Transcript: Mayor Adams Appears Live On NY1’s “Mornings On 1”

March 1, 2024

 Pat Kiernan: Starting today every kind of business putting out trash on city sidewalks for collection will have to use containers. That real change started with food‑related businesses back in August. Chain businesses were brought into the program in September, and now it applies to all businesses.

So, no more chucking the bags on the curb. They must have containers like these or similar with the secure lids. Bins are supposed to be placed at the curb either an hour before closing or after eight p.m. if that's possible. When the containers aren't in use, businesses are supposed to stow them away inside or keep them closer to the building, within three feet of the building.

The fines for non‑compliance starting at $50 going up to $200 for repeat violators. There is, not that you should take advantage of this, but there's a one‑month grace period as things go into effect today. For more on this, we'll bring in Mayor Adams and Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch. Good morning to both of you.

Mayor Eric Adams: Thank you very much. You know, whenever I'm side by side with Commissioner Tisch, we're going to talk some trash.

And that's what we're going to do this morning, you know. Think about it: 22 million, 22 million pounds a day on our streets. It is just really impacting the visualization of the beauty of this city. And what the commissioner has done with what many thought was going to take us four to five years, we're doing it in two and a half years. We're going to accomplish a real trash revolution.

Kiernan: I remember Mayor Adams, you had said that rats were one motivation for pushing these rules. You have also talked about that visual look on the streets of the city with all those bags of trash. In terms of the rollout of this last year for food businesses, how do you think it's going?

Mayor Adams: Extremely well. And the commissioner can share some of the deployment strategies we use to contact businesses, because it's important to us to notify and execute. Commissioner, why don't you go into some of that?

Commissioner Jessica Tisch, Department of Sanitation: Yes. We do a tremendous amount of outreach to businesses before the rules take effect. So, we went door to door to every food‑related business in the city before those rules started, we did information sessions. And we've gone door to door now with the rest of the businesses before this phase has started.

Kiernan: Commissioner Tisch, we've talked about this before, but now that we've seen it in action, I want to ask you about the empty bins. Some businesses need a lot of them and don't have room for them. How have people been handling that?

Commissioner Tisch: You know, every business is different in the city, which is why we tried to make the rules incredibly flexible. We didn't say you have to store the bins inside, we said you can store them inside, you can store them outside, you can store them within three feet of the property line.

So, every business in New York City has to do what works for them, but it is certainly better than having 20 million pounds of trash bags sitting on our curbs every night from commercial trash alone.

Mayor Adams: And the smell, the sight. As I drive around the city late at night just to do observations, I mean, how it has beautified the city when you put trash in bins. I spoke with Mayor Bloomberg a few days ago, and he was talking about outside his barber shop, how there's a location where there's unsightly trash that's sitting there every morning; and so we had to zero in, let that owner know. But it's about the beautification, and you feel better when you're in a clean city.

Kiernan: Did Mayor Bloomberg tell you he thought it was a good idea? Does he weigh in on that stuff with you? 

Mayor Adams: He thought it was a great idea. You know, I steal a lot of his ideas. He was a great mayor and we look at some of the things that he has done and we want to continue those things as well. 

Kiernan: Mayor Adams, the congestion pricing hearing, the first of these four congestion pricing hearings, and things happened last night that the MTA gathered people together at its headquarters. I wanted to get your thoughts on this. One of the people who spoke was talking about the fact that police officers had said we should have an exemption, and the man who spoke said, I actually don't think they should have an exemption, I like the idea that police officers would be doing their own commute on the trains or on the buses rather than in private cars. What do you think of that? 

Mayor Adams: Well, when I was a police officer, I took the trains often, and even as an elected official. I think we have one of the best transportation systems going. When you have a police officer on the train, you have a safest train, even if he's commuting to and from. 

That is part of all of the conversations we must have because we have to get it right. This is a real different movement of our city and how we're going to use our central business district. We don't want to overburden low, middle income, working class New Yorkers. But we have to deal with the congestion crisis we're having that's impacted business and pollution in our city. 

Kiernan: Mr. Mayor, there was this incident— well, two of them, really— where people were found to have been sleeping in a makeshift shelter. They had chosen to pay $300 a month to live in these private shelters— if you want to call them that— rather than be part of the city shelter system. 

What do you take away from that in terms of whether the existing shelters are meeting the needs of the migrants who have come here? 

Mayor Adams: They are. The existing system clearly is meeting the need. We had close to over 40,000 long‑term New Yorkers who were in shelters, 177,000 migrant and asylum seekers who arrived here. What happens, when people get desperate, they do desperate things, and people exploit desperate people. This person was making $300,000 a year by giving just a bad space, and so this is what's a desperate moment for people. 

But we have a system in place. We're going to continue to use the humanitarian response that we have shown over the time. No child or family is sleeping on the streets of this city because of our action. But Washington must fix this mess. While we're doing our job, New Yorkers have done its job, Washington must do its job. 

Kiernan: Mayor Adams, you're well aware by now that the FBI raided the homes of Winnie Greco yesterday. She has been one of your close advisors. As New Yorkers see this association with your administration, are you satisfied that enough has been done internally within your administration to make sure that there's no exposure to corruption?

Mayor Adams: Well, we saw from the top. I've been very clear, follow the rules. Follow the law, follow the rules. I said it throughout my entire law enforcement career, and I've said it in my public life as well. 

You know, we all have our jobs to do. My job is to make sure trash is off the streets and the city is clean. And those who are doing reviews of any actions that may be perceived to be incorrect, they're going to do their job. My job is focused on navigating us through this crisis and keeping the city safe and clean and as we move forward. 

Kiernan: Did you receive any new inquiries from investigators as a result of what happened yesterday? 

Mayor Adams: No, not at all. 

Kiernan: Mayor Adams, I thank you for your time; Commissioner Tisch, thank you for your time as well. Again, this is day one of the new trash rules that apply to all businesses in New York City. Thanks for making some time for us this morning, both of you. 

Mayor Adams: Thank you.