Ask the Mayor Preview

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
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**Brian Lehrer** (0:44)
Angel questions for Mayor Mamdani for tomorrow's Ask the Mayor segment. 212-433-WNYC-433-9692. Kate and Queens are on WNYC. Hi, Kate.

**Kate** (1:00)
Hi, Brian. I'm calling because I have a question for the mayor about tech in school. Last week, the American Federation of Teachers issued a statement saying they wanted to limit screen time for kids. Last week, the Chancellor of New York City Schools said something about revisiting their AI policy. I have a two-fold question. One is, the mayor willing to revisit use of tech in schools? There's so much screen time right now. I have a first grader and everything is a video, everything is forced, evaluation of kids via something called iReady.
Is the mayor willing to revisit tech use in schools and limit and join on to the AI moratorium?

**Brian Lehrer** (1:41)
That's such an important question and definitely on lots of parents' minds. Kate, thank you. Here's one in a text for the mayor. How can you justify a rent freeze when you have an offer to property tax freeze? When will we get meaningful property tax reform? Ask that listener.
Millie on the upper west side, you're on WNYC. Hi Millie.

**Millie** (2:05)
Hi Brian. Thank you so much. I'm calling because there are so many streets in the city right now and DOT is out of control because of their relationship with Transportation Alternatives, which is a pro bike lobby.
They're not a safety group. Their biggest donors are Lyft, City Bike and Delivery Apps, and the DOT is just out of control. They're barreling through all these street designs. West 72nd Street, which I believe you're familiar with, is we are going nuts over here. There are 20,000 residents between Central Park West and Riverside, and we've already had close to 3,000, maybe it's more today, to stop this, whether we can get an injunction or whatever, because they're barreling through. The design that they are doing is a cookie cutter design that they're doing all over the city and the people on this block are going nuts.

**Brian Lehrer** (3:03)
Really, I'm going to leave it there and move on, but I hear you. Against the bike lane or bikeway, as you call it, for West 72nd Street, and in general, too many of them, you're saying. Here's another transportation one listener writes, why are you not supporting the Queens Link, which could provide much needed transportation in a transit desert, in addition to park space that the Queensway will provide?
So that's another one on that. Here's another transportation one, David in Manhattan, you're on WNYC. Hi, David.

**David** (3:36)
Hi, love the show. And my question is regarding the whole free bus issue. I'm totally against the idea of free buses in the city. So I would want him to explain the specifics of his plan. I mean, how are you gonna pay for the buses?
How are you gonna pay for staff? Are you gonna pay for upgrades, maintenance, all this stuff? I mean, I feel like I've heard conflicting reports about this plan for free buses. And I want him to give us some specifics, even though I'm against the idea of it.

**Brian Lehrer** (4:16)
David, thank you very much. Another one from a text. There are many areas of New York that seem to have a lot of litter. Is there any movement to make the city cleaner? How about community cleanup days? Another text, FDNY, fire department unions, are rallying on a fifth firefighter in engines, but there's still no negotiating the next city budget for FDNY or EMS.
Question from Mayor Mamdani there. Oh, I'm going to take Amy in Manhattan who might be our last caller because I will say that the people concerned about this issue are very active and we got a whole bunch in the newsletter responses and Amy are going to represent. Hi.

**SPEAKER_2** (5:01)
Hi, oh, you're.

**Brian Lehrer** (5:03)
Yeah, turn the radio off so you hear me in real time.

**SPEAKER_2** (5:07)
I'm sorry, I can't.
I'll try to go away from it. I'm hoping that the mayor will continue to support those of us who want our medical coverage to remain the same and not push us into Medicare Advantage.