Transcript: Mayor Adams Calls In for Live Interview on 1010 Wins

May 15, 2025

Larry Mullins: And as always, a lot going on this evening in our city and state, and much of it touches New York in some way. Well, we are privileged to have New York City Mayor Eric Adams on the 1010 WINS Hotline tonight, live, to talk about some of them. Joining us live now, good evening, mayor, and welcome.

Mayor Eric Adams: Thank you very much. I'm actually privileged to be on this show, 1010. Ten minutes, you give us the whole world.

Mullins: Yes, sir. And getting right to it, mayor, we've been talking about this NJT looming strike. There are 350,000 people now wondering what they're going to do tomorrow if they strike. Is the city doing anything to help assist incoming commuters on this?

Mayor Adams: A combination. And, you know, we handle emergencies extremely well in the city because of our coordination. So we're monitoring the potential crowding at Penn Station and Port Authority Bus Terminal. There will be shuttles in place to try and mitigate the crowding for the suspended train service. And we are going to also deploy our notify NYC messaging to alert people. So NYPD and operational agencies, they're coordinating. We do this well. You know, this is a city where strikes take place from time to time. But we are on top of it.

Mullins: Speaking of commuters, congestion pricing is hitting the city's goals. Reduced cars, I've been talking about cleaner air, less traffic, millions to the MTA at nine dollars. Let me ask you, why does the price have to go up to $15? If it doesn't, why was that the original number anyway?

Mayor Adams: Well, that's a great question. And I stated it over and over again that this is the MTA and the Governor's Office handling. They are determining the price, the cost, how it's going to be rolled out. This is not in the scope of the mayor or the City Council. And I think they're best and best able to answer that question.

Mullins: Can we talk about antisemitism now? And the question of what took so long to create this office of antisemitism? And why is there no office for other types of hate?

Mayor Adams: And we've always had an office to deal with hate in the city. We have an amazing city office that's in place to deal with hate of all groups. And also the New York City Police Department and their hate crime unit. They respond to any cause of hate. 

What we saw over the last year, particularly after October 7th, we saw that although the Jewish community makes up 10 percent of the population, they were experiencing over 51 percent of the hate crimes. And just this last quarter, the numbers are over 60 percent of hate crimes. 

And so when you see a group targeted like that, you have to have an immediate response. If these numbers were in any group, we would respond immediately. And it's not only to deal with crimes, but all forms of hate, antisemitism that we're seeing growing. And throughout this entire country.

Mullins: To the mayor's race now. And we know you're now running as an independent. The latest polls, the Marist polls particularly, say former Governor Cuomo is the leading Democrat. Does that concern you?

Mayor Adams: No, not at all. If you remember when I ran in 2021, Andrew Yang was the leading Democrat running in double digits. There are going to be many twists and turns in this campaign. And I must be consistent. 

Now I have the opportunity to really roll out the success that I've had in the city, in the areas of crime, revitalizing our economy, dealing with a migrant asylum seeker crisis and so many benefits, dropping unemployment in the city. We are now going to have an opportunity just to show New Yorkers what we have accomplished and how we turned the city around. And New Yorkers will make the decision.

Mullins: And on another matter, of course, we know the Rikers is something that you've been dealing with and has been on your plate. Where a federal judge now has put it in the hands of an outside overseer. What does it mean for construction of these community jails that have been talked about?

Mayor Adams: Well, I think it is disappointing that the judge decided to do that. When you look at the numbers, clearly we've moved in the right direction. And even in her ruling, she went through great strides to point out how well the current commissioner is doing. 

Rikers has been a generational problem. And when you talk about receivers and oversight, we have something like that in NYCHA, how far has that gotten us? This is going to cost us a great deal of money. We should be allowed to continue to do the things that we're doing. And I've made it clear that the law that was passed to build four more jails in communities, it was a flawed law. 

It cost us eight billion dollars when it started. Now it's up to 16 billion dollars. It would only hold roughly 4,600 inmates. We're now over 7,400 inmates in place. We should be opening a mental health facility to give people the opportunity they deserve, because 51 percent of the inmates on Rikers Island have mental health disorders, 18 to 20 percent have severe. This is not the right way to go. And we should rethink this entire process.

Mullins: And talking about safety in the city, gun safety in particular, there were many bystanders shot this week. Should New Yorkers feel safe around here, sir?

Mayor Adams: Yeah, it's extremely disappointing. Well, I was in the Bronx when you saw a 14 year old boy take the life of a 16 year old child. Really disheartening. And when I spoke to the community residents, they're sharing their pain with all of us. 

And we know when you have these high profile cases, it plays on the psyche of New Yorkers. This is the safest big city in America. The last quarter with the lowest number of shooters in recorded history. We're seeing safety, both above ground and below ground. But these high profile incidents overshadowed our safety and our goal. And that's why we started the Quality of Life Division in the Police Department. 

Our goal is to make people feel as safe as what the numbers are saying. But we have got to get these guns off our streets. We removed over 21,000 guns off our street, and we need our lawmakers to be real partners. We need to start passing laws that protect people and not harbor those who commit crimes.

Mullins: Mayor Eric Adams, we'll let that be the last word. Thank you for joining us tonight on the 1010 WINS Hotline. 

Mayor Adams: Thank you. Be well. 

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