NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — After joining hundreds of FDNY members outside Gracie Mansion to protest COVID-19 vaccine mandates, Republican mayoral nominee Curtis Sliwa joined WCBS 880 Thursday afternoon to discuss his plans for New York City and slam his Democratic counterparts.
Coming directly from the protest in Manhattan, Sliwa said he was completely against forcing New York City workers to get vaccinated and compared Mayor Bill de Blasio to a fictional crime boss for issuing the mandate with just a few months left in his term.
“The program that they had for the NYPD and the fire department was working fine. That meant many… who either couldn't be vaccinated because of medical or religious reasons or chose not to be vaccinated because he had already been infected with coronavirus and had the antibodies, would be tested once a week. And vaccines continued amongst firefighters and police officers,” he said. “De Blasio, on the way out the door, decided like Michael Corleone in ‘The Godfather,’ he's going to settle old scores.”
New York City workers who refused to get vaccinated will be placed on unpaid leave, as per the mandate.
Sliwa told WCBS 880 that de Blasio's mandate has turned first responders from heroes to zeroes.
The Republican nominee also scoffed at Adams' plans to tackle crime and improve public safety, saying he would be much tougher on crime if elected.
“If he wins the race, [Adams will have] gang leaders who’ve killed come to City Hall and sit with police and try to figure out public safety,” Sliwa said. “The difference? Curtis Sliwa is going to track down these gang leaders who are known killers, lock them up and throw away the key.”
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Sliwa also spoke about the troubled Rikers Island jail complex, saying that he is opposed to closing the facility and instead thinks it can be improved by hiring hundreds more correction officers and rebuilding the island’s infrastructure.
“I am opposed to community jails. I'm the only candidate who has actually been locked up on Rikers Island, so I know it from the outside in and the inside out. Four of the buildings can be knocked down, the other four can be rehabbed. We get the emotionally disturbed inmates over the Kirby Psychiatric – the state facility at Randall Island – or up in Creedmoor – the state facility in Queens –get them their medication, stabilize them and then go through the criminal justice system but get them off the rock,” Sliwa said. “And we need to hire 2,000 correctional officers.”
He vowed that “until we get control of Rikers Island, I will live in the warden’s house – which is right on Rikers Island – to supervise getting control of the island so that the inmates do not run the rock.”
Democratic candidate Adams joined WCBS 880 live on Wednesday afternoon.
Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 2.
Listen to the full interview with Curtis Sliwa on WCBS 880.
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