As past ceo of amc networks. Hes credited and with some of my favorite credited with building some of televisions most iconic shows, including mad men breaking portlandia, killing eve. Okay, listen, husband binge watched, killing i dont know, four way too long. It was like crazy i almost got him a therapist, but it was good. It was really good. He also oversaw the spinoff of amc network from cable vision to become a publicly traded company on nasdaq, most recently, he published the third act, a book that celebrates aging in all its accomplishments and grace. And tonight he is selling all these books outside and hes donating proceeds to the green space. So after the program, if you have purchased a book, please go and get a signed copy. Hell be signing copies and giving us this money, which we need to support. Third are journalism and media that sparks change. Ladies and gentlemen, join in welcoming the incredible josh. Thank you guys all for coming out. Thanks to christina. She is you heard. Whats up here . Its actually pretty i think the curation and the sort of audacious innovation she and her group do is really quite remarkable. I think its theres nothing done like it anywhere that i know of. Kate schlesinger, jennifer, sandro, amber. Right. Work together. And they are responsible for the crazy, wild unrestricted stuff that occurs here that i think occurs almost nowhere. Theres crew from cspan here recording for booktv. So thank you coming down and i thanks thank eden eli im especially for helping me put all this. And there is a new president at wnyc whose is la fontaine, oliver and he is just a spectacular human being. And he joined rather and everybody, when theres a human in the house, illuminates everybody. It just spreads interest and motivation and intrigue and, the desire to do more. And that is la fontaine. So thank you for being the new guy in. Its really a thrill to. Have you so christina mentioned what well tonight were having three new yorkers who have had i think i should give this away as my thank you so much and were having a real positive impact on new york city in their multiple acts. Im going to introduce individually, if i may, and then we can have conversation. So ill start with a woman named hope harley. She worked at verizon for decades. So she was a career corporate career and she grew up in brooklyn and liked the brooklyn museum. She didnt like that. The bronx, the only borough that didnt have a museum. So shes indefatigable and out to open the bronx Childrens Museum and began just with a sketch and paper and then there was a touring bus. And then finally i know if you read about a big article in the times a few months ago the bronx Childrens Museum opened in the south bronx, 13,000 square feet that does look magnificent. And she of willed it into existence just amazing and im. And i just want to say this by way you know i was like oh, a minute, hang on. Theres a line. Wait a minute ill say, what are the things . Okay, so, you know, ive been out talking about this book and doing all this stuff and so she and i were on a tv show together on morning. And so we do the whole thing. Then we go to the green room and i thought, god that womans awfully good on television know. And i work in tv and i sort of thought she seems like a bit of a ringer and i said you seemed extraordinarily comfortable on television sort of how did you get that way . And she said, well when i retired from verizon i took acting classes. Im shes, you know, the exact same age. So i was counting. So would put her in her sixties and so shes doing now summer stock every i went home and asked said told this to my wife and she said yeah shes on the commercial and heavy rotation and its the amtrak spot so so hope harley a third, fourth and fifth act. Id like to ask to come out hope harley. Oh, take third one. Thank you so much. So i dont know. You guys know the name david rothenberg. Yeah. I think new york legend. So, you know, this is a wild story. Was a theatrical agent and a broadway producer and was a social related with the original production of hair. And then Richard Burton and hamlet and some 200 other plays. Forgive my back being you and this is just its such a cool story. He then did a play by a man named john herbert who had been incarcerated and wrote a play afterwards and it was called the fortune in eyes and. It was about people who were previously imprisoned and that play from a play, a piece of fiction to the founding under davids leadership 55 years ago to the Fortune Society. And if you dont know what Fortune Society is for some of you just im going to mention two things about it. I think its mentioning fortune provides, housing and a range of services for men, women who are previously incarcerated. I was introduced it by gordon edelstein. My friend, the director whos here. We went to the castle, the facility in harlem, and i was blown away. And then through the good offices of ashley otto, i to know the queens facility. And theres a man here named leonard tao. Just have to say it. Who . Im so thrilled to see who, by the way, is in the book. And lens over there and. Among a few other len does extraordinary work with people who in prison and with moms who have who are incarcerated and who have kids are outside of prison and with theater programing in prison, i wont go on too long. So, david has a weekly show on wbay david has written books david is writing short stories right now. Id like to welcome david rothenberg. Okay so joe lo to pave the way for him to be the first in his family to go to college at georgetown university. And then he went to harvard and after graduating he worked wall street and Corporate Finance where we met. And i came to know joe and to his skill and actually to particularly his ethics. Its hard track, his career in many in Public Service. He deputy mayor of new york he was head of the mta i think two times hes current work as the vice dean and ceo of nyu langone hospital, not to mention he ran for republican mayor. And this is an interesting and amazing was endorsed every daily newspaper in new york including the new times so i dont know if youll recognize joe, but theres a documentary on Rudy Giuliani ive seen several times. And when 911 happened, rudy Rudy Giulianis on the phone. And the first thing he says is 911s all occurring. He says, get me to because joe was the man really the city. And wisely closed the new york city and then elevated some of the subway before Hurricane Sandy and he was affectionately and it goes to show his wonderful sense of humor and he embraced it known as the rats are because was the guy to get rid of rats in new york you cannot beat that man so welcome loaded. All right so i have some questions for these esteemed panelists and. Im going to start out with a question for everyone because this is sort of about a little bit about act and a little bit about new york. Oh, thank you so much. Thank you very much. And you its a question about what you do with your lives. And when you change your lives and what makes you want change your life and when you think im to do something different. So each you worked in private enterprise verizon theater, wall street wall street and cablevision right and went to work in Public Service and thats a bit of a big change generally lower compensated a bit. But i just would like to, if you dont mind, because its been on my mind way. I first with the book what made you and what it like to make the decision to do what you did in case with the museum. Well in my case its no compensation i mean because i though i do a lot of work for the museum. I did it as a volunteer, wasnt i . I never held the position. I serve on the board and was board president a number of years and. It wasnt a conscious. I i had gotten with the idea of the museum even before i left verizon, because it was part i had gotten, because it was part of my work i was in affairs and i managed the philanthropy budget that you know the bronx in supporting organizations in the bronx and was invited to a meeting about creating a Childrens Museum in the bronx. So it was kind of a activity. And then when i, i got involved and i retired, they automatically said, oh, now youre retired so were you know we have to create a board. Were getting our 523. Youll be the president. Okay. I didnt know what that meant so no, ive actually paid money to. Do this. Yeah, yeah, i really have. Its called reverse compensation. Its reversed. But ive been. A million times over. Im. Im just over. You know, with what weve created and the fact that that creation will outlive me, certainly. Its wonderful. So great. And david. Well, i never Fortune Society evolved was i had a Theater Office and the play was after a performance the play that i said we have the nucleus of an organization because a lot of formerly incarcerated people were coming after performance and so my office was, my Theater Office and guys who had done time were hanging there and as it grew, because the need was great, i, i often said id like drama more than i like theater. And i opted to go with fortune and i had to there was a period when i had two careers at once. One was paying me and, the other wasnt. And for three years, Fortune Society was, a volunteer organization and but need was so great and attica happened and we were the only game in town to do that. I mentioned it because you were a civilian observer of that. And one of the observers that went into the yard doing that, which i which is not part of theater preparation. So finding yourself in the yard at attica was know was all part of it and fortune grew dramatically. The need was so overwhelming. So what was never i never stopped at one point, said, this is what im going to what evolved. Can i just can i ask you because i you can ask me whatever you one. I was going to ask you who your Favorite Sports Team of all time was but i thought i should off on that my favorite whatever sports team of all time giants 51 beat the dodgers. But probably thompson hit a home run off branca. I asked him that question because didnt followed baseball until 1962. And i remember bobby was the second baseman to get ready for this in 1962. And he said, you mean, dr. Bobby richardson is what do you hell, youre talking about . He said he became a doctor after. He was a baseball player. So any kid knows that its a danger man. David rothenberg zidane jurist man, stay away from them. But can i just ask you because you you know, ive been to a fortune now at the castle with gordon and then i you know with in queens it no small little thing no huge its huge so and i walk through and im overwhelmed and. Its its incredible its incredible. But so if i may, how you watch you watch people reclaim their lives before your eyes. Theres nothing more exciting. Yeah, yeah. Okay, so, joe, so you were 15 years in Corporate Finance. You went to Harvard Business. That means you can make a lot of money. You worked at private enterprise with me. So swirled the hallways and there was a lot money around. And then suddenly you were in full on Public Service. So josh, it goes back to when i was really a little i always thought that i would be in both the private sector and the public sector. I mean, as a like an eight year old, you thought private sector like you always thought to have a job. And the other one. Look, my father was a cop. My my one grandfather was a firefighter. The one was a new york city taxicab driver. It was all in the you know, concept of Public Service, of some sort, another and in the process of it, i always thought that i would be doing something to help the city, new york. And so its been its in my blood. Its in the dna. Yeah, i believe as time went on, as you mentioned, i went to harvard. I went to Harvard Business school. I actually believe in the revolving door. A lot of people dont between the government and the private, neither one of them understand each other. And i really believe that, you know, the more the government understands the private sector and the more that the private sector understands, how the government operates, the better off the country is going to be because a whole lot where theyre in conflict with each other and its unnecessary. And so, you know, ive enjoyed the ability to be able to go back and forth and yes during a period of time making money and during a period of time not making so much money. My wife is here, she explained how that happened. And so, yeah, i think its important but i do think, you know, thats all of this, you know, part of this American Dream you got to give something back. How wonderful. Hey, just i cant help but ask you, between deputy mayor during 911 where you really were the ground and the central person arguably or a central person and, the mta, which seems to be a sort of quasi impossible task, what were have you found the greatest satisfaction in Public Service . Oh, you know. Theyre both quite unique. I mean, i seem to be a magnet for disaster. So whenever, whenever things tend to happen, including pandemic so being in a hospital at the same time should never happen. So i think the sad the, you know, the greatest satisfaction i get is to seeing a job done and being done right. I think the the storm sandy was by far i think the thing that was the best in that most people tend to forget this but you mentioned it in the introduction the subways you know we were able to get the subway system out of it, out of the way of the water that came into the Lower Manhattan. Does that mean. I dont really. You said that back there. The subway system out of the way of the what we what we you know, a couple of things. We all knew the water was coming. We all knew that we needed to protect system as much as possible. We took the switches in Lower Manhattan out one at a time put them on the last train, tagged them, put them on the last train, took the switches are basically the control mechanism. So know where the trains are. That helps with the speed, etc. Put them on the list train and then took the trains, put them on higher ground. Either put them the bronx away from the water, high up as possible, or in queens as high as possible. So when the water came in, it made you remember to see the pictures that flooded Lower Manhattan. Once we got the water out, we put the switches in and turned it on. Most people remember, it happened on a tuesday. The subway system back up and running on thursday. The city of new york is a its a miracle how things operate here. But you plan accordingly. It can it can work. Yeah, it is amazing, by the way, by the way, theres one other part of that that story i think is critically important. And it says something about how the operates. The person who told me how to do that was a union worker. Yeah, we had a we a tabletop exercise as to what would happen if there was Something Like you know sandy what happened and the did come up because we knew what Climate Change this was going to happen so we went to this tabletop exercise the very first one that we had, there were no union at the table with all these white and management there and i basically said, guys, whos going to do the work right . We need to have labor here at the table and you know, management like that. But we eventually had another tabletop exercise and in the process of it one of these labor who was a union member, member of the local 100, basically shaking his head, saying, if we dont take the switches, were not going to get the system back up and, running for at least 6 to 7 months. The reality was he described to me exactly what needs what needed to happen if we went down to a station. He me exactly how to do it. And we followed it step by step. Well, we what he said and because of him the system came back up again. So you got to listen to the guys street and thats sort of amazing. Its for the story. It is. It is quite a story. Hey, can i ask you guys just because its sort of were talking third act, but third act, new york and third act new york. Civil orientations, civic im sorry, orientation im just going to ask you because it feels of interest what you think ill. Say it this way. You think the priorities of new york are if you were the mayor, what would be at the top of your to do list. And it was after school we reintroduce afterschool programs in the schools. That would be my first affordable housing. We had talked about that earlier, but i think after afterschool programs. A lot of the young people i meet have did not have what i had school which which were things got you involved in care because nobody gets excited about geometry biology. Well not many but you stay around school because of some of the the singing and the the programs that afterschool and then education has a fuller impact. Yeah, you can go on with affordable housing. Well, i said, you know, since i now in new jersey, i was born and raised in brooklyn, lived in she lives in my hometown. He went to teaneck high school, class of 51. I wasnt born yet yet. I was so was i. But im just sort of asked this question in the back and. So, you know, im answering as an expatriate, so to speak. But coming here today, were writing down fourth avenue. I still call west side highway in the west side highway 12 avenue. And you see all these buildings know things have been you know, we tear down everything old in the city. We dont respect old or historical or anything like and and we like us. So, you know, theres vested interest here so that and we put up and i said oh theres something going on that corner and this is residential. And i said, whos going to live there . Who can afford it . You know, it just seems to me that what makes a city a city is, is diversity. And, and especially manhattan and i know brooklyn as well is becoming everything is becoming unaffordable. So youre going to have just rich people and, you know, nothing against being rich but you know the not always the nicest. I know. You know, jane jane jacobs, who is one of our great and so jane jacobs who one of our great hero said, yeah, yeah, yeah, keep the neighborhoods. Dont lose your neighborhoods. When the projects turn up. She said, the neighborhoods,