January 13, 2025
Mayor Eric Adams: Good morning. Hope everybody had a great weekend. I mean, it’s good to see some of you. You know, last week at our fourth State of the City, I want to really thank the team. Hats off. It was great to be in Harlem at the Apollo Theater. I remember going there as a child, watching some great shows there, and the Sandman pulling off those who didn’t perform up to expectation.
We really laid out many of our bold plans and unveiled several ways we want to make the city safe to raise healthy children and families, something that I said on the campaign trail, and I will continue. And we previously announced we were increasing our NYPD personnel class from 600 to 1,000 cadets. Last week, we added another 200 to that class, meaning our January police class will have 1,200 brave men and women, a doubly typical police class. Large classes are leaving. Those classes will reach 20 years. We have to be prepared to make sure we continue those ranks.
As I said last week, I agree with former Commissioner Bill Bratton and Commissioner Tisch, who talks about that we have to maintain our proper police balance in a number of offices. So those 200 officers are going to be increasing in our subways as well, as we continue to drive down crime in our subway system and the perception.
Nothing is better than when I hear from subway riders who tell me, Eric, we want to see more uniformed officers. And that is the goal. And because of that, we’re going to increase those 200 officers in the system. This is on top of the 1,000 officers, additional officers we added last year. New officers, they’re gonna create the omnipresence of that blue uniform. So to match the numbers of safety, we want them to also feel safe.
Roughly 4.6 million people use our subway a day, 4.6 million. And out of those 4.6 million, we have an average of six felonies a day. And our goal is to get rid of those six felonies, but we also want those 4.6 [million] New Yorkers to know and feel as though they’re moving in a system that’s safer for them. And the greatest impact on that is, as I said over and over again, dealing with those with severe mental health illness, giving them the care that they need because it gives the impression that the system is out of control and we don’t want people to feel that way.
And we’re gonna continue to do our part around homelessness, of clearly focusing on homelessness in a real way. When you look at how much money we’ve invested, we’re going to do in our $650 million plan to tackle street homelessness by focusing on subways, severe mental health illness, and shelters. This spring, we will give hundreds of families a safe place. When we’re talking about just continuing our safety, we’re gonna give hundreds of New Yorkers a safe place.
And we’re really excited about the new Brigadier General Charles Young Field, $160 million to expand– let me go back for a moment. This field is crucial to young people. It is a real space where they can learn sports, they can really improve on their skills of working in teamwork, and just add onto the continuation of what we’re doing for our young people in this city. We’re gonna invest $163 million to expand five of the most successful programs that engage young people, helping to reach 8,000 young New Yorkers.
And City of Yes for Families, many people were asking about it. We’re excited about this, thanks to Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer and her team. It’s about using zoning. We had two major victories that were knitted together. Number one, when the team under Intergovernmental Affairs Director Tiffany Raspberry and the team went up to Albany, we were able to get huge victories out of Albany to deal with housing, everything from raising FAR to turning some of our office spaces into apartments. And then we had to come and pull off a very difficult but important feat with City of Yes under Dan Garodnick and Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer. When you added them together, it is laying a platform to build more, and now we’re looking for a City of Yes for Families and other plans that’s coming out of that.
The Manhattan Plan, for example, 100,000 new homes in the borough of Manhattan. When I sent out that executive order to all of our agencies and said, find places we can build more and what we can build on top of, everything is on the table and on the block. And one of the best examples of that is 100 Gold Street. We’re gonna produce substantial units of housing because of that piece of property. And so it’s a continuation to build more and make sure that we could house New Yorkers. One of the number one concerns we hear is after safety, affordability and housing is part of that.
Finally, before we take questions, to help us continue to make progress on the vision today, I’m making two personnel announcements as part of our City Hall review that would allow us to continue to deliver for working-class people, two just really dedicated public servants. And oftentimes, I read people and when they talk about the great staff that we have here at City Hall, and it amazes me sometimes when we don’t acknowledge you know, number one, the diversity of my staff and number two, some of the real hard workers that deliver for the city. And two of them are here.
My chief of staff, you know, just a number of hours, I could see Camille at police shootings, at shelters, at [inaudible], what she has done for this city and her skills of being able to navigate so much on her plate and stepping up and never saying, I’m not willing to do [it]. This is a 24-hour city and crises don’t wait for your alarm clock. They become your alarm clock. And long before any of us know about it, Camille is either on the scene, navigating the scene, and navigating how to move this city forward. You know, I am just really amazed at how much she keeps on her plate and able to do it successfully. And you often don’t hear her name comes up because she’s in the background, making sure the city functions. And you know, I just cannot thank her enough and always wanted more to do for the city. And so we are elevating her to the role of deputy mayor for Administration to add to her Chief of Staff portfolio.
I have a great deal of confidence. When I hand her the ball, she’s going to get it across the finish line and I don’t have to micromanage it. And so I thank her for her service and congratulations to this elevation. We are going to benefit from it in the City of New York.
And the second is the ever-present director of Intergovernmental Affairs, Tiffany Raspberry, will serve as deputy mayor for Intergovernmental Affairs. And it may have been lost on many of you last week when I did my State of the City and we started announcing people. You know who got the biggest applause? Go back and look at it, Tiffany. She got the biggest applause because her skillset is — the sixth sense she has to land these planes. Every year in Albany, we started out in the year saying you are not going to be able to get anything done in Albany. It will never happen. And I always told you what? Yes, we will. Because I knew who I had. I have the secret weapon, Tiffany Raspberry.
I knew she was going to go up there, speak with those elected officials, soothe their anxiety, deal with the other governmental entities. Going back to her days of being with Congressman Crowley, going back to her days and experience in Washington, D.C., her experience in Albany, what it takes to be a successful Intergovernmental Affairs person is not only to understand the legislation and the nuances, but one’s ability to land a plane.
Every budget cycle, it’s get no sleep and get it done. Every time we have to go to Albany, every time we have to go to Washington, putting her team together, and she has just really done what was needed, landing all of these deals. They don’t happen automatically, folks. Let me be clear. It does not happen automatically. In fact, it’s just the opposite. And so we are elevating her to the deputy mayor for Intergovernmental Affairs.
That role, the commitment, the dedication, her entire team, it needs to be at that level to really get the job done. And I just wanna thank both of them. During the most difficult times of being a mayor, you need go-to people, and these are two go-to people at my left and at my right that they have been committed and dedicated to the people of the city. So I’m gonna turn it over to you, chief of staff, and then we’ll turn it over to you, deputy mayor for Intergovernmental Affairs.
Deputy Mayor Camille Joseph Varlack, Administration: Thank you, Mayor Adams, for your continued trust in my leadership as I take on this expanded portfolio, and congratulations Tiffany. For the last two years as chief of staff, I have had the honor of working alongside an incredible team of hardworking city employees who show up every single day to ensure that New York City remains the greatest city in the world.
Together, we have managed an unprecedented humanitarian crisis, helping our newest New Yorkers take their next steps towards pursuing the American dream. Thanks to the collective effort of countless agencies, government partners, nonprofits, faith leaders, and everyday New Yorkers, the number of people in the city’s care has dropped for 27 straight weeks, and we have reduced costs by nearly 2.8 billion over three fiscal years, and by June 2025, we will have closed approximately 20 percent of our emergency sites.
I’ve also worked alongside our outstanding Office of Engagement, dedicated public servants who work tirelessly to ensure that New Yorkers are aware of any and every city, state, and federal benefit available to help make their lives easier. We know that for working-class families, every dollar counts, and our frontline engagement teams have helped New Yorkers put more than $30 billion back in their pockets.
Finally, we have seen the real damage that can come from extreme weather and climate change. As the extreme weather coordinator, I have seen our team answer the call for help and respond to crises at all hours, under any condition. They have not only responded with precision and professionalism, but most important, with care and compassion.
My title is new, but my mission remains the same as it has been since day one and across my entire career, to lead with integrity and excellence, to deliver bold, innovative, and results-driven governance that prioritizes the needs of New Yorkers. When I was appointed chief of staff, I shared my personal philosophy that my mother, a nurse from Trinidad and Tobago, who immigrated to the United States with my sister and me, taught us from a very, very young age. Order, structure, and discipline are non-negotiable. As I wake up every day and serve the city that I love, I look forward to continuing to embody this philosophy as I drive operational excellence in this expanded role as deputy mayor and help ensure that New York City remains the best city in the world.
Mayor Adams: Thank you so much. DM Tiffany Raspberry.
Deputy Mayor Tiffany Raspberry, Intergovernmental Affairs: Congratulations, Camille. It’s an honor to share this occasion with you. Thank you, Mayor Adams, for entrusting me with this elevated role. It is my greatest honor and privilege to continue to serve the people of the City of New York in this capacity.
Much like you, I am a proud, lifelong New Yorker, Brooklynite to be exact, from a blue-collar family. I grew up in a mixed generational household with my mother, grandmother, sister, and a mix of extended family members. We lived in Cooper Park Houses, which for those of you who don’t know, is a NYCHA housing complex located in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn. We did not have a lot and often struggled, but we had guaranteed affordable housing, which meant I never had to worry about where I slept each night.
My late mother, Ms. Adelaide Raspberry, was a member of DC 37, Local 372. And as a result, we had great health insurance, which was important because I was often sick as a child. My late father, Mr. Calvin Getter, was a proud member of TWU and an MTA employee.
Standing here today, I am reminded of the first time I was in this room. My kindergarten classmates and I, along with our parents, were guests of Mayor Ed Koch, who was announcing that all future New York City children would have access to all-day kindergarten. Prior to that time, kindergarten was available, but not guaranteed, and long wait lists existed throughout the system. My parents and I were lucky because I had been given a seat at my local school. My mother had recently started a job as a New York City school crossing guard and could go to work each day without worrying about my well-being.
You see, Mayor Adams, my life experiences have informed my work and inspired me to continue to serve every day. I say my parents’ names because I want to honor their service to New York City and legacy on this occasion. This accomplishment and promotion is as much theirs as it is mine. My story is not unique, but instead, reminiscent of the experiences of so many New Yorkers and their families. I am honored that my work over the past three years has allowed me to champion so many policy and legislative initiatives that will continue to make a difference in the lives of New Yorkers and families like mine, including the establishment of the NYCHA Preservation Trust, securing the authority to shut down illegal cannabis and smoke shops, extending the earned income tax credit, securing new tools to build affordable housing, and the reauthorization of mayoral accountability for New York City schools, amongst dozens of other legislative wins, and this administration’s renegotiation of union contracts for nearly all of the city’s workforce.
Growing up, I always understood the important role that government and public servants played in helping to improve the lives of New Yorkers, and I always dreamt that one day, I would have the opportunity to serve at the highest levels of government and make a difference for my community and the city. Mayor Adams, thank you again for giving me this opportunity. This city has given me so much, and I am honored to give back with my service.
Mayor Adams: Thank you. Thank you for that. And, you know, during, while you’re sitting here navigating crisis, you have an opportunity to sit down and speak to your staff and you see the real character, and I think that, you know, in retrospect, some of these stories, of all of them– Meera, you know, talking about, you know, the struggles of her parents, Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer, and we were sitting down the other day, she was giving me some history. Camille was giving me some history with her mother and her siblings, and, you know, some of these challenges that they, we’ve all gone through.
And pictures matter. That’s why I’m always carrying my mother’s picture, because it matters. People need to know that, look at who we are now, you know, being the mayor, being borough president, first borough president of color, state senator, captain of the Police Department. That’s my glory, that’s not my story. And what they have shared with me, they shared with me their stories.
And, you know, just one story with Tiffany that I will always remember. Young girl, growing up, on her way to school, get up in the morning, and Cooper Houses, she got up in the morning and she sees the detectives inside her house, and she has to sit down, she was taking an exam that day. She was sitting down, she had sat down to take, to get a breakfast like children do. The detectives were there because a bullet went through her window. And they were there doing an investigation of the bullet hole. And she sat down, had her, you know, her oatmeal, her cereal, and, you know, a mother, you know, doing what mothers do. She had to get up and she had to take that test. She had to take the test. The teacher who saw her didn’t know that, you know, hey, that a bullet shot just went through your window. She still had to take the exam. And she had to pass it. And that is the life that many New Yorkers are living every day. And that’s the character that you look for. And that’s the character I look for when I hire my team.
And it’s just their fortitude, their dedication, and their commitment. And that’s what they bring every day. And you’ll never see it, but I know it. And we have the best of the best. And I thank them for serving. Thanks so much, you know, as you do your job. I’m gonna excuse you so you don’t have to deal with this.
Question: The first one is that there’s a new poll in the [inaudible] that basically says that Andrew Cuomo, in the mayor’s race, he will win, not only in the first round he will come first, but after five rounds of rank choice voting, he will get 51 percent and beat everybody. Your reaction to him entering the race and being the odds on favor right now?
Mayor Adams: And this is January, right?
Question: This is January.
Mayor Adams: Okay, so I wanna show you something. This was out in February. Another Andrew. Andrew Yang opens up huge lead in race to be next New York City mayor. This was in February. We’re in January. So in February, Andrew was kicking my rear. And you know what? We don’t say Mayor Yang. We say Mayor Adams. So polls don’t make mayors. People do. And when you look at some of the people who ran office, they inherited empires. I didn’t. I didn’t inherit empires. I had to start from the bottom, and now I’m here.
I don’t focus on polls, folks. Those who carried me, Jeff, what did I always say? Stay focused, no distractions, and grind. You know, you used to sit down with me during those polls, and you’d say, look at these polls, Eric. Look, everybody’s getting in the race. And what’d I always say, Jeff? Jeff, stay focused, no distractions, and grind. So polls don’t make mayors. People do. And when you look at those who were in the race, those folks who were in the race the last time, and even now, they come from great head starts. Some people are born on third base. I wasn’t even born on a team. I don’t focus on that.
I’m going to connect with people the way I do. No one is going to outwork me. I am so committed authentically to New Yorkers. They connect with me. I went through some difficult hurdles. It’s amazing. I’m still in it with the number of things I had to go through, but I’m still here, and I’m going to do what New Yorkers do. And so whenever you hear these polls come out, just always think of this. They were calling the mayor. He was measuring these rates. I think Marcia had more.
Question: It also has to do with the mayor’s race. Brad Lander, the comptroller of the City of New York, who, as you know, is running for mayor, has a press conference this morning where he’s announcing a new plan to deal with getting the mentally ill homeless off the streets. Last week, after you announced your plan, he said it wouldn’t do anything in his plan. He says, well, it’s called the housing first plan. I wonder whether you think that he can get the mentally ill homeless off the streets better than you can, and your reaction to Brad Lander.
Mayor Adams: I remember last week, there were two questions that were raised when we were talking about the difficulty. Who raised that question about the difficulty of being mayor, and why I was saying that some people are not prepared? I don’t remember who. Was that your question, about the difficulties of being mayor, and why they could be mayor? Someone raised that, and I think that you raised that Jumaane, and some police officers thought that my management, I wasn’t a good manager.
And those two questions, I thought about them for the last few days, and it falls in line with what you just asked, just now, about Lander’s plan. You know, when you get in this seat, and you have to deal with what it takes to actually implement some of the things that people are saying, because you’re not alone. You can’t make decisions on your own. There’s other arms of government that you have to function with, such as passing legislation, such as getting things done up in Albany, down here. And so, you can come with the grandest plans, but when it comes to actually implementing those plans, it’s not realistic.
So, we’re clear on this. We know what we have done. We moved over 8,000 New Yorkers from the subways into shelters– that sounded like a gun for a moment, you know? 8,000 New Yorkers from the subways into shelters, connected 2,800 homeless individuals to permanent housing, and 2024 alone, helped 18,500 households transition from shelters to state homes. All of these are records that we’ve done about building housing. He supported stopping us from removing encampments off our streets. I mean, think about that for a moment. Remember when we took office? We had encampments in our subway systems. We had encampments on our highways. We had encampments everywhere. Remember what I said? We’re gonna remove these encampments out of our subway system within a certain period of time, and we did that.
And so anyone that supports people living in encampments on our streets, go look at these other cities. Cooking, using the bathroom on the streets, injecting yourself with drugs in encampments and tents, drug paraphernalia, human waste, all of those things. And so this philosophical approach to government is not the real approach to government. And so we know what we have done. We’re gonna redouble down on that with $650 million to tackle street homelessness. And what those of us who, those who have gone out with us, I think NJ, you went out sometime, one time with us. When you’re dealing with people with severe mental health illness, and you tell them you need to come in and get care, do you know how hard that is? He needs to factor that into his plan.
When he reaches out and says, I’m gonna lift a finger for you, and the person who’s dealing with severe mental health illness gives him the finger, then he needs to talk about how he’s going to make it happen. We know what we’re doing. The stats are there. We proved it. So he can roll out all the plans he wants. Our success is clear, and we’re gonna continue to deal with this national problem that we are facing.
And he purposely left out the fact that 395 people have been connected to service thanks to our encampment task force. Deputy Mayor Williams-Isom needs to show you these pictures, because we documented this, of these areas where encampments were. We turned back communities to the residents based on our encampment work. Street homelessness, as the country is showing, is so difficult and so challenging, and my mayors are saying across the country, Eric, what you guys are doing is unbelievable, that we’re not seeing in your city what we’re seeing in other cities.
[Crosstalk.]
Question: On the shelter closures that you announced Friday, how does your administration hope to close shelters in the coming months, additional shelters for migrants? And in the change in federal administration, how is that going to help you, hinder you? What effect is that gonna have on your work to close?
Mayor Adams: Well, it was very important to us as we successfully did our 30- and 60-day program that everyone was criticizing us for. No, I’m sorry, not everyone, because the overwhelming number of New Yorkers supported what we were doing. The traditional, loud people were criticizing us for. We did a 30- and 60-day program. We said, you can’t stay here forever. You did not come to America to live in shelters. You came here to go on your next step on your journey.
178,000 people transitioned out because of that successful 30- and 60-day program and intense care, legal services, pushing for TPS status, pushing for the ability to work, getting policy changed in Washington to do that. Because of that, we saw over 70-something percent of people who came here moving on to the next steps of their journey. That allows us to close down the shelters. That allowed us, in one year, from June 24 to June 25, closed 46 shelters.
Yesterday, I was out at Floyd Bennett Field. It’s unbelievable that shelter is coming down. We had over 2,000 people there, families. People said that these children are going to be harmed. All of them were safe because of that. And so now we are shifting to say, where do we need to move people to, so better management, better control, so we can continue to decrease the population of those who we want to transition out?
And I think the new focus by this administration on ensuring that we secure our border and come up with real immigration policies, I think is going to assist us. We’re seeing a decrease already in the number of people who are coming in. More are leaving than those who are coming in, and we’re looking to continue to see the decrease. We were able to find $2.8 billion and save it over the fiscal year from what we paid previously dealing with this humanitarian crisis. And we’re going to continue to see.
We’re at 27 straight weeks of population declines in our shelters, and we’re moving in the right direction. We successfully managed a humanitarian crisis. And that’s what history is going to show. And we want to continue to close down shelter locations. And we saw the 13 closures that we’re looking to reduce. Those are 10,000 beds that we’re going to reduce. We announced 13 closures on Friday, and we’re going to continue to close these sites and locations.
Question: Good to see you. Just following that, when you go to Albany, how do you plan to convince legislative leaders to get on board with involuntary removal? And that’s number one. And number two, when do you plan on having a personal meeting with Donald Trump?
Mayor Adams: Well, it seemed like folks were already on board. The governor’s call to look at this whole severe mental health crisis, I’m just really pleased that she’s– because her leadership is going to be needed. And when she makes something part of her budget announcement, it becomes a rallying cry. And both in my conversations with both leaders there, Speaker Heastie, Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, they know this is a real issue. And so that’s a good starting point.
Now, Albany will do what Albany does, and they will navigate how to actually get the finished product. So I think that we are seeing how these incidents are impacting our overall success. They’re overshadowing our success. When you have individuals who are carrying out these random acts of violence, it impacts the city and state. And it’s not only a problem here. It’s happening all over the state. And so I think we’re in a good place. We’re going to Albany with the wind. It’s in our sail. And it’s going to move us to get this land. It’s playing to get it done. So we think we’re going to get some great stuff done this cycle, this session.
Question: As far as meeting with the president-elect, do you have a plan? Did you have a commitment there to meet with him personally?
Mayor Adams: New York is the largest city. We’re the economic engine for the country. And we’re going to reach out with his team to meet with his staffers. There are a series of meetings. First Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer went to Washington with the chief of staff and additional delegation members to go and start engaging.
We want to engage early. The goal is, as the president takes roots, we’re going to reach out to sit down and speak with his team. We’re already engaged with incoming team members. We want to continue to do that. When time permits, this is his home city. We’re going to sit down, reach out, and want to sit down with him and talk about some of our vision for the city. In my conversation with him, he’s been clear that he wants to help New York and New Yorkers, and I’m looking forward to engaging there. So right now, there’s no definite plan, but we will announce when it’s put in place.
Question: I’m good, thank you. I just wanted to circle back on the Hart Research Poll, and then I had another question. You say polls don’t matter, people do, but polls are made up of potential voters. Are you nervous about how Cuomo’s polling with the New Yorkers you’re relying on to get reelected?
Mayor Adams: Nope. I’ve been here before. This is deja vu. Right now, those of you who are sports enthusiasts, right now, this is the season. Campaign is the playoff. That’s the playoff. No matter how well you do in the season, when it’s the playoff, your game changes.
And this is what I do, being out among New Yorkers, talking with them, speaking with them, interacting with them. And you know what’s the most interesting thing? I’ve been in this business for a little while, not as long as so many others, but I have not met someone that got a call from a pollster, you know what I’m saying? These guys won’t even show us their cross tabulations. And look at the name of the polls. So, no matter who is doing the poll, we’re in the season now. And this is where the rubber meets the road, and that’s why I show you this article.
In February, Yang had a double-digit lead on me. You know, my story resonates with New Yorkers. No one handed me an empire. I’m building empires for New Yorkers. And when I move through these communities, I had a meeting last week with an event, with members of the Afghan community. They said, no one has ever come to see us before. You know, everyday people I’m connecting with. As I walk down the block on Roosevelt Avenue and speak to those everyday, large Ecuadorian communities, they said, you’ve been here so many times. So, I can’t sit back and worry about what the pollsters say. I got to focus on what the people say.
Question: And I just had one more question, sorry. You would talk about affordability, you know, going into the re-election. You proposed eliminating New York City income taxes for more than 400,000 people of the lowest wage earners. But Governor Hochul’s so-called Cap-and-Invest plan could cause spikes in heat and gas for New Yorkers already struggling. How do you propose to offset these rising costs with the pledge you’ve made for making the city more affordable?
Mayor Adams: Well, here’s my job. My job is to look at what I can do as the mayor to put money back in the pockets of New Yorkers. And I think one of the least reported successes of this administration is our Money in Your Pockets, $30 billion. We are going to eliminate medical debt, up to roughly $2 billion for people. Number one cause of bankruptcy. What we’re doing with foster care children paying their college tuition, allowing them to have life coaches until they’re 26, high-speed broadband for NYCHA residents. We’re going to expand it out to other low-income communities, increasing the number of people that are able to get reduced fare, MetroCards, the money we’re paying for swimming lessons. When you just start adding up, dropping the cost of childcare from $55 a week to less than $5 a week, when you just start, this same pocket of low-income New Yorkers are now getting a series of ways that they can put money back in their pockets to make ends meet. I like to say that I cannot do anything about the price of bread, but I could put bread in your pocket.
I can’t control federal and state governments. I can control what I’m doing here in the city for working class people. And they’re real numbers, real results from the record-breaking affordable housing years, to transitioning families from homeless shelters into permanent housing. We’re doing those tangible things that could help New Yorkers. And I can’t control what happens in the other parts of the government. We can know what we’re doing here.
Now, I know the governor is interested in doing some tax elimination. Carl Heastie, the speaker, has said the same thing. We all know we have to do something about this affordability issue. And when you look at what we’re doing with Axe the Tax, it’s more than just a slogan and a bumper sticker, it’s real.
A mother who’s making $31,000 a year has a child. We’re saying no more personal income tax. I mean, it’s some cutting-edge stuff that we’re doing. You’re seeing a practical progressive doing real things and not just symbolic things.
Question: So my colleague Greg wrote a story about a deadly e-bike fire last year in Harlem that killed one person. Neighbors had called 311 to complain, but there wasn’t much action even though you’ve told people to call 311. Do you want to improve that system of complaining about e-bikes to 311 under some other training?
And then secondly, the NYPD won’t reveal how many people are killed in their vehicle pursuits. I don’t know why they’re not revealing that. Would you make that information open to the public?
Mayor Adams: Well, I would definitely find out from the commissioner why, is there a reason she’s not revealing? I don’t know, so I’ll find out. I’ll call Commissioner Tisch. I know she’s doing some changes on vehicle pursuits and how she wants them handled on the ground level. I know she’s doing that, but I’ll find out exactly why, if there’s a particular reason. And 311 should respond. Now, was the call saying that there’s a illegal–
Question: Two neighbors called and said, there are e-bikes being charged here, we think it’s bad, we think it’s deadly. One was given, you know, they’re kind of redirected and I think they’re not prioritized well.
Mayor Adams: Right, shouldn’t happen.
Question: So I think the question is, yeah, you ask people to call 311 and there’s not much action–
Mayor Adams: Definitely, no. It shouldn’t happen. We’re gonna look into that. We’re gonna use that incident as a case study to find out what happened. We should go out there and do an inspection because we should be more proactive. I don’t wanna wait until we have a big blaze. So we’re gonna take– if you could tell us the 311 number so that we can track it back and I could have Commissioner Tucker find out what happened there, you know, because that’s not acceptable.
If somebody gives us information that batteries are being illegally charged, we should get there that day. Even if FDNY can’t get there right away, PD should get there. Someone should get there, do an examination because that could prevent a fire.
Question: Mr. Mayor, I would like to ask if you plan on attending or are you gonna attend the [inaudible] for the Pulaski Parade’s grand marshal this Thursday? And the second question, is it true that the LA mayor refused help from FDNY, are you planning on sending FDNY there?
Mayor Adams: Yeah, yeah, thank you for that. You know, that’s why it’s good to have diversity in the media because, you know, you make sure Polish communities stay on target. I’m not sure where those stories came from that the LA mayor refused to receive support and help from us. That did not come from us.
There’s a process when the municipality is requesting assistance. It goes through FEMA on a federal and on a state level. There’s an entire process that’s in place. What they ask for, it was certification for forest fires, something like that. We don’t have those certifications. You know, we have a little team for brush fires, but we’re not normally known for having large fires like they’re seeing. Now, what we did, I spoke to Zach Iscol, who really coordinates and manages this, our commissioner over at OEM, and I communicated with him over the weekend and stated that although we can’t give them what their broadcast through FEMA ask for, see if they’re willing to take what we do have, such as managements, to give a break and relief to those who are managing the fires.
Our heart goes out to Los Angeles. This is so devastating, what we’re seeing unfolding there, and our goal is to see, here’s what we can offer, and if you could use it, that we could help you in any way, we’re willing to do it, but they did not turn down anything from us. I don’t know where those stories came from. That didn’t happen.
Question: [Inaudible.]
Mayor Adams: To where’s it going to be?
Question: [Inaudible.]
Mayor Adams: Okay, you know, you gotta find out from Gladys. They control my life. I just wake up in the morning, and I go on automatic pilot, you know? Good, how are you?
Question: You stated previously that you support rolling back discovery reforms.
Mayor Adams: I’m sorry, which reforms?
Question: Discovery reforms. Do you have any concern that scaling those back would undo progress made by those reforms? And then my second question, are both Tiffany and Camille getting raises for their new roles, and if so, how much?
Mayor Adams: Go back to the first one. You said, do I support scaling them?
Question: In the past, you stated that you do support rolling back discovery reforms. Do you have any concern that undoing some of those reforms would threaten any progress made by them?
Mayor Adams: No, no, I don’t. The DAs, all of them are united. Many of these cases are dropped because of the reforms, because of the time, I should say, because of the time of turning over evidence. Prosecutors must turn over evidence, and I think the tweaks that they’re asking for is not going to impact on a person’s due process. It’s just giving the proper time. So I don’t think it’s going to get in the way of the success that was made. And deputy mayors’ salaries are all the same. All deputy mayors and chief of staffs and chief counsels get the same salary, and so it would be the same salary for the deputy mayors and chief of staffs.
Question: Isn’t Camille retaining her previous role, too?
Mayor Adams: Yes, yes, she is.
Question: I wanted to ask a couple questions about your re-election efforts. Since you brought it up today. But I’m wondering, during the last fundraising period, your fundraising had fallen off after the federal indictment. A new period is coming up. I’m wondering if you think, have your numbers rebounded at all?
And do you see that as any way a reflection of how people feel about you running for mayor again? And then secondly, you were asked previously whether you would accept a pardon from President Trump. And you said you would seek justice because you believe you were unfairly charged. I’m wondering if you do accept a pardon from President Trump, do you think that New Yorkers would have an issue with re-electing you as mayor?
Mayor Adams: Okay, you know, when you look at that fundraising cycle, I’ve always, for the most part, led fundraising numbers. I don’t think there’s ever been a time that I didn’t lead fundraising numbers. This cycle, there was so much going on. The last fundraising cycle, there was so much going on. There was some real initiatives.
Our City of Yes initiative and a host of other things that I had to really double down and put my 100 percent attention to what was going on. And even this cycle here. But I think the numbers that are coming out that’s going to show in a short period of time how New Yorkers, you know, my base of support is still there. And I think, I don’t know the exact numbers that we have, but they’ll be reported in, I think, the next couple of days. I think the 15th, they’ll come out. They’ll come out in the next couple of days.
And so, again, in a short period of time, New York is, people call me and say, Eric, we haven’t heard anything from your fundraising. How, you know, how do we help? How do we stay on board? My core is still there, still very much diverse, and still very much supported. And we’re looking forward to that support.
Your second one was about… And I’m not gonna speculate on that. Well, listen, I did nothing wrong. I should not have been charged. My attorney is going to seek justice wherever possible. Even the recent announcement of someone who pled guilty, you know, as my attorney said, we have discovery from the federal government. And in that discovery, this person stated over and over again that Eric didn’t know anything about this.
You know, that was missing from a lot of your stories, but the reality was, he said, based on what they gave us, Eric knew nothing about this. And so, any questions about the case, you should speak to Alex. I’ve said his name, yeah. Everybody should know his name by heart by now. But, you know, he made it clear that, you know, this individual who pled, said Eric knew nothing about this.
Question: We are a week into congestion pricing at this point. And I think people would like you to be a little more precise about how you feel about it, what you like about it, what you don’t like about it, and would it surprise you to know, that people were able to go through the Lincoln Tunnel at 5 o’clock Saturday evening, 5 o’clock, and got through the Lincoln Tunnel in four minutes, from New Jersey to Manhattan?
Mayor Adams: Right. I think in order to be precise, we need precise numbers. They’re doing an analysis. We’re going to look forward on the analysis. And I just didn’t want to, you know, people saw how I was just allowing the process to play out. I just did not want to throw more hysteria into this whole thing. This is a major change. It’s a major shift from New Yorkers.
It’s the same shift we had the first time we said we were going to toll bridges. It was an uproar. People [were] like, you know, tolling bridges? What are you talking about? And so I want the data to come forward, I want us to analyze the data, see what we need to tweak. What do we need to do better? Are there changes that we can make? And I just wanted to give it a fair opportunity to do so. It’s the law of the land right now. And the worst thing I can do is throw more hysteria into this law of the land, particularly I don’t have any control over, you know?
And that’s why I said over and over again, I was hoping that the City Council and the Mayor’s Office would be the bodies that would determine how our streets are managed. But the reality, it isn’t. We’re a creature of Albany. Albany made a decision. The MTA made a decision. I must make sure that whatever laws are passed by Albany are carried out. That’s what the Police Department is doing. That’s what DOT will continue to do. We’re going to do our role in it. And let the analysis take root. And there are enough things, you know, any time you charge people more money, it’s not favorable and people are unhappy.
I got enough things that people are not happy about. What am I going to just like join in and all of a sudden say, you know, be unhappy for me that I have no control over? Like people are unhappy about the migrants and asylum seekers because they thought it was me. They said, Eric, you’re doing this. So, I don’t need to take more criticism. Let criticism go where people want it to go. Let the analysis go through.
Question: Five o’clock on a Saturday night?
Mayor Adams: Yeah, that Saturday night, I want people in the city spending money. And it’s a four-minute reflection that people decided to take the PATH. We need to see. But I would like them inside the city spending money at my restaurants and have the nightlife.
Question: Mayor, two quick things. With congestion pricing putting more people on public transportation and the cold weather forcing the homeless population underground, have you guys surged outreach workers recently?
I know you’re newly announced $650 million policy. Is there a surge right now of outreach workers? And back to the migrant shelters, you announced the many dozen closures, but also the opening of a large Bronx facility. You’ve had trouble with the big facilities, in particular Randall’s Island. Why did your team decide that another big facility was part of the solution right now?
Mayor Adams: Because we want to, as we close down sites, we want to merge into very controlled sites. And you said we had trouble with it. We have not had trouble with it. When you have thousands of people in one location, unable to work, have to sit around all day, and you’re able to manage it the way we’ve managed it with Police Department and the other entities, it’s really a hats off.
And so we’re now taking people outside to inclement weather. We’re returning Randall’s Island to the individuals, the sports team, the recreational. We promised them we were not going to keep this forever. And now we’re closing down the Floyd Bennett Fields, the Randall’s Islands, the Hall Street location. We’re now returning communities, and I got to take my hat off to those communities who were patient and tolerant. We’re returning some sense of stability back to those communities.
And so what we’re doing in the Bronx site, large site, but it’s very controlled. It’s indoors. It’s not outdoors. Randall’s Islands, you saw some tents popping up. You saw all sorts of things going on. And we want to move away from that. And we’re going to continue to decrease the population based on our policies that we put in place.
Question: Will it still be like metal detectors and periodic sweeps like we saw at Randall’s Island, or you’re not hoping it has to go in that direction?
Mayor Adams: We’re going to analyze and make sure public safety is always at the forefront. I think we did two sweeps at Randall’s Island, which is a small number for as long as it has been open. And yes, if we need metal detectors, we’re going to put them there. We’re going to do whatever needs to be done to keep those who are inside safe and those who are outside in the perimeter safe. That’s the key here.
Question: I just wanted to clarify something. You had said Maria Torres Springer, Deputy Mayor, was traveling to D.C. Was that recently? And who was she meeting with? And then when was the last time your staff spoke with anyone, part of the incoming administration, with President-elect Donald Trump’s team? And was the last time you had a conversation with one of them? Was that when Tom Homan was here? And then I’ll be in D.C. in a week. Will I be seeing you there?
Mayor Adams: She went, I think, two weeks, three weeks ago. Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer went down with a team to speak with members on both sides of the aisle to talk about the incoming administration and some of the ideas that we have. We’re in communication.
We believe to communicate with people. And we have been in constant communications with members of the incoming administration. We have been in continuous communications to talk about some big ticket items, things that are important to us, from our infrastructure, to grants to continuing some of the success we’ve had in the billions of dollars we were able to get from the federal government due to what Deputy Mayor Meera Joshi put in place. So we’ve been in constant communication with them around a host of different issues.
Question: And will you be at the inauguration next week?
Mayor Adams: Team is still trying to figure out if they’re going to let me go. But either way, I think I’m in D.C. I may be going to D.C. for the Black Mayors event if I’m going to be there for the whole weekend. There’s going to be a lot of things happening over the next few days, over the weekend. And so we’re still trying to figure it out.
Like I said, I have a full calendar for Dr. King’s birthday. There are some events that I want to attend. And we’ll know by then if we’re going to make it D.C. But people are going to celebrate their victory and just enjoy the moment. Those who worked hard, that’s just the way it is during this time of the year.
Question: Albany-wise, are you planning to attend the State of the State tomorrow? What are you really hoping, is there one thing you’re really hoping to hear from the governor? And then do you also have meetings scheduled with legislative leaders? And what are you hoping to hear from them?
Mayor Adams: It’s interesting. For three years, I’m surprised it took the day before. Normally, Kayla, we’re inundated with what you guys are going to get from Albany. So I think they finally realized we land the planes.
But normally, you guys, like two weeks leading up, it’s like, I mean, I read some of those articles. Eric’s plummeted in Albany. Eric got a beat down in Albany. But this is like the day before. I was really surprised that I didn’t hear this for two weeks. You know? You said you came out with your team cup. And there’s still time for us.
[Crosstalk.]
Mayor Adams: So we have a couple of items. You know, as was just mentioned, the involuntary removal is crucial for us. It acts the tax for the working class. It’s another important issue. I’m hoping to hear some type of tax relief from the governor. I’m hoping to hear some form of involuntary removal is important. I’m hoping to hear something about discovery is important.
And so our list is not a crazy list this year. You know, they’ve been so, Andrea Stewart Cousins, the majority leader, and Speaker Heastie, and the governor, they’ve been so good to our city. So we’re not coming up there with a huge list this year of just some important things that we think needs to be done to continue the success that we have shown in the city.
And they have acknowledged that we’ve managed this city through crises. You know, we have an excellent ability to manage our city through crises. Other people, if they had this weight on their shoulders that we are dealing with, may not have been able to manage it.
But they’re looking at it, and they’re saying, listen, you’ve got to give them credit. This team knows how to manage during crises. I think it comes from my law enforcement days of managing crises as a desk officer or as a executive officer. Managing crises is what we know how to do. And we’ve got a good team, and we’re doing it.
Question: Is bail on the, is rolling back bail reforms on the list, or no?
Mayor Adams: I’ve said it before over and over again. People always use bail as this magic terminology. It’s recidivism is the issue for me. Not bail. I think that they did a good job. They heard us. Speaker Heastie and the majority leaders heard us when we talked about it. They made those adjustments. I’m focused on now just recidivism. If we can get these bad guys that are committing the same crimes over and over again, including some of the property crimes, like theft of service, et cetera, it’s recidivism. It’s not bail. You know, people think that the term bail. I don’t have an issue with what they’ve done. We need to deal with recidivism and discovery.
Question: I have two questions for you. Last week, the Independent Budget Office, [inaudible], released a report that revealed your administration was over-forecasting migrant spending, despite major reductions in arrivals and other expenditures. They claim even the most recent November Plan was completely over budget. I wanted to get your response to that.
And speaking of congestion pricing, there were some Republican New York lawmakers meeting with Trump over the weekend about reversing that plan. If the incoming president were to reverse congestion pricing, would you support it? You mentioned it’s the law of the land now. So I’m not sure. If you know something, you don’t know.
Mayor Adams: Well, if he reverses it, it doesn’t matter if I support or don’t support. You know, what many people in various branches of government I’ve learned, they hurray when their branch is able to use their authorizations to carry something out. And then they get angry when other branches. That’s why we have these three branches of government. And if the federal government has the authority to do something within their powers, then we can’t sit back and complain about it, because we do things within our powers.
Whatever we need to do to deal with congestion, environment, the environmental issues, how to make sure it’s done fair and not balance it on the back of working class people, I’m in favor of [it]. But if the president decides an action such as that, I don’t control that. I don’t control that. I know what I control, and I control what I control. And we have done a darn good job in controlling what we control. So… I like that.
And you were asking, first thing you asked me…
Question: Independent Budget Office–
Mayor Adams: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Listen, I’m not sure. And Jacques can look over if there has to be some adjustments. He can look over it to make determination. If we’re off by half a billion, we spent $6.5 billion. So if we’re off by half a billion, $100 million, then we need to adjust that.
But the bottom line is, New Yorkers lost over $6 billion to a federal crisis that we should not have had to pay for. And that’s why I gave that list of items that we could have used the money to do. And so if people want to say, okay, Eric, your math is not good. You’re $100 million off. Okay, say that about me. But what about the other $6 billion? That’s what they should be focusing on.
They should be focusing on the fact that $6 billion, this city taxpayer’s dollars should not have gone to a national crisis. That money should have gone to deal with the crises we have in the city. And I’m not going to go back and forth with them of saying, you’re off $50 million. You’re off $30 million. Fine, okay, I surrender. My math is not the best. It’s not the best. But can they talk about the $6 billion? That’s what we should be focusing on, the $6 billion.
$6 billion of taxpayers’ money went to pay for crises that we should not have had to pay for, as well as the other issues that came with 220,000 people coming to the city not able to work, not able to take care of themselves. That’s the real issue. And so if they want to say that we’re off by a couple of numbers, we need to adjust it, we’ll adjust it. But that’s what I want to focus on, the $6 billion. Okay, well, Jacques will look at it and make the determination.
Source: NYC.gov , Midtown Tribune
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