Transcript: Mayor Adams Appears on 94.7 the Block's "Jonesy in the Morning"

April 4, 2024

Tarsha Jones: I heard you skipped up the block and went and had breakfast. You was on that damn Breakfast Club. I told you about them people. See, I have created. For those of you that don't know, this is Mayor Eric Adams, the honorable mayor of New York City. I have created a very safe environment for you to come every other week and do your thing, but no, you want to go fly close to the sun.

Wayne Mayo: Getting ready for that solo eclipse on Monday, I guess.

Mayor Eric Adams: Listen, you have to take all incomings and when you're the mayor, you'd be surprised how many rooms I'm in where you get all sorts of things thrown at you and that's what is the role of being a mayor is. I have an unbelievable history, record and we're doing great things in the city so I take all questions.

Jones: All right. You stood there. I said, "There goes Eazy E. There he goes." You was going right back out. I said, "Oh."

Mayor Adams: We rolled out some good information in yesterday's show that we're consistently moving in the right direction in crime, 24 percent decrease in the month of March. For the year, we're showing, our numbers are down. We right-sided January. January was a hard month, but we responded accordingly. I say over and over again, you could have the presence of police without over-policing, and that is what you're seeing now.

Jones: Wow. I'm still a little raw about that young girl, the little girl in Brooklyn, the twin girl, that the boy came over…

Mayor Adams: Yes.

Jones: …to her and was trying to talk to her and she didn't want to be bothered, and then he killed her.

Mayor Adam: The twins. When you think about that, sister, that type of violence, you ask yourself, where does it come from? That is not how we dealt with someone who did not want to speak with us or talk with us. Where does it come from that we're using that level of violence on each other? That's why it's important as we interact and our young people see us, they need to see us interacting in a respectable way. Folks know Black folks know how to fight, but we need to show, do we know how to love? How do we love each other? How do we nurture each other?

Our ancestors fought so one day you could be on the radio and be a radio personality, for me to be mayor. They did not do and sacrifice what they did to watch us stab each other, shoot each other, and disrespect each other. We should always remember that.

Jones: Right, I agree. We're talking to Mayor Eric Adams, New York's mayor. I know a lot of times I ask you about the whole bail reform and I know that's above you, but what can you do? I think that's a lot of the reason why people don't think twice when they're committing these crimes and shoving people on the platforms and stabbing and shooting and carrying on is because they know they're going to be back out in 20 minutes.

Mayor Adams: You are dead on and you're right. It's more of two areas that it's often overlooked in this conversation. The judges have a lot of discretion on what they do. We just arrested a group of people who had guns, drugs, they pointed the guns. Several of them were let out the next day without bail. We just had a person the other day who was caught with a gun. He was out on a gun trial and started doing a series of crimes over and over again. It's really this recidivism and something that's called discovery law. The discovery law tells the prosecutors they must turn over every piece of information by a certain timeframe. If not, the case is going to be dismissed.

You are seeing that the timeframe is not realistic because of the volume of information you're talking about and we're seeing a lot of these cases are being dismissed. There are pieces of the actions that took place in Albany that's impacted on allowing repeated offenders. Do you know we have 542 people that they conduct shoplifting? They have been arrested over 7,600 times in this city. That is the repeated offenders that we're talking about…

Jones: That's outrageous.

Mayor Adams: …that we need to modify and go after them. It is, it really is.

Jones: They're walking into stores and they're just stealing and walking out. They're not even trying to hide their images from the cameras. They don't care.

Mayor Adams: Right. The person who shot Jonathan, the police officer who was murdered, that person had over 20 arrests. The individual who was in the car with him, he was carrying a gun and he just was arrested for carrying a gun in April of last year.

Jones: Didn't they both just get home from prison?

Mayor Adams: Yes. That is the repeated offenders. It's not everyday New Yorkers. It's a small number of people that are doing bad things to good people in the city, and particularly in Black and brown communities. That is where people are ignoring it for far too long.

Jones: Yes. We're talking to Mayor Eric Adams. We're going to take a quick break and come back with more.

[Music break.]

Jones: We're back with Mayor Eric Adams. Shifting gears to something that affects me, congestion pricing. I no likey, I no likey and I know that my governor from New Jersey is suing and I think the governor from Connecticut is trying to sue as well, but is it going to start, and then maybe be pulled back, or is it suspended because of these potential lawsuits?

Mayor Adams: A lot of people ask the mayor, "mayor, what are you doing?" but the MTA is responsible for the formation with the charge, which amounts are going to be. This is something that the state gave the MTA the authorization to put together. I know we have to deal with congestion in the city, but we have to make sure we do not do it on the backs of those working-class people and we don't displace the toxic fumes into communities such as the Bronx and Staten Island. We were able to secure $100 million to deal with those environmental issues, but I think there's more we could do for working class people.

Jones: Yes, because that's by design. That means that traffic on the George is going to increase people trying to avoid that congestion pricing. Is the bridge even safe enough for all that extra wear and tear?

Mayor Adams: Yes, it's definitely safe enough. That bridge has been up for a long time because it's well-built. We don't even build things as great as we have done before. You saw what happened the other day when the boat hit the bridge and collapsed that bridge. That was an unbelievable issue, but our bridges in Manhattan, the George Washington, the Brooklyn Bridge, these structures have been built so well. It'll handle the flow of traffic, but the real concern that I have, I don't want to overburden working-class people and I don't want to displace that traffic into those communities that are already dealing with asthma and environmental issues.

Jones: I feel like every week when we talk, there's something else, but I appreciate every time you call in, Mayor. Appreciate you.

Mayor Adams: Look forward to it. Listen, hope you had a great Easter. I spent Good Friday on Rikers Island getting re-baptized with a few inmates who recommitted their lives to Christ. It was a beautiful experience talking and speaking with them and interacting with them.

Mayor: Mayor.

Mayor Adams: Resurrection Sunday is a time to resurrect our lives as well.

Jones: Yes, I said that. You can bounce back. If God can take Jesus out of the grave, he can get you out of your issues too. You just got to believe it.

Mayor Adams: That's right.

Mayo: Mayor, you're welcome to come in and visit us. The Block is always open to you.

Jones: Oh, yes. Breakfast is no longer the most important meal of the day.

Mayor Adams: I would love to. I love being in your studio, so let's set that up, all right?

Jones: Thank you, mayor. Yo, he's coming, he's pulling up.

Mayo: Thank you.

Jones: Thank you.

Mayor Adams: All right.

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