Transcript: Governor Cuomo Delivers Remarks at Bethesda Healing Center
Cuomo Delivers Remarks Following Earlier Visit this Morning at Salem Missionary Baptist Church in Brooklyn
We're going to take this city and not just rebuild the city, not just fix the problems. Our destiny, our legacy is to make this city better than ever because our destiny is to leave this city better for our children than we found it. That's what it's all about. That's what our parents did for us. And that's what we are going to do for our children.
- Andrew Cuomo
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, candidate for Mayor of New York City, today delivered remarks at Bethesda Healing Center where he delivered remarks to the congregation in Brooklyn. Cuomo spoke about the need to fix our city, address the public safety crisis, and build more affordable housing in partnership with the faith-based community.
He was welcomed by Pastor Augustus Spooner, Pastor Dwain Lazarus, and Pastor Novelle Stevenson in the church led by Bishop Dr. Annette Lazarus-Rose. He was also joined by Assembly Member Latrice Walker, Bishop Orlando Findlayter, Council Member Darlene Mealy, and District Leader Anthony Jones.
Earlier this morning, Cuomo delivered remarks at Salem Missionary Baptist Church in Brooklyn where he was welcomed by Pastor James A. Thornton and joined by Bishop Orlando Findlayter, Brooklyn Democratic Party Chair and Assembly Member Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, Assembly Member Farah Louis, and District Leader Josue Pierre.
A transcript of his remarks at Bethesda Healing Center appears below:
Good morning. Thank you for having me today. God is good. I want to thank Pastor Stevenson very much for that introduction. Please be seated. He raised a number of topics in that introduction. Almost need a rebuttal. But first let me thank a few of my colleagues who are here with me. You have a gift in a truly talented public servant who serves in the state assembly. I've worked with hundreds and hundreds of people in the state assembly, but when you mention the name Latrice Walker, she is an exemplary representative of what a public servant is supposed to be all about. Latrice Walker, council member Darlene, who's doing a great job in the city council, it’s an honor to be with her.
We have district leader Anthony Jones, thank you. And a man who's been a tremendous spiritual leader to me as well as the leader in the community, Bishop Orlando Finn. Later. I also want to thank Reverend Spooner very much for his guidance and what he does for the congregation and the community. Let’s give him a round of applause. Reverend Stevenson mentioned my brother and myself, and who's more handsome? Not that it is important because it's superficial, the Lord looks beyond that. But let me just say that camera lights can be deceptive and how they produce what appears on television versus natural handsomeness.
Pastor also mentioned my father, Mario, God rest his soul. And he, my father, I did start with very early on, I was with him through his whole political career and he's my hero and I miss him every day and I think of him every day. And I thought I had done my public duty. I had served as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. I was attorney general, I was governor and I was going to do other things with my life. And then I was watching New York City and what was happening in New York City and the trouble that New York City is in and the challenges we face. And I thought of my father and what my father would say and my father would say, the job is not done. The challenges are getting worse and they are before us and we have to fight the good fight and we have to fight against what is going on now. And my father fought all his life and I'm going to fulfill his legacy and I'm running for the mayor of the city of New York precisely for that reason.
Because New York City is in trouble. You can feel it when you walk down the street. You don't have to read it. They don't have to give you statistics. You just feel the anxiety that people feel and you see it. We've lost 500,000 people have left New York. 500,000 people, rich people, middle class people, hardworking people. They always say the same few things. Number one, it's unsafe. And number two, it's unaffordable. Just this past week, man had an argument on a Brooklyn subway. Someone stepped on his shoe, they wound up having an argument. The person was stabbed twice and died 38 years old because someone stepped on his shoe. Just this week, a 61-year-old grandmother heard a noise outside. Her grandson was playing outside. She was concerned. She went out to see what was going on. She got caught in the crossfire, was shot and killed.
It's just this past week, and this is all unnecessary and that is what is most frustrating about what is going on. It does not have to be this way. We know how to deal with these issues. These are in our control. It wasn't always like this. You don't have to be a victim to live in New York City. We can take control of the matter. It's also our obligation to keep each other safe. Jeremiah 22 3, do justice and righteousness and deliver the one who has been robbed from the power of his oppressor.
We've learned this lesson before. We had a great mayor, first black mayor, David Dinkins. God rest his soul. He came into office and we had a crime problem. And Mayor Dinkins knew that 75 percent of the victims of crime are black and brown - 75 percent. So what did he do? He increased the police force by 40 percent. He made sure they were trained, they were culturally sensitive, they were respectful to the community, but he made the city safe again and he saved lives. We know how to do this. Today, we can hire 5,000 new police officers for half the money we're spending on overtime. Just think about it. So keeping New York City, making New York City safe is a top priority and Mayor Dinkins really did show us the way forward. Dr. Reverend Martin Luther King: True peace is not merely the absence of tension, but the presence of justice.
New York deserves justice and it's too expensive, it's just too expensive to live here. And we know how to handle that. Provide people with free childcare, provide free bus routes, cut taxes on hardworking families, and the rent is just too darn high and need more affordable housing. Now, affordable housing is not rocket science. We're not trying to fly to Mars here. We've been building affordable housing in this country since the 1940s. I built affordable housing in Brooklyn in my twenties. We know how to do this. I was HUD Secretary, housing secretary, I worked in every state in the nation. Cities all across the country. They're all building affordable housing. We know how to do it. We just have to do it. You have office space now that's vacant, convert it to residential space. You have public housing, NYCHA housing. The buildings are 60 years old, 60 years old, and we're still trying to patch up 60-year-old buildings. Forget it. Knock them down, build more affordable housing and make sure you're based one for one.
Peter said built on rock. You have churches that can sponsor building affordable housing in their community. And most importantly, when we build this affordable housing, the affordable housing has to have a preference for people from that community. We have to stop displacing people from the neighborhoods that they grew up in. We know how to do these things. We just have to end the paralysis of government, the incompetence of government. People are turned off with the Democratic Party. I'll tell you why they're turned off with the Democratic Party because the Democratic Party is not working on the issues that matter to the hardworking families in this city, in this country. The Democratic Party is not worried about the kitchen table issues that people are working with and living with. Worry about my mortgage, worry about my rent, worry about how I'm going to pay tuition, how I'm going to pay for the groceries, worry about me. That's what the Democratic Party was always all about. And then do something about it - actually make a difference in my life. The Progressive Party is the Democratic Party. You cannot be a progressive party if you don't make progress, right? Government is not about talking, it is about action. It is about results. It's about delivery. Help me make a difference in my life. That's why I elect you. And that's what government is supposed to be all about in the first place.
We are judged by our accomplishments. Romans 2:11, God judges all equally by what they have done, what they have done. Now, I'm a realist. Making change in New York is not easy, right? Everybody wants change. Yes, but change is disruptive and it is hard to actually accomplish. You can't change a light bulb in New York without someone complaining. You change a light bulb, you get sued the next day by the committee to preserve old light bulbs. That is the nature of the beast but we know that. And if you have the experience and the confidence and the leadership, we know we can make change. We've done it many, many times so we know we can do it. Again, if you ever doubt it, go to the new LaGuardia Airport that went from the worst airport in the United States to the best airport in the United States. Go look at the new John F. Kennedy Airport, go to the new Kosciuszko Bridge, go to the new Shirley Chisholm Park.
Remember, this is the state that raised the minimum wage to the highest in the United States of America. This is the state that raised the minority and women business enterprise goals to the highest in the United States of America. We passed the strongest anti-discrimination laws. That is New York. We can do these things, but we have to do it. And we have to have the effort to do it.
And if you ever wonder what we can really accomplish, remember what we did during Covid? Covid was the challenge of a lifetime. Of a lifetime. Thanks be to God that we never go through that again. But we were on our own. We had Covid the highest infection rate on the globe, on the globe, and nobody was there to help us. And we had a president of the United States, I won't say his name, who was in denial, remember? There’s no such thing as Covid. I never saw Covid. Did you see a Covid? Show me a Covid me a Covid. I don't think it exists because I never saw me a Covid. Then once he admitted Covid, then he had a cure. Drink. Flo. Flo Covid will never kill you if you drink Clorox. True, the Clorox will kill you if you drink Clorox. That's where we are. That's where we were. That's where we were. And Pastor is exactly right. I had a fight with him every day. Every day for vaccines and masks and respirators to keep our people alive. And we did fight him and we won and we came together and we helped one another. And we're a community and we did what they said and we vaccinated the entire state of New York and Churches helped, and Volunteers helped, and the National Guard helped, and we saved lives. That's who we are.
So don't despair that we can't do these things. These things are easy. Making New York safe. We did it before making New York State clean. We've done it before. Educating every child to the best of their God given ability, whether they're rich or poor or black or white in every community. We've done it before and we're going to do it again because it's who we're so we know we can do these things. We have done it, and we are going to do these things because that's what New York is all about. And that's what New Yorkers are all about. We are a special breed. You have to be to live in this town and you knock us down. We get up twice as strong. You tell us, no we can't. We say, yes we can. We're going to take this city and not just rebuild the city, not just fix the problems. Our destiny, our legacy is to make this city better than ever because our destiny is to leave this city better for our children than we found it. That's what it's all about. That's what our parents did for us. And that's what we are going to do for our children. And we are going to do it the New York way by coming together as one people and building this city and making it the greatest city on the globe. Thank you. God bless.
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Watch the Full Remarks of Governor Cuomo’s Speech Here
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