Transcript: Mayor Adams Holds In-Person Media Availability

March 26, 2024

Deputy Mayor Fabien Levy, Communications: Good morning everybody, my name is Fabien Levy, and I serve as Deputy Mayor for communications for the City of New York. Thank you all for joining us today.

Last night we lost one of New York's Finest. The mayor talked about it last night, but during one of our first weeks in office, every single night an officer was shot, and that week ended with a double murder of Detectives Rivera and Mora, two young men who wanted to serve their city and help their fellow New Yorkers.

The same was true about officer Jonathan Diller, who dedicated his life to the protecting the city and keeping his fellow New Yorkers safe. Our thoughts and prayers are with Jonathan's loved ones today, so before we begin I'd like you to all join me in a moment of silence please.

Thank you.

Every day our administration is working to deliver a safer, stronger New York City. That work takes all of us, which is why the mayor has once again convened leaders from across city government to answer your questions and address important issues.

So, joining us today we have Mayor Eric Adams, First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright, Chief Advisor to the Mayor Ingrid Lewis‑Martin, Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Anne Williams‑Isom, Deputy Mayor for Operations Meera Joshi, Deputy Mayor for Strategic Initiatives Ana Almanzar, Chief Counsel Lisa Zornberg, Director of Intergovernmental Affairs Tiffany Raspberry, and New York City Corporation Counsel Sylvia Hinds‑Radix.

So, without further delay, I'm pleased to turn it over to Mayor Adams.

Mayor Eric Adams: Thank you, Fabien. Last night at the shooting, I intentionally used the name Jonathan, because sometimes when we use our titles, we get lost in just the everyday humanistic part of this.

When I went to the hospital and was in a room with his wife and the family members, you know, I saw Sandra, Conrad, Leroy, Bernard, Fay. I saw my siblings. And I used to always wonder as a police officer the moment that if something were to happen to Bernard or to me, how we would gather in that room.

And I would think about Glenn, Ingrid's husband, who was involved in a shooting while we were in the police academy when someone tried to rob him. Like, how do you knock on the doors? How do you tell a family member?

And what do you say? The awkwardness of having to sit in that room and explain to them as they were still working on his heart, massaging it, that there was a possibility we would have to come back and say Jonathan was gone. And that's exactly what happened.

And Jonathan is just a symbol. Those of you who have children, imagine, you know, just the pain of that, of going through something that's unnatural. Parents should never have to bury their children. There's nothing natural about that. And watching his wife as she's just holding on, just, you know, hoping not to hear those words come back. Just a senseless act of violence.

And in this city, we have three problems that are really at the core. One is the recidivist problem. We have a real recidivist problem. These two individuals, one of the men had been arrested on a gun charge in April of 2023, the driver, he has more than 20 priors. The other has an equal amount of priors. Recidivism is a real issue.

And the second issue that we have in this city is a severe mental health illness problem that was played out on 125th Street in Lexington Avenue at the subway station. And he was a recidivist. Severe mental health issues, indicators of violence.

And when you do an analysis and a cross correlation, you will see it's the same people over and over again. We showed you with 38 people arrested with over 1,100 incidents in the subway system, 38 people arrested for assaulting Transit Authority employees.

And so when you combine the recidivism with severe mental health illness, 50 percent of the people at Rikers Island are dealing with mental health issues and 18 percent are severe. And then you add the random acts of violence to that. All of them played out last night: pushing someone on the subway track, random act of violence, a recidivist shooting an innocent person, a person with severe mental health illness.

You do an analysis of all of these reporting that you're doing and you're going to keep coming up with the same three items: severe mental health, random act of violence, recidivism, over and over again. And what's interesting is that our practices, laws and policies are not going after those three issues.

We're up in Albany right now, fighting to put teeth to Kendra's Law so we can institute a process of removing those who are in danger to themselves and others. We've been talking about the severe recidivism of dangerous people over and over again and how do we stop them from coming into our streets.

There's a total disregard. They could care less when they discharged that gun if they shot a cop or if they shot someone that was at Selvena Brooks‑Powers' office, who was the councilperson that it happens right near her office. Just a total disregard. These are bad people who are doing bad things to good people. It's the good guys against the bad guys. And we have to recognize that.

And then when we highlight the severe acts of violence on social media, these random acts of violence, it just makes people afraid. I spoke to someone on the subway system the other day and they said, we have to be having at least 400 or 500 crimes on our subway system a day. This is how people believe. And then we hear this over and over again, the city's out of control, the city's out of control, the city's out of control. It's just not true.

That's why we keep saying crime is down, jobs are up. That's why we keep talking about 50 percent of city residents, 4 million riders a day on our subway system, because we have to push back on this narrative that we are living in a city that's out of control. I know a city out of control, because I visit some of them in this country. This is not one of them.

Our focus must be this: recidivism, severe mental health illness, random acts of violence. That is the mission and those are the policies this administration we have put in place. But we need help. Our police officers can't do this on their own. They've been doing an admirable job.

And let me tell you something, folks, we are losing Correction officers. They're getting ready to retire and age out, and no one is meeting the classes. We're losing police officers. We're losing district attorneys because district attorneys are overwhelmed with paperwork right now and we're losing them. Go talk to your DAs. We're losing probation officers. We're losing parole officers.

The foundation of the public safety apparatus is dissolving right in front of our eyes, and if we don't get in front of it, we are going to be dealing with a severe public safety crisis that other cities are experiencing. That is the concern. That's the clarion call that we must put out.

And losing Jonathan, it hurts a lot. I remember sitting in the hospitals at the beginning of this term and standing over those hospital beds and sitting inside that vehicle after leaving there, trying to just figure out, what am I going to have to say at the funeral? What am I going to say to this family? What am I going to say to New Yorkers?

We've done a lot. We've come a long way. We have a long way to go. But we have to deal with these small pocket of people that have made up their mind they're going to hurt New Yorkers. And I made up my mind, I'm not going to allow them to do it. And that's what this administration, this police department and that's what this team wants to do.

As we move to answer questions, I just want to add, as we ensure families are being safe in the city and get to school every day, we need to deal with our housing crisis, 1.4 percent vacancy rate. Ingrid and Tiffany and Deputy Mayor Maria Torres‑Springer, we were up in Albany this week speaking with our lawmakers.

We signed yesterday Intro. 653‑A, recognizing the housing emergency that we have. We cannot leave this legislative session without coming up with a real housing plan. We almost have a zero percent vacancy rate for a low income. It's a real challenge and we can't talk our way out of it, we have to legislate our way out of it.

And that's why in partnership with the faith leaders across the city, we're advancing a bold forward‑thinking housing plan that says yes in my backyard, yes to a little more housing throughout our entire city and every neighborhood, and our City of Yes for Housing Opportunity is our plan to do just that.

Mission‑driven, faith‑based and community organizations can play a special role in building more housing, and our faith‑based communities, they want to do where they have air rights, they have vacant lots, they could do necessary conversions. There's so much more we can do to house people.

And the largest advocates against housing are those who have housing. People say over and over again, let's build more housing, but not in my backyard. And I want to take my hat off to Julie Menin who built one of the first Mandatory Inclusionary Housing in her Council district leading from the front.

Hats off to the speaker of the City Council, Adrienne Adams, who's looking at the Aqueduct project in her district, who's stepping up and saying we need to be about allowing people to live in housing. There's no future of growing up in a homeless shelter, we want to grow up in housing.

And finally, as we ensure New Yorkers have a place to live and can safely get to work at home safely, we must also make sure New Yorkers are able to have a family. This is a real issue that Deputy Mayor Williams‑Isom has been talking about it, it's something that was important to me when I was Brooklyn borough president.

We want to ensure that women who give birth can have a healthy outcome. And last November, we laid our bold plans in HealthyNYC to reduce Black maternity mortality by 10 percent and reduce overdose deaths by 25 percent by 2030.

In January, we took the next step with our Women Forward NYC plan, our initiative with the ambitious goal of making New York the most women‑forward city in the nation.

This morning we announced another major step: an $8 million health and substance use disorder clinic for pregnant and postpartum women and their families. We must all be invested in supporting pregnant women, and it doesn't mean up until birth, it means after birth as well.

The clinic will provide 200 families per year with a safe and supportive place to access prenatal and postnatal care, addiction, medicine and behavioral healthcare. It will support healthy birth outcomes, reduce the likelihood and impact of postpartum relapse and address the needs of older children living in these families. And, it would help connect parents to community‑based organizations who can help find jobs, housing and food.

Because we're talking about parents. I remember not even being aware of this, but when Jordan was born, those first few months of what his mom went through and how didn't even realize the depression that had settled in and what she was feeling.

And it is always dismissive, you know, of just get up, get over it, when in fact there's real science and research that we're going to acknowledge and do everything that's possible to slow this terrible, terrible outcome that too many women are experiencing in general, but specifically Black and brown women.

I cannot help to believe that if all women were experiencing what Black and brown women are experiencing after birth, we would not have a national emergency. We have ignored this for far too long, and we are not going to ignore it at this administration. Tough issues that we're going to take to come up with real solutions that we are facing. Fabien.

Deputy Mayor Levy: Okay, let’s take some questions.

Question: Mr. Mayor, I'd like to ask you about 719 civil lawsuits were filed by women prisoners or have people have been in prison in Rikers Island. They're charging all kinds of things from late night sex assaults to being subjected to rape, having pregnancies because of this and all kinds of other things. I wonder what your reaction is and the fact that they're seeking $14.7 billion, which is three times what you spent on the migrant crisis.

Mayor Adams: I just became aware of that, the report, I read it today. We're going to dig into it and it must be a thorough investigation on exactly what the allegations are, and we will look into exactly what took place. This is the first time I became aware of it.

Question: I wonder if you think that this is going to affect your court suit in trying to prevent a federal monitor from being appointed and this will convince the judge that maybe some outside monitor should be put in place. Or, will you argue that because it goes back decades, it wasn't something that came under your watch?

Mayor Adams: Yes, and I'm glad you pointed that out — because I was going to do the same — that this was going back decades. And if you look at some of the federal cases, federal prisons, there's a case that come to mind right away of a young girl who had an incident inside one of the federal jails. Abuse in jails, period, is not something that's new, but when you see it, you must address it and face it. And that is what we're going to do.

[Crosstalk.]

Mayor Adams: I'm sorry?

Question: Were you shocked by these revelations?

Mayor Adams: I believe that we need to have a complete investigation to determine the outcome of it.

[Crosstalk]

Sylvia Hinds‑Radix, Corporation Counsel, Law Department: These are very sensitive issues and the Law Department is working with Department of Corrections in order to deal with the issues that we have here. So, the city has absolutely no tolerance for any kind of these incidents, and so we are working on them.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor Adams: Yes.

Question: You talk about recidivism, and are you… 

[Crosstalk]

Are you aware of anything that's being done in Albany that would either review or change some of the crimes that are now not eligible for bail? And if no change is happening there, how are you addressing recidivists and their crimes here?

Mayor Adams: And you know, the term "bail" has become a popular term, but it is more than just bail. We have to properly fund discovery rules. The district attorneys are saying, what many people are not realizing, that there are a large number of cases that are being dropped and dismissed. That's the analysis we need to look at, because they cannot turn over the discovery fast enough.

And so there's some serious cases that they're not prosecuted, and that number, people we need to look at that and see how does it impact and how does it connect the dot with the recidivism. You're caught with a gun, you don't get the discovery in time, you're back on the streets and you are in possession of another gun. The driver of this car got arrested with a gun less than a year ago, he's back in an incident that's involving a gun again.

And so it is about a real analysis of what is feeding our recidivism crisis, everything from discovery to are we looking at repeat offenders. And all of those items we should be examining. So, it's not a one‑item problem.

Question: So, just to follow up. I know you're putting more cops into transit. When I went out with the chiefs the other day, a woman of color said to Deputy Commissioner Daughtry, she says I think there should be more undercover cops here, because quite frankly, I get intimidated by the uniform. What do you think of that?

Mayor Adams: And I'm glad you said that because I must have said this a million times. You have 8.3 million people, 35 million opinions. Some people say why aren't we putting National Guards throughout Utica Avenue, Franklin Avenue? Because we'll get just that. And we do have a substantial number of undercover police officers that are there, that are playing a major role that's dealing with our grand larcenies and our pickpockets and looking after those criminal behavior.

The other day at 125th Street and Lexington Avenue, do you know we had six cops there? Six cops. Platform, token booth, they were present. But when you're dealing with a mental health, severe mental health crisis, or if you want to participate in criminal behavior, we have now reached a point where there are those who are so emboldened that they can keep doing their actions, that uniform no longer means anything.

We had a shooting over the weekend. The cop is on the north side of the street, the shooting took on place on the south side of the street, the officer was right there. Bad guys no longer fear the police. They feel emboldened to do whatever they want.

Question: Mayor…

Mayor Adams: How are you?

Question: On the issue… I'm good, thanks. How are you?

Mayor Adams: Good.

Question: On the issue of debit cards being issued to the migrants, you have talked before about how a few months ago, the word at the border was, come to New York, you get a room, they'll give you the Roosevelt, you're going to be well treated. And then you spent time, even when you traveled there, trying to dissuade people from coming to New York. You've also changed the length of time that you want folks to stay down to 30.

Doesn't the debit card sort of send a mixed message, because word will spread back at the border, go to New York, you'll get a debit card, you can buy food, you can take care of your family? It seems like a new appealing reason to come here.

Mayor Adams: No, it sends a mixed message when it's distorted. We work… My team, I gave them a clear directive: bring down the cost by 30 percent, 30 percent, and we're moving in that direction. And whatever it takes within the law to do so, we have to do it. And we can't be afraid of people criticizing success. We're going to save $600 million a month.

Deputy Mayor Levy: $600,000.

Mayor Adams: $600,000, $600,000 a month. Thank you.

Over $7 million a year. So, should we say… And we're going to do away with food waste and we're going to put money back into the local economy and we're going to MWBE. So, now do we say, let's not do it because people are going to critique us?

If we didn't do things because people were going to critique us, we would not have gotten thousands of people off our street that are homeless. We wouldn't have removed our encampments. We would've not taken thousands of guns off the street. We got to do it right.

Question: Respectfully, mayor.

Mayor Adams: Yes.

Question: It's not about the critique. It's about how do you combat the idea that the word gets back to the border that basically free money is available to families to get things that they don't have right now. How concerned are you about that? Just as when you expanded the shelters, the word spread at the border, come to New York, you get a room.

Mayor Adams: Again, I cannot say it any clearer. Any time you move from a good faith and do what is a humanitarian crisis with over 180,000 people, you have to take necessary steps.

And so when people tweet back or Facebook back to their loved ones in Ecuador or any other place and state that, you know, I'm in a HERRC, because believe it or not, even sleeping on a cot, to many people, it's better than sleeping in the Darién Gap. And so that's going to go back.

So, we have to find the right combination, delivery of services with the same level of dignity and do it in a way that's cost effective. And I'm not hearing from my colleagues down in Ecuador, Colombia, Mexico, that, hey, everybody's running to New York because they're going to get a food card. I'm not hearing that. That's not what I'm hearing from down there.

Deputy Mayor Levy: I would just also add in, Siff, that the mayor was very clear last year. We gave out flyers to the border reminding folks that there is not unlimited free hotels and stuff like that. We are updating those flyers, making that very clear.

And the mayor can be, it was just very clear, we'll all be very clear, there is no free money. These are not ATM cards. You can't take cash out. If anyone has that idea, they are wrong. This is for food and baby supplies only.

Deputy Mayor Anne Williams-Isom, Health and Human Services: And I know you're not trying to blame New York City, right? You are reinforcing us when we do good work. We are doing really good work when we have 60 percent of the people that are moving on. We don't control how people get here, and so more support from the federal government to help with the coordination down at the border so people could go where they need to would be helpful.

So, I want us to keep focused on that, not a small pilot for 500 families that's going to save us money. I think we're doing a really good job under really challenging circumstances.

Question: Can you elaborate on the chronology of what happened in yesterday's shooting? How did the police officers asking these two guys to move on from a bus stop escalate to them being asked to get out of the car, to them refusing to get out of the car? And then second, can you talk about the officer's family, I understanding he as a child, et cetera?

Mayor Adams: Yes. I want to be extremely restrained in talking about their families, give them a right to privacy. And the NYPD is still conducting their investigation of the escalation.

But I will tell you this, being in situations of taking police actions, things escalate quickly. And you know, we can sit back and look at a tape and analyze it, all that's well. But when you're on the front line and you are dealing with someone that you're seeing that they're not obeying your basic lawful order, things start to kick in.

And there was one thing that I heard on that video, what I saw that many people take offense to, but that officer turned out to be right. He told the person, take your hands out your pockets. We say that often. People think it's offensive, but there's a reason for that. And that officer turned out to be right when he said, take your hands out of your pockets.

And the investigation's going to unfold. And I'm sure the Police Department is going to give you what led up to what took place to escalate it. But there's one thing that's clear: the person who shot the officer did not have the right to have the gun, did not have the right to shoot anyone, and that is what my focus is. And he is a recidivist.

Question: He has a one‑year‑old child, the officer?

Mayor Adams: The Police Department would give you the complete breakdown of the family. I want to respect the family's privacy at this time.

Question: Mr. Mayor, I welcome any details or information about your recent planned trip to visit the border? Who had invited you, what did they want you to see, where you were headed, who you wanted to go with, what the State Department said was dangerous about the situation? What led you to cancel, please?

Mayor Adams: Sister Norma came up here with a delegation. She's a national leader. She's the executive director of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande and just a global recognized humanitarian. You know, everyone we talked to said that she's a person to communicate.

And what's very interesting, when Deputy Mayor Almanzar put this together, put the meeting that we had at Gracie Mansion and the tour that she did, there was a reluctancy to come here to the city to see me, because they figured that, you know, this was a anti‑immigrant feeling.

And when they came here, did a walkthrough. We had a meeting at Gracie Mansion. Sister Norma, first of all, there was a real connection between the two of us, and she invited me down to see what they were doing. And all of them said it is unbelievable what you're doing in New York City. You have led the nation and calling on those issues that are important such as work authorization.

And they wanted us to come down and see what they're doing and encourage people to come and continue to see what we are doing here. We were planning to go down. Our tickets were ready to go. As we always do, Inspector Melody, who's in charge of my detail, reached out to me late that night. I think it was either Thursday night or Friday in the day… 

Deputy Mayor Levy: Friday night.

Mayor Adams: ...Friday night. And she says, Eric, the State Department is concerned about this trip. One of the cities and the areas you're going to be in, there's a real issue there around security, and actually the mayor of one of the cities is, you know, there are threats made against him.

And we could not get the same fortification that we got when we went to Ecuador and when we went to Colombia. We were fortified, we had the right security in place, there was a lot of planning. So, this was new to us, we wanted to make the right decision because I'm not going to put my team in harm's way. And we could not put that in place in a small amount of time because the notification came later.

So, the invite came from Sister Norma, the pause of the trip — pause, because we will be going, the pause — came from information from the State Department and my security detail and intel stated that, you know, it would not be a responsible action on your part to bring a delegation down with the threats that we got from the State Department and… 

[Crosstalk]

...State Department. State Department, there have been times I wanted to travel somewhere and the State Department has reached out and stated you should not go, going all the way back to when I was a police officer going to Moscow.

That was during the time when Yeltsin was losing power. The State Department reached out and said, we have questions about this trip. So, I respect the State Department's intel, and that's why we made the decision.

Deputy Mayor Williams‑Isom: So, Emily, I just want to add that I met Sister Norma Pimentel probably about two months ago at Fordham when I was invited to come and talk about the work that New York City was doing. And I was very nervous to be on a panel with this nationally renowned, I feel like she's a saint, right? And I went to Catholic schools my whole life, so I was very anxious about what she was going to say.

When she heard about the work that we were doing, about the amount of people that have come here, she was very surprised. She told me at the time when I was asking her for advice that we shouldn't keep on saying, why is this happening? What more can we do?

We should wake up every morning and ask ourselves what more we can be doing. And then she told me I should be going to bed every night exhausted from doing good. And so I was like, damn, okay. Sounds like what the nuns have been telling me my whole life, but it also gave me sort of the focus on that this is not an easy situation, but we're doing the best that we can.

So, when she said she wanted to come and visit and we got to take her to see some of the work that we are doing, I was very proud of what the comments that she had and that she now wants to make sure that she can send some people back to New York City to get trained at the legal clinic and to see the work that we're doing. So, she's a very special person who also has been recognized by the Pope for the work that she's been doing at the border.

Mayor Adams: And you missed an important part, what she shared with you: she adored me.

Deputy Mayor Williams‑Isom: Oh, I... She did. She did. She adored the mayor. True story.

Deputy Ana Almanzar, Strategic Initiatives: I was about to add that. That's true. She did speak about the human side that she got to see about Mayor Adams and the administration and that's why she invited us over so we can continue to see the humanitarian aspect of this crisis. She was very sad when we had to let her know that we couldn't make it.

It was a day of full planning, and the idea was spending Palm Sunday with a nun that I consider, I'm going to start naming her the mother, Mother Cabrini, the modern saint of all immigrants, and the work that she's doing there that she would like to see us come down so she can learn more for what New York City is doing. And as she said, she was proud to come and meet Mayor Adams in person. So, yes, she loves you, Mayor Adams.

Question: [Inaudible] couldn't just stay on the Texas side?

Mayor Adams: No, it was a city that I didn't even realize that they had a problem. What was the name of the city, deputy mayor?

[Crosstalk.]

Mayor Adams: Reynosa. And that city is going through some serious violence right now with gangs, and we wish we had time to shift things around, but the timing was not there. And my detail leader just said we're not going to be able to duplicate what we did. We had real security when we were in Ecuador and in Colombia and they said, we just don't have time to do it.

Question: Good afternoon, Mr. Mayor. On Staten Island, NYCHA residents at the Stapleton Houses last week saw sporadic power outages sometimes during subfreezing temperatures. This is the same development that had a building in the complex without cooking gas for close to a year last year.

I just want to get a sense what your administration is doing to address quality of life concerns for residents there and when they should expect more long‑term improvements for their development.

Mayor Adams: You know, NYCHA has, I think an $80 billion capital need?

First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright: Yes.

Mayor Adams: Capital needs, $80 billion. And you know, people sat on their hands for a long time, you know, as I say, saying the cavalry was coming, cavalry was coming, those bugles are taps, NYCHA was dying.

And we stepped in and did the NYCHA Land Trust, which many people tried, couldn't accomplish, but we got it done. You know, the lobbying that Ingrid and Tiffany did in Albany with Deputy Mayor Maria Torres‑Springer, we were able to land that plane.

Not only are we looking at the short term such as free broadband for NYCHA, looking at the Chelsea project of building newer NYCHA. NYCHA has been ignored for so many years. And when Deputy Mayor Maria Torres‑Springer put it in our housing as one of the top issues, we were clear that we were not going to ignore NYCHA. We know it's a Herculean task, but we were not going to ignore it.

And when I spoke with First Deputy Mayor Wright over the weekend, when this came on my radar, she immediately reached out to find out what the heck was going on over there to get the issue resolved. So, you probably want to go take it from there?

First Deputy Mayor Wright: And also certainly want to acknowledge Jessica Katz, our chief housing officer, who has helped us prioritize NYCHA. So, the weekend's event was due to ConEd and it was a ConEd issue where the power had come off the grid. And so the NYCHA team and staff were working around the clock to make sure that that got resolved and it did get resolved. And certainly they kept us updated and we also reached out to our colleagues at ConEd to make sure that that got resolved.

But as the mayor said, NYCHA… This is an administration that has put NYCHA as a key priority, a key priority in terms of everything from livability, quality of life, new construction, new housing opportunities, and it's something we'll continue to do.

Question: Thank you. Two questions. First, can you tell us how many people have been moved from the subway to shelter since you undertook that big push in February 2022 and how many have thereafter remained in shelter?

And then secondly, about Tim Pearson. I'm wondering what it is about him that he can quietly be earning two salaries and a pension, get into a brawl at a migrant shelter, spark a major sexual harassment suit and still not suffer any professional consequences?

Mayor Adams: First, Deputy Mayor Williams‑Isom, do you want to go over the question? But let me tell you about the… I'm just going to say this about the Tim Pearson issue that you said.

In this country there's something called due process, and our due process does not change. It is due process. That's the cornerstone of our country. That is what Tim Pearson did for a great deal of time, ensure people had due process.

And as a person who was in the Trade Center when the buildings collapsed and saved a great deal of people in guiding them out and protecting the city for the amount of time he has, I think he is due due process. DM Isom?

Deputy Mayor Williams‑Isom: Yes. So, the number is, since the launch of the Subway Safety Plan in February, nearly 7,000 New Yorkers have checked into shelter. The tricky part about that is how many of them stay into shelter and how many of them then come back again. So, really focusing on that discharge planning, how people get the help that they need, I think it's something that we want to concentrate on.

I also want to really mention that 1,000 people were placed into permanent housing from safe havens and stabilization beds. I was just talking to Commissioner Park about that this morning, and over 90 percent of them are still in stabilized housing.

We've also, as you know, increased, 60 percent increase in outreach staff since January of 2022. So, we're there, we're engaging people, we're getting people connected to shelter. It's this concept of keeping them in shelter long enough, getting them the support that they need so that they're not spiraling in and out of the system.

Mayor Adams: And I don't think people really respect how challenged the severe mental health population is. If you have not been on the system, if you have not engaged them on the streets. Back in January and February of 2022 when I first got elected, I was in some of those tents and in some of those encampments and you're speaking with people and seeing the conditions they're living on and then building the trust enough. I mean, the length of time you need to have people just being willing to talk to you.

And so when you look at numbers that DM Williams‑Isom just indicated, when you're out there every day talking to the same people, trying to convince them, when you're dealing with that severe mental health population, it is not just going to someone who just had a bad day and saying that, hey, would you go for help? This is a very challenging population to give them the help that they need.

And our numbers are showing that we are willing to take on this. Many people walk past this and ignored this. You know, you had a lot of encampments in the city. People ignored this prior to January, 2022. And many people told me, Eric, this is suicidal. Why are you even taking this on? There's other problems in the city because I'm not going to ignore people living on our streets.

Deputy Mayor Williams‑Isom: I'm sorry, I just want to also clarify and the mayor reminds us of this all the time. There's severe mental illness and people who are getting treatment are fine and are able to do very well. We're really talking about people who have severe mental health illness and who are untreated, many who have been untreated for a long period of time and don't even realize anymore that they have a severe mental illness. So, just to clarify.

Mayor Adams: Right.

Question: Mr. Mayor.

Mayor Adams: How are you, JR?

Question: I'm well. Good afternoon, team. My first question was about mental health, but you covered that across the board because after that incident last night where that man was pushed onto the tracks, I figured it has something to do with mental health.

But the second question is off topic. Were you able to talk to the mayor of Baltimore after that bridge collapse? My daughter goes to Howard, so you know, that was quite concerning.

Mayor Adams: This morning on our 8:00 a.m., I told [Assistant] Deputy Mayor Molina to reach out, find out what we could do to find out how we could help. And so we want to make sure and we have a call in with the mayor there. We want to make sure that we help any way we can.

Tiffany Raspberry, Director, Mayor’s Office of Intergovernmental Affairs: And mayor, I've reached out to the mayor and the City Council president as well.

Deputy Mayor Meera Joshi, Operations: Can I also just note our own bridge infrastructure is some of the most highly monitored infrastructure in the nation. So, that and also the coordination with vessels and our bridge communication is highly sophisticated.

Our thoughts are with the workers that were on those bridges. That's a dangerous job to begin with. An event like that is completely unforeseen when people wake up and go to work knowing they have a dangerous job.

So, we certainly, our hearts are with them, but we want New Yorkers to rest assured that the right precautions are in place to ensure that our infrastructure is safe and remains safe and how it interacts with both trucks and ships that both hit bridges occasionally. We have the right protections in place.

Question: Good morning.

Mayor Adams: How are you?

Question: Good. How are you doing?

Mayor Adams: Good.

Question: So, I wanted to touch on two things. One is to go back to Tim Pearson and the other has to do with this story we ran about Ezra Friedlander in his meeting in May.

So, on Pearson, have you spoken to him about the allegations in the lawsuit? I mean, do you believe what was alleged? Is there anything to lead you to believe that what's in there might be some truth to? And I think I know the answer to this, but will he be suspended? Will he be represented by a city lawyer in that?

As far as Friedlander, Friedlander, he told me that city officials in his meeting in May 21st of last year raised the issue of restoring flights between New York and Baku. And I understand from, I've been told you weren't in this meeting, but maybe somebody else can help answer this.

Did Turkish Airlines come up in that conversation? Also, you know, why would city officials bring that up if it's, I mean, to me it seems like outside of the city's purview. So, if there's anything you could kind of expand on with that, I'd appreciate it.

Mayor Adams: Well, again, our IA — International Affairs — group, if you come here or if you monitor our Twitter or you look at the meetings we have, we probably have more international leaders than any other administration in this history.

People come to New York, particularly during UNGA — UN General Assembly — and they reach out. We have to turn that down, world leaders, because our schedule can't keep up with it. People see us as an international city, and I believe that. And we have international input. People look at us as global leaders.

The UN is here, you know, the UN is here, consul generals, we had the consul generals of all these different regions from South America, Central America, from, I think we're meeting with the council generals...we're meeting with the Mexican constituent. You know, so that was the charge I gave Ed Mermelstein, the commissioner there, that let's live up to our title of an international leader.

And when people come here with various issues, we add our voices to it. I don't know what would happen in the meeting. Ed Mermelstein is going to follow whatever rules there were. I think what you raised in your article was that Ezra was supposed to report this to someone.

That wasn't our obligation. We didn't violate any reporting procedures. We meet with international leaders, share our thoughts, learn how we can get their businesses here, learn how we continue to build our international relationships.

And so it is imperative that we, you know, make sure that those who come here, they follow their procedures because we're going to follow our procedures. And if they talked about the Baku and increasing flights, if there's a way we can add a letter, we want flights to come here. We want as many flights as possible to come to JFK.

More tourists that come here, they will add to the 62 million that we had last year. We would like to have 100 million. They bring money, they leave money, they spend money and we want them to continue to do so.

So, I'm not sure why that meeting became just, you know, clandestine, you know, secret spy sort of stuff. We met with an international leader. We do it all the time. I'm not sure when I read the story, I had a flashback from my childhood. I said, where's the beef?

I mean, what was wrong? What did we do wrong? What did this administration do wrong? He should have reported it if he didn't. But I'm lost on what we did wrong.

Question: Hello, good afternoon.

Mayor Adams: How are you doing?

Question: Hello, Mr. Mayor. Thank you. I'm good. I want to go back to the beginning of today's press conference, the recidivism. I see how close it is to your heart, an emotional moment for the New Yorkers. But what are the solutions?

Because you mentioned, the question was here already and you mentioned analysis of discovery process. But is there any concrete solutions that you can assure New Yorkers, I'm taking these steps. Are you going to push for any reform like you did with sanctuary law?

Mayor Adams: We are in constant communication and my dialogue has not changed since the day I was elected. We should never be focusing draconian sentencing on those who commit minor infractions, but those repeated offenders, which is a national problem.

When I talk to my colleagues across the country, they talk about the repeated offenders. There's a small number of people who are repeated offenders. And I'm hoping that our lawmakers, that we focus on that body of people and I'm hoping that our judges focus on it.

It is obvious. We see the cop, we see the mayor, but there are other folks who are part of the criminal justice system that we don't see that are making major decisions that impact our law enforcement.

Question: [Inaudible].how are you going to impact that? Is there any way you… 

Mayor Adams: I could only keep... I could only do within my span of control, educate the public, continue to visit Albany, engage in conversations, speak with the City Council members, speak with my district attorneys and advocate that our judges, particularly with those who we appoint, understand how important it is to keep dangerous people off our streets.

Deputy Mayor Levy: Deputy Mayor Williams‑Isom.

Deputy Mayor Williams‑Isom: Oh, yes. No. And Mayor Adams, don't forget that you're supporting the Supportive Interventions Act on severe mental illness and sort of how important that is to make the changes that we need to involuntary removals, making sure that doctors have the comprehensive information that they need in order to be able to make determinations, making it more expansive around who can do an evaluation.

And then sometimes when people come into the emergency room, we can only use the records of that particular interaction, not the fact that that particular person might have been there three times before. So, there's some real common sense on parts of this legislation that we think is very important and that will have a real impact on what we're seeing happen.

Question: I have some questions.

Mayor Adams: Yes.

Question: First one, following up on what Michael tried to ask. Just whether or not Pearson gets corp counsel representation. I assume he does because I guess you're going to consider that to be part of his duties. But I would point out that the General Municipal Law also has a clause in it that says that if the actions taken were in violation of the regulations, then they can't be represented by the city. And that also applies… Well, I mean, on Pearson. Go ahead.

Hinds‑Radix: We're very much aware of what the General Municipal Law says. And this is a new case with multiple individuals and different entities. And you are aware that from General Municipal Law that we have to conduct representation interviews, those interviews will be conducted and we will make a determination when they're concluded.

Question: [Inaudible].

Hinds‑Radix: Yes.

Question: Okay. My second question is NYCHA.

Mayor Adams: Let him finish. Let him finish. Go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead. Yes.

Question: You referenced, I think, Stapleton Houses. I mean, this goes around all over the place. I mean, these are like one‑off things. They happen all the time. The monitor issued his final report last week. I don't know if anybody, any of you guys read that thing.

He was really weighing into the hierarchy, and that includes the people that you appointed to the board and the chair, and he was specifically saying they're not really serious about doing their jobs. And he was talking about how they formed committees that never met.

And he was suggesting a very specific suggestion, which is, make the chair a full‑time job that's salaried because right now it's a volunteer one. First of all, what's your take on his report if you've seen it? And then number two, what do you think about that concept?

Mayor Adams: First of all, I'm going to let First Deputy Mayor Wright talk about that. But I would say to the monitor or whoever did the report, who's made millions of dollars doing so, where were you? Where were you all this time?

He's been there for years. The problem of NYCHA did not start January 1st, 2022. Let's be clear on that. NYCHA has been eroding for decades, and we came in and made sure that, number one, we put it at the top of our agenda, and number two, we are taking real steps.

Don't dismiss what NYCHA Land Trust is going to do. Let's not dismiss what we have been doing on the ground. NYCHA has an $80 billion capital problem, and it's not going to be fixed in two years and three months. So, ask that person who wrote the report, how long has he been there, and did he just discover these problems?

First Deputy Mayor Wright: And I think to clarify, Greg, I think a couple of things that you said are incorrect. One, Bart worked closely with us during the transition. We had actually a good working relationship with him in terms of him raising some of the issues. The chair, before we came on board, was what you said, it was a paid person who was both the chair and the CEO.

Mayor Adams: Hold. Don't cut her off. Don't cut her off. One at a time. We don't cut you, we don't cut you off, don't cut my staff off. One at a time. One at a time. That's how we do it here.

First Deputy Mayor Wright: Greg Russ was the chair of NYCHA and he was a paid employee of NYCHA, right? And the CEO. So, as part of the transformation plan, which the monitor was engaged in the development of that plan, those two roles were split, so you actually have a CEO like you normally have and a chair and a volunteer board.

So, that's actually what happened. And that was actually in accordance with many of the things that… And I read the report and it said a lot of positive things about what this administration has done in the two years and two months that we've been there to move NYCHA forward. So, we can follow up with details, but those are the facts.

Mayor Adams: Can you go back for a moment? Can you go back for a moment, though? Because that was not mentioned by him. In the report, what did it say about this administration?

First Deputy Mayor Wright: Well, there are many things, but we'll circle back with some details.

Mayor Adams: Okay. But he didn't acknowledge some of the positive things that we've done.

Question: Do you support the idea of the chair being paid as a salary [inaudible].

Mayor Adams: First Deputy Mayor Wright is the person that that's under her purview and portfolio. If you want to speak with her later and get her thoughts on it, I value her thoughts on it and she will share what her thoughts are. She's extremely competent and I trust her vision on these items because she's very familiar not only as a professional, but her family attachment to NYCHA.

Some of us have skin in this game and we're committed to it because we know what NYCHA has been a failure for years. And so to give the impression that that failure started January 1st, 2022, is an improper impression. That's the impression that those out there who's watching you say this believe.

NYCHA has been a failure. We are correcting the failure. And it's not going to be correct two years and three months, but we've taken major steps and we're going to continue to do so, major bold steps.

Question: Thanks, mayor. Can you just talk a little bit more about the folks dealing with mental health issues or acting erratically on the subway? What more can the city or others do to address that? And just how much of a concern is it for you?

Mayor Adams: Well, I think Deputy Mayor Williams‑Isom has pointed to some of the things that we are doing. And we are going to really go into a situation awareness campaign because we want to empower New Yorkers and not make them feel helpless.

And sometimes, you know, just something as simple as standing back from that yellow strip that's on the train track, being aware when trains enter the station, who's around you, making sure that, as I stated, our law enforcement officers give folks tips as they're moving about. You know, it's a duality, I like to believe to being safe in the system.

And the overwhelming number of New Yorkers go to and from their place safe, but those random acts of violence are chilling. No one wants to hear that. Deputy Mayor Williams‑Isom, we spoke this morning, she communicated with me, her 28‑year‑old son was at the 125th Street Station. And that's impactful, you know, your family member at these stations and these actions.

And that's why we want to zero in on many prongs. There are many rivers that feed this severe mental health crisis. Things we can do, things we want to educate the passengers on doing and things our lawmakers can do. Tiffany's up in Albany pounding away at this piece of legislation to give us the power to, you know, particularly those who are dealing with severe mental health illness.

And you know, some of them are calm, but when they're off their medication, you're dealing with a totally different individual. And I know personally people who have been in my orbit that you can tell when they're not taking their medication and how they can become violent to themselves and others and we need to be there for them.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor Adams: How are you doing?

Question: Doing just fine. Just if you could answer about recidivism, it's been noted as a common problem in all these recent spate of crimes. It's always been historically accurate that the small percentage of small individuals are responsible for an outside percentage of crimes.

So, what is different now? What is different in 2024, 2023 as opposed to maybe years prior? NYPD has rattle off statistics about these years, but they failed to really put it in any perspective. So, what is different now in the city than it was a few years ago?

And then building on the prepaid cards for the asylum seekers, I was just wondering, what was the motivation to go through a company and pay them almost $2 million to do this if the full contract plays out, instead of doing something like SNAP benefits, which those EBT cards cannot be used for anything else, there's zero chance of fraud, So, what was the motivation for using this company over a program that's already established in New York City? And it can be used for everything [inaudible].

Mayor Adams: One of the deputy mayors will go into the MoCaFi cards. But there's a couple of things that are different. First of all, we've always had a problem with recidivism with a small number of people. It's always been a problem. And we never really zeroed in on it as much as we should have. But case after case after case.

What we are finding now, when you add that with the issues around discovery where many of these cases, you know, are not being prosecuted and you guys really, you know, this really should be some deep research on how we've overwhelmed our district attorneys’ offices.

I think many of the judges, the reluctancy of giving people, you know, time inside when they're recidivists. So, I think it's just a combination of things that we have. You know, there's a philosophy that's in the city and in the country that we really don't need a criminal justice system, I believe.

Raspberry: And mayor, I just want to add to that. In 2023, the administration launched a retail theft task force. And we've made a lot of legislative recommendations: discovery reform to ensure that more cases are prosecuted, increased penalties for individuals who assault retail workers.

That was a part of the governor's proposed budget, creating a bump up for petit larceny conviction when there is a prior conviction. The DA's offices like this idea, creating penalties for selling stolen goods online. And so our task force is meeting with retailers, law enforcement, trying to figure out how we can cut back on recidivism in the city.

Mayor Adams: When you look at that, you got, I think the number was [500 and 7,500 people] who were arrested over 7,000 times for a petit larceny, for shoplifting. 38 people arrested over 1,100 times, 38 people assaulted transit workers, arrested over 1,100 times.

I mean, when you start to look at these numbers, you just clearly see the parallel: recidivism, mental health. 50 percent of the people who are in Rikers have mental health issues. 18 percent have severe. There's a real parallel.

Now, let's look at what the problems are and say, okay, what policies are we putting in place to address the policies? The laws, the policies, the actions have to fit that. And they're not, they're out of alignment.

First Deputy Mayor Wright: And an answer to your question. The families do not qualify for SNAP. That is the point. That is, I mean, when people are in your care, we have to feed them. We want to make sure that it's done at a reasonable cost, at a lower cost.

So, there is work that is done that generates the fee that's paid to the vendor. But obviously, the majority of the resources are going to families to buy food and baby products, but they do not qualify for snap. So, that is the very point.

Mayor Adams: That's important. That's important. They don't qualify. We still have to feed folks. We were finding that some of the food we were serving, people didn't want, the money was not going to the local economy, now it's going to the bodegas, the supermarkets, the local stores, is recycling. And any economist would tell you the best plan is recycling.

Many economists would tell you the best plan is recycling money back into the communities that are being impacted by it. So, we're placing HERRCs and shelters in communities where residents are saying, you know, this is impacting our community. You know, how do we get help here?

Hey, we're going to be buying from your local stores, so you can hire locally and so that you could help build your local economy. And we're charging less, 13, I think it's $13 a day that we are, for folks to eat. That 10 percent of food waste, we should see that 10 percent just disappear.

And so it may sound like, okay, what are you guys are doing, but when you dig into the numbers, you see that we are in alignment with that 30 percent cut, investing locally, MWBE, having food waste disappear, we are in alignment with that.

We could sit back and say, well, you know, people gonna beat us up for us. People beat us up anyway, you know what I'm saying? So, we gotta do what's right.

Deputy Mayor Williams-Isom: So, the only thing I want to add is, I think that's the importance of it being a pilot so that we can take a look at it after six weeks and see what's working and what's not. It's my understanding that we will be able to see if people try to abuse it and we can stop the card. It's my understanding that if you try to use it for something other than baby...for food and baby supplies, we can take a look at it, too.

I mean, I know government is not innovative, but I think this was an innovative way to kind of deal with the challenge; and if it doesn't work, then we'll try something else.

Deputy Mayor Levy: And it can only be used at bodegas, supermarkets, markets. Can't be used at other places.

Deputy Mayor Williams-Isom: That is my understanding. We'll take six weeks, and if people are doing things that are improper, then we'll track it.

First Deputy Mayor Wright: And there are safeguards in place. And again, just to the mayor's point, the alternative was we were spending a lot more money for a company outside of New York to provide food that people didn't want, no benefit to the local economy, food waste, more expensive. So this is, this is… And I would say, you know, government is innovative.

  

Deputy Mayor Williams-Isom: We, well, I don't think people think we are, .but I like to try something, and then if it doesn't work, then we can do something different.

Mayor Adams: That's right. And that's the, you know what? That was one of the biggest things that we faced in this administration. I remember when we sat down as a team, you know, I wanted it clear to the team. We are not staying on safe ground, folks. Safe ground got us here. You know?

Afraid to talk about encampments, afraid to talk about guns on our streets, afraid to talk about recidivism, afraid to talk about severe mental health. Everybody was just so afraid. And you know, well, you know what, if we do this, they're going to write bad stories about us. They're going to criticize us. The advocates are going to boo us. Hey, well, listen, I've been booed so much I think my name is boo.

We have to be bold enough to face these historical challenges that have been in this city for a long time. You know? And you know, sometimes we're going to drop the ball, sometimes we're going to learn something. Sometimes we're going to have to do it differently, as Anne just pointed out. Sometimes we're going to say, wait a minute, let's tweak this.

But we will be damned if we're not going to try.

  

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor Adams: How are you?

Question: I'm good. How are you?

So, this morning a female cop was punched in the face on the 125th Street station trying to enforce fares. That station has a history of incidents like you were mentioning. Is there anything that can be done to maybe make that station safer?

And then also, earlier in this press conference you said, quote, criminals are emboldened. They are not afraid of cops, while at the same time you also said, quote, this is not a city out of control. How do you make that latter statement true when you have people who are not afraid of cops, and how do you make people feel safer?

Mayor Adams: I love the question. I'm so glad you brought up that punch in the face. You know, because they are emboldened and because we're taking actions, our city is not out of control. The numbers show that. You know, shootings are down, homicides are down. That's not what I inherited.

You know, every year since I've been mayor, we have a decrease in subway crime, every year. You know, so now if you want to go back to 2019, like some folks are doing, you know, then that's fine. But right now, every year that I've been mayor, crime has dropped in the subway system. We inherited a 40 percent increase in crime back January 1st, 2022. You're seeing crime decrease. So, because we are taking action, you're seeing the city not out of control.

And when those random acts of violence, one in the big three — we need to give it a name, Fabien, one of the big three random acts of violence — it plays on the psyches of people. Like, I heard my good friend from Junior's say the other day that crime is surging out of control, migrants are everywhere.

I'm like, where did you get that talking point from, because the talking point is not meeting the facts. You know, so people have embraced a talking point because of the random acts of violence. Subway crime is down 5.6 percent since the Adams administration took office.

But when I speak to those people who are on the train, they say, you must have at least three to four hundred crimes a day, because that's what we're feeling and seeing. That is what the random acts of violence will do to you.

And so, when you have a person punch a police officer in uniform in their face, it is because they have reached a point that they no longer respect the uniform. There's a pocket of people, not everyday New Yorkers, because the average New Yorkers are happy to see an officer and respect the police officer.

But those emboldened few are creating that atmosphere. And you see these assaults increasing on police officers, assaults increasing on transit employees. Those are the types of actions that we want to send a loud message.

So, I went to 125th Street and Lexington Avenue last year and I stood there for about an hour, hour and a half. Now I'm there with uniformed officers. We're all standing there doing an observation. I wanted to see what was happening. Around that whole area was disgusting. No lights, it was dirty, they were doing construction for years. I don't even know if they know what the construction project was anymore.

And so we sat there. People were walking through the gate, hopping the turnstile. They were saying, it was like the police weren't even there. You know why? Because we broadcast we are no longer going to prosecute fare evasions.

So, little Johnny the banker reads that, and said, why am I paying my fare? We stopped that. And you're going to see a complete turnaround at that station because now we're doing real enforcement again in our system.

I told the Police Department, it is not my job to determine what is prosecuted, it's my job to make sure we apprehend those who commit the crime. We're not going to respond to what judges do and what others do. We're going to, if the crime happens, we're going to do our job and let others determine what they do in that criminal justice system. That's why that officer was punched in her face.

Deputy Mayor Levy: Thank you. Thank you.

Mayor Adams: [Inaudible] these conversations, let the system do the job. Give me those two pictures from Burger King. And this is Burger King. Let me share what happened here that it was written about.

I got a call about what was happening on the street down the block on Fulton Street. And I called the precinct, and I stated to them, what's going on there? Are we allowing people to sell drugs at Burger King, in front of Burger King?

The precinct commander told me we did undercover operations, we did buy and busts. We wanted to determine, is drug activity. He says, Eric, these guys are not selling drugs. These guys have come from all over the city, and for whatever reason, they feel this is a place they could come and not be treated unfairly.

These are homeless people from all over the city that feel as though they needed a place just to come together, like other groups do, like people sit on the steps of museums and the library and they coalesce.

I'm sure if these guys all had dogs standing around at a dog clutch, no one would have said, what are they doing there. But their mere presence gave the impression that they were all criminals.

So, I did something revolutionary. I went to talk to them, and said, who are you? Why are you homeless? How did it happen? How did you get on this pathway? And what can I do as a mayor to help you to get both stabilized and get your lives in order and not just see you and just say the mere fact that you dressed that way and looked that way, that you are criminals.

They're not criminals. They're people who have fallen on hard times who, when they stand in front and have that cup and say, can I give you something, you know what I thought about? When I was a little boy standing in front of A&P and shoppers came out, and I would ask, ma'am, can I help you put your bag in the car so I can get enough money to help mommy to pay to get food on our table. That's what I thought about.

I see them, I see myself. Let me show you that other picture. Here's where I was this morning. That's the guy with that tie on in the background. You know where I am? I'm on Rikers Island. These young men here recommitted their lives to God.

These young men said that we never thought we would get a mayor that would come and be here with us. They're praying for our city. They're praying for each other. They're praying for me.

Ingrid Lewis‑Martin, Chief Advisor to the Mayor: I hope they're praying for me, too. Don't leave me out.

Mayor Adams: That's right. That's who I am. God placed love in my heart.

And if it means talking to homeless people at Burger King or if it means going to Rikers Island and talking to inmates, I am them, I am them and no other mayor ever has been able to say that.