Transcript: Mayor Adams Hosts "Hear From the Mayor" Radio Show

February 11, 2024

Gary Byrd: Well, good morning Tri‑State, wherever you are. Welcome to our broadcast on 107.5, WBLS. February, Black History Month, and each and every Sunday of this day that we live, we certainly have to remember our history.

And in this case, it's the second Sunday of the month, and WBLS is proud to welcome the 110th mayor of New York City, the second mayor of color in the city, and the first hip‑hop mayor in the city's history. It's time to welcome our brother, Mayor Eric L. Adams, on 107.5 WBLS. Mr. Mayor, good morning and welcome.

Mayor Eric Adams: Thank you so much, Gary. Always good speaking with you. And to the listeners out there, you know, welcome back to another episode of Hear from the Mayor, and I'm your Mayor Eric Leroy Adams. And if this is your first time tuning in, the purpose of this show is to just do one thing, and that's just to hear from everyday New Yorkers.

Listeners should give me a call and hear directly from your mayor what we are doing to build what I like to believe a better city. Crime is down, jobs are up, tourism is flourishing, 62 million of people. And if you haven't heard, we won the World Cup final. This is so huge. You can sign up to hear from me by visiting nyc.gov/hearfromeric.

You can sign up on our website to text with me as well. It's textwitheric, talk with me at WhatsApp, and listen to my Get Stuff Done podcast, everything just to communicate directly with you. And those who are listening today, you can dial in at (212) 545‑1075. (212) 545‑1075.

And we want to do something new this month as we continue to expand. We want to do a facts versus fiction of the week, because every week there are different things that come out, we believe they're portrayed inaccurately. And so it's important for us to speak directly to you to separate the facts from fiction.

This week, fact from fiction is the migrant cards that we gave out to migrants to purchase food. Just some quick bullets that you need to know about these cards. They are not American Express gold cards, folks. This is a pilot project we're doing with 500 migrants, asylum seekers.

The goal is we wanted to bring down the cost by 20 percent of what it costs to take care of the migrants and asylum seekers that the national government has really prevented from being corrected here in our city.
So, number one, only 500 people are in this pilot project. This pilot project is going to save us $600,000 a month, $7.2 million a year. They cannot buy Colt 45 or any other wild thing, they can only buy food and baby supplies with it.

And here's the beautiful part about it that spills into the conversation we're having today. We took the purchasing of food with this pilot from large conglomerate entities to now localize it. They're going to spend these cards in our local bodegas, our local stores, our local supermarkets.

It's going to feed back into the economy so that we can recycle those dollars, we can hire locally. And this is an MWBE vendor, MoCaFi. As soon as you hear the name, you should know it was an MWBE vendor, MoCaFi. And this is a real good program, so don't let people let you believe that all of a sudden we're giving American Express cards to folks and they're going out and buying whatever they want, their Louis Vittons or whatever they think they can do. That's just not the reality.

Separating facts from fiction, we're going to try to do this each week so you can stay abreast of what the real good things we are doing. Nothing does a better job than that than the person I'm going to introduce right now. I wanted him so badly on my team, Mike Garner. He is the first Chief Business Diversity Officer, and he has hit the ground running over the past year, and I want him to go into this.

We awarded the highest number of city contracts to MWBEs ever in the history of the city. He's going to let you know what an MWBE is and what it means, and we want to continue to expand on that. In fiscal year 2023, New York City awarded more than 1,900 city contracts to MWBEs. That's a 19 percent increase over what we did the year before.

And this number is showing that we as New Yorkers should all be proud. This was one of the number one things that I was concerned about: how do we get these multi-billions of dollars in procurement contracts of goods and services to these small businesses in our city? And that's what Mike was able to accomplish.

I'm just really proud. to have you on board, Brother. Think about it, Mayor David Dinkins started the MWBE program when he was mayor, now 30 years later, when I became the second mayor of color, we are now expanding and we're seeing Mayor Dinkins' vision. Give me your thought and let the listeners know why this initiative is so important.

Michael Garner, Chief Business Diversity Officer, Mayor’s Office: Yes, good morning. And let me just say that candidate Eric Adams indicated that he was going to improve the city's M and WBE program. Everything that he said on the campaign trail he has done and even more.

Let me just give you some examples. For the first time in the history of any New York City mayor, Mayor Adams was successful in getting all of his MWBE legislation passed into bills recently signed into state law by Governor Hochul.

This gives us the ability now to take programming and create jobs in communities of color. The mayor indicated that he wanted to take government contracting and create and drive equity in those communities of color who have historically been shut out.

So, what does that mean? That means that last year, under the effective leadership of Mayor Eric Adams, the City of New York awarded more than $6 billion to minority and women‑owned firms— $6 billion. What that means is that there is job creation. There is home ownership opportunities for those business owners. There are better educational and healthcare options for their respective families.

And so the largest, most important city in the world, on the globe, we are driving equity with certified minority‑owned businesses like never before. Former Mayor Dinkins— David Norman Dinkins— started this program, Mayor Adams is taking it to levels that's been unheard of.

His goal is simple, to award $25 billion to MWBEs by 2026 and $60 billion by 2030. And the $6 billion last year, we are well on our way of achieving the mayor's aggressive and doable vision.

Mayor Adams: And this is so important, because one of the things I spoke with Chief Diversity Officer Garner about is what has happened traditionally. We wait until the end of the year. and all of a sudden find out that we did not reach our goal; and every year we go back and say, oops, wait until next year. That is just not how things should be done. As my mom used to say, you have to inspect what you expect or it's all suspect.

And what I said to the Chief Diversity Officer, how do we monitor more often to determine, are people trending in the right direction? We got the victories in Albany, and I would love for you, Michael, if you could go into some of those victories and what they meant; and then, how are you making sure that people are trending and staying abreast of moving in the right direction?

Garner: Yes. And some of the bills that are now New York State laws is to create a city‑wide construction mentoring program, which will become the largest program in the country where we will afford small and minority women‑owned contractors the ability to work for the City of New York as prime contractors on contracts up to $5 million.

And the best thing, one of the best things about this program is that once a contractor has finished their work, they submit an invoice, we pay them in 10 days— no longer stringing them out for 60 days or 90 days; 10 days.

A second one is cost‑effective construction insurance. We know that that's a barrier to entry, along with access to capital and access to surety bonding. And so the City of New York will be creating an OCIP program— Owners Controlled Insurance Program— where we will afford our smaller contractors the ability for cost‑effective insurance.

Also, we have a increased the discretionary threshold from one million to 1.5 million. What that means is that the city agencies have the ability to go out into the marketplace, solicit two or three prices from only M and WBE firms, make the award right there on the spot as long as that pricing is aligned with the historical pricing.

And Mayor Adams wanted... I wanted monthly COMPstat meetings, the mayor wanted weekly COMPstat meetings— so, we are engaged with all of our agencies every Monday at City Hall at three o'clock, weekly MWBE COMPstat type meetings where we are holding those agencies accountable, transparency and accountability of awarding contracts in an inclusive manner.

Also, I am pleased to announce that under Mayor Adams' leadership, we have met with all of the agencies who are procuring goods and services for our asylum seekers. We have awarded, as of last week, $1.1 billion to those MWBEs in buying goods and services.

And the mayor wants us to use information technology in order to drive MWBE efficiencies, so we are getting ready to unveil an information technology platform which will allow us to look to see how each agency is doing not only on the contract awards but also on the payments, the dollars that's being paid to our MWBE firms.

Mayor Adams: And this is so important. So, I want to break this down in a level that really you can communicate so we won't get lost in some of the terminologies. You know, I'm a Christian, and when we go to church, we have various committees with inside the church.

And whenever we're trying to do a building fund, we put the building fund in front of the church so we can see how we're moving in the direction in our collection each week. That's what these meetings that Chief Diversity Officer Garner is doing.

He's now bringing in all of those committees to say, how much have you contributed to bringing those MWBEs— so, we want to see it and be transparent and not wait until the end of the year. But he's doing he's doing something else. He's looking at ways to help the MWBEs to actually know how to go after some of these city contracts.

And I want us to think differently if you have a small business. Just dealing with one crisis— the migrant and asylum seekers— we have to pay for cleaning contracts. So, if you have a laundry mat or you have cleaning services, we need you.

We have to pay for security contracts. If you own a security company, we need you. If you are an attorney in the city, you can go in and look at some of these contracts that are available to represent the city on tort claims and others.

So, it's imperative for us to look at every goods and service that we deliver to the people of the city of New York. Your tax dollars should go back and recycle in the community. This is a huge, huge moment of what we're seeing and why this is so important.

And Chief Diversity Officer Garner has a track record of doing this in some of his other professional duties that he had in previous jobs, and I knew he was going to bring this to the city.

So, when you look at the meetings that he's having with city agencies that are doing billions of dollars of procurements for goods and services, he's using the same concept that we know in our old church service. He's making sure that everyone is meeting the goals that we're setting out.

So, that building fund is not being hidden somewhere in the back room, no, it's front and center where everyone can see, where are we trending, what direction we're moving in. Are we meeting our goals? Are we meeting our numbers; and, are we living up to what we say we're going to live up? And that is why this is so important.

Mike, can you talk about why it's important to shop local and work with MWBEs?

Garner: Yes. It is important because we need to reinvest in our communities— those communities who have historically been shut out. And so government contracting creates jobs in those areas and in those communities.

And one thing that you asked me to do when I first came on board was to leave a legacy, to allow you to leave a legacy, in the name of Harold Washington, the name of Maynard Jackson, in the name of Coleman Young. These were big city mayors who created opportunities for their local minority‑owned businesses, their local Black businesses, local Hispanic businesses. And so the name Eric Adams will ring historically when we talk about empowerment to our local communities.

Mayor Adams: And far too often, Michael, what I find is that people don't really understand how much business we do, and just really you have a real running example with a young lady who had a restaurant and she transformed her restaurant to serving food to migrants and asylum seekers, and her restaurant actually helped other restaurants who were about to close.

So, we took this crisis and assisted other restaurants in the process. Can you talk about that?

Garner: Absolutely. So, this young lady owns a number of restaurants, but we were able to award a contract to her for $8.6 million, and she has hired locally up on Dykeman Avenue; and so, we are creating jobs once again in neighborhoods. She is preparing for the City of New York 87,000 meals a week in feeding the migrants.

When I briefed the mayor, Mayor Adams on this, Mayor Adams didn't even blink. He kept walking and he said, well, that's what we do. And we are changing the way that we do business. We are thinking big and we are executing big under the Adams administration.

Mayor Adams: And so now think about it for a moment: that is putting money back into our community in a real way. So, imagine if you own a supermarket, NSA, or one of the other supermarket chains. We have to buy Clorox, we have to buy washing powder, we have to buy mops and brooms. Think differently about your city and how your city owes you because you have shown the city that you are part of us.

So, I hear my music playing [laughter] so I'm looking forward to opening the lines and get some 
conversation from our callers.

Byrd: Our number, of course, is (212) 545‑1075, (212) 545‑1075. You're hearing from the mayor, but you also get a chance to talk to the mayor. That's coming up next, right here at 107.5 WBLS.

Well it's Hear from the Mayor; and of course, the mayor also wants to hear from you, [and you're lined up] (212) 545‑1075.

Let's welcome back Mayor Eric Adams and his special guest this morning, Michael Garner, Chief Business Diversity Officer.

Mayor Adams: Yes, thank you, Brother. And while we were talking offline, Brother Michael was sharing with me how much we spend in human services contracts. These are all the people who provide some form of human services throughout the entire city of New York. And we wanted to zero in on that. What is the total number, Mike?

Garner: We spend $20 billion on human services contracts annually, $20 billion.

Mayor Adams: Think about that, those are real numbers, real numbers. So, why don't we go to the phone and answer some calls from the phone? Do we have any callers coming in from the phone?

Byrd: Yes, we do. (212) 545‑1075, calls lined up to talk to Mayor Eric Adams and his special guest this morning. Good morning, caller.

Question: Hi, good morning. Can you hear me?

Byrd: Yes, we can. We can hear you fine.

Question: Oh, hi. I'm calling to make... Thank you for taking my call. This is Lots Avenue between Christopher and Mother Gaston Boulevard in Brooklyn. Mayor Adams, the cops, nobody comes here and give tickets. We can't get our streets cleaned. They won't move their cars.

They said, why nobody comes [to]. We've called 311, the cops come through. Sanitation comes through and they don't move their cars. Just Friday we asked them so we could get the street cleaned because of the rats. This [inaudible] nobody gets no tickets here and they're right, mayor, nobody comes [inaudible] lot between Christopher and Mother Gaston Boulevard in Brownsville. And they don't come. We watch sanitation come through. They don't stop. They don't give the tickets and they won't move their cars.

Byrd: Sister, let's let the mayor respond to your question.

Mayor Adams: Well, okay. First of all, that's unacceptable because if you may not have heard it, but I hate rats, so we're going to do something about that. I'm going to take a ride over there today. I'm going to be in Brooklyn at an event and I'm going to pop over to see exactly what's happening.

And I will have my Commissioner of the Department of Sanitation also send a team over there. Let us do an analysis. And we're on it, trust me, you're going to see a response immediately. Thanks for that call. And things like that we want to hear about, because we have to deliver services on the ground. I'm the Get Stuff Done mayor, and being on the ground is how we get it done. So, thank you for that call, Sister.

Byrd: You're in the air with Mayor Eric Adams. Good morning. You're in the air, go right ahead, please. Again, talk to us on the phone, don't try to listen to your radio. It will confuse you, there's a delay. Again, your name and where you're calling us from this morning. Go right ahead.

Question: Hello?

Byrd: You're in the air. You go right ahead, Sister. Name and where you're calling us from.

Question: Good morning. My name is Raquel. I'm calling from the Bronx. I'm calling about the DOE issue. I'm having an issue because my understanding is that when your child is diagnosed with something and they need a specialized school. My child has been diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum and they need a specialized school.

Why do we have to go and sue the DOE to get our child in a specialized school, because sometimes the public school and especially the charter school cannot help our children. Why put parents through who do not have the money to sue the DOE? I am currently laid off, so I can't sue the DOE. I need my child in a specialized school.

Mayor Adams: Without a doubt, Sister. And listen, you know, I'm dyslexic so I know what it is to have a learning disability, and you know, I went undiagnosed for years, not until I got to college did I realize I was dyslexic.

And there's a system where you can get your child into the school that is needed. If you will leave your number, I will have one of our team members connect with you to find out what the issue is. Someone could have been giving you a runaround, and I just don't believe in, you know, those who need services to get a runaround.

So, let me look into it. I need you to leave your contact so that we can zoom in on it, or you can reach out to me through one of the outlets that we have, you know, available. But let me look into this and let's help you through this. Okay? I don't want you to be frustrated. I want you to be focused on giving your child what they need so they can get the quality of education they deserve.

My mom didn't have that support; and fortunately for me, others did help. But I know exactly how frustrating it could be. Okay?

Mayor Adams: It is. Thank you. Thank you.

Byrd: Now, this is Hear from the Mayor. The mayor wants to hear from you. Your first name and where you're calling us from this morning on WBLS. Good morning. You're in the air, go right ahead, please. Hear from the Mayor and the mayor wants to hear from you. Good morning.

Again, don't listen to your radio. Stay with the phone. Listen to us through the phone and talk directly to us. You're in the air. Go right ahead.

Question: Good morning.

Byrd: Good morning.

Question: Good morning. Good morning. My name is Mark. I'm calling from Brooklyn, New York. I Have a kidney problem and it's like I'm trying to get help from the city and I can't get help from the city. And everybody deserves help. They're helping the migrant where they are spending 4.6 million dollars a week on the migrants.

But I'm here over 40 something‑odd years and can't get help from the city. What's going on Mr. Mayor?

Mayor Adams: Okay. Brother, first, it's so important, that's why I started, you know, from the beginning with dispelling the rumors. Let's be very clear: the federal government determines if someone can be deported or not from the city, I don't have that authority.

The law does not allow me to stop buses from coming in. The law does not allow me to allow people to work because the migrants and asylum seekers, they don't want our handouts, they want to work. I don't have the authority to do that. The federal government does not allow me to do it. I don't have the authority through law to tell people I'm not going to feed and house you.

I have to handle a problem that I inherited; and in the process of doing that, I'm taking care of long‑term New Yorkers. Now you are very esoteric when you stated you can't get help. I need you to drill down and be specific on what help you're needing so I can address that.

Don't listen to the rumors out there about your mayor's not here to help you. Look at the facts. We've turned around the city, decreased crime, more private sector jobs in the history of this city, helping hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers who are needing care, building more affordable housing.

We're doing both: we're dealing with our responsibility and obligations that law requires me to do with migrants and asylum seekers, and I'm helping long‑term New Yorkers. So, if there's a specific issue that you're facing, I need to know that and not just the feeling that somebody's not helping you.

Byrd: Mr. Mayor, let me just step in for a moment, because this is probably the correct time to make sure that we reiterate those platforms of contact that are available to reach you for longer discussions. Why don't you put those out as we wrap up the broadcast?

Mayor Adams: Thank you so much, Gary. And so, number one, you can sign up to hear more from me by visiting nyc.gov/hearfromeric. You can also listen to our podcast that we have.

But you could also text me, and it's easy to text me at my website, textwitheric; talk with me on WhatsApp; and, listen to my Get Stuff Done podcast. So, don't sit and suffer in silence. Communicate with me. If there are issues that you are facing like the young lady stated with the cleaning problem, let's communicate. 

That's how we get stuff done in this city, not just sit on the sideline and complain about what could be better. Let's be active participants.

I want to be the best mayor for you in the community. I cannot do it if you suffer silently. Thank you for calling in and hearing from me directly.

Byrd: He is the host of Hear from the Mayor, our Mayor Eric Adams from 107.5 WBLS. Many of you heard Brother Lloyd Williams singing our mayor's praises, but also more importantly making it clear that we have to stand up with our support for the mayor and the job that he's doing.

Thank you for joining us this morning from 107.5 WBLS. Of course, to Brother Lloyd Williams also this morning to those of you who are celebrating Black History Month 2024 with all of us. And of course, as you know, we'll do it next week right here at 107.5 WBLS. Our thanks to the master control brother himself, I'm talking about Rick Wright.

And most of all, thanks to you for joining us. The key to tomorrow is what we do today, the decision to work or whether to play. Both have their place in the human life stream, only one will achieve your dream. As we always say, life is the ultimate trip once you learn to experience it, because of the end, experience is the best teacher.

Stand by for the best in music all day from 107.5 WBLS.

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