Transcript: Mayor Adams Calls in to 94.7 the Block's "Jonesy in the Morning"

April 30, 2025

Tarsha Jones: Good morning. 

Mayor Eric Adams: Good morning. How are you this morning? 

Jones: Doing well. How are you? 

Mayor Adams: Good, good. Grinding along. 

Jones: I know. I see you on the news. Ladies and gentlemen, mayor of New York City, Mayor Eric Adams is with us. So a lot going on. I think the most pressing thing is the tax liens that we've been made aware of that a lot of people may lose their homes and not even know it because they have outstanding water bills 

Wayne Mayo: Or property tax. 

Mayor Adams: And the goal is just the opposite to make sure we put protections in place that people do not lose their homes because of water bills and property taxes. You know, we always want to keep in mind that we run our city on, you know, water bills, property taxes.

If you don't get those property taxes and water bills, then it increases the amount that other New Yorkers will pay. But the City Council and the Mayor's Office will put safeguards in place to do everything possible to let people be notified when they have an outstanding bill and to protect particularly those seniors to come up with payment plans to make sure they're able to pay their property taxes and their water bill.

Jones: So there is something that you guys are actively trying to put in place?

Mayor Adams: Yes, because you don't want people losing their homes, particularly our seniors and lower income New Yorkers.

Jones: Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate that. Shifting gears last night, I was watching a news clip of [President Trump] talking about his first 100 days in office, and he's very proud of the fact that he's snatching up people. Some of them are actual citizens snatching them up without due process. 

And the gentleman that was interviewing him said that is illegal. You can't just ship people out without due process. And then [President Trump] said, “Do you know how many trials we would have to have if we did that? Do you know how much money we would have to spend on these trials if we gave all of these people, these migrants due process?” Your thoughts and opinions?

Mayor Adams: Well, no, due process is a cornerstone of our democracy. And we should always lean into [due] process on any level. 

Jones: So is there something that Congress should be doing or the Justice Department? I feel like I'm waiting for you to do something. You [are] waiting for them to do something. We're all waiting for somebody to do something and nothing's getting done.

Mayor Adams: Cities like [inaudible] myself and others, we don't control immigration policies and practices. That's the role of our federal government. That's their job. I know it seems like the mayors handle everything, but that's not our power. 
That's a federal power. Just as I stated, when we were not securing our borders previously, and having a large number of people coming across the border to secure, mayors must manage what is in their city. We don't control what comes into the city and we don't control the federal court. 

Jones: I get it, but I feel helpless. Who should I be expecting to stop him and tell him just because you're president, you don't get to break the law? 

Mayor Adams: Well, that's what the courts, the courts can't do that.

Jones: But he's locking up judges now. 

Mayor Adams: Again, the courts can't do that. And not only do the courts can’t do that, you have federal lawmakers, our congresspeople, our senators. That is their job to come up with real immigration reform.

Jones: Would you feel safe that someone's not going to kick in the door of someone you know in the middle of the night and ship them off never to be heard from again? Just help me feel safe. 

Mayor Adams: Well, think about what's happened in the city. ICE is not in our schools. ICE is not going to our churches. ICE is not going to the hospitals rousing up people. 

So, yes, I do feel safe. I feel safe as I keep telling New Yorkers, undocumented and documented, New Yorkers, continue to go to your schools, continue to go to your churches, continue to go to your house of worship, so we don't have a mass deportation of people in the city. I said that before.

Jones: I want to shift gears real quickly. For those of you just joining us, we have the mayor of New York City on the phone, Mayor Eric Adams. There were some guys dressed in fake NYPD vests, and they raided a bodega with guns. What is going on?

Mayor Adams: [Inaudible] who impersonates cops, that’s a crime. Criminal impersonation for someone that carries out a crime like that. And this used to happen a lot back when I was in the Police Department. We will apprehend those involved. And I am very close to the United Bodega Association. 

I'm going to sit down with their president. We're going to be making some announcements around safety issues for them. It's a mainstay in our community, a bunch of hard-working, maybe some of the first and second generation immigrants, and I have a very close relationship with the association, and we're going to look into what happened there and make sure we bring those people to justice. 

Jones: Yeah, because that's just bananas. You don't want to ban Black guys or Puerto Rican guys from coming into your store, but then when you see five of them with police vests on, you actually believe that they're just cops, but this is outrageous. But I do want to thank you because I saw this morning's news. You just signed an executive order for Pre-K or for... Tell me what it was that you did for the babies.

Mayo: For the children. 

Mayor Adams: No, it's our continuation of budget week, stuff that we're doing for budget. It's going to be one of the best budgets ever, particularly for children and families. For every child that wants to have an after-school program, they will have access to an after-school program. 

We're starting out with $5,000 this year. We're adding another $10,000 next year, and we're going to keep moving until we have enough students. For every child that wants to have something that I feel like I'm going to give it to them, it's our best parents who want an after-school program for their children, and we're going to make it happen. This is a major, major success for the city. 

Jones: Yep, I agree. So the next time y'all twist y'all lips up to look at the glass half empty, remember, this aftercare gives you thirty more minutes to have that extra glass of wine. Thank you, Mayor Adams. 

Mayor Adams: Alright.

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