Is this is connections.

I'm Evan Dawson.

Well, we are talking with state lawmakers, elected leaders about the proposed budget from Governor Kathy Hochul and their priorities for this year.

This this is a one on one opportunity to sit down at length for the hour with your elected leaders.

We've got our questions and I'm sure you have yours.

In fact, in the series that we've been rolling out in the last couple of weeks, a lot of listeners have wanted to know what our elected leaders think about what they've seen in Minneapolis, think about Ice, think about what they would want New York State to do if ice surges in cities like Rochester.

We're going to talk about that coming up.

We'll also talk about some of the places that look like a bit of a battle between the governor and her own party.

There's always something.

And this year, my colleague Jimmy Veal kind of reports that it could be on, a super wealth tax, the highest earners tax that the governor does not want to see.

Some Democrats do.

So there's other areas as well.

A lot to talk about.

And my guest this hour is Assembly Member Demond Meeks from Assembly District number 137.

Welcome back to the program.

Thanks for being with us.

Thanks for having me.

So, we're going to get to a lot of different things, but I cannot do these conversations without listeners telling me, you got to start with this.

So let's start right there.

And I'm going to start by asking you if the two killings we saw in Minneapolis first.

Rene.

Good.

Then Alex.

Pretty.

Is there anything that you have seen that says those killings are justified?

No, there's nothing that I've seen that that say they're justified.

But for me, I think that this is a time, a reckoning of sorts.

For, you know, one of the things that I predicted before, you know, Trump was sworn in office again was that the way he operates, even to get there, he has a practice of playing on one's preexisting prejudice, preexisting bias, preexisting isms, weathers, racism, sexism, you name it.

He played on those things.

And in turn, people voted against their their own best interests for this type of individual.

And I predicted that the things that he would do in time would potentially bring us closer together as Americans, as us, you know, as individuals living here in this, this land at this time.

You know, I was on a on a zoom call with colleagues here the other week, and there was a comment about, you know, how they're killing us in the street.

I'm an African American male, born and raised in the city of Rochester.

I will never forget Craig Hurt and the fact that he was shot by a police officer who stood by the side and shot him in his head.

I will never, ever forget Daniel Prude, among others, who we seen murdered in the streets of Rochester by law enforcement officers who were sworn to uphold the law.

And what we're seeing today in this day and age, I think that is bringing about a different sense of empathy, because sometimes when people see another race or someone who they can't relate to, they don't necessarily have that sense of empathy in their hearts.

And I think that what's happening now in Minnesota is bringing about a larger sense of empathy, and people are realizing that, yeah, I seen it happen to Robert Brooks, but I just couldn't fathom that happening to someone that looks like me.

And I truly believe in my heart of heart that this is going to evoke something in all of our spirits as Americans, to stand up and call a question, who is truly our neighbors?

And what must we do to fight against these type of injustices that have been happening for centuries now?

You're talking about white Americans waking up to it.

Yes, yes, yes, all Americans, but in particular white Americans waking up and realizing that, you know what it was happening to these groups, and it was only a matter of time before they came for me.

Now, some will argue that what we saw in Minneapolis with Renee Goode and Alex Preti, you know, that's Ice, that's CBP, that is not law enforcement.

In fact, the chief of Minneapolis police, the chief of a number of departments in a number of states now have come out and said this has given police a bad name.

This is not how we do it.

We don't cover our face with masks.

We don't shoot and then curse at the person we just killed.

We don't deny medical help for someone who may be dying after we shot them.

We don't shoot in the moving cars.

We don't instigate an escalate.

We try to de-escalate.

How do you see that?

I mean, what do you make of what you've seen from police?

His reaction?

So I'm hopeful that this sparked something new.

But everything that we've seen ice do over the past few weeks, we've experienced it as a community.

We've experienced these things from police, as African-Americans.

We've experienced this from police departments across the United States, and we've seen it on national news.

And I'm hopeful that when it's but what's happening now was sparking something different.

And it may bring about a sense of unity.

You know, following the, the, the acts of 911, it hit everyone in the pit of their stomachs, and we seen a sense of togetherness that we didn't see before in this country.

But then it was a sense of togetherness because there were still some groups that were left out.

So if you were assumed to be Muslim or you looked a certain way, you know, there was this, this level of prejudice that went towards you.

So it wasn't a collective.

But you did see some groups come together that you hadn't seen stand together and in years past.

And I believe that this is one of those moments, a turning moment of sorts for us as a country, to recognize that if we don't stand together with the mindset that we're stronger together, the people, the power of the people is stronger than the people in power.

At some point, we have to stand up and push back.

And I'm not speaking as the assemblyman.

I'm speaking as people.

Everyday.

Citizens have a strong voice and have power to hold their representatives accountable.

You know, one of the things that, you know, I often say is, you know, we as as the the Democratic supermajority in state government, and particularly the Assembly, we have a pretty good working relationship with the governor.

But at one point, we would never stand by and allow the governor to run roughshod and do things that's hurting our the people who we represent.

We just couldn't stand by and allow that.

And one of the things that's really frustrating is that you often find some, and not all, because you're starting to see a number of Republicans push back against this administration.

Yeah, but for far too long it's just standing and remaining silent.

And I think now is the time to to have a voice.

So if I was going to ask about Ice in this state, we've seen ice in the state, of course.

So I don't want to preface this as if ice hasn't been here.

Of course I have.

But if we see a surge in numbers in a city like Rochester in the way that Minneapolis has seen, if we see that in other cities in this state, what is the appropriate response?

I think the appropriate response is to, you know, speak to the fact that we are a sanctuary city.

You know, my hat goes off to Mayor Evans, who came under fire for Sanctuary City, right?

So he had to let the police officers in this city know that, hey, we do not operate in this manner.

Right?

And I guess retrain them or have that conversation with them before allowing them to go back in on the streets of Rochester.

So I think that we we stand our ground.

We let it be known that we are a sanctuary.

We are sanctuary cities, and we also there's legislation pushing to make us a sanctuary state.

I think that would be, quite interesting considering you know how much red we find throughout this state.

But I think let's define what you think that means.

Versus what maybe the public hears, because the mayor of Rochester came on this program and said, here's what it means to be a sanctuary city.

Yes, he said, we've got our own responsibilities.

Our law enforcement has their own things to do, he said.

We're not going to block Ice or federal agents from operating, but we are not going to assist them either.

So Ice can operate, but they're not going to call on us and we're not going to aid in a bet, essentially.

Yeah, that we will.

They'll do their work.

We'll do ours.

It will not intersect.

That's not the same as what the caricature is from the critics of sanctuary cities.

Some in the Trump administration.

Yes, the attorneys who have sued the city of Rochester, as you know, basically saying that they're trying to block Ice and federal agents from doing this work.

The mayor says we're not we're just not going to do it for them.

I'm not gonna do it with them.

How do you describe how do you what does it mean to be a sanctuary city?

So I agree with that.

We're not going to do it for them or with them.

But I think also being intentional and assuring that none of our resources as taxpayers in the state of New York go towards these type of efforts.

So I think that's an additional stance.

Okay.

But how do you do?

I mean, New Yorkers pay taxes to different levels, and the federal taxes are going to be used for this.

So if these if, you know, Ice is coming in and saying, okay, well, we're demanding that we house these individuals who we take it in, in your facilities that taxpayers pay for.

We don't have to agree with that.

And I think that's that's the next step that that we could take as a state.

And there's, there's some, some legislation at the state level, that's calling for those type of practices where state dollars would not assists, ice and what they're doing here in the state now, I'm sorry, I, I'm curious to know if your colleagues generally agree with that.

And what do you make of what the governor has said and done on this so far?

I think that there's a lot more that can be done.

And I just think that people have to really think about their history, you know, like most populations in this country were immigrants at some point in time.

You know, we're talking about, you know, pushing folks out.

I mean, some of the same people they're talking about pushing out.

I mean, at some point, percentage of this land when you talk about Texas, Louisiana and so on, was actually taken from their ancestors.

So I think that we we have to sort of like look in and call a question like, who whose land is?

Like, if we really want to talk about who's land and who's welcome, who's not welcome, I think that's another conversation that that we could have.

Sure.

But we're we're sitting on what used to be Howard Dean, a Shawnee land in terms of control.

And I don't know if ownership is even the word that the tribes would use.

But regardless, this how far do you go?

I mean, are we supposed to give back?

Like, do you want to see us give back land territories?

So my thing is not calling for giving back the land, the territories, but just honoring those who are here.

You know, you have.

Initially, it was this big push about all these criminals who are committing crimes and they're so violent.

And when you look at those who are being pushed and forced out, I mean, you had a, some workers who were working on, was it was Westminster.

Yeah.

Westminster over offer of a, East Avenue that they were doing roofing.

They were working to provide for their families.

So you have a I mean, you go to New York City, a number of restaurants shut down because who was doing the work in the kitchen?

Who was cooking some of the food that, you know, we as New Yorkers love.

So it's like when you're pushing people out who are here just seeking an opportunity and some are fleeing, you know, really tough and rough, scary situations that some of us couldn't even fathom.

I think that we should offer those type of opportunities.

Yeah, there was a story out of Montana this past weekend of some very popular community members being basically pulled out of work and put in a car and taken away, and people in rural Montana going like they're part of the community.

What are you doing?

Yeah.

And I, I take your point there.

Whether it's roofers, whether it's people who are serving food, whether working anywhere, people just, you know, helping shovel snow for neighbors.

I mean, this is there are stories all over the country, yes, of people being pulled out of communities after having been there for years, contributed to building up communities, raising families.

And that is that's not disputable.

Yeah.

What I can I say.

Yeah.

You know, one of the things I think back is like our history, and you know, this, you know, the month of February, Black History Month, it's something that we often do as a community.

We look at and we talk about all the different, innovations and in technology that came out of our community as the African American community.

And you know, when I look at us as a country and then I look at some of the advancements that we're seeing in countries like China and Japan, I believe that we're our own worst enemy at times.

If we're so consumed with oppressing one group versus another, one of the things that we were all encouraged to do as children was to, use our imagined nation and think beyond what we see.

And I think when you have, you know, certain groups that are dealing with extremely high cortisol levels from the stress of the deadly wolves, it doesn't allow one to to to reach their full potential.

And when individuals can't reach their full potential as an individual, we will never reach our full potential as a nation.

Well, okay.

And so when when these communities are pulled apart, it is it has been instructive to see the response, even among those who cheered a year ago or a year and a half ago during the presidential campaign, there was a Republican National Convention where they were holding signs that said mass deportation now.

And now some of these folks are seeing what that looks like.

And they're going, well, yeah, but not these folks.

Like, this is my this is my you know, this is the deli owner.

I love this guy.

Like not him.

Yeah, well, but what about the argument that Tom Homan made over the weekend, which is.

Okay, well, how about the violent criminals?

How about the people who have committed crimes?

Are you going to stand to protect them?

I, I tend to think that that is a straw man argument.

I don't hear a whole lot of people saying that nobody should be deported or nobody should be pulled out of communities.

Yes.

Where are you on that?

So you know, and that's the thing.

Look at the data, look at the numbers.

Because most immigrants are not criminals and have not committed crimes.

Exactly.

They're not violent and for obvious reasons.

Right.

Like they don't want to get picked up.

Yeah.

They want to build a life.

It's sort of like not having that that that encounter with law enforcement.

Right?

Is like a, a person who may be on parole or probation and telling a no one comments but law enforcement.

So the last thing they want to do is have have such an encounter.

So I, you know, I mean if, if, if it comes down to it where there's certain charges or certain things that have happened, I mean, honestly, in my history in this country, we're more likely to charge an individual with a crime and citizen here in the United States versus, okay, well, you you killed someone and we're going to just deport you.

I've never I never seen that practice and maybe happens.

But, from my understanding, if you commit certain crimes in the in this land, you will be charged to the fullest extent of the law, and you will serve your time here.

Now, after you serve your time, there may be potential for deportation.

But as far as committing a crime and thinking that, okay, well, I won't have to serve any time in the United States, I never seen that practice.

Before we move on to some other subjects here, one other question for you taking your legislator hat off, because earlier you talked about not just seeing this through the eyes of being a state assemblyman.

Yeah, but just a citizen.

So it's one thing to say.

Well, you want to see sanctuary city status hold true if I surges here, what do you want people to do if Minneapolis comes here?

So again, like I stated before, and I truly believe this, that the power of the people are stronger than the people in power, you know?

So when the community is activated, we see things happen.

And I think that it would call and I'm not calling for because I'm not one who was in agreement with violence.

But I think that the community should stand tall and and lock eyes with one another and say, hey, this is what we're not willing to stand for, and this is what we stand for as a community.

You know, we as a community, Rochester has a history and a spirit of giving.

You know, we've seen, you know, families, you know, deal with challenges of, you know, house fires.

And the community turned out in droves, to, to assist in other challenges.

So we're a really giving community.

I just think that we we have to, you know, stand on that irregardless of who may come in and what their positions may be.

Are you confident that we will be that community if that happens here?

I'm, I'm I'm highly confident that Rochester will be that community.

I mean, we've seen it before.

We seen it when ice came in and, you know, you know, ended up rolling out on, on some flat tires.

You know, I think there's members in this community, that get it.

And I think based upon what has happened in Minnesota and other places around the country, I think that we'll see, more people activated in this space.

And, you know, we we've been talking about the two individuals who were murdered in Minnesota, but there's been probably 30 plus individuals that have been detained and killed.

By way of ice.

And a number of them black and brown individuals, for America, Americans, for people who are aspiring Americans, people who came here without documentation but have been doing roofing work, doing supporting their communities, doing whatever it is that they can to build a life here.

And they've been here for years.

Do you think they should have to learn English?

I don't think they.

I mean, we are a melting pot, right?

Everyone here, I mean, and a number of, you know, the answer in a nutshell is no.

But when you think about all the technology that we have, that goes back to the biases and the isms that we're plagued with, the prejudice that we're plagued with, I can sit here, pull up an app on Google, and we can communicate in whatever different languages may be out there, and you can speak your native tongue and I can speak my native tongue, Google Translate, and we can communicate and we can actually go on a date, you know, I mean, so no to English, should they have to go to the back of the line and, and wait their turn, especially among people who are, trying to quote unquote, do it the legal way or the right way.

I think that if they're here and they're seeking to, do it the right way, I mean, I don't get it.

I mean, it may take them a little longer, but I think they should be afforded that, that opportunity.

Should they have to pay any back taxes that they didn't pay when they were originally working here?

You know, that that's something that I find funny.

And I'm smiling because, like, folks act like individuals who are immigrants seeking, you know, citizenship, don't already pay taxes.

Sure.

I mean, they're not just here living.

They have to eat.

I mean, some of them are actually paying taxes, income tax, like they work and they're paying taxes.

Absolutely on that.

So I think that that goes back to, another like misconceived notion that these folks are just here, as parasites of sort just feeding off of us.

But they're contributing.

They're paying taxes.

Well, the the reason I ask that those three is have to learn English.

Go to the back of the line, wait your turn.

Pay your back taxes.

Those were three of the prongs rolled out in 2010 by President Obama.

So do you think things have changed a bit?

You said, have they changed?

I mean, yeah, I mean, the the Democratic Party, you know, I would say that I guess that was a mainstream view in 2010 because that's President Obama laying that out.

Yeah.

Now, I think the party might think that that's an extreme view of what should happen with people who are here.

Yeah, I think so.

But then I would also say that, you know, sometimes you have folks in one level of government that doesn't necessarily speak for folks in another level of government.

You know, we, at the state level, we see certain things that's going on at the federal level and know that we have to do our due diligence to push back against some of these practices and to, you know, preserve our Constitution and to protect, you know, those who we represent.

All right, let me grab a phone call and then we're going to move on some other subjects with Assembly member demand.

Meeks, this is Kathy in Rochester.

Hi, Kathy.

Go ahead.

Hi.

I'm concerned that we're not talking about any other, glass or pickups by ice in our area.

I know we had.

I was actually at Westminster for the movers, and we never heard a follow up about what happened to those three movers.

Someone told me that the one that they took originally, has a lawsuit against Ice right now, but we haven't heard anything from your station or any media.

The other thing, and we also had the restaurant owner that we all demonstrated about, but we haven't heard about any others.

And I understand they are in Rochester and they are picking up people.

Why aren't we hearing and what are we going to do about it?

Yeah, Kathy.

So a couple things.

We had the daughter of the restaurant owner on this program.

Well, the one that I'm pretty sure you're talking about, and she talked about not only her father's case, but what he's done in this community and the life that he's built, but also in general, we talked about what happens when you're detained, what right do you have?

And, you know, whether you're end up in the Batavia or another detention center, what can you do?

So we did have that conversation.

But you're not wrong to say I don't know what happened to the roofers in Westminster.

I also don't know that they want us to know.

I mean, like, if you've been targeted by Ice once, I don't know that you want to be very, very public.

And I want to respect the privacy of people who are scared.

Some member makes do you want to weigh in on that?

Yeah, I, I don't know exactly.

What's going on?

I know there's some, you know, community organizers in that space that may, potentially know, you know, what's going on and what's the status of that particular situation, but it's not something that they, put out, publicly for the most part.

Yeah.

And, and, but, Kathy, if the larger point you're making is, you know, we should be talking more about when I sit here and when detentions are happening, you know, I hear you, we're going to try to do our best to at least keep reporting, as fairly as we can.

But when there is activity, how often are you hearing it's.

I'm a member about ice activity.

I hear about it from time to time.

I, I received a text maybe a week or two ago that they were, there were some Ice agents at the, Home Depot on East Ridge Road.

Then I made a couple of phone calls and didn't hear anything else.

Yeah, well, after we take our only break of the hour, we're going to talk about a range of other subjects because there's a lot going on in Albany.

The governor's budget is out, the governor's proposals are out.

And now the legislature gets to not only debate that, but also focus on what they would like to see.

So whether it is a super wealth tax, whether it's other economic development, all kinds of other things on the menu, we're going to talk to Assembly Member Meeks about what he would like to see and maybe what he would not like to see, and take some more of your questions and comments for him as well.

On connections.

Coming up in our second hour, we preview the new PBS docu series Black and Jewish America.

The four part series takes a look at the history of the relationship among Black Americans and Jewish Americans, how sometimes it was strained, and sometimes it was a staunch alliance.

And what has affected that relationship over the years, where it is now, where it might go in the future?

We'll talk about it next hour.

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This is connections.

I'm Evan Dawson.

We thought we were getting away from ice.

We got one more question on ice.

And that's the question on facial coverings and masks.

And you know, you have Gregory Bovino among others saying ice is not going to stop wearing masks.

We're not going to let people dox them.

That kind of thing.

And you've got some chiefs of police saying that's not the American way.

I mean, you're supposed to show badge number, you're supposed to show your face.

People should be able to identify you and have an interaction that can be well documented.

There are a lot of shoot video of you.

So I know in New York State, there's been talk about saying, hey, in this state you can't wear masks.

Is that enforceable?

Could you say to Ice if they were here, hey, when you're in New York State, we have this law, we have this set of rules.

Yeah, I think it it is enforceable.

I mean, the governor mentioned it in our state of state.

One of my colleagues has been carrying legislation.

And in order to do just that ban, I've been able to wear a mask in, in New York State.

And I also think that is is quite unconscious situational.

You know, if you have a mob of guys with mask on and one of them assault you, how do you stand in a courtroom and have your day in court to say, hey, you know, this is the individual who assaulted me?

Okay.

So I guess we'll see.

But I suspect ice is going to fight that.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah, I'm quite sure.

I don't think they're going to say Assembly member Meeks.

We're good with that.

We'll, we'll take the facial coverings off.

Yeah, yeah.

Okay.

Well, so, let's talk about some other things here.

My my colleague Jimmy Veal kind of reports that you know, every year there's some sort of intraparty battle about funding.

Often it's on schools.

And this year there's a couple things that he was looking at.

The first was a super wealth tax or a high earners tax that the governor's basically said, you know, we don't need.

And she's worried about driving people out of the state.

And, I let me just start by asking you, where are you on that issue?

I'm, 110% in support of a wealth tax.

You know, I carry a progressive income tax, and in the state of New York, Bill 1281, which is looking at higher tier earners and looking at ways to, you know, tax them on on the wealth that they're generating.

But then there's also what we call the invest in our in New York, which is a series of bills, that consist of the progressive income tax bill, and also a an heirs tax, looking at, capital gains taxes as well as corporate taxes.

You have individuals who are what we have probably 60 plus billionaires in the state of New York, but they have generated so much wealth that they they don't receive, you know, income tax like us.

Right?

Their money is is working for them.

So there's certain things that they may invest in that we could potentially tax or, you know, you have a number of baby boomers that are you know, passing on or, or deciding to transfer their wealth, you know, to their children.

So looking at a potential tax, on that transfer of wealth that would help generate more revenue for, for the state of New York.

So really looking at those who, are the ultra wealthy and in ways that we can still maintain a number of social and needed programs such as education and health care when the federal government are cutting us in those spaces.

I mean, you look at the kickbacks that the ultra wealthy is receiving.

We're looking at, what, $12 billion, front of by the federal government in tax breaks.

So I think that, you know, we as state legislators have the responsibility to provide for those of, the the people who we represent and make sure that generating, revenue in order to maintain needed programs throughout the state is necessary.

Why do you think the governor disagrees with you on this?

I mean, you know, something's goes back to, you know, politics.

You know, Daisy said, politics as usual.

And you also have to look at who has the big money.

And sometimes those are the individuals who are funding, you know, some of the major campaigns that we see.

So with that, I guess they're not funding your campaign.

No, they don't fund my campaign.

But, you know, one of those things, they funded your campaigns.

Would you listen to them?

I wouldn't, because they didn't put me here.

My community put me here.

And and based upon that, you know, I don't forget who I am, who's I am and where I'm from.

And that's something I stand taller.

What do you think the the political landscape is for getting a wealth tax this year?

I think it's possible.

And, you know, you also have individuals who are wealthy who are saying like, hey, you know, I haven't paid taxes and X amount of time and it's not because I don't want to, but it's just the way the system is set up.

And I'm willing to do more.

Some of those individuals are great philanthropists that do great work, but we know when we look at history going back to, you know, Reagan Nomics trickle down economics, it just don't work like that.

You know, you have the ultra rich that will generate and stockpile wealth for centuries to come.

And I think that we have a responsibility to everyday people.

You know, when we talk about challenges of poverty, people make it seem as if poverty is the fault of the individual who is impoverished.

Well, what about those individuals who work 40 hour work weeks and they're still impoverished, still need Snap benefits, still need government assistance as it relate to health benefits.

And then we have these ultra wealthy corporations such as the Walmarts.

And you have individuals that work there that are still receiving government benefits.

I think that should motivate us as as legislators to say that, hey, you know what?

You have more you can do more, and we're going to call on you to do more as a corporation as opposed to continuously looking for different loopholes and making sure, okay, well, we're not going to let this person work over X amount of hours because they would be, you know, eligible for these benefits.

It's just not right.

Are you worried that a a wealth tax would drive some of the wealthiest people out of the state?

I'm not worried about that.

I mean, when you look at, the wealth that has been generated even since the pandemic, right?

I mean, we've had the number of millionaires in the state of New York has grown, significantly since the pandemic.

And one thing that we know about, you know, wealthy individuals, they they have the money and they are willing to pay to play.

So I think that, I don't believe that it will drive wealthy individuals out.

What will happen is when you could continue to see this divide between the rich and the poor.

It's driving out the poor.

So like when you talk about working class individuals, that's who we're seeing leave the state of New York because they cannot afford to stay here.

We're seeing a great deal of individuals who, you know, some of us seeing our family members leave because it's like, okay, I can't get ahead here for, you know, whatever reason, affordability crisis is a real thing.

You know, they can't afford to rent the groceries, the rate of inflation.

And we talk about the rate of inflation.

Right.

And if we kept the wages on par with the rate of inflation, we would be in a much better, predicament as a state.

And that's why one of the things that I promote, I introduced legislation on this is a, living wage for all New Yorkers.

At what level?

When you look at where we are now, before the onset of the pandemic, living wage for a single parent raising two children in Rochester was about $18.50.

While we were still advocating for $15 an hour.

Now, that number's probably closer to somewhere between 23 and 25, dollars an hour.

By 2030, I think it would be closer to $30 an hour.

So I think the reality of it is we have to look at, the fact that people are working every day and, like, I don't care if they're working at, you know, in the fast food industry on an on an assembly line, you know, King said it best, all labor has dignity and in to start to show that level of dignity and respect is to pay people a fair wage and a fair wage is a living wage, not minimum wage.

There are certainly different margins for different businesses, and there are some business owners who are billionaires who are making a lot of money, sometimes off the backs of their labor.

And then there are some small businesses in our community.

They are struggling just to stay afloat.

Right?

Right now.

Yeah.

And if they told you look, some number makes you and I agree that people should be treated with dignity.

But if I've got to pay someone 23, $24 an hour, I'm going to close.

What do you think that could happen?

I think I think when we we look at the rate of inflation and we put wages on par with that, it's just like we've seen menus, you know, people used to talk about when we talk about increasing the minimum wage.

Well, what about the value meal or what about the dollar menu at, at these, these huge corporate conglomerates?

Well, we've seen those things disappear over time and we've seen wages remain stagnant.

So the reality of it is we need wages to increase on par with the rate of inflation.

And I think in turn, things will work out, work out accordingly.

When it comes to housing, you're obviously correct when you say that people are struggling to afford their rent.

People would like to buy a house, feel like they can't.

There were some remarkable comments from President Trump last week that I don't have the sound, but we'll we'll talk about it in depth at a future day.

Yeah, but the president last week said that he doesn't want to drive housing prices down.

He wants to drive housing prices up, because if you own a house, you want it to be valuable and you want to feel like your asset has value, which is an amazing thing to say because most people don't own two homes or more.

Even if you own a home and the president gets his way, the value of your house goes up.

That's wealth in your mind.

But if you sell it, then you got to buy somewhere.

Yeah.

What it is, what it is.

It's ephemeral wealth.

The president wants the real estate sector to be really, really high and expensive because the people who are donating his campaign own property and he want that, he wants those numbers go up.

It was a really amazing thing to say because almost everybody Republican, Democrat and otherwise says, well, I want housing to be affordable.

I want prices to go down.

I want people I or at least I want at least slow the incredible rate of increase.

Not the president, not the president.

Amazing.

But and you know what?

One of the things I would say to, you know, for those who are looking to sell their homes, and in those who are like me that get tired of these, these folks calling you every day.

Hey, Mr.

Meeks, I'm calling you about your property.

Yeah.

Are you interested in selling, you know, if you are considering to sell your home, think about what?

Your home of 40.

You what it was to you and your family, and really consider selling your home to some individual in a community like that because you have these, these companies of sorts that's buying up properties in there's basically oligarchs of sorts that want to buy up the property and, and run the things up.

And they don't live here and they're not invested in our communities.

So I say to anyone that's out there in the market to sell their home, like, you can actually interview people and have a conversation with them and talk to them about what it meant to you and your spouse or your partner and your family, and afford that same opportunity to someone else.

And you can still get, a good amount of money for your home as well.

Thank you.

Producer Megan Mack.

The actual quote from President Trump last week is, I don't want to drive housing prices down.

I want to drive housing prices up for people that own their homes.

And they can be assured that's what's going to happen.

Okay, now, one other question on housing.

And then I'll get some more feedback from listeners here on a number of subjects.

What do you what do you think is the fastest way to get more housing, more supply?

Because I keep hearing and I think the numbers say we have a massive supply problem.

We don't have an inventory available for people want to buy houses, but even for renting, you know, what's quote unquote affordable housing, affordable renting is not affordable for a lot of people.

So so what's the supply solution?

So I'm speaking a city like Rochester.

Yeah.

I think one of the major solutions would be to look at some of the houses that are out there.

Some of them may have zoning, where they're, you know, getting ready to demolish them or what have you.

But looking at houses throughout our community that have lay vacant for months, years and so on, and coordinating with a number of institutions, in particular, some of the programs that we have throughout the city, we have Mat multi Craft Apprenticeship Preparation program, where they're teaching young men and women the construction trades.

We have the Youth Build program, the Urban League has a youth build program, Catholic Families.

And I believe that, actually for a better community offer something similar.

But looking at these type of properties, connecting with these type of programs throughout the community, building these houses, well, rehabbing these houses, making them ready for making the market ready, but then give them to first time home buyers or individuals in this community who are looking to raise their families or live within this community.

And potentially work within this community, give them those homes at at costs, meaning what it cost us as far as supplies to get this house back on the market and labor.

So that may be $30,000.

It may be 40, maybe $50,000.

Sell them those homes.

At that rate, get the house back on the tax rolls and and build from there.

How many houses are in that category?

Right now I believe there's thousands.

I don't have an exact number, but we have, enough to make a dent.

Oh, yeah.

Absolutely, absolutely.

When you walk through the community, right through the community, you see a number of vacant houses.

Yeah.

All right, let's, let's get some feedback.

From listeners.

I'll take a phone call from Michael in Rochester.

I'm with Assembly member Meeks.

Hi, Michael.

Go ahead.

Hey, guys.

Long time listener, first time caller.

I did have a question.

Also, maybe a challenge here for Assemblyman Meeks.

So if you guys look at data from the Department of Homeland Security, over 40% of all people that are currently considered illegal in the United States, which I hate to use that term, entered the United States legally.

So if you have over 40% of people that are coming here legally, is it an immigration crisis or is it a visa process crisis?

There's two specific visa holders that, you know, encounter a lot of problems.

So these are your unskilled laborers H-1b visa, H-2a visa.

So these individuals can only stay in the United States for a maximum 36 months.

And after that they're forced to leave.

There is no path to citizenship for these individuals.

While people, academics, people with more professional experiences on visas like the H-1b, the United States holds their hand and says you can remove it as many times as you want.

It will help you become a citizen.

So how do you support members of the community that are here on H-2a visas and on H-2b visas to a, you know, their rights and be feel safe and comfortable when they are here working?

Michael, why is this your first time calling?

That's a really smart question.

You should be call more often.

All right.

Thanks.

No, I appreciate it.

Thank you Michael, it is a smart question.

It's not an easy answer, but what do you got?

Here are some the number, I think.

You know, if there's community resources that are out there to help them, navigate these systems, I think that could potentially help.

Also reaching out to, you know, some of our federal offices are congressional members as well as our, federal senators to see, what type of programs we could potentially implement at the federal level to, to help streamline the, the, process.

And Michael sent me an email separately, Ed Austin, WXXI, Sorg on this issue.

I'm glad you brought it up.

It is one that probably needs more exploration on a separate day.

And I really appreciate the phone call.

Thank you.

Let me get an email from, Mario Wiper, who's chair of the elder justice committee at Metro Justice, who says the following.

It's Assemblyman Meek sits on the assembly Committee on health.

Fact check.

True.

Yeah.

Fact check.

True.

Nursing homes fall into the areas covered by the Committee on Health.

We need to know that all nursing homes are using funds to the benefit of residents, not for big profits for owners or investment groups.

We have laws in New York to meet that end, but they're not being enforced.

The New York State Department of Health is the body charged with oversight and enforcing regulations and laws.

This includes on time, regular inspections and holding nursing homes accountable for providing, by law, minimum direct care staffing levels and using 70% of revenue, private and public sources for care and services that directly impact residents care.

And so she's got two questions for you.

She says.

Will the legislature, particularly the Assembly and the Senate committees on health, hold the Department of Health accountable for using funding to do its job of oversight and enforcement of laws enacted to protect nursing home residents?

And then is the New York State Department of Health adequately funded to do its job of oversight enforcement of laws, including on time inspections and oversight, including reviewing staffing levels and cost reports.

So there you go.

It's a long one's, but this is someone who's been fighting on these issues for a long time.

And I'm quite familiar with Elder Justice, and I appreciate all the great work they do and the relationships they've established with Ombudsman, for these facilities, oversight and enforcement.

I mean, one of the things I say that we do a good job at, in state government and in particular state legislature is coming up with like some, some great legislature, right, and some great laws.

And sometimes we vote for them and we put them in place.

But the challenges exactly that the oversight and the enforcement, like who's responsible, is that agency getting the needed resources?

And how do you, you know, sort of, push back against these practices?

We've seen this with these nursing homes.

More and more nursing homes have become, for profit facilities.

I've dealt with it personally, where I'm representing a nursing home as as a labor organizer with 1189 SEIU.

And, you know, we pushing back on the wages and staffing issues, and we seen an increase in their budget and what it brought down with this particular facility.

They, were saying, we don't have money for wages.

We don't have money for staff, additional staffing.

But their, the cost of rent went up from like 400 plus thousand to about over a million bucks.

And what we found was this particular company, we had, two different LLCs.

The nursing home was under one LLC that was owned by dad in the property.

The real estate was owned by another LLC, which was owned by son.

So it was big family business.

And I mean, it hurts the residents.

It hurts the employees because when we're talking about those nursing homes, these are some of the same individuals who are working 40 hour work weeks, you know, providing, you know, care to the best of their ability for for residents, but they're still struggling to provide for their own families.

So it's it's a major issue.

Something that, I keep, in conversation and I'm committed to continuing to push back on.

But there's there's a lot more work to do.

And I'm thankful to elder Justice for, their, their position in this space in their advocacy.

Mary del.

Thank you.

Patrick writes in to say, how about a good person tax applicable to anybody with wealth over 500 million.

You pay it because you're a good person, and you're going to prove to everybody that you're a good person.

Personally, I think I'm being too nice.

A hundred million could easily be the threshold.

I think about my status in life and how much I would give if I could, but I can't.

It'd be amazing to have people that are over that level paying that money, he says.

Wealthy people who literally could walk some miles in our shoes.

But he's basically saying, if yo you know, you're just going to pay any additional income tax.

So that's Patrick's idea.

At the root of this is kind of a question.

And whether you think billionaires should be should we have billionaires?

Should people be allowed to have $1 billion, people allowed to make $1 billion or or do you find that offensive?

I don't find it offensive.

You have some out there that, you know, do, you know, give, to to others and feel like it is the right thing to do.

But I do think it's offensive when you do research and you do history some time and you find that these particular billionaires built their wealth on the backs of, you know, these individuals or these particular communities.

And and how does it look in those communities?

Was it, while they were building your wealth, you know, how many people succumbed to lung cancer?

How many people succumb to other ailments based upon the type of work that they were doing in an effort to build your wealth?

So whether it was, you know, oil drilling, in the coal mines and dealing with black lung and other challenges, like there's someone at the top that became billionaires at the expense of our communities.

Patrick, thank you very much for that.

Sean wants to know if you buy Jay's apology.

That is not a question I expected to get for Assembly member Meeks, but I. I promised that Jay came out last.

Kanye came out last week and apologized for his anti-Semitism and said that he's he's got a new album coming out, I guess, and he said that he shouldn't have been pro-Nazi in the past, shouldn't have used the swastika.

You find that, you know, we get all question.

Yeah, I would Kanye like you know, I don't I mean, he apologized.

That's good because I'm one who believe in forgiveness.

Yeah.

Oh, sure.

He meant it in I mean, it did take him a while to come with the apology.

So I take it he gave it some thought.

Right.

Okay.

Or he he gave it some thought or three days before your album comes out.

An interesting time to drop it.

Oh, yeah.

All right, John, I hope that answers that question.

A couple other things here.

I mentioned that every year they're not every year, but a lot of years there's a fight over education funding.

Can I, can I tie one thing into.

Yeah, yeah.

The billionaires.

Yeah.

I think that, one of the things that we as, as communities across this country have to really start having a conversation about is, UBI universal basic income.

A lot of times folks don't think much of it because it's like, hey, I have my career, I have my degrees, I'm doing great job.

I'm doing great things.

I'm making decent money.

Right.

When you look at artificial intelligence, we've seen it in our grocery stores for years.

It's as simple as self-checkout.

So it's taking jobs.

So it's taking jobs and you expect it to take more jobs and it will take more jobs away.

So while it's the grocery store today, and, you know, McDonald's places like that where you may have one employee running a whole fast food restaurant.

Yep.

The years ago there were 15, 20 people watching these restaurants.

Yeah.

So with that, I mean, you have everyday working people that no longer have the ability based upon their skill set to generate wealth.

So someone is making more and more and more wealth.

And I think that we're going to have to have a real conversation about, you know, universal basic income because you have the automobile industry, which, you know, luckily, a number of them had a UAW representing them, which is a strong union.

But what happens when these corporate conglomerates say, okay, well, we have robots to build the whole vehicle, and you're not unionized.

And you're out.

Yeah.

So I think that's something that we have to really start just briefly, a lot of what I hear about UBI is at the federal level, can states entertain that or do you think that has to be a federal program?

In some regard, states can entertain it.

But definitely at the federal level as well.

Okay.

Conversation for another day soon, I think.

Yeah.

Because, you know, you're certainly not wrong that people are worried about a real jobs career.

I mean, the fact that we're sort of in a crisis now, but where we are in two, 4 or 5 years.

Yeah.

Well, where are we going?

And I just wanted to tie that into the bill.

Yeah, yeah.

No, I think it's important.

Just briefly I want to ask about education and funding because in past years it's been this big fight over how much to fund schools, etc.

doesn't I don't know, just maybe I'm missing it.

I'm not seeing a huge fight there.

But where are we with education?

Pre-K?

You know, is there funding for that?

Is there a fight coming?

What do you see?

I think there may be some fights as far as feeling like it doesn't go far enough, but I mean, like, there's been a commitment to fully fund foundation aid.

There's been a commitment to, expand, you know, universal child care and universal pre-K.

And, you know, I think those type of things really is a testament to where we are as a state legislature.

I mean, we are the most diverse than ever before in history.

Shout out to members of the mom squad, two of our, well, three of our local, representatives.

You have Jen Lunsford, Sarah Clarke and Sam R Brooke, who are all members of the mom squad.

You know, they're doing great work from and we're doing this collectively together, but there's a certain experience that they have as mothers and things that they stand on, and they're able to enlighten us, such as their colleagues, to say, hey, you know what?

This is the direction that we need to be moving in, collectively.

And these are the benefits of these things.

You know, when we're talking about a workforce, you know, there's a number of people who can't go to work some days because they don't have quality daycare.

So when we have quality daycare, quality schools with, school day and afterschool programs, it's beneficial to us as a community.

Across the board.

You're going to hear the music in a second because our time is up.

But as we get ready to rap, some of your colleagues have talked about childcare funding.

We saw the governor with Zoran Mamdani, one of your former colleagues in the Assembly, now the mayor of New York City, talking child care.

What are you most curious about to watch with Mamdani in New York City?

Are you watching what he's doing there?

And I mean, I, you know, did you know him well in the assembly?

Yeah, we sat on the same row.

And, you know, I, I think that we have a mayor that's doing awesome things.

And if I can make a suggestion to Madani, it would be make sure you connect with some of the mayors of the smaller cities and get some feedback on some of the things that actually work.

All right.

Well, we'll have to see you there.

And listen, we scratched the surface on a number of things, but you're definitely right on UBI.

A bigger conversation is coming probably from multiple levels.

There's all kinds of things that we'll keep our eyes on.

The wealth tax, obviously ice.

And you are generous with your time every time we call you.

Yeah.

Thank you for being here and for coming in.

Thank you.

Thanks for having me.

Assemblymember Damon Meeks from district number 137, part of our series of conversations with your elected leaders, talking about what's going on in Albany with the budget and their priorities this year, more connections coming up in a moment.

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