Transcript: Mayor Adams Appears Live on Spectrum NY1's "Mornings on 1"

May 2, 2025

Pat Kiernan: Speaking from his high school alma mater in Bayside yesterday, the mayor called his $115 billion budget the best ever, touting new investments in housing programs, after-school programs and education. Here's how some of it will break down. 

$25 billion allocated toward affordable housing construction, $650 million to try to better curb street homelessness, $330 million designated for after-school programs, half a billion dollars for additional police officers, $5 billion in payments to try to improve the way that city-contracted nonprofit providers are paid.

For more on this and other topics, I'm joined by Mayor Adams and First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro. I appreciate you both being here. Randy, you told me in the commercial break you were up late watching the Knicks. Thank you for getting up early for us.

First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro: Go New York. Go New York. Go.

Kiernan: I mean, it was a remarkable finish to the game last night. Mayor Adams, you have been doing program announcements all week, things that you hope to be funded if your budget is approved by the City Council. What do you think in terms of getting these priorities into the final budget? Do you have agreement or consensus among councilmembers?

Mayor Eric Adams: These are things that I believe are universal understanding that what we need as a city, we have to invest in children and families, and we're looking forward to the conversation with the council. And it was almost surreal for me, Pat. 

Here I am sitting in the school where I went to high school in that auditorium, and it just shows what public school can do. Going to a city college, you could become the mayor of the greatest city on the globe. And that budget is preparing our young people to also get the opportunities that I did not have. This city betrayed my family. And I'm going to do everything possible to ensure that the betrayal does not continue for the next generation.

Kiernan: So the Trump administration is a wild card on funding. There's the chance that federal funding goes away. Either it goes away directly because there are programs cut, or it goes away indirectly because someone's trying to punish the city. 

Randy, you said last night that the budget is only predicting 1 percent revenue growth, so you believe that you have made a contingency for a decline in federal funding. But what if that turns out to be generous? What if federal funding really drops by a lot?

First Deputy Mayor Mastro: No, we have prepared for every contingency. But, Pat, understand, we have $8.5 billion in reserves. $8.5 billion. That's a record level of reserves. We have $2 billion in a rainy day fund for emergencies. That's a record level of rainy day emergency funds. We're ready for any contingency. But the economy in New York City is strong. 

We had a record year last year. First quarter, we had a strong first quarter. Yet we've been conservative in revenue assumptions going forward. And this budget is the result of over three years of sound fiscal management where there were pegs and cuts, but not any layoffs. But we were conservative in how the city was managed for these three-plus years. And the product of that, in a time when the city's economy is strong and where the state of the city is strong, we are able to invest in our city's future. 

We're able to invest in 3,400 more cops. We're able to invest in record levels of affordable housing, more than 130,000 units created in this administration, dwarfing the total combined in the prior two administrations over 20 years. We are able to invest in our economic opportunities with record job growth, the highest jobs in city history, 4.86 million New Yorkers employed. 

And we're able to invest in our city's future, our children, with really landmark historic programs. I could not be prouder of this mayor for funding programs like Universal Afterschool, for filling the gap where we predict there will not be as much funding in areas like Head Start and elsewhere, so that no child is left behind. This is a remarkable achievement. I think it will be embraced with the City Council. And as this mayor likes to say, we will land the plane.

Kiernan: Mayor Adams, does it make a difference that you are trying to land that plane with a City Council that is led by one of your mayoral rivals?

Mayor Adams: I think at the end of the day, we all know, everyone that's running for office, we have an obligation to do what's best for the city. You're going to hear noise. You're going to hear some posturing. You're going to hear the normal political rhetoric that happens during this time. But at the end of the day, you will be seeing the A-A Airlines, Adams & Adams Airline, land that plane for the people of this city. This is the Best Budget Ever, and we're going to continue to move in the right direction.

Kiernan: I want to switch to certainly a pocketbook issue, but not directly on the budget issue. The Rent Guidelines Board held its preliminary vote. Mayor Adams, you said after seeing the range of increases that they are considering, that while you understand particularly what small landlords have gone through with cost increases, you would like to see the board come back at the low end of that range. Tell me about that.

Mayor Adams: Yes, without a doubt. That range going up to seven points, et cetera, is just too high. New York is struggling, particularly renters. This is a city of renters, but we have to be cautious. Many people are stating that we don't want any increases at all. 

But think about the small property owners, that family that has a 14-unit building. Everything has gone up on them from increases in fuel, heating costs, electricity, et cetera. If we lose those small property owners, then you will see larger property owners come in, buy these properties, and really it's going to gut the middle class. That's the tough choices that a mayor must make, and this independent board must make the right decision and not go to a high level like that so we can give some relief to renters.

Kiernan: Mayor Adams, I want to talk about the campaign for a moment, because even though you no longer face prosecution in court on the corruption case that had been compiled against you, the campaign finance board says that it still has reason to believe that laws were broken and you have been denied matching funds. Do you think there will be an opportunity to turn their opinion around on that?

Mayor Adams: Well, there's been a terminology that everyone has been throwing around these last few months now, due process, due process, due process. I think the Campaign Finance Board and others should be extremely careful about poisoning the atmosphere and releasing information without giving us an opportunity to respond to it. 

Give me the same due process we've been calling for for everyone else. We know we did nothing wrong. We're going to produce the information to do so. And yes, are there people who I should not have trusted that were volunteers in our campaign? Yes, and I have to apologize to New Yorkers for that. 

But I follow the rules, and we follow the rules. If [there are] any clerical areas, we have to pay the fines. But we know we did nothing wrong, and I look forward to running and selling and showing New Yorkers this amazing journey from Bayside High School to being the mayor of the greatest city on the globe.

Kiernan: So, Mayor Adams, if you are elected and you're back for four more years and this was the best budget ever, what would next year's budget be?

Mayor Adams: Well, you know, when I'm elected, we're going to do what we always do. We're going to break records. When we had the most jobs in the city's history, we didn't sit back and say that's a no, that's enough. No, we did it eleven times. I think people are really missing these amazing numbers through all the noise. 

We never sat back and said, “Okay, we've reached the top of the mountain.” We look for another economic and another quality of life mountain to climb. That's why we brought down crime in this quarter, the lowest number of shootings in history. 

As Randy indicated, the most housing that was put in place in comparison to previous administrations. I'm not sitting still. I'm going to continue the success and stop the betrayal that many New Yorkers, particularly those who came from communities like mine, experienced.

Kiernan: Good to have you both with us this morning. Thank you for spending some time.

Mayor Adams: Thank you. Take care.

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