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

March 6, 2023

Bianca Peters: Let's talk about this now. Crime stats across the city appear to be trending in the right direction.

Rosanna Scotto: New numbers show a double-digit decrease in shootings and homicides in New York City last month compared to the same time last year. Joining us right now to talk about crime and more, Mayor Eric Adams. Nice to have you back on Good Day New York.

Mayor Eric Adams: Nice to be back. And you know, I too believe in New York. These are great streets here in this city.

Scotto: All right, concrete dreams where... Right? Concrete jungle, where dreams are made of. So let's talk about, you see progress in the fight for crime, but do you think New Yorkers still feel safe?

Mayor Adams: I always state over and over again that it is about being safe and feeling safe. They must go together and I don't believe I should interpret to New Yorkers what they're feeling. My job is to continue to do what the subway safety survey is showing us, the right things in the right way. And New Yorkers are going to respond to how they feel.

Now, some of these high profile cases, when you see someone shot or you see someone, the victim of a sexual assault, it has a tendency to believe we're slipping backwards, but we're not. We're moving in the right direction. The number's going to show that and the law enforcement presence is going to reinforce it.

Scotto: Listen, we had somebody here who was mugged over the weekend, possibly by a gun. We don't know yet. Investigators did catch the guy, repeat offender. But the crime numbers that we're talking about, mayor, are in the last year, not before Covid, when numbers were a lot lower. The crime numbers were a lot lower, right?

Mayor Adams: Well, exactly. What are we stating? This is how we compare crime. We compare crime year over year. That's how we determine our success. This is how we've always done it. And when you look at the subway system, specifically, we are at one of the safest levels since we've been recording crime, outside of I think 2019, when no one was on the system or 2020. But going back far, the decrease we've witnessed in the subway system is at really historical levels.

So it's not that we're comparing against high years to make ourselves seem safer. No, we are making real inroads. And this is always how you compare year over year, this is the method that is used to determine how well we're doing.

Scotto: Okay. Because we look at when the city was safer a little bit. And even under de Blasio, it wasn't as safe as it was under Mayor Bloomberg and Giuliani. But compared to 2019, our crime numbers are up.

Mayor Adams: Well, and also think about this, talk about November, December. Remember we were doing double-digit decrease in shootings and homicides compared to '22 to '21. So we saw the trend. We realized in February, many of these crimes, we were 40 percent over the previous year.

But we knew we had to keep focusing, dealing with those repeated offenders, making the apprehensions. We put in place a real plan. We did not waver from it, having our anti-gun unit in place, going after the illegal cars with plates that are stolen, looking after the quality of life issues. So there's a real plan here. Keechant Sewell, our police commissioner, Jeff Maddrey and his team, they focus on a real plan and we're seeing the results of that plan.

Peters: Well, let's focus on something else though that is quite shocking. It is the price tag that we are paying to house these migrants. $5 million a day. In about two years that's projected to exceed $4 billion. New Yorkers are going to pay the brunt for that in terms of tax payments. So would you reconsider your promises on welcoming migrants here to the city?

Mayor Adams: Well, first of all, it is not my promise. It's the city's and state's promise. I'm going to abide by the law. $650 million we paid, and that is a huge burden on our city. We need a real decompression strategy. We need help from the federal government, help from the state. I am abiding by the law. And I'm sure there's no one who would tell me to break the law on how this city has always been a city…

Peters: But does that law need to be changed?

Mayor Adams: ... that has a moral responsibility as well as a legal responsibility to do what's right. 
And I say this over and over again, every time I'm on the show, all of us, our ancestors came from somewhere. There is a reason the Statue of Liberty is in our harbor. Everyone came from somewhere to come to New York City and I have an obligation.

Scotto: But they may not have stayed in a city shelter and needed food. I feel like this is different than it was 50 or 60 years ago.

Mayor Adams: I don't, I don't. Seeking refuge in America is something that is the symbol of this country and it should not be done on the backs of one city. It is wrong what we're doing to Chicago, to Washington, and to New York City and others, and even El Paso. One city, or our small cities, should not be burdened this way. That has never been done before. That is what's being done now.

Peters: But that is exactly what's happening. And the federal government's giving us a measly 8 million bucks when it's costing us $5 million a day.

Mayor Adams: Yes, and I agree wholeheartedly. And I need all of my lawmakers to join us in calling on the federal government. And Senator Schumer and Congressman Jeffries, they did an amazing job of getting over 800 million in the omnibus bill. We need to make sure now that we apply for that money, it comes to New York. Because in other municipalities, people are coming through their cities, there's an ending here in New York City. And we should get a substantial amount of those dollars.

Scotto: Mayor, how long can we sustain this? Let's be honest about it, because $5 million a day, where is this money coming from? Are you going to have to take from somewhere else?

Mayor Adams: Yes. Yes.

Scotto: Where are you going to have to take from?

Mayor Adams: Every service in this city is going to be impacted by this unprecedented, really, removal of our resources. Every service in the city.

Scotto: Starting when, mayor? Starting when?

Mayor Adams: I'm sorry?

Scotto: Starting when?

Mayor Adams: We're seeing some of it now. When you look at some of the PEGs that we're putting in place, you look at some of the efficiencies that I must demand from my agencies. When you see anytime I state we have to read just the dollars that we are spending, it’s starting now. $650 million was removed from our budget due to this crisis.

And I think that what you ladies are expressing is what everyday New Yorkers are expressing. I need my partners to also state, this should not happen to New York City. I can't be the only one saying that.

Scotto: I know. But it seems like the federal government is like deaf or I don't know, there's something wrong there that they don't even respond to you. Aren't you a little frustrated by that?

Mayor Adams: No, there's a level of frustration. I've been stating this since July. We look into July to February, that's $650 million, it’s substantial.

But what would empower us more is that instead of people who critique the level of services we provide, they should be critiquing the response from the federal government. And I'm not seeing that. I'm not seeing that from the advocates and far too many of our elected officials are not joining the call that the federal government owes us more. Because these are their services, these are their constituencies and they must raise their voices and do an analysis. How many of them have stepped up to say, "Let's join the mayor and the people of this city and get the resources we need?"

Scotto: Mayor, thank you for fighting for New Yorkers because we live in a high taxed area and it's terrible. We're going to lose some of our resources. Well, we appreciate you for fighting. Thank you.

Mayor Adams: Thank you. Thank you. Take care.

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