Transcript: Mayor Eric Adams Appears Live on Fox 5's "Good Day New York"

January 5, 2023

Tashanea Whitlow: Nicole, thank you. Well, the city just released its latest crime statistics. The NYPD says for the second straight month, overall crime is down. It declined by nearly 12 percent in December. That's compared to last year.

Bianca Peters: Now the amount of murders dropped, as did the number of rapes and grand larcenies, but the MTA says there was a nearly 30 percent increase in transit crime last year. Joining us now with more, New York City mayor, Eric Adams, thanks so much for joining us, mayor.

Mayor Eric Adams: Thank you. It's good to speak with both of you.

Peters: Absolutely.

Whitlow: You as well.

Peters: Well, we are thankful to the NYPD and your leadership that we're ending this year on some better stats regarding crime. But I mean, the glaring issue is the rise in transit crime. Because we all know that the MTA, the subway system, it's a lifeline. It's the heartbeat of the city.

Mayor Adams: Yes. And it's important that not only are people actually safe based on the numbers, but they must feel safe also, and that is why we rolled out in layers our subway safety plan. And it included an additional 1,000 more police officers — 1,200 more hours of actual visible patrol, announcements to let people know that the police are on the platform. Over a million subway safety inspections, merging our patrol bureau.

And so, we know we are far from where we want to be, but we're seeing a safer, cleaner system. And with the mental health illness initiative we're doing, we're going to see that visible presence as well.

Peters: Yeah, well, we're thankful for that because we definitely have seen an increase in men and women in uniform in the subway system, which I know a lot of people are appreciative of. I want to ask you though, because if it's not crime, it is a city that is bankrupt, and that's where you say that we are headed because our resources are drained trying to take care of migrants coming to the city.

You're saying that's going to cost us about a billion dollars to manage the situation. The feds are saying, "Maybe we'll give you $8 million." Is that upsetting to you, because the president just signed a massive omnibus bill that gives $44 billion in aid to Ukraine? The FBI gets a $400 million new headquarters, but they're only giving us $8 million bucks.

Mayor Adams: Well, mom used to say charity begins at home first. And we have some real issues here around the migrant seekers. We believe the initiative that the president put in place dealing with the other countries that were coming through the border is very important, because we were seeing an uptick in those countries here in the city.

Look, we're going to do our job. We have an obligation and responsibility to make sure that we do what's right for those who come here. But it's just unfair for places like El Paso, Washington, New York, Chicago, these cities should not be handling a national problem. Our national government must deal with the border issue, and we must receive the resources.

Peters: Is it good enough... Is it good enough though? What President Biden is saying that he's going to do, because he's basically mass paroling people into the country.

Mayor Adams: This is a step towards where we need to go because we needed to stop the heavy flow. You saw what it was like when Title 42 was lifted. We were inundated with migrant seekers and asylum seekers. And that is something that New York City just couldn't handle.

So, the eight million dollars is original FEMA dollars that we put in for. There are more dollars in the Omnibus Bill, and we are hoping New York receives their substantial share of that.

But that is not the end of the problem. The problem is to stop the flow, not just to continue to infuse money in it.

Whitlow: Yeah. Mayor Adams, I want to stay on trend with the migrant situation. What is it about New York that other states feel that they can put people... I mean, these are people we're talking about... on a bus, ship them halfway across the country, and drop them off in a city like New York, when New Yorkers already have their share of issues?

They need access to city resources. What is it about New York? What do you think, the impression perhaps, maybe your administration is giving them?

Mayor Adams: No, I think to the contrary, people have always fled to New York. There's a reason the Statue of Liberty sits in our harbor. This has always been a place where individuals have wanted to come to New York City. I'm pretty sure if you look through your ancestry you'll see that your family came from somewhere just like my family did. This is New York City. People want to come here. But then you have those other states that are encouraging people to come here so that they can leave their states. That is just wrong.

There needs to be a real decompression strategy where the national government ensures that everyone who is coming to America is spread throughout the entire country. What we did is follow the law, and the law gave us certain things we must abide by. So, it's not just my administration. Prior to this administration we were receiving thousands of migrants and asylum seekers coming here to the city. We were already receiving a large number prior to this administration.

Whitlow:  Yeah. My next question for you. The New Year's Eve attack, 19-year-old Trevor Bickford. He's facing two charges, several charges, excuse me, attempted murder, also assault, attempted assault. Why is he not facing domestic terrorism charges as well?

Mayor Adams: Well, that's the call for the federal government to make that determination. I believe he should be. His action clearly, to me, was reflection of a terrorist. He specifically targeted government officials and police officers. Their uniforms are the symbol of government to authority, in my belief. I just want to take my hat off to those officers. One of them, I just spoke to his graduating class in the academy.

How they responded, how they discharged only one round, really concerned about all of the thousands of people who were at Times Square. And then corrected condition and went back to making sure that everyone there was safe.

This is really why I talk about the men and women that wear that uniform. A uniform that I wore. I know what it takes to be a police officer, and I believe the individuals should be charged with some form of federal terrorism charges, and I'm hoping that would happen.

Whitlow: Mayor Adams, on a lighter note, it's New Year's. The New Year just started. Do you have any resolutions?

Mayor Adams: Just continue to work hard for New Yorkers, getting up early and make sure that I give it my all. This is a 24-hour city…

Peters: And maybe change bail reform too, while you're at it.

Mayor Adams: Listen, I say this over and over again. And I think it's just so important that all of us get this right. Bail reform is a slogan that we're using to deal with a broken criminal justice system.

There's so much more. And that's what my colleagues and I talked about yesterday with Reverend Sharpton and Hazel Dukes. Because we realized we must come with a real plan to address the criminal justice system.

And if we just think that there's a magic bullet and just dealing with bail reform, or giving bail authority to judges, which is something I believe in, but that is just not enough. There are broken parts of the system that must be corrected.

Whitlow: All right.

Peters: All right. Mayor Adams, we thank you so much for joining us this morning.

Mayor Adams: Thank you.

Peters: Maybe Curtis Sliwa can help fix some of the rat situation that we found up in near Brooklyn in your place.

Mayor Adams: I'll tell him to bring his cats.

Peters: Check back in with us next week.

Mayor Adams: Anyone that lives with 17 cats in a studio apartment…

Peters: You know those cats…

Mayor Adams: … they must know something, right?

Peters: Those cats, they like the rats. All right, mayor.

Whitlow: Happy New Year, mayor. Thanks for joining us.

Peters: Always love catching up with you.

Mayor Adams: Take care.

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