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Zohran Mamdani: “We increase funding for [Be Heard] by about 150%.”

Featuring: Zohran Mamdani, Democratic | Mayor of New York City

JUST IN: Zohran Mamdani Takes Questions At Columbia Journalism School & Vital City Event

Published September 8, 2025 | Video Starts at 12:01

And to me, the vision of Be Heard has to be one where we have it present in every single neighborhood and in the 20 neighborhoods of the highest need, that we have two or three teams and that We increase funding for [Be Heard] by about 150%. That coupled with looking at the models of, let's say, cahoots in Oregon, a program that diverted 20% of calls that were coming into a police department and was able to resolve 24,000 calls, save for 311 without police assistance. (12:01–12:04)

CLAIM

Asserts a proposal to increase funding for the Be Heard program by 150%.

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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Zohran Mamdani

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“75% of commercial units... are vacant within the subway system.”
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“Rikers Island [is] the largest mental health facility in New York City, second largest in the country where 40% of all the population is…”
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“More than 40 New Yorkers have been killed on Rikers Island, five in the last two weeks.”
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“It costs the city more than $500,000 a year to keep someone on Rikers Island.”
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“The cost of an entire year's worth of service [at a fountain house] is $4,000. That is three days on Rikers Island.”
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“Eight of the 10 states that have the highest levels of crime in the country, which are Republican led.”
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“For every dollar [California has] spent on a lawsuit, they've won more than 33,000 in federal funding.”
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“No, we have not formed a transition committee as yet.”
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“Yes. I can tell you that the experience I have every day is reading an article about people that I've apparently promised a job to.”
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“This [Department of Community Safety] is a department that would have a budget of about $1 billion.”
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“My opinion is one that looks at the spike in crime across the country over the course of the pandemic and sees similar spikes regardless of…”
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“I think we've even seen with raise the age that there are fewer arrests of younger New Yorkers than there were prior to the implementation…”
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“About two thirds of the amount of money that was allotted still remains unspent in Albany.”
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“We can see that murders and shootings are down since 2019, and they are down even further since 2024.”
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“Major crimes are up 30% since 2019.”
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“Our plan to deploy teams of dedicated mental health outreach workers to the hundred subway stations with the highest levels of mental health…”
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“Response times have increased by 20% over the last few years, where now the average time is closer to 16 minutes.”
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“The city, under Mayor Adams's leadership, has simply refused to issue the permits that are now required by law.”
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“We have four or five thousand person waiting lists where a vendor will pay an intermediary $20,000 for the right to sell.”
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“In New York City, there were 35% of calls that Be Heard was eligible for. They did not respond to and the police responded to.”
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“Cahoots in Oregon, a program that diverted 20% of calls that were coming into a police department.”
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“There would be no cuts to create this [Department of Community Safety].”
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“Raising the state's top corporate tax rate to match that of New Jersey...raising New York City's personal income tax rate on the top 1% by…”
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“In Denver, they had a STAR program...crime went down by 34% over the period of a number of years.”
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“Cahoots was able to resolve 24,000 calls, save for 311 without police assistance.”
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“In Philadelphia, they have a Hub for Hope program...connected more than 300 previously homeless individuals to housing.”
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“We had nearly the same number of vacant supportive housing units as we did homeless New Yorkers.”
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“Three of [the applicants] died waiting to hear back on their application.”
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“[Andrew Cuomo's] cutting of the Advantage plan... led to a skyrocketing of homelessness here in New York City.”
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“35% of calls that even after all of that were still determined eligible and still not taken up.”
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“I have spoken about, as it pertains to headcount, sustaining the number of officers that we have on the NYPD and trying to fight this crisis…”
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“The despair on Rikers island has been well known to many of us for quite some time, and yet it is despair that has only been heightened…”
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