New York City Mayor Eric Adams took to the airwaves on 1010 Wins’ “Morning Drive” with Scott Stanford on May 2, 2025, to pitch his newly unveiled $115.1 billion Fiscal Year 2026 Executive Budget, rolled out at Bayside High School and dubbed the “Best Budget Ever.” Speaking from his alma mater, Adams spotlighted a cornerstone initiative: universal after-school programs, which he said provide safe havens for kids while easing burdens on working families. He touted additional investments in libraries, public safety, and housing, crediting his administration’s fiscal discipline for navigating the city through the economic fallout of COVID and the asylum seeker crisis. When pressed on City Council Finance Chair Justin Brannan’s online critique, Adams dismissed it as political maneuvering ahead of Brannan’s comptroller bid, emphasizing the city’s strong bond rating, record job growth, and declining crime rates as evidence of his effective stewardship. Adams pushed back against Department of Investigations Commissioner Jocelyn Strauber’s claim of “unprecedented” ethics issues at City Hall, calling it an unfair swipe at municipal workers. He also addressed the tragic death of Harlem’s “Mama Z,” killed by a stray bullet, vowing to attend her memorial and highlighting efforts to curb gun violence, including removing 21,000 illegal firearms and tackling recidivism, noting the suspect’s prior arrest for a violent crime. On a lighter note, Adams chuckled about his merengue dancing skills before affirming confidence in upcoming budget negotiations with the City Council, signaling a focus on delivering results for New York’s working-class families.
Mayor Adams Calls In for Live Interview on 1010 Wins’ “Morning Drive”
Scott Stanford: We’ve been talking about the mayor’s fiscal 2026 budget, which Mr. Adams unveiled last night, $115 billion, labeled it the Best Budget Ever as he spoke at his high school alma mater, Bayside High School in Queens yesterday. I want to bring in Mayor Adams this morning. Mayor, thanks for taking a few minutes. Does the place still look the same as when you graduated?
Mayor Eric Adams: It’s amazing how the classroom seems smaller when you become an adult, but the energy was still there. The old Bayside Commodores we used to call ourselves.
Stanford: Mike Tirico from ESPN, Daymond John from Shark Tank, just amongst the others that have graduated from that school. Listen, you call this the Best Budget Ever, lots of good stuff in there. Just to trim this down for our conversation, what’s your number one favorite item in that budget proposal?
Mayor Adams: Wow, that’s a difficult one, but I have to say universal after-school, so important because it’s an investment in children, gives them a safe space, allows parents the opportunity to develop what they would like to do with their lives, knowing their child is in a safe space. So that’s very important to me.
But investment in libraries, investment in public safety, our police, all of those things in the budget show that we are ensuring our city moves forward because of how well we have managed this crisis of both COVID and the asylum seekers that we had to deal with. This city has recovered and I’m really proud as a Bayside high school graduate, public school high school and public school college. This is what’s great about this city.
Stanford: Yeah, sounds great. Listen, mayor, yesterday after you announced the budget, Council Finance Chair Justin Brannan posted this message online. I want to play it for you.
[Video Plays.]
Do you take that as a veiled shot at you and your administration?
Mayor Adams: No, not at all. Everyone knows Justin is running for comptroller, so he has to find ways to get sound bites. He knows I’ll pass the sound budget. Not only what I am saying, but think about our bond rate. Our bond rate has looked at my last three years and four months in office and said this guy managed us out of twin crises and still has a record number of jobs in this city, dropped unemployment, built record number of housing, more than the former two mayors combined, brought down crime, [and] people are back on our subway system. And so we should be celebrating right now as a city that shows the resiliency of our city.
Stanford: Mayor, yesterday, Department of Investigations Commissioner Jocelyn Strauber, who you appointed, said that the ethics problems at City Hall right now are unprecedented. Your reaction to that statement, sir?
Mayor Adams: Well, you know, that’s unfortunate that she would make a comment like that. That tarnishes all the working class people who are there doing the job. And I didn’t see the comment, and so I have to look over to exactly what content she was making that statement.
Stanford: Mayor, later today, you’re going to be attending a memorial for the Harlem woman known as Mama Z. She was killed by that stray bullet last week. The community coming together there, everybody agreeing some kind of change has to happen. We know that. But tell me about her– What have you learned about her? She was certainly a pillar of that community.
Mayor Adams: Yes. And, you know, she owned a store in the area. I spoke with her son the day of the shooting. And that’s why it is so important to continue to remove guns off our streets. You know, we removed over 21,000 illegal guns off our streets. Some of them were ghost guns. This is the pursuit and recidivism.
The person who was involved in the shooting that was shooting at someone else, he was just arrested last year for stabbing two people during a robbery. When I talk about recidivism, this is what I talk about. And I’m going to stop by and show my support for that family. But these are the victims I think about every day, working-class people who have to experience the violence by a small number of people in our city.
Stanford: Mayor, before we go, I always like to leave you on a light note. Now, I saw your video this week, dancing a little merengue, I believe. I have the audio clip here. Mayor, you’ve said merengue is the ballet of America. You look pretty good out there. Where did you cut your teeth in the field of merengue, sir?
Mayor Adams: You know, I used to be a dancer as a child. I danced in this old show called Solar Live many years ago. I still have a few moves left.
Stanford: I love it. Mayor Eric Adams, the new budget. Next step, you negotiate now with the City Council, right, on this budget?
Mayor Adams: Yes, and we’re looking forward to it. You heard Justin Brannan’s comments. We are sure that no one is going to be able to critique the investment we’ve made in the future of children and families.
Stanford: Mayor Eric Adams, thank you, sir. Thanks for the time. Have a great weekend.
Mayor Adams: Thank you. Take care.
May 2, 2025 Manhattan, New York
Sources: NYC.gov, Midtown Tribune,
TV503.com , BigNY.com
