Have full faith New York will spring back to life.

0:00 Speaker 1 What is today is Governor Patterson, David Patterson, and he was one of the best governors in New York State ever had. And Governor is Sunday morning. What’s on your mind is Sunday morning. What is aggravating you? And there’s so many things going on in New York Phylicid.

0:20 Speaker 2 Well, something that aggravated me for a long time about other elected officials, probably even including myself from time to time is that an issue comes up, you take a position, and in spite of overwhelming evidence of the contrary, you hold a position because you don’t want to be seen as flip flopping.

0:39 Speaker 3 But the reality is.

0:40 Speaker 2 Sometimes new information can change an entire issue. So I have always tried, when I was an elected official and even now to reserve the right to be educated in public.

0:56 Speaker 3 So a few weeks ago, you and I were.

0:57 Speaker 2 Talking about this idea, this bill that was passed. It sitting on Governor Hunkle’s desk, where an offender convicted of a misdemeanor, after you know, serving the time within after two years, that would be expunged from their record, and for a felony it would be eight years. And so I think it was actually three years in eight years,

1:23 and I was saying that I had some concerns because you know, right now in the middle of it, but it is still somewhat of a crime wave that was at the best legislation to be passed. Well. I was contacted by an assembly woman from Long Island named Catalina Cruz, and also an assembly woman from Long Island named Mikyle

1:45 Sage Salage, and also a state senator who was the senate sponsor of the bill from brook Brooklyn. His name is Kevan Marie. And they were really able to show me great amounts of evidence that particularly first offenders, when they commit a crime, after that, it’s not that often that they commit a second crime. Now, as we’ve talked

2:09 about for a long time, John, it’s really fifteen hundred to two thousand people that are running around the state committing all kinds of crimes and somehow keep getting out of jail. But for these relatively you know, newcomers, their records and other states which have adopted these policies have that very good results in that area. So I am

2:30 officially today changing my position and hoping that this bill can become a law. It’s on Governor Hockel’s desk.

2:38 Speaker 3 It’s a close call either way.

2:40 Speaker 2 So when Governor Hockell makes that decision, I think we should support her because there’s evidence on both sides. But my conscience is clear now that I’ve gotten a chance to say that understood.

2:52 Speaker 1 And you know, my biggest concern is that we hire a murderer in Christiti’s or in our office.

3:04 Speaker 2 Right, and that’s the kind of the case. So a murderer because of that degree of felony would probably uh that that record would never be changed. In other words, when you have that on your record, whenever it is you get out uh this, you know it’s it’s going to be available for people. But there are a number

3:25 of people who you know, as we’ve talked about, they were hungry and they stole from a delicatessen, and you know it’s a misdemeanor. Those people, for the most part, do not turn out to be refeat offenders. But what is a problem is whenever they go places and it’s still on their record, it makes it difficult for them

3:46 to reintegrate themselves into society. And if they can stay clean for the amount of time that we want them to, I think that it’s it’s certainly honorable to give them the second chance.

3:56 Speaker 1 So your your head is clear at that point.

4:00 Speaker 2 My head is clear now, at least on that point.

4:04 Speaker 1 Uh. I spoke to Governor Murphy this morning in New Jersey, and uh, he sued question pricing and the lawsuit was filed this morning. And one of the things he’s very upset about is there were five or six people sitting on the board that voted on congestion pricing, one of them being Kathy Wilde, the other one being John Durso.

4:32 The other one will be John Banks, the former Revenue CEO, I mean, other familiar names. And and he’s upset that nobody from New Jersey sat on that board. Uh. And uh that the fact says if congestion pricing, it’s gonna hurt everybody in the Yatta boroughs, It’s gonna hurt everybody in Westchester, Rockland all the way up. It’s going to

5:00 hurt Staten Island. What the heck are we doing?

5:05 Speaker 2 Well? First of all, I don’t think that when they send what they set up these types of boards that go in and out of different places, that they’re really looking for resident that they’re really looking for representation from the other state. Maybe New Jersey Transit would like to put some New Yorkers on their boards. I don’t think

5:29 that that’s the argument. I think the argument is better made by yourself that toget about we’re not going to forget about New Jersey. We understand what’s happening with New Jersey. But it’s also going to be an encumbrance on Staten Island.

5:42 It’s gonna be encumberance on people coming from Long Island, it’s gonna be incumbers on people coming from Westchester. And even though the you know, even though the Metropolitan Transit Authority has said that they were thinking about giving some some opportunities for bonuses or you know, lessening the cost, it’s really going to be a problem. But the biggest

6:08 problem of all is remember what its name is, John, congestion pricing. So to have congestion pricing, you have to have congestion. And we have it every once in a while, but not to the extent that we did before. And because of that, Manhattan, and Kathy Waller likes to talk about this is in an egregious situation where.

6:32 Speaker 3 There’s really no commercial.

6:34 Speaker 2 That no commerce going on in the.

6:36 Speaker 3 Area because no one’s coming to the stores because the buildings are empty and no one’s coming to work in the buildings, So how are you going to entice them to come if when they get there, they have to pay twenty three dollars to get into.

6:50 Speaker 2 The business district. So I think that’s the real argument against it. I was for congestion pricing when Mayor Bloomberg was the first one, I think who actually started talking about this. But the recent problems in terms of just the logistics around the city, they can put it in.

7:14 But I wouldn’t be surprised that in two or three years there are three reconsideration understood.

7:22 Speaker 1 Anything else you want to you know, anything else bothering you this Sunday morning. I mean, we talked about congestion pricing. We talked about prisoners being released from jails, and if done under the right scenario, it wouldn’t be as bad as you first thought. Give me one more item.

7:42 Speaker 2 One more item is Mayor Adams is right again. He’s set up and he’s not taking anymore and he has said that there just is not enough space for the migrants. He’s further said that we didn’t get any help from the federal government and that we could have gotten more help from the state. I don’t really know about the state.

8:03 I thought the state was trying to help, but I think that once again, he’s a man who stands alone against these factors that he can’t control.

8:14 Speaker 3 And as New Yorkers, I hope.

8:15 Speaker 2 Everyone appreciates that he’s put himself out there and isn’t playing games or hiding from the media or doing the things people do when they don’t want to make a decision. He’s made a decision and he’s sticking to it, and I think that’s all we can ask of our leaders.

8:31 Speaker 1 Understood well, Governor Patterson, thank you so much on your wisdom and bringing all New Yorkers up to date, and we’ll catch up with you again real soon.

8:41 Speaker 2 It’s a sunny day, John, enjoy all of it. God bless