Latest / OneLegUpAlex Media / Alex Garrett Podcasting Welcomes NYS Assemblywoman Michaelle C. Solages 9-21-23

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Alex Garrett Podcasting Welcomes NYS Assemblywoman Michaelle C. Solages 9-21-23 · OneLegUpAlex Media

• 0:01
  Here's your host, Alex Garrett. So Saturday, here on the One Leg
• 0:07
  Up with Alex Garrett podcast, I came to you with this problem the LRR
• 0:12
  had, which was it was just sharing a present with the Metro North.
• 0:17
  And then I cited a subdywoman, Michelle Lang's twenty second district in New York
• 0:25
  City Assembly, and I contacted her. I tagged her on Instagram, I
• 0:29
  invited on the show and lady and gentlemen, one of the people that I
• 0:33
  believe made this change this week of a new l R though interim present.
• 0:38
  Suddenly remember Solange's congratulations on being a change maker, as there are changes since
• 0:44
  that podcast was produced Saturday. Yes, definitely, and I, you know,
• 0:48
  I just appreciate the opportunity, and I thank you for educating your listeners
• 0:53
  on such important topics such as commuting and the Long Island RABRO. But yes,
• 0:57
  we now are on a path of having a dedicated Long Island Railroad president.
• 1:02
  So yeah, we did it. Tell me the process though, because
• 1:07
  it seems like it was arduous. It's been going on since February, and
• 1:10
  I feel like you picked up on it fairly early. It just the media
• 1:12
  was a low behind. Would we say yes. So for the past eighteen
• 1:18
  months or you know, prior to us having a decade president, but you
• 1:23
  know, for eighteen months we've had a shared president between Metro North and Long
• 1:27
  Island Railroad. And you know, I want to acknowledge that Kathy Ronaldi,
• 1:30
  who is the current the current Metro North's president, is a great individual.
• 1:36
  She's a true leader. She's saved the Long is Railroad money, she brought
• 1:40
  us through a tumultra time, she opened Grand Central Madison. You know,
• 1:45
  kudos to her, and I appreciate her. And this is not about Kathy
• 1:49
  Ronaldi. This is about Long Island having a representative that's accountable to the people
• 1:53
  and can answer to the concerns of the consumer. And we need to ensure
• 1:57
  that Long Island is getting you know, it's just desserts and so you know,
• 2:04
  Long Island Railroad, it's as important as our aquifers, our farms,
• 2:07
  and our beaches and many other Long Island you know, a signature, you
• 2:12
  know items. And so I felt that this was an important move to get
• 2:15
  a dedicated president, someone who can focus on Long Island Railroad and focus on
• 2:21
  the commuters. Well, I know that you're representing Elmont. I gotta ask
• 2:24
  you what that E l r R has done to change that area. I
• 2:28
  mean, it's it's a game changer, isn't it. You know, transportation
• 2:32
  is so important, whether it's bus, you know, uh car or train.
• 2:38
  You know, people have an access to transportation and vital for employment,
• 2:43
  for pleasure, for life. And so having a dedicated train station and Elmont
• 2:47
  really has provided a pathway for people to get to the city or get out
• 2:52
  to Long Island. Then it's accessible in the sense that it's right in the
• 2:55
  community. It's available to us, and we have one hundred and fifty the
• 3:00
  commuter a lot that's available for individuals who want to commute and you know park
• 3:05
  at the train station. And so it's exciting to have that station. That
• 3:09
  station was funded by the development, it was pushed by the community. So
• 3:13
  I have to give kudos to the community who advocated for it. Are you
• 3:16
  an Islander fan? I gotta ask you that put you on the spot?
• 3:20
  Well, I I it's in my district, So I am an Islanders fan.
• 3:23
  Don't ask me the nuts and bolts, but you know, I enjoy
• 3:25
  the team winning and I want to see a Stanley Cup here in Elmont on
• 3:30
  Long Island. I mean that whole process to getting the arena out there was
• 3:35
  something else and watching it constructed with something else. But back to the task
• 3:38
  at hand, what's it say about the MTA? Suddenly remember salangists that they
• 3:43
  had to share a present with both major railroads. I mean, does that
• 3:46
  mean they're financially struggling or what does that mean? So you know, I've
• 3:52
  I've asked for the many reasons why I've heard it's for the the you know,
• 3:57
  reasons for you know, efficiency, making sure that you know, Long
• 4:01
  is Railroad with its many issues, align with Metro North. Who would they
• 4:05
  say is run better and more efficiently. So there are multiple two there's multiple
• 4:12
  reasons why they wanted to share a president. And I understand when Philip and
• 4:16
  left there was a gap and someone needs to be an interim president. And
• 4:21
  I'm fine with having an interim president, but we really had to have a
• 4:26
  guideline or a guide way, a path to getting a full dedicated president.
• 4:31
  And so you know, I'm glad that we're there because there were smaller issues
• 4:35
  getting at hand. So, you know, I had many constituents complaining about
• 4:40
  the twenty trip ticket, especially hybrid workers and students who share their time between
• 4:46
  work, you know, in office and homework. And I had people complaining
• 4:51
  about the new schedules that came out in February. A lot of my constituents
• 4:56
  were impacted because they had to now transfer Act MAKA and that process was not
• 5:01
  not accessible. They were required to go up those those those you know staircases
• 5:06
  or escalators or going the elevator run to the other track, and it became
• 5:11
  almost like a rat race. And so you know, to this day,
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  that issue is still at hand and we're working to fix and making sure that
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  people have a one seat ride to you know, Long Island to Atlantic Terminal
• 5:23
  and other places on Long Island. But you know, there was a it
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  was a debacco with the schedule, and many people were complaining about it and
• 5:30
  they felt like they weren't being heard. And so, you know, communication
• 5:33
  to me is very important, Like as a governmental official, I believe in
• 5:36
  strong communication between the people and government. And so you know, if we're
• 5:41
  having issues with communication, we're having issues where a vital ticket program was taken
• 5:46
  away, or you know, we don't we are not getting our own dedicated
• 5:49
  president. It's just it's just we cannot withstand all those issues. We need
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  accountability, and I'm glad that MTA heard our concerns and you know, is
• 5:58
  now on the pathway. They say, according to a Newsday article, that
• 6:01
  we will have a full, dedicated permanent president by uh in six months.
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  They said in six months. So you know, I look forward to you
• 6:12
  know that that time, and I want to thank Robert Free who is the
• 6:16
  current acting Long Island Railroad president. He uh, he wants to do the
• 6:23
  job and so I look forward to meeting with him and having a dialogue with
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  him. But you know, we need a permanent president before six months.
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  We need someone who who can listen to the commuters, who could be on
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  the trains, talking to, you know, the people of Long Island and
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  assuring them that the quality service of Long Island Railroad. You know, the
• 6:41
  complain about Albany, by the way, is how gridlock's always there. But
• 6:44
  I feel like you're finally you're doing something. You're breaking some gridlock up in
• 6:47
  Albany for your constituents as well, and that's huge. Was this a bipartisan
• 6:51
  effort? I gotta ask, Oh, yes, definitely. So back in
• 6:56
  August August thirtieth, you know, I was joined by a republic in state
• 7:00
  senators, Republican local officials, Democratic state legislators, democratic officials. We all
• 7:08
  stood together and in one voice, we said, we need accountability for the
• 7:14
  Long Island Railroad. We need to ensure that there's station maintenance, we need
• 7:16
  to ensure that we have a dedicated president, and we need to fix the
• 7:19
  schedule. And it was great because you know, you see what's going on
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  in DC. People are losing faith in government. They're losing faith because politics
• 7:30
  is getting before the people. But at that press conference, we all stood
• 7:32
  together and I think it resonated with the MTA. They saw that, you
• 7:35
  know, regardless of political affiliations, we all believe the commuters need to be
• 7:40
  represented on Long Island. So it was it good to see differences put aside
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  for this. It had to feel good, right, yes, I mean,
• 7:49
  you know it was. It was great. You know, I wish
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  we could do that more often on so many different issues such as you know,
• 7:56
  uh, you know, affordability, crisis, housing, you know,
• 8:00
  making sure we you know, transition to you know, a clean economy with
• 8:03
  a clean fuels and protecting the environment. But you know, you take it
• 8:07
  one step at a time. That's what I've learned right at a time when
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  I got to ask you this, because I found it amazing knowing that there
• 8:13
  was a shared president for all this time, that a they would decide to
• 8:18
  raise the rates with a shared president. I don't know. I feel like
• 8:20
  all the schedule changes, all the raised fares, even this Grand Central,
• 8:24
  you know opening, could have happened with a dedicated president. So they have
• 8:28
  waited for all that to be settled before going ahead with it. You know,
• 8:33
  I can't get into the thought of the what's happening at the MTA.
• 8:39
  All I can do is advocate for my constituents, and you know, I'm
• 8:43
  glad that they were they recognized that, you know, it's it was dragging
• 8:48
  on a little bit too much longer, especially when I hear that the MTA
• 8:52
  basically didn't buy enough trains to accommodate all the lines before the opening of Grand
• 8:58
  Central Madison. To me, that was a huge, you know, debacle.
• 9:03
  And they're claiming that the trains were expensive, but you know, we're
• 9:07
  getting a lot of expense exposure as long island commuters. Congestion pricing is coming,
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  they raise the fares, I'm sure they're going to raise it again and
• 9:16
  we're paying more for everything, and so you know, we as Long Island
• 9:22
  residents, should at least be accommodated. And to tell you, Long Island
• 9:26
  Railroad is a economic engine for our region. If we didn't have that railroad,
• 9:31
  you know, we would not be as strong as a suburb a suburb.
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  And so it's important that we protect our economic development on the island and
• 9:41
  making sure we have an efficient a Long Island railroad is going to be one
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  of my top priorities. I'm sure you were kidd as well with NASA County
• 9:52
  Executive Bruce Blakeman. What's that connection like, because he is very involved as
• 9:56
  well, isn't he. You know, he has an appointment on the MTA
• 10:00
  board. So just for your listeners, the MTA is not governed really by
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  the state legislature per se. There's actually an MTA board. So it's twenty
• 10:09
  three individuals, some of them are voting members, some of them are non
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  voting members that dictate the policy and the fairs. And so the MTA board
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  has several appointments and the county executive has an appointment and he appoints David mac
• 10:26
  here in Nassau County County Executive blog has appoint Samy Chew, and these individuals
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  represent Long Island and they each have a vote on the MTA board and so
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  you know, it's important that these people are vocal when it comes to these
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  issues, advocate for you know, uh, you know fair uh, you
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  know, fair prices when it comes to the fairs, and you know,
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  making sure that we're representing the commuters. So I look forward to, you
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  know, having discussions with the County Executive. But you know, my guiding
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  light or the community, the people who actually ride those rails every day to
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  and from work, and they've been vocal, and they've called my office,
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  they've talked to me. I go to the station, I stand there and
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  I listen to them because they at the end of the day, we are
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  accountable to them well. And I love that because I feel like accountability is
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  something I like to talk about on this podcast. It's adaptability, accessibility,
• 11:20
  on accountability, and this story kind of hits on all three. Would you
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  agree on that one hundred percent? And you know, it's a shame that
• 11:28
  our our system is not more accessible, affordable, and efficient to certain individuals,
• 11:33
  and we need to make sure that we just just keep, you know,
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  hammering that drum. And I look forward to working with you because again,
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  you have a unique perspective that I don't I don't have, and I
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  need to understand what more can we do to advocate for the needs of such
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  a beautiful community that has just such such great resilience. Well, I know
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  it's a little out of your district, but I ever go to the Viscardi
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  School. I know you have colleagues up in Albany that represent yeah, starty
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  school, and it's a great place to go if you ever want to spend
• 12:03
  a little time around the Sable community. They're a great place. Now.
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  But well, I'm going to ask for a tour with you, So if
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  you want to go on a tour with me, I'll be there. All
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  right. Well, maybe we'll work on that one last thing because I have
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  to ask you about the hot button issue, which is immigration. Should the
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  city or someone decide to send people out to the island, are you guys
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  ready, is is Elma area ready? Or you got? What are your
• 12:24
  constituents saying about it? As well? So you know, I represent an
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  immigrant community many people actually at thirty four percent of the people who live in
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  my district are foreign born, and so we need to make sure that we're
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  just having a plan. Recently, we saw President Biden has allowed a TPS,
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  which is temporary protective status for Brennezuelan individuals who are living here, our
• 12:46
  newest New Yorkers. And so the big thing is making sure that they have
• 12:50
  the ability to work. You know, they're here, uh you know,
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  we are in New York State, and so you know, we have to
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  make sure that they're being provided with some type of work authorization because these people
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  want to work. And unfortunately, our immigration system on a federal level is
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  broken. I'm telling you it's severely broken of Haitian descent. And I've been
• 13:13
  fighting over and over again for TPS for individuals who are of Haitian descent who've
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  come here after the earthquake, the hurricanes, and the dysfunction that's happening in
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  Haiti. And you know, at the end of the day, these people
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  are left, you know, you know, continually in limbo. And you
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  know, we really need to fix our immigration system and we need to create
• 13:37
  a process. We need to make the immigration court's more efficient because currently right
• 13:41
  now, these asylum seekers that have come here. Their court dates are eight
• 13:45
  to ten years from now, and so they're going to be in our country
• 13:48
  for eight to ten years waiting for due process, and we have to accommodate
• 13:54
  them. You know, It's funny because I hear people on the other side
• 13:56
  screaming and yelling, saying, oh, there's an outmigrade. Enough people.
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  People are moving out of New York State. Now we have a population that's
• 14:03
  moving into New York State. They want to work, they want to add
• 14:07
  to our economy, they want to pay taxes, and people are complaining.
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  You know, we need to make sure that these people are put into the
• 14:13
  system given i e. N numbers so that they can work and that they
• 14:18
  can contribute to taxes in our state. And I think, you know,
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  if we're complaining about taxpayers, you know, I think that we're just we
• 14:26
  don't understand what America is about. We don't understand what New York State is
• 14:30
  about. Because every day when I want to think of New or State,
• 14:33
  I think of that lady in the harbor who says, you know, we
• 14:35
  can come to this country and we can work and we can gain opportunity.
• 14:39
  Well, that's uh that that's a fresh take in the sense of I also
• 14:43
  want to make sure it's a security thing as well, and making sure they're
• 14:46
  all here legally safely. But I've got I've got a bigger question what our
• 14:50
  constituent saying if they called you up about this as well just before. Well,
• 14:54
  yeah, you know, people are concerned. There there's a lot of
• 14:58
  you know, you know, misinformation, disinformation going on. You know,
• 15:03
  remember, there is a process that's going on right now. These people who
• 15:07
  are seeking asylum are actually going through the immigration system. They're not they're not
• 15:13
  undocumented, they're not they're just not appearing on the boarder. There's actually they're
• 15:16
  going through an immigration process. So when people are upset, they need to
• 15:22
  realize that we need to fix immigration here in New York State, something that
• 15:26
  I've been advocating for, Like I've got to DC several times. I talk
• 15:30
  to people from both the Democratic and Republican Party. We need to fix our
• 15:33
  immigration system so that when the when individuals come here and they're seeking asylum,
• 15:39
  they're given due process, quickly, they are given you know, you know
• 15:43
  what they need to get through this process and if they're entitled to say they
• 15:48
  can stay. If they're not, then they have to unfortunately go back and
• 15:52
  go through the process that is more appropriate to what they what they need to
• 15:56
  get into this country. But if like we right now, we're not focusing
• 16:00
  on the problem, we have a broken immigration system. We have people here
• 16:04
  who don't have status. We have people here who are going through asylum status
• 16:07
  that's that's taking ten to fifteen years to get through that process. And we
• 16:11
  know if we have people with green cards who are working, contributing, they
• 16:15
  want to become American citizens, but they're not able to because they have to
• 16:19
  wait ten fifteen years. You know, the aside from property taxes, the
• 16:26
  number one issue in my office is immigration. Constantly, everyday people come into
• 16:30
  my office and they say, I have a loved one that's either on foreign
• 16:33
  soil or here and they're trying to get through to Homeland Security. They're not
• 16:37
  getting their documentation back. It's it's quite a mess. And so you know,
• 16:42
  I need all Americans, all individuals, to come together and focus on
• 16:47
  the federal government to do immigration reform, because if we did a proper immigration
• 16:52
  system that had accountability, that had efficiencies, we would not be in this
• 16:57
  in this problem. Well, that's a that's a refreshing take and you know,
• 17:02
  you should run for governor one day, because I feel like you get
• 17:03
  a handle for this one of the things. I'm just a New Yorker,
• 17:08
  so with with a lot of opinions, doesn't it bother you real quickly that
• 17:12
  that people have not been actually interviewed, meaning the migrants that we that there's
• 17:17
  a lot of complaining about no one's going up to them and saying, hey,
• 17:19
  why are you here, what brings you here? What do you hope
• 17:21
  to do? All? There's no human interest stories coming out of this crisis.
• 17:25
  And I think that's a problem too, because people need to know who
• 17:27
  these people are that are coming over, meaning those that want to work hard
• 17:30
  and whatnot. Right, So, from what i've I've so I've had briefings
• 17:37
  with Homeland Security, you know, as a state legislator, they do state
• 17:41
  legislative briefings. From what I hear, there is a process. These individuals
• 17:45
  are going through a process. When they come to the border, they are
• 17:48
  met by Homeland Security border patrol, they are given documentation. So I've seen
• 17:55
  documentation where people are saying, people, so remember we're in America, We're
• 17:59
  in land of law, We're in a place where where you have no matter
• 18:03
  what, everyone gets due process. And that's why I love this country.
• 18:07
  You're innocent until proven guilty. And so these people have to go to court,
• 18:11
  tell the court system why they are here, and then the judge rules
• 18:18
  whether they can stay or not. What's happening is that when these individuals come
• 18:22
  to the border, they're given a document and they are told that their court
• 18:26
  date is eight to ten years from now. But I saw a document where
• 18:30
  their court date is twenty thirty. That's not so to me. You know,
• 18:38
  if if people were serious about taking care of this issue, they would,
• 18:42
  you know, hire more judges so that we could expedite you know,
• 18:47
  immigration court. They would take out the back look. You know there's a
• 18:51
  lot of again misinformation, disinformation, There's a lot going on. I know
• 18:56
  this is an emotional issue, but as elected officials, you know, on
• 19:00
  a federal level, something needs to change. There needs to be immigration reform.
• 19:06
  If we have to negotiate a deal, I believe, like you know,
• 19:08
  I've learned in government and stay government, you have to be able to
• 19:11
  negotiate, and so I negotiate with Democrats, I negotiate Republicans, and so
• 19:15
  we if we have to negotiate a deal. Let us negotiate a deal.
• 19:19
  But people are not sitting at the table right now. You know, the
• 19:22
  government's about to shutdown. And that's not what our forefathers aw. That's that's
• 19:29
  not what you know, Americans want. And so we have to be realistic
• 19:33
  as a country and look ourselves in the face and say that we are a
• 19:36
  land of immigrants. You know, we are a place where people want to
• 19:40
  come, they want to work, they want to be a part of the
• 19:42
  American dream, and we have to create a pathway, a legal, you
• 19:47
  know, sustainable pathway for individuals to do that, whether we limit the amount
• 19:51
  of asylum seekers or we we have conversations about what immigration reform looks like.
• 19:57
  We have to have these conversations and sometimes they may hurt, sometimes they may
• 20:02
  be positive. But we can't politicize immigration. So, you know, I'm
• 20:06
  a state legislator. Maybe you know, maybe I'm I'm talking out of hand,
• 20:10
  but I'm talking to you as an American and i want to see a
• 20:14
  lot of good things come to our country, our state. But at the
• 20:18
  end of the day, you know, we can't be fear mongering about what's
• 20:21
  happening. We have to be we have to be realistic and figure out a
• 20:25
  solution. And so I'm grateful because Governor Hogel is advocating for our state having
• 20:30
  TPS destinations for Venezuelan individuals will help ensure that the hundreds of the hundreds of
• 20:38
  thousands of people across the country and the many, the many who are here
• 20:42
  in New York are given status. So they are given a status, They
• 20:48
  are you know, held accountable, they are tracked. They have to pay
• 20:52
  taxes, and which to me is you know that's to decks then the two
• 20:59
  things, Yeah, and people don't tell about they actually have to pay a
• 21:02
  lot to be naturalized citizens, meaning the process is a lot of money,
• 21:06
  and I wish they would reduce the fees to give them a better chance to
• 21:08
  even afford a citizenship here. Would you agree, Yeah, you know,
• 21:12
  I don't know the exact cost, but you know, I know that there
• 21:17
  there's an issue getting green cars as an issue getting into to become a citizen,
• 21:22
  and that needs to be fixed. And so, you know, I
• 21:26
  look forward to having further dialogues. But to me, I believe that we
• 21:30
  just need to create a more efficient system. The federal government needs to be
• 21:33
  held accountable. Federal leaders need to get off their podiums, get out of
• 21:37
  the camera. You know, they're sitting from the camera doing all these press
• 21:40
  conferences. We don't need you there. We need you in the negotiating room,
• 21:44
  fixing the solution, fixing the problem. And any political official you see
• 21:48
  in front of a camera talking about, you know, the migrant crisis,
• 21:51
  whether positive or negative, is doing America doing New York Stata disservice. Well,
• 21:56
  I know that they started to bring you know, wagrants over to Flora
• 22:00
  Park as well. So there's a lot of different people in need right now,
• 22:03
  and I think that's the big issue, not so much the politics of
• 22:07
  it. And you're hitting at home today, so thank you for doing that.
• 22:11
  You know, I had a constituents who did a clothing drive for the
• 22:14
  migrants, you know, for the asylum seekers. They did you know,
• 22:18
  a you know, uh, you know, a personal care a drive to
• 22:22
  get supplies for them. And I think that's just the New York way.
• 22:25
  You know, when we see people suffering, whether it's here or abroad,
• 22:29
  we open our hearts, we open our pockets, and we try to help.
• 22:33
  And that facility is on the Queen's side of Flora Park, because you
• 22:38
  know, in Flora Park there's a Nassau County side and there's a Queen's side,
• 22:41
  and so you know, let's have let's have dialogue. But to me,
• 22:47
  I think it's very important that we create a system where these individuals can
• 22:51
  start contributing to New York and and you know, pay you know, taxes,
• 22:56
  and you know, be a part of our economy. I had so
• 23:00
  many businesses come to me and complain that there's a workforce shortage here in New
• 23:04
  York. We don't have enough people to do basic jobs like whole healthcare aid.
• 23:10
  Uh, you know, you know, working in restaurants, uh,
• 23:12
  you know, doing genitarial work. We have these these many industries that you
• 23:18
  know, we can be filling the jobs with. Especially for me. You
• 23:22
  know, I'm a caretaker. I take care of my parents, and it's
• 23:26
  it's very hard finding that you know, home healthcare worker or that aid.
• 23:33
  And I know many Haitian Americans do that job and it's it's you know,
• 23:36
  it's it's a tough job and they do it with dignity. And their immigrants
• 23:40
  they come here, they're contributing to the society and they're doing work that to
• 23:44
  me, you know, like we see NBA players, the football players,
• 23:47
  you know, making millions. These people should be making millions because they're helping
• 23:51
  our our senior citizens, those who are disabled. They're allowing them to have
• 23:56
  dignity and age and place in their homes. And to me, you know,
• 24:00
  I wish there were were you know, we were more focused on on
• 24:04
  aging in place or being in your home and making the world work or accessible.
• 24:11
  You know that's just just my take. But I'm you know, I'm
• 24:12
  talking too much. No, No, this is great because I feel like
• 24:15
  people need to hear your thoughts. By the way, if you want to
• 24:18
  find out more about Assemblywoman Solage Assembly District number twenty two, you can,
• 24:23
  Uh, is there a personal website or basically the assembly website right that we
• 24:27
  can find you at. You can go to my assembly website, so you
• 24:30
  can google Assemblywoman Solage s O l A g E S. I'm also on
• 24:36
  social media at Solage n Y s O L A g E S n Y
• 24:41
  And I'm on you know every platform, you know, Facebook, Twitter,
• 24:45
  Instagram, TikTok uh, you know the gauntlet of the major social media accounts,
• 24:52
  so you know, follow me there. Solage s O. L A.
• 24:55
  G. E. S. N Y. And you you can,
• 24:59
  you know, fo all my work and you can give me insight. I
• 25:00
  know, I'm I'm always open to feedback, whether it's positive or negative,
• 25:03
  you know, as long as it's respectful. You know, I listened to
• 25:07
  it, and I seek to reflect the people's wishes and government. Well,
• 25:11
  you know, I'm just reading back. You're the first person of Haitian descent
• 25:14
  to be elected, and it sounds like you're very proud that you were.
• 25:18
  You came here and you got elected and are part of this whole community,
• 25:22
  which is great. I love hearing that pride of it. Your your your
• 25:26
  beginnings, if you will, right, My father came here, you know,
• 25:30
  in Haiti there was a dictator. He came here for safety and he
• 25:33
  contributed. He joined the army, and he also became a New York City
• 25:37
  police officer. So to me, public service is in my blood and giving
• 25:41
  back to communities is something that I was, you know, raised to do.
• 25:45
  You know, always get back to the community that you're part of and
• 25:48
  have realistic conversations because you know, being a New York City police officer isn't
• 25:52
  easy. It's not an easy job. I commend all the police officers.
• 25:56
  I thank them for their service. And so you know, it's it's my
• 25:59
  dad always said he life is hard, but you know, you take those
• 26:02
  challenges and you turn it into positives. But I thank you for this opportunity,
• 26:06
  my pleasure, and please come back. I'd love to have you back
• 26:07
  on as things develop. I'm sure you're going to be involved with the LR
• 26:11
  with the immigration and I would love to have you back on for an update
• 26:14
  as we go along here into the fall. I look forward to it.
• 26:18
  Thank you, Thank you so much. That was a sembly Woman Michelle Slanders
• 26:22
  of a sevenly District twenty two on Alex Garrett's podcast Network