Interview: Will Scott Stringer’s Second Bid for Mayor be Successful?

Scott Stringer has been in the world of New York politics for decades, serving as State Assemblyman in the 1990s, Manhattan Borough President in 2005 and New York City Comptroller in 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, Stringer failed to achieve the party’s nomination for the 2021 Mayoral race in NYC, but he is trying once again this year.

Stringer has been reaching out to the Jewish community, visiting Boro Park businesses this week. He is a self-described Zionist and supporter of Israel, who marched in parades celebration Israel and expressed dismay at the violent protests after the Oct. 7 massacre and called the Democratic Socialists of America -former political allies of his – “antisemitic idiots” after the leftists praised the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust and its Hamas terrorist perpetrators.

Despite being originally endorsed in 2021 as a second-choice candidate by the far-left, virulently anti-Israel Jews for Racial and Economic Justice group, JFREJ’s endorsement notably did not mention any Israel policy stance, and the group, which calls Israel an “apartheid” state, subsequently rescinded its endorsement amid allegations of misconduct at the time which upended Stringer’s campaign.

Belaaz spoke with Stringer about his plans for New York City.

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Can you tell us a little bit about what made you decide to run for mayor again?

I opened up an exploratory in January, and then in January, after thinking about the future of the city and looking at some of the challenges the city faced, I decided to consider running again because I thought that my experience and recognized competence, as well as my vision for the city, may be exactly what the voters need. So I began to explore and talk to people throughout the year, thinking about it, and raised the money necessary to run a viable campaign.

And here we are.

What is that vision?

I think people are tired of the corruption, tired of the chaos at all levels of government. I think people don’t want—and ultimately will not want—to replace a chaotic Mayoral administration with a former governor who brings chaos wherever he goes. I think people want somebody who has recognized financial experience, expertise, knows government like the back of their hand, and can bring forth a vision to stabilize our government, rebuild and reconstitute City Hall, and do the hard work of educating our kids and building affordable housing. Aligning public safety—making it a priority—aligning policing and mental health. These are the priorities New Yorkers want from the next mayor.

Speaking of public safety, what would you do to curb, for example, the growing scourge of shoplifting that began after the pandemic?

Well, I think we have to go back to putting cops on the beat and cops in the streets—whether it’s near our stores or in our communities. I will hire 3,000 more police officers when I’m mayor. But I also recognize, in order to hire 3,000 police officers, we have to retain and attract people to the profession.

Here’s something that I think may surprise you: we’re having trouble keeping our police officers and attracting new ones. Eight thousand people recently took the police test. That usually means that about 1,000 police officers will join the force. More than that are leaving per year, and we need to keep the cops. We have police officers with two or three years of experience leaving after five years. They’re not retiring from policing—they’re being picked up by other jurisdictions around the country. So we need a plan to keep our cops and to train new cops. I will do that. Otherwise, we won’t be able to hire any more cops, let alone 3,000.

I also think we should put a cop on every train. We should align policing with a massive mental health initiative to help people who are struggling—people who are harmful to themselves.

I will be the mayor who knows how city agencies work. Ithink I can do that.

I also think we need a Deputy Mayor for Quality of Life. We don’t talk about quality-of-life issues anymore, and I want a mayor who’s going to focus on 911 and 311 data to break the silence between our different agencies—whether it’s mental health, HPD, or the sanitation department. Police have to work in unison to tackle problems relating to quality of life. I don’t think police officers need to be called for basic quality-of-life issues. That’s how you don’t use the police officers we have wisely. I think we should empower some agencies and hold commissioners accountable—and that’s what I’ll do.

To what do you attribute the lack of retention of police officers and new hires?

I think for young officers—as I talk to them—it’s really about quality of life. It’s very hard to have a family or a life when you’re forced to work without enough cops. That’s why overtime went from $650 million to $1.3 billion. So we’ve got to break this cycle. One way to do it is to hire more police officers. The more cops we have, the less we have to pay in overtime. I think cops should work four days a week, and 10 hours a day —give them rest, but also give them their lives back. Make this a job that’s attractive to them. Get the next generation of police officers from all of our diverse communities to want to be cops.

Eight thousand people took the test. You know how many took the sanitation test at the same time?

How many?

60,000.

Tell me more about the changes you’d make to police shifts.

Ten-hour workdays, four days a week—as opposed to these unpredictable shifts that are driving people out of the department. I want to have predictable work schedules so that people can plan their lives. I also want to change the antiquated shift system that doesn’t really work anymore. The shift changes in the police department occur twice a day—one at 7 a.m. during rush hour, and another at 3 p.m. when all the kids are out of school. Why? Why don’t we have standard shifts that meet the needs of people early in the morning and late at night? But do we really want a shift change when the kids are coming out of school? They should get our highest priority.

Have you reached out to the police unions for potential endorsements?

I’ve had many confidential conversations with many labor leaders in the city. I’m not ready to disclose those conversations or their endorsement schedules.

So how does your experience—as Comptroller, as Borough President—how does all that prepare you to be mayor?

Well, no one has more government experience in this race—and more New York City government experience. I have 30 years of experience. I was a state assembly member for 13 years, then served eight years as Manhattan Borough President—working on land use and zoning issues, affordable housing issues, managing 600 community board members. As Comptroller, I was chief fiscal officer for eight years. I held the de Blasio administration accountable on so many issues—364 days a year. I gave them off for Christmas, but otherwise, I was a very active, energetic, and forceful Comptroller. I held the city fiscally accountable. I took that job seriously.

I didn’t sleep walk during the administration. We need somebody who is strong enough to take on the issues at hand, and I never backed down from a fight. I did a lot of good work holding government accountable and managing the fourth-largest pension fund in America. And look, while I was getting record rates of return for our retirees, I divested from fossil fuels, I divested from gun manufacturers. I did the kind of work that New Yorkers wanted me to do.

I went to one investment meeting with all the pension funds—something Bloomberg and other mayors tried to do but couldn’t. I figured out how to do it, and I did it. It stayed in place for the eight years I was Comptroller. It unraveled when I left, but it was a great economic and pension reform that needed to be done, and I accomplished that.

I fixed the back office of the pension fund. We hired a consultant who told me there were 200 changes needed to maintain the viability of the fund. They told me at the time that 40 of those changes were necessary immediately—and I got them done in 18 months. So, I think I have the experience, I think people consider me the adult in the room. I may not have swagger, but I don’t bring chaos to City Hall. And I think that would be refreshing for a lot of New Yorkers.

There are a lot of voters who seem to want non-establishment figures. The longer a politician’s resume, the more it turns off some voters. We see that in presidential races, congressional races—across the board. There’s a growing movement of voters who want outsiders. What would you say to such voters?

I’d say—it’s time we learned our lesson. After 12 years of serious dysfunction in city government, maybe we need someone who can bring a level of experience to rebuild our agencies, rebuild our government, and getting the city straightened out. I want new people to be in government. I want new people to get elected—like I did when I was young—to the Assembly, to the City Council. But maybe, for this moment in time, we just need someone who brings an unusual amount of experience and confidence to the job of mayor.

You mentioned wanting to vastly change the way the police department works. How do you feel about criminal justice reform? What would your plans be?

Look, I think we need to close existing loopholes. Andrew Cuomo signed a bail reform and didn’t really understand what he was signing. That’s the job of a governor—to see problems in legislation. I’m a former legislator.

He just wanted a quick win—and it cost New Yorkers a lot. I think we need a mayor who can be sensible. I do think we want to make sure that kids stay away from the criminal justice system. We certainly don’t want people who are struggling to end up incarcerated. But we also have to balance the fact that we need police on the street.

There’s a difference between someone who steals something because they’re hungry and a professional shoplifter who’s done this 150 times. The mayor has to put their his or her down and say—we have to balance this. But Cuomo, when he was governor, was just not helpful to the city.

Some of our readership is frankly concerned for their safety, especially in light of the anti-Israel riots that took place for the better part of last year. This year has been quieter. But as mayor, what would you do to protect minority communities?

Look, we’re seeing a 54% increase in antisemitic hate. It’s not the only community that’s suffering—the Asian community is suffering too. We need a mayor who’s going to have zero tolerance for this kind of hate and criminal activity. There’s nothing more frightening for a parent—especially a Jewish parent—to wonder about the safety of their children when people can storm into classrooms or bang on windows and we excuse that behavior. That’s absolutely inappropriate and unacceptable.

I know firsthand, as the parent of two Jewish boys, when they were in their synagogue preschool, one thing that struck me was that every morning when I dropped them off, there was more security there, round-the-clock. And I always said to myself—it’s really sad, in a way, that these schools, because they could be targets, not only have to spend all this money on security—but also that it’s so necessary. And that was before the hate of October 7.

What’s your position on Israel?

“I am a lifelong supporter the State of Israel and affirm its right to exist as a secure and democratic homeland for the Jewish people. As a Zionist, I stand against the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement, which seeks to unfairly stigmatize and delegitimize Israel. I strongly condemn Hamas, a terrorist organization, and hope and pray for the safe return of all hostages they are holding in Gaza, and more broadly, that there is immediate and lasting peace for Israelis, Palestinians, and all others in the region.”

What’s your message to the Jewish community at large?

You know me. You trust me. You know I have the experience to do this job. I will watch out for the community, and I will protect the community. I’ll also deliver an economic recovery for working people, the likes of which we’ve never seen. I understand the mental health crisis we face in the city, and I’m going to deal with that. I also know we need to increase public safety, and I will deal with that too.

We need a mayor who brings the best and brightest into government; people who are there for the right reasons. People who won’t steal from the public. This moment in time is very important for the community. You know, my wife, as you know, is at the Holocaust museum. We have a stake in the community. We have a stake in our children. I think this would be a time to do great work in the community, and I’m looking forward to that. The support I’m receiving from the community is very encouraging.

The election is in a couple of months; I’ll do my best to get elected.