New York City Mayor Eric Adams held an in-person media availability session to discuss various city issues and initiatives. During this session, he addressed topics such as public safety, homelessness, and economic recovery. Mayor Adams emphasized the importance of collaboration between city agencies and community organizations to tackle these challenges effectively. He also highlighted recent achievements and ongoing projects aimed at improving the quality of life for New Yorkers. The event provided an opportunity for the media to ask questions and gain insights into the administration’s plans and priorities for the city.
Mayor Eric Adams endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for the Democratic presidential nomination following President Biden’s announcement not to seek re-election, emphasizing the need for unity within the party. He also addressed the impact of CrowdStrike outages on New York City, updating residents on the city’s response efforts.
Deputy Mayor Fabien Levy, Communications: Good morning, everybody. My name is Fabien Levy, and I serve as deputy mayor for Communications for the City of New York. Thank you all for joining us today for our weekly in-person media availability.
Our administration works every day to keep New Yorkers safe on our streets and in our subways, to rebuild our economy and create a more affordable and livable city for working-class New Yorkers. That means bringing crime and the cost of childcare down while driving jobs and test scores up. It means investing in generational projects across the five boroughs that will put New York City at the forefront of emerging industries and shattering affordable housing records to make sure every New Yorker can find a home.
That work takes all of us, which is why the mayor has once again convened senior leadership here at City Hall for our weekly in-person media availability to answer your questions. Joining us today, we have Mayor Eric Adams, First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright, Chief of Staff Camille Joseph Varlack, Deputy Mayor for Housing, Economic Development, and Workforce Maria Torres-Springer, Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Anne Williams-Isom, Deputy Mayor for Operations Meera Joshi, Deputy Mayor for Strategic Initiatives Ana Almanzar, Chief Counsel Lisa Zornberg, Director of Intergovernmental Affairs Tiffany Raspberry, and Chief Technology Officer Matt Fraser. Without further delay, I’ll turn it over to Mayor Adams.
Mayor Eric Adams: Thanks so much, Fabien, and good morning to everyone. Thanks to the team for being here. Our message is clear. Protecting public safety, rebuilding our economy and making the city livable, particularly for working-class people, and we’re going to stay focused on that. When we think about public safety, yesterday, really proud to be standing with the fire commissioner and what she has done around lithium-ion batteries.
On Sunday morning, we had our largest, the Operation Padlock operation, almost over $5 million worth of illegal products seized by the sheriff and the NYPD. I was out with them around 1 a.m. in the morning at an illegal social club. We also found a shotgun inside. It was just unbelievable the volume of illegal cannabis that was located here, single rolls, Skittles, different items that really attracted young people. There’s a real focus on young people in this. When you look at what happened in the deli in the Bronx, it’s clearly this area has become a distribution hub for throughout the city. We have to go to the source of this problem. That’s what the sheriff has been doing.
We also are looking in other areas, and we’re focusing on as well. As I was alluding to, the lithium-ion batteries with DOT commissioner and the fire commissioner, yesterday, the Department of Transportation proposed new rules to allow property owners to more quickly install safe outdoor battery charging infrastructure. The commissioner and I went to a number of sites throughout last year where we saw these illegal charging stations. We want to sort of alleviate that and make sure that it’s done safely. We’re excited about this new initiative that the FDNY is investing $1 million in a fire safety education campaign. It’s clear that this education is helping, because when you look at the number of deaths that are taking place, these e-bikes were being stored by the exit ways, by doors, and it was left in bedrooms. It was one of the most horrific things when you could see how these batteries explode, and difficult to put out. This is an important initiative that we’re moving to make sure we can save lives in the process.
Economy. We’re really excited about these numbers. Just what we’re doing with the hiring halls. Deputy Mayor Almanzar and her team going out in the streets. We knew that job availabilities were not reaching the people. I’m not sure what number of hiring halls we have done thus far, but I know it’s a lot. It is showing. Decrease in unemployment among Blacks, decrease in unemployment among Hispanics. I think a 30 percent decrease among Blacks, and close to the same among Hispanics. First time under almost a whole point, under 8 percent since 2019. We’re getting below and keep moving in those COVID levels. When you think about it was at one time, four times the rates of white, Black unemployment. We have really laser focus on letting folks know what jobs that are available. Not only in public service, but also in the private industry. Latino unemployment is at 6.5 percent. Black unemployment is at 7.3 percent. Nearly a full percentage below the pre-COVID levels. We’re really proud of this, because the prosperity of this city has eluded many communities and neighborhoods. It is our fight to make sure that it doesn’t happen.
Just finishing up with livability, we’re doing a new mixed-use development on the west side of Manhattan. We’ll turn a former parking lot into 100 percent affordable housing with more than a half the units reserved for formerly homeless individuals. Including long-term survivors of HIV and AIDS. Yesterday, we announced a $500 million investment from the Battery Park City Authority’s Joint Purpose Fund to build and maintain more affordable housing across New York City. Really excited what folks will get out. Some streets are here. Some are possibilities. A lot of entertainment throughout the entire city. In the outer boroughs. We’re going to continue to do that. Let me turn it over to you, DM, so we can answer some questions. Great.
Question: Yes, good morning. Hi.
Mayor Adams: Where have you been? I haven’t seen you in a while.
Question: Yes, thank you. I’ve been out and about. Actually, two questions. First, COVID. I know a lot of people are getting it. I didn’t know if there had been some particular uptick in the city and what’s being done about it.
Number two is, I know last week you talked about a level of meanness and nastiness pervading the city and the country. Now Kamala Harris is probably going to be the nominee. Do you think she can message a level of civility in her campaign? Do you think this is just going to be a nasty, ugly campaign?
Mayor Adams: I think campaigning is campaigning. You’re going to see some of the stuff that happens during campaigns. This is the nature of the beast, not only in America but across the globe. People want to put their best foot forward. I think that she has the ability to stay above the fray and just be focused on the message. I said this over and over again. It’s about clarity of message. I think she’s going to bring that. She has the talent of doing that. I look forward to it.
Now, you’re going to have a lot of independent expenditures, a lot of outside entities. It’s not always a candidate. It is also those who are pushing for their candidate to win. I believe you’re going to see nothing but a first-rate communicator. I think she’s a great communicator. I think this is going to be a really exciting time. These are exciting times. I’m excited about what is happening right now. We’re going to see are we the country who we say we are. That’s what it’s about, Democracy is not frictionless and it’s not always pretty. We have 400 years of a peaceful transition of power, and we should be proud of that. With the COVID numbers. DM Williams-Isom, do you want to talk about that?
Deputy Mayor Anne Williams-Isom, Health and Human Services: Dr. Ted was here actually last week, and also Dr. Vasan has been talking to us about it. They are definitely up. The cases are up locally and nationally. It is seasonal. We’re expecting that this is going to be our new normal. There’s no real new guidance other than, making sure that if you’re feeling sick, you stay at home. People can get home tests. I know I still have tests in my house so that if I feel sick, I have a 93-year-old mom who lives with me, so I want to make sure that I’m keeping her safe.
And so, whether or not she has to wear a mask or whether we’re being careful. I think those are the things. There’s no real new guidance. Your vaccines are probably going to be coming up soon, so people can go get their vaccinations for the flu and the COVID as the fall comes. That’s basically where we are right now.
Mayor Adams: You’re such a good daughter. 93-year-old mom. Boy, that’s special. Three generations. Your mom, you, and your daughters.
Deputy Mayor Williams-Isom: And my husband!
Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. How are you today?
Mayor Adams: I’m doing quite well. Yourself?
Question: Good. I wanted to ask you, last week you met with Councilmember Susan Zhuang. I wanted to ask you about that conversation. Also, in the past, you’ve been come down on people when they attack or do something to police officers. I’m wondering why this situation is different and you haven’t come out against her actions. She is facing a felony count when it comes to biting that officer.
I also wanted to go back to the vice president. You had some interviews on Sunday where you didn’t officially endorse her or support her. Then yesterday, you did. Can you just explain in detail why that change happened yesterday and why you felt you needed to criticize their handling of the migrant crisis?
Mayor Adams: Criticize what?
Question: Handling of the migrant crisis.
Mayor Adams: First, with Susan, I was very clear, as I’m clear whenever someone attacks a police officer. I said it was inappropriate to bite a police officer. I was clear on that. But I’m also clear that she’s always been supportive of law enforcement. I clearly acknowledge that and what she has done and what she will continue to do. She was arrested for the action. I stated I was going to reach out and speak with her, and I did just that. The action of biting a police officer caused an arrest. She was not treated any differently than someone that would assault a police officer. But I know there’s a lot of passion around these issues and topics, around homeless shelters, the placement of homeless shelters. Everyone acknowledges that we have this crisis. But I have yet to see one person raise their hand and say, “House them here.”
We have an awesome responsibility to deal with 207,000 migrants and asylum seekers that are in this city. We had to do an analysis when I first came into office. I looked at where homeless shelters were placed throughout the city. There’s a disproportionate number in certain communities. We all have to share this crisis, and we should all raise our concern about what our national leaders are doing on this issue. It’s amazing what Deputy Mayor Williams-Isom has been able to do with the volume that we’re witnessing. The chief of staff and her team have been coordinating this.
When it comes down to the VP, my endorsement of her, it was extremely fresh that the president has decided not to run. I have a great deal of respect for President Biden, not only for his role as president, but a person who has overcome just a series of tragedies. As someone who has experienced their own tragedies, there was a moment to let the president go through his moment of leaving the race. I reached out to the leaders in the city, and I reached out to Jay Jacobs, who’s head of the party. We had a good conversation. Another had a good conversation. I hope it’s not lost on anyone that when the VP ran for president in the primary, I endorsed her. I hope that’s not lost on you. I was with her in 2020 when everyone was in the race. I know her talents and her skills. One thing that I think many people fail to understand, you can disagree with a person on an issue— doesn’t mean you disagree with the person in totality of their experience.
She is a successful prosecutor. She’s a dedicated public servant. I disagree on an issue. I don’t disagree [on] the fact of what they did to revitalize our economy, on public safety, on what they’ve done around navigating this out of COVID. I don’t disagree with all of that. So, I’m not the type of person that if I don’t disagree with you 100 percent, I don’t do this litmus test that you have to be perfect. That’s not me, because I’m perfectly imperfect. I keep telling you that over and over again. I disagree with myself sometimes, what? I love myself. Because I know I’m dedicated and hard-working. I could disagree with the VP and still support what she has done as a partner for the President of the United States.
Yesterday morning, I did a full-throat endorsement of her and what I think she’s not only going to do as a president, because I’m a big believer government is symbolic and substantive. The substantive items, she’s going to do. But the symbolism of having the first African-American woman and Indian background as President of the United States, that symbolism is amazing, just like me becoming the second Black mayor.
And these folks who are standing up here, Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer, what she’s doing for the Filipino community, and what Deputy Mayor Meera Joshi is doing for the Indian community, and what Sheena is doing for little Black girls all over the city. Part of this game is symbolism, and no other administration looked like this. So no matter what happens, mayor 110 has changed the face of government. And VP Harris, as president, is going to change the face of government.
Question: Hi, Mayor Adams.
Mayor Adams: How are you, Katie?
Question: I’m great. Last year, you announced a plan to raise at least $500,000 for the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City to fund scholarships to increase diversity in journalism. I don’t know if you or Deputy Mayor Almanzar, who I know is the chair of the fund, or at least oversees it. Can you give details on the fundraising? Did you raise that, at least that, and how you plan to distribute the money?
Deputy Mayor Ana Almanzar, Strategic Initiatives: Hi, Katie. Yes. The Mayor’s Fund is in a moment of transition as you know, as we are bringing in a new executive director. Once that person joins the administration, we’ll be embarking on a heavy fundraising for the Journalists of Color Fund that was announced last year.
Question: She left in February. Did you raise any [money] between July 21st and February? Have you raised any? How much money have you raised for it?
Deputy Mayor Almanzar: We continue to engage with potential funders and bring them in and having those conversations about who’s interested in providing funding for this specific initiative. We continue to do that as we embark with a new executive director when she comes in.
Question: So you didn’t raise – I’m just trying to – because I’m writing about it today because it’s been a year. Did you raise any money? Did you hit the target?
Moderator: Katie, we can get back to you on that.
Question: Today if possible, yes. I’m going to run. All right.
Mayor Adams: How are you?
Question: Good. Okay. As you mentioned about the affordable housing. Affordable housing and NYCHA is different. Do you have any plan to build more NYCHA housing than the affordable? Because affordable is compared to demand. Affordable is very, slim chance of the low income people. If we have more NYCHA housing, then might be definitely get more chance. Number one.
Number two, the subway environment, like in terms of the help. Because if you go to subway, then you will feel stuffy, smelly, different weather there in the environment. Do you have any strategy about the public health, the people who are using the subway, how impact on their health?
Mayor Adams: I think the most challenging thing for people to comprehend in the city of New York is that the mayor is not in charge of everything. Brother, I do not clean the subways. I would love for us to be in control of the MTA because we’re in control of the public safety of the MTA. We witnessed after January, historic lows. We have the least amount of robberies on our subway systems from the history of them recording robberies. We removed, I think, 7,000 homeless people who are dealing with mental health issues on our subway system.
It’s clearly the aspect of it that I have control of it. We’re seeing remarkable results. People are back on the subway system. I think we’re up to four, a little over four million. Daily average felonies is down to about five a day. It’s clearly with the stuff that we do control, we’re doing it. At the MTA’s off topic, you got to ask them about the smelliness of it. That doesn’t fall into my line of expertise. Riders should participate. We should clean up after ourselves. We should pick up. We should do our part while we’re on the system. DM Maria Torres-Springer will talk about the housing piece.
Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer, Housing, Workforce, and Economic Development: I’d be happy to. First on NYCHA, this administration has been laser focused on three major goals with NYCHA. One is to make sure that we are advancing the type of transformation, right, that’s needed to protect that housing. One in 14 New Yorkers lives in NYCHA. For too long, administrations have not really been as focused as we are. It’s chapter one in our housing plan. We have made significant investments to make sure, because as the mayor has said, the cavalry isn’t coming. And with a nearly $80 billion capital repair need at NYCHA, our work to renovate apartments through programs like PACT, through programs like the Trust, which was established because we won that in Albany, really important.
Second is to make sure we’re improving quality of life. You see that because there’s now free broadband at NYCHA, right? We’ve been really focused on making sure that issues like mold and trash that we’re paying attention to in real ways. But specifically to your question, new models. One of the most exciting and I think really important projects to follow, and we’re going to make sure that it’s successful, is what’s happening at Fulton Chelsea Elliott, where there is a plan to not just renovate homes for residents of those buildings, but then to create new mixed income housing within the campus.
So that accomplishes a few goals. It’s really, we’re working on all cylinders to make sure that NYCHA residents have the quality of life they deserve. By the way, and I think you’ve written on this, other tools that NYCHA has, like the Section 8 wait list. We reopened for the first time in 15 years. We’re working on all of those levers to not just transform NYCHA, but think creatively about what it means to provide more housing. And lastly, sorry, it’s a long list of stuff that we’re doing, but the mayor added in the capital budget $2 billion to what was already a record 10-year capital budget for both HBD and for NYCHA as another data point in how invested we are in NYCHA and in affordable housing more generally.
Deputy Mayor Levy: DM, you had such a long list. I may have missed it, but did you put NYCHA in our housing plan as part of that?
Deputy Mayor Torres-Springer: I said it, chapter one.
Deputy Mayor Levy: It was such a long list.
Mayor Adams: In the questions around the transit, the 7,600 people removed was homeless, including those with mental health illness as well as homeless.
Question: Thank you. Mr. Mayor, on two different issues. My colleague, Graham Rayman, reported yesterday that an inmate on Rikers by the name of Charizma Jones died last week. That came after correction officers blocked medical staff from accessing her cell for two days in a row. Can you think of any situation where it’s appropriate for a CO to block medical staff from accessing a cell? Do you think there needs to be some sort of accountability for the death of this inmate?
On a totally different issue, last week you said in a radio interview that the alleged would-be Trump assassin lived on social media and that he tried to shoot Trump due to, quote, political differences. Investigators in that case have been pretty—they’ve stressed repeatedly— that they don’t have a clear picture of why this 20-year-old did what he did. They’ve even said that it’s been hard to find any trace of social media activity. I’m wondering, what did you base those comments on?
Mayor Adams: Yes, and I stand corrected. There was a post that was sent of him commenting. It could have been AI. It could have been altered. it just goes to show how we all can fall victims of some of this distorted information out there. I do know I’ve been extremely vociferous around the radicalizations of our young people. Something plays into a person climbing on a rooftop with an automatic weapon and shooting someone. I’m going to continue to lean into we need to block all of those avenues that because it to happen. But there was a clip that was sent to me that said that—and it could have been AI. It could have been incorrectly used or distorted. I’m not sure where it came from, what was the origin of it.
Dealing with the question that you asked about, Rikers Island. My heart goes out to the family. Anytime you lose someone, no matter if they’re incarcerated or not, it’s just— it’s terrible. There should be a review. If there was someone that blocked her medical care, I don’t know of a time that you should block someone’s medical care. She died off Rikers Island. She did not die on Rikers Island. We’re aware of that, right? Okay. I’m sure the correction commissioner and the review and authority is going to look at it and see if, in fact, her medical care was denied.
Question: Thank you. Hi, Mr. Mayor.
Mayor Adams: How are you?
Question: Good. You frequently compare yourself to David Dinkins and suggest that the press and activist class is trying to hound another Black man from City Hall. How much is this a tactic to scare white challengers out of the primary? And…
Mayor Adams: I’m sorry?
Question: How much of this is a tactic to scare white challengers out of the Democratic primary next year? And can you name a recent critique of your administration that you do not consider racist?
Mayor Adams: A recent critique?
Question: Critique of you or your administration that you do not consider racist.
Mayor Adams: Do I not consider racist?
Question: Yes.
Mayor Adams: Okay, because let’s be very clear. I did not say the attacks are racist. We’re clear on that. Have you ever heard me say that?
Question: You suggest it quite often.
Mayor Adams: No. Let’s be very clear. Did you hear me say the attacks were racist?
Question: Those precise words? No.
Mayor Adams: Okay, thank you. Because accuracy is important and clarity is important. When I make a comparison of someone and how, and I remember how David Dinkins was treated. I make a comparison on what I see my coverage, which I had the right to do. That’s the comparison. It doesn’t have to be racist, It’s just how people want to depict a person like Dinkins and a person like Eric. And so, it’s not that some of the people who have stated they want to run for office are not all white. People are going to come out. My opponents last year were not all white. It was the UN of candidacies. No matter who runs, I have to run on my record. And I have a good record. As Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer couldn’t even list all the stuff we’ve done around housing. Deputy Mayor Williams-Isom can’t list all the stuff we’ve done around the migrants. We’re not going to be able to list all the stuff we’ve done around employment. Eddie Caban is not going to be able to list all the stuff that we’ve done around public safety.
So we’re going to show our success. These two signs behind me is going to show I’ve got a Dinkins mindset, going after those who were left behind. When I came into office, unemployment was four times the rate of Blacks over whites. Hispanics’ unemployment was hurting. I’m going to continue to give the message of how successful we’ve been of not leaving people behind, investing in NYCHA. NYCHA didn’t have high-speed broadband when we came here. David Dinkins started the M/WBE initiative, and we took the baton and included over, what is our numbers on M/WBE? I think we had $6 billion? $6 billion. $6 billion, unheard of. I’m Dinkins, I’m Dinkins two. I’m going to remind people of that. I’m going to remind people what they did to David, my mentor. I’m going to constantly remind them. I’m not going to be quiet because people are uncomfortable with me reminding them of that.
Question: Mr. Mayor, the community in Clinton Hill is holding a rally tonight around 6 o’clock calling for a safer neighborhood after two shootings near a migrant shelter. We know they’ve been talking about the shelter situation over there. What’s your message to them ahead of this?
Mayor Adams: Some of the people there were saying that we should move the shelter to another location. Where? Which neighborhood? Should we move it to Salamanca’s neighborhood that has double-digit shelters? Should we move it to South Jamaica, Queens? Where? That’s the problem. We stated last year this is going to spill over into all of our neighborhoods. We stated that. Many of those who represent those communities, we should be asking them, did you go to Washington to fight to stop this from happening to New York?
Many of them are going to tell you no. When they say move the shelter, my question to them is where? Which community should I move it in? Those who are already oversaturated? Or should we all share the burden of this? No one wants this. There’s no joy that Deputy Mayor Williams-Isom and the chief of staff have to locate open shelters. We don’t like this at all. Let’s let them work and then they won’t be in shelters. They won’t be. We have the folks over at Randall’s Island. No homes around Randall’s Island, yet they’re saying get them off Randall’s Island. We have folks in Floyd Bennett Field. Get them off Floyd Bennett Field.
Any community, I have yet to have one community that raised their hand and said, Eric, bring them here because we know you guys have to house them. We’ve stated we’re out of room, folks. If they have a better location within that district that we can house based on zoning laws, then they should tell me where in the district to do it. I’m not going to just move to one district or another district.
Question: Mr. Mayor, earlier you mentioned you had some disagreements with Vice President Harris on the border issue. What are those disagreements? What would you like to have seen or done differently? Do you think that she’s vulnerable to attacks from the Trump campaign around this specific issue?
Mayor Adams: What I believe we should do with the border issue, I’ve stated this several times, people who are coming in, for the most part, are paroled into the country. At that level, there should be a decompression czar. We should identify our municipalities who are losing populations. We have places in this country who are losing population. We should identify those places and we should tell those we are paroling in, you go there for three years, deal with those population issues, employment issues, and after three years, you can travel throughout the country.
We can turn this crisis into an opportunity if we manage it and not allow it to manage us. That is what I’ve said with the White House. That’s what I’ve shared with my congressional leaders. We can manage this. We’ve shown national leaders here have come to the city and commended what this team, what we have done. They have signed on to letters. They have done op-eds. They stated that New York is getting it right. We have to allow people to work.
It does not make sense to me that we need bilingual teachers, that we need food service workers, that we need nurses, that we need lifeguards, that we need all of these entities, yet we have people who can fill these positions and they’re not allowed to work. I mean does that make sense? That just doesn’t make sense.
When I speak to my mayors across the country, they’re telling me the same thing. Eric, we need workers. So that is my call. I think that we had a bipartisan immigration reform. We had a bipartisan agreement. The Republicans refused to move towards it. It became political and not practical. I think she’s going to be able to stand up and say that her and the president produced that bipartisan agreement we should have moved on.
Deputy Mayor Williams-Isom: So the mayor, the only thing I want to add is that with the lack of action based on the folks, the Republicans in Congress, I really have appreciated the executive orders that have come out of the White House. I think we’re on our third week of being below 1,000 people coming into our shelter system. This past week it was 800 people. It is really possible for those executive orders, and we are seeing the benefits of them right now.
Deputy Mayor Levy: Those executive orders came after we asked for them. The White House literally did what we’ve asked for, which is a great thing.
Deputy Mayor Williams-Isom: The mayor was asking for them from the beginning of this crisis, and we definitely are bearing the fruit of it now.
Question: Hey, Mr. Mayor, how are you?
Mayor Adams: Quite well.
Question: There’s sort of a specific part to this question and then like a big picture part.
Mayor Adams: Sounds like a plan. Thank you for preparing me. Yes.
Question: The specific part is a few weeks ago you were asked about sort of what you point to in terms of police accountability from your administration and accomplishments on that front. You pointed to the creation of these inspection teams inside the department to sort of identify officers who maybe aren’t suitable for the job and speeding up that process. You pointed to taking a closer look at stop and frisk and your long history with stop and frisk.
The specific part of the question is how are you measuring your progress on those two fronts? Can you give me any numbers on the number of officers that the inspection teams have identified for removal or how are you for removal? How do we know if that’s working? Then on the stop and frisk stuff, those numbers are way up. Racial disparities are still extremely high there. Lots of innocent people getting stopped. How do you measure your achievement on that front?
Then to pull back to the big picture, Arva Rice announced that she’s leaving the CCRB later in a few weeks. You’ve made significant cuts to the budget of the CCRB. You were answering questions a few weeks ago about the NYPD taking over many of the disciplinary cases that the CCRB has. I wonder if you want to talk at all about how you see the role of specifically civilian oversight of the NYPD within the larger context of police accountability? Is it fair for people to draw the conclusion that you think the best police accountability comes from the police policing themselves? What is the role of civilian oversight in your administration?
Mayor Adams: Yes, and I think that’s a good question and a fair question. Coming from my background of really the leading voice of police reform. If you look at the history of how I got here as mayor, it was because of my advocacy around police reform. Even when there was just a level of silence in the city. And while in the Police Department. We need to be clear of that. I was an advocate while in the Police Department. My testimony in federal court, my testimony in front of Congress, my testimony in meeting with the attorney generals to call for these interviews.
Then we need to do a real analysis where my advocacy took place of the number of people who are being stopped. Eliot Spitzer pointed out we were only filling out one out of every four stop and frisk reports when we were stopping… We were almost stopping a million Black and brown people in the city a year. Look at the numbers now. I’ve been very clear the tool must be used correctly to go after precision policing. It’s a very much part of a proper tool. You do not say take away the tool because it’s not popular if the tool is successful in identifying those people who remove guns. Almost 17,000 guns are removed off our streets.
Those officers who abuse that tool, they must be held accountable. What I did with the police commissioner, we have an entirely new inspection team that are in the streets. You don’t see all of the critique that they’re doing, but they’re watching officers during their arrests. They’re watching officers, how they’re presenting themselves. They are communicating daily on those interactions on what police officers are doing. I am extremely pleased by how the police commissioner, Deputy Commissioner Daughtry and Chiefs Chell and Maddrey are taking this hands-on approach to what they do every day.
Then when you look at CCRB, it has a role. Civilian oversight has a role. This department has special monitors, civilian oversight. People walk around and video them. We have so much civilian interaction with our police department, and we should. Because police officers have the right to take away a person’s freedom, so they should be held under the highest level of scrutiny. I just think that the message around Arva has been distorted. I’ve been very clear. She was never the permanent head of CCRB. She was there temporarily. It was a temporary acting role.
I went in and said, I want to put a permanent person there. I said with Ms. Rice, you can stay on the board. I have no problem with you staying on the board. In fact, you bring a great deal of insight. I just wanted to place a permanent person there. To give the impression that she was forced out, I’ve said it to her and I’ve said it publicly. She could stay on the board to serve under this administration, but I wanted to appoint my head of the board like so many others do when they come to their positions.
Question: [Inaudible.]
Mayor Adams: What are you doing, man? Don’t be calling out. You know the rules.
Question: I have another question about Vice President Harris, but a quick button on the migrants, perhaps for Deputy Mayor Williams-Isom before that. Are we getting close with these lower inflows to closing any shelters? Then I can pause and then ask my Harris question.
Deputy Mayor Williams-Isom: Can I hand that to my colleague, Chief of Staff Camille, to answer?
Camille Joseph Varlack, Chief of Staff to the Mayor: Sure. Thank you, DM. The long and the short of it is our goal is to help people move on to the next steps in their journey. We spend every single day trying to think about how to do that. Of course, our goal would be to reduce the footprint of some of our largest sites. Hall Street is one of those locations, which we talked about earlier. Randall’s is another. Certainly Floyd Bennett Field. Into smaller shelters that are in community. As was already discussed, finding communities that are welcoming and open are difficult and challenging. Again, it’s the work that we do every day.
Question: Not quite there yet…
Joseph Varlack: Not there yet but there are sites where we’ve been able to produce peeling off numbers. Right. Maybe we have a building that has 200 individuals in it and we’re able to bring that number down to 175. Right? We do a little bit of that at the time. Particularly trying to take advantage of the fact that the census has been lower. Our goal is for some of the larger sites is to reduce the census of those locations over time.
Question: I was wondering a little bit of a tongue in cheek question. I know that you enjoy going out at night and whatnot. What is your advice to Vice President Harris on how to have her best brat summer?
[Crosstalk.]
Question: It’s a phrase that she’s using to connect with younger voters copying a pop star. If you haven’t heard about it, I’m not trying to ask a trick question.
Mayor Adams: What I like about the VP is she’s naturally herself. People get into this game of politics and they become fake. I always talk about the other day I was having a single malt and a cigar. They said, well, you can’t take a picture like that. Why? I drink single malt and a smoke a cigar. Why do I have to stop being who I am?
People are tired of these fake people that are trying to be perfect. I told you day one, I’m perfectly imperfect. When I drop the ball, like I say, I told you I was imperfect. Why can’t we just be ourselves? I like the way she can be a sister girl and still manage this country the way it ought to be. We need to stop trying to act like because you are elected, you are this perfect person. You’re not. You have good days, you have bad days. You drop the ball. You say things that you wish you would not have. You say things you wish you would have. That’s the life, man. You don’t stop being a human being because you’re mayor. I am who I am. I love the way she is who she is. I think she’s going to change people to feel as though you don’t have to be perfect to run an imperfect country. You try to move to make this country perfect.
I want to go back to one moment, if I can, back to what we’re doing around some of these stops. For the first time, we’re doing these stop stats, which what has happened historically, we have not zeroed in when people don’t properly do stop and frisk stops. We are now analyzing in real time like we do CompStat, we do traffic stats. We’re moving into this version of stop stats where we’re going to be analyzing officers, what stops you’re making, how good are they, what the forms look like. Chief Chell is really behind this. You should see if you can sit in on one of those stats meeting to see how they analyze it.
You have to identify the officer who’s being abusive in any way with a tool so you can, number one, take correction action. Number two, if you have to do disciplinary action to do so. Nowhere in the country are people zeroing in on this like we are. We watch this stuff closely because all it takes is one bad action that can do away with all the good stuff we’ve done in this city. I’m very conscious of that.
Deputy Mayor Levy: Mayor, maybe just to go back to your question before, not yours. Summer of Possibility in New York City. That’s what the VP should do to come for the best summer.
Mayor Adams: To do her brat, is it called brat? Am I a brat?
Joseph Varlack: Bold, resilient, and talented.
Mayor Adams: Okay, am I a brat? I hope I’m not a brat.
Question: [Inaudible.]
Deputy Mayor Levy: New York Summer of Possibility.
Mayor Adams: Can we get an acronym for that? New York Summer of Possibility. SOP, Summer of Possibility. Tell her to come to New York and be a SOP. Summer of Possibility.
Question: [Inaudible.]
Mayor Adams: Okay, Summer of Possibility. Yes.
Deputy Mayor Levy: Liz, you want to go?
Question: The Council hosted a town hall for women and firefighters of color last week. Regina Wilson, who as is the president of the Vulcan Society, was there. There was another Black woman firefighter there. There were a lot of former male Black Latino firefighters. I know the stories are not new to you because you’ve talked to members of the Vulcan Society. They’re still telling these stories, women telling stories about having to be in fire stations where men make lewd gestures at them, having to fight for separate changing rooms, a lot of the same racist comments being hurled at them.
I guess what they’re asking for is they’re asking for accountability. They’re asking how someone can come in, a new commissioner can come in and change the code that they live by, change the culture. The other thing that’s very important and integral to having, letting this happen is recruitment. What can the city do to bring in more firefighters of color? What they say is these are the firefighters that live in New York City and want to serve their communities. I think they’re looking at both the Council but also at you to make these changes happen. I wanted to see what you wanted to say about that, especially since you’re on the cusp of choosing a new commissioner.
Mayor Adams: Yes, and it’s so important. Regina would tell you how long my history is with FDNY and diversifying the department. Standing with the Vulcan presidents throughout the years, visiting the Vulcan Hall on Eastern Parkway, my long, probably 35-year fight of integrating the department, being with them when they had their lawsuits, side by side with them. Because my role to diversify these agencies, both uniform and non-uniform, is a very rich history. Regina would be the first one to tell you, and the former presidents would tell you, this is something that Eric has been extremely strong on.
I’m going to continue to do that. The historical problems that we’ve had in uniform service, it didn’t start January 1st, 2022. We’re going to do everything possible to end it under this administration and diversify the ranking files. I want to take my hat off to Commissioner Kavanagh for what she has done in increasing the number of women there, her role that she has played in the FDNY. It’s real work to change the culture of an entity. That is what we’re fighting to do. Something that’s really misunderstood when it comes down to recruitment, because that’s important. Recruitment, the city plays a role. We do advertisement campaigns. We do recruitment drives. They’re part of our employment apparatus when we go out and do our hiring halls. They play a good role.
You know who’s the best recruiter? A Black firefighter, a Hispanic firefighter, a Mexican firefighter, a Dominican firefighter. That’s the recruiter. When you’re home at your family reunion, you should be talking about the benefits of the job. When you are out in your community, walking up and down your block, you should be having applications in your hand. I kept applications as a police officer and handed it out to young people. As you’re moving throughout in the supermarket, there’s nothing stopping a Black, Hispanic or any other firefighter to say, this week I’m going to hold my own hiring mechanism, my own recruitment. I’m going to go to the park where people are playing Little League Baseball and tell them you need to join this job because it’s great benefits and it’s a great career.
We can’t wait for others to do the job that we can do also. We need to recruit because that’s the validator that people are looking for. They’re looking for people who are in the occupation to say it’s a great occupation. With our role here, I’m going to meet with the Vulcans and say let’s do a citywide campaign that you guys are front and center in your own personal space. If you are a Q, a Delta, an Alpha, all these fraternal organizations should be part of the recruitment campaign. If you belong to a choir in your church, you should be part of the recruitment campaign. If you’re part of the Masonic Order or Boulés, you should be part of the recruitment. Everybody needs to recruit, not just the city. That’s what happens far too often. People are saying, hey, City Council, what are you doing? Hey, mayor, what are you doing? We need to be asking the first question, what am I doing?
Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor.
Mayor Adams: How are you?
Question: I’m good, thank you. Good. What’s your understanding of what Vice President Harris’ role on the border and immigration policy has been? To that point, has that role included any involvement in managing the influx of migrants to New York? Have you or your staff had any meetings or conversations with her office?
Mayor Adams: No, we’ve had indirect conversations with her team, and I believe she’s going to roll out her plan on what she wants to do around this border crisis. I think it was a great start. As the deputy mayor mentioned, some of these executive orders that have come out of the White House, they have been extremely helpful. I think we need to brush off that bipartisan plan and say it’s time to implement it and move forward. The most important thing we could do is letting people work. Let them work. That’s what our national leaders are saying. That is what we believe as well. Many people have picked up our call to say let’s let people work.
Question: Two questions. The first one is about a man who was shot to death outside a Brooklyn shelter Sunday night. Law enforcement sources told The Post the shooting is part of a turf war between rival gangs comprised of migrant men. Is there a gang war developing in the city between the two gangs, and how does the city vet migrants in its care for the gang connections?
Mayor Adams: We got wind of a dangerous gang coming out of Venezuela, and I sent the first deputy commissioner, Tania Kinsella, and our deputy commissioner of Intel down to Colombia to do an analysis of this gang so we can prevent it from taking a stronghold in our city. We’re still investigating if this was connected to a gang. That is still unclear at this moment. We are on top of it. We’re not going to allow a gang to take a stronghold or foothold here.
The gang that they investigated in Colombia that was coming out of Venezuela, they’re extremely dangerous, and the person who was connected to the rape in Queens appeared to be part of that gang, and the person who shot the two police officers appeared to be part of that gang. We’re dealing with violent individuals that are not representative of the overwhelming number of people who are coming here as migrant assignment seekers. We are currently investigating that shooting, but we understand that there are some particular individuals who are part of that gang.
Question: My second question is just to update on the CrowdStrike error from Friday. How many of the 90,000 computers affected have been fully rebooted? How many were unable to be fixed? Why has the Office of Information Technology insisted on keeping that information secret?
Mayor Adams: We have a CTO on steroids, one of the best in the country…
Deputy Mayor Levy: Not literally.
Mayor Adams: When you do an analysis of what Matt has done, we didn’t even feel what other municipalities felt. Matt came in from day one. I don’t even think he got any sleep that day when he called me around 12:30, 12:40. He connected with the chief of staff, and they just did their thing, allowed this city to still function. Our emergency operation. A lot of this is tedious. You have to go to each computer, of my understanding. Matt, you can do a better job of explaining where are we and where are we going. This is your moment here. You are like the Staples Singers, when the dad used to do I’ll Take You There. That one line.
Matt Fraser, Chief Technology Officer, Office of Technology and Innovation: Yes. For the CrowdStrike issue, so as I mentioned during the press conference last week, we have a long road ahead of us. Part of the reason for that is the way, the nature of the way that this propagated. It was hard for us to assess specifically what the number was, and we spoke to you a couple of hours after it became like public information.
Over the weekend, we took a look at the entire city estate. When we talk about computers that may have been impacted, I just want you to understand numbers. It’s not just desktop computers, but it’s desktop computers and servers. The total number of machines that were, that looks like they were impacted skyrocketed from 90,000 to about 300,000. We had about 300,000 odd machines that may have been impacted, and we remediated that down to less than 40,000 machines that are remaining. Now, in that process, we’ve kept all critical services online, and we’ve prioritized the things that are most essential in city operations. We remain confident that everything that’s critical in the city is up and operational, and we’re on our path to remediation.
As the mayor mentioned, part of the steps to remediate this required us to touch physically or in some cases the virtual machines themselves and go through a process to bring those things back online. Luckily, over the last day or so, both Microsoft and CrowdStrike have produced an automated fix where we could deploy that on a more broad scale and perhaps bring those machines back online faster. For us, we’re not in a state where we’re going to take that and use it at face value. Again, we have to test it in the lab just to make sure that it works before we push it out in our environment and cause any other issues themselves.
As it stands right now, we have a team of people that are working 24 by 7 to bring those back online. The progress that we’ve made over the last couple of days shows that we’re well on our way. By the week’s end, we’ll be in a space where we are 100 percent in the state we were prior to the incident.
Question: You said, sorry, 300K total were impacted and then 40K machines still need to be fixed.
Fraser: That is correct.
Question: Mr. Mayor? Do you have an update on the subway metal detector program you spoke about last week with the MTA? When are you going to roll it out?
Mayor Adams: I’m sorry, on the?
Question: Metal detectors in the subway.
Mayor Adams: Yes, it’s called Evolv. I think we should see it either Thursday or Friday, one of the two, either Thursday or Friday. I know that I am telling them they need to evolve and get it out because I think it’s good technology. I’m really excited about this, just the potentiality that we could identify someone carrying a gun before they enter the system. I like the results from the testing. They did several thousand tests.
I think this is going to become a norm for us. I think the turnstiles are going to change. Eventually, every turnstile is going to be able to identify if someone is carrying a gun. I think it’s a game changer for the transportation system across the globe. As always, New York is going to lead the way. Either Thursday or Friday. If you are packing that day, don’t go through the Evolv system, okay?
Deputy Mayor Levy: Just to be clear, if you’re packing any day, you should not go through our subway system.
Mayor Adams: No, we are opening the universe to whomever can produce the technology we’re looking for. We’re not choosing. This is going to be a pilot. We’re going to test to see how it is. Because it’s difficult in our subway system because of waves, because of reading, because of all of that goes on down there. We have not chosen anyone. This is a pilot. Whomever is out there that can produce. We think this is going to force people to produce a product. The competition is good. We haven’t chosen anyone.
Question: Do you have any prototypes out there on Thursday or Friday?
Mayor Adams: No. As they come up with new ones… Remember, we have to have that 90-day wait. As new ones come up, we’re going to have them do the same thing. We just want to get it right. There was a couple of more questions. I want to round up these few more questions before we bounce.
Deputy Mayor Levy: Camille, you had something?
Joseph Varlack: Sure. Just one clarification. With respect to your question about Vice President Harris’s role in immigration, we understood directly from her team that she was tasked with looking at the root causes of immigration.
I’m sure that you will be aware that she had a series of very in-depth meetings where she traveled to Central and South America, much like the mayor himself traveled to Central and South America to make sure that he understood what it was that was leading all of this current wave of immigration. Just wanted to make sure we were clear on that.
Question: Hey, Mr. Mayor.
Mayor Adams: How are you?
Question: Good. How are you? Donald Trump spoke at the RNC last week, and his speech quickly went into the same grievances that we often hear from him and painting a picture of America that sounds almost apocalyptic under Joe Biden. Earlier in the week, you had called for cooling down the temperature in the wake of his assassination attempt. What did you think of the speech, and did you think that was the tone he was striking?
Then separately, there’s been a push over the past few days with the Charter Revision Commission coming to a conclusion soon to let it drag out its work more, not rush the process. That’s what councilmembers are saying. What’s your reaction to that?
Mayor Adams: I think that I’m looking forward to the DNC. I’ll be at the convention. I’m looking forward to a very clear message coming out of the DNC. I’m excited about not only the Summer of Possibility, but the campaign of possibilities. I think we need to stay focused on the mission. The mission is to give a clear message to the American people how we’re going to deal with affordable housing, managing our border, ensuring that we have a clear future for our children. I think that’s the focus where we need to be, not getting caught up on other people pulling you off your message. How do you stay focused on your message? I think that’s what we need to do. Your first part of the question was?
Question: The other one was about the Charter Revision Commission.
Mayor Adams: Yes, 8.3 million New Yorkers, 35 million opinions. We’re doing the right thing. People came and shared their opinions. Now this independent body of people are going to give us their recommendations. We’re going to move forward. Good job. I’m really impressed with how we showed that we can do something that many people thought was impossible. Great job on the part.
Question: [Inaudible.]
Mayor Adams: No, being rushed is introducing legislation in a week. That’s what’s being rushed. We allowed New Yorkers to come in and speak. Part of the recommendation that people are saying before you do these changes in law, people should have a right to come in and speak. That’s ironic. It’s all going to work itself out. It is all part of the process. All we need to do is take a deep breath, meditate, drink a green smoothie, and just be fine.
Lisa Zornberg, Chief Counsel to the Mayor and City Hall: Mayor, may I just add just for historical reference? You know how I love history.
Question: [Inaudible.]
Zornberg: I’ll keep going. There have been multiple Charter Revision Commissions that took place in a shorter time than this one. Mayor Bloomberg did one in 2002, the start to finish 38 days. There were three others between 1998 and 2001, all under 60 days or under 50 days. I really don’t think that whether something is rushed is the right word or not. I think maybe the better word to ask is was it efficient? Was it inclusive?
The Charter Revision Commission in 2024 had a great tool which is called Zoom. People could participate online. People could participate in person. Legally, you may be aware, there’s no requirement for a Charter Revision Commission to hold any hearings at all. That’s not part of what’s legally required. It’s really in their discretion. This Charter Revision Commission committed to efficiently setting up a series of public hearings across all boroughs. It’s done a dozen or more. Hundreds of people have participated. Hundreds or thousands of written submissions have been made, and they’ve been focused. That is not rushed, and it’s well within the history of Charter Revision Commissions in New York City.
Mayor Adams: Thank you. Go ahead.
Question: Mr. Mayor, I wanted to ask you if you could articulate a criticism of the administration that isn’t motivated in some way, at least in part, by racism. You didn’t list it. I was wondering if you could. Then second of all, what were the councilwoman who bit the police officer’s injuries? She had described that she had certain injuries. What is your understanding of her injuries?
Mayor Adams: I don’t know. I’m not aware if the ambulance was dispatched or she requested one. I’m not sure. They were not shared outside of the bruises that come when you, if there’s a struggle when you’re placed under arrest. The question was flawed. As I stated, I never use the term racism.
Question: [Inaudible] 100 percent but tainted, even in a small way, by racism? Is Is there some criticism of the administration that is not in any way motivated?
Mayor Adams: Yes Yes. Yes. There’s… Listen, we’re not perfect.
Question: Can you articulate that?
Mayor Adams: No, if I do that… Hold on, pause for a moment. I’m not going to give you fuel for the fight. you guys do a good enough job finding any flaws that I have. Why am I going to give you… Yhink about that for a moment. Eric, give us something that we can write a bad article about on you. What? That’s not the way this game is played.
Listen, you do a good enough job to critique me. Some of your critiques I pick up and I say, they were right. we should have done something differently or better. I’m not giving you the ammunition. You do a good enough job of critiquing everything that I do. Why do you need more from me? You don’t need me. Mine’s going to be flawed. I think one of the critiques that you do that’s unfair is that, why do I only drink one green smoothie a day?
New York NY July 23, 2024
Sources: Midtown Tribune news, NYC.gov
Big New York news BigNY.com
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