Transcript: Mayor Adams Calls in for Live Interview on GMGT Live's "The Reset Talk Show"

JR Giddings: Tell a friend to tell a friend. We have New York City Mayor Adams here with us. Good morning, Mayor Adams.
 
Mayor Eric Adams: Hey, brother, how are you? Moving through events, moving throughout the city. It's good to be on again with the show. Getting ready to do a major announcement with the governor about an initiative that's called the Plus Pool, and so we're really excited about this announcement, something I've been pushing for for years.
 
Giddings: Well… 
 
Mayor Adams: But it's great to be here.
 
Giddings : It's always great to have you, Mayor Adams. You know, the biggest talking point, you know, throughout the holidays everywhere I go, you know, people, folks that I run into, the only thing I keep hearing is about the migrant crisis.
 
Okay, so let's talk about that. You're exploring the possibility of sending NYPD to New Jersey to help to regulate your EO — your Executive Order — now that migrants are coming in by train and trying to avoid your bus order. Could you explain that a little bit?
 
Mayor Adams: Yes. And I'm going to do that, but I do want to say the biggest story of the year has been overshadowed by the migrant crisis. You know, crime is down. Crime is down double digits, shootings are down double digits, five of the seven major crimes are down.
 
And jobs are up. We have the highest number of private sector jobs in the history of the city, the fourth largest tourism in the history of the city. Bond raters have given us one of the highest bond ratings in the history of the city.
 
So, this city has recovered in two years where people stated it was going to take four to five years to recover. We have had a successful run as an administration, and I think that sometimes that's drowned, is drowned out when we hear about those day to day crises we are facing.
 
And we did this even with Covid. We inherited Covid in 2022 when I became the mayor. In spite of that, we forged ahead in this city. We should be excited about what we have done as a city. And now we're dealing with 164,000 migrants and asylum seekers that are at our doorstep.
 
That's 1.5 the size of the entire city of Albany, was dropped in New York, and we navigated it when no child or family is sleeping on the streets. Not other cities can say that, but we were able to do that because of how successful this administration and management style of this administration. And so what we're seeing with Governor Abbott, he has intentionally stated he was going to destabilize these cities by sending migrants and asylum seekers to these cities without any support at all.
 
And what we did was two important initiatives: number one, we did what's called an executive order where we're telling bus operators that you have to coordinate with our city. Instead of dropping off people at 2:00 a.m. in the morning, 1:00 a.m. in the morning, not doing any coordination at all, you have to coordinate with us so that we can properly manage our resources and our manpower to carry out the function of handling the migrants and asylum seekers that are here.
 
The second, we announced the lawsuit with 17 bus companies, because there's an old law on New York State books that states you cannot drop indigent people into a municipality for the intention of putting the cost — that's the service of them — on the economics of that particular municipality.
 
It's an old law in the book, but it just shows how we are not going to leave any stone unturned to state that anyone that's responsible for participating with Governor Abbott on trying to destabilize these cities, we're not going to sit back and just allow it to happen.
 
And JR, if you look at last year or over a year ago, I was the lone voice around this, but now you see the coalition has joined. Chicago mayor has joined me, Denver mayor, you're hearing the governor of Massachusetts, you're hearing other municipalities that are just saying hold on here, we have to make sure we're taking care of those who are in need in our cities, and this is a national government problem, and the national government must pick up the tab of this.
 
Giddings: Mayor Adams, the one thing, the one message that I get from the audience and I would like you to respond to this. Why aren't you doing more? And I would say this all the time, the mayor could only do so much, this is a federal problem. Could you speak to that? They need to hear that you could only do so much. Your hands are tied. Could you expound a little bit?
 
Mayor Adams: Yes, and that's so important, because you're right, let me... I meet well informed and well educated New Yorkers of all different walks of life who really don't quite understand the limitations that we have as cities, and the mayor of Chicago talks about this often.
 
Number one, people say, why don't you stop the buses from coming in? We don't have the authority to do so. Our laws don't allow me to do that. Two, why don't you have the people who come in go back to the municipalities that were sent. I don't have the authority to do that, laws don't allow me to do that, and only the federal government has deportation status. They say, why don't you allow the people to work? I don't have the authority to do that. The federal government has to give them the authority to work. And they are reluctant to do so, and that has really been one of the major problems that we're having.
 
And the top thing that I hear a lot is, well, you're giving more to the asylums and migrants than you're doing to long term New Yorkers. That’s not true. The asylums and the various humanitarian relief centers that we've opened, the showers are outdoors. People are sleeping on cots. They have basic meals a day of, you know, they're not allowed to get the affordable housing that we built for New Yorkers. They're not allowed to get some of the other benefits that New Yorkers are receiving.
 
So, a lot of this has been driven by the frustration that New Yorkers are experiencing because this is coming out of our coffers at our cost. And it angers me as much as it angers long term New Yorkers, but we don't have any authority over this national problem. This is a national problem. National laws basically regulate how this could be addressed, and it's not in the hands of these local municipalities. And that's why you're seeing frustration from mayors and governors across the country.
 
Giddings: Thank you, Mayor Adams. I know you have a hard out. I have two other questions, but I'm going to bring in Nicole for a minute. Nicole, pose a question to the mayor. He has a real hard out this morning. We also have... Ah! Mayor Adams, we have Ann Tripp from WBLS here as well.
 
Mayor Adams: How are you, Ann?
 
Giddings: Okay. I guess Ann is still muted. Nicole, quickly, your question for the mayor. 
 
Nicole Jordan Martin, CEO, Community Care, Health + Hospitals: Good morning, Mayor Adams. Happy New Year. Great to see you again.
 
Mayor Adams: Same to you.
 
Jordan Martin: Thank you so much for your updates. You know, as I look around the city and I see the migrants everywhere every day, and they're doing their best to survive and to settle in as best as they can.
 
And so one issue that has come up is, you know, many of them are going door to door, knocking on doors, asking for food, for clothing, for any type of support. And I think this is where the language about what you just said rings true, where you talked about how crime — that's one of the big stories of the year — has decreased, but yet this sort of door to door engagement is now being parlayed as dangerous.
 
They're threatening the safety of communities, and people are feeling generally unsafe, and that's the narrative that's being put out there. What do you say to New Yorkers about the struggles and migrants needing to be out and about in communities, trying to make a way for themselves every day.
 
Mayor Adams: And that's a great question, because when you think about it, all of us have come from somewhere. And this has been a city of immigrants and where we have absorbed the Ukrainian population during the war, we've absorbed so many different groups that have come here to pursue the American dream. And that's who we are.
 
The unique difference from those situations and now is that the right to work. If we are telling individuals with family members that you cannot provide for yourself, and even if you have a menial job, it's a step towards the working class or the middle class New Yorkers and Americans, we are saying to families, to husbands and wives who have children that you are not allowed to provide for your family.
 
And so just think about that. If you are told that you must find a way to get the clothing during the winter month, you must find a way to provide just the basic care for your children. And so what are people relegated to doing? To going out and begging and asking. This is just so dehumanizing that we're not giving people the right to work.
 
That's the precursor to sleep that allows you to experience the American dream. And all of us who have family members that have come from somewhere, even when my parents came from the south, you know, dad was able to get a job. Mom used to clean houses. You know, we were able to provide for ourselves. And so the fact that we're not allowing people to work is just so dehumanizing, and that is the byproduct.
 
So, when we think about the migrant and asylum seekers, yes, there's going to be an economic challenge; yes, it is going to be a space issue as we need more locations. But the quality of life is something that we need to be concerned with when you're seeing people walking the street, knocking on the doors, asking for handouts instead of giving them the dignity to get a hand up by being able to work in their city.
 
Giddings: Anne, you could jump in whenever you feel your mic is back. But Mayor Adams, I know you have to go, but quickly, I think this one is important as well. I was coming across the bridge on Saturday and I saw lockjam of people. And I recognize that a new law went into effect Tuesday at midnight banning vendors from New York City bridges, especially the Brooklyn Bridge. Could you talk a little bit about that? [Inaudible.]
 
Mayor Adams: Yes, and it was, we knew that not only was it an unsightly condition, but it was a public safety issue. As you stated, there was a logjam. Some people were jumping off the sides on to the bicycles track because the place got so crowded. You had vendors on both sides.
 
It is something that we have been rectifying, and we initiated a plan to have safe vending locations, because there are places you can vend in our city, similar to what we did in Queens at the Roosevelt Plaza out there. There was just unsightly vending conditions.
 
We have to manage to make sure that people have a right to vend, particularly those who are military personnel. But you can't have it everywhere and anywhere, and there has to be some form of coordination. It's unfortunate that there are those that believe that, you know, you can have it any and everywhere.
 
But we put in place some clear guidelines. some clear rules, and that bridge now looks like the bridge that we expect. It's a safe place to cross. We get millions of people who cross the bridge every year, it's a very big tourist attraction.
 
And we are really excited that when you look at that bridge now, it's the bridge that you expect. People are able to enjoy it. And we heard from those military people who have a vending license how they were concerned about that we were not carrying out the vending as it was supposed to be.
 
Giddings: Thank you, Mayor Adams. Ann, is your mic open yet? Anne, your mic has not opened. So, Mayor Adams, as you leave, there is a new state law, okay, the federal minimum wage is now $15 more. Is that across New York City?
 
Mayor Adams: Yes, and it's so important, because you know, increasing the minimum wage is increasing the number of people that will move into sustainable living in the city. The city has become extremely costly across the country, our cities.
 
We have found real ways of putting money back into the pockets of everyday New Yorkers from the increase in earned income tax credit to reducing the cost of childcare. Childcare used to be $55 a week for a family that made $55,000 a year, we have it down now under $5 a week.
 
Just think about how we have chiseled away at the cost of living in the city, from reduced fare MetroCards, to summer youth employment, to giving free broadband to NYCHA residents. Every time you take a dollar that is able to go back into the pocket of New Yorkers, it gives them the opportunity to do it, to deal with the cost of living in the city.
 
And we've been extremely creative in doing so, and increasing the minimum wage is one of them, increasing the wages for the deliveristas, those food service delivery workers. We have been chiseling away at the cost of living in this city, and we're going to continue to do so.
 
Giddings: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I know that you have to jump off now.
 
Mayor Adams: Yes.
 
Giddings: Just say a brief hello to Ann, Nicole Carter. Nicole Carter is the representative for the brand Uncle Nearest, that Black owned whiskey brand that has won the award for the best whiskey in America for the last three years.
 
Mayor Adams: Love it. Love it. Love it. Congratulations. And next time I'm in my local eatery or watering hole, I'm going to make sure I order it. You know, I gotta hop off to do this announcement with the governor. Great seeing you all.
 
Giddings: Absolutely. Okay. It's always a pleasure.
 
Mayor Adams: Talk soon.
 
Giddings: Have a good day.
 
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