Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan. When he served on the Infrastructure Committee, we talked about these big projects, and now, so many of them that have some of that accomplished, but so many of them waiting, we can get that done. But I said to my friends in Congress, so we talked about this: "when I go to your districts and announce the projects that we'll be funding, you will be standing next to me." They were stunned. I was a member of Congress, this never happened, but it's about shared success and lifting everyone up.

And I so look forward to working with our incoming mayor, Eric Adams. People say, "Have you met the Mayor yet?" I've been working with him for seven years! What do you think I did as Lieutenant governor? Clearly I've worked with them! I know these people. I know every inch of this state, I know every elected official. I've been everywhere. And I know Eric Adams, and we have shared values, and a vision to bring this city and this state to a far better place. And as I said on election night, as I stood on the stage with Eric Adams, I said the era where the New York State governor is fighting with the New York City mayor is over, and instead we'll roll up our sleeves and fight for the people. It's that simple. We can get that done.

How do I know I'll be successful? Well, first of all, I have assembled the dream team of all dream teams. Yes, I have. I have, first of all, to my Lieutenant Governor, Brian Benjamin, who's here, I want to thank him for saying yes. He is going to champion small businesses, making sure that our NYCHA buildings are better than they are, and focusing on the needs of the communities. And I want to thank him for his leadership.

My brilliant Secretary to the Governor Karen Persichilli Keogh, you know her as KPK. Karen, thank you. Thank you for saying yes, Karen. Thank you. Counsel to the Governor, Liz Fine. People know her work at ESD, an extraordinary leader. Chief of Staff Jeff Lewis, you've gotten to know him over the years. Director of Transition, Marissa Shorenstein. Budget director, Robert Mujica. ESD Commissioner Hope Knight started Monday. My nominee to be chair of ESD is Kevin Law sitting over here as well. Superintendent of the Department of Financial Services, the top regulator on Wall Street is a woman, a woman of color, who has extraordinary experience in Barack Obama's administration, Adrienne Harris. She's going to do a phenomenal job. My Secretary of State Robert Rodriguez, and when things get really tough, I call out New York City's fixer, State of Operations Director, Katherine Garcia. Well, I can just go home.

Let me take a few moments to lay out my priorities. I'll check them off and then I'll develop a little bit further. First of all, we bring people back to work, particularly to their offices right here in Midtown. We connect people to jobs and address the racial disparities and the barriers to people's success, especially for our young emerging entrepreneurs who just need access to capital. We're going to fight for that as well. And we're going to make infrastructure investments that'll create transportation equity as well as environmental justice. Yes. That is something we can accomplish together.

And I know when I think about racial justice, I can't help but think of someone who's in this room and that is the leader, the fighter for justice for decades, and that is Hazel Dukes, my adopted mother, the head of the NAACP.

So how do we bring people back? Well, clearly you got the memo. You're missing a good game if you're sitting in your pajamas, Zooming in your basement. I mean, this is where the action is. Is it not, my friends? There's such a vitality out there. I literally walk the streets of New York every single day. State Police might not be as thrilled about it, but I literally walk up to people and I look them in the eye. How are you doing? What's going on? I walk into businesses. I walk into the tall buildings. I say, what is going on here? How you feeling? People coming back.

This has been a devastating impact on our economy. The fact that yes, we're still fighting this pandemic, but people need to know that in a place like New York City the infection rate is 1 percent. People are vaccinated. They're getting their booster shots. They're wearing masks, walking down the street, even when they're not required to. They're doing all the right things in the city. It is safe to come back. Send that message out to your employees, come back to work, we miss you.

Because we know the effects on the small subsidiary businesses, the little mom and pop shops, the retail, the place that people stop for coffee and for lunch, all those little businesses are also hurting until people come back downtown.

I'm going to put a stake in the ground right now. You heard that we're all going to be back New Year's Eve celebrating. I look forward to being there as well for that ball to drop on a whole new year that I just can't wait to put 2020 and 2021 behind us.

But how about this New Year's resolution? That in the days after New Year's, that we say "everybody back in the office" - you can have a flex time, but we need you back, at least the majority of the week, come on back, New Yorkers, we miss you.

And we will do our part. We will do our part. I know there's some anxiety. For example, about taking the subway - only half the people around the subway. First of all, it's easy to get a seat right now. You don't have to stand. But as MTA Acting Chair and CEO, Janno Lieber, and Janno, by the way, I'm really looking forward to dropping the word "acting" soon. Can we just make this permanent? Janno Lieber, extraordinary leader. But just to say to people, we understand your hesitation, we have promised no plans for service disruptions, and no fare increase for the rest of this year and next year. Let's get that done. Don't worry, Janno, I'll find the money somewhere.

We also have to make people feel safe on the subways, on the streets. I walked around. I know people have this inner anxiety. They're feeling it's not quite the way it was before the pandemic. This was known as the safest city in America, safest big city in America, just 20 months ago. But I'll tell you, my friends, New York City has faced crime before, we've overcome it, and the fact that this was not a long slump into crime, it's a short spike downward, which means we can pop up quickly. And working with the city of New York, the new mayor, this is how we're going to get it.

I also recognize that we have a humanitarian crisis in our streets. You cannot ignore this. No human being can walk over someone lying on a street or seeing them in a park and not feeling this tug of anxiety saying, this is not right in the greatest city on this planet in the 21st century. This is not right. We need to connect the homeless to supportive housing, address their needs, whether it's mental health services, substance abuse service, these people have needs. We need to take care of them and tell them, this is not your home. We can do better than this.

But I also understand the anxiety of families. I was walking the Upper West Side just last weekend or a couple weekends ago, and I saw this couple and their two little girls and they came up to me and said, are you really the Governor? I said, I get that a lot. Yes. I said, yes, I am the Governor. They said, you know what? We stayed here during the pandemic. A lot of people, our friends, left - they went off to safer places. We kept our kids here. We did not want to give up on this city. But now we're just feeling the problem of worrying about things. It's just, it's starting to get to us. Are you going to help us? I said, yes, I'm going to help you. I understand that anxiety to my core.

I understand the anxiety of tourists who may be thinking about this. I need to tell them loudly and clearly that we are tackling this, we will get through this, and New York is a great place to come and we want you here.

And I've also heard from various landlords in the areas. They talk to me all the time. I hear it. They also tell me they want to help with these crises. They want to help us with crime. They want to help us with the homeless problem. That is the kind of partnership that ABNY can deliver with state government to work collaboratively to get this done.

We also cannot ignore that there's a gun violence epidemic raging in our streets, and it's not just New York City. I had to send extra resources up to Rochester and Buffalo and Syracuse and other cities. And this is a national problem. I don't want to say there's something that we're doing wrong here in New York. This is a national problem.

But my heart breaks as a mother to know that Black children are 10 times more likely to die from gun violence than a White child. That's not right. That's not right. I've taken a number of actions. I've extended the executive order to declare this a statewide emergency, which allows me to deploy more resources. Just this past week, I signed a bill to ban ghost guns. You all read about the ghost guns. How is it possible that someone could manufacture a gun, a lethal weapon in their home and go out and use it and not be traced? That is over.

I also joined with a mutual pact with Connecticut, New Jersey and Pennsylvania to sign an MOU that we'll work together to track the guns because the federal government just won't do it. Okay. Get out of the way. We'll do it ourselves. We're going to have information sharing resources as well.

I just announced a state firearms violence research institute - something the legislature has wanted for a long time, but nobody wanted to actually quantify what's happening, why is it happening, where is it happening? Let's get that data so we can have a more targeted approach. This is what you call common sense gun safety legislation - because it's crucial that we make this city safe for those who live here, those who work here, and those who visit here.

Priority number two is to get the economy back on fire. We know how to do this. This is what we do best. We are the innovators, the creators, the believers, and we have to create the jobs of the future because right now we have this huge disconnect, and I saw this when I was in Congress. I used to bring together the leaders of my local colleges, community colleges in particular, bring them together with the leaders of the businesses and say, would you please talk to each other? Because I have a feeling things are being taught over here that are not exactly relevant to the workforce and your need to have talent. We're going to continue doing that even more. And what I want to do is recognize the areas where we have a labor shortage, and it is real. It is real, but also the unemployment numbers continue to be high. So this is the challenge, but I also know how to get there. We'll give people new skills. That are linked to the jobs that are existing, but also the jobs of the future.

I know how education and training can lift people out of poverty. My very poor grandparents fled Ireland because they had nothing. Their parents basically said, leave because we can no longer feed you our family is too big. They came to America as teenagers and grandpa, starting out working as a migrant farm worker in the fields of South Dakota heard there were great jobs in a place called Lackawanna, Buffalo, New York. And so I'm thinking too bad the jobs weren't someplace warmer. I love Buffalo. Hey, if it doesn't kill you, it makes you stronger. There's nobody stronger than me out there.

Grandma and grandpa started life and lived the American dream because they worked at a steel plant. Grandpa worked at a steel plant. Grandma worked at Bell aerospace, making parts for our planes during World War II. But what that did was give a gift to my father. Yes, you heard my father and mother started out in a trailer park. I visited there two weeks ago, just to get that sense of what it was like to live in this tiny trailer with a newborn baby, my brother by a year. And then they moved into a little flat, close to the steel plant when I was born. I never even knew we didn't have anything. You just live in that world. You don't know.

But what transformed my family was the fact that my father was able to get a college degree at night while working at the steel plant. Otherwise, I would've had a very different outcome. My whole family would have. So I believe to my core, the value of education and training and linking people to the jobs that are there because our employers need it as well.

This is something we will accomplish, and we're going to working closely with CUNY and SUNY and finding that pathway to the middle class for many more people who have been left behind, particularly those who lost their jobs that may not be coming back. Not all the jobs are coming back as a result of this pandemic. Businesses are doing things differently. Many will, some will not. I want to capture people before they fall too far.

And we cannot afford a labor shortage in areas like healthcare. Look at how we honored the healthcare workers. We bang pots and pans. We celebrate them. We called them heroes because we are living in the security of our homes and they're running into the line of fire every single day to save lives. As a result, so many of them were burned out. They were close to retirement and they just said, okay. And they truly deserve our undying respect and gratitude.

But as a result, this pandemic came down hard on them. We now have a severe shortage in healthcare workers. This cannot be, because there are people that are waiting for lifesaving, medical attention, and who may not get it. Before that happens in our state, I'm taking an action today, which is to announce that we'll be funding the education of 1,000 New Yorkers to make sure they're trained as nurses and get them into our system as soon as possible. So we're making sure we can get these RNs out there. We'll get them trained at our CUNY schools and our SUNY schools. One-thousand New Yorkers to take care of New Yorkers. And we'll give people the other skills they need.

I could go on forever, but I'm real excited about our green energy economy. What we're going to do out on Long Island, getting jobs for people who never dreamed to be working, helping establish New York State is the epicenter of the offshore wind systems. And it's going to be powerful, but that's another speech I have so much to talk about. Wait for my State of the State.

Infrastructure. What does infrastructure mean? Think about that. What does it mean to you? Is it just a road, is it a bridge? It's also what you don't see, it's underground too, And how important that is. And I have such gratitude as the Governor of the State of New York to president Joe Biden, majority leader, Chuck Schumer, speaker, Nancy Pelosi, and all the courageous individuals who voted to make sure we have the money we need to make up for neglect from the past, we have been given a once in a lifetime opportunity to take that money on top of what we already have and to spend it, I like to spend money, get used to it.

We're going to do this all over, but we're going to make New York more livable. That's what I'm talking about. What does infrastructure really mean. As Lieutenant Governor -- you ready for this Lieutenant Governor? -- I traveled around the earth 15 times, mile-wise. Okay. Get ready. 370,000 miles traveled around the State of New York. So I have had a personal encounter with every single pothole, every bump in the road. I know this state like the back of my hand. So I'm putting $1 billion toward a brand new repaving program to fix the potholes.

This is a quality of life issue for people to say, why, why do I have to deal with this. One billion dollars to harden our road and bridge infrastructure. I don't want to live in a state where there are bridges that are compromised. We have to use this money and use it now. And what we saw after hurricane Ida, never again do I want to witness the pain and anguish, when literally days into my job as coming Governor, I walked the streets of East Elmhurst, saw people whose lives were destroyed because the infrastructure could not withstand the record rains that fell from the heavens.

People lived in basement homes. They were literally captive, flooded, and drowned in their homes. And I saw a little girl and her Mom sitting out on the curb with a basin, trying to scrub her little shoes to get them the mud off of them because she had nothing to wear and her shoes were all covered and caked in mud.

Never again. We're going to build the resiliency, the infrastructure above ground, underground to protect the people of New York. Because Mother Nature seems to be really mad at us these days. Two hurricanes in my first couple of weeks as Governor, we had more hurricanes than the state of Florida did this year. My father lives in Florida. He's kind of gloating over this right now.

So we have to be prepared. And that after that experience, I told my team, I have to be mentally prepared for a hurricane every 10 days at this rate. That's what we were dealing with and shame on us if we're not prepared, this infrastructure money will help us get there.

But those of you who really don't like the potholes that are there, until we get the chance to fix them. You know how you avoid potholes? You take the train, right? You take the train, no potholes on the train track. Right Janno?

So just acting like a regular New Yorker. I dropped my daughter off one day at Penn station and say, oh my God, I hope I see you again. I love you dearly. That should not be the experience of people living in the greatest city on this planet. I think we can all agree with that.

So I look into this, find out that there's a plan to do Penn Station after the Gateway Tunnel's done. If we're lucky, we start in 2035, it'd be 2040. And I'm thinking, how old am I going to be for this ribbon cutting? I said, New Yorkers deserve this. Let's make New York better for New Yorkers and enhance the commuter experience.

And so the mom who is coming in from Long Island who gets up at the crack of dawn and makes the kids sandwiches, and gets them off to school. Travels in darkness because the days are too short, comes up through Penn Station no longer should she be encountered by more darkness, more depression. It will be beautiful.

You'll look up and you'll see the heavens and say, yes, there is a God, they fixed Penn Station. It's going to be extraordinary. It's all about the experience. I want people to feel good about themselves. Being a commuter should not be a drudgery experience, we can do better than that.

Also quality of life issues, time. The most precious thing we have is time. And we saw this during the pandemic, when people actually rediscovered their children, took them outside. They realized there's more than just work. You have a wonderful family that's happy to see you. I can give you back 40 days, 40 minutes in your day with the East Side Access, have you come in through Jamaica Station, you come into Grand Central. It would not only -- would be a beautiful experience again, artwork on the walls. Beautiful corridors. It's magnificent.

Janno and I were put on - I've still got to wonder why they put you and I on the test drive a couple of weeks ago. What does that say about how we're valued by your organization, Janno, just saying? Let's have the governor and Janno test drive and see if it's going to crash or not. It didn't crash, it was magnificent.

About one year from now, we'll take that ride and we'll welcome people to a whole new experience that literally saves forty minutes in your day. That's precious. Make sure you spend that time with your kids.

And because Harlem's in the house, I have to talk a little Harlem, Hazel. Second Avenue Subway phase two. How long we going to talk about this one? Since the 1940s they've been talking about this. Okay team, time to get it done. Long promised, wildly overdue, today I'm announcing we will make good on that promise. We will have no more excuses with these infrastructure dollars. Tomorrow I'll be there with Congressman Espaillat who's been talking about this. We will right the wrongs of the past here and in so many other places where people in the past had this idea that the best place to put a highway was right smack dab in the middle of black and brown communities because, my God, they won't complain. That was wrong. We are going to fix the Cross Bronx Expressway, reconnect communities, just like they're doing in Syracuse, where I went to school with I-81, another divided community. We fixed it in Rochester. We'll do that here in the city.

That's what transportation equity looks like. That is going to be a hallmark of my administration, big regional projects. These are the ones that get all excited about, working with the Executive Director of the Port Authority, Rick Cotton, who's just a brilliant individual. Love working with Rick. We're going to re-imagine our airports and our ports and everything else under the jurisdiction.

And I will tell you, we talk about regional cooperation with New Jersey. I was at the Bills Jets game last week. Don't say anything, but I know the Jets know a lot about infrastructure because they've been in midst of a 50 year rebuilding project. But being a Buffalo Bills fan, it took us at least 32, okay? So I get this. Okay. There is hope, my teams. I love them all, I'm a mom of this whole state, Giants and Jets and the Bills. I'm going to get in so much trouble, but seriously important projects with New Jersey. I mean, we're not at war with New Jersey, they're our friends. Many of them work in our city. They're spending money here. That's a good thing. They're welcome here. They're part of the family.

Gateway. Way too many holdups, way too many holdups. Sometimes you just need an adult in the room who walks in and says, stop fighting. I raised teenagers. I'm really good at this. We can do this. And there's a shared interest in accomplishing. We'll get the governance strategy down. We'll also work on the Port Authority Bus Terminal. Okay. Buses. We want to bring people in and make them feel safe and secure with an enlightened experience, we can get that done as well.

Infrastructure is also the key to unlocking our opportunities to protect our environment. We authorized brand new transmission lines from upstate and Canada. People said, here's the choice, hydroelectric power coming down along the Hudson from Hydro-Quebec. That's a good thing for New York City. The other plan is you could bring in wind and solar from the Catskill region. Nice projects. You could pick one or the other. We decided we're in a crisis, we'll do both at the same time. Let's just get that done. Let's make those investments now so we can close the fossil fuel generated power plants in New York City that are creating health problems for our kids. That's what this is about. That's what environmental justice looks and feels like.

As I mentioned, we're going to focus on offshore wind. Thousands and thousands of jobs will be coming from that industry. We have plans for a $3 billion to create jobs, but also clean energy infrastructure, 3 billion. I said, you know, after two hurricanes, I'm going to up that to 4 billion. Well tell me, first of all, the cost per family a year, this is how I think. So if we can go from 3 billion to 4 billion, how much will New Yorkers have to pay? $37 a year. That's the cost of my dinner for two at Shake Shack last night, right? A shake and a veggie burger. I think we can afford that. I think every family is willing to pay $37 a year to protect the environment for the future. I think we can agree on that. So we're going to do that next year and I need your support. I need your support.

We'll also transition to electric buses so all the parents who are very anxious about dropping their, having their kids picked up in a bus that is spewing pollution and in their little lungs - I'm a mom again, I dropped my kids off at a school bus. I cannot wait for the advent of electric buses all throughout the state, school buses that otherwise. As you know, we banned the sale of gas powered vehicles in 2035. Okay. Did he get that memo? Okay. Okay. Those of you who are antique car holders, I'll let it slide a little bit, but we banned the sale of new of gas powered vehicles.

So, what does that mean? We have to start building the infrastructure now for the electric charging stations. I want to be certain that no one will ever hesitate about driving an electric vehicle, because those are the vehicles of the future. I don't want them to worry about whether or not they'll get that charge. So wherever I see a gas pump, I'm envisioning a charging station right there. Let's get started. We're going to need that much time. That's what environmental justice looks like as, as well.

I could filibuster all day. I have so much to share with you and I'm so excited about this, but you'll see it in my State of the State address. We're working on that now. And I look forward to many, many, many years coming back as your governor, addressing ABNY, because we have so much to do.

I've talked a lot about the future, but just to close, I want to talk for a minute about the past and Melva alluded to this. I know we will emerge victorious from this pandemic stronger and better because it's in our DNA as New Yorkers, we can't help it. We can't help but think about the possibilities and have that eternal sense of optimism. We persevere, we come back stronger. What happened 100 years ago, the last pandemic brought us to our knees. Thousands of people died. What happened? We persevered and we came back stronger and we actually launched into the roaring twenties. If you ignore 1929, it was a very good decade. It was a very good decade.

After the Great Depression, what did we do? We persevered and we came back stronger. What did we do after the fiscal crisis ABNY? You are born and during the fiscal crisis. We persevered and we came back stronger. 9/11, persevered and came back stronger. Superstorm Sandy, we fought back. We persevered, we came back stronger. It's all we know how to do.

What do we do now? You know the answer. We persevere and we come back stronger. And I have one question for you. Are you with me? To persevere and come back stronger, New York, and show the rest of the world that yes, we did come back, New York came back. There's no stopping us. Let's show the world what New York exceptionalism looks like. Thank you so much."