Dan Bowens: Well, a lot of people are saying it's about time. New York City has updated its school cell phone policy starting this school year. Students will not be allowed to use their smartphones, tablets, and smartwatches during the school day.
Rosanna Scotto: The new policy aligns with the new statewide ban. Joining us to talk about this and a whole lot more, Mayor Adams, nice to have you back on Good Day.
Mayor Eric Adams: Good to be here, good to be here.
Scotto: Can we start with that DOJ lawsuit? I think everybody was kind of shocked that they sued the city and you because everybody thought you had this great relationship with President Trump.
Mayor Adams: Well, you know, I always said the lawsuit was something that was put in place that we're always going to make sure– we don't control who come across the border, but we must make sure that citizens or non-documents or whomever's that's in the city get the services they deserve. And I'd say all the time, I use as an example, if you buy a loaf of bread, you pay taxes.
Those tax dollars go to pay for goods and services, for police, educating children, and a hospital if you need it. That's what it's about. And so when people use the term sanctuary city, what we're saying is that you have the right with your tax dollars to get the resources you deserve. Now, [that] doesn’t mean we will ever protect those who commit crimes like who shot the custom border patrol officers.
Scotto: Right, one of those guys is in court today that shot the off-duty customs officer in the face. He's still in the hospital right now, right?
Mayor Adams: Yes, he is, yes, he is. I've visited him and his family. He was still heavily sedated.
Scotto: Can he talk?
Mayor Adams: The final determination on what's going to happen is medical, you know, the doctors are handling that, but the-
Scotto: But that particular attack got the attention of Pam Bondi, and the next thing you know, New York City [got] slapped with the lawsuit, and you.
Mayor Adams: And that's why I call for a modification in our existing laws, because if someone commits a violent act like that, and these guys were repeated offenders, we should be able to coordinate with the federal authorities to address those situations.
Not legal, people who are going about following their next step on the American dream that are undocumented. We should not be harming them at all. These are innocent people who are just trying to pursue the American dream.
Bowens: Mr. Mayor, you've been complimentary of the president and the Trump administration. Were you surprised that you particularly were named in this lawsuit, and the police commissioner as well?
Mayor Adams: Well, you know, our administration took the White House to court for various reasons, more than any mayor in the country. The narrative is that we're just rolling over. No, when we do good things, when we agree, and I said this from the beginning, when we agree, we're going to be complimentary when we agree, such as lifting the stop work order on a multi-billion dollar project, and securing the borders.
What this administration has done is securing the border that the previous administration should have done. But in those areas that we disagree, we're gonna fight on behalf of the City of New York, such as the $80 million clawback that we experienced. So, many people wanna give the appearance that no matter what happens, the mayor's doing such and such. That's just not true.
Bowens: So this lawsuit says that the city sanctuary laws are endangering public safety, and they cite that recent shooting as an example. You've said these laws need to change. Why can't these laws change? Why can't you do anything about it?
Mayor Adams: Great question, because people think that the mayor can write an executive order and just overturn a law. You can't do that. Any modification in the law must come through the City Council.
Bowens: Can you lean on them harder than they are right now? I mean, can you, I don't wanna say bigfoot them in some way, but I mean, this is something that you talk about and it keeps happening. And now we got this lawsuit from the White House.
Mayor Adams: Well, I've said it over and over again. The City Council was clear on their position when it comes down to these laws. I could only continue to articulate why it's important to make that modification when someone commits a dangerous crime, and I've made it clear over and over again. But it is up to the Corp Counsel to handle the case.
Scotto: Are you hoping, because you're running for re-election, and every seat in the City Council is up for grabs now, that you will have a City Council that will be more agreeable with you if you get elected for another term? Because basically, you've had a City Council, you come out, you make a statement, and two seconds later, they're going, we're not doing that.
Mayor Adams: Right, and it is not only the case with the custom border patrol officer highlighted several things. The revolving door of our criminal justice system, what bail reform did to allow dangerous people to continuously go through our system, something, mind you, that Andrew passed.
But even in the City Council, the unwillingness to understand the impact of these decisions and how it can hurt innocent people. Because that custom border patrol officer was off-duty. So we don't know if he was an off-duty teacher, or if we don't know if he was an off-duty cook. There's a total disregard.
Scotto: Right, can we talk a little bit about the cell phone ban, because that's gonna be happening in September. How exactly is that gonna work? Because you're leaving it up to the school districts?
Mayor Adams: Right, now a large number of our schools currently have a cell phone ban, but now it was made clear in the law. Governor Hochul passed the law, and it's important, we all stated it. Now they need to put some more money in it, you know, but–
Scotto: It's not enough money, because what are you gonna do with those cell phones? Are you collecting them? Are the teachers collecting them? How does it work?
Mayor Adams: We allocated $25 million in our budget, and the chancellor and I now passed the regulations that went through our PEP. And what is going to happen, every school is gonna come up with their own plan, but they have to have a place to store the phones. So students that bring the phones in, they must also store them. Some schools have lockers.
But the goal is just to make sure that you don't have this distraction. It has been a huge distraction. It causes a lot of issues with students and other major problems. Now there are exceptions. If you have an IEP or 504 plan, and that's part of your education plan or if you're a young person, you're taking care of your sibling or a family member at home, there's an exception to that as well.
Bowens: Why not have one, I mean, it sounds like you're gonna have a mismatch of plans all over. I mean, why not just have one blanket plan so nobody gets confused?
Mayor Adams: Great, great, great question. Because some schools are doing it already, and they're doing a great job. So we don't wanna come in and disrupt. And every school community has a different method. Some are using the pouches, some are using their lockers. Some schools have lockers, and you can just put it inside their lockers. The basic foundation is that it has to be stored. And we allow these smart principals and superintendents to come up with a plan.
Bowens: I just wanted to ask one follow-up there. I'm a parent, I have kids in schools. One of the realities of schools in America is that there are things that happen. Shootings happen, shootings happen outside of schools. Parents have these phones sometimes with their kids because they're scared, and they wanna be able to call them. I mean, what's the plan for a situation like that?
Mayor Adams: And that's why it took so long, because we had to look at all of those scenarios. We knock on wood that in our schools we have never had any of these shooters, thank God for that, great school safety agents. But we took that into consideration to make sure of some form of emergency notification if need be, but we're gonna do the same things we did when we didn't have cell phones.
We're gonna have proper lockdown procedures, proper notifications to parents and families using our emergency notification system. But all of that came into factor, because no matter where you land on this plan, there's some that are pro, some that are against, but we knew this was the best thing for our children.
Scotto: All right, let's talk about your re-election campaign, because it is hot, it is intense, and you are upping your social media game. Let's take a look at this video.
[Video Plays.]
Scotto: Now look at you, poking fun at them, poking fun at yourself.
Mayor Adams: Because you have to laugh in this, you know. I learned from policing during very difficult moments, if you laugh, it's therapeutic. You have to mock yourself, [if] you're gonna mock others. Although this is an important race, at the same time, we should have fun while doing it. And I have a good social media team that realize people look at social media.
Scotto: That's the way they did it, Zohran Mamdani. I know that you've been talking about this, he went to Uganda for two weeks. I know you were outspoken about that. Did you find that unusual?
Mayor Adams: No, people are gonna travel, particularly after a race, a hard race. And we're just making fun at him. They're gonna make fun of me. This is gonna be an exciting campaign. Remember I said that, months ago, I said this is going to be one of the most exciting races in the history of our city. But these are some good topics, and we're ready to really talk about it.
People wanna go away to download after a campaign. That's part of the process, and people should do that. I'm looking, after I win in November, I'm gonna take a nice little vacation.
Scotto: Where are you gonna go?
Mayor Adams: I gotta come up— thinking about going back to Italy again, and just enjoy. I love Pompeii, and Portofino is one of my favorite locations. So, sometimes you just gotta download, and that's just the reality of this business.
Bowens: How about Staten Island? Great place out there.
Scotto: Wait, that's called Staten Italy.
Bowens: Staten Italy. All right, they're saying we got to go. So, Mr. Mayor, we appreciate it. Thank you very much.
Mayor Adams: Thank you. Great to be here.
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