Transcript: Mayor Adams Holds In-Person Media Availability

November 19, 2024

Video available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsGD6q3mi7g

Mayor Eric Adams: Good afternoon. Something must be going on, it's a little more crowded in here than normal. Great to be here. Before we do a few off-topic questions, I just want to go over a few items.

And again, yesterday, as you know, I issued a drought warning for our city. First drought warning we've had in 22 years. Who would have thought we would be praying for rain here in November? But the reality is that we need rain. Not only here in the city, but up near our reservoirs. It's important. We have an eight-inch drop in the amount of rain that we normally have to be at full capacity. So it's imperative that we take the necessary steps.

And not only is the lack of water something we should be concerned about for just drinking, everyday use. But we're seeing a lack of rain. We've had over 300 brush fires in our city. And that's up to the FDNY, the Department of Parks, and others who are responding to these brush fires to minimize the damage. And I want to thank Congressman Espaillat as he's looking at the fire we had up in Inwood. How do we come together to sort of restore the land that was impacted?

FDNY, they have been extremely busy in fighting these fires across the month. And so, again, we're reminding New Yorkers that if you're dealing with breathing or respiratory issues, to be conscious of it. Stay indoors if possible. Use air conditioner and other ways of filtering the air. Grilling is banned in the parks at this time. And there really shouldn't ever be any open flames in our parks area. So we can all do this together to prevent the fires, the brush fires. But also conservation. New York City, we're asking you to shower. Don't run the water while you're shaving. And just the normal, common-sense tips to really— conservation of water.

Public safety, important. New York City continues to be the biggest, the safest big city in America. And for the last 10 months, we've reduced crime citywide. Last month, our subways— of crime was down by 26 percent. Remember January of 2022, where just about every day, we had a front-page story talking about subway crime. We should start writing about how safe it is in our subway system. And we continue to do a great job. And I want to thank the NYPD and the Transit Bureau and the passengers who are really responding. And, when you add that to the fact that we've taken over 19,000 guns, illegal guns off our street, and, using the technology such as drones, I am really excited about the initiative we're doing with drones as first responders. This is going to lead the entire country on how we can patrol from the sky pennies on the dollars. The amount of money it takes to put a helicopter in the sky is thousands of dollars. And here we're using pennies on the dollars to keep New Yorkers safe, to search for missing people, to respond to emergencies, and to be proactive, so police officers, when they respond, they would know what they are responding to.

Lastly, affordability, we have really focused on changing how we're hiring New Yorkers. That's why we were able to drop unemployment around Black and Brown New Yorkers by 20 percent. The numbers were high when we came in office. We're doing the hiring halls. But we're also reaching out and looking at the archaic ways that we hired people. And one way we saw that we were charging $47 per exam for the law enforcement exams. We're now combining several law enforcement agencies where you would do one exam and it would cover each one of those agencies.

We have about 900 available positions for school safety agents, traffic enforcement agents, special officers, and sanitation enforcement agents. One exam, $147, and it allows you to take and be available for any one of those law enforcement agencies. So we're continuing to change how we go about not only saving taxpayers' dollars, that's a 78 percent application fee decrease, but also how we become more efficient in carrying out our responsibility of staffing and hiring New Yorkers.

We also just really want to thank Chief Diversity Officer Mike Garner, who for the first time, David Dinkins' vision of an M/WBE and making sure that we have those who have procurement contracts from the city look like the residents of the city. And that is not what I faced when I came into office. But we finally hit over 30 percent for the first time in this city's history. Over 30 percent of the M/WBEs, 30 percent of our contracts are going to M/WBEs. We're talking about in 2024, $6.4 billion. That is part of our overall employment plan. That is how we're able to drive down unemployment, empower our local businesses, and make sure we have diversity in our city contracts.

And I'm really excited about what Chief Diversity Officer Garner was able to accomplish when I brought him on board. My mission was clear. That was our North Star. People who are doing business with the city should look like the residents of the city. And we're getting closer and closer to accomplishing that. So why don't we open to a few off-topics questions?

Question: Hi, mayor. Yesterday at a news conference, you mentioned that the stabbings were an example of the city's health system, mental health system, failing New Yorkers. As the leader of the city, what are you doing to help with that problem in the city with mental health?

Mayor Adams: Let's go back to January 1st, 2022. I came into office with a clear vision on how do we deal with, not only public safety, housing. My plan was clear. And what we have witnessed from the beginning is each time we implement these long-term, successful ways of addressing these issues, we had push back by a host of people who are the loudest.

Remember, I talked about involuntary removal. We walk past people every day that we know they do not have the ability to make the right decisions to take care of themselves. This is a problem that was created when we closed the psychiatric facilities many years ago. We closed them without giving people the support that they deserved. And because of that, you're seeing it. All of you are seeing it. You're seeing it on the subway. You're seeing people walk the streets. You're seeing it in your neighborhoods, where people are talking to themselves, yelling at themselves, walking around with no shoes on in 20 degrees weather. And what I said was, listen, we have to be honest about the ability that someone that's gone through a severe mental health issue is not aware that they're not on their medication, that they're not receiving the support and family that they deserve.

And when we rolled that out, you know how we would treat it. Everybody said I was inhumane, that we just want to institutionalize people. Well, this is the result of that. This is the result of not taking actions and ignoring people who need help. Just this morning, I got a call this morning, we had a person with an ice pick trying to stab people in Manhattan. We have a real problem that we have to be honest about. And I'm willing to be honest about it.

So, what we have done, we have taken thousands of people off our subway system that are dealing with this issue, and many of them are still receiving the care that they deserve. We've been back and forth to Albany to say, let's codify in law and give real clarity around the authority we have of dealing with people with severe mental health illness. We have partnered with [Mitchell] Katz from H&H to tell even the clinicians and others who have been really reluctant to hold people with severe mental health illness. They give you medicine for one day. They place them back into the street. They wait until they do something dangerous, and it's recycling until the person commits an act, and then they go to Rikers Island. Fifty-one percent of the people on Rikers Island have mental health issues.

Question: How do you ease the fears of New Yorkers, though? They were all unprovoked attacks, and now people are walking around looking over their shoulder. You know, how do you ease the fears of New Yorkers now?

Mayor Adams: I'm asking New Yorkers to join me. We're getting ready to go up to a new legislative session in Albany. Let's finally deal with— we have to take those who can't take care of themselves off our street and give them the humane care that they deserve. You know, that is what we need to do. We're doing our part. Under the leadership of Deputy Mayor Williams-Isom and her team, we have removed thousands and tried to put them into care. Dr. Vasan, when he was here for the commission of Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, put a real plan together, from the clubhouse model to other models.

We're doing our part. But we have to move away from which, I believe is wrong, to state people have a right to live on the streets when they are dealing with severe mental health illness. It's a public safety issue, and we have been leaning from the front on this. And if you go back and look at the story, some of you wrote stories saying that I was inhumane for doing so. This is the result of denying that people who can't take care of themselves as a society, we have to make the determination of giving them the care. And so my heart goes out to all those families, the family.

But just think about it for a moment. One person is just fishing on FDR Drive and he's stabbed. Another person is on his way to work. A mother of a 8 year-old child, you know, that child came here, that family came here to pursue the American dream. And now that child—how do you explain to that child what happened? This is the failure of our unwillingness to face the problem, address the problem, and don't be so idealistic that we're not realistic. People need care. And I just refuse to act like it doesn't exist.

And all those who are against me doing involuntary removal, you should be asking them. You say the mayor should not do involuntary removal. What is your question to these families? I have to go speak to these families. I'm the one that's going to the hospital. I've got to reach out to that young child, 8 years old. I've got to speak to the families who are going through this. So everybody who wrote those articles and all the advocates who attacked me, ask them, what should we be doing with those who can't take care of themselves?

Question: Okay, so as you give shelter to hundreds of thousands of immigrants, as you know, the elected president Trump, he declared that he's going to deploy the army, he's going to use the military for mass deportation. What is your policy? What is the policy of the city if we start the mass deportation? How the city will be?

And number two, if the mass deportation happens, then there's a lot of family will be—separation, family separation will be happening. What is the plan if that thing happen? Then kids are—American born father and mother, they reported. How you are going to protect the city and what will be your role? What is the plan?

Mayor Adams: Listen, I don't think— we spoke about this last week and probably a week after. We spoke about this over and over again. I can't be any clearer. Our laws are clear. And I think misinformation and fear is really hurting people. You know, people stop me on the street every day and say, oh, I read this, I read that. You know, we need to stop all the misinformation.

We have this scenario, meetings and conversations. We are going to make sure that people who need city services, educating children, hospital care, public safety care, that is what we do in this city. And as the scenarios come in front of us, we'll address them. You know, that's what we do as a city, and that's what we're going to continue to do as a city. This is a country of immigrants.

But let's not ignore the fact we have a broken immigration system. Broken. The American public, they have communicated they want it fixed. That's what we need to be talking about. So, all of these little small items that we're talking about is not getting to the heart of the problem. New York City should not have had to address 220,000 migrants and asylum seekers with no money from the federal government. $6.4 billion out of our budget that is going to impact this city in the long-term things that $6.4 billion should have given us.

Only $200 million, roughly, from the federal government, from a broken system that they ignored. And it's time to fix the system, and it's time to make sure, like what happened in that homicide and the double rape that we saw, those who are committing crimes should not be in our country. It's a right to be in this country, and if you are a violent offender, you should not be in our country.

[Crosstalk.]

Question: Hi, mayor. Going back to Jen's question with involuntary removals. Hearing everything that you had to say about the advocates who opposed your policies, we obtained some video from about two and a half years ago as you began the involuntary removal program. It appears to be the same gentleman who did the triple homicide yesterday. So you've moved forward with the involuntary removals, pushed back against the advocates, but we're seeing this guy out there for so long and cycling through the system so many times. What does that say about the efficacy of what you're doing to clean up the subways and streets?

Mayor Adams: I'm not understanding the question.

Question: So you've pushed back against the advocates that say no involuntary removals, and you've moved ahead with involuntary committals, and you've pulled people off the subway you say shouldn't be there, but we still see instances like yesterday. So what do you say to critics that say your policies, we don't just disagree with them, we're not so sure they're working?

Mayor Adams: First of all, people dealing with severe mental health illness didn't start showing on our streets January 1st, 2022. The system has been failing for a long time. Administration after administration, I can recall stories and reading about people with severe mental health illness harming themselves and harming others. It didn't start January 1st, 2022, pushing people on the subway track. It didn't start January 1st, 2022, of assaulting people.

What I was willing to do and will continue to be willing to do is to confront it. Too many people were afraid to step up and say people who are dealing with severe mental health illness need to get the care they deserve, and even if it means involuntary removals. No one wanted to say that, because they were afraid to be yelled at, called names, and said that they were inhumane. And I was not willing to sit back and allow this to continue to happen. And the thousands we removed off the streets prevented incidents like this.

Is there more work to do? Yes. We need more psychiatric beds. After COVID, we closed down a lot of psychiatric beds. We need to get them back online. Everyone needs to be on the same page. And I can't even tell you, even when I was back in law enforcement, you bring someone to the hospital and the hospital staffs did not want to keep them outside to give them the medication for the day.

We have to change our mindset. People need community. They need care. They need to be stabilized. Just because you get your meds and the next day you're stabilized, no, there's more. We need to get in the serious business of dealing with those, as you stated, the same people we're seeing over and over and over again to make sure they get the care they deserve. Hundreds, I think we're in the area of about 800, who we have put in permanent houses. Some of them are dealing with severe mental health issues and some of them long-term are homeless people. And so we have confronted this issue, but we need help on all levels of government.

Question: Mr. Mayor. How are you doing?

Mayor Adams: Good, and yourself?

Question: Good. So on outdoor dining, you know, we've seen a big drop off between the number of sheds that were around during the pandemic,, at the height of the program. And then, the new program that people are opting into. Do you feel some responsibility for the drop off there in approving the new program?

And then separately, we're seeing these wildfires in the city, whatever we want to call them. You know, you've linked this to climate change. So has Rohit and others in your administration. President Trump is a climate change denier. Are you concerned about the president being a climate change denier, considering what we're seeing right here in New York right now?

Mayor Adams: No, I'm not. The first part of your question was dealing with I was focused on the climate change. [Crosstalk] I'm not concerned about that. What was the first part of your first question? Because it's not. I mean, what does that concern me?

We're going to put out the brush fires. We're going to continue to lead the way and doing what is to improve our climate, everything from electrifying our vehicles to all the other actions that we're doing. We're leading the way here. And so national leaders have their opinions. Agency heads have their opinions. We believe that climate change is a real issue and we're leading the way in what we're doing here. We've been rolling out our initiatives over and over again. You don't hear about them because for whatever reason, they don't get any coverage. But what we've been doing to be a leader in climate change from the wind farms, we're getting ready to do, what we're doing in new schools we're building. So we're not concerned about that. We have a job to do. Let's do our job here. And that's what we're doing. So I'm not concerned about what other people's opinions are on it.

Question: [Inaudible.]

Mayor Adams: I don't understand why you said that we're responsible for the drop off? I don't understand.

Question: You feel responsible for it. Because you signed off on the new program, the opt-in program, where it's seasonal.

Mayor Adams: Yeah. And you know that was a bill, right? Okay. Does the City Council pass the bill?

Question: And you signed it, right?

Mayor Adams: Right. So should we break the law? I'm not sure– It was the city council passed the bill. They did their research.

Question: I'm asking if you feel some responsibility for it. You signed the bill. There have been other bills that you've disagreed with and haven't signed.

Mayor Adams: So why would I— City Council. Okay, we're on the same page that the City Council passed the bill, right? Okay. So they passed the bill. So your question is, should the City Council and the Mayor's Office feel responsibility? But whenever anything is not what people want it to be, should I just feel responsibility? Is it a partnership or not?

Question: I don't really understand the question. We've asked the City Council.

Mayor Adams: I understand the question. Listen, the city council passed the bill after doing research. I think it was Councilwoman Velázquez, passed the bill after doing the research. We wanted to make sure that it was done correctly. Hats off to Mayor de Blasio for—we were dealing with an industry with 100,000 people. No one wanted to eat inside. And our restaurants are more than just places where people go to eat.

When I go inside there and I walk inside and I talk to the busboys, the waiters, the cooks, when I speak with them, these are everyday, working-class people. So, what Bill did—and really kudos to him and his team. He said, listen, we've got to get people off. People are afraid to go inside restaurants. And that was a major economic hit. So, he created the outdoor dining in an emergency. We came back, partnering with the city council. They said, okay, now we've got to do it so it's safe, because some of these structures were not safe. And some of them have—they became places where rodents were located. People were sleeping in them. We started dismantling them.

But the City Council, very thoughtfully, came up with a way to do it. We agreed with what they produced. They introduced a bill. It passed in the City Council. We signed it into law. And now it's being executed. Anytime you execute something new, there's a slow start-up. Some people are still getting through the application process. Some people say, do I still want to do the outdoor dining? Is it still profitable, etc.? And then it moves forward. But to all of a sudden say, well, okay, it's a drop-off, so now you have to take the blame. No, no, I don't. Thanks to the former mayor. Thanks to City Council. And thank Eric for signing the law.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor Adams: Yes. How are you? What's happening? How are you doing?

Question: I'm good, thank you. I just wanted to follow up on the serial stabber. You've only highlighted one issue that needs fixing. Are you saying if you had the power to involuntarily commit people that this wouldn't have happened? And then I've got one more question.

Mayor Adams: Ask me them both.

Question: Okay. And then the second one, you and the governor have developed a more amicable relationship with the incoming President Trump. A stark difference with his first term, the Dems, with the goal of getting projects like Penn Station done. How do you think the city and state's relationship with the President-elect will be affected given the governor is now trying to push through congestion pricing at the 11th hour? And do you think this will affect Penn Station funding similar to what happened with the Gateway Tunnel?

Mayor Adams: First, the stabbing, which was just horrific. I cannot express, when I first got that first call and the NYPD said, listen, we have a stabbing, and then they called me right back and said, no, we have another one. And right away, I said, something's going on. Then I get a call, we got another one. And they did an apprehension plan and hats off to that officer. If that officer did not take action, we would have had more casualties. That officer did an unbelievable job, 19 years in the Police Department, did not lose his desire to still protect the people of the city, and just really hats off.

He ran towards danger and not away from it. And I believe he saved lives and that cab driver, I think, also saved lives at the same time by—he saw something, he said something, he did something. But there isn't a one-size-magic-pill to solve the mental health issue that we're facing. There are many rivers that feed that dam, and we have to dam each one of them.

Number one, we need more psychiatric beds. Long-term psychiatric beds. Two, we have to build community. And I go back to giving the support to the clubhouse model, which Dr. Vasan talked about. And voluntary removal is another one. Training our hospital staff, the reluctancy of those in our hospital facilities of keeping people in until they are stable and get the support that there is. There's a culture we have to change. And I saw that culture back—even back when I was in law enforcement, where you immediately want to—the person come in with an episode, a psychiatric episode. The person comes in. You give them medication for a day. It could be bipolar. It could be schizophrenia or whatever. And then, the next day, since they calm down, we just put them back out in the streets.

No, there's—we need a real system of follow-up care. We need to connect with family members and giving them the support. There are family members who are seeing their loved ones going down this spiral of negative behavior, and there's no real support. And they're afraid. And so, there's a combination of B-HEARD, rolling that out, and having people responding to that more, training our law enforcement officers of what we're doing with SCOUT and what we're doing in our subway system to be proactive. So, there's a large picture. There's not one.

But we do need Albany to pass a supportive intervention act. It clearly clarifies the standards for holding a person for care in a hospital, because clarity allows people not to feel reluctant to make the decision. And that clarity is not there. And if you speak to mental health professionals, even police officers, when I'm walking the subway system and I'm at a station and I see someone laying on the platform and it's cold and they don't have any clothing on, I say, have the police officer come here. Why is this person—this is your pose? You know, they're like, you know, ma'am, like, I don't know what we are allowed to do and can't do. There's a lack of clarity, and there's a lot of fear, because the people who yell the loudest have intimidated those who want to do the right thing. And we have to stop being intimidated by people who just because they yell the loudest.

Question: [Inaudible.]

Mayor Adams: Yes, yeah. You said the governor and I have— No, that's not true. We don't have a good relationship. We have a great relationship. We have a great relationship. I like the governor. I like the governor a lot. I think she's a real leader. And, you know, when you're a leader, you make tough decisions. She did an analysis of the $15 for congestion pricing, and she hurt the public. I mean, you know, people normally, in this game, you get dug into, you know, your position, and you don't want to listen to the public. She hurt the public. And she said, listen, we're going to drop down the cost.

Now, no matter what cost it is, are you going to get 100 percent of the people happy? No. I mean, it's New York, 8.3 million people, 35 million opinions. You know? So even if you said it was 25 cents, people would say, 25 cents? You're trying to take my George Washington away from me? You know, that's just life. You know? But she made that decision. Now, do I believe, because she did congestion pricing, that all of a sudden the president is going to say, okay, we're going to take away all the other stuff that we're willing to do, Penn Station? No, I don't. No, I don't. You know? I'm sorry?

Question: I mean, the gateway tunnel. He has done that before.

Mayor Adams: Yeah. Listen, I think that it's imperative. And you said something that's very important, by the way. Communication. We weren't communicating before. We were engaged in warring and not working together. And so, what happened when I was here two weeks ago? I think it was two weeks, you know, being mayor is dog years, so it could have been longer. What happened?

I said I reached out to the president. Right? What happened after that? The governor reached out to the president. Senator Gillibrand reached out to the president. Morning Joe reached out to the president. You know? So, what happened? When I said that, listen, let's turn down the temperature and let's work together for the City of New York, all of a sudden we got a different energy. You know? None of them, not the governor, not the senator, not Morning Joe, did you say, are you doing it because you want something? How about we're doing it because we love New York? This is the president. And it's time for us to stop yelling at each other and working with each other.

Question: Mr. Mayor, just pulling back a bit, according to the U.S. drought monitor that NOAA keeps, close to half of the country's lower 48 states are in drought, which much of the eastern U.S. reporting worsening conditions for the second week in a row.

The Times Union is reporting that drought could delay a $2 billion project. The city has to fix a major leak in New York City's upstate Delaware aqueduct that was shut down on October 1st for the final phase of the project. You have worked effectively with other mayors around the country on issues related to gun violence, to immigration. Are you still, like Mayor Bloomberg did, willing to work at least, because this is an economic issue here. New York City's water is key to everything from bagels to everything else we rely on.

Mayor Adams: That's what makes our pizza great. Our water. No, and you're right. This drought issue is a real issue. And, you know, we're hoping we don't have to go to the next level of the emergency level. And the goal is to collaborate with the mayors across the region, through U.S. Conference of Mayors, African American Mayors Association and others, to really, you know, see and how we work together to address this issue.

But it does also come down to everyday New Yorkers. Conservation. You know, we have to get out of the habits that we used to. I know I would have the water running while I'm shaving or brushing my teeth. You know, so we really have to make sure that we do what is right. And so, we've come through the government crisis before, and we're going to do it again. And so, when we put in place this citywide drought warning, we did it because it was important.

So, listen, these are simple steps that—because you got to—you want to keep it simple. You [don't] want to [overcomplicate] things, because there's—trust me, everyone is saying, listen, if I stay in the shower as long as I want, this is not going to impact us. But they don't realize everybody in the block is saying that. Everybody in the neighborhood is saying that. And everybody in the borough is saying that.

So, it starts with doing these simple items. You know, repair the leaks, install water-saving appliances, fixtures, their fire hydrants. And we—it's amazing. We have a large number of folks who are calling in with fire hydrants leaks now, because people are starting to respond. People understand how serious this is. But it's going to take a collaboration. And I agree with you. We need to—we're going to attempt to do that.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor Adams: How are you?

Question: Good to see you. Good. Back to the stabbings yesterday. We can all agree that the healthcare system failed this man. But the justice system failed all of us. It failed we, the people. And it's wonderful. You have a great relationship with the governor. You're talking about going up to Albany and advocating. But I'm wondering, you, as the mayor of the greatest city in the world, what tools do you need to fix the justice system? What can you do? And how can we, the people, help you?

Mayor Adams: I like that. And that's a great question. The tools that are within my disposal, one of the tools, the New York City Police Department, that officer did his job. The tool of telling everyday New Yorkers, you see something, say something, do something, that cab driver followed the person. When he saw the individual assault the woman, he didn't just turn around and say, let me go pick up my fare. He followed him until he came upon a police officer.

So our message to say to New Yorkers, see something, say something, do something, is part of the tools. But we need to really look at the, as I stated, the Supportive Intervention Act. Advocating to get that passed is imperative. Advocating to get more psychiatric beds online is imperative. Making sure that we communicate with the advocates and tell them we need to take a real look at this. The street corner is not a psychiatric ward. It's not a psychiatric bed to sleep in the parks. We have to change our mindset.

And I said from the time that we started this, you know, idealism collides with realism when you have three innocent New Yorkers that are stabbed and murdered. That is, that's a wake up call for our criminal justice system and our psychiatric system. And I'm hoping that we get to respond. We have three New Yorkers who were murdered in our city by a person who was betrayed by the health care system. And that should trouble us all.

Question: Question about your drones. Were you able to put them up yesterday during this crime spree? And would that have worked, having the NYPD put up a drone yesterday while this guy made his way around the city? Was it used?

Mayor Adams: Great, great, great question. No, we did not use the drones. But what we did, Deputy Commissioner of Operationa Kaz Daughtry, he instituted this emergency notification system. Once we had a photo of the person, it is now deployed to every cell phone that police officers are carrying. So we mobilize the entire law enforcement apparatus, which was an amazing idea that he created some, I think, sometime last year.

Because all the officers carry devices now, smartphones. So immediately when we got the—I think it was the second incident. It could have even been the first. It was immediately deployed to every phone. So now every officer on patrol is able to look at it. It was a brilliant idea on his part. And it helps us in apprehending, you know, when we have these type of incidents.

I remember we had a person who was doing random shootings in Queens, and we were able to do a faster apprehension. So we didn't use the drones, but he used another form of technology. Let me tell you, Deputy Commissioner Kaz Daughtry, you know, you don't realize how much this young man has really changed the game of policing in this city and how he's constantly finding different ways of making it better for our city. But, no, we didn't use drones, but we did use that.

Question: We hear all of your suggestions about reforming mental health. We've been covering them for years. The question I have, though, is what have you learned internally about the specific breakdown in this particular case?

So, for instance, have you asked your team what interactions your outreach teams, the city outreach teams, had with this man? How many times did anybody ever ask from the city that he be hospitalized involuntarily or that he receive mental health treatment? So where was the breakdown based on what you understand? And also, if we could just ask you to tell us a little bit about your ringside chat with President-elect Trump over the weekend.

Mayor Adams: We're doing a complete analysis, because I'm a big believer in case studies. And when you do these case studies, like we've done on a couple of them, you're able to see where the gaps, you know, because being fair to these mental health professionals, listen, they're inundated. And they say thousands. I think we moved six or seven thousand off our subway system. And all it takes one.

And then when one happens, everyone goes back. And we almost beat up these mental health professionals who are living through vicarious trauma themselves of having to deal with people with severe mental health illness. So we're going to do a case study and analyze it, not in the desire of now we want to point fingers and say, well, why did you miss? Why did you miss that? Why did you miss that? But say, how could we be better at this? You know, those mental health professionals, if they were in contact with them, they are feeling bad about losing three New Yorkers also.

And I think far too often we beat up the mental health professionals who do this work every day. Many of them do it because they feel it's a calling. And like you look at a Norman Siegel, those volunteers that Norman Siegel put together to go into the streets and talk to those who are dealing with mental health, they took a substantial number of people off the street because they felt it was their calling. And so we need to support those who are doing this work. This is hard work. It's restrictive legally for them. You know, there's times, I think I went out with NBC one day and we tried to talk with a person who was clearly unable to take care of himself. He didn't have any shoes on. His clothing was unkempt. He was— human waste all over him for the most part. And he was like, I don't want any help. Leave me alone.

You have to constantly go back over and over and over and over. And so this is challenging work. We're going to look, we're going to do a case study and see where our interactions, what could we have done differently? How do we show up or what we have to do? But this is hard work.

You know, if any of you have have interacted with a person who's dealing with severe mental health illness, you know how hard it is. You know, I have family members who are who are dealing with it. And sometimes they disappear for, you know, extended family members. Sometimes they disappear for weeks. We don't know where they are until one day we bump into them on the streets. And, you know, this is hard work. And so, you know, ABC went out with us on the day that we did it. But thus far, we removed 6,800 from the subways that were homeless and many of them were dealing with mental health illness.

Question: Just anything you can share with us about your chat with Trump over the weekend.

Mayor Adams: You know, we exchanged pleasantries and I didn't hear— it was a lot of noise. So I didn't hear exactly what he was saying. But it was something to the tune of that, you know, you are one of the greatest mayors the city has ever had.

You know, the city has turned around under your leadership. You know, so I didn't get it all. The lip syncer missed that part. What was it? The lip reader. Right. I think they missed a part of, you know, how he talked about, you know, how I brought back the economy, brought back jobs. The bond rate is ninety eight thousand nine, nine thousand guns off our streets. Improve education, high speed broadband for NYCHA residents.

You know, so I didn't get it all.

Question: [Inaudible.]

Mayor Adams: We said we would do it. The only thing we were concerned about is, you know, seeing a good fight. And, you know, I'm a fan of the sports. And, you know, so I think he as he moved to the city, he acknowledged, what a great job this administration has done. And, you know, I thank him for that.

Question: Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis, she requested statistics on how many crimes were committed in or within five block radius of city run migrant shelters last year. She requested those statistics in January. NYPD a couple of times postponed the deadline to answer that question. The last deadline was provided to be yesterday, November 18th.

NYPD did not provide those statistics. And they just replied to me that data is not broken down to that level of specificity. But I wonder why first they said they will provide. Now they're saying they don't keep that statistics. What is your response to that? Would it be helpful to keep those statistics? If we talk about primary and–

Mayor Adams: This is around migrant shelters?

Question: Specifically around migrant shelters, it had to do with the sanctuary.

Mayor Adams: We should we should be able to tell you based on the address what type of crime is around that address. So let me let me let me speak with NYPD and see what we can give you, because if you're given an address, we should be able to give you a profile of what is happening in that area. So let me find out. Alright. And we will call, we'll call you later on today and see about getting that. I thought you were going to tell me something about lighting up City Hall, the Polish colors.

Question: Well, that wasn't done.

Mayor Adams: But you did you put in a request?

Question: That was not me. I was just asking on behalf of, [inaudible].

Mayor Adams: Well, someone you—

Question: [Inaudible] have found out by me that was something between Robert's Holden's office and your office that–

Mayor Adams: That's Robert. Did he put in a request?

Question: But the press office responded to me.

Mayor Adams: People have to put in formal requests. Same with the flag raisings. Same with a matter of fact, we're doing an event at Gracie Mansion because of your requests. You remember that? Okay, so we're doing we're doing an event at Gracie Mansion to for Polish heritage. I think it's the first time it has ever been done. You know, 110 mayors later. And finally, we acknowledge in a beautiful work of the Polish community. But Robert Holden needs to put in a request and we would love to light City Hall

Question: [Inaudible] was established. So, okay, I know I got my answer. <

Question: In the wake of Monsignor Gigantiello doling out two million dollars in unauthorized loans to Frank Carone, the news broke yesterday. Are you reconsidering having Carone serve as the chair for your 2025 campaign? Are you still planning on having him serve in that capacity? And then my second question is, at a rally today for universal child care. Nearly all mayoral candidates were running against you, slammed you for how you've taken care of child care, saying that the city needs leadership. That's going to make that a priority. Do you want to respond to that?

Mayor Adams: Yeah. The… Frank is not only a friend. Frank is a great New Yorker. He served us as the chief of staff here. He brought his skill set and abilities here. Whatever role he would like to play on my campaign, I welcome him to him to do so. So I don't know about unauthorized loans and other things. I know how I've watched him throughout the years and just the level of humanitarian response to so many issues that he has done. So whatever that other part, I'm not aware of it.

And so when they were protesting, did they protest the fact that we dropped the cost of child care from fifty five dollars a week to less than five dollars a week? Did they mention that? Did they mention that we had sunsetting of childcare dollars from the previous administration because of COVID dollars? But we were able to find and put the money in. When you are running, you can say anything. Go look at my promises that I made on a campaign trail and see how I lived them out. That is what the numbers say.

We've done an amazing job recovering the city from covid to migrants to crime. And so I have a record to run on. What more can I say? I am so pleased with what this administration has done. It has reached beyond what I thought we were going to be able to do. We're going to continue to do. We just got started. I'm just lacing up my shoes and stretching. We haven't even start the real run.

Question: Councilmember Borelli told me yesterday that he had approached the administration with some carve outs for Staten Island that he says would have kept the plan mostly whole. He said that your administration rejected those trying to get a sense of why that was and how important it is to you that this plan does pass as completely as possible.

Mayor Adams: Yes. Well, first of all, I like Councilman Borelli a lot. I think he's a common sense thinker and he's willing to fight on behalf of broken class New Yorkers. And I enjoy, you know, just interacting with him on different levels of and hats off to Speaker Adams, because her and her team, we have had real conversations about this. And, you know, from all readings I'm getting in my daily updates, the conversations have been healthy. They've been engaging. Everyone knows we have to give a little to get a little. They put out their proposal, which I'm just happy to see that we both agree on some of the common things.

Listen, we have a housing crisis. There's no getting around that. They understand it. We understand it. We've been able to do some great things. to how we have included NYCHA in our twenty six billion dollar housing plan. And over the years, the Bronx and Metro North of the Bruckner project, Innovation Queens, all of these items that we have been able to accomplish is because we were willing to sit down and come with— When we walked into the room, we came into the room with one desire.

We had a 1.4 percent vacancy rate. We have to put people in housing. And I believe that just as the speaker and I have been able to land a plane on so many items, I think we can land a plane on the City of Yes. And they're going to look at all of these council. We have 51 council people, you know, and all of them are talking about issues around parking, issues around accessory dwellings, a whole host of things. But dear Maria Torres-Springer and the speaker's team, the reports I'm getting is that they're good, healthy conversations. And we want to we want to get this done for the people of the city.

Question: So, Mr. Mayor, I have two questions for you. My first question is regarding the specialized high school exam. Parents are very concerned because the contract is expiring. There's supposed to be a vote about renewing the specialized high school exam. The votes, the votes being delayed indefinitely at this point. And, you know, the concern is, is the vote actually going to happen? And also, there are vacancies on the PEP with regards to your appointments. Do you plan on appointing any new members anytime soon? That's question number one.

Question number two, Mr. Mayor. You know, you spoke briefly about the work that this administration has done in regards to M/WBEs bringing in bringing opportunities for Black and brown businesses. And in addition to doing that, when you look around the room, Mr. Mayor, we see a number of ethnic and community media outlets that are here today.

My question, Mr. Mayor, is Justin Brannan introduced a bill a few weeks ago to undo the Room 9 policy that allows many of us who are in this room access to Room 9. And the bill is a retroactive bill. So, in effect, that bill will evict us from Room 9. There are 19 desks in Room 9, and three of those desks are now ethnic and community media outlets because of you letting us into that room and diversifying the room. What is your position on this bill? Those are my two questions.

Mayor Adams: And I spoke with Councilman Brannan. You know, we had a conversation around that because I was a little surprised of turning back the hands of progress and hands of time. You know, it's almost like someone coming in and, you know, the progress we've made, you know, we're turning them back. And he shared that was not his desire. And he also stated that he was going to reach out and communicate with you. And I believe he should really look at what the goal was. I thought he was giving a false impression because there was a reporter that stated we're trying to restrict access to reporters. And that's not not true.

Look, Room 9 can't look like the U.S. Senate. Has to be integrated. And we need to let in ethnic media. We need to let in diverse media, diverse opinion, diverse thoughts. And I've been clear on that. You know, it's not like I say one thing and do another. We need to diversify every area of this city. When I became mayor, Mona, there were there were countries that we would not raise their flags at Bowling Green. When I raise their flags now, you hear all the time. First time ever. There were countries that were not allowed to celebrate their culture inside Gracie Mansion.

We have been a one dimensional city and we've ignored groups because they did not have a voice. They got a voice now. Mayor Adams, you know, and Mayor Adams makes sure I speak on behalf of all of them, because those are the people who came together and said this non-traditional, non-mainstream. I don't even know what the heck that is, is coming to our communities for the first time. And he sees us. And so when I looked into Room 9, I walked in and did a peep in Room 9. And I was like, what is this?

That is why we made this initiative. And hats off to Fabien, you know, our first Sephardic, you know, deputy mayor in the history of this city that knows what it is to be denied and said we need to do this and we need to do this. We need to do this everywhere. And so I'm hoping Justin, you know, my conversation with him, I'm not going to go into the depth of it, but Justin is a decent person. I'm hoping he looks at what was the spirit of that, of that bill, of the bill that an initiative that we took.

We need to diversify. If we diversify Room 9, we're going to diversify opinions. We're going to diversify thoughts. We're going to diversify how stories are written. And people are going to get different opinions on what is happening in the city. And that's why we have to diversify Room 9.

Question: [Inaudible] specialized high school exam?

Mayor Adams: The vote is where?

Question: It's been delayed.

Mayor Adams: From where?

Question: Last month. Then it was supposed to be tomorrow. Now it's been delayed indefinitely.

Mayor Adams: Who's doing the vote?

Question: It's supposed to be the panel for educational policy.

Mayor Adams: Okay, I'm not. Listen, I believe in I'm a supporter of the specialized high schools. I think instead of taking opportunities away from accelerated learners, we need to expand them. That's why Chancellor Banks opened new schools. So we need to have pathways for accelerated learners.

And so, I don't know why it was delayed. Let me look into it and see why it was delayed. But we should always have opportunities for accelerated learners. And we need to expand those opportunities. What was frustrating that there are a lot of accelerated learners because we didn't have enough seats. They were not… because they may have missed the scores by a fraction of a point and they were not able to get access.

And then we need to diversify our specialized high schools. And when I was growing up in the 70s, there were these programs that clearly placed these children on pathways to be prepared to take these exams and give them the support. And that's some of the stuff we did in Borough Hall to give that support. So we we don't need to take away opportunities. We need to expand those opportunities.

Question: I wanted to ask you who paid for your UFC ticket to go on Saturday night. I also wanted to get your opinion. Trump nominated somebody new for the Southern District of New York. Do you see any changes to your federal case right now?

I also wanted to ask you about the stabbing.

[Crosstalk.]

But they were very long. The second part of my question is the third stabbing spree victim was a woman that we believe her address came up to a migrant shelter. Can you tell us if that was a migrant in your care? And then the 68 year old man was fishing on the East River. Was that man a New Yorker?

Mayor Adams: I paid for my ticket. You know, my legal team here told me what ways that I was able to attend. I could have I could have gone for free. You know, the offer was there. But I said, no, you know, I paid for my ticket.

The question around the the migrants, you know, we have to look into that. We're still clearing out exactly what's going on with that and exactly what happened. It doesn't matter if there was migrants shelter. It's not. It was a tragedy that should not have happened. You know, we lost a mother and an eight year old child does not have their mom. I don't even know how you explain that to an eight year old child. And I just have to find a way to speak with him and with the child and just explain what happened, to the best of my ability.

Question: [Inaudible.]

Mayor Adams: The… I do not know who the choice [is] that the president made. I do not know that I've stated over and over again. I did nothing wrong. I should I should not have been charged with this. And the attorneys are handling every role possible to bring justice to me.

Question: Can you go back to the drought guidance real quick?

Mayor Adams: Yes. Do we have the droughts?

Question Third from the bottom, flush your toilet less often. Yes. People are only flushing their toilets… and like pretty specific…

[Crosstalk.]

I was wondering, is this guidance, you know, to like reprise the phrase that was used in the 80s to if it's yellow, let it mellow. Is that what you're telling New Yorkers to do? And are you are you flushing your toilet less often?

[Crosstalk.]

Mayor Adams: Well, first of all, I like those if it's yellow, let it mellow, you know. But also you'd be surprised why we flush our toilet that does not have to do with personally relieving ourselves. Some people put, you know, food in the toilet. Some people drop after they floss. They would drop the string in the toilet. So we're just saying be conscious of what you're doing. That's what we're saying. Everyone be conscious. Think a second. Take a second to think what I am doing. That's what it's all about.