new york city has had all kinds of larger-than-life mayors but never
anyone quite like eric adams dapperly dressed with a pierced ear and dramatic life story
he says and does things that a lot of other democratic politicians would not
he talks openly about being a victim of police brutality as a teenager who then
went on to become a police officer he speaks out forcefully about addressing economic inequality
while also reaching out to work with some of the wealthiest business leaders on wall street
adams got to city hall by winning a hotly contested democratic primary in which he promised
to restore law and order he's described himself as the face of the new democratic party and people
all over the country will be watching to see how he addresses rising crime new covet outbreaks
and the serious economic damage caused by the pandemic the story will continue in a moment
has there ever been a mayor who was in a gang grew up as you did got beaten by police
and then joined the police force there's a subtext to the election you know i'm hoping the young man
that's sitting in rikers island uh because he's dyslexic and did not get the tools he deserved
realized that hey eric adams was dyslexic eric adams sat in a cell i'm hoping those
who on the verge of homeless are homeless and say damn it eric was on the verge
you know there's a great moment here a bend in the road is not the end of the road just make the turn
mayor adams has been trying to help the city make a turn since he took over 114 days ago
tens of thousands of small businesses here have disappeared since the pandemic unemployment
is nearly twice the national average and major crime is up 43 percent from this time last year
nearly two weeks ago a gunman shot 10 people on a crowded subway in sunset park brooklyn
the alleged perpetrator was arrested after wandering the city for 30 hours
is the subway shooting an indication that this city is in real trouble in terms of crime no i
don't believe so when that shooting happened on tuesday wednesday people were back on the train
what do you say to new yorkers who are scared and feel that the city is headed in the wrong
direction in terms of crime we've removed 1800 guns off the streets of our city since i've been
elected 1800 and so we're putting in place the foundation of dealing with the immediate needs of
violence but we're also stopping the pipeline that causes his children to get involved in violence
adams supports social and educational programs designed to steer young people away from crime
but he's also called for a police crackdown on low level offenses
like public drinking and shoplifting and taking steps to clear homeless encampments
and stop people from sleeping in the subway he's deployed new uniformed police units that
he says have been specially trained to confiscate illegal guns in high-crime neighborhoods without
repeating the abuses of stop-and-frisk policies under mayors rudy giuliani and michael bloomberg
new york's last mayor bill de blasio disbanded the plainclothes units that did a lot of this
work we were so far in the wrong direction of really abusive policing in our city and country
that people got so fed up that they turned the ship
too far in the wrong direction they're too far to the left to the left there is a middle ground
we only talk about how do we protect the rights of those who commit a crime how about start talking
about how do we protect the rights of people who are doing the right thing there's probably a lot
of liberals who are concerned you're a republican listen the 8.8 million people in this city
30 million opinions but there's one mayor that's going to make the decisions
adams is nothing if not confident watching him walk down the street you'd never notice
the weight of the city's problems on his shoulders you've talked about swagger
walking down the street with you you have swagger certainly
and you've said that when when the mayor has swagger the city has swag that's right
saturday night live has already taken notice the city's never had a male with so much swagger
before i mean y'all see me outside oh the pea coats the scarfs the shine on the body though
i love that skit by the way so what is swagger it's you know feeling as though you've overcome
so much that you can overcome whatever is in front of you i eric adams
new york has overcome hard times in the past he says and so has he as adams took the oath
of office in times square just after new year's eve he held up a picture of his late mother
dorothy who struggled to support six children as a housekeeper and cook he told us there were times
she feared the family would get evicted while he and his siblings were in school so she sent them
to class with extra clothes she used to give us anderson a garbage bag full of clothing every day
because she thought the marshall was going to throw us out my siblings did not used to
call us the garbage bag children i can still remember having this feeling in my stomach
you know donna don't let the marshals be out there and we get embarrassed you had joined a gang when
you were 14 is that is that right uh 14 i joined uh but i was a well-known number runner at 12.
you were running numbers yeah that was the illegal gambling system when he was 15 he and an older
brother were arrested for criminal trespassing and taken to the 103rd precinct in jamaica queens
where he says police officers beat them they just continually kicked us kicked us in the groin over
and over again every time i would see a police car relive the beating every time i heard a siren how
did somebody had that experience with police decide to join the police force the reverend
herbert daltry and a group of the civil rights leaders brought 13 young men to the house of the
lord church and stated that it was time for us to go into the police department and fight for reform
inside what do you think when they said to you that you should join the police force i
thought they were out of their minds captain eric adams he spent 22 years on the force
rising to the rank of captain and emerging as a leading voice for reform within the department
after serving seven years in the state senate and another eight as brooklyn borough president
our first choice is eric he defeated 12 other candidates for the democratic mayoral nomination
and then easily won the general election in november you said a while back
that you were the new face of the democratic party where are you on the political spectrum
i am a simple pragmatic democrat but mayor adams was a registered republican for seven years when
rudy giuliani was mayor and bill clinton was president what was your thinking then
it was clear you know i have a mother say boy what's wrong with you
that was a police officer and i saw the violence and i wasn't seeing any help
on the federal level it was a protest vote did you vote for rudy giuliani no
mayor adams was barely three weeks on the job when he spoke at this vigil for two police officers who
were fatally shot while responding to a call in harlem in january and i'm saying don't give up
don't become so frustrated and disenchanted to allow the violent people around us to do what
they think they can do stand with families like these he's also met with the families of victims
of gun violence like 12-year-old kade lewin who was shot to death while sitting in a car eating
adams argues that people who attended black lives matter protests over killings by police should be
supportive of his efforts to prevent people like kate lewin from being gunned down by criminals
democrats don't like talking about intervention but we have to lean into the discomfort of the
immediate things we must do because you can't say black lives matter when a police officer shoots a
young person but does that black lives matter when a 12 year old baby was shot you said the
democrats don't like to to talk about that why is that because when you talk about intervention you
have to use the term of giving police officers the tools to deal with violence right now that makes a
lot of very liberal democrats a little worried yes it does because that's rudy giuliani language they
have allowed rudy giuliani to hijack something that the overwhelming number of people of color
want they will tell you we want our police we don't want our police to be abusive and that
is the balance that i know we can do in this in this city he delivered that message to police on
his first day as mayor at the same precinct house where he says he was beaten as a teenager there is
a covenant that we are establishing we will give them the tools and the support that they need
but we are also going to hold them to a high standard mayor adams is 61 years old he's
not married but has a long time partner and a 26 year old son from a previous relationship
when he's not paying unexpected visits to police precincts or sliding down fire poles
he's popping up at nightclubs openings and parties rarely missing a chance to
promote the big apple so everyone who moved to florida get your butts back to new york city
because new york city is where you want to be you get around i love the city and i i
i love my job you are an interesting new york character don't you think no just the opposite
i personify the energy of new york our leaders have not always done so getting tourists and
commuters to return to the city is one of his big priorities i just have one ask spend money
only about 40 percent of workers are believed to have returned to their offices so far the mayors
tried to lift some coveted restrictions to help businesses without causing a major new outbreak
federal judges ruled that centers for disease control prevention they can't require mass on
airplanes and other transport you think it's a mistake to not require mass on on planes on trains
and in high traffic areas yes i think it's a huge mistake not to require we're still requiring it
in our subway system and on our buses the mayor likes to describe himself as perfectly imperfect
his critics would certainly agree with the imperfect part some progressive democrats
believe his law and order approach will lead to more police abuses without reducing crime
advocates for the homeless argue it's inhumane to evict people from subways or encampments
without offering them a safe and suitable place to stay and government watchdog groups are deeply
concerned about some of the mayor's appointments his deputy mayor for public safety philip banks
was once the nypd's highest ranking uniformed officer until he resigned in 2014 and was later
named an unindicted co-conspirator in a police corruption case is that the kind of person you
really want to have in your inner circle we're in a city of perfectly imperfect people during the
time that we have a law enforcement crisis phil brings a lot to the table there was testimony that
he let a businessman pay for his vacation travel and expenses you said you're not going to tolerate
wrongdoing by your officers are the things he did okay listen he could have made better decisions of
who was around him what i do know is that we're going to have a very transparent government here
in city hall transparency is the best way to make sure those who are hired are doing their jobs how
are you mr mayor the latest marist poll shows eric adams approval rating is over 60 percent but it's
early still and new yorkers are not a particularly patient lot adams told us he studied the history
of past mayors so before we left we asked him for his assessment of some of his famous predecessors
whose portraits hang in city hall i just want to try a quick like speed round just asking you
what words come up when i talk about some former mayors david dinkins compassionate caring kind
michael bloomberg thoughtful kind loved the city ed koch eric adams many personalities
you see your similarity with that couch yes thick skin head couch you should go around asking
how am i doing what do you say i just give a thumbs up if they give me a thumbs up i
know i'm doing the right thing if they use one of the other four fingers then i got a problem
what keeps the mayor of new york city up at night if you don't have public safety
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