Video, Audio, & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul Delivers Remarks at New York Building Congress Breakfast

"Thank you very much. Good morning. Good morning.

Thank you. Alright, you can all sit down. I appreciate it. Thank you. Very kind.

And you know, just as a reminder of the incredible challenges that the men and women who are building back our city face. I do want to just take a moment to acknowledge that there was just a construction accident this morning, and that was a crane that collapsed on 10th Avenue.

And we just want to keep any victims. I know there's not a lot of known injuries at this time, but just a reminder of the danger that so many people are willing to put themselves through. And we are the beneficiaries, we as citizens of this great state and this city. So, let's never forget, especially for the men and women who are literally out there building these. I want to just make sure that we are observing that as well. We're monitoring it very closely and working with the Mayor's office.

But, this is a joy to be back here again. This is an organization that I've cherished, came here for I think every meal, Carlo? Breakfasts, lunches, dinners, galas, 100th anniversaries. I don't know that I've ever turned down an invitation because I draw so much energy from the people in this room. The people that are so resilient and so hopeful, and so ambitious and so bold that you are carrying on the legacy of those who came before you and through adverse times like the Great Depression, you know, continue to build.

And as a result of that tenacity we have the city we have now, even more recently as the pandemic. And how we just kept building and building and building and dreaming bigger than ever before. So today we are here to talk about just a few major projects that I could not be prouder of. Actually, I'm just the warmup act for Rick Cotton because so many of them are under his jurisdiction.

So I will not go into the extraordinary achievements that many of you are part of at our airports, but if that doesn't make your heart burst with pride to see what has happened at LaGuardia and our projects at JFK, what we've already completed and what we're working on for the next few years and creating tens of thousands of great jobs.

It is something to behold. So I'll let Rick have the show on that front, but I had a chance to have a little bragging rights. I just took the red eye in from California, so what if it was a couple hours late? I literally just got to JFK an hour ago. But I was out there on a panel of governors talking about the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill.

And they wanted me there to talk about the impact that this has had on New York State. I really felt bad bragging about all the projects we have in front of all those other governors. And starting with Gateway Tunnel, I mean, this is something that is talked about, I think four presidents and five governors, or maybe vice versa. Over three decades, people have said, "Something needs to be done there." But particularly after Sandy, the urgency was great, but the resources were not there. And then you always get the power struggles. A little bit of New Jersey and New York, and personalities, I'll be diplomatic. Sometimes things don't happen the way you want them to happen.

And I was really, really excited when we, I was able to be right before I spoke to this group in February with President Biden and Carlo was there and many in this room and Senator Schumer, Majority Leader Schumer, to celebrate the federal investment in the first phases of the Gateway Tunnel. And it does not hurt to have a president who commutes, commuted for 30 years on Amtrak, and he understands how critically important this Northeastern corridor is. It's a lifeline to not just our commuting area, the Northeast, but to the entire nation.

So we have stepped up as a state. The State of New York is putting considerable resources into this, working with New Jersey, finding a partnership. And ladies and gentlemen, this is going to happen in our lifetime now, something that past governors were not able to say, and we're going to get this done. But simultaneously -- thank you.

Well, that'll serve many people, some New Yorkers, some not. I really wanted to focus on a symbol of our past greatness, but a building that is very functional, very critically important to us, but definitely needs a good facelift.

And I'm talking about Penn Station. And maybe we just get accustomed to seeing the same buildings and you don't walk by and say, "Boy, I really wish that could just sparkle and shine and have natural light brought into it and create a whole different human experience for our commuters and our visitors."

So, you just take for granted it's always going to be a certain way because sometimes taking on projects are just too big and too audacious to consider. Well, even as Lieutenant Governor living in this city for eight years, you know, being here at least three days a week, I always felt that that was one blight on an otherwise sparkling city.

So, I am dead set on getting Penn renovated and making sure that we can separate this from the other earlier vision, which was grand in its time, but also the pandemic has changed where we need to prioritize our work now. And I don't want to wait until the buildings go up around it for us to start getting shovels in the ground for that station itself.

So, we're just going to shift our priorities, focus right now on the here and now, which means that station needs to see new life and a rebirth. And that is going to be one -- is one of my highest priorities and we're going to get some support from the federal government for that as well, because I keep asking the president every time I see him. And I feel pretty good about it.

That's just two examples, the Gateway Tunnel and Penn Station, of how we're using infrastructure dollars that have come from Washington. And it is so great for us to have as our own senator, the Majority Leader of the Senate as well, and Kirsten Gillibrand, Chuck Schumer are a dynamic duo for us to deliver the dollars we need. But President Biden deserves the credit for pushing through Congress and signing into law something that we are benefiting from, not just today, but for many decades to come.

Other projects I want to continue working on are the ones that are going to continue to right the wrongs of the past, where we've divided communities. And I'm talking about the Bronx, and how we need to complete a project that'll allow more people to be connected, reuniting communities. This is what we're trying to do in Buffalo and Syracuse, where we just were this past Friday with I-81.

This is -- New York State has five ongoing projects right now, the objective of which is to right the wrongs of the past and to make sure that communities that were severed are now reunited. And they spoke about this at our national conference, about what New York is doing to have infrastructure and projects that are focused on justice and equality. And I'm really, really proud that they spotlighted us as being the state that's doing more than anyone else.

So even though some of it's happening outside of the area you might be working on, have that sense of pride as a New Yorker where we are prioritizing our efforts and they're completely in sync with what President Biden is attempting to do as well. So, these are great stories where we can look back someday and say, "Those communities never should have been divided, but now they're back as one."

Many other projects. I want to get the Interborough Express done because yes, there's an opportunity here to be creative, to use existing lines, to say that life has changed a little bit. Not everybody who lives in the outer boroughs is going to be commuting daily into Manhattan anymore, that there are jobs and opportunities within the boroughs - in Brooklyn and Queens. And why can't people be connected? That's what smart planning is all about, and I'm really anxious to make that move even quicker.

So, those are just a few of the things that are top of mind for me. But ultimately, we have to have places for our people to live, for our workers to live, for your employees to live. And that means, as I stood here last February and told you, I'm going to be aggressive and continue to build more housing in this city and in this state because we are so far behind, my friends.

And when you think about ratings of states that are the best places for business, New York, yes, moved up from number 36 to number 20 this year on CNBC's rating. I was very proud of that. You can give that a round of applause because that that could have gone the other direction.

But they noted that New Jersey slipped to 19, one number ahead of us, number 20. And I'm very competitive, very competitive. I'm like, "How did that happen?" Because they built more housing. That was the answer. That housing was becoming more affordable because basic 101: more supply means you can have lower prices. And that is a message that, somehow, needs to be understood better in Albany.

And I'm going to continue to make that case. The more we build -- and we talk about an affordability crisis, not just here, but every corner of the state -- if we build more housing, all levels, I didn't say it had to be all affordable, I never said that. Just build more housing, all kinds, everywhere, and then we'll be able to start driving down the price because my highest priorities for the state are, number one, public safety, and we're making great progress here. And in fact, when I was in Los Angeles, they're asking me how we overcame the crime problem in New York. I said, "Well, New Yorkers are still thinking it's a problem, but I appreciate the comparison to other cities." But public safety is number one, because people need to feel that sense of security when they get on our subways, when they take our transit, when they come walk our streets, as I do literally five times a week here.

But number two is affordability. And the number one expense people will have is either their rent or their mortgage. And that has been a reason why people are leaving the state to neighboring states and commuting into our state, into our city from New Jersey and Connecticut. If we build more housing and find creative ways to have breakthroughs when there's not always support from our legislature like we did with Gowanus, and we're going to build 8,500 units, 3,000 of which will be affordable, that is a breakthrough because I said we're going to keep moving ahead now. We'll have a couple setbacks here and there. That's all right. I can handle it, but I'm going to power through this because failure is not an option.

We must build more housing. And then, you continue building the buildings and working on the public infrastructure projects and people who always think about us continue to talk about us and that sense of awe. And I really do feel that when I'm talking to people from other states and visiting other places. They know New York is that place of innovation and just that can-do attitude that will break through any barrier.

We still have that in our DNA. Wear that every single day when you go forth. And let people know that we're just getting started. Thank you very much everyone. Thank you to Building Congress for all you do and thank you, Carlo, for your great leadership here."

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