5 Takeaways From The Rowdy Mayoral Debate Everyone's Still Talking About

The three leading candidates for mayor faced off at Manhattan's Symphony Space Tuesday night during a debate that at times felt more like a wrestling match or a street fight than a moderated discussion. There was non-stop booing, heckling and screaming. One rowdy audience member was booted from the event on live television, where viewers also saw a candidate's microphone clipped more than once for not adhering to the rules of engagement.

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When the unruly audience allowed, the candidates did manage to make a few points about actual issues affecting New Yorkers. Incumbent Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio defended his record against Republican Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis and Independent candidate Bo Dietl. The debate topics ranged from affordable housing to Rikers Island.

Here are five moments that stood out amid the primetime raucous:

Homelessness, Mental Health and Affordable Housing

Both Dietl and Malliotakis attacked de Blasio for the spike in the city's homeless population. Malliotakis said the city needs to invest in vocational training in order to get people jobs and said the mayor has largely ignored mental health issues that plague the homeless population.

The mayor acknowledged the homelessness problem, but touted his administration's move to provide free legal services for people facing eviction and his plan to build or preserve 200,000 affordable housing units in about a decade. He also praised first lady Chirlane McCray for spearheading the city's move to expand mental health and suicide prevention services.

Income Inequality

"If you look at the real tale of two cities it's that his friends and donors have gotten richer while the rest of us continue to struggle," Malliotakis said of de Blasio.

She went on to say his administration has focused too much on minimum wage and not enough on getting New Yorkers higher-level jobs or skills training. Malliotakis underscored her point by noting that about 80 percent of public high school students entering the CUNY system demonstrate a need for remedial classes.

De Blasio shot back, saying initiatives like paid sick leave and universal pre-K have helped families of all economic backgrounds — adding that Malliotakis voted against a minimum wage increase in Albany.

Dietl criticized the mayor heavily, but struggled to offer up his own solutions for improving the city.

"If I had my head in a potato field, and I popped it out and listened to this mayor, I'd say 'I'd vote for him too!' But we got four years and he's done nothing!" Dietl quipped.

Transit

Malliotakis said it's the mayor's responsibility to help fund the subway, saying she would provide the money New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has asked of the city.

"Are you afraid of Governor Cuomo?" Malliotakis snapped at de Blasio, seeming to refer to longstanding rumors of a strained relationship between the mayor and the governor.

De Blasio dismissed the notion, saying the city has contributed enough to fixing the subways and that the state has actually diverted money meant for the MTA to other parts of the budget. He said the only legitimate solution is his proposed millionaire's tax.

"Millionaires and billionaires can pay a little more in this city so the rest of us can get around," de Blasio said.

Policing

Malliotakis said she would focus more on quality-of-life policing and on prosecuting undocumented immigrants who commit crimes. She said that the mayor might call New York the "safest big city in the world," but felony sex crimes against women have increased.

"What you heard from the assembly member were classic right-wing Republican scare tactics," de Blasio responded. "Crime in this city has gone down for four straight years."

Meanwhile Dietl, a former NYPD detective, said the city's cops feel abandoned by the mayor. He said he'd wave the two-year college degree requirement to become an officer and would get "inner city kids in the police department."

Riker's Island

Both Dietl and Malliotakis oppose closing the jail complex at Rikers Island, an idea de Blasio recently endorsed. Malliotakis said the money de Blasio wants to spend on opening smaller jails in the city's boroughs should be used to retrofit Rikers Island and increase security.

De Blasio defended his endorsement, pointing to current government efforts that focus on keeping people from languising in Rikers. He said the jail has to go.

"I am the first mayor in our history to say we not only must close [Rikers], we will close it," de Blasio said. "It doesn't work anymore."

But a lot of the night's points were still drowned out by jeers from the audience and even constant interruptions by Dietl — so much so that moderator Errol Lewis had to call for decorum and even turned off Dietl's microphone.

Listeners felt it too.