Transcript: Mayor Adams Appears Live on ABC7's 'Eyewitness News at 5:00'

July 1, 2024

Mike Marza: Happening today, a new police law went into effect after a long battle between New York City's mayor and the City Council.

Sade Baderinwa: The How Many Stops Act requires the NYPD to record race, age and gender of people during investigations.

Marza: Also today, New York City libraries are celebrating that they will be fully funded in the next budget. Mayor Adams and the City Council announcing more than $58 million earmarked for the libraries. Their proposed cuts would have been forcing the libraries to close on Sundays.

Baderinwa: For more on all of that, we're joined live by New York City Mayor Eric Adams. Mayor, thank you so much for joining us. First of all, let's talk about the restoration of the library funding. This investment is a 180 for you. What caused the change of heart?

Mayor Adams: I think that what I required of all of my city agencies is to go through what every family is going through right now. We must look at the dollars that are coming in and make sure the dollars come out match. Early in the administration, back in 2022, I had every agency find efficiencies. We had three rounds of efficiency cuts, which we call PEGs. Then the City Councilmembers and I, particularly the speaker and the Finance chair, we say, what can we restore? What can we put back?

Now that we have the necessary $8.2 billion dollars in savings, we were able to put back over $300 million dollars in one of them. One of the items was the libraries, as well as what we did for cultural institutions, $53 million. We saved pre-K and other Summer Rising programs because all of these dollars were sunsetting. We had to make the right fiscal decisions when you look at a $4.9 billion unexpected price tag that came from the migrants and asylum seekers.

Marza: I know my kids are very excited that the libraries will be open on Sunday so we can look forward to cooling off in those areas later on this summer. While we have you here, I do want to ask you about the How Many Stops Act. We mentioned that it went into effect today. You vetoed the legislation, but then the City Council overrode that veto. Have you talked to the officers today? How is the implementation going?

Mayor Adams: That's part of the democracy that we're in, the laws and the charter allows City Council with a certain number of votes to override a veto. That allows the balance. I disagreed with the bill, but I agreed with our democracy. We will carry out and institute the bill the way the City Council requested. I spoke with Chief Counsel Gerber, Michael Gerber, over at the Police Department. We're ready. Officers have been trained. I would like to see our officers focus on public safety and not paperwork but the vote was done and we're going to comply with the law.

Baderinwa: Mayor, you talked about what money is coming in, what money can come back. Let's talk about congestion pricing. This is the first week it would have started. Proponents are asking the governor to reconsider pausing the plan and perhaps even charging drivers a lower fee instead of temporarily nixing the idea altogether. What are your thoughts on that? Have you had any conversations with Hochul?

Mayor Adams: I had several with the governor and I appreciate her leadership on so many levels, how she delivered for New York City during the budget, for allowing us to use vacant office space for apartment conversions, to cannabis enforcement, to mayoral accountability.

When you're looking at an issue like congestion pricing, I stated over and over again, we have to get it right. This is a major impact on all employees, all those who come into the city, particularly transit employees and other public and civil servants. We have to get it right. We don't want it to stop our economy from moving forward. We have more jobs in the city's history. I don't want to do anything that's going to get in the way of tourism and other economic impacts. She understands that. I have a lot of faith in the governor. We're going to get it right. I'm sure we'll deliver a good product.

Marza: All right, Mr. Mayor, we appreciate the time as always. Great discussion.

Baderinwa: Thank you, Mayor.

Mayor Adams: Thank you. Take care.

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