Mayor Eric Adams: That's a great summary of a life well lived. And I was telling the team earlier that no matter what happens, I'm hoping that a migrant asylum seeker parent, I'm hoping the parent that lives in NYCHA, a parent that lives in one of our homeless shelters, a parent that is going through a terrible time. I'm hoping that a parent sees that and understands that a bend in the road is not the end of the road. As long as you make the turn and as long as you inspire love and commitment in your child, they can go on. Mommy never gave up on me. Never. She always believed. And there's so many mothers out there that they have never given up on their child. They sit in courtrooms when their child is arrested. They take that long trip upstate to visit them in state penitentiaries. They sit in hospital rooms when they go through a horrific moment. They sit in graduations and just pray and hope that their child can have an opportunity. And that's what we've done.
We've given those opportunities. And you can critique it as much as you desire to do so, but the numbers don't lie. And yes, you have to take the totality and the full scope of the person. Marcia Kramer asked me the other day, what's the difference between you as the mayor and you as an individual? None. Unfiltered. Perfectly imperfect. No telling what I'm going to do and what I'm going to say at any time. I am just Eric.
And probably in the history of time as mayor, so many mayors want to be filtered. They wanted to pretend who they are and act like they are perfect. I am not. I am that third grade dyslexic child that went through a hard time but had a loving mother and a loving family and that allowed me to overcome all obstacles.
And I know that gets some of you upset. I got it. I understand that. But we did it. We did it. And move me out of the way for a moment, and just look at these folks. These are ordinary people. These are ordinary people that did extraordinary things. And all that they had to go through with their families, their loved ones, constantly under criticism. I was telling them in the room, “Why are you still with that mayor? Why are you hanging on?” And they did. They did.
And just a special thank you. I just got to say a special thank you to Suzanne, Jeff, Randy. Who am I missing? Am I missing anyone? Adolfo. In the midst of it all, when things seemed like they were falling apart, when I had four deputy mayors walk out the door, and people were crossing their fingers, burning candles, praying that this is the end of Eric Adams, these guys stepped up. They said, “We love this city. And we're going to be there. We're going to stand with you. And we're going to keep the work done.”
Go back and look, as Fabien was telling me the other day, go back and look at the day that I was indicted. Every quarter we dropped crime. Every quarter we built more housing. Every quarter we improved our reading and test scores. Every quarter we saw different initiatives roll out. We didn't stop. What an American and New York story. Because in life things are going to come at you. And you have to be prepared for it.
And many are quick to point out when I'm the first in. You hear it all the time. I was just reading the other day. He's the first mayor in the history of New York to be indicted. Well, how about the first mayor to have visited Rikers Island and speak to inmates in prison than any other mayor? The first mayor to do dyslexia screening. The first mayor to bring down crime to the record levels that we have. The first mayor to build more housing than any mayor in history. And we zoned the city for 433,000 units of housing because of what Adolfo has done. More housing of 12 years than my friend Michael Bloomberg, eight years of de Blasio combined. So, if we're going to do the first, why don't you give me some of my other firsts?
Let's talk about my other firsts. First mayor to put high-speed broadband in NYCHA who was being denied for years. First mayor to have five women deputy mayors. First mayor to have a woman police commissioner, two times. First mayor to have a Dominican deputy mayor. First mayor to have a Filipino deputy mayor. First mayor to have an East Indian deputy mayor. First, first, first, first, first.
Don't stay on one first. Talk about the first mayor being indicted. But damn it, don't miss the other first that this mayor has been able to accomplish. Have it all come together. Because that's how you record history. History is not selectively picking out one piece that fits into your narrative. History is showing the totality of what an individual does. And that's what we have to do here. That's what this time capsule is about.
I'm handing over a city that the next administrations to come can build on. We had a city of no. And we built a City of Yes. And yes, you want to do it again. You love to say, “Well, let's have four more years.” Yes, you got that. I got that. But it doesn't take away mommy's ability to raise a mayor no matter how many terms I'm able to accomplish. And I don't know any mayor that doesn't want to go home at the end of their term. But I do. I do. I'm ready. I did what I had to do. I left everything I had on the ice. And I'm looking forward to the next step of my journey. And I'm leaving back a proud record for all of us New Yorkers.
And so when you look around this rotunda, you see a historic administration. Period. Not based on my opinion. Based on the numbers and based on the facts. An administration that looks like our city. The most diverse administration in the history of this city. I prove that women, Black and brown, can lead the most complex city on the globe. I proved it. And we've done it.
Public servants from all five boroughs, all over the city. Our public servants are from every neighborhood and every community. People who got up before the sun rose and stayed up long after it set to get stuff done for their fellow New Yorkers. I showed how we can have compassion and humanity at the same time.
I'll never forget standing next to Commissioner Castro, as we watched the first buses come into Port Authority. I'll never forget spending the night inside a HERRC, talking to those newly [arrived], believing they would be left behind, and saying to them, “I'm not going to leave you behind.” And all those who criticized me did not spend one night there. Did not meet any buses. But they were able to tell us what we've done wrong, when in fact, we had 237,000 migrants and asylum seekers that came to the city. And 90 percent of them have taken the next step on their journey because of this administration.
And I want to reflect on where we were four years ago today. And think about where our city was too. We were still reeling from a generational pandemic and a global recession. Crime was rising. Our economy was falling. And I promised you that we would bring our city back from the brink, and we would get stuff done for New Yorkers.
Our first order of business was to bring down crime and make sure our communities were safe. We put thousands of police officers on our streets and took tens of thousands of illegal guns off them. Because of our cops and our counselors, our commissioners and our public servants, America's first important city was the safest big city. And it got even safer. Today, I can report to New Yorkers that we are leaving with the fewest number of shootings in recorded history under our administration. Great job. Fewest number of shootings. Promised that I was going to make this city safe, delivered on making this city safe.
We overhauled our city's approach to homelessness and finally got New Yorkers with serious mental illness the help and health care they needed. There is nothing dignified about walking past people living on the streets. I don't care what anyone states. It was not going to happen under this administration and it did not happen. And I told you public safety was the prerequisite to prosperity, and that if we drove down crime, we could drive jobs up.
And I want to thank Deputy Mayor Kaz Daughtry and the work that you have done innovating our city over and over again to ensure all of our law enforcement agencies came together. And what we've done about jobs, that's exactly what happened. We broke the records on the most jobs in the city. Not once, twice, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, but twelve times. More jobs in New York in the history of the city. And the most small businesses in our city's history.
And then, we continued to do it over and over again. We invested in cutting-edge industries like artificial intelligence, cultural engines like our museums and generational events like the 2026 FIFA World Cup. What Laurie Cumbo did as a commissioner, she baselined the funding in our cultural institutions. They've been trying to do this for years.
We knew it wasn't enough. We had to make it better than ever. And we tackled generational issues that were holding working people back. After 60 years of diversions and delay, we passed the most pro-housing legislation in the city's history, and created a record amount of affordable homes. We turned New York City into a City of Yes. People said we couldn't do it. Dan Garodnick, the entire team over at HPD, we got it done. Everyone said no, we said yes, and we got it done.
And we didn't say yes to just more housing. More affordable housing. We cut the cost of childcare. Launched free universal afterschool. And increased the number of kids in early childhood education to record levels. Melissa, great job over at the DOE, I know you're here somewhere.
And let's talk about affordability. We wiped out medical debt. Number one cause of bankruptcy. [It] wasn't a bumper sticker for us, a slogan. We put $30 billion back in the pockets of working-class people, that includes paying off college tuition for foster care children. We knew what was happening to them, aging out, six to 700 every year, going into a dark place. And we said no, we're going to be there for you. Not only paying their college tuition, not only giving them a stipend, but also giving them life coaches until they're 21 years old. That's what you do when you really care about people.
And how about this? No tax for low-income New Yorkers. No tax for low-income New Yorkers. Never been done before. And we got it done. And Jacques Jiha, over at OMB, figuring out how to constantly bounce these budgets with an $8 billion deficit, and leaving our city with more in reserve in the history of the city.
And when you really want to understand what putting $30 billion in the pockets of New Yorkers means, it means you think about low-income families. You think about Dorothy Mae Adams, making ends meet, trying to figure out how you feed six children. When two parents are working their hardest to raise two kids, pay their bills and get ahead, we knew we had to do things to cut their costs. That was our whole mission.
We cut the cost of subsidized childcare by more than 90 percent, giving them a place to send their kids during the day and saving the family $1,200 per year. $1,200, close to $1,300. We expanded their earned income tax credit and got rid of city income taxes, as I stated. That's saving another $880 a year. So, $1280, $880, you're talking about over $2,000 a year.
We wiped out their medical debt from their emergency visits a few years ago, giving them another $1,800 on average back in their pockets. We increased the threshold for those who qualify for Fair Fares, saving them another $780 each year. And through just four of our initiatives alone, we gave them back nearly $5,000 a year. That's the creativity. We cannot control the price of bread, but darn it, we put bread back in the pockets of working-class people, and I want to see other people do that. Don't talk about it, get it done. Promise made, promise kept.
We transformed the way our students learned to read and write and drove life spans back up to 83 years again. When I met with the former commissioner of the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, we sat in our room, and he stated that we need to raise the life expectancy because I was impressed by Bloomberg's ability to raise it by three years. We said, “let's try to get it to 83 years life expectancy in five or ten years.” It was one of the two. I think it was ten years. We didn't do it in ten years. We did it in four years. In four years. And in fact, our 83.5 is the highest life expectancy the city has ever had.
And not one of you don't know how much I hate rats. We brought down rat complaints. Remember, commissioner, when we were talking about containerizing garbage? People told us it was going to take five years to containerize garbage in the city. And I said, “Commissioner, we have to beat that.” 75 percent of our garbage is in containers right now because of what we've done. She created a new garbage truck. We created the bins. And now we're going to move towards a completely containerized city, and we saw rat complaints go down.
Our rat czar, Kathleen Corradi, I want to thank her for her commitment that she did. She was focused, scaffolding what we did around, scaffolding in our building. A lot of people say you're going to snap your fingers and get them down. Yeah, okay. We’ll see. Listen, [it] was real work to get those scaffoldings down.
And so, four years later, I can say with confidence, New York City has never stood stronger. Our economy is stronger. 65 million tourists. Our nightlife because I was a nightlife mayor. Where you saw waiters, cooks, dishwashers, busboys and girls, they were reemployed because I went out there and told New York, “Let's get our swag back.” And a $30 billion industry recovered, and now it is as healthy as it has ever been.
By nearly every measure, our city is safer, stronger and more prosperous. And none of this happened by accident. These wins were the result of smart, focused leadership, not being distracted. Common sense thinking and reasonable, responsible solutions.
Even our PEGs. Everyone criticized us, when Jacques put our PEG program together. And we saved $7.2 billion. The price tag about migrants and asylum seekers was over 8 billion dollars, it may even be close to 9 billion dollars. Think about if we didn't do those PEGs in 2022, where would we have been? We were smart, we were dedicated, and we were fearless. We did not allow all the naysayers who have never done anything tell us how we were going to do something. We got stuff done for this city.
So, I want to thank these public servants. Their representatives of the people here and in their agencies. And let me tell you, every one of the 320,000 New York City employees had different views on me. Some gave me the thumbs up and some gave me other fingers. But they did their job. That's all you ask. This is not a popularity contest. It's not a contest of do you like or dislike. This is a contest, can you deliver for the people, for the City of New York? And that's what they did.
And these commissioners behind me, they led them to the fight. And a good general doesn't send your troops into battle and ask, “how was the war?” You lead them into battle. I led the city into battle. I went to the homeless shelters. I visited people who slept on the streets. I responded to the crime scenes. I walked into our schools and talked to our young people on what they needed. I traveled to Rikers Island and spoke with inmates and correctional officers. I went to Washington to fight for us, so that we could stop [the] onslaught by our failed national policies around migrants and asylum seekers. We were on the front line. These are the generals, and we led. And what we did, others will have to duplicate in a real way.
And so, I say to the mothers out there and the fathers, people like Dorothy Mae Adams, who serve their families. You just want healthy children and families, that's all you're asking for. You don't want to walk out your door and see tents on the streets. You don't want to see little boys and girls standing on street corners selling their bodies because we say prostitution is fine and sex trafficking is okay.
You don't want to be taxed based on your race. That's not who you want to be. You want a city that appreciates and respects you, where people don't stand outside your houses of worship and yell and scream at you. You want a city that's brought together, like we have brought the city together.
And so to moms all over the city and dads, that never stop fighting to provide for your families like she didn't stop for ours. For the last four years, we have never stopped fighting to do the same for New Yorkers and their family. And it has been inspiring, exhilarating, and unforgettable.
It has not all been rosy. There's been ups and downs. And when you look from the outside, you think that all our team may have done is frown. No, we laughed a lot, we leaned into the work, we knew what we were fighting for, and we stood firm and we stood tall. These are some of the finest people that I have ever met in my life. And they were not yes people. They didn't sit around every day and say, “This is what you asked for, mayor. This is what you're doing.” No. They questioned. They pushed back.
But when we broke from the huddle and went to the line of scrimmage, we moved as a team and as a unit. And, yes, some, they were inside. Some we inherited. Some were new [who] prayed that we would not succeed. But we did. We got stuff done. And I would tell the team all the time, when someone would slip and leak something to Chris Sommerfeldt to write something bad about us, I would tell folks all the time, that's just one person. That's not who we are. Don't allow the numerical minority that's among us that want to destroy what we're doing, don't allow them to get in the way of what we're doing.
The overwhelming number of us saw what we were doing and we were willing to accomplish. There will always be haters, and our haters will be our waiters. There will always be those who would dislike us. There will always be those who hate themselves so much that they just want to be destructive. And that's the message that we come out of. We know who we are. We know what we're made of. And we prove to New Yorkers what we can do.
So, a permanent record of our work is going to be left for the city. The time capsule will be sealed and buried right here for New Yorkers to open in 10 years and look back on one of the most transformative periods in our city's history. I'd like to have each of our senior leaders step forward and place an object into the time capsule.
And I'm going to start with our chief of staff, Deputy Mayor for Administration Camille Joseph [Varlack]. Her story is a story that has always inspired me when I hear of her story. And from the beginning to the end, you rode with me. Never, never, never stop. You rode, you dug in deep. And it's hard working for me, but you were so committed, and New York is a better place because of what you have done. A mother immigrant from Trinidad is now the chief of staff of the most important city on the globe.
Deputy Mayor Camille Joseph Varlack, Administration: Thank you, mayor. Good morning. My name is Camille Joseph Varlack and for nearly three years, I've had the distinct honor of serving New Yorkers as deputy mayor for Administration and chief of staff. As we reflect on our tenure, our team should be proud of what we have accomplished together.
My team and I have worked hard to connect New Yorkers directly to essential services through countless community-oriented programs and events like this summer's Benefits on Your Block. To advance quality of life initiatives by leading, supporting, and strengthening programs like Community Link. To lead the city's rodent mitigation efforts by establishing a dedicated urban pest management team. To save the New York City AmeriCorps program from federal funding cuts. To enhance performance and efficiency across the city's 300,000-member workforce. And our list goes on.
For all the work that my team and I have shepherded and led, one effort stands out for both its scale and complexity. And that is our city's response to the asylum seeker crisis. Since the spring of 2022, New York City has successfully managed an unprecedented international humanitarian challenge. We opened more than 260 shelters and served nearly 240,500 migrants from 160 countries. We sheltered, fed, clothed, educated, vaccinated, and supported new arrivals through a Herculean effort, which has allowed more than 86 percent of migrants and asylum seekers to take the next step in their journeys.
We established the first-in-the-nation asylum application help center, which completed more than 140,000 applications for work authorization, temporary protected status, and asylum. We launched the largest coordinated network of municipal immigrant legal services and community support in the country. Investing in 29 immigration legal support centers that provide high, free, quality legal assistance. And our work continues.
This has truly been a whole-of-city endeavor, bringing together our agencies, private sector partners, community and faith leaders, nonprofit providers, and everyday New Yorkers to help our newest neighbors find their way. Our work on this front revealed the very best of our city. I've personally witnessed countless acts of kindness, humanity, care, compassion, and love, memories which I will take with me long after I leave this role.
My hope is that the infants, young children, older adults, single individuals, and families that we have helped over the past three years, each seeking a better life, will continue to contribute to the rich fabric of this city for generations to come. As an immigrant from Trinidad and Tobago whose family came to this country for opportunity, I look forward to a future when perhaps someone we helped might also have the opportunity to run the greatest city in the world.
When a migrant enters city care, they are issued a humanitarian emergency response and relief center identification card. Today, for this time capsule, I am adding one of those cards. It features the Roosevelt Hotel, a place that came to symbolize New York City's response to the asylum seeker crisis and served as our 24/7 arrival center from May 2023 through June 2025.
And now I'd like to invite up the deputy mayor for Communications, Fabien Levy.
Deputy Mayor Fabien Levy, Communications: Good morning, everybody. My name is Fabien Levy, and for the last four years, it's been my privilege to lead communications for the city, first as press secretary to the mayor and for almost two and a half years as deputy mayor for Communications. When the mayor asked me to take on this role, he made the mission clear. We needed to use every tool we had to reach every New Yorker in every community. For me, that mission has been personal.
Growing up in a community full of immigrants like my own family, I saw firsthand how important it is for government to reach people where they are and the dire consequences when government doesn't even try. That's why we worked hard to connect and communicate with every New Yorker and to make sure they knew about city services that can make life more affordable, as well as the emergency information that could help save their lives.
We didn't just conduct more than 2,600 open press events and over 850 interviews with media outlets. We assessed the landscape, broadened our approach, and met New Yorkers where they were. The Adams administration was the first to shine a light on communities long ignored in the city, raising the flags of different nations along the American flag, visiting places of worship, speaking directly to ethnic community reporters who never had the opportunity to cover their city government from City Hall.
We also launched a new podcast and radio program so that New Yorkers could hear directly from the mayor. And we created a new “Hear from Eric" newsletter, multiple WhatsApp channels, and a “Text with Eric” texting program to send information on events, announcements, and opportunities to New Yorkers.
But the mission wasn't just to communicate to New Yorkers. We had to communicate with them. One of the things I'm most proud of is that that number of these different platforms allowed us to have a dialogue directly with New Yorkers who let us know about family members who needed housing and mental health help, friends who needed jobs, parks and street corners that needed to be clean, and so much more.
Because of our communication channels, we were able to talk with New Yorkers, hear their problems, and take immediate action to help resolve them as we got stuff done for 8.5 million of our fellow New Yorkers in the languages and manners in which they understood the solution.
When I look around this rotunda, I can't even count the number of commissioners and their staff I contacted about an issue we were texted about, heard about on our radio program, or learned about through another channel. And when I think about all the work to modernize and digitize communications, to expand access and deliver information, it's clear that the Adams administration functioned as a prism.
Light enters a prism unchanged. But it must bend to pass through. At each surface, it meets resistance, and sometimes reflection, sometimes refraction. Not rejection, but redirection. Inside the prism, light turns. In fact, sometimes it discovers paths it never expected to take. Only after these turns does the light emerge, not weaker for having changed direction, but richer, separated into colors it never knew it carried. So, it is with our administration.
We were shaped by the angles we met, and what may have felt like the light being reflected may simply have been how we were shining more fully. Like a prism, we made certain that the clear messaging and directives from City Hall were translated into the spectrum of cultures, languages, and lifestyles represented across the five boroughs, while at the same time listening to those same people and gathering feedback.
We then distilled what was universally important to everyday New Yorkers, came up with solutions, and continued our dialogues with New Yorkers in different languages and through different platforms. There was no one way to describe how we spoke to New Yorkers. No, in fact, like a prism, the angle of incidence equaled the angle of reflection, the manner in how we communicated.
Before I end, I want to thank everyone who made our progress possible, from our agencies to our City Hall team, and especially my communications team who worked longer hours than anyone else. But thank you especially to Mayor Adams for the chance to serve the city I love and be a small part of leaving behind a legacy we can all be proud of. I'd like to also thank my family. Of course, I'm humbled to have had the honor to serve. Thank you.
And next, I'm going to introduce DM Ana Almanzar, the deputy mayor for Strategic Initiatives.
Deputy Mayor Ana Almanzar, Strategic Initiatives: Well, good morning, everyone. Buenos días. My name is Ana Almanzar, and I have the great honor to serve as deputy mayor for Strategic Initiatives. I am holding right here, if you can see it, a graduation tassel. I knew that would happen. A graduation tassel moves only when you have earned it. And this one represents the hard-won progress we've made for the families of the City of New York.
To ensure that the next generation has the support, the stability, and the opportunity to earn that tassel, we invested $331 million to expand After-School for All. Yes, I hear you, Randy. Bringing the total to $755 million. We committed nearly $600 million to early childhood education, and we opened college savings accounts for more than 280,000 students. Laying a foundation for their lives long before they ever step onto a campus.
When we open the time capsule in 10 years from now, children in our childcare programs will move from elementary into middle school. And students in our after-school seats will be finishing their college careers, entering futures full of possibilities. For parents and students alike, graduation is a magic hour. It's filled with glory. A moment where we look back at our education for one very last time.
Mayor Adams, serving this city has been an entirely new education, and everyone in this administration deserves their own tassel. Thank you, Mayor Adams, for the chance to give back to the place that gave my family and I everything. It has been the greatest honor of my entire life. I have given it my all. It is my honor to introduce DM Tiffany Raspberry. Thank you.
Deputy Mayor Tiffany Raspberry, Intergovernmental Affairs: Good morning. My name is Tiffany Raspberry, and I serve as deputy mayor for Intergovernmental Affairs. A guiding principle of this administration has been improving the quality of life for all New Yorkers through practical, common-sense solutions that put public health and safety first, especially when it comes to protecting New York City's children and families.
When Mayor Adams took office in January of 2022, the city was still emerging from Covid, and illegal cannabis shops were everywhere. One of the first things I noticed when I arrived at City Hall on that morning was a 24-hour illegal marijuana shop on Broadway, clearly visible from City Hall. These shops were selling unregulated products and putting children and families at risk. So, what did we do?
We went to Albany to fix it. And we worked with Governor Hochul, Majority Leader Stewart Cousins, and Speaker Heastie, and our Albany partners to pass the legislation that created Operation Padlock to Protect. Since then, over 1,600 illegal cannabis stores have been shut down, and more than $95 million in illegal products have been seized.
This work was part of a broader set of major legislative wins delivered through our work here in New York City, in Albany, and in Washington, D.C., including passing four on-time city budgets, strengthening mayoral accountability, advancing critical housing and affordability initiatives with the passing of City of Yes, stabilizing NYCHA through the Public Housing Preservation Trust, and delivering meaningful tax relief for New Yorkers with the Axe the Tax legislation.
We also successfully secured billions in federal funding for New York City that we used to support our newly arrived asylum seeker families, countless large-scale infrastructure projects, and housing and public safety initiatives that directly improve the day-to-day lives of New Yorkers.
I want to thank my amazing team, spread across four offices in three cities, including Albany and Washington, D.C. And today, as we place this padlock into the time capsule, it represents our commitment to protecting all New Yorkers. As deputy mayor for Intergovernmental Affairs, it has been one of the greatest honors of my life to serve in this administration under your leadership, Mayor Adams. And I have to say, it's not bad for a little girl who grew up in Cooper Park houses in Brooklyn.
This padlock marks a moment in our city's history when the city chose safety, responsibility, and put the safety and security of our seniors, men, women, children, and families first. Thank you. I'd now like to introduce my colleague, chief counsel to the mayor, Allison Stoddart.
Allison Stoddart, Chief Counsel to the Mayor and City Hall: Alright, hello. My name is Allison Stoddart. I serve as chief counsel to the mayor in City Hall. And in that role, our team oversees the activities of about a dozen entities. These are the agencies, boards, and commissions that are the backbone of city government. They're the ones that support our operational agencies, quietly ensuring that city government keeps moving. People show up to work, invoices are paid, and the city keeps moving forward efficiently and with integrity.
One area that both Mayor Adams and I are especially proud of is this administration's impressive record on settling union labor contracts. Our Office of Labor Relations, led by Commissioner Renee Campion, frequently known as Renee Champion, has settled labor agreements for 98.6 percent of our municipal workforce during the latest round of bargaining. That means that over 358,000 city employees saw salary increases of 16 to 19 percent over the course of new five-year contracts.
To represent this great work, I am contributing a mini Staten Island Ferry. Cute, right? To the Adams administration time capsule. I was going to say it's the cutest entry, but I think I might get some competition. So, this Staten Island Ferry reflects how our administration delivered a new contract for over 150 Staten Island Ferry captains, mates, and engineers in 2023. This was the longest labor contract in city history, 16 years, because the labor negotiations with this union had been unresolved through two prior administrations.
This contract provided pattern-conforming wage increases dating back to 2010, which was the last time this union had a contract in place. This contract ensured that those who helped transport the 16 million New Yorkers between Staten Island and Manhattan each year get fair wages and more flexibility, and they get to go home to their families knowing that the City of New York has their back.
Mayor Adams made a promise to be a five-borough mayor who never forgets about New Yorkers no matter where they live, and with this small ferry and the big contract, as well as over 100 others executed during this administration, we are showing how we delivered for our city workers and for the people across the five boroughs. And with that, I will introduce DM Adolfo.
Deputy Mayor Adolfo Carrión, Housing, Economic Development, and Workforce: Right now, you know you have a good relationship with your colleagues when it's DM Adolfo. That's it. And privately, my stage name, also my rapper name, is DM AC. That's what [inaudible] in the building. I'm Adolfo Carrión, deputy mayor for Housing, Economic Development, and Workforce. It's been the honor of my life to work in this building with this mayor and this team over the past four years as housing commissioner for three and a half years and for the last 10 months, two weeks, and 17 hours. But who's counting?
Like so many families who moved from Puerto Rico to New York in the 1950s, my parents got their start in a Williamsburg sub-basement apartment. It was small. It was damp. But it was home. Through long hours, hard work, and my parents' ingenuity, we graduated and we made it into public housing, to the Jacob Riis Houses, then on to federally financed housing, and eventually we became homeowners for the first time in the county of the Bronx and entered the middle class.
And when we came to office, and I remember standing right in this space when the mayor asked me to take on the reins of the housing agency of New York City, he wanted to make sure that that story, that my family's story, was still possible today. Our work during this administration has been nothing short of extraordinary. We began this administration with a city in distress and in need of strong leadership. In under two years, we not only brought back all of the jobs lost during the pandemic, we also broke the all-time New York City jobs record.
And then we went on to break our own record 11 times. Forever, Laurie’s “Woo” will be in this moment. We did it through bold, dedicated, and ambitious leadership, and we accomplished generation-defining projects that no one thought we could achieve. Like the Brooklyn Marine Terminal right at the mouth of New York Harbor, now going to be a modern electric terminal. Or the Kingsbridge Armory, one of the oldest armories in the United States, now to be an asset for that community, not a liability.
We expanded our city's Blue Highways network at the Brooklyn Navy Yard and the climate center on Governors Island, and we delivered massive projects that were stalled for decades, like transforming an entire area of the city into a new neighborhood at Willets Point. We strengthened and diversified our workforce by creating pathways for youth employment. We grew dedicated teen center spaces in our libraries, and we expanded our creative and cultural sectors.
We empowered small businesses, created new student loan debt relief measures, and raised the minimum wage for restaurant delivery workers. And on the housing front, we transformed the New York City Housing Authority, getting the Historic Preservation Trust passed into law off the ground. We passed five historic neighborhood rezonings that will bring nearly 50,000 new homes to New York City. We diversified our city's landmarks, and we moved the review of over 2,700 public design projects, balancing respect for our history with growth, to house the full ambitions of New York City's residents.
And then there is this key. It says, besides what I'm going to say, on the back, I caught this, it says, “Do Not Duplicate.” This can't be duplicated, ladies and gentlemen. A key we gave out when we passed the City of Yes, the largest rezoning in New York City history. We declared that our city is a City of Yes, and we paved the way for the creation of 80,000 new homes and an additional $5 billion investment in our neighborhoods. We did that. These people behind me did that.
In total, we created, preserved, or planned over 433,000 homes across New York City in four years, and we should be proud. Our city has more jobs, more homes, and more small businesses than ever before. And it would not have been done without the 300,000 public servants tirelessly giving their all for this city. Nor would it have been done without the vision and the leadership of the 110th mayor of the City of New York, Eric Adams. Thank you, mayor. Thank you.
Now, as a kid from the Bronx who was born in Brooklyn, I am so proud to say with certainty that we are leaving this city in a better place than when we started. So, thank you to everyone who made this possible. I am now going to deliver this key to the time capsule. I'm going to do it the way you told me to do it. I've been known for hamming it up a bit.
And now it gives me great pleasure to introduce my colleague and friend, Kaz Daughtry, the deputy mayor for Public Safety.
Deputy Mayor Kaz Daughtry, Public Safety: Thank you. Thank you, DM. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. It's an honor to add a token to this time capsule on behalf of the public safety team that never stops getting stuff done for New Yorkers. Over the last few years, my office took on some of the toughest public safety challenges in this city. And we did it with focus, coordination, and compassion. But the item I'm placing in the time capsule today is a piece of one of our drones. It represents something even larger than any single initiative. This administration made a deliberate choice to embrace new technology, not shy away from it.
That's why my office launched the Emerging Technology Committee to evaluate cutting-edge tools across all of the public safety agencies and determine if the ones that are working well can be adopted by the other teams. And that's why Mayor Adams created the Drone Operations Committee to expand the safe, responsible use of drones citywide. Drones have already helped us respond faster and better protect people in ways that simply wasn't possible a few years ago.
Through our drone as a first responder program, drones can reach an incident in about two and a half minutes, providing a critical live view of the scene before officers and first responders even arrive. Drones have also been used to help save the lives of more than 200 kids who were caught subway surfing, some as young as 11 years old. And on our beaches this past summer, drones helped save more than 40 swimmers and provided early warning to beachgoers and spotted over 20 shark sites, keeping beachgoers safe and also keeping first responders safe as well.
This is a small piece of hardware right here. I was debating between this or AirTag when somebody digs this box [inaudible]. This represents something larger. This is a symbol of our commitment to innovation, to problem solving, to using every tool at our disposal, and to never being afraid to try something new if it's going to work to keep New Yorkers safe.
We are here today to reflect on the incredible things that we have accomplished under Mayor Eric Adams' leadership for these past four years. But this time capsule is also about looking to the future. And it's a path and a path forward for new technology, new ideas, and a public safety system that is built not just for today's challenges, but for tomorrow's as well.
Thankfully, we had a mayor who recognized that this technology is the future of public safety, and I have no doubt that the work we started here will keep New Yorkers safe for generations to come. Thank you.
And now I would like to bring up DM Suzanne.
Deputy Mayor Suzanne Miles-Gustave, Health and Human Services: Thank you, DM Kaz. Good morning, everyone. I'm Suzanne Miles-Gustave, deputy mayor for Health and Human Services. This administration has worked to strengthen the bonds between our health and human services agencies to ensure every New Yorker engaged with our system receives integrated, comprehensive, and responsive services in the city. And we've done so much over the last year and across the entirety of the administration.
We've helped more than 130,000 people secure stable housing. We've relieved $135 million in medical debt for 75,000 people and much more relief to come. We've supported those touched by domestic and gender-based violence. We've put millions of dollars to use to fight the opioid overdose crisis. We've expanded lifestyle medicine programs to give more people the chance that the mayor had to change his life and health trajectory.
We've helped more than 1,200 people with disabilities find jobs. We've advanced a comprehensive mental health plan, including for our young people. We rewrote the playbook for serving those who are homeless and especially those suffering from severe mental illness. We honored our veterans and we made advancements to make our city more age inclusive.
And then something near and dear to my heart, and I know to the mayor's as well, is getting to the root causes and the challenges we face around maternal health and infant and child mortality. Mayor Adams took on this cause early on in his administration and never wavered. Thanks to our citywide doula initiative, over 3,500 mothers have been served since 2022 with no maternal deaths. And we've increased doula access by 25 percent across the city.
And in October of this year, we announced a program through the Department of Social Services called Creating Real Impact at Birth, or CRIB, with an investment of $8.5 million to give pregnant people in shelters a faster track to housing vouchers to eliminate the number of children born in shelters.
Along with that program, four of our New York City Health + Hospital locations launched a baby box program, giving new families the essentials after their newborn comes into the world, including resources for what to expect and how to connect with support. That's why I'm offering the cutest entry, this set of baby clothes, because New York loves me [as] if I'm a baby, to represent all the strides this administration has made for young children and families, especially our most vulnerable.
We have set a goal to ensure no child is born into shelter, and this onesie represents that. We know there is much, much more to do to tackle health inequities, with Black and brown communities still lagging far behind, specifically related to infant and child mortality, where rates are more than two times what they are for their white counterparts. But this is work that must continue.
In closing, I want to thank you, Mayor Adams, for your dedication, and to all of our agencies in our portfolio. We're leaving connected and curious agencies and leaders across the health and human services portfolio, working together and devising strategies on tough issues such as infant and child mortality, and we have a task force that does that, and they're ready to carry their efforts into the next administration.
We have been at the forefront of serving New Yorkers when they most need support, and we've done so much to help make the lives of all those New Yorkers healthier and more fulfilling. The work we've started will persist, and our legacy will remain long into the future. Thank you all, and it is my pleasure to call up DM Jeff Roth.
Deputy Mayor Jeff Roth, Operations: Good morning, my name is Jeff Roth, I'm the deputy mayor for Operations, and Mayor Adams, it's been an honor to serve you and this administration, the city's operational agencies and the public servants who keep the city moving every single day. We had so many initiatives, from containerization to scaffolding to advancing climate and flood resilience projects, delivering safer streets and public spaces, expanding accessibility, and modernizing core city operations by coordinating across agencies to move faster and smarter.
One initiative that stands as testament of government innovation is the trash revolution and the containerization pilots in West Harlem and Downtown Brooklyn. Early data show meaningful reductions in rat complaints, along with cleaner sidewalks and safer working conditions for sanitation workers. It's a modern solution to a decades-old problem, and it proves that when government focuses on outcomes, innovation doesn't have to be complicated.
So, I've got this miniature trash can– which represents a city willing to modernize and a team committed to delivering results New Yorkers can see on their blocks. And I will say this, while this is one small trash can for a time capsule, it is one giant leap for a city.
Mayor Adams: Just as with my chief of staff, I want to introduce my first deputy mayor. You know, many people walk out of a room when you are in need, and very few walk in. Randy was treated unfairly when he went to become a corp counsel. He was disrespected. He was humiliated in front of his family and countless number of people who came to support him. And by any other standard, a person would say, “I don't need this, I don't need to deal with putting my life and my family on the line.” But he didn't do that.
When I called our first deputy mayor during probably one of the most challenging times in this administration and asked for his steady hand, his leadership, his vision, and asked him to come and join us, he did not hesitate. He asked me, “Where do I sign up?” And, you know, serving under previous administrations, the Giuliani administration, being a well-known attorney to deal with civil rights issues and so many other issues, having this experience and expertise, partnering with Allison on some of the legal issues, but even a vision.
Some of the important items, what he did at the Elizabeth Street Garden, getting almost six times the amount of housing, what he did around the benevolence of the horse carriage industry, and so many more. But just personally, what he has done for me. I want to thank you for being there during a very, very difficult time for me. And you showed me that there are still good human beings that believe in you and will stand with you. I want to introduce our first deputy mayor, Randy Mastro.
First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro: Wow. I'm all verklempt now. Well, the first will go last. It's the honor of a lifetime to be able to serve this city in City Hall, an honor I've now had twice. And while it took me nearly 30 years to get back here, and it may take 30 more years for me to get back here again, I better say what I have to say now. And by the way, I have a lot to say.
Don't worry. It'll be good. So let me just say this. I’m proud of so many things that this team has achieved in such a short period of time. Proud of a budget the mayor called the Best Budget Ever. Even the City Council speaker said it was as close to perfect as she'd experienced, and then passed the City Council unanimously, which hasn't happened in many years.
Proud that despite those who thought we couldn't work with the City Council and other elected officials to get things done, over the past nine months, we passed four major neighborhood rezonings, including the largest in city history. Five overall, five overall, and close to 50,000 units of housing. We passed the expansion of Hudson Yards, producing even more affordable housing. We passed the rezoning relating to the Kingsbridge Armory. We passed the Brooklyn Marine Terminal market, super majority vote of elected officials and community representatives, producing thousands more affordable housing units.
And we effectively sustained mayoral veto of the Bally's Casino Project, which led to it getting licensed so that there will be thousands of jobs now coming to the Bronx and many, many millions of dollars of economic activity because that casino project is going forward. Proud to have been part of an administration that created the first Mayor's Office to Combat Antisemitism of any city in this country. And to have followed that on with initiatives that practiced what we preach and say to every community in the city, you are included and protected.
And proud of so many other achievements. I could go on and on, but you can read another 40 of them in my five-page single-spaced resignation letter. But I'm here today to talk about an initiative that was particularly near and dear. It's about quality of life. It's about public safety and protecting New Yorkers. And that's our bike lanes, where too many e-bikes were speeding, causing injuries, had uncertified ion batteries that imploded into fires, no identification, no protection for workers, and not enough enforcement. It took a multi-agency effort to put together a plan to address it.
Now, when I arrived here, so many said, “Oh, got to leave it to the City Council.” Leave it to the City Council. No. We didn't leave it to the City Council. We said, got to reduce those speed limits. So that is why I have a speedometer set at 15 miles an hour because that is the speed limit that we adopted. And they said, “Oh, couldn't get people to go along. Oh, Citi Bike would never do that.” They agreed to the 15 miles an hour and set all their speedometers at 15 miles an hour in less than 24 hours.
And working with DOT and fire and police and so many others, we have made this scourge that was going on, the danger that was going on in bike lanes, we have made them safer. Still much work to be done. Increased enforcement through DOT, working with the NYPD. Crackdowns on uncertified ion batteries. Making our bike lanes safer for New Yorkers and pedestrians. That's the kind of legacy, that's the kind of innovation of this administration of which I am very proud.
And I will say, as a second generation Italian American, in closing, I paraphrase the immortal Frank Sinatra, we did it our way. Now, I have the honor of asking to come back to the microphone, a man whose administration, this great team behind us, reduced crime to record lows, increased jobs to record highs, created affordable housing at an unprecedented rate. It's a legacy to be proud of. Mayor Eric Adams.
Mayor Adams: Record jobs, record homes, record small businesses, record early childhood education enrollment, record investments in homelessness, record safety. That's the record I live on. You become a prop master like me. So I don't know if they use records anymore. But to these young people who are sitting in front, this is a record. We used to play music on this.
[Crosstalk].
You know what else we are proud of? When I look over at J.R., when I first came in office, brother, they didn't look like you. We diversified this press corps. You know, they fought us not to put a desk in room nine. And we fought like heck to make sure that we could get it done. And throughout all the time, they tried to get legislation passed to stop us. But we got it done.
And we've always had her yell out at every press conference. So we're used to that. We're used to that. And so we're going to move on to the next level. And that's to bury our time capsule. And it's good to see faces like you and some of my other folks. Thank you very much
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