Transcript: Mayor Adams Appears Live on 'The Beat 139' Podcast

June 20, 2024

Mayor Eric Adams: …That we can do right now is to stay cool. It's great to be on to this amazing platform. Good to see you again. You guys are getting some good messages out, and it's really exciting to be on with you.

Vernon “Donveto” Boisseau: Yes, great to see you as well. Yes, we started a [inaudible] funding program where we work with the kids and stuff like that, mentorship programs, stuff like that. Let me ask you a question. As far as the kids and the heat is concerned, because the heat is very deadly, it's hot out there right now. Are the pools open? What's going on for the kids to stay cool out there?

Mayor Adams: You're right with the heat. Many people, when they think of the heat, they only think about the adults, but it also impacts young people. It is important to us to have alternative places for our young people. 

The pools will be open soon. Our beaches are open. The lifeguards are up. Parks will announce the exact dates when the pools will be open. We normally, believe it or not, we don't get this intense heat this early. We're looking forward… Once they do open, they'll be fully staffed with lifeguard personnel. In the meantime, we have a whole list of cooling centers that people could attend and be a part of to stay cool during these months. 

Boisseau: Okay, and what is your suggestions for the seniors?

Mayor Adams: The cooling centers are huge. It's a terminology that we use often. We encourage our seniors to be indoors where cooling centers are located. We encourage them to, if they don't have an air conditioner, to go to a location where it is. We have many of our senior and our older adult facilities where you can do so. Everything from our libraries to other locations. 

We have over 500 cooling centers open across the city. We just tell them, if you're feeling hot, rest. Use the shade a lot. During the day, when the heat is at its intense level, those are moments where you should try to stay indoors and try to do whatever errands you're running closer when it starts to cool down in the city. 

Also be aware of the symptoms, medical symptoms for being heat exhaustion. You should be aware of them: hot, dry skin, or sometimes, believe it or not, you could have real cold, clammy skin at the same time. You're feeling disoriented, confused, nausea and vomiting. If you have trouble breathing, rapid heartbeat, weakness or dizziness, those could be signs of being overheated. You should get the necessary assistance or go into a cool place immediately.

Boisseau: Right now, if you don't have no business being outside, it's best to be indoors, right?

Mayor Adams: Right, that is so true. The goal is to be out when you should, when it's needed, particularly in weather like this. That's why we have so many alternate locations for people to go to stay cool. It's about staying cool, and as I indicated, it's earlier this year than in previous years, you're seeing this level of heat. That's what climate change, when people talk about climate change, this is what we're talking about, that we have to be aware of. That's why we push so hard to make sure we're improving our environment.

Boisseau: All right, so let's talk about the summer youth program jobs. Are there any available for the kids?

Mayor Adams: We've had, for the first time, we've had over 100,000… For the first time when I became mayor, normally we were dealing with 75,000. We're now over 100,000 summer youth jobs, 100,000, I should say, summer youth jobs, it's really exciting. It's more than just a job, it's teaching them really life skills, like financial literacy, communication skills, other things. 

When I did my summer youth employment as a child, I wasn't getting this full approach on to developing my skills. We did not want to leave it vague like that. With 100,000 summer youth, a lot of city agencies are now hiring our summer youth. We have a lot of partners in business that are also assisting us in summer youth, and we're doing a large number of internship programs. We are really focused on giving our children the skills that they need.

Boisseau: That's a great thing, because it gives the kids a chance to make a little bit of money, buy a couple of things they like for the summer, and maybe save a little bit of money so when they go back to school, they can have a little money to shop a little bit or whatever they want to do [inaudible].

Mayor Adams: Also, it's so important. As I don't know if you had a summer job when you were growing up.

Boisseau: I did, I did. Yes. 

Mayor Adams: It was just helpful that I was able to give mom a little money to help. During the summer, I was able to buy some of my clothing for my early going back into school. It was just a major boost, when you're dealing with the challenges of the economics, because we need to make the city more affordable. That's what we continue to do. That affordability is giving an opportunity for everyone and our 100,000 Summer Youth Employment Program is one of them.

Boisseau: Do you have anything to do with the Fresh Air Fund? Because when I was a kid, I went to the Fresh Air Fund camp every year.

Mayor Adams: No, we don't. I went to Camp Mohawk. I believe that was the name of it. It was an unbelievable experience. It was a two week experience getting out of the city. The Fresh Air Fund was amazing.

Boisseau: Yes, it gives a city kid like us a chance to learn how to fish, how to row the boat, little archery things that we don't get to do in the city as much.

Mayor Adams: I still remember, and I still remember how beneficial it was. It was a great experience to get out of the city. It was really the first time that I got out of the city. Exposure is everything. 

Boisseau: Yes, it is. It also gives you a chance to learn how to associate with other people that's not from your neighborhood… 

Mayor Adams: Right. Well said…

Boisseau: …That's from all over. It gives you people skills and stuff like that.

Mayor Adams: Well said. We're really leaning into our young people, not only the summer employment. We have what's called Summer Rising. This is an educational-style, all-year program during the… I should say, during the summer months. It gives the children, our young people, a full day. It allows parents to know where their children are while they're working. 

People are really excited about this program. 110,000 young people. There was a real learning loss during COVID. This has given them an opportunity to stay grounded throughout the year. It's one of the most popular programs. We leaned into NYCHA facilities and other facilities where we were dealing with low-income New Yorkers. This is a real benefit for the city.

Boisseau: How can the kids find out about these programs? What do they have to do?

Mayor Adams: You could go to our website online. There are pathways to all of these programs, where they have to sign up and be aware of it. As well as the Department of Education, they can find out through their local schools as well.

Boisseau: Let's talk about the crackdown on the subways stations real quick. I see that a lot of money's being lost by these fare evasions and stuff like that.

Mayor Adams: Yes, I'm glad you said that because oftentimes people don't connect the dots between money that's lost through fare evasion and how it raises our fares on the train. It's wrong when you have those New Yorkers who participate with the rules, who swipe that MetroCard or buy it. Then you have those who have money in their pockets that have just decided they're not going to pay their fare. They don't feel they should. That's wrong. Once we identified with the MTA how much money we were losing from fare evasion, the police commissioner and Chief Kemper made a clear decision that we're going to send the right message that you have to pay your fare if you use the system. 

Now, the city has ways, if you can't afford to pay your fare, there are things you can do. One thing that we have done and we're proud of, we have the reduced fare MetroCard for low-income New Yorkers. You can apply for it. You can get a reduced fare so that you don't have to hop the turnstile. Even if you, for whatever reason, someday you may not have the money to ride, there are provisions when you go to the token booth clerk and talk to that token booth clerk, there are provisions to allow someone to use the fare if they don't use the subways or buses if they don't have the money to do so. 

Boisseau: This is good information. A lot of things people don't know about because they don't hear about it, Mr. Mayor. 

Mayor Adams: Right. 

Boisseau: Is there anything else that's going on that you got on the table that is important for society to know about that? Regular news doesn't broadcast, but you want people to know that you're doing? 

Mayor Adams: Yes, jobs, jobs, jobs. I keep saying that over and over again. Employment is really, to me, the foundation of making sure that the popularity of our brand turns to prosperity for everyone. When we started in January 1st, 2022, our Black unemployment rate was four times the rate of whites. We cut that in half. For the first time since 2019, Black unemployment is less than 8 percent. 

We have been doing a real job initiative, pushing jobs, doing what's called hiring halls, partnering with DC 37. We've been going out into the communities and showing people how to apply for not only city jobs, but private sector jobs. We have more businesses in the city in the city's history and we have more small businesses open in the city's history under our administration. We want to put people into these jobs. The way you do it is, I like to say you build the pathway to employment. We're really excited about what we're doing. 

We made a major announcement today of what's called community hiring. This would allow us to use our city contracts to tell people if you're doing business or you're a city vendor, certain jobs you have to get employees from either NYCHA or low-income communities. That is a huge advantage. We're putting, to start, $1.3 billion into the program. We see in the future anywhere up to $80 billion will be used. This is going to start using the resources of the city to work on hiring.

Boisseau: See, well, that's big. That's what people want to hear. Jobs, jobs, jobs, and even small businesses who would like to employ people in the community, the resources that are there to make these things work.

Mayor Adams: Well said, well said. Folks can go onto our website, jobs.nyc.gov, and they can learn more about the jobs that are available. We have thousands of city jobs, everything from lifeguards to security. We were standing next to 32BJ today, as well as with Local 79. But there are jobs out there, we want to make sure we connect people to those jobs.

Boisseau: That's good stuff. Before you go, Mr. Mayor, let me ask you one more question, because I know you're a busy man. I haven't been hearing too much about the rat situation out here. Are things getting a little more under control?

Mayor Adams: Listen, we're really excited that the numbers have decreased in that rat mitigation zone. This is areas where there's high calls of rat activities. Citywide, the numbers have disagreed. We have a great director, Katie. She is amazing, our rat czar, and we have really been zooming in on it. The number one way of getting rid of rats is containerizing garbage. Those plastic bags just don't work. You're going to see complete containerization in our city, and we're excited about that. The numbers have gone down in complaints and sightings, and we're really excited. It shows we're doing the right thing. We're taking it seriously, because I hate rats.

Boisseau: Me too, I'm telling you, with a passion. Mr. Mayor, I'm not going to hold you no longer. 

Mayor Adams: Thank you.

Boisseau:  I know you got a busy schedule. Thank you for checking back in with us at The Beat 139. We appreciate you. We support you 100 percent, you know that. We'll talk soon, and you enjoy your day. Stay cool. 

Mayor Adams: Thank you, see you around.