If it’s Monday, that means the mayor will be joining us here on NY1. Tonight marked Mayor Bill de Blasio’s first appearance on what will be a regular weekly segment on Inside City Hall and he answered questions on Hillary Clinton’s emails, child welfare reforms and his use of an NYPD helicopter. Our Bobby Cuza has more.

We’re calling it Mondays with the Mayor.

On the inaugural segment on Inside City Hall Monday, Mayor de Blasio appeared remotely from City Hall’s Blue Room, answering questions ranging from his Halloween costume to FBI Director James Comey's surprise Friday announcement.

"This is a very strange thing to me because It adds nothing meaningful or tangible to the discussion," the mayor said. "So I think he made a mistake. I wish he hadn’t done it."

Closer to home, de Blasio reacted to former deputy mayor Lilliam Barrios-Paoli’s criticism on NY1 Noticias last week that he had no long-term plan on homelessness.

"I'm confused by the criticism, because she was deeply involved with us in creating the plans to address homelessness," de Blasio said.

And he defended current child welfare commissioner Gladys Carrion, just hours after her tearful testimony on the death of six-year-old Zymere Perkins.

"I stand by her," the mayor said. "But it’s also very clear we’ve got a lot more work to do to keep improving that agency and protecting kids."

Then there was his controversial use of a helicopter. The mayor says it is much ado about nothing, with decisions on mode of transport made by the NYPD.

"In my case, I've used the helicopter something like a dozen times over the course of all three years combined," de Blasio said. "It's all by rules that have been laid out years ago and that my predecessors all followed. And they tended to use the helicopter a lot more than I have. I'm not a big fan of the helicopter."

When de Blasio first took office, he dropped the mayoral tradition of a weekly radio call-in show, then recently revived it. That and this weekly segment — a first for NY1 — come as the mayor revs up his re-election campaign, including fundraising. He says he tries to keep that to a minimum.

"You know look, if you say on average it’s at least a few hours a week, that’s true," de Blasio said.

While also calling for statewide public financing of campaigns, one of several priorities he cited should Democrats win control of the state Senate,  along with extending mayoral control of city schools.