Transcript: Mayor Adams Appears on ‘Latinos Out Loud’ Podcast

November 29, 2024

Rachel La Loca: It's your girl, Rachel LaLoca here, loca on location in the city that I love, that I was born in. We have such a special guest today. I'm thrilled. I'm excited to introduce the 110th mayor of New York City. We know him. Brooklyn, born and bred. Brooklyn! That's where I saw him for the first time as Brooklyn Borough President. Please put your hands together. A big Latinos Out Loud welcome from Mayor Eric Adams.

Mayor Eric Adams: Thank you. Wow. I [should] use that intro everywhere I go.

La Loca: I'm happy to package it. I'm also happy to be here every time you need an introduction.

Mayor Adams: Love it. I'll call you up.

La Loca: Thank you for taking the time.

Mayor Adams: No, without a doubt. Without a doubt.

La Loca: Thank you so much. This is very exciting. I am a true New Yorker, born and bred.

Mayor Adams: How does one tell? How does one know a true New Yorker?

La Loca: Forget about it. What are you talking about? What do you mean? Of course. It's like, you know, I think that we have a very distinct quality of us, first of all, we are so caring. We have a bad rap. You know, people across the seas and in different cities are like, oh, New Yorkers are tough and mean. No, we're not. Ask us for directions. We'll tell you how to get to where you need to go. Okay? My nine-year-old knows the MTA subway map, like the back of his palm.

Mayor Adams: Love it. Love it. Love it. But if you get us angry, we'll tell you where you need to go also.

La Loca: Well, that's another thing. That's another story, which we're very quick to flip to that side. But that's because, you know, it's the grit. Yes, it is. It's being here in New York City. It's fight or flight.

Mayor Adams: Well said. And, you know, that personifies who I am and people look at all that I'm going through and all that's happening in the city and they're like, oh, wait a minute, why don't you just surrender? No. We got grit.

Mayor Adams: We're here for the long run.

La Loca: Unique New York grit.

La Loca: Yeah. I love being from this city and it's like, I really feel the love when I travel outside of this city. I'm proud to represent always. And people usually like, we heard you say water, so we know where you're from.

Mayor Adams: But notice if you are in a room of crowded people and you say New York, everyone sort of turns around and look.

La Loca: Right. And bow down. Right? Like we are so cool outside of New York.

Mayor Adams: We are. We are. And we're the most important city on the globe.

La Loca: And you're running it.

Mayor Adams: Imagine that. Imagine that. That's what one states, that being able to run the most important city on the globe. Every day I wake up with that excitement and I'm ready to do the job.

La Loca: I love that. It sounds like you love your job.

Mayor Adams: I do. I really do. You know, over 30 something years ago, I said I was going to be the mayor of the City of New York and to get there, it's exciting. And you don't climb a mountain and when you get to the peak, you complain about the view. No, enjoy the view because you will be back down in the valley one day.

La Loca: Wow, that's so crazy how you predicted it. You felt it in your bones.

Mayor Adams: Yes, I did. I saw how the city betrayed my mother and my family. And I just was committed about, you know, one day becoming the mayor and just stopping the betrayal on every level. And now I'm here and we're able to do some good things.

La Loca: Well, we have some questions from the [L.O.L.eros.] I have questions of my own, but I am of the gente, of the people. And so I was able to collect two questions from the [L.O.L.eros,] our hive, and I'm hoping that you'll answer them.

Mayor Adams: I will answer. I'm an open book. I'll answer any and every question.

La Loca: Great. So our first question comes from Ricky, and I'm going to go ahead and play that for you.

Question: Hey, yeah. Hi. This is Ricky the Rat from Red Hook. On behalf of all New York City rats everywhere, we do not support your war on us or your National Urban Rat Summit. We just want our fair share of the pizza pie. We would appreciate if the cell phone cameras would stop invading our privacy too. I mean, just the other day, my wife and our 569 rat kiddos appeared on the front page of the New York Post. Mayor Adams, is there a way that we can peacefully cohabitate in this beautiful and delicious tasting garbage ridden paradise we call New York City?

La Loca: Wow. Ricky's a little angry.

Mayor Adams: Yes. I hope Ricky's not a voter, you know. I don't want him crawling into one of Napoleon's sites. No, we have a real rat czar, and our focus is on rodents. And you know, I don't know if people realize how a rat can just really impact your quality of life. Seeing a rodent, it's traumatizing for people.

I remember when I was Brooklyn Borough President, a group of mothers from public housing came to see me where the rats used to crawl into their baby's cribs, and they'd show me photos of them nibbling at the dried milk on their face. And it's just, they were just so fearful, and it was just traumatizing as they were shaking telling me this story.

And I knew we had to do something about it, and that's what the rat czar and the Commissioner Tisch of the Department of Sanitation, that's why we containerize in our garbage. Number one reason we're seeing so many rodents are the plastic bags, and now we're moving to 70 percent of our garbage of almost 14 billion tons will be in containers. That's a huge victory for us.

La Loca: It is. I'm sorry, Ricky the rat, but it sounds like they're really cracking down here in New York City and making it cleaner for the rest of us.

Mayor Adams: Yes. Ricky is going to have to move on. There's a whole lot of locations he can hang out in.

La Loca: Yeah. Okay. Well, I like that. Ricky doesn't sound like such a nice rat anyway. Okay. Our next question is from Rosanna from the Bronx.

Mayor Adams: Sounds like a plan.

La Loca: Let's see what Rosanna has to say.

Question: Hola. Hi. What's up? This is Rosanna Santana. I'm Mayor Adams. I'm from the Boogie Down Bronx. I used to ride the bull train with my kids, Junito, Pepito, Juancito, and Bicochito all the time. But now I'm scared because of all the crime. That's a rhyme. Bars. I'm also scared because a lanky subway dancer almost kicked me in the face last week. I lost 37 of my fake eyelashes. Who's going to pay for this loss? And what are you doing to make the train safer, Alcalde Adams?

La Loca: That's a great question.

Mayor Adams: She has a lot of energy. We often believe that our city's unsafe. Number one, we're the safest big city in America. The safest big city in America. And when I became mayor in 2022, we had a 40 percent increase in crime. We watched that crime decrease. Now we've had 10 straight months of decreasing in crime. And do you realize our subway system is the safest it has been in 14 years? If you take away the COVID years.

In August, we had the lowest gun violence shootings in the recorded history of the city. Lowest number of robberies on our subway system in the recorded history of the city. We're seeing police officers really responding.

Now, do we have those very painful incidents, that seven-year-old baby that was shot the other day? Thank God she's going to survive. Those incidents play on our psyche. And we believe when we read them that, oh my God, we're living in an unsafe city. We have a long way to go to where I would like to be, but we're a long way from where we were. Our city continues to be safe. The police are doing the right thing. Community groups are doing the right thing. We're all collaborating to make this a safe city.

La Loca: We like those new A-trains with the cameras.

Mayor Adams: Yes.

La Loca: Are we going to see those rolling out, no pun intended, on the tracks?

Mayor Adams: Yes. A lot of our trains are going to have cameras, thanks to the partnership with the governor. And they are great deterrents, and they help immediately catch people who participate in criminal behavior. And it's a great, great introduction into our system. And we're happy about it. And I want to thank the governor for realizing that using technology, we can keep our city even safer.

La Loca: Yeah. I really can't wait to get to that place where I myself feel safer on these trains. I was around in the 80s and the 90s, and there were times where it was just terrible. My parents forbid me from taking the train to go to any outer boroughs. Times have changed.

Mayor Adams: Yes.

La Loca: But there's some work to be done.

Mayor Adams: No, it is. It is. As always, until we get to zero crimes, we will always believe that there's a lot to be done. But we're getting there. Dedicated. Committed. We're New Yorkers.

La Loca: We're New Yorkers. And unlike Rosanna, I don't mind the lanky subway dancers. I never got kicked in the face, and I think some of them are really talented.

Mayor Adams: Yes. Yes. The goal is to get those who are dealing with severe mental health issues off our subway stations and out of our system. That's what we've done. We've gotten 1,000, almost 8,000. We were able to convince to take our care, hundreds are living in supportive housing because of that.

And so when you hear of a terrible story of someone being shoved to the subway station, then you go in the system, and you're seeing someone being disorderly because of a mental health illness, it plays on your psyche. And it really overshadows the success that we've had. Because things that are highlighted, things that happen to us bad, we remember more. And our goal is to really give people the care that they deserve.

La Loca: Yeah. I will say one thing, because there's always a silver lining, when we see these terrible videos of crimes being committed, most of the time we see fellow New Yorkers coming to support and calling the cops or doing what they got to do. And that's back to that grit that we were talking about. We're a community. We're a big community of five boroughs. And I love being a New Yorker, because I would do the same for anybody if I saw something going down.

Mayor Adams: No, we are. We really come to each other's aid and assistance. Even if there's a terrible incident, we're willing to open a GoFundMe page. We see someone that is hurt or something terrible happens to an individual, we're always there. And out of all that grit and grind, and as we deal with the crises in our own lives, we're still willing to help others. Because we know being a wounded healer allows us to heal.

La Loca: Yeah. Amen. Well, thank you, [L.O.L.eros] for submitting those questions. And now I'm going to flip the script to a more serious tip. Bars, like Rosanna, okay? We all got some bars.

Well, Mayor Adams, as of September 20th, there are now 64,000 migrants living in the city's shelter system. New York City has likely surpassed $5 billion in spending on services for migrants, according to city data. There seems to be a lot of misinformation and disinformation about this crisis, crisis. Can you clear things up for us? What is the truth? What do you have in your plans for the future to tackle this?

Mayor Adams: And you're right, there's misinformation and disinformation. And you know, when this crisis first came to our city, people would stop me on the street and say, Eric, what are you doing to us? Why are you allowing this to happen to our city? What they didn't know is that I could not stop the buses from coming in. That's against federal law. I could not allow people that came in to have a job. The federal government would not allow me to do that. I had to get work authorization from the federal government.

They gave me some, but not many. I couldn't tell those who committed violent crimes that you have to be deported. These local law wouldn't allow me to do that. And I was required by local law to give people three meals a day, a place to sleep, educate all the children, almost 40,000 children. All this was, I was required to do so. It didn't cost us $4 billion. It cost us $6 billion, $6.4 billion thus far that we had to spend.

And imagine, that $6 billion should have gone to the services for seniors, for children, for foster care, for educating people, for so many things we should have used. The federal government only gave us $200 million out of that $6.4 billion. This is terrible what happened to our city and other cities like Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston, Denver. These cities had to experience this, and they had to carry the cost for this national problem. Our immigration system is broken. It has to be fixed. And it's time for Washington to fix this problem and not push it on to cities because it's impacting cities.

La Loca: Thank you for shedding light on that. I don't think, like you said, disinformation, when you start sharing numbers, and what you, how your hands sounded like, it sounded like your hands were tied.

Mayor Adams: Without a doubt. Without a doubt. And New Yorkers were angry. And I was angry, too, because I'd rather take that $6 billion and put it into my senior centers. I'd rather take that $6 billion and build out universal after-school programs. There was so much we could have done with those $6 billion that we were unable to do.

And then when you combine that, too, that we were having sunsetting dollars from COVID that we were no longer going to get from the federal government, and union contracts we had to settle. And so it put us in a terrible, terrible place.

But our team, we stepped up, we were able to navigate it through. We had 220,000 migrants and asylum seekers that came to the city. And for 170,000, we were able to take them on the next step of their journey. Because no one comes to America to live in a shelter. You come here to pursue your American dream.

La Loca: Mayor Adams, these are my family members. These are the [L.O.L.eros] family members, loved ones, that are coming to this country in pursuit of the American dream. And most of my family landed here in New York City. So this is a sanctuary city. It needs to stay this way.

Mayor Adams: Yes, it does. But it should be a sanctuary city for those who want to pursue the American dream, not violate it. If you come here and commit a violent act on an innocent person, you're not pursuing the American dream. You're getting in the way of the American dream. No doubt. And so immigrants should not be afraid to get out of city services, go to the hospital, educate their children, report if they're a victim of a crime. They should be able to pursue their dream. But you have a small number who have been repeatedly committing violent acts, and they don't have the right to be in our city if that's what they're doing.

La Loca: Right. But the majority, like my family and my friends and the loved ones around me, we are working hard. We are getting bachelor's degrees and master's degrees and using the resources available to us to make this a better place to live for our kids and future generations.

Mayor Adams: Without a doubt. And even before the current immigrant population, the city has always been built by immigrants. The country has been built by immigrants. It was the immigrants that built our bridges, our tunnels. During COVID, if you look during COVID, you saw in our hospitals was first and second generation immigrants who were delivering food, who was keeping shops open. So there's a real marriage between the immigrant population and the story, the narrative of America, not only from South and Central America, but all over the globe, from West Africa, from Europe.

And that's why I went down to the Darien Gap to see those who were walking from Venezuela coming up to Mexico and visiting Puebla and Mexico, where many of our immigrants come from there. That's why I spent time in Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic, to hear the real stories of how people want to be part of the American experience. But being part of the American experience should never be violating the right to be part of the American experience.

La Loca: Thank you for being vocal about that. Yeah, true, indeed. While we're talking about the migrant situation, the president-elect has been talking about his plans of the mass deportation of immigrants, New York City being the sanctuary city. What is your stance and strategy around this? What's coming down the pike?

Mayor Adams: Very clear. As you stated, the law of the land is sanctuary city. That's the law of the land. People come here to pursue the American dream, and we will not participate in mass deportation. But we must focus, because we can't allow ourselves to be caught up on the sound bites. We have a broken immigration system.

The people who voted on Tuesday, on election day, clearly stated we have to fix it. And what we need to do, as I've stated over and over again, instead of this being a crisis, it should be an opportunity. We have parts of the country that are dealing with real population problems.

So when you come across the border and we allow you to come in, we should allow you to come in first to go to those locales where we need people in America. We need food service workers, backstretch workers in the racing industry. We need accountants. We need doctors. We have a doctor that is part of our living in a shelter in the city. So what we should be doing is say, let's look at those municipalities where we need people, and you go there for three years, work in the need of the American people, and then you can go anywhere you want in the country.

This way, you're not going to be a burden on the city. You're going to build up that city. You go down to our shelter on Randall's Island. You have almost 3,000 people who are sitting around all day doing nothing. That's inhumane. That is not right. When we can say, hey, right now, upstate New Yorkers need employees. In those counties, they are saying, Eric, we will take migrants and asylum seekers and immigrants if we can have the right to have them work.

La Loca: Yeah. Mayor Adams, I speak on behalf of a lot of Latinos, Latinas, Latinx, YZ, AB positive, whatever you want to call us. We are scared. We are terrified. We don't know what to expect, and we're holding on to our loved ones that came here in pursuit of that American dream a little bit tighter.

Mayor Adams: We want to dispel the rumors and the myths, but let me tell you something else about the community if you're going to be honest about this conversation. When I'm up in Washington Heights, folks are stepping to me saying, listen, I'm working my butt off. I got here, you know, maybe illegally, but I moved to a path of citizenship. Don't be giving away our city to people who have just crossed into the country.

I hear that more in the Heights and throughout the city also. You see those barber shops, those beauty salons? Where I get my toes done, they're like, listen, you know, look, we love our people, Eric, but don't get it mixed up. You know what I'm saying? Don't be giving around, giving away this entire city to people who just crossed the border and you're not dealing with people who are here right now. I hear that the most in the immigrant communities.

La Loca: Wow. Those are my people. Those right here, those are Dominicans right there. We are vocal. We will let you know how it is and what we want. Yeah. I mean, listen, we come from a civilization. We come from the reign of terror of a dictator, you know, and that was not that long ago. So we know what we want and we know the mistreatment and what it feels like. And now they're here and they want to live the dream.

Mayor Adams: Without a doubt. And they and they're saying that when you when I speak with the various groups that are here, these immigrants who are finding their way here, they don't have a problem with new immigrants coming.

What they have a problem with? Everybody needs to work. That's their attitude. They say, listen, I'm doing these three jobs, you know, I'm driving a cab and switching off with my cousin who's doing the next tour and next tour. Everybody needs to work for the American experience. That is what I get from the various immigrant communities in the city.

La Loca: Well, that's what's been instilled in me. It's work all day.

Mayor Adams: By your parents.

La Loca: Yeah. My father was a Spanish teacher, junior high school in Brooklyn. My mother was a stay at home mom, three of us. And they both instilled in us that hard work will get you there.

Mayor Adams: Mom did three jobs on her arthritic knees and raised six children basically on her own. And she says you got to work son.

La Loca: Yeah. Speaking of my mother, she's very proud that I'm here today.

Mayor Adams: Is she?

La Loca: Yes, she is.

Mayor Adams: What is your mother's name?

La Loca: Thelma.

Mayor Adams: Okay. Mom and dad still together?

La Loca: Yes, they are.

Mayor Adams: Okay. I was about to give her a wink, but I don't want to get anybody upset.

La Loca: They got married in 1967 and they are still together and still teach us what real love is.

Mayor Adams: Wow.

La Loca: Wow. Yeah. Don't get me emotional, mayor. Don't get me emotional. I would be remiss if I didn't ask about this federal case and charges that you are facing. We're in a world driven by media. We're talking about misinformation and disinformation. I want to know what you want us New Yorkers to think. Where should our mental be? I know you want our support but tell us about how you're feeling with this coming down on you and what you want us to think.

Mayor Adams: Well, number one, I said it over and over again, I did nothing wrong. When one really reads the indictment, a lot of people have not, they will see it's just really questionable. And I have a great legal team. They are going to handle the case.

What I want New Yorkers to know is that I have an obligation. I was elected. I have to move the city forward. And from the day this was made public last year to where we are now, you continue to see the city moving forward. You continue to see 10 straight months of our city being saved. You continue to see us developing affordable housing in our city. You continue to see our economy to go forward and I'm doing my job.

And it says a lot, going back to you and grit, it says a lot about a mayor that as I ask every family member, when you're going through hard times, you still have to provide for your family. You still have to do your job. We can't sit back and say, woe is me. It's why not me? Let the attorneys do their job. I'm going to do my job. And that is what I have been doing and I'm going to continue to do.

That is what I saw mommy do. You know, mommy was going through some medical issues. She was going through her personal tragedies and trauma, but she got up every day and she provided for six children. She says there's no excuse. She was a very attractive lady. She could have left us. She could have said, let me go on and start my life all over again. But mommy said, no, I have an obligation to the six of you. I have an obligation to the 8.3 million people of the city that I protected as a cop and that I know I didn't do anything wrong. And I think the criminal justice system is going to show that.

La Loca: Shout out to mom, [inaudible].

Mayor Adams: No, listen, I cannot tell you enough. She transitioned when I was on the campaign trail, but you know, absent from the bodies present in the spirit, I still feel mommy every day, her strength, her encouragement. And she believed in me.

You know, I, you know, I struggled as a child. I was dyslexic and I was bullied and laughed at, called a dumb student. And she would just tell me there's nothing you can't do. And, you know, only in this country can you be dyslexic and then elected to be the mayor of the most important city on the globe because of mommy.

La Loca: I have two boys, they're nine and six, and it's the best job ever to be a mother and to also instill in them what was instilled in me, the value of education and happiness. And then everything sort of falls in line after that.

Mayor Adams: It does. It does. You know, I have one son. I wish he'd get married so I could get some grandchildren.

La Loca: Well, I mean, is he taken? Is he single? What's happening?

Mayor Adams: He's having so much fun. You know, he's telling me, he says, dad, I do Netflix and chill.

La Loca: Oh, that is the term, but you know, that will only take you so far. Okay. We're going to have some more fun real quick. Mayor, we have a lightning round of questions. So you've got to answer them fast, real quick. Yeah, real quick.

Mayor Adams: Straight answers, straight answers.

La Loca: Can we get some lightning bolt sound effects in post-production, please? Not sure we can afford them, but we'll try. You know, this sound library stuff is expensive. Okay. Here we go. Mayor Adams, New York City sports has been hot these last few weeks. Your favorite team to cheer on is?

Mayor Adams: Liberty.

La Loca: Go Ellie! I dressed up as Ellie for Halloween.

Mayor Adams: Okay.

La Loca: And we were here for the parade and I love that she made you hold her bag while she went out there to do her thing and you just rolled with the punches. It was awesome.

Mayor Adams: I was going to get up and dance!

La Loca: Okay. Next question. Subway or bus?

Mayor Adams: I love the subway. You know, someone can take you anywhere you have to go. I love the subway. You know that?

La Loca: This morning, truth be told, I asked my six-year-old, I'm going to be meeting with Mayor Adams today. Do you have any questions for him? And true talk. He said, can you ask him to clean the buses a little bit more? Because we ride the bus to school every morning and we're seeing some critters and stuff and I just had to tell you that.

Mayor Adams: We'll do that.

La Loca: Shout out to Benjamin.

Mayor Adams: All right, Benjamin.

La Loca: Okay. Next question. Hot dog or halal truck?

Mayor Adams: Oh, I love the halal truck. You know, I'm a plant-based eater, so I don't do halal often, but there's something about the street halal. You know that? And if you go on 52nd Street and 6th Avenue, the lines-

La Loca: The halal guys. Of course.

La Loca: The lines are unbelievable. The line is always wrapped around the block. I've never eaten there, but I guess I have to. Like, what kind of New Yorker am I?

Mayor Adams: Right, right. It is unbelievable how long the lines are. And there's a whole culture there. People hang out. You know, it's the best cheat day going.

La Loca: Yeah, you got it. Okay. Movie night in or movie night out?

Mayor Adams: Oh, movie night in. Oh, man. Do you know what is my ideal day?

La Loca: Tell us.

Mayor Adams: Staying home in my pajamas, doing nothing but doing a whole run of different movies. My favorite movie, I must have seen it a hundred times and I still cry at the end, Five Heartbeats.

La Loca: Really?

Mayor Adams: Oh, I love that movie so much.

La Loca: We're learning a lot about you today. I love this. Okay. Wonderful. This is so great. Okay. Next question, you guys. JFK or LaGuardia?

Mayor Adams: JFK. LaGuardia. They build out LaGuardia and you need to be a goddamn track star. That goes long. You see how long it is? It is. It's like, what? You don't need to go to the gym.

La Loca: Yeah, just catch a flight. You know? But they did do a whole renovation and the food court has been upgraded. Better food in LaGuardia.

Mayor Adams: Yes, it's nice, but I'm a JFK guy.

La Loca: Okay. I feel you. I feel you. Yeah, the air train is so great. You can get there so fast from Manhattan. I co-signed. I approve this message. Okay. A musical question. Empire State of Mind, or New York, New York?

Mayor Adams: Oh, that's a toughie. That's a toughie. I have to say Empire. That's my walk on music. I love that song. And you have to listen to the lyrics.

La Loca: Oh, I have many times.

Mayor Adams: Yeah. The lyrics are powerful and it defines New York. And I love both versions of it. I love Jay-Z and I love my girl Alicia Keys when she does it.

La Loca: Yeah, the slow version really gets you. Yeah, okay, final question in the lightning round. A walk over the GWB or a walk over the Brooklyn Bridge?

Mayor Adams: Brooklyn Bridge.

La Loca: I knew you were going to say that. I was hoping you would say that. Please tell us why.

Mayor Adams: Brooklyn Bridge, just the view, the people, the crowds, and just the different characters. And then you see the illegal locks that people put on, you know, because they love each other, they put a little rail there. It's just the whole experience as you leave Manhattan and you enter Brooklyn. And you have that one hand that's at the end of the bridge, that large statue. But there's something special and iconic about the Brooklyn Bridge. There's a real story to your listeners. You should go read or look at a YouTube on the building of that bridge and how much has gone through it and getting it open. But Brooklyn Bridge, that is the bridge.

La Loca: Okay. Yeah. We are two Brooklynites here. I was hoping you would say that. Aside from the view, there's this sentiment of just crossing into my borough that I love each time I walk or drive over that bridge. Mayor Adams, thank you so much for your time.

Mayor Adams: Thank you. Great to be here.

La Loca: Your candidness. And thank you for what you do for this city. Any last words for the [L.O.L.eros]? I know you have a great newsletter.

Mayor Adams: Yes, we do.

La Loca: Do you want to tell people how they can sign up? Yes, and how to reach you.

Mayor Adams: My staff gave me a note. You can text me at 917-909-2288. Or they can reach me on social media @NYCMayor. And that's the same for Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. You can subscribe to our newsletter. Hearfromeric.com to get the latest information. I look forward to hearing from you. 8.3 million people, 35 million opinions. And I love hearing all of those 35 million opinions.

La Loca: Thank you, mayor.

Mayor Adams: Thank you.

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