Speaker 1: Wake that ass up in the morning. The Breakfast Club Morning.
Speaker 2: Everybody is DJ Envy Jess Hilarious, Charlamage, the guy we
Speaker 2: are the Breakfast Club. Lona Rosa is here as well.
Speaker 2: We got a special guest in the building. He's running
Speaker 2: for mayor of New York City. Ladies and gentlemen, Michael Blake.
Speaker 1: Welcome, brother, what's good? What's going on y'all?
Speaker 3: How you feeling?
Speaker 1: Oh man, another day above grounds of Blessed Day. We're
Speaker 1: rocking right now.
Speaker 3: And that's right.
Speaker 2: For people that don't know who you are in your background,
Speaker 2: give them a quick rundown of who Michael Blake is.
Speaker 4: Born and raised in the Bronx, New York Public schools
Speaker 4: K through twelve, PS. Seventy nine, one eighteen D with Clinton,
Speaker 4: they go step back. Full name is Michael Alexander Blake.
Speaker 4: So for the Jamaican massive.
Speaker 3: As soon as you said Alexander, they knew.
Speaker 4: Exaggerated to understandt vibes. They understand what's going on out
Speaker 4: here right now. Everybody has a Winston, Larryon or Dexter
Speaker 4: and their family right here or Donovan you know, grew
Speaker 4: up here, left went to Northwestern study Jerones and my mom.
Speaker 1: You know, blessings to my mom.
Speaker 4: Forty years she worked at a manufacturing plant, raised four boys.
Speaker 4: My dad got rest his soul. It was the Janet,
Speaker 4: the Saint Barnabas and after Northwestern, you know, life was
Speaker 4: changed forever. When I was trained by this man named
Speaker 4: Barack Obama. I was one of ten in the Yes
Speaker 4: We Can program. They trained us how to run races,
Speaker 4: went out to Michigan. We won races in Michigan and
Speaker 4: then rocked with them. You know, life was changed from there.
Speaker 4: I always joke I was the other black man in
Speaker 4: Iowa with him right there, right and then after Iowa,
Speaker 4: seven more states, went to the White House with him
Speaker 4: for two and a half years, ran all his black outreach,
Speaker 4: minority business outreach. And then I came back home because
Speaker 4: I wanted to help my people. Quite frank, I wanted
Speaker 4: to show these young cats on the block that you
Speaker 4: can grow up on the block and still make it.
Speaker 4: Go to a White House and come home. Came back home.
Speaker 4: Was elected to the Assembly for six years. My brother's
Speaker 4: keep a program for boys and young men of color,
Speaker 4: prompt pay bill raised the age. Kalleeve Broda was our constituent,
Speaker 4: but now I was about, you know, doing more. So
Speaker 4: I'm a husband, I'm a bonus father. Just having my
Speaker 4: first Father's Day is a bonus dad. So it's been
Speaker 4: a blessing right there. Much love to the father's all here.
Speaker 4: I'm now for a mason. I'm a reverend. You know,
Speaker 4: we decided to hear do something special.
Speaker 2: Now, Now, why'd you putting your head into this this uh,
Speaker 2: this New York City race?
Speaker 4: I think I'm the best one prepared right now. The
Speaker 4: biggest thing people are facing is affordability. You know, New
Speaker 4: York is just is crazy expensive right and at the
Speaker 4: end of the got full agreement right now. And if
Speaker 4: we want to be serious about changing the game when
Speaker 4: it comes to cost of living, then there's specific things
Speaker 4: we have to do. We have to have ending credit scores.
Speaker 4: Credit scores are being used for housing applications. Doesn't make sense.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 4: We need to increase income limits on these housing applications
Speaker 4: as well. We need a local media and income because
Speaker 4: area median income is not working. It doesn't make any
Speaker 4: sense that you have Westchester, Suffolk and Rocklan count in
Speaker 4: the calculation. That doesn't make sense at all. And then
Speaker 4: when we think about what's happening. I do believe you
Speaker 4: need to have someone who has White House, State House,
Speaker 4: and local experience, and I have all three because we're
Speaker 4: watching the foolishness of Trump and people are understandably scared
Speaker 4: every day, whether it be in New York or LA
Speaker 4: or anywhere in between. And so I jumped in because
Speaker 4: I want to show people, Yes, you can have the
Speaker 4: next generation of black leadership. Yes you can have someone
Speaker 4: who was qualified at all the levels. Yes you can
Speaker 4: have someone who's actually focused on affordability in a very
Speaker 4: real way. And let's be clear, you got to talk
Speaker 4: about how you're gonna pay for all this, and I said,
Speaker 4: there should be a vacant apartment tax for people that
Speaker 4: are not living in New York City. We should, you know,
Speaker 4: focus on the NYPD accesses of overtime ye at one
Speaker 4: point four billion dollars in that, you know, we can
Speaker 4: do things to actually pay the bills and actually make
Speaker 4: sure we change the game at the same time. And
Speaker 4: that's why I say to folks, you know, if you're
Speaker 4: looking for the candid who can do that, you should
Speaker 4: be ranking Michael Blake first for mayor.
Speaker 5: How did you feel about how Mayor Eric Adams we're
Speaker 5: in New York.
Speaker 4: Well, I mean I wouldn't be running if I thought
Speaker 4: he was doing his job. Mean, I mean he spent
Speaker 4: more time trying to stay at of jail than actually
Speaker 4: helping people.
Speaker 1: Right, But what do you.
Speaker 3: Think he did good? If anything? And what would you
Speaker 3: change immediately that you didn't like what he did?
Speaker 4: How much time we have, look, I think how many
Speaker 4: things can you change? I mean, you have a scenario
Speaker 4: where you had unconstitutional stopping frisk on the rise, You
Speaker 4: had a culture of corruption, you had a dynamic where
Speaker 4: they were trading dynamics when it comes to ice raids
Speaker 4: for him to again stay out of jail. That's not
Speaker 4: me saying that's just the reality.
Speaker 1: You have. One out of eight New.
Speaker 4: York City public school students are homeless. Cost of going up,
Speaker 4: I mean, like the list goes on on. I think
Speaker 4: that you have a scenario where there was great talent
Speaker 4: hired in I think sometimes what happens is that the
Speaker 4: very select few who made a lot of mistakes cast
Speaker 4: a shadow on everything else. You know, but you can't
Speaker 4: ignore that when you have a dynamic where people were
Speaker 4: getting promotions because of you know, sex deals at a
Speaker 4: YPD and people getting paid off. That's nonsense, right, and
Speaker 4: real talk. It makes it harder for all of us
Speaker 4: that are black, that are trying to do some things
Speaker 4: because you're going these conversations like, well, I'm not sure
Speaker 4: if the city is ready for the next thing. Oh
Speaker 4: it is, we are not him. And if we want
Speaker 4: to talk through how do we do this differently? Then
Speaker 4: you got to change the game on this.
Speaker 2: I got to ask you what the hell is cross endorsing? Right,
Speaker 2: because it came out today that you are cross endorsing
Speaker 2: zo Ran mcdonnie, What the hell is that? That's kind
Speaker 2: of it feels like, look, we're going to battle together,
Speaker 2: but we're gonna be friends while we do it.
Speaker 3: Like what is crossingdors You break it down.
Speaker 1: That's the vibes right there.
Speaker 4: So all right, so eleven of us are Democrats running
Speaker 4: in the primer. Eleven of us are Democrats running in
Speaker 4: the primery? Correct, because we have ranked choice voting in
Speaker 4: which started four years ago?
Speaker 3: What is choice voting? For people that don't know?
Speaker 4: So in New York City you don't have to and
Speaker 4: you shouldn't just vote for one person. You should actually
Speaker 4: rank five people. So whoever is your first choice when
Speaker 4: you go to vote, which if that means if you
Speaker 4: vote in absentee or if you're voting an early voting
Speaker 4: early voting and goes to the twenty second, or if
Speaker 4: you wait till the twenty fourth, your first choice, you
Speaker 4: should circle in this is my first choice, your second choice,
Speaker 4: second choice, all the way through.
Speaker 1: Because now the.
Speaker 4: Only way someone can win is if you get fifty
Speaker 4: percent plus one of votes. So whoever is the lowest
Speaker 4: vote getter in the first round gets knocked out. If
Speaker 4: Envy says, you know what, Michael Blake is my first choice,
Speaker 4: and then you know, Raven Robinson's my second choice, and
Speaker 4: hand is my third choice, Michael Blake gets knocked out,
Speaker 4: then Raven then gets the vote. So it actually gives
Speaker 4: the voter of New York more power because back in
Speaker 4: the day, if you only voted for one person and
Speaker 4: that person doesn't make it through a runoff, then you're
Speaker 4: pretty much get done. So what we're saying right here,
Speaker 4: in particular, when it comes to zon ran Zorn and
Speaker 4: I talking about affordability the most right we're real clear
Speaker 4: on if we're serious about the the number one issue
Speaker 4: that New York is talking about is that it is
Speaker 4: crazy expensive in the city. So who has the plans
Speaker 4: around that? And I've said, you know, I'm making it
Speaker 4: clear thinks are on there's gonna be my number two.
Speaker 4: You know, I'm ranking him as my number two. You know,
Speaker 4: grateful that he is cross endorsing us as well, because
Speaker 4: he's also making it clear we got to break from
Speaker 4: the corruption of Cuomo and we got to make it
Speaker 4: clear that you can address affordability.
Speaker 1: You can do both.
Speaker 4: Right, So we're gonna still figure out who's the rest
Speaker 4: of the ballot. You know, I think I'm pretty clear
Speaker 4: on the rest of that team, because you have other
Speaker 4: great candidates, you know, Adrian Adams, you know zeld Nomyrie
Speaker 4: brid Lander do out here, you know, doing their thing.
Speaker 4: But I want to make it very clear in New
Speaker 4: York City, you should rank Michael Blake first, especially for
Speaker 4: all the folks out here are still trying to make
Speaker 4: the decisions. But then the cross endorsement is saying, I
Speaker 4: want you to know that there are other people on
Speaker 4: the team that I also want to make sure on
Speaker 4: your ballot.
Speaker 2: Now, question, this is just double the advocate, right, Talk
Speaker 2: to me, why wouldn't they rank you number one? And
Speaker 2: you tell everybody to rank Eric Adams number two. I
Speaker 2: tell you why, if Zoran is your biggest competition, why
Speaker 2: would you rank him to and not rank somebody that
Speaker 2: is really no competition number two?
Speaker 3: Because it's easy to win.
Speaker 2: It's kind of like you know when you're playing basketball, right,
Speaker 2: I wanted the Knicks to play the paces.
Speaker 1: Come on, it's too soon.
Speaker 2: I didn't think the Pacers were gonna rock them. I
Speaker 2: don't think nobody did, but soon you would want that
Speaker 2: because you feel like that would be an easier win.
Speaker 4: Well, so fair, So the one two is not necessarily
Speaker 4: you are trying to battle with that person. It's really
Speaker 4: making it clear to your voters that if I don't
Speaker 4: keep going, this is who I want you to make
Speaker 4: your next person. So like, this is the allegiance that
Speaker 4: we want to see happen here. So when people are
Speaker 4: thinking through, okay, help me to understand this. And this
Speaker 4: happened last few days. You know, first debate we had
Speaker 4: everybody Times Post Daily News said that I want the debate.
Speaker 4: It was real clear that we handled the debate stage.
Speaker 4: Now you have a lot of folks that are coming
Speaker 4: through saying okay, I'm now trying to decide who's my five.
Speaker 4: So I want everybody in the squad to understand if
Speaker 4: you are saying we can do this differently and you
Speaker 4: don't want to go back to Cuomo you want something different,
Speaker 4: then you should rank me first. You shrank Michael Blake first.
Speaker 4: But then I need you to fill out the rest
Speaker 4: of the ballot because if you don't, you actually helping
Speaker 4: other cats. Gotcha, And that's the key right now and
Speaker 4: the reason why we keep drilling this home. I made
Speaker 4: a decision on who was most aligned with me on
Speaker 4: that issue.
Speaker 3: And why don't you like Cuomo?
Speaker 2: I mean, I've seen you take a shot at Cuomo
Speaker 2: in his past and all the things that he did
Speaker 2: with what's your major problem with Cuoma?
Speaker 4: I mean, fifteen thousand people died in COVID nursing homes
Speaker 4: because the policies that he did for a book deal.
Speaker 4: You had thirteen women who credibly said that he sexually
Speaker 4: assaulted them and had a toxic environment. You have a
Speaker 4: dynamic where he said shucking job in two thousand and
Speaker 4: eight and made it seem like it wasn't about Barack Obama.
Speaker 4: Barack Obama was the only black candidate that was real
Speaker 4: in that scenario. He consistently is laying out all the
Speaker 4: bad things about other people, and it's actually not talking
Speaker 4: through what is good right here close hospital when it
Speaker 4: comes to addressing the mental health crisis. So we don't
Speaker 4: need to go back to a name, because because you
Speaker 4: recognize the name, it's now time to change the game.
Speaker 4: And so I'm saying, the folks, here's the difference you have.
Speaker 4: He's saying that when I talk about public safety, I'm
Speaker 4: saying there should be a thousand mental health professionals instead
Speaker 4: of NYPD, because the NYPD will tell you they weren't
Speaker 4: trained on doing that. You want to help these kids,
Speaker 4: We should have civics, financial literacy, and mental health for
Speaker 4: every student before they graduate. You actually want to help
Speaker 4: people with their housing. Let's talk about what's going on
Speaker 4: with credit scores and income limits. And at the end
Speaker 4: of the day, Andrew Cormo, who real talk wasn't even
Speaker 4: living in New York City for a minute, mean pretty
Speaker 4: much was in Westchester the whole time. Now is saying
Speaker 4: I should come back because he thinks he's the best option. Nah,
Speaker 4: And I think people got to really ask themselves. Like
Speaker 4: during COVID, his policies were killing people during COVID, I
Speaker 4: was with World sun kid feeding people.
Speaker 1: That's right, That's what people got to be asking themselves.
Speaker 3: You're right now.
Speaker 2: You mentioned the police crime in New York City. It
Speaker 2: seems like it's on the rise, right if you've.
Speaker 3: Been out and about. I think last week two people
Speaker 3: got shot in Times Square.
Speaker 4: Right, I mean that's the I mean, the numbers say otherwise.
Speaker 4: But the feeling is, the feeling is feeling.
Speaker 2: It feels, it feels horrible. What would you do for crime?
Speaker 2: We had Zoran up here? He says he wouldn't necessarily
Speaker 2: defund the police, but he said he would take some
Speaker 2: finances from the police and give it to different agencies
Speaker 2: and things like that. What would be your take on that?
Speaker 4: Number one thing we have to do anybody that's walking
Speaker 4: the block, whether if I'm in the Bronx at third
Speaker 4: av of one four nine, if I'm in Harlem at
Speaker 4: one two five and lex, the mental health crisis is real, correct,
Speaker 4: you know it's it's like a zombie land out here
Speaker 4: right now. And those cats need help. They don't need
Speaker 4: to be locked up, right, And so what I say
Speaker 4: to everyone, my main priority for public safety, we should
Speaker 4: have a thousand mental health professionals on subways and streets
Speaker 4: to help them immediately, as opposed to the NYPD who
Speaker 4: is saying we're not trained on this. I came with
Speaker 4: that number because a thousand istually the number for the
Speaker 4: National Guard that's been put out there. National Guard and
Speaker 4: more police standing there is actually not fixing anything right.
Speaker 4: And I want to be clear, I got much respect
Speaker 4: for those that serve in uniform. But if someone is
Speaker 4: struggling in need help them and they're telling you we're
Speaker 4: not trained on this, so you do that, then people
Speaker 4: feel safer to get on subways, they feel safer to
Speaker 4: go outside. And we got to focus on involuntary commitment.
Speaker 4: When you know someone is clearly a threat to themselves,
Speaker 4: why would you just let them be there? And so
Speaker 4: if you do that, then you can do two different things.
Speaker 4: You're gonna have police with body cameras on, so it's
Speaker 4: actually accountability on both sides. And simultaneously then you can
Speaker 4: have more cops that actually walk in the street and
Speaker 4: doing precision policing in neighborhoods that need to help. That's
Speaker 4: what folks need right now. And look, I'm that cat
Speaker 4: who had I enjoyed police brutality twice right, Once in
Speaker 4: high school where a cop said, I want to deal
Speaker 4: with Clinton High School. Once where a cops said that
Speaker 4: they hurt me yelling at them while driving the other direction.
Speaker 1: I said, okay, so we're just looking to pick a.
Speaker 3: Fight right now, right.
Speaker 4: And then when I was an assemblyman, there was a
Speaker 4: fight that was happening. We de escalating the fight. They
Speaker 4: grabbed me. They tossed me against the gate, and another
Speaker 4: cop comes over and says, get off of him, get
Speaker 4: off of him.
Speaker 1: He's the assemblement. And I said, what would happen if
Speaker 1: you want to recognize me? Right?
Speaker 4: Even still, I'm saying you need to have police out here,
Speaker 4: but it's got to be smarter policing, right. The last
Speaker 4: thing that has to happen repeat offenders. Right, there's an
Speaker 4: underline current. If we help people make and keep more
Speaker 4: money in the front end, then we're not talking about
Speaker 4: people shoplifting on the back end. So if you do
Speaker 4: those steps, then you have more cops to come back
Speaker 4: on the force, actually try and do it the right way.
Speaker 4: I don't know any person that doesn't want to get
Speaker 4: home cop and community. And if we're serious about the
Speaker 4: fundamental issue around public safety. To me, it is underline
Speaker 4: around mental health.
Speaker 6: Well, what do you say to people, because sitting here
Speaker 6: talking to you, you explain what you mean when you
Speaker 6: say defund the police, and we understand that. But on
Speaker 6: phase value, someone like a Cuomo, he shoots back at
Speaker 6: you guys with the fact that you say defund the
Speaker 6: police because the messaging is not interpreted the right way.
Speaker 6: How do y'all get around that in this race? Because
Speaker 6: people here defund the police and they don't understand what
Speaker 6: you just said to.
Speaker 4: Me, and I'll remind them that. In twenty twenty, Andrew
Speaker 4: Clomo set out of his mind at a press conference
Speaker 4: that defund the police is a legitimate movement. Andrew Cuomo's
Speaker 4: hoping folks have amnesia, so I want to help remind
Speaker 4: them that Obamacare can help them with that. He gets
Speaker 4: real confused about things. So when we talk through it,
Speaker 4: there is no one out here saying eliminate the police
Speaker 4: department right when they're using the phrase, it's about how
Speaker 4: do you change the funding that's happening to focus on
Speaker 4: preventative measures, violence interruption work, you know, life camp, save
Speaker 4: our streets until freedom with To me, I mean you
Speaker 4: got so many dope groups that are doing that work.
Speaker 4: That's what people are really trying to say. And at
Speaker 4: the end of the day, what we're talking through is
Speaker 4: everybody wants to be safe. So we can keep talking
Speaker 4: about this random one liner is or how do you
Speaker 4: actually fix this?
Speaker 5: You know?
Speaker 2: My thing has always been when we talk about budgets, right, yeah,
Speaker 2: and people say defund the police, to take money from
Speaker 2: the police, But I always feel like we find money
Speaker 2: for so many.
Speaker 1: Different everything that we want.
Speaker 2: If we want to start an agency where we have
Speaker 2: more mental health professionals on the street, why don't we
Speaker 2: pay for it. I'd just seen somebody spend forty five
Speaker 2: to forty eight million dollars on a parade that only.
Speaker 1: Had five people out there.
Speaker 2: So if we can find all that and even with
Speaker 2: congestion pricing, right, what are your thoughts on congestion pricing?
Speaker 4: The intent congestion pricing is the right intent because at
Speaker 4: the end of the day, it was to reduce traffic
Speaker 4: and improve the environment. The implementation was clunky, right, they
Speaker 4: didn't do that right. But at the end of the day,
Speaker 4: when we think about from a budget perspective, a budget
Speaker 4: showed someone's values.
Speaker 1: There's no way.
Speaker 4: We can say at one hundred and fifteen billion dollar budget,
Speaker 4: we can't find what we got to pay for. And
Speaker 4: so when I'm talking through, yes, you can have that
Speaker 4: one point four billion dollars excessive overtime at NYPD and
Speaker 4: put that towards the kids. Yes, you can actually reclaim
Speaker 4: back to two billion dollars of unclaimed fees and fines
Speaker 4: and actually help the community. We can do these things
Speaker 4: and the reason why it's not happening is because the
Speaker 4: lack of leadership into the early question about Eric Adams.
Speaker 4: We've got to ask ourselves for four years, what was
Speaker 4: he doing on this? That's why we're all running because
Speaker 4: it's not working. And so when I talk through, how
Speaker 4: do you make sure that you help nonprofits get funding
Speaker 4: up front so they're not waiting for reimbursements on the
Speaker 4: back end. What are you doing to make sure that
Speaker 4: our immigrants being protected? Because yes, we're gonna stay as
Speaker 4: a sanctuary city because that's the right thing to do. Yes,
Speaker 4: we're gonna put safe havens on our schools because we're
Speaker 4: gonna ban ice from coming on in. You have to
Speaker 4: put that kind of money in place to actually help
Speaker 4: people because to the underlying piece. You got Trump, and
Speaker 4: you gotta worry about Medicaid cuts and Medicare cuts and
Speaker 4: all these things that are happening. And that's why when
Speaker 4: people are saying to me, all right, Michael Blake, why
Speaker 4: you I'm seeing these other names. There's a lot of
Speaker 4: people out here why you. You got to ask yourself
Speaker 4: January first, next year, who is best prepared to make
Speaker 4: sure we can actually battle against Trump, help our city,
Speaker 4: but also keep our focus on what we're doing around
Speaker 4: afford the billion people of color.
Speaker 2: Now, you talk about congestion price and you said it's
Speaker 2: a great idea, right, but executed horribly. My question to
Speaker 2: you is, I feel like we go for the money
Speaker 2: before we care about people's feelings.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 2: People are scared to take the train, right, They're scared
Speaker 2: to take the bus, And you even said that it
Speaker 2: seems like sometimes it's wild.
Speaker 3: Wild West out there. Right.
Speaker 2: So you're forcing me to take the train in the
Speaker 2: bus when I have to because I can't afford congestion pricing.
Speaker 3: But you're forced.
Speaker 2: Me to get on the trains with sometimes mentally ill
Speaker 2: people and fighting for myself. But then also you're forcing
Speaker 2: me for a lot of these mom and pop businesses
Speaker 2: to close down because people can't afford to drive in
Speaker 2: anymore for a nice lunch.
Speaker 3: They can't afford to come in and.
Speaker 2: Conduct business in my spot anymore. So why do we
Speaker 2: do the congestion prices where it affects people? It hurts
Speaker 2: people before we make sure that the ordinary people are
Speaker 2: the ones taking care of When oh, okay, the.
Speaker 4: Train, that might be the only time I can listen
Speaker 4: to my music. So sometimes that's like that getaway you
Speaker 4: have right there. But like when we talk about what
Speaker 4: we have to do here, way too often are not
Speaker 4: thinking through the integration of life.
Speaker 1: Right. It goes back to COVID.
Speaker 4: People will say I want for everybody to be able
Speaker 4: to figure things out during COVID and have social distancing. Well,
Speaker 4: how does someone have social distance and when they have
Speaker 4: seven people living in their crib?
Speaker 1: Right, Like, some of these things don't make sense.
Speaker 4: Hey, I want for these kids to be able to
Speaker 4: figure out remote learning, but they don't have a tablet
Speaker 4: and don't have Wi Fi.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 4: So to that same vibe we talk through around congestion
Speaker 4: pricing these other policies, I'm trying to reverse engineer and say,
Speaker 4: let's think about how does impact people, Right, how do
Speaker 4: we think through that? If I'm making that turn on sixty,
Speaker 4: if but there's no real ways to turn off before that,
Speaker 4: you're effectively forcing people to go into that zone and
Speaker 4: taxing them. That doesn't make sense, That doesn't seem right.
Speaker 4: I think there should be an exemption on people that
Speaker 4: live in these zones, and I think there should be
Speaker 4: an exemption on people that are public servants.
Speaker 1: Right. That just makes sense to me. Right.
Speaker 4: If someone is coming in and they're like, Yo, I'm
Speaker 4: driving into the zone because I want to go to
Speaker 4: a show, I want to get a meal, then that's.
Speaker 1: Their choice, right.
Speaker 4: But for the casts that are like I'm just trying
Speaker 4: to get by, that doesn't make sense at all. And
Speaker 4: a lot of the argument has been where we're making
Speaker 4: so much money from congestion pricings that that makes it
Speaker 4: worthwhile know if people are struggling still, right, And so
Speaker 4: to me, I'm reimagining what this city can look like
Speaker 4: and trying to show people that you have a different
Speaker 4: option out here, and that if you actually want to
Speaker 4: show people, yes, we can have an affordable city where
Speaker 4: we don't lose who we are as black and brown folk,
Speaker 4: then you have an option, and that's me.
Speaker 2: How could you eliminate credit scores for apartments and home ownership?
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 2: Sounds amazing, But I think you and I both know
Speaker 2: that anytime you go to fill out a loan, whether
Speaker 2: it's a housing loan, a bank loan, an apartment loan,
Speaker 2: the number one thing they check is credit score. Number
Speaker 2: two is probably if you actually have a job and
Speaker 2: you're pace.
Speaker 6: Stuff, and sometimes for good reasoning too, just to see
Speaker 6: kind of like what your payment history is like and
Speaker 6: all of that stuff. Like as a like, I get
Speaker 6: did you answer the question first in and out come?
Speaker 6: Because I'm thinking about it all.
Speaker 5: Out go ahead.
Speaker 4: Credit scores is a recent thing that started in nineteen
Speaker 4: eighty nine. This is not something that was like back
Speaker 4: in the day, we had many ways to assess how
Speaker 4: someone was able to pay their rent and their mortgage.
Speaker 4: The notion that a credit score, which could be impacted
Speaker 4: because you missed a phone bill a credit card bill
Speaker 4: twenty years ago, is more important than are you paying
Speaker 4: your rent consistently?
Speaker 3: Well, I agree with you.
Speaker 1: Doesn't make any one bad month and then.
Speaker 3: Anything one bad month somebody steals your eyes.
Speaker 2: Anything happened one bad month and your credits down in
Speaker 2: the drain, and I think that's yes.
Speaker 4: And the reality is I might actually go back to
Speaker 4: twenty earlier questions. This is one of the things that
Speaker 4: Eric has done well that needs to be expand upon.
Speaker 4: We're not assessing these credit scores on some of these
Speaker 4: HPD units right now in New York City, So it's
Speaker 4: not an argument that we can't do it.
Speaker 1: It's a choice.
Speaker 4: So you know, transparently, I'm on the board of Ready Life,
Speaker 4: which is where this is why I learned about it,
Speaker 4: cheered by doctor Bertnanese King led by Ashley Bell, where
Speaker 4: it was like, okay, let's use some common sense. What
Speaker 4: is the best way to determine if you can pay
Speaker 4: your rent on mortgage on time? Have you paid your
Speaker 4: rent mortgage on time? That's more important than did I
Speaker 4: do something? So to me, if we actually want to
Speaker 4: help more people have a chance, eliminate that completely across
Speaker 4: the board and then assess, okay, how do I help you?
Speaker 1: But then the second pieces you have to do.
Speaker 4: We got to increase the income limits on these housing
Speaker 4: applications because what's happening right now is you either have
Speaker 4: to be really rich or poor enough to get access
Speaker 4: to a home and people getting boxed out. The reason
Speaker 4: why so many people are leaving the city because housing
Speaker 4: and childcare. So to me, if there's anything that someone's
Speaker 4: trying to think through, what is the main policy I
Speaker 4: want to make happen and credit card is when it
Speaker 4: comes to housing applications.
Speaker 1: Expand that out.
Speaker 4: You do that which we know we can do because
Speaker 4: the city is doing it to a limited degree. Increase
Speaker 4: the income limits, do that, and then have a local
Speaker 4: media income that out the gate changes the game. And
Speaker 4: each of those three are happening in other places. The
Speaker 4: only reason why we're not doing it right now is
Speaker 4: lack of leadership. And if you're asking someone, yo, right now,
Speaker 4: I'm struggling to pay these bills. I'm trying to figure
Speaker 4: out how to make this all happen. But my life
Speaker 4: is going to be impacted by something I forgot to
Speaker 4: pay twenty years ago.
Speaker 1: That's crazy.
Speaker 2: Or it could be something as small as hey, my
Speaker 2: mother got sick and I had to use my money
Speaker 2: for rent to help to help someone catch up next month.
Speaker 3: Happens all the time, all the.
Speaker 4: Time, Like you know what, hey, landlord, yo, I don't
Speaker 4: have you on the first I got you a little
Speaker 4: bit later because I do X, Y and Z. And
Speaker 4: the the other thing about credit score is that people
Speaker 4: think through is like you have different agencies creating different numbers.
Speaker 4: So again that's just not fair and how this all works.
Speaker 4: And I want to show people if we're serious about
Speaker 4: having housing, which I do think, we got to build
Speaker 4: about six hundred thousand units at least current numbers say
Speaker 4: it's about five forty just to hit the current apply demand.
Speaker 4: But for you to build the housing, you then got
Speaker 4: to make sure people that actually could afford it when
Speaker 4: they get there.
Speaker 5: That was gonna be my question to you.
Speaker 6: And that's so I said for sometimes good reason only
Speaker 6: because I'm thinking, like, all right, so you say we'll
Speaker 6: make it where these people can afford it, we'll give
Speaker 6: them better money, better income, right, so they're able to
Speaker 6: pay their bills and the credit raises, and then we'll
Speaker 6: have better more housing for them. But a lot of
Speaker 6: times it feels like politicians will say things like that,
Speaker 6: but you can't do everything at once. So maybe you
Speaker 6: create more jobs for people with better pay rate, but
Speaker 6: then that middle point where they can't get they they're
Speaker 6: not making enough money for certain places, but they're not
Speaker 6: broken enough to get into or the income isn't low enough.
Speaker 1: To get into stay there.
Speaker 6: Yeah, okay, so you get what I'm saying, Like, you're
Speaker 6: in this place where it's like I might be making
Speaker 6: more money, but I still don't qualify for these margins
Speaker 6: of like three or five times the rent.
Speaker 5: So I'm still struggling.
Speaker 6: So it's kind of like as a landlord, you're looking
Speaker 6: at it like, well, I just got to do the
Speaker 6: best I can do by determining who I can let
Speaker 6: in here. So it's like we always called in this
Speaker 6: like circle of things, how do you know for a
Speaker 6: fact that you can do both at the same time
Speaker 6: if you get an office.
Speaker 4: Well, first, I'm Jamaican, so I'm used to three jobs, right,
Speaker 4: so so we regularly make it happen. Second, I'm not
Speaker 4: a normal politician. I've actually made things happen. I run
Speaker 4: small businesses right now. I helped get Barack Obama elected.
Speaker 4: I served in the White House. I saw how to
Speaker 4: make these things done, get these things done. And when
Speaker 4: I was in the Assembly, every single year and I'm
Speaker 4: gonna come back to the housing piece, but I think
Speaker 4: context is the point. Every single year we did something
Speaker 4: major that they said couldn't get done. My brothers keep
Speaker 4: a program knowing the state in the country has that
Speaker 4: they're black and brown boys right now going to school
Speaker 4: and graduating school that did not have fun.
Speaker 1: That we made that happen.
Speaker 4: Prompt paid bills so that businesses get paid in fifteen days,
Speaker 4: stayd of thirty days, bipartisan bill.
Speaker 1: They said they couldn't make that happen. Raise the age leaf.
Speaker 4: Broda was our constituent New York and enough Online our
Speaker 4: last two states for sixteen seventeen years. We tried as adults.
Speaker 4: We changed that when they say that couldn't happen. So
Speaker 4: to the question of how we know right now that
Speaker 4: there are easy fixes that would help people be able
Speaker 4: to stay in their homes and for all the black folk,
Speaker 4: brown folk, low income folk who are leaving New York
Speaker 4: City because of housing, fundamentally raising the income limits on
Speaker 4: these applications, which would be a huge help for our
Speaker 4: seniors as well, huge help for those that are disabled as well,
Speaker 4: so that it is actually proportional to your neighborhood, then
Speaker 4: you actually give someone a chance. The wilder thing is
Speaker 4: actually I'm going back and forth on the Eric good
Speaker 4: bad right. We voted on true costs of living, so
Speaker 4: we can actually understand what are the costs by your neighborhood.
Speaker 4: He hasn't implemented it. The reason why that's important is
Speaker 4: that you can understand not just housing costs, but groceries,
Speaker 4: you know, transportation, education, because if you know all of that,
Speaker 4: then what we put in these applications is proportional to
Speaker 4: that number. What's going on in the South Bronx is
Speaker 4: not the same as South Short Staten Island. What's going
Speaker 4: on in Central Brooklyn, it's not the same as Southeast Queens.
Speaker 4: What's going on in East Harlem's not the same thing
Speaker 4: on what's going on Upper west Side. And so we
Speaker 4: should base it upon that. And to do that you
Speaker 4: need someone who's actually talking about it, and I'm the
Speaker 4: only one that's talking about that in that very real
Speaker 4: way and talking through how you make this happen. These
Speaker 4: are policy changes through legislation, this is administration changes through leadership,
Speaker 4: and then this is fun the changes in the budget.
Speaker 1: Full stop.
Speaker 3: What's your relationship with President Barack Obama?
Speaker 4: Now still my dude, you know, he's consider man consistently
Speaker 4: be un blessed to me.
Speaker 2: What's been in his advice when he knows that you're
Speaker 2: running for this because he's faced some of the things
Speaker 2: that you face it now that he was far behind
Speaker 2: at one time, What is his opinion to you.
Speaker 4: Be very clear about why you're running and giving people
Speaker 4: choice in contrast. Right, you know that you can't just
Speaker 4: talk through big ideas. You got to make it clear
Speaker 4: to folks that there's a difference. Right when we were
Speaker 4: in Iowa thinking about this here and we were in Iowa,
Speaker 4: there was a point where he was down like thirty.
Speaker 4: He flew in, got everybody together and he told this
Speaker 4: story about how he was at the Saint Patrig's DA
Speaker 4: Parade run for US Senate and he was the last
Speaker 4: entry in the parade. And so what that meant was
Speaker 4: that everybody was saying Barack husain Osama saying wow things.
Speaker 4: And you know they were a little drunk, so people
Speaker 4: saying wow things. A year later Saint Parade, he was
Speaker 4: the Grand Marshal and he was like, if you put
Speaker 4: in that work and you make a clear round choice
Speaker 4: and contrast, then people will remember. And I always took
Speaker 4: that and he stays with that. It's like when people
Speaker 4: voted for him, he said, I'm going to end the war.
Speaker 4: I'm gonna get you health care. Make it real clear
Speaker 4: on your big ideas, then everyone can rock from that.
Speaker 4: And that's why I'm being consistent. Same way when I
Speaker 4: talk through credit scores, we talked through a thousand mental
Speaker 4: health professionals. We talked through civics, because when you have
Speaker 4: so many people in the race, if you don't give
Speaker 4: people that clear choice, then the easy thing is just
Speaker 4: pick a name you've seen before, right, And he stays
Speaker 4: with me. I mean the screensaver that I have is
Speaker 4: when we brought him to the Bronx. We launched my
Speaker 4: brother's keeping lines in the Bronx, and he would joke
Speaker 4: with me. He was trying to get me a shout out.
Speaker 4: I was trying to be cool. He said, Yo, the
Speaker 4: President says, your name is stand up, get TV time.
Speaker 4: He still is in that same zone of follow the vision,
Speaker 4: make it clear, but make it clear about choice and contrast.
Speaker 4: And he's also shown us and tell him me like,
Speaker 4: be that messenger.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 4: I don't know if we brought the signs, but there
Speaker 4: was a time when we were in the White House
Speaker 4: for a legislative event.
Speaker 1: Wrap him up.
Speaker 4: He's about to walk by and he tells people like,
Speaker 4: we would not be here without Michael Blake, and I'm
Speaker 4: forever grateful of what he did for me, and I'm
Speaker 4: gonna take that kind of energy.
Speaker 5: He's also I mean, everybody likes to criticize Obama too.
Speaker 1: At the same time, who's everybody?
Speaker 6: There are people criticize There's a lot of people that
Speaker 6: criticize Obama, but I mean not me personally, But I'm
Speaker 6: saying that we hear the criticism. So I'm asking you,
Speaker 6: is there things that he says, you know, just as
Speaker 6: a mentor almost that I would advise you not like
Speaker 6: something he learned, that he would advise you to approach
Speaker 6: differently or not to do while on your run.
Speaker 4: I mean, look, at the end of the day, you
Speaker 4: have to stay true to the numbers and how you
Speaker 4: organize right, And it's it's easy to get distracted by
Speaker 4: noise and that could take you off your plan, and
Speaker 4: and that kind of to your point, You're gonna hear
Speaker 4: a lot of folks who are just like, yo, why
Speaker 4: are you doing this right? Why are you doing this?
Speaker 4: Two three weeks ago a people saying why why are
Speaker 4: you even out here doing these things? And and by
Speaker 4: the end of that night and the next day, pretty
Speaker 4: much every publication said I.
Speaker 5: Wanted to debate, oh when you came in Cuomo.
Speaker 4: Right, So it's like you gotta stay locked in even
Speaker 4: in the midst of the noise.
Speaker 6: A lot of times with politicians, I feel like they
Speaker 6: don't speak straight to things, especially like Democrats.
Speaker 5: But so I learned about you or found out who
Speaker 5: you were.
Speaker 6: Or I guess maybe you start paying attention more when
Speaker 6: the Cuomo thing happened, because I like, even though.
Speaker 5: Not to be messy, but I just like you were.
Speaker 6: You said what you meant you said to him, the
Speaker 6: people who don't feel safe are young women, mothers and
Speaker 6: grandmothers around Andrew Cuomo, right, and you said that straight shoot,
Speaker 6: straight shooter. Do you plan to still be that way
Speaker 6: as a mayor because a lot of times once people
Speaker 6: are elected, they have to like step back and filter
Speaker 6: what they say.
Speaker 4: And nah, I'm this is who I am all day,
Speaker 4: every day, right, whether it be in the family, you know,
Speaker 4: whether it be on the block. Yeah, you can grow
Speaker 4: up on Creston and Burnside and then go back on
Speaker 4: these kind of things. And I would say that whether
Speaker 4: it be on a debate or if I'm just talking
Speaker 4: to people at the restaurant. And I think one of
Speaker 4: the reasons why we've been successful in office is that
Speaker 4: people see that I'm consistent in what I'm doing. That's
Speaker 4: what folks can't stand about politics right now. They feel like,
Speaker 4: yo ya, to your point, you just say something, you
Speaker 4: just kind of keep it moving, and you're not real
Speaker 4: about that. And it is easier to be consistent in
Speaker 4: who you are than try to move around and shift
Speaker 4: by neighborhood.
Speaker 1: That's just not how I get down.
Speaker 4: And that's why I say to people, give me the
Speaker 4: chance right now, tell folks number two in most of
Speaker 4: these polls, if it's not Zoron is undecided, right, you
Speaker 4: got a lot of times to still make a decision.
Speaker 4: And it feels like a lot of people are still
Speaker 4: trying to understand, well, who can I rock with in
Speaker 4: this moment, And I'm trying to show you you got
Speaker 4: a choice.
Speaker 2: Should undocumented immigrants be allowed to vote in local New
Speaker 2: York City elections?
Speaker 4: Uh, potentially for municipal ones itself. We've got to figure
Speaker 4: out how this all gets incorporated collectively itself, right to
Speaker 4: that degree, because there's a it's a fascinating piece, right
Speaker 4: because a Green card holder is able to contribute to
Speaker 4: campaigns right in New York City. So it's just like
Speaker 4: we've got to figure out a way to make an
Speaker 4: equal balance across the board.
Speaker 3: Should Right Island be closed?
Speaker 1: Has to be closed? Why?
Speaker 4: It's an inhuman place. It's the second largest mental health
Speaker 4: facility in the country, only La County being larger. You've
Speaker 4: got to find more ways. And most people there haven't
Speaker 4: even been convicted any They just waiting, right, And so
Speaker 4: if we actually reduce the population so that more people
Speaker 4: can actually be closer to their homes while they're waiting,
Speaker 4: and you can actually help the people who have the
Speaker 4: mental health concerns, then you can take the real steps
Speaker 4: of getting into the space where you can build burrow
Speaker 4: based jails, which is what we actually need. Burrow based
Speaker 4: jails makes much more sense than just sending people off
Speaker 4: to rikers to sit there.
Speaker 2: Okay, well, get out there and vote for the last thing.
Speaker 2: Tell people why they should vote for Michael Blake.
Speaker 4: Michael Blake is the only candidate saying the truth around
Speaker 4: and then credit scores for housing applications. Michael Blake's the
Speaker 4: only one that is out here saying that we need
Speaker 4: a thousand mental health professionals instead of NYPD. Michael Blake's
Speaker 4: the only one that's saying civic, financial literacy and mental
Speaker 4: health for these kids. I'm the only one that was
Speaker 4: that truth teller on that stage, not afraid of Trump,
Speaker 4: not afraid of Cromo, not afraid of the noise. If
Speaker 4: you want someone who has the ability to change the
Speaker 4: game at all levels, and you want the handsome Jamaican
Speaker 4: who actually comes from the Bronx right now, right, who
Speaker 4: can talk about hip hop and talk about housing at
Speaker 4: the same time, I want to be your first choice.
Speaker 4: And if I'm not your first choice, I want to
Speaker 4: be your second choice. But most importantly I want to
Speaker 4: be on your ballot. That's why Michael Blake should be
Speaker 4: your mayor.
Speaker 3: All Right, well, there you have it, ladies and gentlemen,
Speaker 3: Michael Blake. Do your research. And if they want to
Speaker 3: donate to your campaign, how can they do that?
Speaker 4: Oh man, much love on that to the website Blake
Speaker 4: fo R NYC dot com Blake for NYC dot com.
Speaker 4: You can sign up to donate, you can sign up
Speaker 4: to volunteer. We have offices all across the city. Our
Speaker 4: headquarters in the Bronx at one BRUCKN the boulevard, but
Speaker 4: we have satellite offices on five boroughs. And just again
Speaker 4: remind and remember everybody, fill out the ballot. Don't just
Speaker 4: rank me first. Fill out all five spots of your
Speaker 4: five choices. That makes it a point that your candid
Speaker 4: is gonna win.
Speaker 5: Tell them don't message your donation money because you'll follow lawsuit.
Speaker 4: Yeah, let me tell you something. I'm man. People play games,
Speaker 4: play games, and you know and find out and find.
Speaker 5: Out you have play super games, win superprises that.
Speaker 3: It's Michael Blake. It's the Breakfast Club. Good morning, good luck.
Speaker 1: Wake that ass up in the morning. The Breakfast Club.