Rush Transcript: Governor Cuomo Calls into 1010 Wins

Interview

Kathleen Marple: Joining us now on the phone is Governor Cuomo. Good morning, sir.

Governor Cuomo: Good morning. How are you? Happy New Year.

Kathleen Marple: Happy New Year. As you just heard with 1010Wins' Roger Stern some people are afraid of going into the shelters. Do you have a response to that concern?

Governor Cuomo: Well first of all, that's a sad commentary and one that should really take all of our breath away. What we're saying is this - it's very simple. We have a New Year's resolution for the State of New York. We all start with the New Year's resolution that says we could be better - we could be a better person, we could be better as a society. And I signed an executive order that says in freezing conditions, people with no place to go shouldn't be left on the street. We just finished a holiday season. The holiday season is about compassion and love and helping one another. And this state has always set the bar higher than other states, right? We passed laws in New York that no other state has. We passed marriage equality; we passed gun control laws that no other state has. So what we're saying is that as people -- as a society - we want to make sure that every New Yorker has a place to be sheltered and doesn't have to be in the cold weather. It's going to be 13 degrees in buffalo, 14 in Syracuse. It's cold out there. Now on the concern of "I don't want to go into the shelters because shelters are dangerous," that's just unacceptable. We want people to be sheltered in safe, clean, decent, well-maintained places and they will be. So it's not going to be somebody wants to stay on the street and freeze to death because they're afraid to go into a shelter. We're better than that, Kathleen. Everyone will have a safe, clean, decent shelter to go to.

Kathleen Marple: Is this a state matter or a city matter, the question of the conditions of the actual shelters, versus the get them off the street issue?

Governor Cuomo: Look, you have a federal government, a state government and a city government. We believe some things as a nation that apply to everyone. We believe some things as a state that apply to everyone in the state. And we believe as a state that we're not going to leave anyone on the streets in the cold. We're going to have safe, clean, decent shelters and that is a statewide mandate that I signed because I believe that's what New Yorkers believe, as a people. It does'n't matter if you live in Buffalo, or Albany or New York City, we believe nobody should be left to sleep on the streets.

Kathleen Marple: Does that mean the state's going to put more money into shelters and perhaps demand more effort from the city?

Kathleen Marple: Yes. Cities, yes. It's a statewide mandate. We say in the Executive Order, if the local governments need help, we will provide it. At the same time, I'm going to make sure the local governments are doing what they need to do and they're doing it well and they're doing it competently, but we can't have people saying "I'd rather stay on the street and freeze than go into a shelter." I mean that's not the choice, that's not the option.

Kathleen Marple: While we are talking about this, your administration and you have been pretty critical of Mayor de Blasio's efforts. Do you take the comment about not wanting to go into a shelter because of dangerousness as a criticism of that?

Governor Cuomo: No, I believe this is going to be a statewide initiative and I think it's something that we have to do as a state, as a people. I'm familiar with the New York City homeless problem. I'm so old that under the administration of Mayor David Dinkins, I actually wrote the plan for New York City on how to help the homeless. I started my career working with the homeless and building housing. After doing the plan for Mayor Dinkins, President Clinton brought me to Washington and I became HUD Secretary, Housing and Urban Development Secretary, and we did a homeless plan for the country and I worked with cities all across this country. We know how to do this. It's not rocket science frankly, and we will do it because, again, I'm proud to be a New Yorker. I'm proud of what this state stands for and we have a certain basic commitment one to another. We believe in community, we believe in helping one another and we're going to make sure that every person has a place to stay, especially when it's cold.

Kathleen Marple: Thank you very much for taking the time to talk with us this morning. We have to leave it there. Thank you.

Governor Cuomo: Thanks.

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