New Mayoral Changes Signal Economic Priority Shifts

0:00 Speaker 1 Sunday Morning with Us. Today’s Catherine Wilde. And she was president and CEO of the nonprofit organization the most powerful one in New York, the Partnership for New York. Well, she was. Now she’s retired. Well, how does it feel to be retired? For a week.

0:19 Speaker 2 It’s busier than working. I’m enjoying being a free agent. But I still have a great network of friends like you, John, and the leaders of New York’s business community. We are so lucky that they are people who care deeply about the city, who come together in the partnership to make our city stronger and create more opportunities, create jobs, work

0:53 with the Department of Education on making sure kids are prepared for jobs. I’ve had a great career. I’ve been there. I was there forty four years, twenty five years as it’s CEO. And I continue to appreciate that network of great business leaders and hope to continue to help the governor and the mayor and the business community work together.

1:21 Speaker 1 Now we’re in the first one hundred days of the new mayor, and we all wanted to say, and we me and you talked about it, that oh, let’s give him one hundred days and see it and hope for the best for New York. And I still hope for the best for New York. Tell us how you feel well.

1:40 Speaker 2 I actually had the opportunity to sit down with Mayor Mom Donnie on Monday to catch up and to talk. You know. Basically, I asked him how I can help him build the broad coalition that he committed to during the campaign, and he is eager to do that. I mean, I think thirty six days thirty seven days into his mayoralty

2:06 and he’s still working on appointments. The business community is waiting to see who he puts into the Economic development corporations. There’s some concern about the name economic Development, which suggests growth. There’s some concern that that name has been changed economic Justice.

2:28 So I think that it’s going to be important to hear what that means. My sense is that he wants to continue to have an economy that creates jobs, that produces good tax revenues, and I think we all want to be able to help him do that.

2:49 Speaker 1 And you know, we all pray for New York. I mean, and I understand. The governor this week selected the former Speaker of the City Council as her Lieutenant governor. How do you view that.

3:02 Speaker 2 I think Adrian Adams is a terrific choice for that job. She’s a she’s a great person. She did a good job at the City Council in terms of having a very balanced approach to managing a uh you know, hurting cats on the council not easy. So I think I think she’s a very good choice for that job. I’ve

3:29 known Adrian for a long time and I’ve always had the most respects for her.

3:36 Speaker 1 I’ve known her for a long time too, and you know, I have nothing bad to say about her. I hope she does good. I mean, it’s a new adventure for her. It’s just the first former it’s just the first former speaker that got anywhere in life.

3:52 Speaker 2 That’s good question. Well, that that goes on to higher office. Yes, I would guess that this is the first former speaker to go on to hire office. And I think that she’ll be a great partner. I think that Adrian is somebody who’s not looking for the governor’s job, so she’s not going to be a political albatross. So I think

4:20 that I think it’s a good choice. I mean, she’s somebody that I ranked in the mayoral primary, So I obviously had confidence that she has a lot of talent and has a lot of leadership ability.

4:32 Speaker 1 Understood. What else you want to tell the people of the city in New York? I mean, I mean you were one of the most powerful leaders in New York City. I mean between the CEOs of all the big banks and the big pharmaceutical companies, are you going to miss their being sitting down with them every day?

4:55 Speaker 2 Well, I think that I’ve always defined how are by how you use it, and so I think it’s important that I mean, I want to continue to help powerful people use their power in the most constructive ways possible.

5:14 And right now, I think we’ve got to be looking very closely at the national situation. I know you have great sympathy for immigrants and for them being able to find a pass to citizenship and to work in our country.

5:32 Very worried about that right now, I think that we’ve got to find solutions. So I’ve plan to continue to focus on that issue and how we can get federal immigration reform. Yes, protect our borders, but welcome in people of talent and commitment who want who want the opportunity to be part of America and I think that mission

5:57 has gotten lost in all the fights deportation and throwing people out. I think we’ve got to focus on much more on how we attract the best and the brightest from across the world to come into our country.

6:14 Speaker 1 Understood. And you know, I’m always pro pro immigrant, and I’m always saying, you know, we ran with Bill for Gacy and Lei Coca, we ran the Ellis Island Foundation for many years, and we just have to avoid bringing any criminals into in our countries. That’s the big item.

6:32 In other words, immigration, Yes, criminals.

6:35 Speaker 2 Know, totally agree, and that is something that we really have talked about for twenty years. I worked with Rupert Murdoch and Mike Bloomberg twenty years ago to say, let’s let’s have a positive immigration policy, and we just have not done that. Other countries, Canada, Australia in particular, come to mind, and have done a good job of creating

7:04 a strong, positive miggration policy that has helped them attract talent. We’ve got to do the same thing in this country and and refocus our attention on that. I’m hoping that will happen in the coming year.

7:20 Speaker 1 Agreed, Well, thank you for coming on Catherine Wilde. A new adventure is gonna you. You’re still young, and a new adventure is going to be lying in front of you. And let’s talk again real soon.

7:33 Speaker 2 Thank you so much, John, I always appreciate being with you.