Transcript: Mayor Eric Adams Calls In Live To WNYC’s “Morning Edition”

January 27, 2023

Michael Hill: New York City Mayor Eric Adams is laying out his priorities as he enters his second year in office. In his annual State of the City address yesterday, he unveiled a number of key initiatives, among them, plans to bring more housing to Midtown Manhattan and to increase public safety across the five boroughs. Mayor Adams joins us now. Mr. Mayor, good morning and welcome back to Morning Edition.

Mayor Eric Adams: Good morning. Thank you so much. And as I stated, this is a working people's agenda as we deal with housing, which is crucial, safety, care and jobs. As the first year is in my rear view mirror, this is what I've heard from New Yorkers on the subways, while I'm walking the streets and at different events. And that's what we're going to focus on, the working people of the city.

Hill: Mr. Mayor, let's start there, with this plan to convert empty office space in Midtown into housing.

Is that an acknowledgement that the business districts are probably not going to return to what they were before the pandemic?

Mayor Adams: Well, we can play in the area of ideal or we can live in the area of real. How we are working has changed across the globe, not only here in New York City, the business capital, but across the globe. How do we adjust to that? Right now, we have roughly 10 million square feet of real estate that's not being used. And so we should find out, should we use it for childcare? We've secured $4 billion to help New Yorkers with childcare. Let's open more childcare locations. That may entice people to come and work with their children who could be nearby. But also housing. This is a great opportunity and we have real partnerships in the local Council persons who say they're willing to look at this as well.

Hill: Mr. Mayor, I'm taking that as a yes.

Mayor Adams: A definite yes.

Hill: You spoke about mental health initiatives. We want to follow up on your plan to take those who appear to be suffering from serious mental illness off city streets and into hospitals. How are you tracking the success of that initiative right now?

Mayor Adams: Well, and the goal, it is very important to lay out exactly what we're saying. People with severe mental illness to the extent that they cannot take care of their basic needs and they're a danger to themselves. So not everyone with severe mental illness falls into this category. And once we identify them, we want to now move into the next level of the plan we rolled out previously, and that's the Clubhouse model. People need community, care and support, and that is how we are going to get people off the streets. We moved over 3,000 off our subway system. Over 1,000 are still living in our safe havens and other forms of supportive housing. And that's how we're going to continue to track our success.

Hill: Mr. Mayor, how many officers have been trained as part of this initiative, and have you tracked how many people have been picked up by police and taken to hospitals under this plan?

Mayor Adams: Well, I want to continuously push back on those who believe the police is leading this. People are not being picked up by the police. We have outreach workers that are on the streets, mental health professionals who are engaging in conversation. That is what's leading this initiative, and that’s been unfairly and incorrectly reported that this is a police-led initiative. Police respond when someone is creating an environment that is violent or someone can be severely injured, such as we saw in the Bronx where a gentleman stabbed his mother and then stabbed a police officer. That is when you need a police. But otherwise, this is being led by mental health professionals.

Hill: You didn't talk much about the city's jail system in your speech yesterday. 19 people died last year during or right after being in city custody. Do you support closing Rikers?

Mayor Adams: Yes, I do, but it has to be done correctly. And everyone knows my belief. I'm not going to support any initiative that's going to impact on public safety. The current plan calls for a little over 3,000 people being housed in our outer boroughs, the four boroughs. Right now, our population is creeping up next to 6,000. You cannot say there's no place to put someone that commits a dangerous crime. We have to fix the bottleneck that we are facing. We need to make sure that when we close Rikers, when we close it, that we are not creating another dangerous environment because that defeats the purpose and I don't believe that was well thought out when this plan was first put on the table.

Hill: A few days ago, you argued the city is not obligated to shelter migrants, those seeking asylum. What's the basis of your argument?

Mayor Adams: That's not what I said. I did not state the city was not obligated to shelter migrants. In fact, we're doing just the opposite. Over 42,000 migrants came to our city and went through our system. Over 20-something thousand is still in our care. What I made clear is that when you look at the Right To Shelter law, which we are doing with all the migrants, this is a humanitarian crisis. This is not, in my belief, the same methods of a New Yorker who needs care that we have been complying with for over 400 years, if we want to do a real analysis. And so…

Hill: But you also believe…  Pardon me, Mr. Mayor. Pardon me, Mr. Mayor. You believe though…You say that you don't think the right to shelter law applies to asylum seekers. Is that right?

Mayor Adams: Yes, it is. And I could…

Hill: What's the basis of that argument?

Mayor Adams: Because we're dealing with a humanitarian crisis. And if we are saying that in a humanitarian crisis of this proportion that it is solely the responsibility of New Yorkers, I challenge that.

Hill: But the law doesn't differentiate, does it, between citizen and non-citizen, is that right?

Mayor Adams: Currently, no, it does not. And we're not talking about… Non-citizens come here and they have the right to shelter. Let's be clear on that. If someone comes here and they're a non-citizen, they have a right to shelter, and we comply with that. But right now, we are dealing with a humanitarian crisis. And so although we have housed everyone the same in this city, which we need to understand. No New Yorker is sleeping on our streets, no migrant or asylum seeker is sleeping on our streets if they need housing. We believe when you look at the number of hours that someone must be in when you receive 800 people in one day, 3,000 in one week, the number of hours that they must comply with that rule, and right to shelter falls in a different category when you're dealing with a humanitarian crisis.

Hill: Mr. Mayor, we have just a few seconds left here. Your administration is pumping $23 billion into NYCHA. Is that enough to improve rundown public housing? And if not, what's it going to take?

Mayor Adams: We're putting $23 billion in our overall housing plan. We're putting more than any other administration. In addition to that, NYCHA has not been part of the housing plans in the past. We're the first administration that's including them. NYCHA needs over $30 billion alone in dealing with this capital crisis that they're facing. The federal government must step in. We need help from our state colleagues. Everyone needs to be part of coming up with a real plan with NYCHA, and we're going to think differently about doing those repairs. We were the first administration that was able to get the NYCHA Land Trust passed, and we've already started, through the RAD program, addressing the repairs of apartments. But NYCHA is in crisis and there needs to be a response that a crisis deserves.

Hill: Mr. Mayor, I wanted to talk to you about public safety initiatives and curbside composting, but we are out of time. I hope you come back and see us again, please.

Mayor Adams: I look forward to it. Thank you very much for having me.

Hill: Thank you, Mr. Mayor.