Latest / Sid & Friends In The Morning / Frank Morano | Member of New York City Council | 07-01-26

Transcript

Frank Morano | Member of New York City Council | 07-01-26 · Sid & Friends In The Morning

0:00
Speaker 1: This is Frank Morano. First of all, congratulations on your
0:03
Speaker 1: induction to the New York State Hall of Fame. The
0:05
Speaker 1: fact of the matter is this is long overdue. Much
0:08
Speaker 1: like Susan Lucci finally winning that Emmy Award, it should
0:11
Speaker 1: have happened a long time ago. You are a rare
0:15
Speaker 1: radio talent. You're somebody that understands that our job is
0:18
Speaker 1: to entertain and you do it better than anybody. But
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Speaker 1: unlike so many of these people that go on the
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Speaker 1: radio with the intent of entertaining, you've actually managed to
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Speaker 1: have an incredible impact on public affairs in this city
0:33
Speaker 1: and this country. And unlike so many people that have
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Speaker 1: managed to strike that balance between entertainment and having a
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Speaker 1: meaningful impact, you don't forget the radio community. You still
0:43
Speaker 1: go back and participate in events like the Barrett Media
0:45
Speaker 1: Summit and talkers. There's nobody that does that. I've said
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Speaker 1: that you're as influential as Bob Grant was at his height,
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Speaker 1: and that's true. But the fact of the matter is
0:55
Speaker 1: at some point Bob stops participating in the radio community
0:59
Speaker 1: for variety of reasons. But I think it says a
1:02
Speaker 1: lot about you that you always went back and never
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Speaker 1: forgot where you came from, both geographically being a kid
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Speaker 1: from Brooklyn and professionally being a radio guy, even while
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Speaker 1: you get to dine with presidents, mayors and prime ministers. Congratulations,
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Speaker 1: it's long overdue. My only complaint is that you're not
1:19
Speaker 1: yet in the National Radio Hall of Fame.
1:21
Speaker 2: Forty six to five Democrats or Republicans in our city
1:25
Speaker 2: council in about twenty five of those forty six Democrats
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Speaker 2: are outright lunatics. People like chay O say he should
1:33
Speaker 2: be in prison, honesty, should be in prison. He's a sick,
1:37
Speaker 2: sick guy. Plenty of women too. But Frank is there,
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Speaker 2: and yesterday was the vote and the budget, and he
1:43
Speaker 2: and I talked a lot throughout the day. So here
1:46
Speaker 2: he is our great city councilman out of Staten Island.
1:50
Speaker 2: Frank Morano, Frank, good morning, buddy.
1:52
Speaker 1: How are you good? Maranks? Thanks for having me. Congratulations
1:56
Speaker 1: to you and all those sports talk folks on the
1:59
Speaker 1: incredible anniversary of the Fan and everything like that. And
2:02
Speaker 1: I do have to say it's like, sometimes I listen
2:04
Speaker 1: to you and if I wasn't living what you're describing,
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Speaker 1: I would think this is hyperbole. I would think this
2:11
Speaker 1: city is exaggerating and I'm listening to you, and the
2:14
Speaker 1: fact is you were integral into the conversations about the
2:19
Speaker 1: city budget yesterday. Here we are getting ready to vote
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Speaker 1: on one hundred and twenty six billion dollar budget, and
2:26
Speaker 1: at least on the public safety aspect of it, you
2:29
Speaker 1: were integral in terms of me getting some answers that
2:32
Speaker 1: I couldn't get from anybody else. And as I said
2:36
Speaker 1: in that clip there, I think it's part of what
2:38
Speaker 1: makes you so special, not just as a radio talent,
2:40
Speaker 1: where you recognize that we're actually here to try and
2:44
Speaker 1: entertain people, but in terms of somebody that's influential. I
2:48
Speaker 1: really do hope the audience realizes how lucky they are
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Speaker 1: to have you.
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Speaker 2: Well, that's so nice. Thank you. And you did ask
2:54
Speaker 2: me to do you a favor. I did it. I
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Speaker 2: made a pone call. I wasn't really confident, I'm being
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Speaker 2: the honest Frank, that person was going to call me
3:01
Speaker 2: back as quickly as they did and give me the
3:04
Speaker 2: answer you were looking for. But they did. And you're
3:07
Speaker 2: talking about safety, it's obviously about the cops and the
3:11
Speaker 2: fact that Mom Donnie at the very last second revoked
3:14
Speaker 2: adding about six hundred cops. But it's not as easy
3:17
Speaker 2: as that. So I know John Schall is very upset,
3:20
Speaker 2: and I love Vinnie Balalan. Congratulations Vinnie. He's very upset.
3:24
Speaker 2: But it's not as easy as that. So I made
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Speaker 2: the phone call to the one person who wouldn't know,
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Speaker 2: and I gave you the answer. So is it fair
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Speaker 2: to assume that after I told you what that person said,
3:38
Speaker 2: you were okay with the answer.
3:40
Speaker 1: Well, yeah, I mean one I believed it, right. I mean,
3:44
Speaker 1: we were told that there were integral elements of the
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Speaker 1: public safety community that were okay with the mayor not
3:52
Speaker 1: hiring five hundred and eighty cops, which he had pledged
3:56
Speaker 1: to do, and was the police commissioner when she was
3:59
Speaker 1: tested before the city council indicated they were doing. And then,
4:03
Speaker 1: just so folks understand the turn of events here, I
4:06
Speaker 1: was set to vote for this budget yesterday. There was
4:10
Speaker 1: some things in I liked, some things that I didn't like.
4:12
Speaker 1: And then about midnight the day whatever, the night before yesterday, whatever,
4:18
Speaker 1: I've lost track, whatever day it is, Monday night before, Yeah,
4:21
Speaker 1: Monday night, around midnight, the mayor tells the speaker, Oh,
4:25
Speaker 1: by the way, those five hundred and eighty comps were
4:28
Speaker 1: not giving you those anymore, and at that point it's
4:31
Speaker 1: too late to negotiate. Everything is set, so you know.
4:36
Speaker 1: But there were a lot of other elements that I
4:38
Speaker 1: was uncomfortable with this budget. A lot of good elements too.
4:41
Speaker 1: Any budget is some good, some bad. This was one
4:44
Speaker 1: where there was more bad than good. But this is
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Speaker 1: the largest budget in New York City history. Think about this,
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Speaker 1: nearly one hundred and twenty six billion dollars. Just a
4:55
Speaker 1: few years ago, we thought one hundred billion was unimaginable.
4:58
Speaker 1: When government grow this fast, taxpayers should expect major improvements
5:03
Speaker 1: in public safety and quality of life and basic services.
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Speaker 1: I don't think this budget delivers that, and it's ultimately
5:10
Speaker 1: why I ended up voting no on the expense budget.
5:13
Speaker 1: I did vote for the capital budget, but I just
5:17
Speaker 1: think this isn't just Republicans saying that this budget is
5:21
Speaker 1: filled with gimmicks. The Citizens Budgets Commission, which is pretty
5:24
Speaker 1: non partisan, they're one of the city's most respected non
5:27
Speaker 1: partisan fiscal watch stokes not considered Republican by any means.
5:31
Speaker 1: They said the budget has a huge structural budget problem
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Speaker 1: and fails to solve it. They warned that it's balanced
5:38
Speaker 1: with these one shots, with these short term savings and
5:42
Speaker 1: cost shifts, cost shifts that leave taxpayers with a gaping
5:45
Speaker 1: all next year. Our friend Vicky Paladino, when she voted yesterday,
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Speaker 1: she pointed out that this is just basically a budget
5:52
Speaker 1: based on state bailouts. This is the fiscal equivalent. And
5:55
Speaker 1: I think we've both been in this position once or twice.
5:58
Speaker 1: This is the fiscal equivalent of paying your visa bill
6:01
Speaker 1: with your MasterCard.
6:02
Speaker 2: You're right, it's you know, taking money from Peter to
6:05
Speaker 2: play Paul. And you know, Kathy Holkel bailed Mom Donnie out,
6:09
Speaker 2: so I'm not sure how Mom Donnie is able to
6:11
Speaker 2: take a victory lot. But you need to tell me, Frank,
6:14
Speaker 2: get real specific here with the audience, because you're in there,
6:16
Speaker 2: you're voting yes, and I know yesterday. Give me two
6:20
Speaker 2: things about the budget that you think really helps New Yorkers,
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Speaker 2: And give me two things that you think we took
6:27
Speaker 2: it up the ass.
6:28
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, Well, on the good list, there's actually an
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Speaker 1: you know, I'm the chairman of the Veterans Committee, and
6:37
Speaker 1: the city has been short changing veterans for a long time,
6:40
Speaker 1: and even though just about every agency saw a reduction.
6:45
Speaker 1: The Department of Veterans Services, they actually got a modest increase.
6:50
Speaker 1: It's still so.
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Speaker 2: What does that mean? Give me in practical terms? What
6:53
Speaker 2: does that mean?
6:55
Speaker 1: Well, so, in terms of money, that means we're going
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Speaker 1: from about six million, four hundred thousand dollars to over
7:01
Speaker 1: seven million dollars. And that means, if you're a veteran
7:05
Speaker 1: in New York City, Uh, you will the DBS, which
7:09
Speaker 1: does very good work. They are the Department of Veteran Services.
7:14
Speaker 1: They will be able to help connect you with vetter
7:16
Speaker 1: with veteran services, with benefits, with all sorts of other things.
7:20
Speaker 1: And as far as I'm concerned, we can't spend enough
7:23
Speaker 1: on veterans. And uh, I think that was that was
7:27
Speaker 1: a very very positive. The other thing, Look, my district
7:30
Speaker 1: did very well. And this is and again I don't
7:33
Speaker 1: want to I don't want to out too many private
7:35
Speaker 1: conversations here, but this and again, you and I are
7:39
Speaker 1: kind of different in terms of how we like to
7:42
Speaker 1: handle things. I like to get along with folks, and
7:45
Speaker 1: I like to try and be accommodating and I have
7:49
Speaker 1: and you may disagree, and I understand why, but I
7:52
Speaker 1: have an enormous amount of respect and admiration for the
7:55
Speaker 1: current Speaker of the City Council, and she pointed out
7:58
Speaker 1: all all the great things that Staten Island is getting
8:02
Speaker 1: in this budget. We're getting new parks, new libraries, renovations
8:07
Speaker 1: of firehouses, We're getting all sorts of very very positive things.
8:13
Speaker 1: So Staten Island did very well in this budget. We
8:16
Speaker 1: got about fifty six billion dollars in capital money. That's good.
8:21
Speaker 1: We've never gotten this before. That's great. But in terms
8:26
Speaker 1: of the latter to old.
8:27
Speaker 2: No, before you get to the bad stuff, why do
8:30
Speaker 2: you think I don't know that way about Julie. You know, look,
8:33
Speaker 2: there's no question that I was very angry with Julie Menon.
8:38
Speaker 2: I made it very very clear on here and on Twitter.
8:42
Speaker 2: A lot of very famous people in this city, very
8:45
Speaker 2: famous called me, you know this and said, sit down
8:48
Speaker 2: with her, go to David Goodside's place, the beach Cafe.
8:51
Speaker 2: Enough lunch with Julie. She actually likes you. I said no, no,
8:55
Speaker 2: because there was no reason for her to call me
8:59
Speaker 2: an islama for not once, but twice twice publicly. She
9:05
Speaker 2: doubled up on me like she did the Vicky Palladino,
9:08
Speaker 2: and I was pissed. But do I think she sold
9:12
Speaker 2: out the city yesterday? Now? Do I think she has
9:15
Speaker 2: tried to do things to protect New Yorkers, especially Jewish
9:20
Speaker 2: New Yorkers. Yes, So I've come around a bit on Julie. Look,
9:24
Speaker 2: I'm always gonna be a little bit resentful. I'm not
9:26
Speaker 2: gonna lie, but I don't hate her, not even a little.
9:30
Speaker 1: Yeah. No, it's just I didn't mean to imply that
9:32
Speaker 1: you did. It's just you have a tendency and a
9:35
Speaker 1: lot of people that are just on the radio have
9:37
Speaker 1: the benefit of looking at the whole world in black
9:40
Speaker 1: and white, and a lot of times you're right, you know,
9:42
Speaker 1: for instance, and you know, I think you said a
9:45
Speaker 1: while ago that chances are if you're on the same
9:47
Speaker 1: side as Mom Donnie, you're doing something wrong. And that's
9:51
Speaker 1: one of the reasons why after you know, I spoke
9:53
Speaker 1: about the budget yesterday and what was somebody in the
9:57
Speaker 1: Mayor's office that I've never heard of, that I've never
9:59
Speaker 1: spoken to, that's never reached out to me. They texted
10:02
Speaker 1: me out of the blue to lecture me about how
10:06
Speaker 1: you know, I should be, how my words have actions
10:09
Speaker 1: or whatever. It is that she was telling me.
10:11
Speaker 2: But I saw that text. Yeah, so you'll kind of
10:14
Speaker 2: to send it to me. What exactly what she referring to?
10:18
Speaker 1: So I spoke about why I was voting against the budget,
10:22
Speaker 1: and not only did I praise the Speaker for the
10:25
Speaker 1: capital investment in Staten Island, and I voted again for
10:29
Speaker 1: the capital budget, and I even praised some of my
10:32
Speaker 1: progressive colleagues because unlike the mayor, throughout this whole budget process,
10:38
Speaker 1: they were totally honest. They were honest about where they
10:40
Speaker 1: were coming from. They said, this is where we are.
10:43
Speaker 1: They stayed at the negotiating table, they fought for what
10:45
Speaker 1: they wanted to fought for. And look, even though we
10:48
Speaker 1: disagree about where the city should be, you can't say
10:51
Speaker 1: they were dishonest. Right. The mayor was totally and completely dishonest.
10:57
Speaker 1: This guy was earn around for five six months. First
11:02
Speaker 1: of all, this was after talking about this manufactured fiscal
11:05
Speaker 1: crisis where we were going to have to raise taxes
11:07
Speaker 1: on everybody and we were still going to have a
11:09
Speaker 1: seven billion dollar budget deficit, and magically that just disappeared,
11:13
Speaker 1: which leads me to think it was just an excuse
11:15
Speaker 1: to try to raise taxes. But up until two days ago,
11:19
Speaker 1: we were getting five hundred and eighty new cops. This
11:22
Speaker 1: was a done deal. It wasn't and the mayor waited
11:26
Speaker 1: until it was too late for it to be negotiated
11:29
Speaker 1: for him to say, ah, you know, like animal house,
11:32
Speaker 1: you have to you trusted us. You know this is crazy. Ye,
11:36
Speaker 1: so this and that's what I think she had an
11:39
Speaker 1: issue with. Basically, Basically that me calling the mayor out
11:43
Speaker 1: on this. But honestly, the mayor's behavior. Forget about spending
11:48
Speaker 1: more money than most countries spend. The mayor's behavior and
11:52
Speaker 1: just in terms of being an honest broker, it's abominable.
11:55
Speaker 1: So to go back to the question you asked about
11:58
Speaker 1: what's not good in his budget? Joan Ariowa, she's a
12:02
Speaker 1: Republican from Queen's your council member. She's the chair of
12:06
Speaker 1: the fire you know, fire committee. She and all the
12:08
Speaker 1: Republicans then quite a few Democrats. By the way, she
12:11
Speaker 1: was pushing for a fifth firefighter on a lot of
12:15
Speaker 1: the fire trucks, and we all were fighting hard for.
12:17
Speaker 2: A pilot approach, which, by the way, makes sense. You know,
12:20
Speaker 2: I'm back to watching Dennis Leary rescue me. I saw
12:23
Speaker 2: it twenty years ago, watching it again, and my neighborhood
12:25
Speaker 2: in Belle Harbor, including my next door neighbor Billy, they're
12:28
Speaker 2: all BUYO fighters. That makes sense.
12:31
Speaker 1: Yeah, So basically we were all pushing for at least
12:35
Speaker 1: a pilot program that adds a fifth firefighter to engine companies.
12:40
Speaker 1: The FD and Y acknowledge the safety benefits, and basically
12:43
Speaker 1: my take was, if we could spend one hundred and
12:45
Speaker 1: twenty six billion dollars, we should be able to make
12:47
Speaker 1: sure enough firefighters are on the rig when they respond to,
12:52
Speaker 1: you know, a house fire that somehow they didn't have.
12:55
Speaker 1: They didn't have room for in the budget. The new
12:57
Speaker 1: cops they didn't have the room for. So we found
13:00
Speaker 1: tens of millions of dollars for what amounts to taxpayer
13:04
Speaker 1: funded communications operations. I think it's a propaganda machine, the
13:10
Speaker 1: mayor's new community Assistance unit. But we couldn't find the
13:13
Speaker 1: mind to put more police officers on the street. That
13:16
Speaker 1: says everything you need to know about this administration's priorities.
13:20
Speaker 1: Mamdani is spending tens of millions of taxpayer dollars building
13:23
Speaker 1: what looks an awful lot like a government funded political
13:26
Speaker 1: communication machine. Whatever, we want to call it, public relations, propaganda, whatever.
13:31
Speaker 1: But while city Hall is hiring people to shape the
13:34
Speaker 1: narrative and explain how good of a job they're doing,
13:36
Speaker 1: they refuse to hire the bare minimum number of cops
13:40
Speaker 1: needed to replenish their ranks.
13:43
Speaker 2: So yeah, no, listen. So on the final sixty seconds
13:48
Speaker 2: when I start weeding all these tweets and I'm getting
13:50
Speaker 2: messages from the cops and the FDNY, they've reached out
13:55
Speaker 2: to me as well, and they're angry. According to you,
13:59
Speaker 2: they're right.
14:01
Speaker 1: I believe so. And the other thing is, and I'm
14:04
Speaker 1: not disputing where the Commissioner falls on her public position
14:07
Speaker 1: on this, but there's a morale problem. You talk to
14:10
Speaker 1: more cops than I do. There's a morale problem in
14:13
Speaker 1: this department. And even first of all, in terms of
14:17
Speaker 1: run numbers, we have fewer cops in Staten Island than
14:20
Speaker 1: we did thirty years ago, even though the population has
14:23
Speaker 1: gone up one hundred and fifty thousand people. So this is.
14:28
Speaker 2: Well, that may be Staten Island, but just saw the listeners. Know,
14:30
Speaker 2: when Erick Adams left office, he had no interest in
14:34
Speaker 2: adding cops. It's amazing former cop, great cop. Oh yeah,
14:38
Speaker 2: the number was at about thirty one thousand two Jessica
14:41
Speaker 2: Tish's credit. I don't think folks who even realize this,
14:45
Speaker 2: but closer to thirty four Now, now here's the issue.
14:47
Speaker 2: Three or four thousand will leave at the end of
14:49
Speaker 2: the year. And the question is Ken Tish and another thousand,
14:53
Speaker 2: which he did last year, I don't know. But the
14:55
Speaker 2: truth is, at least today the numbers may be down
14:58
Speaker 2: on Staten Island, but they're up about three thousand since
15:02
Speaker 2: Errick Adams left.
15:04
Speaker 1: You're exactly right about that. But again, because of attrition
15:09
Speaker 1: and retirements and more people eligible for retirement, we need
15:12
Speaker 1: to die in more comps. And again, it would have
15:14
Speaker 1: sent a message that at least this administration cares a
15:19
Speaker 1: bit about public safety, and unfortunately, I think that's government's
15:23
Speaker 1: first responsibility, public safety and basic services. You're spending one
15:27
Speaker 1: hundred If you have spending one hundred and twenty six
15:29
Speaker 1: billion dollars and still can't find room for more cops
15:33
Speaker 1: or a fifth firefighter, I think your priorities are are
15:36
Speaker 1: way out of order. This budget spends like there's no tomorrow,
15:40
Speaker 1: and unfortunately the taxpayers still have to live in tomorrow
15:44
Speaker 1: and wouldn't to play the bill for a lot of
15:45
Speaker 1: this nonsense. Next year. In the year after that, the
15:48
Speaker 1: city is spending like it won the lottery and the
15:52
Speaker 1: budget got bigger, but we didn't get any safer. I mean,
15:56
Speaker 1: think about how much larger this budget has been just
15:58
Speaker 1: last year billion dollars. Did we get ten billion dollars
16:03
Speaker 1: more worth of services of publicae coorse not? I mean,
16:07
Speaker 1: at what point do we take a breath and say
16:09
Speaker 1: we can't just keep spending endlessly.
16:12
Speaker 2: I gotta tell you the best, seriously, and I think
16:14
Speaker 2: you speak now. I mean it, Frank, and I really
16:16
Speaker 2: believe you speak for the majority of New Yorkers. Certainly
16:19
Speaker 2: my listeners like, yeah, Frank, if we were one hundred percent,
16:22
Speaker 2: because so many cops and buy A fighters and first responders,
16:26
Speaker 2: all those great folks.
16:27
Speaker 1: Love this show.
16:28
Speaker 2: So I want to thank you for your yo civic duty,
16:31
Speaker 2: doing a great job on the city council. I want
16:33
Speaker 2: to thank you for another great appearance this morning. I
16:37
Speaker 2: want to thank you overall for what's really one of
16:40
Speaker 2: my favorite friendships. I think you're great. I love you.
16:42
Speaker 1: Thank you, Somy, obviously, you know I feel the same way.
16:44
Speaker 1: I praise you in all scenarios You've been very good
16:49
Speaker 1: to me, both as a mentor in radio and politically.
16:53
Speaker 1: When the chips were down and it was very difficult
16:55
Speaker 1: to be an advocate for me, you stood by me
16:59
Speaker 1: when very few others and I just as a listener.
17:04
Speaker 1: One of the great benefits of my new schedule is
17:06
Speaker 1: that I get to hear just about all four hours
17:08
Speaker 1: of the show, and it means a great deal that
17:11
Speaker 1: I get to do that. Thank you, Frank. Great job today,
17:13
Speaker 1: Thank you, Thank you Sid, and I again congratulate you
17:18
Speaker 1: on your Hall of Fame induction, well deserved. Have fun
17:21
Speaker 1: at Barrett Media today.
17:22
Speaker 2: Thank you Frank moranle folks there he is. He's also
17:25
Speaker 2: a great radio host, but city council member out of
17:28
Speaker 2: Staten Island.
17:29
Speaker 3: Thanks for listening to Sit In Friends in the Morning.
17:32
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17:35
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Speaker 3: social on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and X See you next
17:55
Speaker 3: time for a new episode so you never have to wonder.
17:58
Speaker 2: What the heck is going on.
18:00
Speaker 3: Yeah,