Bianca Peters: So, let's talk about 2023. It has been a challenging year for New York City and Mayor Eric Adams.
Rosanna Scotto: From the migrant crisis to the end of the year budget cuts to a long debate over congestion pricing, these are just some of the biggest issues for all of us living in New York this year.
Joining us right now with a look ahead to 2024, New York City Mayor Eric Adams. Nice to have you back here.
Mayor Eric Adams: Thank you. It's good to be in the studio.
Scotto: All right. So, let's talk about something positive first: crime is down.
Mayor Adams: Yes. Yes. 12 percent decrease in homicides, 26 percent decrease in shootings. You know, I said it all the time, prerequisite to prosperity is public safety. Five of the seven major crime categories are down, people are back on our subway systems, crime in the subway system is down. We talked about this in the beginning of my administration. So, we have to keep forging ahead. We're not where we want to be but we're trending in the right direction.
Scotto: Right, because our normal is not really normal.
Mayor Adams: Well, I don't...I don't know about that, you know, it's never normal for any crime to be on our street. We have to go after repeated offenders. They have made up their mind they're going to be violent on our streets, they must stay off our streets.
Scotto: So, I'm just wondering. Today, the City Council is considering some very controversial bills. One of them is called the Low Level Stop policing, you're not in favor of it, said it's going to bog down police officers with a lot of paperwork, going to just eat up their day.
Public advocate, he was here last week, he was like, oh, it's not a big deal. It's not going to apply to tourists who have been stopped on the street, or you know, low level investigations. But you see it differently.
Mayor Adams: Right. And the definition of a Level 1 stop is defined by court case as police service. So, if someone, if a police officer is looking for a missing person, every person he stops to ask and to investigate, crime or not, he has to make, he needs to document that. Let's say it's just one person, it's three to five minutes. But if there's 20 people, do the math: it's 100 minutes.
Scotto: So, why does the public advocate say that's not true?
Mayor Adams: That's a great question. We explained it and showed him the exact terminology. For him to continue to push the state that a police service is not that type of interaction is just not making any sense to me.
Scotto: Is this going to be as bad as the bail reform, which had to be reformed and still...?
Mayor Adams: Let me tell you why...well, bail reform is a totally different conversation, because any time we allow repeated offenders out on the street is extremely dangerous. What this is going to do, this is going to take police officers from doing protection to paperwork. That is just, it's going to add in overtime, it's going to really take away from the focus. We need to have our police officers on the street doing policing not paperwork.
Peters: Well, another bill that you are objecting is the bill to ban solitary confinement, which your City Council is saying, we don't really care about your objections, we're going to go ahead and likely vote forward on this today. Number one, will you veto this; and number two, tell us why the City Council is on the wrong side of this issue.
Mayor Adams: I'm not in support of solitary confinement, I'm in support of punitive segregation. If someone commits an assault on the street we place them in jail because they should not be in society until it's resolved. What City Council is saying is while they're in jail if they commit an assault on someone, an inmate or a correction officer, before we place them into punitive segregation we need to allow them to have a trial of due process.
That is saying, if someone assaults me on the street, before I could place them in jail, they must have a trial to determine if I'm going to arrest them and place them in the jail. That makes no sense. 80 percent of the people who are assaulted in jail are inmates, so who are they protecting?
They're protecting a small number of people who are committing crimes in jail against the inmates and the correction officers who are there and the civilians who are there. It's just, these public safety bills without having true understanding of public safety is hurting public safety.
Peters: So, you're going to veto this [inaudible]?
Mayor Adams: Well, look at it. First it has to go through the process with the City Council. We don't know if this is going to be passed in the City Council. Then our team is going to look at it and make a determination.
Peters: Another big, big issue for you this past year— and it's probably going to likely be into 2024— is the border crisis. We have the cover of New York Post, want to put that up there to show you, because this picture says a thousand words. The cover of the Post says, surrendered. Shows...and also says Biden does nothing as record number illegally cross border.
Now, you recently said that after 10 visits to D.C. that there is no immediate or no urgency in their response. But could it be a possibility that maybe this administration wants this to happen on purpose? Because we're trying to find some other fathomable reason as to why they would let this continue to happen in the past couple of years. They're watching it happen right before their eyes.
Mayor Adams: I am lost and I'm confused on this topic on why we still almost 20 months later, 7,500 and they're saying, hey, we can't handle it anymore, we're at 150,000. $5 billion in our budget, $12 budget over the three‑year period. It is really impacting the basic services in our city and we need a relief.
Peters: Would you vote for someone else in the upcoming election that says I want to take a different approach to the border?
Mayor Adams: Well, when it comes down to presidential races, it's more than just one specific item. This is a painful one. But it's the totality of what the policies that they stand for. When I look at the field now, Biden is the person that I would vote for.
Scotto: Are you still the Biden of Brooklyn?
Mayor Adams: Well, I feel like because I'm being inundated [laughter].
Scotto: I mean, but when you said that...
Mayor Adams: Yes. And listen, I like Biden's style. Listen, here you have a president that took the train just about every day to Washington, D.C. He's a blue collar mindset, a blue collar...
Scotto: I know, but you went to D.C. how, 10 times?
Mayor Adams: 10 times, yes.
Scotto: Did he give you an iota of time?
Mayor Adams: We did not get...listen, I met with him several times on this issue. We met with the senior staff on this issue. But it has to be resolved, and meetings are not the resolution. The resolution is a decompression strategy, giving us the proper funding that we deserve, securing our borders and letting people work. This is the most baffling part for me.
Scotto: But they are working! You know it, mayor! You go outside these shelters and there's all these scooters and mopeds and e‑bikes. They're working. They got a side hustle while they're on the city's dime.
Mayor Adams: Exactly. Now, think about this for a moment. It creates a black market. It creates a market where they're not paying into our tax base and it's not being controlled the way it ought to be. So, you're right. Some are working.
But there's some real W's that we bring to it. 50 percent of the people that have come into our city, we stabilized. Over 50 percent, matter of fact, 57 percent the last my team told me. And so what we have done, if we're given the support, we can transition this. But we're still getting almost 4,000 a week.
Scotto: Should the border be closed?
Mayor Adams: Listen, it has to be controlled. And controlled means, as I stated before, you come into the country, the federal government should determine where you're going and how long you're going to be there and it should be spread throughout the 108,000 cities and villages we have throughout the country. Should not be coming to New York, Chicago, Denver.
Scotto: Well, because we're a sanctuary city, which you know, obviously the courts are going to figure out at some point, right?
Mayor Adams: Well, it's really the issue here, is Right to Shelter conversation. It's not really the sanctuary city conversation.
Scotto: Where is this decision? Meanwhile this is like months going by.
Mayor Adams: I agree. It's in the courts and we have, you know, communicated to the courts over and over again that the Right to Shelter should not apply to a humanitarian crisis. New York should not be responsible for someone coming from anywhere on the globe and coming to New York City and staying for as long as they want on our dime.
Scotto: You talked about mobilization yesterday, that you want New Yorkers to go March on D.C. Are you organizing this? When is this happening?
Mayor Adams: We are organizing several conversations. We're going to be with a group of clergy leaders who have reached out to us, and we're going to meet with our lawmakers in D.C. New Yorkers must understand, this is not an Eric Adams issue, this is a New York City issue.
I have the obligations of solving this as the mayor, but I need all New Yorkers to know I can't stop buses from coming in by law. I can't deport anyone by law. And I'm required by law to provide them with the food, the housing and all the other items. The law has handcuffed me on what my response could be.
Scotto: Well, you've been very vocal about this border crisis as well as the burden that New York is required to do and help out because of that. And some people are saying, you know, the Biden Administration may be upset at you with that. I know you said you like him, he's good guy. But the FBI investigation that came right as you were in D.C. trying to argue our case for getting more help.
Now you're starting a legal defense fund and you've also hired Bedford Grove to help you with this. Has that crossed your mind at all, as the more you are vocal about this issue the more you are scrutinized by this administration?
Mayor Adams: You know, I really can't speculate. I have to be focused. I think one talent I have is how to compartmentalize items, and I'm focused on running the city. I have a legal team. A group of New Yorkers came together and said, listen, we want to help raise the money. The cost...this costs a million dollars to defend yourself on a case of this...a review of this magnitude.
Peters: Yes.
Mayor Adams: And so let the team do what they have to do. The legal trust is doing what they have to do. And now I can continue to run the city.
And the real successes: decreasing crime, returning jobs. We have 100 percent of our private sector jobs that we've lost. Moving this city in the right direction. Crime is down, jobs are up. This city is moving in the right direction. I have to do that. That's my role as the mayor.
Peters: But we are talking about some job cuts, including the NYPD, because of this $12 billion gap caused by the migrant crisis. How are you handling that?
Mayor Adams: We have a hiring freeze, and we had to do what's called a November plan. We had to readjust the budget based on how many dollars were used throughout the year. January, we have to find another $7 billion. It is going to be painful. But this is not the budget I wanted. The budget I wanted to pass was investing in children, our older adults, et cetera.
Scotto: But you know, the progressives and the democratic party say this is a fallacy. We don't have a problem. Here's another billion to play with. In fact, we should be doing more for the migrants.
Mayor Adams: And you know, that's what's really surprising, when you hear those who are saying, no, this is not a problem.
Scotto: What's wrong with them?
Mayor Adams: Listen, I don't know what books they're reading and I don't know what type of accounting they're doing or funny math they're doing. The numbers are clear. And even if they say we have another billion, what about the other 11 billion?
Scotto: Yes, right. Right. Can we talk a little bit about congestion pricing, because we had the former governor of New York on who I know is a pal of yours, Andrew Cuomo. He's had a change of heart since 2019 when he signed it. He said it was a different world, now we're dealing with midtown where only 60 percent of workers are back in the office and it's a different world.
Mayor Adams: Well, Andrew...and listen, Andrew is a smart administrator and a government official, and if he's doing an analysis and there's a different world, someone that was at the beginning, then we should examine what he's saying, because…
Scotto: Are you still for congestion pricing?
Mayor Adams: Listen, I've always been for the concept, but it has to be done right. It can't be just rolled out because it's a concept. You know, operationalizing concepts is a different thing. And so we have to look at who's being charged, when do we want to charge.
As the former governor stated, what is the analysis of our office space? We have 138 million feet of vacant office space.
Peters: Mmm.
Scotto: Right.
Mayor Adams: So, we have to factor all of this in, as the former governor stated, to make sure time is important we cannot do anything that's damaging our economic recovery.
Scotto: What are you going to do for the holidays?
Mayor Adams: [Laughter] you know, hopefully nothing.
Peters: Hopefully nothing.
Mayor Adams: Go out and do...you know, ever since the days of my mom, we go out and do a lot of volunteering. Probably go up to Reverend Sharpton's, he does something every year. And we're going to stop at some different locations. Just spend some time with New Yorkers who are dealing with hard times right now.
Peters: What should New Yorkers be asking for this Christmas?
Mayor Adams: Peace and prosperity across the globe. We see what's playing out in Israel and Palestine, we see what's playing out in the Ukraine. We're seeing violence erupted across our city. I think we need to just refocus our attention on our young people. They're hurting. You know, we're seeing larger number depression, you know, suicidal tendencies, use of fentanyl, use of cannabis.
We just need to refocus and family. You know, I think about your son and daughter, I think about my son. They had that focus and family, and I just think this holiday season we should just spend time again around the tree, around the menorah, around Kwanzaa and just say, how do we talk about family again.
Peters: Well, maybe take the whole family up to D.C. for your march.
Mayor Adams: Yes...
Scotto: We need to take...what are we talking about?
Mayor Adams: That's a great symbol. That's a good symbol.
Scotto: Obviously, it's 2024. Right? I mean...
Mayor Adams: I would be down at Times Square bringing in the New Year. It's hard to believe, this year went so fast!
Peters: I know
Scotto: I know, but...
Mayor Adams: Mayor's like dog years. Every day is multiplied.
Scotto: I'm sure. I'm sure. You got a lot on your plate, mayor. Thank you so much for coming on Good Day New York.
Mayor Adams: Happy New Year's to you.
Scotto: And we wish you the best for 2024.
Peters: Yes.
Mayor Adams: Thank you very much.
Scotto: All right, Mayor Eric Adams here. I mean, listen, we could have done another hour with the mayor.
Peters: I know.
Scotto: Right?
Peters: He's got to go, he's a busy man!