Mayor Eric Adams: How are you all? Really excited to be here. Walking down the stairs with the commissioner, I was saying really good numbers as we look at what we have to accomplish. Before we start, I just wanted to make sure New Yorkers are aware of the coastal storm that is expected to impact our city this holiday weekend, bringing strong winds, heavy rain and coastal flooding, especially in low-lying areas of southern Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island and the Bronx shoreline.
Wind gusts may reach 60 miles per hour and multiple high tide cycles could cause flooding on roads and basements and along the shoreline. Ocean conditions will be dangerous, with seas making the water dangerous for boaters and beachgoers, so we're really asking people to be careful. We're expecting rainfall to total 1.5 to 3 inches, with potential localized flash flooding, and particularly in the area where basement apartments traditionally flood, it's imperative that residents are aware and be conscious to ensure that they keep their families safe.
Sign up for NotifyNYC for real-time alerts, including a special subgroup for basement apartment dwellers, and stay off flood roads and avoid beaches, and just really be conscious this weekend as we're dealing with this major storm that's going to hit the area. We'll be monitoring the extreme weather coordinator, Chief of Staff Camille Joseph Varlack, will be on point with our entire team.
But today's announcement, I'm really, really pleased of what we have done in our subway system from the days of what we inherited in 2022 to look at it now, and I just cannot thank Chief Gulotta enough. We were over at the JOC looking at what we're doing around drone deployment on subway surfing.
Chief Gulotta and his team in our subway, they have really just had a holistic approach of how do we keep the system safe. As a former transit cop, I know the challenge that we're facing, and I know what it takes to be committed and dedicated, and in order to do it, there needs to be a level of clarity, and the commissioner has been clear, unafraid to try new things and go where the crime is located to get the results that we are looking for.
Keeping New Yorkers safe is paramount. The prerequisite to our prosperity is public safety. No one does it better than the men and women of the New York City Police Department and their partners across the other law enforcement communities. Deputy Mayor Daughtry and what he has done to coordinate those other agencies is so important, and that's the teamwork that we know we must have to keep New Yorkers safe.
In September, in the [close of the] third quarter, we finished our seventh consecutive quarter of major crime declines, and we broke more records during this time. It says enough of how well we're going to continue to keep our city safe. Shooting incidents and shooting victims for the first nine months of the year are at their lowest levels in recorded history. Full stop, no qualifier, it is clear. The city is safer, and we're the safest big city in America, and we cannot go backwards.
Since the modern record-keeping era began, we have never had a January through September period with fewer shootings. We also broke additional records, including some of which were in our subways. Crime in our subways this summer, for July, August, and September, which are always troubling months, hit a record low, excluding the two pandemic years when no one was riding the trains.
Transit crime was down 17 percent in September and remains down more than four percent so far this year. Overall, major crime was down by three percent in September. We also saw declines in homicide, rape, robbery, felony assault, burglary, and auto theft. We continue to see significant declines in retail theft, which was down 19 percent for the month.
Retail theft across the country has been problematic, but here in this city, we're watching a decrease because we're prosecuting the crimes, we're being clear to our shops and our store owners that we're not going to sit back and allow retail theft to become a norm, and we're seeing the results. And hate crimes continue to drop, down 20 percent in September and 21 percent year-to-date. We see so much promise in New York City, and it is readily apparent that our public safety plan is working like so many other plans we put in place.
We continue to make adjustments. The commissioner is deploying the manpower where it's needed. Our summer hotspot plan turned out to be a success. We know what we can do, and we know how to do it correctly. And our partners in the DA's office, all five of our district attorneys have assisted in taking down dangerous gangs, removing guns and keeping them off our streets, and ensuring that we prosecute those crimes that must be prosecuted. And at the same time, we've given them the resources they need to do their job.
And as the commissioner mentioned earlier, we have to continue to get our help from the federal government. This is no time to turn around funding that allows us to deal with terrorism. The federal government must protect its funding. New York City subways get dollars for counterterrorism, and we believe that it is the wrong thing to do to take those dollars away.
We continue to be one of the biggest targets when it comes down to terrorism in the nation, and revoking $12 million in grant funding that would have passed to the NYPD to fight terrorism in our subway is not the right thing to do.
And so, we can't continue to reflect on 9/11 and say never again in words, it must be never again in actions. And once again, keeping New Yorkers safe is the number one commitment of this administration, and our subways is part of that extension of how we want to keep New York City safe.
But today, I'm proud to celebrate the one-year anniversary of our innovative PATH program, which connects New Yorkers in need on our subways to shelter, healthcare, and support. We saw for far too many years individuals walking past, those who were on our subway system that couldn't take care of themselves. We took a strong stance that that's not what we're going to do as an administration.
Our PATH team consists of a team of nurses, outreach staff, and NYPD transit police officers who enter the subway system across Manhattan from 8 p.m. every night and are traveling the system until 12 p.m. the next day, looking to help their fellow New Yorkers.
They engage anyone who appears to be unsheltered or suffering from serious mental illness, and the teams offer tailored support based on each individual's needs. It could be a hot meal, a bed for the night, or medical attention, or a hospital evaluation if it seems like an individual is at risk of harming themselves or others.
When you look at the numbers, they speak for themselves. Chief Gulotta and his team here in the subway system, we made over 20,100 engagements and delivered care to more than 6,100 New Yorkers, and our efforts have no doubt played a role in the 17 percent drop in transit crime in September compared to last year, leading to the lowest levels of crime for any September in recorded history when you take out those two pandemic years.
Our PATH program is also part of our Subway Safety Plan. I want to thank the governor for her partnership in that. It has connected more than 8,600 New Yorkers living in the subway to shelter and more than 1,000 to permanent housing. More than 1,000 that were living in our subway system, we connected to permanent housing. It's a real indicator to our End the Culture of Anything Goes campaign and how we're going to ensure to give New Yorkers the care that they need and that they deserve.
Our efforts include opening 1,500 safe haven and stabilization beds since 2022, bringing a total to 4,000 and investing in our subway co-response outreach team and opening 13 new clubhouses where people suffering from serious mental health issues can socialize across services and get the access to services they need.
We have also successfully advocated for changes in state law. We need our state lawmakers. We pushed for changes for involuntary removal in the last legislative cycle and we're going to do it again for those that are dealing with substance abuse. You have to give [care to the people] that don't know they need the care and our lawmakers must catch up to the needs of those on our streets and the desire of our city residents. And additionally, we are making sure that new data regarding the voluntary hospital transport will be publicly available to make the process as transparent as possible.
When we came into office, our mission was clear. We’re not ignoring people with needs and not ignoring violent behavior on our streets. And we're seeing the results of our success. So this year, we were successful in securing passage of many of the key pieces of this legislation and helped to codify the law.
Last month, we announced our plan to go back to Albany and introduce a Compassionate Intervention Act that would give medical professionals the legal authority they need to transport someone who appears to be struggling with addiction to hospital for evaluation.
All of these fundamental changes, they have made our city safer every day for passengers, for NYCHA residents, for every day New Yorker, and our PATH program's one year anniversary marks an important milestone in making New York City a more compassionate, just and safer city for everyone.
I cannot thank the commissioner enough and her team for the work that they're doing as we continue to uplift every day New Yorkers, particularly those who are in care. I'm going to turn it over to the Police Commissioner of the City of New York.
Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch: Thank you, sir. As the mayor has made clear, people in our subway system who need care cannot be left to fend for themselves. We have a moral duty to help and by we, I mean everyone, not just the NYPD. So a year ago, the NYPD partnered with the Department of Social Services, DSS, and Health and Hospitals, as well as local nurses, clinicians, service providers, and others to form PATH.
This program is a multi-agency, cross-sector response to alleviating homelessness and other quality of life conditions in our subways. It's about partnership, communication, and follow-through. And one year later, the results of this whole-of-government approach speak for themselves. More than 20,100 contacts, more than 13,300 train inspections, nearly 6,200 critical services provided such as shelter, meals, medical care, and mental health support.
Specially trained NYPD officers paired with experts in their field bring a level of compassion and commitment to this work that we hadn't seen before. And when you combine this with the NYPD's renewed focus on enforcing the MTA's rules of conduct in the transit system, you get cleaner, more accessible trains, platforms, and stations. And you get the safest third quarter in recorded history on our subways with all-time low crime numbers for each of the months of July, August, and September, excluding the COVID years.
None of this happens by accident. It takes a mayor whose vision for New York City puts public safety first. It takes the full attention of multiple city agencies and seamless collaboration between the public and private sectors. And it takes the buy-in of the public, the millions of riders who depend on the largest transit system in the nation.
And so I want to thank our public safety mayor, Mayor Adams, as well as our colleagues at the MTA, DSS, and Health and Hospitals for their partnership. We are also grateful for all of the service providers who make this program possible and who always deliver for New Yorkers in so many critical ways.
And most of all, thank you to our subway riders. This is your system. And while you're traveling throughout the city, the train car is your community. You should take as much pride in your local subway station as in any other part of your neighborhood. And the NYPD is working 24/7 to keep our transit system, your transit system, safe, clean, and accessible to all. Now, I will turn it over to Nurse Richard Perkins from the Department of Social Services. Richard.
Richard Perkins, Nurse, Department of Social Services: Thank you, Commissioner Tisch. Thank you, Mayor Adams. Hello, everyone. My name is Richard Perkins, and I work with DSS as a crisis intervention nurse. I also work with the NYPD as a case manager nurse. I've been with the NYPD since 2019. I started off as a crisis intervention nurse, and I am now, started a year ago, working for DSS as a crisis intervention nurse also.
I first started off as a nurse before I worked for the city as a behavioral health nurse at Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center, and then I went on to St. John's Episcopal Hospital in Far Rockaway as a director of behavioral health services.
When receiving patients coming into a hospital, I always wondered where they were coming from or what the conditions or circumstances were that brought them to us. Now working here, I get to see on the continuum that a lot of them are, you know, the homeless, sleeping in the subways. It could be a matter of their– could be substance abuse, sometimes it could be challenging mental conditions that they need help with, and that's where we come in to help them.
I've been part of the PATH initiative from the start, and I'm happy to be here to celebrate their one-year anniversary. I want to thank the Department of Social Services and NYPD for allowing me to help support the efforts. And NYPD is a major part of this program also. Without it, we probably couldn’t get our jobs done. They provide safety in serious situations where their authority and their compassion helps us a lot to get folks the help they need.
Thank you. And I want to introduce Dr. Fattal from H+H Hospitals.
Dr. Omar Fattal, Psychiatrist and Assistant Chief, New York City Health + Hospitals: Thank you, Richard. Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Omar Fattal. I'm a psychiatrist and assistant chief for behavioral health services at NYC Health + Hospitals. We're the largest provider of behavioral health services in New York City. And our mission is to take care of every New Yorker without exceptions. This includes people who are experiencing homelessness on our streets and our subway system.
Programs like PATH and people like Richard make that possible because they bring people who need the care the most directly to our hospitals so we can give them the care that they need. We work very closely with the PATH program to make sure that when people come to us, they don't fall between the cracks and they get linked to care inside the hospital and outside the hospital.
What we've done is implemented a 24/7 communication system so that our clinical teams on the ground are able to communicate with the PATH teams and exchange information and make sure that we're on the same page. We've also done extensive training for our staff all the way from leadership to the front line staff to make sure that they do a thorough assessment for all these patients that are brought to us.
We've also expanded treatment options. We've heard a lot about the revolving door, people coming in, not having choices. So with the support of the mayor and the city, we were able to expand those options. We've been able to restore and reopen all our inpatient psychiatric beds. We've opened three extended care units across our system. These are inpatient units where people can stay for up to 120 days. 50 percent of people who are discharged from the extended care units go on to go to supportive housing.
And last month, we opened our Bridge to Home program, which is a step-down facility where people can go directly from inpatient care to this community-based setting and stay up to one year, where we work with them to connect them with supportive housing and provide them with treatment on-site at the facility.
Finally, everyone who leaves our hospitals, whether you're being discharged from inpatient or from the emergency room, you get a comprehensive discharge plan that includes follow-up care and a certain level of care management, whether it's a CHW or a peer polling to make sure that you made it to your follow-up appointment or intensive care management. It could be a critical time intervention team, CTI, or an INP team or an SOS team.
I want to thank the mayor and the city and the police commissioner and the Department of Social Services for their support and partnership. And now I'll turn it back to the mayor. Thank you.
Mayor Adams: Thank you. On topics.
How are you doing? Oh, I miss you, man.
Question: Can you walk people through why, you know, someone like David, I can't pronounce his last name, Mazariegos, I think is how you pronounce it, he beat a guy to death just above the Jay Street Metro Tech subway station a couple of days ago. You're talking about all the steps you're taking to fix this problem, yet you still have attacks like this unfolding in the system and around the system. Why?
Mayor Adams: And that's a valid question. But let's be clear. These attacks didn't start January 1st, 2022. What's different from this administration and many administrations, I can go over my days as a transit police officer, my days as a state senator, my days as borough president, I've seen similar cases. The difference here and others is that we said we're not going to sit back and ignore the problem because it's real.
And what are we fighting against? We're fighting against state lawmakers that don't seem to understand what involuntary removal means. There are people who need care that don't know they need care. There are people who are going through the revolving door system that are constantly coming back out, over and over again.
So we're fighting with not only making sure they get the care, but we're fighting with lawmakers. Lawmakers that are not on the ground, riding the subways like I am, and seeing how hard it is to talk a person off the street.
And so can I stand here today and say because of SCOUT and PATH and because of the work we're doing, we're not going to have those incidents? No, I'm not. I can't say that. But what I will tell you is that we're saving lives. When you take a thousand people off our system and gave them permanent housing, when the 20-something thousand people we spoke with and made sure that we can offer them housing, everything that's within my control, we're doing.
We will have incidents like the one you just mentioned. They will happen in our city until we get serious about it on the state and the city level to stop being afraid to realize that there are people that are walking down streets right now that can't take care of themselves.
Question: The mayoralty of the city is incredibly powerful. The ridership surveys the MTA does says riders haven't noticed what you say your statistics are showing. They're still concerned about erratic behaviors underground. Your answer said that there's some stuff you can do, but there's a lot of stuff you can't do. We expect the mayor to fix it. How do you sell New Yorkers on this idea that the mayor can't fix it? And is that the reason you think your re-election campaign struggled?
Mayor Adams: Well, you said that we said we can't fix it. I didn't say that. I said, we are making inroads. And when you look at some of the riders' surveys, they are saying just the opposite of what you're saying. One way to make riders feel safe, I remember when you were with the Post and I talked about perception over reality. If every day, people of 8.5 million New Yorkers are hearing about the worst thing that could happen in the city and they're reading about it every day, they're going to walk away without understanding the results.
We can't argue with the facts, Nolan. The crime in the subway system is the lowest in recorded history after two years COVID.
[Crosstalk.]
Mayor Adams: Thank you, ma'am. And you're right. You know, the lowest, I mean if the numbers say something different, we can't say it. It's the lowest in recorded history after two years of COVID. So why do riders feel as though they're unsafe? Because they're waking up every day hearing the worst thing that could happen in the subway system of 4.5 million riders. An average of five felonies a day with 4.5 million riders.
We did our job. My campaign didn’t struggle because we failed. My campaign struggled because the story has not been told by the same people that are not telling the story right now. We're doing well. The city is not coming back. The city's back.
[Crosstalk.]
Mayor Adams: All I can say is you're going to miss me when I'm gone.
[Crosstalk.]
Mayor Adams: No, you can't. No, you can't. We heard you. It's good to have you back, man. Miss you. Go ahead. How are you doing?
Question: Good, how are you? I just had Curtis Sliwa on the other day for an interview. We opened up with some of the crime statistics. He essentially said that New Yorkers don’t feel safe and that NYPD may be— he led the fact that they may be fudging the numbers.
For example, if there's a, someone shoots in the street and they miss their target, but it hits a car or something instead, that information isn’t recorded. So what do you say to that? And as a former NYPD officer, mayor, I’d love to hear from you.
Police Commissioner Tisch: Right now, as we stand here in October, we not only have the lowest number of shooting incidents ever, we have smashed the record set in 2018. We are 34 shooting incidents below the lowest ever number recorded in 2018. We record a shooting incident when someone is shot, a person is physically shot. And if the suggestion is that we are some way hiding people with bullet holes in them, I think that's absurd.
Mayor Adams: You know, listen, listen, and let's be honest about it. Many of you didn't think I could do it. You didn't think I could turn this city around.
[Crosstalk.]
Mayor Adams: Thank you. Love you too. Yeah, listen, many of you thought, you know, “He's just a cop. What does he know about running a city this complicated, our economy, dealing with this crisis?” You don't want to deal with the fact of more housing in the history of the city, lowest crime in the history of the city, more jobs. We broke the record 11 times in the history of the city. Outpacing the state in reading and math. We have insured, dropped unemployment all across the city, but particularly in the Black and brown community.
All of these indicators. You didn't think I could do it in four years. And so although the numbers, the same numbers you use to judge other mayors. Although the numbers are showing my success you're still talking about how we’re fudging numbers.
Bond raters just announced the other day, “We're going to raise Eric’s bond again.” What is it going to take before you drop your hate and say, “Listen, the guy did the job.” I'm not running anymore. So you no longer have to do this whole charade. I turned the city around, folks. Come on.
Look at the numbers that you judged other mayors by and then put me side by side. And say, “Okay, let's look at what other mayors did around housing.” Eric has zoned the city to build more housing than Bloomberg and de Blasio’s 20 years combined. Eric has turned around the economy. Broadway had the best 12 years in record 12 months in recorded history. Crime is at record levels.
Just report the facts. Stop coming up with all of these creative ways of saying Eric failed. Eric didn't fail. Eric did the job of a working class mayor. I always told you a working class mayor could turn the city around. And a working class mayor did it. And I'm pleased by what we've done for working class people in this city.
Question: So you're leaving the city in better hands than you [got] it in the beginning?
Mayor Adams: No, no, that's a good question. I've said it once and I'm going to say it again. I've said it. They'll never report that. I've said it once and I'll say it again. What we are leaving this city in is a foundation that whomever is the mayor can build on. It is unbelievable what we're leaving the city in.
Universal after school program. Paying the college tuition for foster care children. NYCHA is finally becoming safer. Making an environment for small businesses. More small businesses in the history of the city. All the indicators that determine a healthy city. We're turning it over to someone. And we're going to prepare a transition document so they don't have to start from scratch. And they can build on what we've done.
And my real fear is the [arrogance] of people believing that it's easy to run a city of this complexity, that they're going to take us backwards. And my fear is what's playing out in Europe. I don't know why people are not seeing what's playing out in Europe. Radical thoughts and processes could harm this city. And we better be aware of that.
We made the city safer. We made it economically strong. We've taken working class people. We need to build on them. Any mayor is going to get a head start. They're not going to inherit COVID like I did. They're not going to inherit migrants and asylum seekers like I did. They're not going to inherit over-proliferations of guns like I did. They're not going to inherit a business community that didn't believe they could grow like I did. They're going to inherit a better city. And because of that, they better do a job. And I'm going to say it over and over again. Don't mess it up.
Question: Mayor Adams, now that you're back in town and you have the campaign behind you. Are you planning to endorse anyone?
Mayor Adams: When I make a determination, I will. NJ?
Question: I'm sure you've seen the latest Quinnipiac poll. The poll indicates that virtually all of our supporters are now behind Andrew Cuomo. What do you make of that?
Mayor Adams: Well, people wanted to see what I was going to do. If I was going to stay in the race, if I was going to move out of the race. They wanted to see what I wanted to do. I think that no matter who leaves the race, there's going to be a movement of their people. And people want to give the impression that Eric doesn't have any supporters. There's a lot of love in the city for what I have done and will continue to do.
And so, this race is going to continue to move forward. And we're going to be excited. I just want the best for my city, the city that I love in a real way. I know they're telling them no more questions, but I'll take two more questions. I'm going to take two more questions.
But before I take this question, there's one thing that I want to do. Listen, there was a book that came out that Jasmine Ray wrote. And in the Daily News today, it stated that there was a sexual action that happened in Borough Hall, reported in that book. And it wasn't. You're a dark, sick person, man. You know that? You're a dark sick person. Your name was on a byline. And there's some of you, some of you that have been covering me— you know, you guys could part. Let me do this. Y'all can depart.
Some of you have been covering me for three and a half years. Some of you are so sick and dark. And you're the leader of that. You're one of the most dark writers that I've ever seen in this city. And you're a personal sick vendetta and the sickness of how you think of over-sexualizing a Black man. [Writing] that in the book it stated that there was a sexual action in Borough Hall. That was never in the book. But that's typical of the sickness and the darkness of your sick mind. You're one of the sickest reporters I know. Go to the next question. You're a sick person.
Question: What’s your reaction to Letitia James getting indicted?
Mayor Adams: I'm going to do the same thing to her that I asked of everyone when I was going through my situation. Let the process play out. People attacked me. They called me names. They destroyed an impeccable record in the city. Folks, I've been doing this for 40 years. I have 40 years of delivering for the people of the City of New York. And within months, my entire life was destroyed.
And some of you who knew me joined the chorus of calling me all sorts of names. “He made a deal. He did this.” All of you that knew me, I was really surprised. And some of you broke my heart. I was surprised that y'all saw how impeccable my record was as a police officer, as a senator, as a borough president, as a mayor. And within months, because of a lawfare, you all of a sudden made me— turned me into a criminal.
You characterized my administration as corrupt. You didn't look at the dedication and commitment and the success of this city. And I noticed, you know what's interesting? I'm seeing none of you report some of the stuff that is coming out of the FBI of what happened under the Biden administration. I'm not seeing you report that. I'm not seeing you report some of the hidden records and the hidden files. I'm not seeing that anymore.
But what you did in those months, to me, I'll never forget that. It was wrong. I did not deserve that. And as a mayor, and as a public servant, I committed myself to this city. And I'm going to continue to commit myself to this city in the process. What's up, Kelly?
Question: Hi Mr. Mayor.
Mayor Adams: What's going on, Kelly?
Question: I’m good. I wanted to ask you to follow up, you know, speaking of your indictment, you talked about the Justice Department weaponizing that indictment, going after a lot of politicians. I mean, this is another Black politician being indicted here in the city. What's your response to that?
Mayor Adams: Do you feel they weaponized me?
Question: [Inaudible.]
Mayor Adams: Of course. You asked me about others, but I remember how you covered me. You didn't feel they weaponized me? I was indicted for calling the Fire Department to do a building inspection. And many of you who covered me during that time were salivating at the thought that Eric would go to jail for 33 years.
So don't start asking me about what do I think about what's going on now. I want to know what did y'all think about when my life was destroyed in this city. And I wish I had a mic so I can drop it right now.