Mayor Eric Adams: Thank you. And you know, you know the rules. You don't stand for me, I stand for you. Timing is important. You know, many people, the opening season started in baseball, and I'm one of those diehard Mets fans, you know, that we almost get close and close, but never there yet.
But back there, during the late 60s, early 70s, there was a player called Ed Kranepool. He was the hitter that they would bring to the plate when you needed to drive home a run, and you would call him during those difficult times. And I use that as an analogy to where we are right now.
You need someone that is at bat, that can actually win the game for us. This is an important time for the Jewish community. And history will show after October 7th, when you saw probably a second Holocaust that impacted the Jewish community, we could have easily looked over the entire bench of those who have the qualities of law enforcement. But we needed to send not only something that was substantive, but symbolic.
We need a leader that understood how important this time and moment is. So when people were telling us that we should cancel the Israeli parade, we would say no, we would never surrender to fear. We needed a leader that understood that when COVID hits our city, you don't redline the Jewish community. You needed a leader that knows our stores should continue to open and operate.
And we did something historic when we announced the second Jewish police commissioner in the history of the city in Commissioner Jessica Tisch. And we're seeing the results of that. We're seeing a decrease in crime. The men and women who are doing the blue uniform and protecting the children and families of the city, they knew that we can drive down crime to record levels.
So I don't know who the other folks that are saying our city is in chaos. They need to get out of their bubbles and walk the street to see how well our city is doing. We're not in chaos, we're successful. You cannot get a dinner reservation in this city because restaurants are thriving and we're doing well. But we're here today to talk about Passover.
We want to let you know loudly and clearly, just as we do at every Passover briefing, we're going to have the police that are there. We need you to be the eyes and ears. Also, see something, say something, do something. It's imperative that we continue this partnership of how we combine ourselves with the law enforcement community, with the community that we swore to serve and protect.
We want you to have a safe Passover season. And as you sit down and talk about the history of the Jewish people and a long tradition, add in that history, go off script for one moment. Add in the history, how you have been there for all other groups, add in your history and conversation, how you have shown benevolence and within your community, you talk about giving back and sacrifice. Don't omit that from your history because it's very much part of who you are as a community.
Let's continue to lift each other up. And I will say over and over again, God bless the city. God bless our communities and God bless this great country we call America. Thank you very much. Happy Passover.
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