Transcript: Mayor Adams Calls in Live to RUSA Radio 105.1 FM

March 24, 2023

Anna Pekerman: Mayor Adams, thank you so much. What an amazing honor it is for us to have you on. To be chosen, me personally, what a tremendous honor, to be chosen during the month of March as a woman that you allowed to interview you. And you're an amazing mayor. You've been a terrific borough president. We know you from way back when and we're so grateful for this relationship. Thank you so, so much for everything you do.

So I would like to start by first of all thanking you and your administration for the amazing work that you're doing with ethnic community media. In my 23 years of radio, Russian radio here in New York, I have never, and we as a media and all Russian media, have never been so included into what is happening with the City of New York. We have never experienced such inclusion.

Our opinion matters and we are included in everything that the city is doing. And this is a great example of this. So we thank you very much in your administration for changing this, for completely changing the makeup of how the ethnic media works with the city of New York, with the administration. So my question is, what is the goal of your administration? I mean, it's terrific now, but I'm sure there's a further goal of what's going to be happening as far as the work with the ethnic media. And please let us know of your plans and the plans of your administration.

Mayor Eric Adams: Thank you. And you are correct. We have real plans for the ethnic media and our goal is to really scale up what I did as the Brooklyn borough president. You are not a stranger to me. The Russian-speaking community is not a stranger to me. I spent a lot of time there as well as the other communities, the Chinese, the Spanish-speaking, the various ethnic groups. And I promised when I was running for office that I was going to continue to expand on our relationship citywide. And I was extremely fortunate to have José, my ethnic media person, we created the first of its kind, an ethnic media unit, bureau, for him to go out, find the ethnic media, make sure they get up to date information, increase our advertisement dollars in the ethnic media, and let them know important information to help their constituency. Because you are the bridge. So many people tune into your show to find out what's going on. And we want to continue to expand our relationship and the city's relationship with the ethnic media.

Pekerman: That's amazing. And we are so grateful for all of it because realistically it is, it's not easy to come to a new country and create something very niche, very hard. And all of a sudden, you matter. So from every ethnic community media outlet in our city, I am sure that… And we do. Now, we also know each other because we communicate, we network together. And that's fantastic. And we couldn't be happier and we couldn't be more grateful to you and your administration for it. Thank you so, so much.

Now there's another gratitude that I would like to express to you, and that is of course how you opened up the doors of our city to the migrants, to the refugees. It's very hard to have a right word for the people who fled Ukraine and are trying to find safety in New York City and as well as other cities in the United States. This is extremely hard time for our community, very hard. And in general right now, the migrant situation in New York is difficult, not just because of the Ukrainian refugees and some Russian refugees that have fled the regime. Can you give us some numbers of the Ukrainian refugees that have entered New York City in the last year?

Mayor Adams: I don't have the exact numbers, but it was extremely clear from the Ukrainian community, we have one of the largest Ukrainian populations outside of Ukraine. And what was extremely proud for me is that we were able to allocate a substantial amount of money to help those Ukrainian organizations to really allow people to transition into New York City as they meet family members and loved ones. And the New York City residents have been just amazing in embracing the Ukrainian refugees as they came here to pursue their American dream like many of us have done in the past.

And fleeing just an unjust war. And what plays out on the stage of the international community, it plays out on the streets of New York. We have a large Russian-speaking population, and the Ukrainian Russian speaking population also was merged into this community. When you look at out in Brighton Beach and other parts of the city, the Russian-speaking and the Ukrainian community and those who come from other former Russian bloc countries are able to come here, continue to coalesce and be part of this great experience. We're going to continue to be here for those… I was with a family the other day who fled Ukraine to get medical attention for their son who had a rare case of cancer. They were able to come here, they were met by activists here and advocates who helped them get the medical care they need. They were so appreciative to New York City and there are cases after cases about this on how we open our arms to the Ukrainian refugees.

Pekerman: Thank you so much. But there's in general a funding problem because there are so many migrants, not just from Ukraine but from other countries, from Mexico as well. And not only… Should we be — I know you have expressed to the media a lot of the times that you are very worried about the funding for New York City to be able to accommodate the migrant situation. The fact that our community is an affluent community, does that in any way give us an upper hand? Is there any way that our community maybe can be exactly what immigrants are supposed to be, enhance the economic situation of our city? Are there any programs or are there planning to be any programs where people can put their skills to use?

Mayor Adams: Well, and you are right. Anytime you deal with immigration, many people don't know that it is a national problem that must be resolved. We need real immigration reform. Farr too often it is being bottlenecked in Congress. But we were extremely fortunate with the help of Congressman Jeffries who leads the Democratic Party in Congress and Senator Schumer, who's the majority leader in the Senate, as well as other advocates, they were able to give us the support that we need.

We need help to expedite work permits. We were able to do it with Ukrainian refugees. We need to do it also with those who are coming from Venezuela and other parts of South America. We have over 52,000 people who have entered the city in the last 15 months. And that has been completely on the burden of New York City taxpayers. And it's just unfair. We need to make sure that we allow them the opportunity to work. When I speak to the asylum seekers from South America in general, but specifically from Venezuela, they only ask you one thing. Just like the Ukrainian immigrants, they don't want handouts, they don't want anything free. They don't want anyone paying for their food or anything. They just want to work. They want to have an opportunity to participate in working hard for this country. And we need to give them an opportunity to do so. We have not done that with the Venezuelan refugees.

Pekerman: Thank you so much. Thank you for everything you're doing for all the immigrant communities and of course including our community. And Mayor Adams, I know you are a very, very busy man. So I know we've only been given a very small period of, short time for this interview, which I'm grateful for every minute of it. So I kind of want to raise a question that is very close to my heart as well. I know you just came out and you said you want to make the City of New York a place of God and we have so much in common there because I'm looking at my watch because I have to make Shabbos. And this is, of course, I think the most positive thought that we can have nowadays. And there's not such an easy time that we're living in. And of course bringing God into the world is something that's bringing light into the world and bringing light into the city which we love so much. Can you please give us a little bit of a heads up, how are you planning to do that?

Mayor Adams: And it is so important. And the loudest and the smallest number of people around us were upset with the comment. And because they're the loudest and the smallest number, it gives the impression that this is not a city and a country that believes in faith. And it doesn't matter if you go to a synagogue, a church, a mosque, a Buddhist temple. We are a people of faith. On our currency we have 'In God We Trust,' we place our hands on the Bible or some religious texts when we swear in. After I swore in, I said, "So help me God." Citizens up to a few years ago, you could not become a citizen without having a quote that ended with, "So help me God."

We believe in faith and we should not be embarrassed by our belief in faith. It doesn't mean that a rabbi or a minister or a bishop or an imam would come in and dictate what happens in our city, but it does mean that we will lean into our faith because all of our faith has a basic principle of being kind to each other, uplift each other, not only to be devoted worshipers, but go out and help those who are in need.

And that is who I am as a mayor. I'm not going to separate my love of faith and what it means. The spirituality is something we all have in common. And I'm sure when you sit down for Passover in a few days, you are going to be thinking about your faith. When you go to Shabbos, you're going to be doing prayers for people who are in need. And every day you live that life. No one I know will shy away from that. And I take my hat off to the Jewish community specifically because built into your culture is the term mitzvah. And that means giving back, doing something. And that is in all of our cultures. And so I'm a child of God. I'm a mayor that believes in faith and I'm proud of that. And those who don't quite understand that, they need to join me and find that faith.

Pekerman: Mayor Adams, we're right there with you. If you give us the honor to partner with you, especially on this aspect, oh we would be just so happy.

Mayor Adams: Yes. Look forward to that.

Pekerman: Please, please, please. Thank you so much for this opportunity. Thank you for including us. Thank you for everything that you're doing for our city.

Mayor Adams: Thank you.

Pekerman: I know how hard you're fighting to keep us safe and how you're trying to improve every aspect. So we totally appreciate all you do and we're always here to partner in any which way we can with you. Thank you.

Mayor Adams: Thank you.

Pekerman: Thank you so much.

Mayor Adams: I miss you. I have to get in the studio and say hello to you. It's been far too long.

Pekerman: Absolutely. Thank you so much. All the best.