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Michael Blake: “We need to have a vacant apartment tax, which...can generate…”

Featuring: Michael Blake, Democratic | Former Candidate, U.S. House New York, District 15

New York City Mayoral Candidate Michael Blake Discusses Campaign Vision and Policies

Published May 15, 2025 | Video Starts at 09:10

It's nice to have great ideas, but how do you pay for this? First, you have $2 billion of unclaimed fines and fees in New York City … We need to have a vacant apartment tax, which...can generate $400 million by itself. … managing what's happening within the city budget. In particular, NYPD has $1.4 billion in overtime that clearly was not connected to public safety. (09:10–09:18)

CLAIM

Asserts that a vacant apartment tax could generate $400 million.

This is an excerpt from a raw transcript. The assertions have not been audited or verified. Tap the video to view the source footage and understand the context.

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Michael Blake

“You have $2 billion of unclaimed fines and fees in New York City primarily from parking tickets.”
New York City Mayoral Candidate Michael Blake Discusses Campaign Vision and Policies | Uploaded May 15, 2025 | 09:02-09:09
“NYPD has $1.4 billion in overtime that clearly was not connected to public safety.”
New York City Mayoral Candidate Michael Blake Discusses Campaign Vision and Policies | Uploaded May 15, 2025 | 09:24-09:29
“It absolutely is legal [for businesses to withhold taxes from the federal government].”
New York City Mayoral Candidate Michael Blake Discusses Campaign Vision and Policies | Uploaded May 15, 2025 | 10:05-10:07
“There was a sex scandal for promotions that was happening that led to that 1.4 billion that had nothing to do about public safety.”
New York City Mayoral Candidate Michael Blake Discusses Campaign Vision and Policies | Uploaded May 15, 2025 | 13:30-13:38
“You have about 180,000 immigrants, in particular African immigrants, who do not have legal representation when they're going into these…”
New York City Mayoral Candidate Michael Blake Discusses Campaign Vision and Policies | Uploaded May 15, 2025 | 28:57-29:10
“1 out of 8 kids being homeless in New York City schools.”
New York City Mayoral Candidate Michael Blake Discusses Campaign Vision and Policies | Uploaded May 15, 2025 | 34:55-34:58
“If [developers and landlords] are not hitting these metrics, they should have the incentives taken away.”
New York City Mayoral Candidate Michael Blake Discusses Campaign Vision and Policies | Uploaded May 15, 2025 | 01:29-17:21
“I'm the only person that has been a part of a team that has actually defeated Donald Trump when I was vice chair of the DNC.”
New York City Mayoral Candidate Michael Blake Discusses Campaign Vision and Policies | Uploaded May 15, 2025 | 01:39-01:45
“I'm the only person who has White House, State House, and local experience.”
New York City Mayoral Candidate Michael Blake Discusses Campaign Vision and Policies | Uploaded May 15, 2025 | 01:44-01:48
“Kairos Democracy Project was the entity to have a better communication outlet to mobilize people for real impact.”
New York City Mayoral Candidate Michael Blake Discusses Campaign Vision and Policies | Uploaded May 15, 2025 | 03:00-03:09
“We did have involvement at the end of the 2024 cycle because we wanted to get more people from New York to go do organizing in Pennsylvania.”
New York City Mayoral Candidate Michael Blake Discusses Campaign Vision and Policies | Uploaded May 15, 2025 | 03:45-03:54
“Trump and his team were utilizing chats exceptionally well to feed Republican messaging.”
New York City Mayoral Candidate Michael Blake Discusses Campaign Vision and Policies | Uploaded May 15, 2025 | 04:08-04:16
“We have to have a local median income. Because area median income is not working.”
New York City Mayoral Candidate Michael Blake Discusses Campaign Vision and Policies | Uploaded May 15, 2025 | 06:51-06:57
“We should eliminate credit scores being used for rent homeownership applications. It is a discriminatory practice.”
New York City Mayoral Candidate Michael Blake Discusses Campaign Vision and Policies | Uploaded May 15, 2025 | 08:06-08:13
“We also have to increase and expand income thresholds for housing applications.”
New York City Mayoral Candidate Michael Blake Discusses Campaign Vision and Policies | Uploaded May 15, 2025 | 08:24-08:34
“There has to be an approach around universal child care, which again, we can pay for these elements.”
New York City Mayoral Candidate Michael Blake Discusses Campaign Vision and Policies | Uploaded May 15, 2025 | 08:43-08:48
“Officers should not be the first responders for mental health concerns; mental health professionals should be.”
New York City Mayoral Candidate Michael Blake Discusses Campaign Vision and Policies | Uploaded May 15, 2025 | 14:07-14:17
“Changes in Albany from discovery, speedy trial, et cetera, so that repeat offenders in highly concentrated neighborhoods are held…”
New York City Mayoral Candidate Michael Blake Discusses Campaign Vision and Policies | Uploaded May 15, 2025 | 14:24-14:37
“We have allowed messaging to confuse us from the facts. Poor is something that someone feels that's not connected to a number.”
New York City Mayoral Candidate Michael Blake Discusses Campaign Vision and Policies | Uploaded May 15, 2025 | 15:31-15:44
“We have a metric of 600,000 being the units that we believe we have to get to [for affordable housing].”
New York City Mayoral Candidate Michael Blake Discusses Campaign Vision and Policies | Uploaded May 15, 2025 | 16:22-16:27
“You have to ensure that you're building to the middle and working class, which goes back to implementing the true cost of living.”
New York City Mayoral Candidate Michael Blake Discusses Campaign Vision and Policies | Uploaded May 15, 2025 | 16:40-16:47
“We shouldn't have ICE at our schools, our places to worship, our community centers, because it's unconstitutional and it's wrong.”
New York City Mayoral Candidate Michael Blake Discusses Campaign Vision and Policies | Uploaded May 15, 2025 | 26:51-26:57
“We have allowed MAGA Republicans...to make immigration a Latino only conversation.”
New York City Mayoral Candidate Michael Blake Discusses Campaign Vision and Policies | Uploaded May 15, 2025 | 27:01-27:11
“We will have a scenario from 2026 to 2030 where at least for two years we're going to be wondering and assessing how are we protecting the…”
New York City Mayoral Candidate Michael Blake Discusses Campaign Vision and Policies | Uploaded May 15, 2025 | 27:49-28:01
“It's not a scenario where we don't have the funds. That's the wild part, right? The money's there.”
New York City Mayoral Candidate Michael Blake Discusses Campaign Vision and Policies | Uploaded May 15, 2025 | 31:01-31:08
“I have said within the first 100 days that I would declare an emergency around the true cost of living and affordability.”
New York City Mayoral Candidate Michael Blake Discusses Campaign Vision and Policies | Uploaded May 15, 2025 | 32:05-32:12
“Contracts that are outstanding to the nonprofits who have done the work already would be paid within that 100 days.”
New York City Mayoral Candidate Michael Blake Discusses Campaign Vision and Policies | Uploaded May 15, 2025 | 32:17-32:22
“You have families who are literally waiting months, if not years for payments where they know the money is already there.”
New York City Mayoral Candidate Michael Blake Discusses Campaign Vision and Policies | Uploaded May 15, 2025 | 32:45-32:54
“We voted for this. We this passed.”
New York City Mayoral Candidate Michael Blake Discusses Campaign Vision and Policies | Uploaded May 15, 2025 | 33:13-33:16
“There's a reason why you have a mayor's for guaranteed income across city, which again, is different from universal basic income.”
New York City Mayoral Candidate Michael Blake Discusses Campaign Vision and Policies | Uploaded May 15, 2025 | 33:36-33:43
“We're seeing this in Stockton, California. We're seeing this in St. Louis, what they did with baby bonds.”
New York City Mayoral Candidate Michael Blake Discusses Campaign Vision and Policies | Uploaded May 15, 2025 | 33:53-33:59
“You have $3.1 billion in reserves. Not talking about pensions.”
New York City Mayoral Candidate Michael Blake Discusses Campaign Vision and Policies | Uploaded May 15, 2025 | 34:33-34:38
“The reason why Donald Trump won twice and Joe Biden won once is they focus on the economic agenda.”
New York City Mayoral Candidate Michael Blake Discusses Campaign Vision and Policies | Uploaded May 15, 2025 | 35:37-35:44
“You're going to see obscene, continual cuts to communities already hurting [from 2026 through 2029].”
New York City Mayoral Candidate Michael Blake Discusses Campaign Vision and Policies | Uploaded May 15, 2025 | 36:55-37:02