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News 12 Staff

asktheav129B

Welcome back to ask your Advocate here on News 12 with New York City public advocate Jumani Williams right before the commercial break, we were talking a little bit about driving down youth violence across the city in relation to an an announcement that the mayor made today about a new initiative that he's launching. And I was wondering if you'd like to expand a little bit more on the conversation. We were the, the the new deputy, a mayor for public safety announced a block by block by block uh every block counts initiative. Uh one, you know, this is something that's been announced before I actually still with the mayor uh with a very similar announcement. Um And unfortunately not much came of that announcement, it did come with a very good report, a blueprint of how we can move forward. It was sad to see for um it's something that I've been talking about for a very long time since I was a council member. How do we get a multi uh level agents, multi agency at all levels? Very targeted on the blocks that we know have the most uh problems. Uh And I think he's kind of regurgitated that again. Uh which is unfortunate that we have to keep doing this over and over, but I'm glad that he is at least doing it. Hopefully, this time it'll be more than just a press release and we actually get it done. But really having that, that, um that, you know, focus on the few blocks that we know are drive to so many of these issues and what I like about it, it is a multi uh agency and it's really focused on the specific needs of that particular block. Uh and then flood those areas with resources, which is something that we should have been doing for a very long time. Hopefully, that is not just another press release. Uh And it is actually backed up with resources and with structure and flexibility. So we can uh move where we need to go depending on a neighborhood that's there. Um But a lot of those have to be focused on our young people very clearly. We see that um that our young people have not responded um as positive we would like in all areas of the city and we can't just ignore it and we can't just think we're gonna arrest our way out of it and this is real people's lives and these communities have been dealing with this violence for a very long time. Yeah, it will be nice to see if this program can have an impact and if it can then be replicated across other areas of need. I believe we have our first caller on the line for this evening. Cynthia dialed in from Tremont. Cynthia. Thanks so much for calling. And what's your question for the public advocate? Hi, first and foremost, I wanna thank you Jamani Williams for all that you do for our community. You are truly a blessing in disguise. Oh, thank you so much. I appreciate. You're welcome. Um My question is, um, you know, I live right down the block from a post office and you know, parking in this neighborhood is already very limited and coming home from work, you see like five postal trucks parked in actual parking spaces when they have their own parking lot down the block. And it's, you know, coming home from work, being outside for 3 to 4 hours waiting for a parking spot when they are occupying the spot for the people who live in the neighborhood is, is, it's not a good thing, you know, it's very uh annoying. I want to use the right word, maybe annoying to come home and have to deal with the post office. People who pick up the spots that we don't have anything for ourselves. Cynthia. I know New Yorker wants to come home from a long day of work and then also have to go round and round the block looking for spots as well and you have to, well, people have to realize that, not all parts of New York City is the same, not all parts of New York City have access, easy access transportation. Parts of this city where people depend on their vehicles and parking is a really big thing. Um, and I would say that you can get that same complaint with a different agency, uh, with, uh, delivery trucks with 18 wheelers. It's a real big problem. Uh That's about also making sure that we're enforcing the rules. I'd love to get information of where Cynthia lives and see if you can reach out to that post office and, or a congressman who can help us reach out to that post office and make sure they're, they're parking where they should be parking particularly overnight. You come home from a long day's work, you just wanna go home. Um, you're gonna have enough trouble, uh, finding parking spots when you see, uh, government agencies, uh, park in spaces that, that should be belonging to the community. It can be very aggravating. Uh, and that's not a great way to start your evening, which could go into the day, uh, which can have, uh, you know, cascading effects. So that's, uh, it sounds sometimes like a small thing but it's not, it really can impact you. Uh, and if you're gonna go home, you got to deal with the kids and you already know it, like a lot of things can happen just because it is one thing. And So I want to take it seriously and really figure out where she is and see if we can, we'll be sure to connect you with the information off line and see if we can help out there as well. On the topic of parking, that was a big topic of conversation point of negotiation if you will in the city of yes proposal that has now passed the city council with some changes down to 80,000 new units of housing down from the 100,000. Initially. Also parking mandates not universally gotten rid of, they will stay in certain places as well as the A US will be allowed in certain circumstances and not universally your thoughts on the plan as passed and what it will mean truly for New York City as it's put into implementation. Shout out to speaker Adrian Adams and the City council for really making sure this became passable, really doing the hard work of getting it done. I do have to give a nod to the mayor who's been pushing this for quite some time. Uh And uh you're right. Parker mandates were, were one of the sticking points, not the only one. You know, I have some concerns of some of the exemptions of certain things in the in the plan. But I don't think there was another plan that would have gotten passed out so passed. So you have to really shout out to the council for getting this done. And as I mentioned, you know, parking is different depending where you are. What's really important though is putting this in context of a housing plan. And I think a lot of focuses on this as if this was the housing plan. And it's not um you know, 80,000 units in the future is great. It's a, it's, it's a uh just a, a small fraction of what we actually need. And we actually wrote an op ed about this and see li is describing the type of things that we need, the additional housing units and the preservation of the units that we already have. Um and more funding in for uh people who need vouchers to get into that house. So there's so much more that we have to do uh when it comes to this city of es one thing that we do know is um that the city of vs is not gonna fundamentally change any neighborhood. Um And there's gonna be miniscule differences, which is the type of change that we need if we're gonna actually make sure our Children, Children can stay here. And so we want to make sure that it has an impact, but then fundamentally change any uh neighborhood overnight. And I think uh we really got to a point where uh that's what occurred, but now let's do the rest of the plan. Yeah, absolutely. And then looking ahead, anything that you think needs to be on the table for negotiations in the city or state in the coming months. Yeah, we wanna make sure that any tax levied money, um, is not being spent on just market rate housing a lot of times we get tax money and we don't get the affordability that we need. Uh, we also make sure that there's vouchers being paid and preserve the units that we actually have. We actually have now talking points for those lawmakers as they negotiate. Stay with us. We'll be right back here on News 12 with Ask Your Advocate.

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asktheav129C

Welcome back to ask your advocate here on News 12 with New York City public Advocate Jumani Williams. We keep talking about how this was a big day of breaking news. And among all those headlines is a lawsuit that your office filed alongside the city council against Mayor Eric Adams for not implementing the solitary confinement ban that was passed by the council and using executive orders to do so and justify that. Can you expand a little bit more on what the goal is with this lawsuit? What you hope to achieve ultimately? Well, I would say what makes it even more disturbing is the administration and the mayor in particular um efforts to make the crisis even worse uh in Rikers. And then use that as a reason to say, you have to do these executive uh these executive orders, you know what we've been saying for a while and there's been a lot of conversation about what solitary mean, what a definition is. And I want to be clear the thing that people think of uh solitary defined um uh uh you know, with Nelson Mandela rules and, and uh UN that has been outlawed for quite some time. Um I will say we're very clear that they're still using it even though they shouldn't be. And we found out recently uh in the units that are for uh people who were known to have mental health uh concerns have been locked in for 24 hours a day. We know that there are people, individuals who have said they've been in their cells, specific cells for 24 hours a day. And we do know that they have been using emergency lock ins. So there's an emergency situation. Uh Sometimes they use that as a way to keep folks in the cell for a while. So that aside, what we have said is that we just want to prevent the use of isolation as a way to correct behavior because it doesn't and it makes everybody less safe. We have completely and always said that you should be able to separate people who need to be separated. But it is the isolation that is concerning and everybody agrees with that. Um And right now without this bill, people are being harmed in Rikers and killed. That's people who work there and people who are detained there often come from the same community. We want them to be safe. This bill was put in there to try to do something different. And because what we're doing doesn't work. And so to have the mayor abuse his powers and abuse the executive orders to try to prevent this from, from implementing, it'll be different if we tried and it didn't work. And we came and had a conversation and say this is what works. This doesn't. But this administration, this mayor uh had, you know, we see this time and time again, if there's a law, he doesn't like, he just thinks he can ignore it and not, not do it. And that's not the case. And so I'm proud to join with Speaker Adams and uh the council to put this lawsuit, try to force this administration uh to follow the law, which is say we can't use isolation as a way to correct behavior because it makes everyone, everyone less safe on Rikers Island. Thanks so much for expanding on that. And the conversation will continue here on news 12 on, ask your advocate right after this 7188616800 is the number to dial. If you have a question, we'll be right back.

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asktheav129D_2024-12-09-20-04-36

Welcome back to ask your advocate with public advocate, you, Money Williams as we are now in December. Hard to believe that we're in December. Looking ahead to the New Year with the New Year now comes a new toll congestion pricing is back now, $9. Instead, what was initially supposed to be the 15 right off the bat? Your thoughts on the fact that it's back and that it's back now. Well, I would say no matter where you are on this side, folks should be very upset of the leadership on how we ping pong on this. Uh It's, it's unfortunate. I will say I'm gonna stand with the governor on this and make sure that we're able to push this through. It's, it's the thing that most people, I understand why they don't want it. Uh But we have to understand that we actually need it. Uh And just for clarity. Uh if you're below 60th street, not counting FDR, not counting the west side highway, if you're below 60th street. Um On a, this is the people who will be most impacted, which means most of the people who hear my voice right now will not even though some folks have done a good job of getting them angry. 95 98% of people who go to below 60th street in a daily basis go there by mass transit and not by car. So we're really talking about 1 to 2% of the folks and we do know that traffic is a problem when you're in traffic. You think everybody else is the traffic, but you're the traffic. And so we need to get the traffic down. We need to get uh funding for the mass transit is carrying 98% of the people into that zone. And we, as we enjoying these warmer weathers know that our climate is not doing what it's supposed to do. Those are three things that we have to try to uh address and there's only but so many ways that we can do that. Um And congestion pricing is one of them. And so I've been a proponent for a while saying that we just, we should get it started and then try to tinker with it as we move forward. I am glad that there is uh some help for people who make $50,000 or less. Uh But I will say those folks are minute uh in terms of the type of folks that are gonna be the most impacted, but I'm glad there's some assistance for them. Uh I think we probably need a little bit more but we just have to move forward and it's the kind of thing that people, you know, don't want. Uh, but unfortunately, we, we desperately need and have needed for some time and it just won't even impact the, the mind people who are angry, but folks are good at getting people mad at things, uh, that they kind of misinform them about and, but we, you know, it's something that we have to move forward since we are speaking to the outer boroughs right now. Any concern that this could add more traffic to the outer boroughs as people try to find re routes to avoid the toll or perhaps even just the environmental impacts. I know the Bronx specifically suffers from such high rates of asthma. Do you fear that more traffic people trying to avoid Manhattan could lead to less uh positive effects? Absolutely. There's some great reason to be concerned here. I will say this has been studied maybe a decade or more now. So this is, this has gone through many, many, many studies uh and ways to try to alleviate some of that and I'm sure they haven't gotten it all. Um I don't know a time period when they will. And so what I have suggested, let's just get this thing started and try to address it as we move forward. We've done and there's no way we can study this more than we have. Let's get it studied and make sure those issues that people are concerned about are addressed in real time. Sometimes you try to address something and you address it wrong because the way we thought it was gonna go, it just didn't. Um, so those concerns at this moment in time, the amount of times that have been studied, I don't think we're enough to stop it. Uh, but we have to keep our eye on it and I'm sure, uh, based on the things that I've heard people will and rightfully so because those concerns are real, I do wanna stay on the topic of, of transportation getting around the city and unfortunately, how deadly our city streets have become as of late. Just last weekend, we covered this tragic case in the Bronx of a high school football coach who years prior had called for action at the intersection by his house after a crash had happened there calling it dangerous. And then just a week ago, lost his life in a hit and run, crash right outside of his home. This comes after a year where we've seen the number of deaths on city streets skyrocket. What do we need to be doing better to drive down those numbers so hard to see these cases. And there was a day last week with three different New Yorkers lost their lives with three different, uh, car crashes. I always point out it's interesting how we address this versus other random acts of, of, um, these deaths could not be more random. Uh but when we talk about the perception versus reality, these are perfect cases because how we respond to violence, the things that we allow to happen, that cause further harm in the name of addressing that just doesn't happen when it comes to vehicle of violence. When we try to uh address even modicums of changes to the car culture, everyone pushes back. But this violence is just as random. It's even more deadly. You are more likely to lose your life this year on vehicular violence than being shot. And so it's just always good to point out how we perceive these things. That doesn't mean that you are more or less safe because of your perceptions. But it's important to point out because we have to do more. This is, you know, people are dying randomly. Um And because we're not responding the way we should people, I guess, don't feel of the randomness of it, of it. We don't allow the change that we need to be done in infrastructure. We push back on things like congestion pricing. We have to make sure there's more enforcement in there. We have a car culture. I'm part of it. My family is part of it, but we have to know as call culture. We are the safest people in the uh equation. Um We have the most protection and we do the most damage and we have to think about that when we're moving forward. II I mean, I do always say, depending where I am is who I'm angry at. If I on a bicycle, if I, I'm walking or if I'm driving. So that is human nature. But quite frankly, vehicle of violence is just really bad. And as, uh, with dot To do more, we haven't created the bike lanes that we were supposed to create the 250 miles and we're not even close to that. People get angry when we're trying to get the protected bike lanes. Um, bicyclists that's are often so there's a real disconnect between uh, the deaths and harm that's being done. Uh, and the push back that is rec we receive from communities when we try to make even a mono of change uh to the cultural cause in the city, even on a grander scale. I know that we've talked about reducing the speed limit in the past daylighting and efforts made to expand that and then as well, uh, you know, just I would say with the reduction of the speed, um, you know, I'm sometimes wary of if we're gonna even go lower because my belief now is for your folks are not following the law. And so that's more about enforcement as opposed to dropping it even lower and lower. Um, daylighting is something we definitely have to do. We, we have so many concrete ideas like daylighting like protected bike lanes that if we can just get more people on board. Uh We can get the dot Actually moving forward on this. Um It would literally save lives. It will literally prevent the type of random acts of death that we talk about in other violence. Um And we just have difficulty doing it. Those statistics that you mentioned earlier really put into perspective. The problem that we have with this right now. I do wanna get to another caller who is on the line, Terri from Flatbush is dialed in. Thanks so much for calling in. And what's your question for the public advocate? Ola. Good evening. My question is, um, I have a child with Down Syndrome and it's very hard for me to get a day ha for her. I need some help. We've been trying to get her in a day hab for day a perhaps some help during the day. Terry, could you explain, explain what that is exactly. Would you say day help? I think she said day hap, which I'm going to assume that means some sort of help or, or perhaps a center that she can have her loved one in. Well, you know, there, there are a lot of parents that have Children with special needs. Uh, you know, I growing up with Tourettes syndrome and a DH D uh my mother had to help, uh, navigate me throughout the public school system from preschool to masters. Um, and I know that what this mother is going through is even more Uh So there's a lot of services that are available uh in uh New York City public School. Uh And we'd love to connect her with the right person there. And if that is not the right uh right space to go, there are some other services particularly around. We've, we've come such a long way um from where we were even 1020 years ago, the amount of people who are working on this, the amount of community groups that are working on people with Down Syndrome, this community group specifically focused on black and brown communities who are often left behind. And so, uh we'd love to connect her with one or more of those to try to get the assists that's needed. And I, I appreciate her calling and my heart goes out to her and her child. Absolutely good to know that the help exists. Sometimes it just becomes a matter of getting it to where it needs to go. That is hard to navigate. I mean, as much as New York City public schools actually has a great number of assistance. The labyrinth of trying to navigate sometimes in of itself is difficult and can be prohibited for some folks who just at some point, you know, they just don't want to be bothered. So, uh although they, they wanna be bothered, but it gets just too difficult. Um So helping, uh perhaps just helping his mother navigate that system, uh might be something that can just in himself. Correct whatever issue she's dealing with. Good to hear that topic of education. I'd love to get your thoughts on the fact that the state is looking at getting rid of the regions as a requirement for graduation. Especially given that New York City public school students in the last few years have seen declines in their math and reading proficiencies across the board. Well, we don't want to get rid of it because of that. We wanna see the proficiencies go back up. But what we have learned is that the, the region's exams in and of itself don't necessarily show the proficiencies or don't necessarily show be a thing that, that is on top of what you're already doing and, and it can be just extra for no reason. And quite frankly, I was surprised to learn most of the rest of the nation don't have this uh when it comes to graduation. So it's not something that's needed. What I do like is that the Board of Regents is reviewing this um um the in the, in the education in the board in uh uh in New York State is reviewing this to make sure if we do it, which we probably should, we do it right to make sure that our Children are educated the way they need to be educated without extra undue burdens that just cause stress, but don't necessarily show a more comprehension. Yeah, this has definitely been a long thought out process with a lot of conversation amongst the board. So something to look ahead to in the years to come, the conversation will continue here on news. 12, here on Ask Your Advocate. 7188616800. Is the number to dial with your question? Stay with us. We'll be right back right after this.

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asktheav129E

Thanks for staying with us here on. Ask your Advocate on News 12 with New York City public advocate, Ji Williams. I believe we have another caller on the line. So let's get to it. We have Rich who's dialed in from Pelham Bay tonight? Rich, thanks so much for calling. And what is your question for the public advocate? Uh, I would like to ask him why under the new city sanitation plan, they're forcing homeowners to buy garbage pails which are 45 to $50 each when the city has already given $6 billion to illegals in the city. And where does this all end in this city? Homeowners are really fed up and in the next election they're gonna have their opinion face. Yeah. It's a frustration that we hear at least about the price of the garbage cans, time and time again here on. So there's two parts. I wanna make sure I risk both of those. Uh, the first one is, I actually agree and we've tried to push to see if there's a way that we can have some kind of rebate program either from the city or the state. It might be easier on the state because the state is the one that can controls the taxes. Uh, but I, I tend to agree if there's a way we can ease homeowners burden here, we should do this. Uh, it's a, it's a small amount for, uh, for a homeowner, but it's, uh, it's one of the principal and 250 bucks is 50 bucks and you never know what someone's dealing with at, at any particular time. So, instead of focusing on the congestion pricing, and I would actually focus on, see if we can give rebate to some of these homeowners because it's something that they should be doing, uh, with the trash cans. But if there's a way we can help, we should, I didn't like the, the combine that with the migrants. Um, and this is something the mayor unfortunately has done sowing a seed. That's not true. Um, and so we, he did a, uh, a clip to show we spent this much money on migrants here is what we could spend on New Yorkers. And that's a false, it's deception. Uh, he actually lied about the, uh, immigrants and migrants not having constitutional protections, which was discussing in of itself. But what I try to tell folks, uh, particularly New, uh, New Yorkers have been there for a long time. I know that that $6 billion would not be spent on long time New Yorkers because they just didn't do it. They never did it. And people like me have been saying this money is here. This is before the first migrant. We have the money that we need pay for the housing that New New Yorkers need the food that New Yorkers need. But people like the mayor and others pushed back when we said that and didn't spend the money on the New Yorkers who were here. And so it is uh disturbing to have the people who made those decisions now have people angry at uh uh migrants and asylum seekers who had nothing to do with that decision. What we should have been doing is treating uh New New, the New Yorkers who have been here as just as much as a crisis before and we just didn't. So uh it's really a bait and switch. That sounds good when someone says it, but when you dig into it, hey, why didn't you spend this money on me all along? This money was there? Um But we didn't have the support of people like the mayor and other um people in leadership to make those decisions and they're the very ones now trying to turn people's anger against them. So I want people to stay angry, just be angry at the right people on the topic of the migrant crisis. A lot of talk with the incoming presidential administration about the idea of mass deportations and what that could look like for families here in the city. Um Any conversation that are happening within city government right now to prepare for that potential reality. And how likely do you think it is that we see that under a Trump administration? Unfortunately, we have the wrong mayor right now. I will say that it's unfortunate we have to have a mayor that will work with any president. So I wanted to put that out there. We also have to have one that's going to protect New Yorkers against the worst of what any president might do. And this mayor is just not doing that. He's saying some horrific things and um saying he's supporting uh this type of uh proposal. Um I would defy anyone to go in history and uh show me where mass deportation has been helpful for anyone. Uh It just so sees of discord is harmful. Uh and doesn't really one you can't mass deport 15 million people, you can cause harm and uh oppose uh sole division and get people very, very nervous and scared. And so that's not a policy that we should be, we should be supporting. We should be trying to figure out how we can. And another thing is the asylum seekers are here legally. People keep calling them illegals. Applying for asylum is illegal. The mayor failed to assist to get some of that legal process moving forward. I will say it is funny that he keeps talking about Biden, which you know, the White House did fail us, but he never talks about the governor, uh, who I think could have done more as well and he certainly doesn't talk about, uh, uh, Trump and some of the policies that he has, he, he seems to be happy with that. And I think that's because, um, you know, the governor and, and Trump hold a lot over him, but we have to have people that are gonna have courage at all times and call out what needs to be called out. And yes, people left New York City in, in, in a bad way. Um And yes, we should have done more and yes, mass deportation sowing fear throughout the immigrant communities uh lying to people and saying they don't have constitutional protections is very harmful. We are a city of immigrants. We will always be um how immigrants have gotten here have changed over the years. But there is a no point when there's been an influx of immigrants, regardless of how people think they've gotten here, that people accepted them when the time was here that goes for any group of immigrants you can talk about. And now this time these folks are having their uh uh American experience and we have to treat that humanely. Um That doesn't mean it doesn't make some difficult, that were always difficult. Uh And we have to talk about that, but this is not the way we're doing it and, and I'm very disturbed by many things this mayor is doing right now, what other impacts or effects do you think New York City has to prepare for under a Trump presidency? You know, there are so many New Yorkers who are concerned uh from asylum seekers uh to a LGBT Q community uh to black and brown communities, to the immigrant communities. Basically, it's to New York. Uh There's so many things that we're concerned about so many policies that might be put in place. Uh And then just talk about the things that are gonna affect everyone, uh like um the ridiculousness of the tariff situation. Uh and at the, the president to be not understanding how tariffs work. Uh And, and saying just yesterday, he's not even, he can't guarantee that we won't feel the impact of those tariffs, you know, the day after the election, people in the states that voted for Donald Trump or were uh Googling can change my vote after the election. Um Obviously, the answer is no, and I think people are gonna really feel very soon. Um How bad of a decision that was on a number of reasons. Um And we have to have leadership that's gonna help support and protect New York while trying to work with whomever we need to work with. But we do know the things he said he's gonna do. Uh we need to really uh be prepared to protect New Yorkers against the worst of it. A lot to look forward to in terms of looking ahead in whatever way it comes. Right. And we'll be right back here on, ask your advocate on news. 12. Don't go anywhere. Stay with us.

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asktheav129F_2024-12-09-20-05-04

Welcome back to ask your advocate here on News 12 with New York City public Advocate. You've got to a lot of heavy hitting topics throughout the evening. So I think right now for a moment of levity, your reaction to Juan Soto making the switch, he's going from the Bronx to Queens for $765 million Bronx people. I'm sorry, but us Mets fans, you know, we got it, we got it, we got it all good on that. I couldn't be better. I could not be better. Uh You know, I know where I'm at right now. So I got to try to make it home the Bronx, but, you know, they give it to us all the time and so those pinstripes sometimes burn my eyes. But now, uh, you know, we're in good shape. We're looking forward to, to a good season. Uh, and it's all, you know, all fun, but, you know, we, you can be more excited. Let's go. Look, keeps it here in New York. That's at least the positive side to all of this. Speaking of a good season so far as a Knicks fan, you've got to be feeling pretty good Knicks, you know, that's where, that's where I'm really at. We had a, we had a good home stand, the post past couple of days we lost one that we should have won the Pistons, which was quite frustrating. Um, I'm still not exactly sure what the ins season tournament, the trophy cup actually is, but I'm glad the Knicks are doing well. Uh, we're in good shape, uh, to, to really try to, uh, challenge to get it. So I'm excited about that and the season's looking really, really good. I think folks are getting better and better if we can just, uh stay healthy. The folks are having some of the best season in their lives, including some of our new acquisition. So I'm really excited watching the Knicks, uh, whenever, whenever I can, full transparency, I was having a conversation with our producer before the show about this whole cup and I too know nothing about it. So I'm glad we're on the same page. We're doing well and that's a good thing to know. Speaking of such, such, excuse me, all the fun that we have this time of year. A lot of winter, fun to be had in the city. And you had some fun over at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden to kick off the season there. We did. It was exciting. Shout out to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, starting a new traditions for my family and others. There is a light scape there that is miles of light. It is fantastic. I would encourage people to go just take that walk. It's serene, it's amazing music, this amazing light show. Um And we could all use that right by now as we are dealing with. Uh I try to say processing new world that that's coming uh going to a space like that is just awesome. Um This is the fourth annual uh and it's definitely going to be something that my family does. Uh, uh, going, going forward. My mother called very specifically wanted to come that day, but we couldn't, it was cold, it was rainy. Uh, we were able to, uh, my wife and I were able to go, but we got, we're gonna go back with the family for sure. I love that. Something to look forward to, brings everyone together. You get to Best of Brooklyn there and the Holiday Spirit as well. Public advocate. Thank you so much for the conversation and getting all those questions answered tonight. Thank you all for tuning in and calling in. Have a great evening. We'll see you next time.

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News 12's Amanda Bossard sits down with New York City Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams to answer YOUR pressing questions in this month's edition of Ask Your Advocate.

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