Transcript: Mayor Adams Holds In-Person Media Availability

October 29, 2024

Video available at: https://youtu.be/DwVI5Pxp6a8

Mayor Eric Adams: Morning, morning, morning. So much is happening in the city. It's good to see you all as we bring in another week, an exciting moment in New York. I just want to go over a few things before we open the floor to you for questions. 

As I indicated a few weeks ago, since many of your questions were dealing with things outside of the span of our deputy mayors, once we get to the point that these topics that cover them, we'll bring in the whole team and they can answer their questions, but I don't want them just spending their time going over questions that's really not connected to their duties. 

Keeping New York City safe during the election. Election day is upon us, and just as we did with so many events, people ask us on the eve of these events, how well will we do? As always, we step up. We did it during the various demonstrations, during the parades, during all other large gatherings. No one does it better than New York City and all of the agencies that are attached, including the New York City Police Department. We're going to do it on election day also. That is why we've been able to take almost 1,900 illegal guns off our street. 

Public safety and justice, as I say over and over again, is a prerequisite to our prosperity. And so a week away from election day, we have a full apparatus in place to make sure that New Yorkers are able to get to the polls and exercise their right to vote. And I'm calling all New Yorkers to do just that. Exercise your right to vote. And it's important to get out and do so. If it's early voting or on election day, please do so. 

Affordability. We were really proud yesterday to announce the family building benefits announcements. Any parent would tell you or expecting family would tell you how difficult it is to start a family. And our family building benefits, it will be going out to 27,000 non-union City employees. The benefits includes up to $10,000 in reimbursement for costs associated with adoption, surrogacy, and eggs and sperm donation. This really is helpful. I want to really take my hat off to the council members that really pushed this bill forward and we were able to actualize it and make it happen. I think it's going to benefit everyday New Yorkers. 

So with that, open up to a few questions. How are you, N.J.? 

Question: Last week, you, I think, got a little tired of the questions about Donald Trump and your opinions of Trump and the things that you've said regarding Trump. However, you had a press conference last week where you, in essence, defended Trump when it came to the issue of whether he's a fascist or not. 

What do you say to people who feel that you should disavow a support of Trump and fellow Democrats who say that that's a bridge too far for them?

Mayor Adams: Well, first, I wasn't, I don't know the term you use, I think you say irritated or tired of it. No, that wasn't it at all. And I was asked a question dealing with the comment that was used and I responded to that. 

Listen, let me tell you what I find insulting. I find insulting when you have children dying on top of trains based on what they're mimicking on social media. A housing crisis in the city, affordability, thousands of seniors are unable to know if they're going to be able to live in the city, in the country. I speak to my mayors across the country and they talk about these real problems we're having. And with all that's going on to everyday New Yorkers, we're asking questions that is someone a fascist or is someone a Hitler. That's insulting to me. That is insulting. And I'm not going to engage in that. 

Everyone needs to turn down the rhetoric because after election day, we still have to be the United States and not the divided states. And so if people can't understand their real issues facing New Yorkers, and I just find it just humiliating that what everyday mom and pops are doing and going through across this country, that here we are having this conversation about this silly item. 

So I refuse to participate in that. I'm going to fight for New Yorkers like I've done for years and whomever can't understand that, they're not in the streets. When I'm at these town halls talking to people there, they're not asking me these silly questions. We are in this bubble. And I know you guys really believe these stories you're writing. It gives you a lot of clicks. It's exciting. It gives you headlines. But this is not what New Yorkers and Americans are dealing with, folks. They are scared of their future. 

Someone needs to stand up and say, enough of this. Tone down the rhetoric. Let people hear the facts. Let them vote and let's decide what the next four years are going to be for our city. And that's my position. I cannot make it any clearer. 

Question: When is the last time you spoke to Trump or his team?

Mayor Adams: Give me another question, please. You lost your opportunity. Give me another question, please. Hey, Monica, how are you?

Question: I have two questions. One is about the Management Benefits Fund. You announced family building benefits will provide up to $10,000 in reimbursement for costs associated with, for example, adoption or surrogacy. I'm curious if you can answer if you plan or what do you think about the fact of reimbursing or getting any help to families who would like to start, to people who would like to start a family naturally, if that is something that you would consider supporting or thinking about. 

And the second question, at least five teenagers have been killed in shootings in New York City this past week. I know you meet, Mr. Mayor, with older people. You meet town halls with residents of different boroughs. Would you consider meeting with teenagers and just speaking to them in the form of a town hall, let's say, and maybe in this way influence their actions?

Mayor Adams: Thank you. Thank you for both those questions. First, if there is an idea of what we can do more, because we do give health care benefits to families, particularly city employees, they do get health care benefits. But if there are some other ideas, just as we did with Lynn Shulman, a council person, she introduced this legislation. We're open to hear. 

Whatever we can do to put resources back in the pockets of working class people, specifically, but in general New Yorkers, we're open to do that. $30 billion we have found ways of putting back into the city, reducing the cost of child care, free high-speed broadband for NYCHA residents, paying for college tuition for foster care children. The list goes on and on and on, how we creatively partner with the state, increase in earned income tax credit, finding ways to help New Yorkers put money back in their pockets is what we want to do. And if there are some other ideas, we look forward to the City Council partnering with us to do so. 

Talking with young people, we just had, and I do it frequently, we had young people town halls. And what came out of those town halls, public safety, better relationship with law enforcement, mental health, how to combat against social media and the bullying of that. I just met with, last month, I met with a group of young people who came and sat with me in the COW upstairs. It's an ongoing conversation I have with young people with Commissioner Howard from DYCD, Hercules Reid, who is really our liaison with our young people. 

So you're right, we want to speak directly with them. And the campaign we put together to deal with subway surfing actually came from young people. It was a school in Queens that designed the campaign. And we also introduced, dealing specifically with the subway surfing, we introduced the introduction of drones to monitor the lines. We looked at 311 and 911 complaints, saw what we were receiving the most number of complaints, and then we started deploying drones to those locations. And we're going to roll out the results of how many lives we save by using technology to identify when these young people are subway surfing. 

So I agree with you 100 percent. And this is something that we've partnered with the MTA on. We've been aggressive with the Police Department. But saving the lives of these children is a combination. I need my family and friends and classmates to all get engaged. And we have to really go after social media because millions of views, they should not be posting any of these subway surfing incidents.

Question: Mayor, I just want to follow up on your response about the Trump fascism question. I'm wondering if you still feel the same way, just given the remarks at Madison Square Garden, some of the racist comments that were said during that rally. 

And then my second question is to you, there was a mayoral forum this past weekend and you didn't attend. I'm wondering why you didn't attend the forum? 

Mayor Adams: First, I sent out a very clear statement about the comments that was made by some of the people who attended the rally. I've been to many rallies. I've protested, I've been part of rallies, I've been part of incidents. And I've witnessed people stand up at podiums and say, I cringe at some of the things that they said. 

So you can't demonize an entire population based on the actions of those who attend. And so I'm clear, there's no room for racism, no room for hate. I don't know how many times I can say this. I say this over and over again. And I'm clear on that. Those comments that were against any group is inappropriate in this city. I've said this over and over again. There's no room for hate in New York City. There's room to peacefully protest and peacefully share what your thoughts about the political arena and agenda. 

That is who we are. I don't know why we want to move away from healthy debate is who we are as a country and who we are as a city. So I was very clear on that. But at the same time, let's get it clear. When you, I think, disrespect six million Jews were killed in the Holocaust. I mean, six million. And when we downplay and use terminologies that is not associated with the facts, it brings the wrong atmosphere to the city, a city where you have the largest Jewish population outside of Israel, where antisemitism, islamophobia and other hate is increasing. 

Folks, we got to turn down this noise. I don't know if we're comfortable with what we're seeing in our country. I'm not. I'm not comfortable with what we're seeing in our country. And we have an obligation to turn down the noise. And I know retrospectively, people will look back on it and say, hey, you know, this guy was was right for what he was saying. Words create actions. 

And the forum, I have work to do. You know, those guys that was in that forum. I don't know if they have a job that they're doing, but I got a job to do. I'm running the most difficult city on the globe, New York. And so they have time to do all of this stuff, this frivolous stuff. But I got to move this city forward. I got a job to do. Those guys don't get up until probably 11 a.m.

Question: Just following up on a reporting in The Post about your legal team angling for a Trump presidency that they believed would be the best result for your case. Now, I don't want to ask about your case specifically. 

Mayor Adams: My legal team is doing what? 

Question: Angling for a Trump presidency. They believe that that's the best hope for their case and to either win it, whether that's through a dismissal or what have you. I don't want to ask about your legal case, but what you think personally would help you in battling this case? Do you believe that a Trump presidency would be the best for you? 

And then also separately, something that New Yorkers are talking about, which is they were in these silos. You wore your Subway Series hat a few weeks ago now. Since then, the Mets are eliminated. The Yankees are 0-3. Do you regret possibly being a jinx on the Subway Series?

Mayor Adams: First, I don't know. You said my legal team was angling. I don't know where you got that from because there's no one from my legal team was doing any form of angling. So anything that's dealing with the case, Alex, reach out to him. But that is not our position. We think the facts are going to speak for itself. 

Question: So you don't think a Trump presidency would be better for you?

Mayor Adams: Alex is the person to speak with anything that's dealing with my case. And the jinx of the Subway Series, I heard somebody say the other day that they were using voodoo dolls to put pins inside the Dodgers or players. We want to win. And whatever we could do to win. And I'm a New Yorker, so I love New York teams. It was great having the Liberty Celebration. And we're going to continue to say New York is the way to go. 

Question: I have two questions. On Friday, you welcomed back dozens of first responders from New York who put their life on the line in North Carolina in the aftermath of Helene to look for living people and dead bodies. I didn't see my colleagues there in general. 

There's been a concern that in the media in general, because of the way the media works today, there was all kinds of things that FEMA was a hoax. And there was very little real on the ground reporting done to tell people it was robust response. And that their neighbors have put their life on the line. Don't we need to focus on the functional and heroic and give the same emphasis? 

And the second question, it's not a softball. Why are you, we saw your concern about what's happening with city workers in terms of health care costs and all that. Why does your administration continue to persist in promoting Medicare Advantage, which has been documented to be a predatory form and watering down of Medicare?

Mayor Adams: The Law Department would have to speak to you on that. What I do know is that the increased cost of health care is just unbelievable what we're facing. And we have to find a sweet spot of being able to provide adequate health care without making it financially burdensome on retirees. 

This is a huge challenge that I inherited. That health care stabilization fund was healthy. It was healthy. And, you know, I'm a retiree. So I'm not talking about something that impacts others. It impacts me as well. So we need to find that sweet spot that taxpayers' dollars are going to be utilized correctly. And it's a concern. It's a real concern of Renee Campion, the commissioner, of the MLC, the Municipal Labor Council. We've sat down at the table several times to find a solution to this problem that is costing us billions. So it's a real, it's a real issue that we're facing.

Question: On the first question about the lack of attendance and coverage of that survey.

Mayor Adams: Well, listen, and you're right. I think that when you look at the partnership of, you know, I always remember on September 11th, the response we received from across the country. People came here to be with New Yorkers. They mourned with us. They stood with us. They helped us dig out ground zero. And we should do the same. 

New York is known for that. This is not the first incident where Zach Iscol, the commissioner over at the Office of Emergency Management, what they do, how they respond in the middle of the night. And they were there to respond to our fellow Americans. And we should be lifting that up. We should be highlighting that. That should be on the front pages of our papers of what we are doing to help New Yorkers. 

That news, when I, when I, when I scowled through the papers, like I didn't see one story that talked about we're giving $10,000 to those who, you know, want to start families. This was unprecedented. And as I, each morning when I scowled through the papers, now I understand why people say we're doing such a terrible job, because people get their news from you guys. There's nothing that's reported on what we do. You would think we do nothing in the city. 

We broke housing schedules. We've outpaced the state in reading the map. You read through the papers. I say, what city am I living in? Am I living in the city? So when you got 24 percent of people saying, you know, we don't think the mayor's doing a good job, because every day they're waking up believing we're not doing a good job. But the numbers are just so factually incorrect. 

The numbers say we turned around the city, increase in bond rating, more jobs in the city's history, decreased crime, robberies on the subway system is the lowest since recorded history. I mean, you could go on and on and on, but you know what? You don't see that anywhere.

Question: I wanted to ask you, there's a Council hearing underway right now into the city's leases and Jesse Hamilton and a trip. My question to you is, there's been some concerns that have been brought up during that hearing about Jesse Hamilton's oversight of city leases. Do you still have confidence in him? And do you know why he didn't attend today's hearing? 

I also wanted to know, did Jesse Hamilton or anyone at City Hall request Diana Boutross to be on the city's account? Is that a conflict of interest given her friendship with Ingrid or a close relationship with Ingrid? 

And the last question, I'm just wondering when it comes to Trump, we're one week from the election, you're a top Democrat in the national party. Do you think this is now the appropriate time to maybe distance yourself from the other party's nominee?

Mayor Adams: First, Jesse and DCAS, Commissioner Molina is there and he's going to lay out how we've saved taxpayers millions of dollars, millions of dollars. So I know a lot of these headlines sensationalize everything, but I've been very clear from the day I was running, taxpayers' dollars must be protected. And we have been saving taxpayers millions, if not billions of dollars. And the facts are going to show that. 

The accusations will give the appearance that, oh my God, what's going on? But let's see what the facts say. I've been here before in life that I've read stories of someone making innuendos, and then the facts come out. No one writes the story of, oh, sorry, we were sorry. Let Molina do his, he would do his presentation. And we're going to see how we save millions of dollars. And I came into city government where taxpayers' dollars were being wasted. And I said no to that when I was running. And I lived up to that as the mayor of the city.

And so Molina is the commissioner. I'm pleased that he's presenting. And if there is a fair hearing, you're going to see that they did their job. And whatever review that D.M. Maria, our First Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer is going to do, she's going to review our policies, procedures. She's going to do an overall review and come out with some of those changes that we need to do. Because lessons always should be learned. And we're going to always be open to learning lessons. But he's presenting today. I'm pretty sure your colleagues that's up there covering will show how we save taxpayers' money.

Question: And then the second question about that this is the appropriate time to maybe distance yourself from the Republican Party's nominee. 

Mayor Adams: The goal is to distance myself from rhetoric and focus my attention on running this city. That's my goal. My goal is New York City, navigating the challenges that we're facing and aligning myself with the mayors across the city of how, as mayors, we can address these issues that are impacting our city. And that's my focus. And that's my goal. 

Question: So over this past spring, you had no problem characterizing the campus protesters protesting Israel as immoral. I guess demonized a lot of protests based on the comments of a few people. Do you think that Trump's comments at MSG about migrants being debaters and occupiers, were they immoral?

Mayor Adams: I responded to my comments on Trump. Next question.

Question: Hey, Mr. Mayor. I just want to ask you a couple of issues involving young people. First, five teens have been killed by gun violence in the last week. Have you looked into the root causes of gun violence? I know you talk a lot about getting guns off the street. Is there any more you can do there? 

Also wanted to ask you about subway surfing. You kind of talked about it a little bit before. Six teens have been killed this year. Can you talk a little bit about the drone program? I may have missed some of the details there. If you could kind of elaborate on that.

Mayor Adams: Great question. And you're right. The root causes are so important. We have sensationalized of guns. And, you know, listen, when I was a kid, you know, being able to play cowboys and Indians were, you know, the thing of the past. Everybody wanted to, you know, mimic those roles. 

But I don't know if we really understand what social media is doing to our children. Social media has radicalized and hijacked our children beyond belief. I mean, it's unimaginable that you can ride on the top of the train and get 10 million people to look at that. And we're showing that over and over again. And our children are looking at that. And, you know, our children are impressionable at those young ages when you have an 11 year old being inundated with this is the thing to do today. 

You know, as children, you leave a karate movie and you start kicking like you're Bruce Lee. I mean, that's different now. And that's the same thing with guns, retaliatory violence, the access to guns. That's why we zeroed in on taking these almost 9,000 guns off our streets. And then when you have laws that really don't appear to understand the seriousness of this overproliferation of guns in our communities. 

And so we need to stop them at the border. We need to have good, sensible federal gun laws to go after gun trafficking in a real way and get them out of the hands of those with real mental health issues. And then we need to have that real educational program that we're doing in schools every day and talk to these young people to become peer to peer counselors. Cause no one wants to hear from me. They want to hear from other young people. And that's what our goals are currently focused on. And then embracing what the crisis management teams are doing of going in and identifying these young people early, putting them on the pathway of employment, justice involved young people, what we're doing with them as well to get them on the pathway of employment and get them the support that they deserve. 

And we talk about the drones. We're going to roll out how we've been using the drones based on 311 and 911 calls. Because when people see a child riding on the top of a subway, they call 311 and 911. We've analyzed that data and we're using that as our way of patrolling those areas. We want to be proactive, talking to parents. When we identify a child that's subway surfing, we knock on the door of parents. We show them, this is what your child is doing. Now the parents must kick in. They must play a role in this partnership. And then, at the same time, we don't want to be heavy handed, but we are identifying our enforcement efforts and partnering with the MTA. So there's a whole elaborate plan that we've done for almost a year and a half now because we know this is a real issue of young people riding on top of these trains.

Question: Thank you. Mr. Mayor, I know you said New Yorkers don't care about whether or not Trump's a fascist, but Vice President Kamala Harris's campaign has made a big deal of that, right? Her campaign and her surrogates have very much leaned into the messaging that he's unhinged, that he's a fascist. By saying that he's not a fascist, are you not at all concerned that you're undermining her messaging and indirectly helping Trump with the election just days away? 

Comptroller Lander has also said that your unwillingness to criticize Trump makes it seem like you're seeking a pardon. Are you seeking a pardon from him? 

Mayor Adams: Lander, ooh, he's the moral authority of life, you know. Listen, next question. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. So as you probably already know, the exonerated Central Park Five have filed a defamation lawsuit against Trump last week for his comments during the presidential debate on September 10th. During that debate, he said that they, quote, pled guilty and, quote, killed a person ultimately. Neither of those things is true. In your estimation, does that amount to slander? Does their case have merit? And was his statement racially motivated? 

Mayor Adams: I'm sure the Central Park Five, including Yusef Salaam, who I'm happy to see him as a council[member], I'm sure he has an attorney. I'll speak with his attorney to handle this case. I don't want to do anything to jeopardize their case.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. So I just was wondering, when will you vote? Where are you going to vote? Who are you voting for for president? And do you support Prop 1?

Mayor Adams: I've made it clear on who I endorse for president, and I'm not going to do an annual endorsement refresher. I've made it clear. And if anything changes, I will tell you nothing has changed for that. And where I vote, you all know where I vote because you all stake out my crib to make sure that I'm there. And so I'll be voting on Election Day. I'm excited about casting my ballot and making sure that I move in the right direction. And yes, I support Prop 1.

Question: Two questions for you, Mr. Mayor. The first, John Chell appeared at the Trump rally at MSG in uniform. Do you think that's appropriate? Is there any kind of reprimand or discipline that you think would be appropriate if you find that to not be an appropriate mixing of city government work and a political campaign? And second, if Trump wins, do you believe that he'll be a partner to you and to New York City?

Mayor Adams: No matter who is the president I'm going to work with to do the best for New York. I love New York from the days of being a young man to my role as a police officer to every other office that I've held. And I'm going to work with whoever is the president of the United States to make sure that this city can continue to prosper. That's clear. And I say that over and over again. 

But I need to understand the John Chell piece. What do we believe John Chell did that was wrong? Because I'm not quite understanding. Because when I looked at the interview, he didn't make any political statements and he better have been in uniform, he was working. He was making sure that people who were attending the rally, walking down the block, that they were all protected. So what did John Chell do? Was it that he did an interview on a station that many people don't like? But I don't hear anybody… Not one person talking about the fact that he did an interview on NBC, CBS, AP and others. So if the rule is that we don't talk to any outlets that we don't like, then, you know, let me get out of here. 

I mean, what's the rule? We don't talk to any reporters that that write articles and never wrote one article good on us. You know, not talking about Chris, but if that's what we're saying, is that the rule? I'm just lost on what's the rule. No, he was in uniform. I saw his interview and they better highlight how good we do as a law enforcement agency. He was in interview. I don't care what the outlet is. And I don't want any of my agency leaders and leaders of the city to say, well, I'm not going to talk to someone because they wrote a bad article or they did a bad coverage. 

He has an obligation to talk about how good the New York City Police Department is and what we do, no matter what these rallies are about. So you cannot tell me one word he said on that interview that was outside of we're here to protect the people of the city. He didn't say I support any candidate. He didn't say I support any policies. He did exactly what I want my men and women of the Police Department to do, be in uniform and do the job of the way of the way he's supposed to supposed to do. So unless you know something that I don't know, tell me what he said.

Question: Do you think it's appropriate to appear in uniform on an interview with the outlet that peddles misinformation, disinformation? 

Mayor Adams: He was interviewed by the Daily News, was he? Chris, how many times have you wrote an article that was misinformation and lied? How many times have you [done] it? That the PC was leaving on Friday, walking out as early as Friday. Okay. Okay. 

So, if that's the standard, if the standard is, if the standard of we should not be talking to people because people put their personal opinions into stories and coverage. Come on, folks. Let's stop acting like all of you have a halo over your head. You bring your personal opinions into these conversations. My first day, my first day I was at Dr. King's, Dr. King's celebration on Dr. King's birthday. I got a standing ovation from the basketball crowd when I walked on the court. First article he wrote, there was one drunken heckler up in the crowd that said, "F that Eric Adams." Eric Adams heckled at Madison Square Garden. I think it was Madison Square Garden, one of the locations. 

Listen, we all bring our personal biases into this. We all, we're all human. And I got it. I got it. But don't tell me that someone should not be interviewed by a news outlet. Chell did nothing wrong. He did nothing wrong. And if you're telling me that he should not have been in uniform, he was working. If you're telling me that Chell endorsed one of the candidates, he should be reprimanded right away because he should not do that. 

But if you're telling me, I asked all of you to go look at the interview and tell me what Chell did that was wrong. He didn't do anything wrong. And just because you dislike an outlet, that is not enough to say we should not be interviewing, interviewing with that outlet. If that's endangering you, that endangers your whole freedom of press. That's what all you talk about. That endangers everything you say you believe in. 

Freedom of press. Either you have freedom of press or you don't. It's not freedom of press that I like. Let's be clear on that. It's freedom of press. Is there freedom of press or not? If there's no freedom of press, let me know. Oh, oh, oh, no, we're not going to do the call out. We're not going to do the call out. We're not going to do the call out.

Question: Here's an attempt to dial down the temperature in the room. Yes. On migrants. Yes. Migrant advocates are telling me, turn it down, right? Migrant advocates are telling me that they are concerned about families that have been placed in contracted third party shelters into hotels and the warehousing that often takes place in hotels. So a couple of related questions. 

A, are you concerned about that? B, are you concerned about the lack of services that these families might be getting in hotels? And lastly, what about the impact on long time New Yorkers who are in shelters that are already filled at capacity? 

Mayor Adams: I'm concerned about all those things. I don't think anyone has articulate their concern about the long term impact of having 220,000 people come in our city, spending $5.6 billion that could have gone to other city services for those who are in needs. Being able to successfully move over 160,000 people out of our system to go into the next step of their journey while we had over 60,000 already in care. 

Not one child, not one family are sleeping on the streets of this city because of what Deputy Mayor Williams-Isom, Chief of Staff Camille Joseph-Varlack and the entire team, Zach Iscol, all of us. So when you say am I concerned, you're darn right I'm concerned. I'm concerned of what this has done to our city of New York, and we have yet to see the long term impact of what this crisis has done to our city on the whole. So yes, I'm concerned, but we have to continue to pivot, shift, and move around to the best of our ability. We need help, and I've said this over and over again, and we should get, we deserve that help.

Question: And specifically from Win Shelters and other shelters into hotels I'm sorry? And specifically moving migrant families from Win and other contracted shelters into hotels on that point.

Mayor Adams: Whatever methodologies that the team is using, it is well thought out, and it has been successful thus far on first when one may look at it and say that, hey, this may not be a good decision right now. Remember people attacked us for the 30 and 60 day notice, but we were able to transition 160,000 families out. So the team is thoughtful, compassionate, and caring, and they're navigating a challenging crisis that they should all be commended for. 

So if that is an aspect of it that the team have figured out, I support the decisions of the team. You hire good people, let them do the job to resolve this crisis. No one wanted this crisis. No one wanted this crisis. And many people did not step up and do their job of advocating for Washington to have real immigration reform and get the resources here. So whatever the team is doing, I support my team because they've done a good job and they got me where we are now.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. 

Mayor Adams: How are you, Melissa? 

Question: Okay, thank you. Just following up on Morgan's question. I'm sorry, I'm sure it's out there somewhere. I can't find it in a quick search, but where actually do you vote? Is it in Brooklyn or is it on the Upper East Side? Can you just clarify?

Mayor Adams: Brooklyn.

Question: Thank you. And where will you be on election night? Do you have plans to attend any of the watch parties? Where will you be watching the results?

Mayor Adams: Well, you know, if I hang out too late, I mean, the results will come in too late. If I hang out too late, there won't be a story about me hanging out late, you know? So I would probably just hang out with Jordan and we may go to one or two watch parties. But, you know, he and I may just, you know, sit down and just hang out and just, you know, smoke a cigar and just watch the results come in. But, you know, I'll probably just drop in, pop in one or two watch parties, but probably do something with Jordan. What's going on, Chris? Liz.

[Crosstalk.]

Question: I wanted to follow up on the Newsmax discussion. So do you view Newsmax as the same kind of news outlet as CNN or NBC or ABC? Is there any line that you draw between an outlet like Newsmax and other mainstream outlets? And would you do an interview on Newsmax if they invited you?

Mayor Adams: First of all, that's a hypothetical. Look, I cannot share with you enough, as that you present me that question. What criteria do we use that is mainstream? Like who creates the criteria? When I came here, when I came here, I saw that, you know, many Black and brown and ethnic media, they were not even allowed to, you know, to sit in this place. You know, folks have created this bubble of mainstream. Mainstream to me is the Amsterdam News. Mainstream to me is the Pakistanian Times. Mainstream to me is the Bangladeshi paper, the radio shows. You know, what's mainstream? I'm not mainstream. 

I'm not mainstream. You know, so to say to me, well, you know, would you go on the mainstream? I will go on whoever is going to hear the success of this city and report it. And if I use a criteria that those who don't report the success of this city, then I'm in trouble. I'm not doing off topics anymore. You know, so the goal is Chell went on NBC, CBS, AP and others on the same day. No one is raising that. If he didn't do Newsmax, then we wouldn't even be having this conversation. 

So the group decided that Newsmax should not be on the list of reputable outlets. Come on, this is so silly. Which outlet are you with? 

Question: [Inaudible.]

Mayor Adams: Right. Prior to that, you probably weren't even in this room. You know that? Think about it. Think about it. You know that? You know, prior to that, you know, people may read a story in your paper and say, oh, man, that's a fringe group. That's the city we were living in. Yes, sir. 

Question: I was wondering, do you support or oppose Trump's promise to carry out the nation's biggest deportation operation in history? And second, is the city taking any proactive steps to shield migrants from deportation if there is such an operation? Or do you think it's a good idea? And will the city cooperate with efforts to acquire data about migrants?

Mayor Adams: City is very clear on our rules. This is a sanctuary city, something that I advocated for, those who commit illegal actions in the city, I don't believe they should be able to remain here after they serve their time. So I've been clear. I said this over and over again. But other than that, I'm not entertaining any hypotheticals. 

[Crosstalk.]

Question: Chi Osse's bill to basically shift broker fees away from tenants having to pay them is coming up for a vote on November 13th, I believe. I know you've kind of said you need to do more research on the bill in the past. You know, you recognize the plight of tenants, but also small landlords. Have you been able to look over the bill more closely since then? And do you have a stance on it going into the vote?

Mayor Adams: Former real estate agent, small property owner, three units, to be exact, have not raised my tenants rents since they've been in there. And the lease says that I can't raise your rent as long as you are in my place. And that's been some many years that's there. I know what it is for small property owners. And oftentimes when people think of property owners, they think of those who have thousands of units of apartments. Small property owners are hurting. 

You know, you have a 12 unit apartment. Some of your tenants are not paying the rent. You have individuals, everything's increasing on them going up. We need to find a real way of distinguishing between those small mom and pop property owners that are really struggling and the large folks that could absorb this stuff, you know, that could hire, staffs inside to do their brokering and in their renting. You know, but we just have this huge umbrella and, if you're not on the ground talking to these small property owners and the pain that they are feeling and the fear of losing their primary investment, wealth for people of color in this city specifically, but in general for everyone, wealth is in their property. 

And if they lose their property, large conglomerates come in and purchase those properties. And then you have a real problem. And I don't think, I don't think people think this through. I don't think they think it through. So we're going to read over the, the legislation, anything that we can do to defer costs from everyday renters without hurting small property owners are important to me. So we're going to read over it and make the determination of what the next steps are on it.

Question: Downtown question… you did a good job, the Department of Transportation, Sanitation, please clear it out. The Manhattan bridge vagrants underneath the Manhattan bridge, it's all cleared up. But now it seems like a lot of them have just migrated into the Sara D. Roosevelt park a couple of blocks away that that's becoming a new shanty town. Um, anything you can do about that? And how do you deal with just forcing them from one, one park to another?

Mayor Adams: What is it? What is it? These are homeless…?

Question: In Chinatown basically. Not maybe a couple of blocks away from the Manhattan Bridge Plaza. And you know, our reporter was down here the other day. Now that's tent city and it's garbage and it's a [inaudible]. 

Mayor Adams: Give me the location. I'm not, I'm not getting the location… on the Manhattan Bridge? 

Question: Well, the Manhattan Bridge Plaza is cleared up. [They] did a good job on that. 

Mayor Adams: Okay. So where are they now? 

Question: Force them from there into the Sara D. [Roosevelt], which is a kid's soccer fields. It's next to Pace. I think it's a high school or middle school.

Mayor Adams: I'm not sure of the location. You know, can you give me the location and I'll have the team go over there today and look at it? I'm not, I'm not sure of the, I know where we had the problem that was brought to our attention. We went over there, I looked at it and we moved to rectify the situation. I'm not sure if this new location.

Question: The Elizabeth Street Garden, I think the judge issued a stay on the eviction, which expires tomorrow. Is there any change in the city's position? Are they going to evict the, uh, Elizabeth Street Garden project?

Mayor Adams: Got to get housing. I've said it over and over again, 2,000 over 2,000 units of senior housing. When I do these senior town halls, these seniors are, they're petrified at the city's leaving us, leaving them behind. We're able to get housing. We're able to get, uh, open space at that location. 

We need the City of Yes passed. We're in the streets now doing our City of Yes Initiative. There's a vacancy problem. You know, these are tough decisions, folks. I can't any clearer, you know, thank God we don't have someone in this office that's going to put their finger in the air and see where the wind is blowing. These are tough decisions. You know, no one likes these decisions. The decisions I have to make are tough and hard decisions. And you know, you're not going to be liked when you make these decisions. 

But you know, when people look back over these years, they're going to see that the city's a better city because I was willing to make these decisions. I was willing to be jeered. I was willing to be called names. I was willing to be booed. I was willing to do all these things. These are tough, tough decisions. And one can easily placate you and say, okay, you know, everybody yelled loud, so now I'm not going to do the housing that's needed. 

You know, I need the housing in the Bensonhurst area. I need the housing up in the Bronx. I need this housing, because New York is in a housing crisis. And so if the criteria is whomever yells the loudest [and] we don't do it, we're in trouble. I got to make these decisions and you know, I'm willing to make the decision[s]. I'm willing to take whatever repercussions come with the decisions that I have to make. That's what I was elected for. Thank you.

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