Transcript: Mayor Adams Appears On NY1’s “In Focus With Cheryl Wills”

August 4, 2024

Cheryl Wills: Welcome to In Focus on this Sunday, August 4th, 2024. I'm Cheryl Wills. We're on location today inside City Hall with Mayor Eric Adams

There's no slowdown during the summer months here. This administration is as busy as ever. From a virtual town hall meeting with civil servants to a roundtable discussion with members of the Yemeni community, we followed the mayor to get a closer look at how he gets stuff done. Mayor Adams will join us here in the Governor's Room for a conversation in a few moments, but first, a recap of his busy day, both inside and outside of City Hall

Good morning, Mr. Mayor

Mayor Eric Adams: How are you? Good to see you

Wills: Really good to see you. And here we are Monday morning. Your day did not just start, did it?

Mayor Adams: No, no, not at all. Actually, I did a couple of interviews this morning

Wills: Right

Mayor Adams: And just my normal meditation, prayer, smoothie

Wills: Right. In that order. And now we're walking into the Blue Room. You have a busy day. Tell us what this is about

Mayor Adams: We have civil servants doing the job, and they rarely get the opportunity to speak with the mayor, ask him questions. And you'll be surprised that even civil servants are not aware of all of our successes and what other agencies are doing. So this is a town hall with the over 300,000 employees that I have so that we can speak and hear questions from them

Wills: That's fantastic

[Video plays.]

Mayor Adams: And so we want to engage in a real conversation. Because of you, our city remains the safest big city in America. Let's get some questions

Question: Mr. Mayor, it's a pleasure to speak to you today. My husband and I are both public servants and the cost of childcare is really a huge factor in being able to work. I just wanted to reach out to you and see if you had plans in place to help public servants be able to afford childcare

Mayor Adams: It's a big issue. We were able to get Albany to give us the help we needed. We brought the cost of childcare under $5 a week

[Video ends.]

Wills: So how did it go?

Mayor Adams: I think it's important for other civil servants to hear the questions their colleagues are asking and what sometimes we forget. We are New Yorkers, you know? We're concerned about the same things that everyday New Yorkers are concerned about. And so when you do these town halls, it becomes an aha moment for those who are providing the services because you're finding that your colleagues are concerned about it as well

[Video plays.]

Look at the destructive power of these batteries. In 2023, there were 18 deaths related to lithium-ion battery fires. This year, one. We know that one death is too many. So today, we're doubling down on our success with the launch of our "New York City Safe Charging Accelerator." So I want to thank the entire team, the deputy mayor, the commissioners

Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh: Education works. We're seeing that people are keeping these outside, that they're storing them more safely. And because they are, they are able to get out of their apartments. So they're having these fires, but they're safer when the fires happen. And so that's why this million dollars is so critical. It is going to make sure that even more New Yorkers understand not only how dangerous these can be, but also that there is something they can do about it right now. Also very appreciative to the deliveristas who helped us craft some of this messaging specifically to the delivery workers

Dr. Kaled Alamarie: Yemeni New York own more than Consumers Affairs, Health Department, public safety, the NYPD, and to make sure that they get the proper service that they deserve. I choose to serve the city

Abdo Zandani: We love the city. And I don't know of any previous administration that has brought us to this house and brought us to the table. Figuratively and literally speaking. So we are thankful and grateful. We had an opportunity to support the mayor when he ran for office. He made a lot of promises and we are here to call him on those promises and to make sure that he delivers, which I am sure he will

Mayor Adams: First of all, thank you, those extremely kind words. They wrote articles about me, how I am always in the Muslim community. Not only did I visit your mosque, as many electors would do during election times, I stood with you after

I walked the streets that day, 'Kill the Muslim Day.' I was out in the street in Bay Ridge. When the former president did the Muslim ban, I walked out of Borough Hall wrapped in the Yemeni flag to show my solidarity for the Yemeni community

How much the Peruvian people are committed to this city and giving back. The beauty and joy of America in general for New York is that you do not have to give up your love of your homeland as you embrace your adopted land. Thank you so much, Viva Peru

[Video ends.]

Wills: And now we're back inside City Hall, this time in the Governor's Room with Mayor Adams. Thanks for carving out time. You have such a busy schedule day to day

Mayor Adams: It's all good

Wills: Yeah, we appreciate you making the time. So let's start with that town hall meeting you had with the civil servants. They wanted to hear directly from you and you made it clear that you wanted to hear directly from them. What did you learn from that meeting?

Mayor Adams: It's a constant reminder that not only for me, but those civil servants, that the things that everyday New Yorkers talk about, we are everyday New Yorkers also. So their students are in our school system. So when we improved the reading scores and outpaced the state, that impacts them. They hate rats like me. So when we containerize garbage, it impacts them and they are on the subways and when we make our subway system safe, the way we have, it impacts them

And it's a good way for me to hear from those who are on the ground, what do we do in all of our agencies to improve our delivery of services and I can give them the vision. Because I hear it all the time from civil servants, I didn't know that. They're so busy with their nose to the grind, doing a job, that many of them don't realize what we have been doing

Wills: Yeah, and it seemed that way when you were collaborating with them in that town hall. A lot of them talked about childcare, you know, and that's a big issue for New Yorkers. Civil servants or any blue collar worker, frankly, what do we do with our kids and how can we afford it? Talk to us about your thoughts on that and how we can improve?

Mayor Adams: It's so important and childcare and proper childcare is more than just where you drop your children off during the day. Parents are concerned about quality childcare and how do you use those early days as giving them the learning experience that they deserve. And I always talk about my sister, she lost her childhood handling and taking care of her five siblings while mom did three jobs and that impacts a child

So when we went to Albany and we were able to look at those who made $55,000 or less a year annually, we dropped the cost of childcare from $55 a week to less than $5 a week. That is huge. And then when you look at what we're doing with ore-K and 3K, that these are programs that were sunsetting from COVID dollars. Now we have permanently put them in place and we're seeing a massive increase. We were like getting about 19,000 people who signed up previously in 2019. Now we're at over 50,000 children who are signed up. 98 percent of them have their seats already. We're going to close the gap in the last probably 1,000

But childcare is huge, but we want to use that time that we have the children to also give them the quality education as their brain starts to develop

Wills: And you said during that town hall, your government is working for you. And I felt that the reason you said that was because a lot of people feel the government doesn't work for them, it's not in their favor. So you made it a point in underlining and underscoring that point

Mayor Adams: Yes, because I'm a big believer that, you know, we betrayed many New Yorkers. When mother had to feed us and she needed assistance from the government, we were given food that fed our, you know, our healthcare crises. That cheese that we used to get was filled with salt, it drove the high blood pressure. The powdered milk and the powdered egg just fed those crises. When I went undiagnosed dyslexia, that fed the problem. Using the example of my sister, you know, we betrayed her not having her childhood

And so I wanted people to know that government doesn't have to be betrayal. I was lucky and running the lives of New Yorkers can't be about luck. It must be about opportunity. And that goes for civil service workers also. That's why we gave them the salary they deserve to be able to have settled those contracts with 95, 96 ratification voting rates. It was just something that was important to me. And we want to continue to do that

Wills: Anytime someone sees your press conference on the news, there are three words. Get stuff done. And it was very interesting. It's a message that's in your face. What do you make of it now that you're, you know, at the third year of your term? Do you feel you've got stuff done? Do you feel New Yorkers are getting the message that so many people here are working sunup to sundown, really?

Mayor Adams: They are. And it is my commitment. No New Yorker should work harder than me. I start my day early, 5 a.m. in the morning for the most part. And normally I'm finishing up a little after midnight. And I give New Yorkers my all. And I want to get stuff done for them. And they need to know that. And we want to show them

Because oftentimes we're bombarded with the worst things that can happen in a city of 8.3 million people. And we tend to view our lives by those negative encounters. Like when you look at our subway system, our subway system is the safest subway system in the country. And with 4.1 million riders, we have an average of five felonies a day on a system with 4.1 million. Robberies are at the lowest level in recorded history on our subway system. But if you're reading someone being shoved to the tracks, something that's done in a terrible way, you tend to believe that, OK, this is my reality. And I must constantly remind New Yorkers that we're not coming back. We're back

And we're humming. More jobs in the history of the cities, more small businesses in the history of the city. Tourism is back. We are seeing a city that is the safest big city in America. And we've given prosperity for all. We cut Black and Hispanic unemployment rates. It was four times the rates of whites when I got into office. We're seeing it for the first time under 8 percent. We're just seeing how prosperity is spreading throughout the entire city

Wills: OK, well, I'm so glad you can stay with us for the whole show. We're going to take a quick break. In Focus returns right after this

[Commercial break.]

Wills: Hey, thanks for staying with us. We're back here at City Hall with Mayor Eric Adams. You know, after your virtual town hall, you headed over to Cooper Square to talk about lithium-ion batteries. This is an issue that's really plagued firefighters, especially all the fires even recently, you know, one after another. Do you feel the city is getting a handle onthis crisis?

Mayor Adams: Yes, and really hats off to Commissioner Kavanagh. She has been amazing in her ability to identify this problem in a real way. And she was front and center. She has become a national, if not an international leader

And we're looking at three primary areas. Number one, education. Many people didn't realize the change in our streetscape after COVID-19, where people are getting a lot of deliveries. And we're using these batteries that are just not the proper testing. And we educated people on how to use them and where not to leave them at your door when we're watching these explosions. The second was to have people turn in their batteries. We allocate money for turning in batteries, doing battery replacement. And the third is charging. When you look at many of these fires, long strips that are not made to plug in a lot of batteries for charging. We saw a number of fires that were caused because of that. And so we will focus on those three areas. And that's what the rollout was. And we're really excited about it. We think it's going to make an impact

Wills: Okay. And Commissioner Kavanagh is moving on, as we recently learned, your thoughts on her transition

Mayor Adams: You know, I have to take my hat off to her. We've had many conversations. I remember speaking with her when she took the job and we talked about going into an all male environment, but she was ready for it. She understood the challenges. She improved the recruitment of women firefighters. She looked at the diversity of our department and she led from the front and she showed that a woman can lead the largest fire department in the entire country, if not the globe

And I wish her all the best. She says, Eric, it's time to do something else. You don't climb a mountain just to stay that mountain. You climb it to find the next mountain that you're climbing. She said, I'm going to, I want to raise a family. I want to start moving into the next phase of my life. And I just wish her well

Wills: And you know, it's never easy being the first

Mayor Adams: Oh, it's not

Wills: And she was the first woman in a male, white male dominated industry. Did you ever have to counsel her or tell her to keep going? I'm the daughter of a firefighter, so I'm aware

Mayor Adams: We would sit down and we would talk often and she always knew she had an open door. We would just communicate with each other and she was a friend. It just gave me so much pride when I stood next to her and appointed her in that firehouse and she stayed for the two, a little less than three years. And we just cannot thank her enough. We're a better city and a better department because of her

Wills: Yeah. And let's talk about how the FDNY will launch a $1 million public education and awareness campaign. Do you think those campaigns are effective considering the steady rate of these lithium-ion related fires?

Mayor Adams: Yes, I do. And I think it's important that we zero in on the communities that are impacted the most. And we do it in multiple languages. It should not be just in English. We have a lot of our deliveristas who speak Spanish for the most part. And we should make sure that we do it in the many different languages where people are using these

We have folks from West Africa who are now using these. And so we should identify the languages and the advertisement should be in those languages. And then we should use non-traditional methods. The mosque for my Muslims, the deliveries to organizations to give them out. DCWP is great at doing it as well. So we should be very focused on that

Wills: There are so many immigrants and different migrants who are coming into the city. They may not know about uncertified batteries and you hope they're getting the message, but sometimes they're not. How do you reach that group that's just coming into the city, getting right to work? And then, boom, they start a fire unknowingly

Mayor Adams: Right where they are. And that's at our intake centers. We would be handing out paraphernalia and information at the intake centers. And then we would do reminders at the humanitarian relief centers, which are shelters. That's that constant reminder and telling people the dangers of not properly using the lithium-ion batteries

Wills: Okay. And, you know, we're going to take another break. When we come back, we're going to talk about your relationship with the Yemeni community. They really check for you. They came in here and they really had a lot to say. So we're going to talk about that. In Focus returns right after this quick break

[Commercial break.]

Wills: We're back with Mayor Eric Adams talking about another community that's very important to him. I was surprised by their reaction to being invited to City Hall. You know, I spoke with some of them and they said, this is our first time being invited to City Hall. We remember him when he was Brooklyn borough president. Talk to us about the ties that connect you to the Yemeni community

Mayor Adams: It's a significant one and the Yemenis and the Muslim community on a whole. You know, there's a lot of protests that's taken place where people want to rewrite the history. But from 2001, you know, the Arab American, the Muslim organization, the Police Department, it was my attorney that sat down and helped them develop that after the women were being attacked for wearing a hijab

What I've done in this community is really a symbol of what I've done in every community. But the Yemeni community in particular, during the time when the former president had the Muslim ban, they came to me and asked, can they use City Hall to do a protest against it? And we had one of the largest demonstrations of Muslim Americans demonstrating against the Muslim ban. And they saw a continuous relationship when there were assaults in their stores, because many of them had bodegas, how we were, I was always there

But it's really an example of all of these communities, the Chinese community, my advocacy around ending Asian hate, the LGBTQ+ community, the Jewish community, where we saw what took place on October 7th. People can't point to one community and say, well, he's only talking about when African Americans go through something hard or Spanish speakers speak something hard. I'm there because innocent people should not be the victims of any form of violence or discrimination. And I just strongly believe that. And I want to live that out every day of my life

Wills: One of the members in that roundtable was a father and his son, an NYPD detective, had died, not on duty. And when he stood to speak, you could tell he was choking back tears. You attended his funeral. You gave him top honors. And I just want your reaction to his comments to you

Mayor Adams: It meant a lot to me. He was a an educator for many years. And I went to the funeral. His son died. He didn't die in the line of duty. He died for medical complications. And his dad, the way he spoke, he was basically saying, I watched you throughout the years. And sometimes you don't realize that people are watching you and they see what you stand for and are you consistent in your message. You know, it's hard to believe it's been almost 40 years I've been doing this as a public service

Wills: As a public servant?

Mayor Adams: Yes. As a public servant. And I remember a reporter when I was campaigning, she wrote an article saying the things he said back then are the same things he's saying right now. Public safety and justice, looking after children and families. And to have that consistency that is documented and hear him articulate how long I have been for that community in particular, it meant a lot to me, you know, in the pain of losing his son. He took a moment to reflect on the relationships I've had with that community

Wills: Yeah, that was a touching moment, I must say. And quickly, before we wrap up, we are headed to a historic Democratic National Convention. You'll be there. We at NY1 will be there. What's your message to Democrats who are still concerned about unity in the wake of this historic fallout with President Biden?

Mayor Adams: I would tell them unity starts with you. And sometimes we put things out in the universe of how we can't get along when we should be putting out positive affirmations, how we will get along, because our future depends on it

I'm really excited about the VP now being nominated to be the Democratic nominee and eventually becoming the president of the United States. And it says so much, because government is not only substantive, it's symbolism. We have to make the trains run on time and deliver for children and families in the country. But the symbolism of being the first African-American woman to be the president of Indian origin, what is that going to say to all the groups across this entire country?

And I'm excited about it. What we must do as a party, we must have clarity of message after the convention, when someone says Democrat, everyone should know what that means, what it stands for and what we're fighting for

Wills: Mayor Adams, truly appreciate your time. It's always nice being in City Hall

Mayor Adams: Thank you

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