The City Hall Bureau chief for the New York Times and grace, reporter for new york one. This will be an uninterrupted conversation about issues where you will get a chance to learn more about the seven Democratic Candidates seeking to become the next mayor. Nyc2013 on twitter. This is part of the official new york Debate Program administered by the City Campaign finance board. They managed the Public Matching Funds Program designed to small dollare contributions. Gather partners to bring these debates. Of the city of new york, the hispanic federation, citizens for new york city, transportation , and timees, wnyc warner cable. Lets introduce the seven candidates. Deldable all seo bill sio, Christine Quinn [cheers and applause] john liu. Sal. And anthony weiner. The candidates we each have one minute to respond to questions asked by the panel and they will be given the ability to respond if asked directly by an opponent. We will have cross examination where they will be able to ask one opponent a question. They whirl they will have a lightning round with brief questions and answers. They will also make closing statements of one minute each. With that in mind, lets begin. We start with one man well been manuel benitez. Is a hospital nobody wants to own. They could take down the system. F hostels how are you planning on keeping it open . How will you pay for it . Do you think it is a fiscally responsible position to have . They need Long Island College hospital. That is the closest emergency room by far for 75,000 people. We fought successfully to keep it open. In the last year, we won in court yet again and the hospital is open for business. Its important for brooklyn and the city. We have to end of the of hospital closures. And they want to have the city and state played the most prominent role in how to protect local healthcare facilities. It must be provided locally. You will not give the primary and Preventative Care you need. We need the city and state to take responsibility and my plan is the one that would actually make that happen. Only one to be the appear who has presented that kind of plan. As a quick followup, would you find money in the budget to keep it open . I think one of the most important things we do is protect the Public Health. Whether it takes city funds, state funds, or the medicaid waiver that the state as called for to bring in federal dollars explicitly for hospital restructuring, it is time for the local governments to take responsibility. What we have been doing now is hospitals just close. Look at what happened with st. Vincent sand one dozen hospitals in in the bloomberg years. Its unacceptable so its time for the city and state to step up. Ms. Quinn, do you think there is money in the budget to pay for these hospitals that are not the responsibility of the city . Robust round of applause was not for me but for my father who turned 87 today. I want to start off by saying happy birthday. [applause] health care, we in oneerface, st. Johns of the most isolated parts of threatening to be closed. We want to make sure the mayor is not sitting on the side. We need to get the medicaid waiver so we get the money we are owed in the city. It will bring us resources to help us stabilize hospitals but also create more primary and Preventative Care. I will implement when i am mayor Public Health infrastructure atmission which will look where we need to stabilize hospitals, where many to reopen hospitals, where we need primary care, preventative or urgent care. We will start figuring out how to use the federal money. Then we will advocate for state money from them. When it isare times appropriate for city money to be brought in to help stabilize hospitals. We need more transparency about private hospital budgets. I want to get legislation passed toalbany that requires them report about their finances so it does not sneak up. Do you think the city should get involved and basically pay to keep it open . This is the wealthiest city in the entire nation. Im tired of hearing we dont have money for this or that. Dozen hospitals that have shut down under this administration are part of the Public Infrastructure and they should be treated as such. Treated as not be private entities. Look at what has happened, what we could have gone. Vincent, 160f st. Year history and it shut down. When have and immediately after . The area was rezoned for luxury condos. Why didnt it take place before so maybe they should have sold the air rights to shore up the financials and keep the hospital needed thats what have to be done on st. Vincent is. You were nowhere on the ground at st. Vincents. Bill, youve been great on the hospital closures, but where were you for the first three years of your public [applause] it goes without saying. Mr. Thompson . Going through a healthcare crisis. Suis interface, downstate ny, brookdale. We have to get involved first. Its important that a federal waiver come through. We all have to make sure that it happens. Thats leadership. That keeps the hospitals open until we can create them as i proposed, a commission for brooklyn to allow for primary care. That keeps hospitals open. We cannot turn our backs on central brooklyn, rutland healthcare needs, and the mayor cannot sit on the sidelines. I would be out there working with the governor and others to keep those hospitals open. They are the lifeblood of central brooklyn and abrupt one. We see what happens across the city, not just st. Vincents but in queens when hospitals closed and created a healthcare crisis. Before he give you time for a bottle, mr. Wiener, do you think we should save to keep these you arepen . Asking the wrong question. We are giving 20 to insurance companies. Why . Wide dont we have a single payer system where we manage around health care budgets, invest in hospitals and jobs, cover the undocumented . Thats the ambitious plan i lined out. When they proposed all of these closings, i started traveling around with these proposals and when it was time to fight for said, why are we doubling down on the employer model . Lets have medicare for all americans. In new york city, we have an opportunity to be a healthcare laboratory. Andave hospitals, doctors we are paying a ton of money. The costs for health care is going to go up 40 of the next four years and eating up our ability to do anything else including giving raises to our workers. We are going to be a single payer healthcare model here and if we do it in new york, it will spread across the country and we will get rid of the employer based model that does not take care of citizens. Thank you. [applause] case of a longhe island hospital, do you think we should find the money from the budget to keep it open yo . I delved right into this closing that was reaching epidemic proportions. Peninsula, rockaway, other hospitals, st. Vincents. I said to myself, i had been in the private sector the last 15 years, why are we closing hospitals . Some kind of ave strategy before we do this . Im shocked to say we dont have the common sense as a government in these people have been here for a long time to even put together some plans and now people are getting arrested, jumping around in rallies. The should have been handled years ago when we needed a common sense approach. Look. This is common sense. You plan as a city. I want to establish a common sense commission. As soon as i take office, i will put 30 citizens together from fornd the city to look common sense solutions, every directive, airy policy, and streamline bureaucracy to make wings happen instead of getting caught up in red tape. Im always last and im used to it. When we talk about Public Health, we have to understand that the government has to be very vigilant. 25 years ago, i started to work as a community leader. They depend on Long Island College hospital so its a good inc. To fight, but when he said he does not know what they should i enhance it, you cannot obligate the private sector to actually do a job. The government, if we want them to provide the service, we have to make sure that we finance that service if i go there and get arrested, im going to come out of jail right after the election. It is the government responsibility to invest money when the Public Health is at risk. Let me give you 32nd diseas0s each. Leadersnity letters and i got together and we were able to save it until it was in danger. We went to court and im very proud to say that the neighborhoods that i represent now as public advocate, we have cap Long Island College hospital open and we are ready to get a longterm plan. I was involved in the same vincent issue and to top me all i needed to know about the role of the mayor because i appeal to mayor bloomberg twice and he said he would not get involved to save a hospital. Standr and the city must up to save healthcare for everyone in every neighborhood. Its part of the job description. [applause] last 30 seconds. We have to keep the fight going to keep her hospitals open particularly in neighborhoods like the rockaways, and west side manhattan that dont have them anymore and dont have other options. The thing about st. Vincents, when it went out of business, we were right in the middle of rezoning in the middle of the first that might have saved it. A few things happened. Lets be honest. The heirs at st. Vincents lied to all of us. Two weeks before the final rezoning they said everything was good with their budget and clearly at wasnt. Maybe if we move more quickly and they had not lied, things would have been different but im proud of our efforts that cap say in sense of open for months, but at the end of the day, st. Vincents canceled ats contract for staff and killed it. If the first rezoning went through without opposition, that may had been the glimmer of hope now at protests, the public advocate stands with people who went and testified against the rezoning, people like Susan Sarandon who said they would never send their children there. You have to the what you are for all the time. Time to respond let me say a word to the audience. To the extent you have those outbursts, it takes time away from the candidates and we want to make sure that everybody gets heard. Very quicke a response and then we will move on. Her response is a smokescreen. She did not save a hospital in her own district. As the chief ally of mayor bloomberg, she did not find a way to save a hospital. She should not blame the protesters, the act of this. It was her job to step up and get the mayor to come along my district, we saved Long Island Hospital college again this year. Lets move on to ryan lehrer as you all know, inequality is a central issue for many democratic primary voters this year and i believe that three of and mr. Liu, mr. Weiner, mr. De blasio have proposals to raise taxes on some of the wealthiest new yorkers. Yet gold you raise taxes on home precisely . How would you use the money to reduce inequality . Thank you so much. This is something i have been focusing on. Income inequality is ruining your chances for real economic sharedy i could mean prosperity for all new yorkers. Specifically, i put together a tax reform plan but will ask 500,000 pere over year, the 1 , such as Bill Thompson, to pay a little bit more. Those below the threshold will pay a little bit less. Right now, it is shocking, appalling, that in the city of new york, we have a flat tax. Youatter how much you make, pay the same rate. It should be progressive like everywhere else in the country. Those who make less, pay less. Who make more pay more. And thisair system fight is continuing to hurt our chances for a full economic recovery. What would you do with the money . It would cost a little bit of money to give the tax reduction to those below the threshold and raise the taxes for those above. Overall, my office is estimated it will bring in 250 million up to one billion dollars in additional revenue and that is part of the peoples budget where we greatly expand the educational system to start kids early on and take them all the way through college so we the approach. Mr. Wiener, is your plan different, better . Im sure its better. For the longest time, we have her descriptions of the city that is not right. We are one city with a common aspirational goal and this notion that we are all middle sees people, sometimes you people who are actually quite wealthy but when they look in their mirror, they say this is the capital of middleclass and the talk about their experience. Anyone who makes less than 150,000 per year gets a 10 tax cut in if you make more than 1 million or more you pay 1 more. The fundamental numbers of people youre struggling to make it in this city, we are losing middleclass jobs and creating jobs at the very low end of the spectrum, restaurant worker jobs, poor people jobs. We have to make this the middle class capital again which is why i have education policies, tax policies. Click send your plan for the extra revenue . It generates revenue. Thats the remarkable thing and all we ask them to do is pay 1 more. Mr. De blasio. Tax on theis for a wealthiest so we can have prek for the full day for every child because the greatest investment we can make infighting and equality for the long run is get more kids a good education. I say that as a Public School parent. I will be the First American history of the city to serve while having a child in the Public Schools and i have to tell you i know that the investment in Early Childhood education, which we have not been making, will be the difference maker. Parents knowing they can get full day prekindergarten. There are 50,000 kids right now who should have gotten the full day this. Did not test this plan wasnt in place. They should be an afterSchool Programs but but they are not getting it right now. For those who make 500,000 dollars or more, from 3. 9 up to 4. 3 for the next five years but what it would mean in terms of addressing inequality would be vast. We would reach kids when they are most able to learn and we are most able to fight back against the disadvantages they may have experienced when they are 3m four years old, that is the greatest time to educate our children and put them on the right path so they can and will graduate and be a strong member of our economy. Ms. R. Thompson and then quinn. Given the inequality and the responses of your colleagues, why will you not propose raising taxes on some of the wealthiest new yorkers you . I supported tax increases when the president did, when the governor pushed for it, i supported it. Tax increases are a last resort, not a first option. And to be honest, we have seen tax increases before that have come through the city council at some of my colleagues up here have voted for and they were not increases on the wealthy. They were increases on middle class new yorkers and those are the tax increases we have seen. When it comes to closing the inequality gap, we have to focus on education. Those are the important things, making sure our children are reading on the grade level and that in the end we provide the opportunity for them to go to college or be able to get a job. That is how we close the inequality gap the best way we can, by not closing schools, by working hard to make the Education System work. If i could followup . Would universal prek not be central to that . Way toou find another pay for that that you could specify . We send money back to the state of new york for prek. The governor has indicated that he wants to Work Together on universal prek. Mayor of thethe city of new york should be doing right now making sure the money is returned and we turn it into fullday prek and we fight to get the space needed. Thats the biggest problem. Ms. Quinn. Theres no way you can rule out the potential that you will not raise taxes. If we have to, i will do it progressively. I supported the call when they put the millionaire tax in place and, if we have to do it, we cannot find the resources within our budget to get what we need, we will fight for more progressive taxes. One thing i will do regardless, right now in new york city, people at the lowest income who pay the earned income tax credit , we are one of the only places in the country where they still pay a personal income tax and its insane to take money like that. Im i will push for legislation im going to push for legislation in albany to change that but the key to really addressing income inequality is, in addition to education, create the opportunity for a pathway to more middleclass jobs and i will give you one example. Companies in have the south bronx and queens that retrofit trucks to make them nonpollutant. Are turning away work. Why . They dont have enough trained green mechanics. I will open a Technical High School to to train people for those jobs. 40ey will start at 30 dollars an hour in be on a path to the middleclass. I will also first goal in the budget and get rid of all of the outside contract we dont need and figure out how much money we have two dedicate to the services we want to expand and if we need taxes after that, i will absolutely do it progressively. [applause] thank you all. The next will be led by grace. Unemployment rate right now is 8. 4 , a full point higher than the National Average and new jobs are being added but not enough to keep up with the newcomers coming to the city looking for work mf fact is many of the new jobs that are being are in lower paying areas like tourism, education, retail. What would you do to create know, good paying jobs in new york and would the best thing just to be to get government and regulation out of the way so the businesses can grow on their round . We will start with mr. Thompson. The first thing, as we look to create jobs, and we have to grow jobs, we have been dependent on wall street for way too long. We need to diversify our economy. First, look up the hightech sector. There are a lot of jobs being created their round i want to support growth in that area. However, young people dont have the training to get those jobs. We need to bring career rentech bill education we need to bring Technical Educ