Gary Byrd: Well each and every second Sunday of the month as you know, normally we have a chance to welcome the brother joining us next but this is a special time that we are in and WBLS is proud to welcome him back this month. The 110th mayor of New York City, the second mayor of color and the first hip-hop mayor in the city's history as well as our brother Eric Adams. It's time to Hear from the Mayor with Mayor Eric L. Adams right here from 107.5 WBLS. Good morning mayor and welcome.
Mayor Eric Adams: Hey Gary, good morning. Good morning to the listeners as well. Welcome back to another episode Hear from the Mayor. This is your Mayor Eric Adams. If you’re a first time caller this morning, there's many ways to communicate with you and everyday New Yorkers.
The listeners should give me a call and hear directly from me as we talk about important topics that impact our city. You can also sign up to hear more from me by visiting nyc.gov/hearfromeric. You can sign up on our website to text with Eric and talk with me on WhatsApp. But you also can call in today at 212-545-1075, 212-545-1075.
We would love to hear your thoughts and your questions. Happy Sunday. Today we're going to talk about a deadly trap that is endangering our young people. Something many of you may be familiar with called subway surfing. It may sound like an adventure or a game, but it is the furthest thing from the truth and furthest thing from fun.
It is a deadly trap that is endangering our young people. And when you look at it, the average age of a subway surfer is 15. 15 years old. The youngest we have identified is 11 years old. 11 years old. It's unimaginable that an 11-year-old or 15-year-old or any of our children are on top of a train.
And so I want to just really humanize this conversation by bringing a woman that I've learned to just respect and just appreciate her courage. It is so hard to turn darkness into light or pain into purpose. But my guest, Norma Nazario, she's doing just that. She lost her son, Zach Nazario, who tragically died subway surfing on the J train on the Williamsburg Bridge in 2023.
And her story is just so powerful. And she refused to just sit back, allowing him to have died in vain. She just has really touched so many of us, particularly on our team, and people often stop me on the street and talk about seeing her on the street after seeing her interviews on talking about this topic.
So Norma, I wanna bring you into the conversation. And can you just bring us into Zach, his whole life, just a charming, smart, intelligent young man. Just share– first tell us that. Tell us who Zach actually is and who he was to us.
Norma Nazario: Good morning. Thanks for having me. Zach was a very brilliant son, very loving son, loved to spend time with his family and friends. Very bright student. He impacted his high school that he– they just honored him last month with an actual diploma. It was very hard to be there, but I'm pretty sure he deserved that, being an honors kid and very smart.
Mayor Adams: What did he enjoy doing?
Nazario: He enjoys sports, he enjoys video games. The school used to call him the historian because he's always wanted to research old stuff, like old stuff–
Mayor Adams: Old soul. That's it. Our seniors used to say, you know, old soul.
Nazario: He did. We called him the historian. He always liked to do the history of World War II, Korean Wars, 1800s, 1900s.
Mayor Adams: He sounded like me when I was a child. I used to like looking at all of those old stories. There was a show that came on Mutual of Omaha. He talked about animals when I was a little child. All my friends used to say why are you watching that all day?
But you know, we old sweet old souls like old [soul] things. Now, was your only son?
Nazario: No, he’s not. He wasn't.
Mayor Adams: Okay, so you have other children?
Nazario: I have an older son, yes.
Mayor Adams: How has this impacted the family?
Nazario: [It’s impacted] the family very very hard. His oldest brother was the only little brother that he ever had and he's not doing well still. You know, the more he hears me on the radio [and] on the TV and all that. The more he's rubbing for his mother but at the same time he can't believe it how nothing has been done in two years and plus and he's continuing.
Mayor Adams: And Zach, he was your youngest?
Nazario: Yes.
Mayor Adams: Where were you when you got notification of what happened to him?
Nazario: I was at home because it was President's Day. It was a holiday.
Mayor Adams: And how did you find out? Were you reaching out to him? Did you guys communicate often?
Nazario: That day we communicated a couple of hours before he passed.
Mayor Adams: Okay. He called you [or] he texted you?
Nazario: Yes, he called me [on] FaceTime.
Mayor Adams: So now he was subway surfing on the J line. Do you know if that was the first time he ever tried?
Nazario: No, I didn't know that.
Mayor Adams: Okay, he was an adventurous young man. I think of some of the things that I did as a child, boys are always exploring and you look back later, I look back later at some of my adventures and I would say to myself, “You know, wow, what was I thinking?” But that's what a young child does, and it's particularly boys. We're always getting into some form of mischief.
You know, we have started to use drones, a new technology that we started in November 2023. And since then, we have had over 200 rescues. When we say rescues, that is when our drones identify a child on top of the train. And we're able to get there before something tragic happens like what happened to Zach.
And this has been extremely successful. We use 4K cameras and the zones monitor those lines where you see frequent subway surfers. Some of the frequent locations we have witnessed are on the number 7 line in Queens.
It's often used by young people to subway [surf]. And you know, the state manages the subway system as well as the MTA manages the subway system. What have parents like you, what have you asked of the state to do to sort of prevent the subway surfing?
Nazario: Well, starting with social media. I've been with some organizations, the MAMA organization, and I've been to the White House. I asked at the beginning, we went as a group and we went to Senator Schumer, Chuck Schumer, and he stated that he was gonna help us.
Letitia James, she also was there involved. Governor Hochul ended up signing two bills, the [Stop Addictive Feeds Exploitation] Safety Act bill and [New York Child] Data Protection bill. She signed those on June 20, 2024.
Mayor Adams: Do you know what those bills would change? Those are the things that you and the other parents have advocated for?
Nazario: Yes, I believe they passed. And as you know, she's gonna ban cell phones this September. So I'm pretty sure that the bill's passed and I'm pretty sure she's doing what she needs to do best for all the social media– people to stop dragging the kids, even throughout school.
Mayor Adams: Right, no, well said. And no, that bill did pass. For the listeners out there, I announced on [Wednesday], that we now have a cell phone ban in our schools. All of our school children will have to lock up their devices when they come into school and the schools are required to have some form of storage.
Because as you stated, you know, we sue social media companies for the subway surfing as well as other ways that are impacting our children. And when our children are seeing and watching this, there are millions of views. You could only imagine a young person receiving millions of views for doing something.
It's an adrenaline rush, and we wanted to make sure that social media companies are no longer using these tools to be harmful to our children. Now, you mentioned a coalition of parents that are also part of this push. Do you guys meet regularly? Do you communicate?
Nazario: Unfortunately, no. This MAMA program is Mothers Against Media Addiction. They reached out to me. I'm really encouraging all the parents that have gone through what I'm going through to step up and come visit me, come look for me. Let's do this.
I'm also looking forward to going after the MTA. I haven't even heard from them. They don't, I don't know, they don't want to take accountability. They don't want to face anything, anybody. And the main one, this is their trains.
Mayor Adams: Right, right, no, well said. And we have to find ways to prevent children from climbing on the train. If we identify how they climb on, we have to find preventive ways to stop them from climbing on. And I think the MTA really needs to step up in this area because you're having too many cases where children are becoming seriously injured.
And it's cases like Zach actually losing their lives. What can parents do? You know, when you think about it, what are some of the things you believe parents can do that could assist?
Nazario: Well, first of all, parents need to first educate themselves about subway surfing, about social media, how it works, how they hide their identity sometimes. Like [an] example with Zach, I was on his feed and never ever saw anything of no subway [surfing], but also only him searching their history.
So they need to educate themselves with the subway surfing trend, social media, what they see, what they look [at]. You know, they need to also be aware of where the children go, who they relate with. And that's about it, keep them away from the cell phone. Spend time with them, talk to them, travel, anything that has not to do with social media.
Mayor Adams: That's interesting. You said when you looked on his feed, you didn't see anything about subway surfing.
Nazario: Anything.
Mayor Adams: You know, there needs to be a whole course for parents on how to look through a feed and how to understand exactly what your child is searching. Because if you identify that, you can take a lot of preventive steps, you know, dealing with your child. If they are being bullied, when you look at even children meeting individuals online.
We have a number of cases where a young child would meet a person online and interact with an adult. And so by taking a look every once in a while, periodically at their feed, knowing what they are searching and what they are viewing is an indicator of probably a potential problem beforehand.
And so, I think that we look at these devices, these cell phones, as useful tools, which they are, but if they are used incorrectly, they can become an abusive tool at the same time.
I notice you often carry around Zach's photo, and it's a powerful moment when we do any announcement on this issue, when people see the photo and what it represents. What did he want to do later in life? Did he ever share that with you?
Nazario: Of course. He wanted to join the Marines.
Mayor Adams: Wow.
Nazario: And this is what I tell everybody. The reason that he– I don't know if he was introduced when, while he was at summer school, he was going to Stuyvesant High School summer school, but he was to gain early credits and extra credit to finish and graduate early and then join the Marines to, of course, help his country.
Mayor Adams: Wow. Wow.
Nazario: And I believe that he got introduced there or before, like I said, I have no idea how long he was doing it for, when he got introduced, but I know that definitely he was introduced by the TikTok challenge.
Mayor Adams: Right. Right. By a TikTok challenge. Wow. What about his friends? Were any of his friends with him that day or was he by himself?
Nazario: He was with a little girlfriend that he used to hang out with.
Mayor Adams: Okay, okay. It must have been traumatic for her as well.
Nazario: Yes, it was.
Mayor Adams: Do you communicate with her as well?
Nazario: No, not anymore. But I was communicating with her at the beginning and she was very devastated. You know, she saw it all, unfortunately.
Mayor Adams: So why do you think children are still subway surfing? Because they read some of the stories, so many cases. Why do you believe they are still doing it?
Nazario: For the likes. I guess peer pressure, who does it better, who can climb better, who can hang more, etc. And then social media is just the number one
Mayor Adams: Wow wow. A really powerful story. That's the music. We're gonna take a break and we're gonna be back with your calls and to continue this very important conversation.
Really just wanna thank Norma for being here and sharing this painful moment. So why don't we take a break and we'll be right back on the other side of the break.
Byrd: The program is Hear from the Mayor and yes, the mayor wants to hear from you. 212-545-1075. Once again, 212-545-1075. Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens, Long Island, Staten Island, Westchester, wherever you are.
You get a chance this morning to not just hear the mayor, but to talk to him on WBLS. We'll take a break and come back with more right after this from 107.5 WBLS.
[Commercial Break.]
Byrd: The program is Hear from the Mayor, and the mayor wants to hear from you. 212-545-1075 is the number to call. Let's get back to the mayor and his special guest this morning on 107.5, WBLS.
Mayor Adams: Thank you, Gary. It's great to be back. I look forward to hearing from our callers. You can call in and speak with me, the mayor, or to Ms. Norma Nazario, who lost her son, Zach Nazario, to subway surfing.
Caller you’re in the air.
Question: Good morning.
Mayor Adams: Morning.
Question: My name is Pedro. For Ms. Nazario, I'm sorry for your loss. When I was young and stupid, my friends used to do what they call [elevator surfing], which is actually to ride on the project elevators and my friends got injured in reference to that, one of my friends–
Mayor Adams: Was that on top of the elevator?
Question: Yeah, of course, of course. Yeah, it was on top of the elevator. You know, so that unfortunately happened. I never did that because I was too scared and I was wondering why you guys do that.
But my question for you, Mayor Adams, I know that they've filed a lawsuit from the Trump administration against you being a sanctuary city. My problem is, talking about the New York City Housing Authority, since those are federally funded, do you think it's going to try to take away those funds and mess with the housing for all those people that are living there?
Mayor Adams: No, no I don't. I believe that this lawsuit is sort of misguided. And what many people don't know brother is that our city has taken the administration to court more than any mayor in the country to protect the rights of New Yorkers.
Everything from when we lost $80 million dollars in clawback to when young people go to court following the procedures that we help them get, to have them removed from, by ICE in court, we think that is unfair.
We should be going after dangerous gang members only. We don't collaborate or coordinate with any civil enforcements. But I don't think this is going to impact, and I don't think they're going to come after federal NYCHA fundings over this.
Question: Well, you know, because you never know with this guy. It's a continued distraction. And I know you were put in a bad situation by accepting a lot of these migrants that were sent to you from Texas and other states.
I don't know if you were able to ever sue Texas for actually doing those actions, because it was all political, and you and other sanctuary cities were dealing with this issue.
So you were put in a bad situation for that. I'll say that, but again, we're in New York, you know, so we have to try and take care of what we can and hopefully make it work.
Mayor Adams: Yeah, well said. And, you know, your thoroughness of understanding the whole situation is appreciated. Yes, we had [237,000] migrants and asylum seekers. The federal government did not allow us to stop the buses from coming in, would not allow us to let people work, but we were successful.
90 percent of those who came in our care, they are now taking the next step on the American journey. And not one child or family slept on the streets of the City of New York.
And, you know, this city should be really proud of what we did and were able to get those to move forward to the next step of their journey. Thanks so much for calling in. Next caller, you're on the air.
Question: Hello?
Mayor Adams: Yes, how are you?
Question: Good. In the school system, would it be very nice of you to start implementing courses in civics? Because I talk to a lot of young people, and they don't even know how the government you live in a democracy so-called, but you don't know how the government works, and the importance of voting, and also economics.
I mean, a couple of months ago you had somebody going around the city teaching about economics. Well, why can't you teach this in schools, civics in schools?
Mayor Adams: Sorry, brother, finish your thought.
Question: Go ahead. I just want to know, how is it that we can't teach civics in schools?
Mayor Adams: No brother, we actually do. And there's a number of things that we do to teach our young people civics because you're right having them engaged in civic instruction goes a long way. What we believe we need to do is to make sure that our young people stay engaged in not only financial literacy, civic structures, how to vote, when voting takes place.
The whole gamut is so important and we're very much front and center on that. That music is an indicator for me. I really want to thank Norma for being on today and sharing her story and turning pain into purpose. And family, I look forward to speaking to you the next time you Hear from Eric. Thank you very much.
Byrd: Well this morning our thanks to the mayor of New York City, Brother Eric Adams and his special guest coming to us live from City Hall. And our condolences of course to her and her family from the WBLS family.
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