Transcript: Mayor Adams, Corporation Counsel Hinds-Radix Announce Lawsuit Against Four Companies Illegally Selling Disposable Flavored E-Cigarettes

July 10, 2023

Deputy Mayor Anne Williams-Isom, Health and Human Services: … The city is going to protect the health and wellbeing of New Yorkers. And now I'd like to turn it over to the mayor to give us details.
Mayor Eric Adams: Did they offer you a seat? Michael, did you? Oh, you have a seat. Be a gentleman. You are quite welcome.

Such an important issue as we were sitting down talking in the room of how this organization, PAVe, came about, stumbling on an assembly where a child was told about vaping and really giving misinformation. And it's just commendable when parents step up and instead of sitting on the sideline, understand when something is harmful to a child, we must step up in order to respond accordingly. And that is why we're here today. We know — And the judge has been talking about this issue for some time as well as Deputy Mayor Williams-Isom has been talking about vaping and what it does. And so I really want to thank the deputy mayor. I want to thank PAVe. I want to thank our Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, and I also want to thank the sheriff. Sheriff Miranda has really just taken on the role and really redefine that office with his team going after everything from cannabis to other harmful acts that impact our children and our families.

There's nothing more important than the health of our children and how they start out would impact long-term behaviors and really, the quality of life that they will live. And we know it over and over again what nicotine does. Nicotine is addictive and there's no friendly way to state that it's something a child should be introduced to. And middle and high school youth, they are in a period of their lives where they are exploring, especially when you look at some of the flavor-friendly nicotine devices and products that are on the market. Flavors in e-cigarettes such as strawberry milkshake, cola, and pina colada. Simple items, but dangerous ways to have them as well as using colorful, child-friendly cartoon character packages on e-cigarettes. Those child experts will tell you how this is alluring to young people, particularly at young ages, and it attracts the use of something without realizing how harmful it is.

So today we are here to tell four distributors of flavored disposable e-cigarettes that we won't sit idly by as they continue to poison our children. New York City will not allow them to break our laws and put our young people at risk of nicotine addiction. This afternoon we are filing a federal lawsuit against four major distributors: Magellan Technology, DemandVape, Empire Vape and Star Vape, where we are seeking a court order preventing these distributors from further delivering their dangerous flavored products into New York City and forcing them to pay for the harm they've already caused. When our children see these items and when they realize the dangers of the products, it is going to allow us to be part of our overall campaign to not allow our children at a young age to be addicted to nicotine.

We've come so far to prevent young people from smoking cigarettes that we are not going to allow all that success to go up in smoke by using vaping as a user-friendly way of absorbing nicotine.
Those who state that these products are safe, that is 100 percent false. These products are packed with nicotine, a toxic and highly addictive chemical that is particularly damaging to adolescent minds and bodies. And this number really startled me. Some of them have as much nicotine as 175 to 350 cigarettes. Nicotine may affect their ability to learn and concentrate, and withdrawal symptoms can include irritability, anxiety, and depression. This could worsen mental health at a time when we are really leaning into mental health of our children. These companies are blatantly breaking city and state federal laws by selling flavored disposable e-cigarettes. And they are doing so by tempting our children, simply an effort to put profit over our people and our pupils. In 2021, more than one in 10 public high school students across the country reported using e-cigarettes in a 30-day sample period. When you add flavored e-cigarettes with their colorful packaging and appealing flavors, they are the gateway to e-cigarette use.

81 percent of first time users ages 12 to 17 started with flavored products. Most have never previously smoked. And an overwhelming majority of youth e-cigarette users choose flavored products because they are attracted to the flavors. We will not stand by and allow this greedy appetite and attitude to impact our children. And I really want to thank Pave, something that started out at a kitchen table with a group of moms stepping forward and using the power of their voice and their organizing to turn a local movement into a national push. We want to make sure that we do everything possible to give our children the start that they need, and vaping is not on that agenda. Thank you, Deputy Mayor, thank you so much to members of Pave and our team. And I want to particularly thank the Corporation Council for initiating this lawsuit.

Deputy Mayor Williams-Isom: Thank you, Mayor, and thank you all who are here with us today for this very important announcement. Now I'd like to turn it over to our corporation counsel, Judge Sylvia Hinds-Radix. You do a better job getting up here than I do.

Sylvia Hinds-Radix, Corporation Counsel, Law Department: Good afternoon everybody and thank you Deputy Mayor and thank you Mayor Adams. And on a point of privilege, I'd like to introduce my law department attorney here, who has been working diligently on this matter, Eric Prusinski. Eric, I thank you for all of the work that you've done. Now, today and as we speak, we are in the process of filing this lawsuit in the Southern District of New York.

[Crosstalk.]

Hinds-Radix: Now this represents a significant enforcement step against four major distributors who are feeling an epidemic of e-cigarette use among city youth. According to the New York City Health Department, there has been an increase in the number of middle school and high school vapors following the introduction of this disposable flavored e-cigarette. Numerous federal, state and city laws have been enacted to address this public health issue. Under federal law, all sales of disposable flavored e-cigarettes are presently illegal. Nearly all wholesale retail sellers violate New York state and city law by selling these e-flavored cigarettes. Flavored e-cigarettes are those with a taste or aroma other than tobacco and are intended to reasonably be used in consuming nicotine. All alleged in our complaint, defendant distributors float these laws by supplying retail shops throughout the city with disposable flavored e-cigarettes or selling and shipping these products into the city via the internet.
In January of this year, the Sheriff's Office seized hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of flavored e-cigarette products from retail stores on the upper west side of Manhattan. In May, investigators purchased disposable flavored e-cigarettes at a variety of retail outlets in the city. Flavors included exotic fruit and candy dessert-like tastes and all clearly designed to appeal to young people. The defendant, distributors, advertise flavors such as cherry peach, lemonade, summer love, and Caribbean colada. One of the defendants illegally sold flavored vapes directly to the public via the internet and illegally delivered the products to city residences.

Another distributor has stated that they offer approximately 30,000 products to about 5,000 retailers in 49 states and internationally throughout and online sales. A Queens-based defendant, wholesale disposable e-cigarette of dozens of retail outlets is owned and affiliated within New York City and at least 13 other states. Investigators purchased flavored e-cigarettes at numerous vape shops owned by this Queens-based defendant throughout the city. A Brooklyn-based defendant sells disposable flavored e-cigarettes in wholesale quantities and through its retail outlet in Brooklyn. Equally concerning is that many of the defendants' products come in cartoon characters, packaging that are so friendly to children as to require a cautionary label indicating it is not a toy. 

Defendants' violation of state and local laws are so extensive that they constitute a public nuisance that endangers the health and safety of New Yorkers. In addition, the conduct violates laws that are federal, and federal racketeering statutes. Specifically, defendants are in violation of the New York City Administrative Code, the New York State Public Health Law, the federal Tobacco Control Act, the federal Racketeering Influence Corruption Organization Act, and the federal government's Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act. This affirmative suit by the city further demonstrates our commitment to protecting the youth and people in our city against these addictive products and holding these companies fully accountable. I thank you.

Deputy Mayor Williams-Isom: Thank you, judge. Before I bring my next speaker up, I want to talk a little bit more and put a finer point on some of these issues around the health concerns that we have here.

According to estimates from New York City's Health Department, tobacco use remains a leading cause of death in New York City, killing roughly 12,000 people annually. I'll put this right up front. We know that young people use e-cigarettes are more likely to use combustible cigarettes one day. Based on studies in recent years, we believe, as the mayor said, that more than one in 10 public school students have tried e-cigarettes in the last month. We are still discerning the long-term consequences of e-cigarette use, but we know that the increased nicotine levels are a significant risk.

From 2017 to 2022, more than 90 percent of disposable e-cigarettes sold in the United States had nicotine content of 5 percent or higher. That amount is at least 2.5 times the maximum allowed in Canada, the United Kingdom or the European Union. Let's drill down on this nicotine issue a bit further.

As the mayor mentioned, also, some products cited in the lawsuit have as much nicotine as 175 to 350 combustible cigarettes. Those are heightened levels, components that we know is addictive. Again, why is this so critical for young people? Because the research shows that nicotine can change the chemistry of an adolescent's brain. It may affect learning ability, it worsens memory and concentration.

Youth are particularly vulnerable to nicotine dependence, which can occur even with occasional use.

Lastly, the idea that people only use these products to quit smoking combustible cigarettes is just not shown out in the don't in the data. Some 40% of adults and most all young people using these products never previously smoked combustible cigarettes. The bottom line is, do not use these products. Please do not smoke combustible cigarettes. Please seek assistance if you need support stopping smoking or with nicotine withdrawal. We have many safe treatment options available.

Ultimately today the city's action standing up here today is to protect the health and wellbeing of every New Yorker, particularly our kids and our young people. At this point, I'd like to bring up Meredith Berkman from Parents Against Vaping e-cigarettes to hear what this issue means for parents and loved ones.

Meredith Berkman, Co-Founder, Parents Against Vaping e-cigarettes: Thank you so much. Thank you. I don't want to get in trouble. I'm Meredith Berkman. I'm a co-founder of Parents Against Vaping e-cigarettes, or PAVe, as we're sometimes called. As the mayor said, it's true, we started this group, three New York City moms around my kitchen table in 2018 after we discovered that a JUUL representative had gone into our teenage sons' high school without the school's knowledge and told an assembly of teenagers without other adults present that JUUL was, "Totally safe." That was our a-ha moment, and we launched our group to protect our kids. The more we learned about what would not for another nine months be called the youth vaping epidemic, we understood that we had no choice but to act to protect kids. Now, as a national nonprofit, the first one of a national parent voice fighting vaping and youth tobacco use and the predatory behavior of the tobacco industry.

We hear from parents in New York City every single day who are upset that yet another illegal unlicensed retailer has popped up in their neighborhood and is selling these illegal flavored vapes to local kids. I'm one of those parents. I see this on the Upper West Side, and as I know, in fact, my own Council member is here, Gale Brewer. The bottom line is it's really important to do what so many of our remarkable partners here, including the Health Department and the sheriff, and of course with the mayor leading and the judge, to crack down on the bad actor renegade retailers. Unless you go to the source and go after the distributors, you're not getting anywhere fast enough. We believe that this is a landmark legal action and the first time that a city has filed suit against distributors.

I just want to note also proudly as a New Yorker today, that using RICO charges to go after these tobacco distributors is more than appropriate. RICO charges are… You go after blood thirsty profiteers. These are gangsters, and that is exactly what these companies are because they're using flavors to addict kids to remarkably dangerous, highly, highly addictive products that will harm their minds and their bodies, as the mayor said.

We launched a program called POISON: Parents Opposing Illegal Sales of Nicotine, and we've worked very closely with the Health Department and other partners here to empower parents to report retailers, not because we New York City parents should be doing the enforcement, but to empower parents to elevate the issue, which we're so grateful to see action on today.
I just really want to thank certainly the mayor and the deputy mayor, and the deputy commissioner, the sheriff, and the judge and all of the people here today because without this landmark legal action, we truly are in danger of allowing an entire generation of children here in New York City, but also around the country, to become one of nicotine addicts and what's worse, the next lifetime customers of the tobacco industry. We like to say big tobacco, big vape, messed with the wrong moms. I just want to say today, tobacco industry messed with the wrong mayor and the wrong city, so thank you very much for including us today.

Mayor Adams: Is that your son there?

Birkman: No.

Mayor Adams: Okay.

Birkman: He's cute, but he's not my son.

Deputy Mayor Williams-Isom: Thank you, Meredith. I was thinking that you definitely proved you should not mess with three New York City moms. Ever. Thank you very much for being here today. Now I'd like to hand it over to the mayor for on topic questions.

Mayor Adams: Yes.

Question: In light of these concerns over flavored vaping and e-cigarette products, do you back the governor's efforts to ban full flavored cigarettes?

Mayor Adams: The governor's office to ban menthol… I believe that we need to ban cigarettes. We know what the data shows. It's harmful, and what's interesting about the human ability and adaptation is that you can get used to tasting tobacco. My concern is to make sure we do this right. I don't want an illegal market to open. There's a term in the community called Loosies of where a good intention create a bad result. I want to make sure we do it right. I'm a big believer that cigarettes are harmful. I think the deputy mayor stated it correctly. It is still the number one leading killer you stated. It's one of the leading killers. I think it's time for us to stop tinkering around the edges. Cigarettes is a real cost to our healthcare system and so I'm a believer that we should really look at the potentiality of getting rid of cigarettes.

Question: Mr. Mayor…

Mayor Adams: How are you doing, Marcia?

Question: I'm doing good, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor Adams: Quite well.

Question: I wonder if you could tell us if there are going to be any fines? Are you going after them in terms of monetary fines? Is it just to stop them from selling, or are you trying to put them out of business by taking away their livelihood?

Hinds-Radix: No, unlike the other lawsuit we filed, Marcia, when you talked to us about… This lawsuit, we're asking for damages. That will be determined when we've done discovery and we've gotten to the court and we'll make a determination, but right now in our complaint, we don't have a number, but we are asking for damages. Based on the impact, we will know what kind of damage level we want.

Question: Just from them, would you be trying to reimburse people who have gotten sick from this or have died from smoking these things?

Hinds-Radix: I didn't hear what you said.

Question: If you get monetary damages from these companies, will you use it to reimburse people who've gotten cancer or gotten sick from these cigarettes as well as people who have died from them?

Hinds-Radix: No. Damages that we obtain would be for the city, and I don't call them the city budget. He does.

Question: Hi, Mayor Adams. I know that the discussion of the lawsuit against the big companies, but I wonder if you've done the same tactics as I know the sheriff has tried to do with illegal cannabis and marijuana sales. Were you doing undercover stings to see if people will sell any colada vape to kids or something? Has that been a tactic used by the city as well?

Mayor Adams: I just really believe people don't realize the role that Sheriff Miranda has played in the city on really going after the illegal cannabis market, which is undermining the legal market. I think Councilwoman Brewer has really been a voice in this area. We were a bit disappointed. We thought we would get the enforcement power from Albany, which would've really helped us a lot. We could close down these illegal shops with the sheriff, with DCWP, we have the commissioner that's here with us as well, and the Police Department, we just need the enforcement powers. We're going to look at any way that we can go after these illegal shops. 

I believe we can prove it, but I truly believe that there are some VCs out there that are property shops open. I'm hoping that we can connect the dots and figure out who's actually putting the money up to get these shops open as quickly as they are, and they're placing New Yorkers on the front line. It wouldn't surprise me if we don't discover that there are some major backers to open these shops all over the place, but we need the power to do it. The sheriff, the Police Department, DCWP, we can go in and clean this mess up if we are given the enforcement authority to do so. We did not get it. We're going to keep trying to get it, but New Yorkers are asking us to clean these shops up. Many New Yorkers don't know, it's not within our span of control. If it was the same aggressiveness we are about other forms of quality of life issues, we would be on this issue.

Question: I was wondering if you have an estimate as to how many shops around the city might be selling these illegal flavored products and then also are you seeing any connection between shops that sell the illegal flavored tobacco products and illegal marijuana products?

Mayor Adams: Have you seen that?

Sheriff Anthony Miranda: All of it, certainly. The quick answer is that most of the shops that we go into and do inspections are also selling the illegal vapes, so the products go hand in hand from the illegal cigarettes, illegal vapes, and the marijuana shops as well.

Question: Any estimate on how many shops you think are selling the illegal favored tobacco?

Sheriff Miranda: Man, there's thousands on our list. We're going to continue to work collectively with all the agencies and the mayor's mandate saying that all the agencies work together to do these inspections and we're going to continue to do that enforcement across the city.

Question: Hey mayor, how are you doing?

Mayor Adams: Good, how are you?

Question: Good sir. First, I wanted to ask, why did the city want to go after four specific corporations when there are so many organizations with products on the market?

Hinds-Radix: You want to answer that, Eric?

Mayor Adams: It's not going to be the hot seat for you.

Eric Proshansky, Deputy Chief, Division of Affirmative Litigation, Law Department: Okay. Two of the defendants were referred to us by the sheriff's office as having done inspections and found tons of illegal vapes. Two of the other ones we discovered by our own investigation on the internet. You can go on the internet, find these sites, and one of the defendants actually sold us vapes. Many times we would get on the internet and buy vapes from him and they'd be delivered into the city and that's illegal.

Mayor Adams: Okay. Thank you. Good job. Good job. Thank you, judge.

Hinds-Radix: Thank you.

Mayor Adams: Good job, man.

Proshansky: Thank you.

Mayor Adams: Thank you, thank you so much. Let's do a few off topics.

Question: Mayor Adams?

Mayor Adams: Yes?

Question: You weren't implicated in the alleged [inaudible] scheme that involved six of their campaign donors. What do you know about Vital Brooklyn, that construction project that they had been pushing? What do you know of some of these projects they had been connected to, had you heard about them, has anyone tried to speak to you about them?

Mayor Adams: I don't know anything about those projects and being the mayor, it will shock you how many people come to me every day, all day, they stop me on the train, they stop me on the street, they have ideas, they have things they want to do. The mayor, you better have a BS meter and be able to know that, "Listen, here's the agency that's responsible." I am approached all the time, every day, all day. And the number of interactions, especially a mayor like me, drives my staff crazy because everyone gets my cell number and I like to hear from New Yorkers directly, but I don't know about those projects. It's possible, during my time, that someone mentioned it, but I don't have any deep dive in them at all.

Question: Hi, Mayor Adams.

Mayor Adams: What's happening?

Question: We missed you last week, running around, don't know where you were back then.

Mayor Adams: Yes.

Question: I wanted ask you about Dwayne Montgomery, he's one of the six defendants in the trial. Your office said you did know him. How much interaction did you have with him during the campaign, and since you've been elected, has he been to City Hall for [inaudible]?

Mayor Adams: Dwayne was a former colleague in the Police Department. He was a ranking member. I think he retired as a [inaudible] or one star, I'm not sure. And we all knew each other during that. As a ranking member, you would know the other ranking members of color. There was not many and no, he has never been here in City Hall to visit me at all. I would see Dwayne at events while I'm moving around. He was very well known in Harlem. He was the commanding officer of the 28 Precinct. He was very well known. And as I interact with other members and former members of the law enforcement community.

Question: Has he been at Gracie for any receptions or….

Mayor Adams: I think he was at the Black History Month reception, I believe. One of the receptions, I recall, seeing him from the stage. I don't know which one it was.

Question: Mr. Mayor, yesterday you were at the Christian Cultural Center where you gave a rather impassioned speech implying that people are calling you incompetent and that you're not being respected. What's behind that? Why do you think that people think you're incompetent and why do you think you're being disrespected?

Mayor Adams: No, people don't think I'm incompetent. I think that, just the opposite, when you look at this city, you look at the fact that we navigated out of Covid, look at the fact that we were able to get earned income tax credits for families, lower the cost of childcare, settled 75 percent of our union contracts, 97 percent ratification, decrease in crime, subway ridership is up, we were tapping out at 4 million. The bond raters who look at the city and determine if the city is worth investing in money gave us a double A rating in our bonds. When you look at tourism, 56 million, we’re predicted to have 65 million, Times Square is booming. People are back up and operating. And it's interesting that I remember last year, during the subway safety plan, when I told about the perception of public safety and the actual public safety. Many of y'all beat me up. Y'all talked about what is this perception stuff. Now, I'm watching the front pages of your paper talk about perception.

What I find is, when does the goal post stop moving? Do we ever reach a point when the goalpost is there and it stops moving? I ran on bringing down crime, I'm doing that. I ran on putting money back in the pockets of middle class New Yorkers, I'm doing that. My union contracts, what we did with NYCHA Land Trust, how we are placing people in housing. So it comes a time, you have to ask yourself, "Are we looking at the same goalposts?" Because if you judge me based on where the goalpost is located, I keep winning.

Question: Do you feel disrespected?

Mayor Adams: No, I don't think it's the point of disrespected. I think it's the point of the unwillingness of reporting, the accuracy of what this administration has done. We've done things that's substantive and symbolic. Someone stopped me the other day and stated that, "Look at what you have done for Indian Americans by having the first Indian American to be a deputy mayor." Filipino Americans, we've never had a Dominican as the deputy mayor's history of this city, from Keechant Sewell to Louis Molina, we are breaking down barriers. And I think that when we look back on this administration, we're just going to see some amazing things that we're doing.

Something happened the other day that many people didn't realize, during the 4th of July celebration. Many of you slept well. You know why? Because in ‘20 and ‘21, you couldn't sleep, the city felt like Iraq. We didn't have that anymore this year. Remember those three wheelers that disrupted the city? You didn't have that anymore this year. You're seeing a city that's functioning. So there's a time before you go from what you felt to what you are feeling. And slowly people all of a sudden say, "Wait a minute, we're not harassed anymore."

And you know what's interesting, a lot of people don't realize, go look at those other cities. No one is sleeping under our bridges. You don't see encampments anymore. Remember when I said back in the beginning of our administration that I was going to clean up the encampments? I said, "We're not going to have encampments on our subways. We're going to clean them off our streets." People said, "It wasn't possible. It couldn't be done." And it's interesting that people judge my homeless plan based on how many people are in shelter, not based on how many people are not living in the streets or encampments. How about using that as an indicator? Maybe some people went home. There was one person who was homeless, living on the highway, Marcia, and he had a stack of pension checks and he was living on the side of the highway. And when I saw it, while I was riding around, I said, "Go find out why that person is living on the highway."

So what I said to CCC is what I've been saying across the city, "The city is back." People didn't think that I was going to be able to manage this city through tough times and we are, and we are. And we need to start talking about the substantive and symbolic things we need because cities need a substantive leader and they need a symbolic leader. 5 a.m. in the morning, I'm up, drinking my smoothie, meditating, exercising, and going out and running this city. And I enjoy every moment of it. This job is not hard because I love the city that I protected.

Question: Mr. Mayor?

Mayor Adams: Yes, Bernadette?

Question: Hi, how are you?

Mayor Adams: Quite well.

Question: So why is the city putting out an RFP to contract with a private vendor to provide security in the migrant facilities? I'm wondering, is this being done to supplement security that's happening right now? Who's providing that and how much will it cost the city?

Mayor Adams: I saw that. What paper was that, that wrote that story?

Question: New York Post.

Mayor Adams: We always had security. I was up today at a shelter today, did a conversation, a walkthrough up there, and spoke to the security personality on the front line. It was one of our mental health facilities. We've always had security. Security didn't change. And what's interesting, that has yet to be really acknowledged, that with almost over 80,000 people who have gone through our system, you have to really look at how well these security teams are doing. You're not hearing about major issues inside there.

Question: But who was the…

Mayor Adams: You're not hearing about major issues inside there.

Question: But who's providing it right now? Is it the…

Mayor Adams: A security company.

Question: Which security company?

Mayor Adams: We'll get the name of it, but a security company. We've always had security at the shelters. Always.

Question: [Inaudible.]

Mayor Adams: In the beginning. In the beginning. You can't put thousands of people in a shelter, it would be irresponsible not to have security.

Question: Is there a reason why you're picking it up now? Are there more security issues?

Mayor Adams: No, we're just making sure we have that pipeline. Make sure we have that pipeline. Always have the security that we need. We're not responding to any spike in crime that's in our shelters. We are making sure we have the manpower as we continue. Remember we're getting, I don't know the exact numbers, but we're still getting… People think this has resolved. We're still getting close to 2,500 people a week. This has not gone away for New York City, and that's what people need to understand. This is an unsustainable crisis that we have to constantly be prepared for.

Question: Mr. Mayor, did you have any…

[Laughter.]

Mayor Adams: Do y'all complain about him vaping in Room 9?

Question: He's an adult.

Mayor Adams: You better not be buying from one of these brands.

Question: [Inaudible] all over the city. During your '21 campaign for mayor, did you have any discussions about fundraising with Dwayne Montgomery and when did discussions, I mean he's been a loyal donor for years going back to your Senate days, can you talk about any of those discussions over the years you may or may not have had?

Mayor Adams: Well, as I said, Dwayne is a popular Harlem figure and I'm not sure, but I'm sure he donated to other electeds. He was well known and I am very clear, the systems I put in place with my compliance attorney, with my team, we must stand up to scrutiny and whoever comes to me all the time, when you look at the number of New Yorkers who have donated to our campaign, I'm very clear, you must follow the rules. And that doesn't change. My conversation is consistent. I can sleep well at night because I know I'm consistent in what I say to people. So whenever people say something is happening, I sleep well. I'm consistent. Everyone must follow the rules. That's what I say.

Question: Has anyone in City Hall been contacted by anyone in Bragg’s office in connection with this draw donor investigation or the topic of campaign finance [inaudible.]

Mayor Adams: No.

Question: Before we go back and look at your decision…

Mayor Adams: I should have said, "Not of my knowledge." Because I don't want to say someone doesn't and then all of a sudden there's a front page story, "Eric said, "No."

Question: I wonder if we go back to last week when you ordered the Department of Transportation to redesign its safety plan from the McGuinness Boulevard. You had signed off on the plan and I wonder if there's something had changed in between your signing offline and the new decision to order up a redesign?

Mayor Adams: Yeah. 400 people went to a meeting and they raised their concerns. And I listen to New Yorkers. Listen, I'm a biker. Everyone knows that. I know that area. That's over in the 94 Precinct area. I know it very well. I have been an advocate for safe streets. I've been an advocate for vehicle crashes. I'm very comfortable in my advocacy to make sure this city is shaped to deal with those who use our streets on bikes, on cars, on skateboards, on pedestrians. And this could be a contentious conversation.

My desire… I'm not going to force feed communities, I'm not going to do that. My desire, we will have protected bike lanes everywhere, but I'm going to respect the voices of the people who live in these communities and we can find a win. It's unfortunate that we're in a position now that everyone feels as though you must lose so I can win. And I just don't believe that. We will find a way… Don't cut me off. We will find a way to get what we are looking for, a safe place. And if I decide within my role as the mayor that I want to re-examine and look at other ways of doing it, I'm going to do that.
[Crosstalk.]

Mayor Adams: No, let him finish. Let him finish. Let him finish. Go ahead.

Question: Do you support the local councilman and the local assemblywoman and 7,000 community residents on a petition?

Mayor Adams: Who's the local councilman over there?

Question: Lincoln Restler  

Mayor Adams: Okay. Now ask another question.

Question: Hey Mr. Mayor. How are you doing?

Mayor Adams: How are you? Good to see you.

Question: I wanted to ask you about a part of the indictment. Montgomery was talking to one of the other people that were indicted over the phone saying something to the effect of he's not going to do anything unless there's $25,000. Is there anything you can shed as far as light goes on what that means and while you were running and while you were campaigning, was there ever anything like a minimum amount, like a threshold in order to meet you or offer you some sort of anything like that?

Mayor Adams: First of all, all of you cover politics. All of you cover politics. You know how many people call me and ask, "Eric, can I do a fundraiser for you?" And so the window of getting and gathering the amount of money that's needed to run a campaign, you can't go to a coffee clutch and someone is raising you $125. You need to make sure you use your time appropriately. And so my fundraising team sits down and the campaign fundraising team sits down and decide what are the ways we are going to get Eric physically present off the campaign trail for two hours? What is it going to take us to do that? Because I'm not campaigning during that time on the campaign trail.

And so whatever the campaign team decided is what they decided. And it's not something that I decide. I have a campaign team who did an amazing job. The campaign team did an amazing job doing what's needed. The thousands of donors, they just did a good job. And so they're not going to have me move around the city, my scheduler, my campaign team. The team is not going to have me not use my time at a maximum. And so commendable to them for understanding what everyone does. You're not going to get president of any country that's going to pop in for a fundraiser without saying, "This is what we are expecting for this event." No Council person, no congressperson, no state senator. You all covered politics before. You know that these indicators are in place and the finance and fundraiser of the campaign makes no determinations.

Question: Mr. Mayor, I want to ask you about the story that was published last week about the photo that you carried of one of your colleagues, Officer Venable. They said that you did carry this photo for decades. I'm wondering were you aware that whether the photo you used in a picture in our paper or other places was a fake photo or had been manipulated in any way? And I'm wondering if you think that causes any concern with how residents view your credibility when you talk about certain issues?

Mayor Adams: First, let me answer the last part. I'm out in the community a lot. I know that one resident walked up to me, they said, "We know you." What they did say was they were surprised that New York Times did not give an apology to that family and to his colleagues. Even the poll bearers that carried his body that said, "Eric had a close relationship with Robert, my friend." And the appearance that was trying to be created that we were not friends was really amazing. Robert was a friend. It was very painful when I lost him. And I appreciate the family for their courage. And I do remember in the story that they asked the New York Times to give them an apology.

Question: [Inaudible] that you weren't friends. I think we asked whether the photo had been fabricated.

Mayor Adams: Okay. All right, do you have another question? I put out a statement and I responded to that and given credibility to what was done in a very painful, was brought up to all of us of that painful moment of losing Robert. And I just believe the family is owed an apology.

Question: Thanks Mayor. I'm a Gen Z [inaudible]. I just want to ask, since we are on the topic of union and affordable housing and because we had plans before to convert hotels or office buildings into the affordable housing and [inaudible] housing to lower the housing prices. So I'm just wondering, do we have any future plans to continue that because I know you've been facing some setbacks before and [inaudible] future plans. You're talking with your unions to negotiate to convert some appropriate hotel and continue to build the affordable housing and [inaudible] to help with the current housing crisis.

Mayor Adams: Thank you. We're a believer in converting hotels into affordable housing. What has been lost in this conversation is that there was no action taken in Albany on housing. None. I find that alarming. The governor put in place a proposal that we all supported. We would like to get 500,000 units of affordable housing built. There was no action. We did not extend 421a. We did not do the conversions we want from office space. We have millions of square feet of office space that's available. We need help from Albany. We're going to do our part. We're going to release some numbers of how well we exceeded our expectation on some of the things that we did. But the reality is we need to do more building.

We have an inventory problem. There's a problem with our inventory that the demand is higher than the inventory. And I am hoping that Albany realizes that and that we come with a real plan, extend the 421a to lift our FAR, allow us to build higher in areas that we traditionally did not, allow us to not only expedite hotel conversions, but also to do office space. We have a lot of office space that we can turn into housing and people are willing to do so. We just need help. And we did not get that help from Albany. We have some great victories in Albany. We walked away with some real good things, but everyone states that housing is our number one issue, so we have to really focus on housing.

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