Transcript: Mayor Eric Adams Appears on the Arthur Aidala Power Hour on AM 970

October 6, 2022

Arthur Aidala: Guys in the house. They're all from Brooklyn. And the mayor of the City of New York, he was the borough president, not in Staten Island, not in Manhattan, not in the Bronx, not in Queens, but of Brooklyn. Before we jump on the phone with the mayor of the City of New York, I just need to put some things to perspective, because I actually learned some things today preparing for this show with the mayor. What I get hit with the most from people who know that I'm friendly with Mayor Giuliani, and I'm friendly with Mayor Adams, is how Rudy got things under control and the city was so much safer when Rudy was the mayor. And I don't have the 2022 numbers with the current administration, but this is the end of the de Blasio administration, the end of the administration of eight years that people say he's the worst mayor ever.

And I think the numbers are going to surprise some people, some people that are actually in this room. So in 1998, very deep into the Giuliani administration, robberies in the city of New York for that whole year were 39,000. 39,000, so very close to 40 grand. Robberies at the end of 2021 were 13,000. I mean, that's a very ... Let's see, what is it? It's a 64 percent drop. So we're 64 percent lower in robberies from the middle of the Giuliani administration until the end of the de Blasio administration. Rape from Rudy to Giuliani ... I'm sorry, from Giuliani to de Blasio is down 40 percent. Another big one, burglaries. In 1998, there were 47,000 burglaries, and in 2021, there were 12,000 burglaries. Let me just put things in perspective for Rudolph Giuliani, in 1990, there were 122,000 burglaries, 122,000 in the Dinkins administration. In the middle of the Giuliani administration, burglaries were down to 47,000. So Rudy knocked off a tremendous, tremendous amount.

The same with robberies. When Rudy came in, there was 180,000 ... I'm sorry. 100,000 robberies in the City of New York in 1990. In the middle of Rudy, it was 40,000. So he knocked down 60,000. But if you look at ‘98 compared to 2021, the numbers are still way, way, way down. I mean, I'll just read off the percentage change from ‘21 to ‘98 without telling you that ... Murder down 22 percent, rape down 40 percent, robbery down 65 percent, felony assault down 20 percent, burglaries down 72 percent, grand larceny down 20 percent, and GLA down 76 percent. So I know we feel a little less safe than we used to, but the numbers compared to when we said Rudy made us all so safe, we're a heck of a lot safer now. Without further ado, the mayor of the City of New York, my friend Eric Adams. Hello, Mr. Mayor. How are you sir?

Mayor Eric Adams: Hey, how are you brother? Good to speak with you. I caught the numbers that you just dropped. And let me tell you something. There was this person sitting for a portrait and he had a big scar in his face. And when the artist came, he told the artist, "I know you see I have this scar, but remember I have a face. Keep that in mind while you draw my portrait." Well, the portrait of our city... Yeah, we have scars. Yes, we have six felony crimes a day on the subway system, but we have 3.5 million riders a day. And yes, we have scars of people who want to use violence that we going after, but we have police officers that have removed 5,000 guns off this street. We're not coming back. New York is back.

Aidala: No, I hear now. So…

Mayor Adams: (Inaudible) increasing. So people need to tell the real story. Arthur, if you wake up every day and people take the worst of our city and highlight it daily, you're going to define our city by that. That's not the New York that I see every day. New York is here and it's here to stay. And I want to be clear on that.

Aidala: No, listen. No one's got your back in it and is singing that song louder than I am. So I'm with you Mr. Mayor, 100 percent. But I have to tell you, this Tuesday I believe it was. So I'm in court right by your office there in City Hall. I get on the train and I'm coming to my midtown office on the four train. And there's a guy on the train. The train is like 50 percent full, as it should be at whatever it was, noon. And there's a guy who looks like he's dressed kind of appropriately, no indication there's anything wrong. And as soon as the doors close, he starts screaming and yelling and curse words. And I go from reading my phone and put my phone away. I'm getting ready to throw down. He's not necessarily looking at me, but there's an older woman next to me. There's a young lady across from me. I got a little kid. I got two little kids. I'm like, "If this guy starts throwing down... You know how I am. Chivalry's not dead. I'm going to help these people. Your brain starts spinning now.

Luckily, the next stop came. The door's open. I just got out and went into another car. But those types of incidents are what ... And, again, there was no crime committed. But this guy, he was out there. So when my friends who sometimes give me a hard time about being so pro-Eric Adams asked me to ask you on the show, Eric Adams, tell the listeners of the Arthur Aidala Power Hour what you and your team... the plan today. We know what your plan was in January. Things have gotten a little bit better. Thank God shootings are down. Shooting victims are down. Murders are down. But other things are up like robberies, which I think is the top of the list here. What is Eric Adams' team doing to stop the robberies, especially in the transit system?

Mayor Adams: And as I stated from the onset, when you see incidents like that, we have to really analyze what's happening in our city in a real way. There's a mental health crisis. And remember, police can't only address the mental health crisis. It needs a combination of all the agencies that deal with mental health. And you know what happens when a police officer responds. Everyone is now, "Why you trying to throw the police at people who have mental health issues? You're trying to criminalize them." No, we have been approaching those mental health crises. We just lost an amazing public servant in Lieutenant Russo who was stabbed, mental health crisis. Michelle Gold pushed to the subway train, mental health crisis. Train station (inaudible)...

Aidala: But Eric, you can understand how those things freak people out. In other words ... I believe you promoted her. She's now Captain Russo. What happened with that woman, she's a 61-year-old public servant ... I mean, your eulogy was great. I'm tired ... I know you are much more tired than I am. I'm tired of hearing you give eulogies. I heard you give Rivera's eulogy and Mora’s eulogy. But the way we think as lay people, she's a uniformed officer. You're thinking there's a degree of protection that she may have that we don't have. And she's getting lunch and she gets stabbed in the neck. And look, you and I ... Not going to get into rattling them all off. So what should I tell my buddies who are breaking my chops? What's Eric Adams doing? What's his team doing to address the mental health issue?

Mayor Adams: Well, first thing you should say to your buddies who're busting your chops, the safety of this city is all about responsibilities and concerns. Our police officers, every day (inaudible) job. Felony arrests are up 70... of a 27 year high in felony arrests of dangerous people. So by us all being engaged together, they should advocate for what we're seeing, I'm trying to push in or believe. We got to put teeth to Kendra's Law so that we can make determination of people who can't take care of themselves. They should not remain on our streets. Right now we're not doing that. We're not extending who can make that determination. That's what I'm going to be pushing for in Albany.

Aidala: When do you think that's going to happen, Mr. Mayor?

Mayor Adams: Well, this is many of the pathways we have to take. January, (inaudible) in Albany, but in the interim, we increased the number of police officers on patrol in our subway system. We have taken proactive... Remember in the previous administration, no one was going after those (inaudible) services. No one was going after the encampments. No one was going after people who were living on the system. We've changed that. We've done just the opposite of making sure that we are proactively going after those who created not only the actual crimes but the perception of fear that we're seeing every day.

So listen, often we cannot be... If a person is on the street right now, homeless, being disruptive, there's only a certain level that we can do based on the laws of this state in taking that person off the street.

Aidala: I'm aware. I'm well aware, your honor, I mean I follow this stuff.

Mayor Adams: There's restrictions. (inaudible).

Aidala: So let me ask you this question because…

Mayor Adams: (Inaudible) but this is important. This is important. Listen. Listen, what I'm saying to New Yorkers, imagine waking up every day and someone's telling you about the worst part of your day. Every day, every day, those six crimes in our subway system, you pick the worst one of them, you highlight them. They have a page in the paper that says, city in crisis. That's not defining New York. I have corporations coming here open. Major global corporations are open, tourism is back to 50... We're going to have 56 million tourists. Hotels are back 94 percent occupancy. This city is back. (inaudible).

Aidala: So I got a couple of questions on the topic you just said. First of all, you talked about reading the papers. I'm curious. Mayor Adams, do you read the papers?

Mayor Adams: Yes, I do for information purposes, but I'm not reading... I'm not allowing the papers to take away what I'm seeing every day in this city. Every day, I'm all over this city. I'm up at 5 a.m. in the morning. I'm normally checking out around one o'clock, sometimes 2 a.m. I'm not allowing people to take away what I'm seeing in this city. So when I'm on the subway system, I'm on at night. I like to go down at night to see what's going on during the evening time. I'm at all these ribbon cutters of companies coming back in the city. We are defining our own story. That's what I want to say to those New Yorkers out there who was saying this ... Remember, Arthur, they were saying this a month after I was in office. "Eric, how come you never fixed all the potholes?"

Aidala: Believe me, I am well aware. I am well aware. So, Eric, let me ask you this. I had lunch today with Geraldo Rivera and he asked me to ask you a question about what we're talking about, about the newspapers, about what you're saying is anyone always brings up the worst part of your day. You won the primary over a year ago. We're just about on the anniversary of you winning the general election. He said, "Ask Eric if waking up in the morning." And look, I know how hard you're working. I know for a fact because of relationships I have with people in your office, following your schedule. How demoralizing is it or how much does it hurt when, you know, you see with your own eyes, things that are getting better and yet the media is only focused on the negative stuff? How much does it affect the psyche of Mayor Eric Adams?

Mayor Adams: None at all. I cannot tell you how focused I am when I'm out in the street and I see people giving me that symbolic thumbs up or telling me that, "Listen, Eric, we know how hard you're working." So the inside folks who only judge themselves by the headlines that are written about them, that's not how I live. I'm among the people in this city every day and I see the energy they have. They say, "Listen, we know this is hard, but we know New Yorkers." And so, listen, brother, you're going to always have naysayers. That's the nature of the beast. (Inaudible) are supposed to critique me. You know what I'm saying?

Aidala: So let's get back to crime for one second because you know that's my bailiwick and I'm not asking you to betray any confidences, but what are your relationship like with the five district attorneys? Because they have a lot of power on how things get handled once those police officers take those 5,000 guns off the street. I know because Joe Hines told me himself that Bloomberg sat them down and said, "Unless you give everyone who gets nailed for a gun two years jail, I'm going to mess with your budget." And they all stuck to it. Morgenthau, Hynes, I forget... Dick Brown in Queens, come on. Whatever. I knew all five of the DAs. But I mean Bloomberg really put the arm on them saying we need to keep the guns off the street and the guys who have the guns and they can't get back out onto the street. Does Mayor Eric Adams have the kind of relationship with the district attorney's offices to work hand in hand with them to really fight these problems?

Mayor Adams: Hey, listen, we have been sitting down conversating, giving solutions with the district attorneys. But think about this for a moment because you really, as an attorney, you understand this process.

Number one, our criminal justice system needs to be repaired. The bottleneck in the court system is unbelievable. Someone out in a homicide charge and they're out for months before they are sentenced. That makes no sense. Many guys are not even going to trial anymore. You used to be able to threaten people, "If you don't take a plea, you go to trial." Now they're laughing at the thought of going to trial. We're not even doing trials the way they should be. People are in and out of the system. The system is broken and it's feeding this crisis that we are witnessing.

You saw what happened with the rapper? The rapper shot a police officer and himself. The judge states he did everything right that his mother told him to do. He was back out on the street and got caught with another gun. Another rapper was bailed out. He was bailed out with a gun charge, got out, he had the shooting in front of the St. Patrick Cathedral. This is what we are up against day after day after day. And we're going to keep doing our job to deal with this violence because the violence is what is preventing people from seeing all the good stuff that's happening in this city, every day in the city, and I see it every day. And so…

Aidala: Let's talk about guns.

Mayor Adams: ... I'm optimistic about the future.

Aidala: Listen, I'm more optimistic than you are, Mr. Mayor. I have a 10-month-old. Okay? So I need this city to be great for the next 100 years. I don't know if you got that much time left in your bandwidth, but I'm here for a 100. I got to watch my daughter turn 40. I'm staying till I'm 94-years-old. You ain't getting rid of me.

So a federal judge today came down with a ruling and I don't want to catch you off guard here, because it came down a couple of hours ago, saying that with the legislature setup, these no gun zones like Times Square and Grand Central are illegal, that government buildings can be no gun zones, polling places can be no gun zones, schools and places of worship. Besides that, you cannot arbitrarily say you can't have a gun in Central Park. You can't have a gun in Times Square. You can't have a gun in Grand Central. Do you know about this? Because it's really hours old.

Mayor Adams: Yeah, no, but my team immediately... As this stuff breaks, my team immediately reached out and let me know. We're analyzing the ruling. The governor and the AG defended the case. Of course, we are appealing and that's the beauty of our criminal justice system. You have the authority to appeal those rulings that you disagree with. And whichever is the outcome, if we lose the appeal, then we are going to respect the ruling of the court. We will always follow what the courts dictate to say.

Aidala: Okay. I mean, you could take the fifth on this one. I'm not looking for a whole bunch of people to be rolling around Times Square with a sign on. I don't care if it's my buddy Derek, who I trust, or my buddy Chris, who I trust. Because if one dude who's a bad dude pops off his gun, what are we going to have? 80 other people whipping out a gun and shooting around in Times Square? I don't want to sign up for that.

Mayor Adams: And you know what? That's what many people don't understand. People have a tendency to believe that, okay, if I have my gun, I'm going to be able to defend myself. First of all, nothing could be further from the truth. If somebody gets to jump on you and they have a gun, you are not going to have time to defend yourself, trust me. And even if you are able to pull it out, one person pulls out a gun… we have sometimes 300,000 people in Times Square. If you have 1,000 people with guns and they hear gunshots, who knows the difference between a good guy and a bad guy that has a gun? It's totally chaotic. It is a real danger to our safety and a place like New York where we're densely populated.

Aidala: And just so you know how much I love Times Square, I'm broadcasting this show live a week from tonight at the foot of the steps I'm doing when they're giving me an extra hour, I'm doing two hours. I have the new restaurants coming on, some of the new Broadway shows coming on. I'm going to be the cheerleader for the city over here. Before I have to let you go…

Mayor Adams: Wait a minute. You didn't invite me to that. What are you doing?

Aidala: Listen, you're always invited to everything. Christmas Eve, New Year's Eve, Thanksgiving. My birthday's December 1st, we'll be at the Friars Club. You can come over to that. Speaking of friends and birthdays, go ahead.

Mayor Adams: I'm going to be there. But let me tell you something. Your audience really believes in this city. They believe in this city. They're business people. They have their own business. They believe in public safety. This is the time, and I'm the pilot right now. Like it or not, I'm the pilot of this plane.

Aidala: I'm with you. I voted you in as the pilot.

Mayor Adams: I'm saying to your listeners, don't hope for me to crash because you on this plane with me…

Aidala: I'm with you. I'm with you. Listen, I tell my buddy Chris from Dyker Heights that all the time. Let me clear the air about one thing and it'll take two minutes.

My dear friend Frank Carone, he's your chief of staff, he announced he's departing at the end of the year. I just want you to verify that was the plan all along since he started working with you maybe two years ago to help you get elected. Correct?

Mayor Adams: Without a doubt. Frank is a long time friend and Frank had a good business, a good law firm. After winning the election, I said, Frank, I need you to come in for a year and to study the ship, help me build out a team, which is a great team. Help me build out a team. Can you come in for a year to do it? Frank said, “Eric, I'll give you my commitment. I'll come in for a solid year.” This was something he and I both thought through. If I were to ask Frank, “Frank, can you hang out a little longer because I need you to? Frank would do it.

Aidala: I know. He's the best…

Mayor Adams: He's not a chief of staff, Frank is a friend. He's a friend that was there like you that said, listen, this is the type of guy that should be the mayor of our city. I cannot thank his friendship enough.

Aidala: I'm with you. And I feel the same way about him. And I think the city was lucky to have him and still have him. He's not going in there. He's working his tail off and he'll continue to work his tail off. I can't let you go, Mr. Mayor, without talking about the migrant situation and people yelling at me, “why did your mayor put these people in a flood zone in Orchard Beach? And now he's moving him to Randall's Island, which is known to be another flood zone.” And I know you got a victory today regarding the Bruckner Houses in the Bronx, and you got additional housing, and that's a fantastic victory. I know there was a little bit of a battle in the city council and you won that. And that's a W, and I know you're always counting your Ws. But people want to know what's happening with the migrants versus the homeless. Where are we putting all of these people? In these tents on Randall's Island, Orchard Beach, on cruise ships, hotels? It's just a little question to end the interview.

Mayor Adams: I like that. And I like that. And what's interesting, brother, there's one quote, speech I read every morning just about, and it is President Roosevelt, I'm a man in the arena. It's not the critic who kills. It's not the man that points out how a brave man stumbled or the doer of deeds should have done them better. The true credit belongs to the man who's actually in the arena. Faced marred with dust, sweat and blood. I'm in the arena. It's easy for people who sit in the bleachers of life and talk about what the man in the arena should do or what calls they make or how they fail, that's easy to do. I'm making the calls that's best for this city. Sometimes those calls don't come out to the best, you stumble, but you get up and you make the adjustments. And anyone that has ever been in the arena, they tip their hats to people who are in the arena. I'm making the best course for this city, and we're going to get through this together as New Yorkers.

Aidala: I appreciate it. Tell me what I tell my friends about Randall's Island.

Mayor Adams: Tell me… Randall's Island, there was no flooding at Orchard Beach. It was puddling. And we stated, my commissioner, an ex-military person, a hero in our city, he stated that we can fix this puddling problem, but it would be better if we go to Randall's Island with a three foot in height increase so that we can put the centers there. People are not living there. They're going there for processing center. Check out the hypocrisy of this, Arthur.

Aidala: Go ahead. I'm listening.

Mayor Adams: Do you know we had camps during COVID in Central Park? Do you know we had a boat, a hospital boat during COVID docked?

Aidala: Yes.

Mayor Adams: So why is it okay for everyday New Yorkers to be in a camp, a tent in Central Park during COVID and migrants can't be there as a processing center or be in a boat during COVID, but migrants can't be on a boat doing processing center? It's not that they can't do it, some people just want to be naysayers and I'm a yaysayer.

Aidala: I’m with you, so when they get processed, then what happens though, Eric? So you got all these people. I know, look, they were deeper issues here. I know you've said something, you've raised a question mark about whether migrants are being shipped off to cities that have Black mayors. But as a Native New Yorker who may be affected with the reality of having all of these new people in here, when you're saying they're being processed, they're being processed and then what happens? We take down their name, rank, serial number, now what happens with them?

Mayor Adams: Here's what it is. Number one, I'm never going to take away the resources that are for of those New Yorkers who are in need of services. We're not doing that, and we should not have to pit against the migrants and non-migrants. And with the real level of honesty, when we look into our lineage, all of us came from somewhere. It doesn't matter who we are, at one time our ancestors came to these shores trying to participate in the American dream. And the things people are saying about migrants, they said it about all of us.

Aidala: And listen, you're talking to a Cilician. I mean, of course I know what happened.

Mayor Adams: I can tell you are. And so here's what we do, Arthur. There were many people who came here that did not want to come to New York City, but incentivized them. Coming to New York in Texas borders, El Paso, Dallas, and other places. And (inaudible) doing is finding out where do you really want to go. That's number one. People that want to go to places where you have a large, good, well population. So we want a system to get there. There are others who have family members in the city that they want to stay with, or people who sponsor them. Then there are those who need to be cycled into our shelter system until they can get on their feet.

Aidala: And what is the ultimate goal? Is the ultimate goal to make them citizens, to being tax paying productive members of society? Is that the direction we're heading in?

Mayor Adams: The goal was with all of us that came to this country, those who legally are allowed to be asylum seekers, they should be allowed to stay. Those who are not legally allowed to be asylum seekers, should return back to the country that they came from. But the groups fled prosecution, persecution in Venezuela, that's with the largest population. But the goal is to do what we've always done as Americans and as New Yorkers. Those who pass the asylum seekers process should be allowed to stay. And those who don't, must be turned to their country. This is the law of what we live by. But in the meantime, we need to make sure we don't create an environment that's dangerous for our city in any way.

Aidala: Well, as a 22-year-veteran in the NYPD, I can't think of anyone else's hands I want safety to be put in. And I know Rome wasn't built in a day, but speaking of Rome, I got the message from Frank from Staten Island. He wants to know, number one, will you be marching in the Columbus Day Parade this Monday? It was supposed to be beautiful weather with the Columbus Citizens Foundation, where I saw a mutual friend of Tom Suozzi have a nice event for you when you were a candidate. So the question is, number one, will you be marching?

But the deeper question is, the Italian American Heritage Day, which has been called Columbus Day for over a hundred years, is under attack. It's under attack by the Board of Education, by various other agencies. What is Mayor Adams' position? And I know you have a very strong relationship with the Italian American community, but I need you to tell my listeners, and there's a lot of Italians and Sicilians out there, what is Mayor Adams... Number one, are you marching? Who are you marching with? And number two, what is Mayor Adams’ position on Italian American heritage in Columbus Day?

Mayor Adams: Well, number one, I look forward to marching. And as I stated, not only this year, but in previous years, we have a rich Italian community. And I had attended an event at one of the locations, I forgot who actually sponsored, with the Italian American Heritage Group then. I believe you were there also.

Aidala: I was there. I was there watching. You fit in with the Sicilians. You fit in with us.

Mayor Adams: Of what I attended, and I look forward to continuing to uplift the rich heritage and contribution of the Italian community. And, but what I firmly believe, uplifting the heritages of groups, doesn't have to tear down other groups.

Aidala: Thank you.

Mayor Adams: We have enough room in this country to uplift all groups because all of us contribute to what we call the American Dream.

Aidala: Thank you. Because I got very upset, someone sent me a text about a proclamation or some sort of a bill that was put up, I don't know if it was in the Assembly or the City Council, totally eliminating Columbus Day and renaming it, "Indigenous People’s Day." And what Mayor Adams, what you just said is, you don't need to knock down one to put up the other. All great people have been flawed, from Lincoln to Jefferson and Columbus as well. And we have to, as Eric Adams told us today, "You got to look at the positive, don't highlight the negative."

Mayor Adams: Listen, that's what I believe, because you know what? I'm perfectly imperfect and I'm as flawed as one can get. But I keep every day trying to reach the best inside me. And that's my goal. And so you're not going to agree with me all the time. You're not going to always believe I did the right thing. But one thing no one will ever be able to say, that I don't love this city. And I'm committed and dedicated to this this city. And I will continue to be a public servant to this city as long as I live.

Aidala: And no one will ever say you're not the best dressed mayor in the United States of America. Eric Adams, thank you so much for your time, buddy. Thank you. We all got you back on the Arthur Aidala Power Hour. I'll see you Monday at the parade.

Mayor Adams: All right, take care.

Aidala: Thank you. All right folks. There you go. You had a whole half hour with the mayor of the City of New York. I tried to get your questions in. I was reading them live. We'll be back tomorrow night live. Thanks so much. See you later.

###