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Now, Eric, listen, your team said you have literally a hard out in 24 minutes, but you're six minutes late, so I'm taking those six minutes back. Sounds like a plan. Okay, great. Are we ready? Yes, we are. I'm Barry Weiss, and this is Honestly.
New York City has had a rough few years. New numbers from the Census Bureau show a decline in New York's population. It lost nearly 4% of its population during COVID. Well, New Yorkers are on edge as violent crime throughout the city's subway system reaches new highs. Three subway murders have been recorded. There was a historic crime surge, particularly violent crime.
that terrorized New Yorkers in formerly safe places like the subway. It's a great city, but crime is increasing. The cost of living is increasing. And these buildings, nobody works in them anymore. They're empty. Pundits all over the world declared the greatest city in the world was on life support or maybe already dead. And into the breach last year stepped a new mayor, Eric Adams.
Adams. I, Eric Adams, do solemnly swear, do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution, that I will support the Constitution of the United States, of the United States, the Constitution of the state of New York, the Constitution of the state of New York, and the charter of the city of
Adams is the kid raised in a rat-infested tenement in Bushwick who was beaten up by police as a teen and who became, ultimately, a New York City cop.
He's tough on crime, but also critical of police brutality and racism in the criminal justice system. He's a health nut who meditates daily and published a plant-based diet book, but who also likes to go out on the town most nights. And above all else, he is a tried and true New Yorker. He is a guy that simply exudes New York City. The last two years have trapped our spirit and is begging to be let out. We have been stifled. We have been asleep.
But we are a city of nine million dreams, and we're about to wake up. Adams was elected on a promise not just of bringing back New York, but of reviving an old kind of Democrat that today feels something like an endangered species. Practical, no-bullshit type of politician. As one congressman put it, he's an antidote to the party's likability problem. A year in, the question is this: Has Eric Adams lived up to the hype?
It's a bit hard to know what he thinks because he's quite famously evaded the press since he took office. He doesn't have a regular radio appearance to take questions from the public like many of his predecessors did. And he hasn't held an open town hall in his year in office. But for whatever reason, today, he agreed to sit down with me. On today's show, 30 minutes with New York City Mayor Eric Adams. Has he fulfilled his promise to make New York City safer?
How will he address the massive setbacks in New York City public schools that happened during school shutdowns? Does New York City risk becoming like San Francisco? What does he really think of AOC? And is his brand of politics winnable nationally for the Democrats? Those questions and more after the break. Stay with us.
Hey guys, Josh Hammer here, the host of America on Trial with Josh Hammer, a podcast for the First Podcast Network. Look, there are a lot of shows out there that are explaining the political news cycle, what's happening on the Hill, the this, the that.
There are no other shows that are cutting straight to the point when it comes to the unprecedented lawfare debilitating and affecting the 2024 presidential election. We do all of that every single day right here on America on Trial with Josh Hammer. Subscribe and download your episodes wherever you get your podcasts. It's America on Trial with Josh Hammer. Mayor Eric Adams, welcome to Honestly. Thank you. Thank you. Interesting name. You know, honestly, you know, that's such so important nowadays.
to be honest without being demonized. It's hard to do. Yes, it is. But we're trying hard. Okay, 30 minutes with you. So let's get right to it. Mayor Adams, I opened Twitter a few days ago and I saw a thread from a reporter named Jane Ferguson who works at PBS NewsHour. She said at 6.30 p.m. the night before, she was assaulted on the subway. And this is what she wrote.
Okay.
Now, the silver lining of Jane Ferguson's story is that another woman helped her. And that's always been my experience in New York. New Yorkers are the best people in the country, despite their reputation. But this experience that she relays typifies what a lot of people in New York have been experiencing over the past few years, which is shocking, unexpected, random daylight violence in places that were previously perceived as safe, like the subway or Starbucks.
You won the mayoral race in 2021 because you ran as a former cop promising in a moment where it was chic to talk about defunding the police to clean up New York and make it safe again. Have you fulfilled on that promise? We are on the road to that promise. But let's break down what you just stated because it's so important. It's
She should not have been assaulted in that manner. And there are levels that you see why I am responding the way I am. It's obvious this person was dealing with some type of mental health illness and probably a severe one.
And so when I moved to remove those who were dealing with severe mental health illnesses off our subway system, 4,000 people, around 1,200 are still in care. I got pushback from people who thought we were being inhumane, but I knew it was the right thing to do. We should not wait until someone commits
a violent act before we act. And when you look at Rikers Island, close to 40% of the people there have mental health illness, 18% severe mental health illness because we waited until they responded. But at the same time, we have to be real honest. The overwhelming of New York is that is not their experience.
We topped out about 10 days ago with 3.9 million riders. We have an average of six felonies a day on our subway system. It horrifies us when we read about these cases because it plays on our psyche. But the customer satisfactory surveys have gone up.
We did two levels of subway safety plans. We're seeing a decrease in crimes on our subway system. Our police officers are there. But it's no consolation when you're struck like that. And so I don't want to downplay it, but I know we're moving in the right direction.
I moved out of New York along with some 350,000 other New Yorkers during the pandemic. Now, I left because my wife is a sixth-generation Californian, and I never would have left if it wasn't for her, so I don't want you to think I'm disloyal. Right.
But my friends who are still there, and most of them are still there, tell me that Tompkins Square Park and parts of Washington Square Park have been completely overtaken by drug addicts. And they say that it reminds them of the Tenderloin in San Francisco, a place that's unlike any I've seen in any American city.
Are you worried that New York could become the next San Francisco or the next Los Angeles? Or is that an overblown fear? No, I'm not worried because the mayor is Eric Adams. And you saw what I did last year, January, February. I went into the streets late at night when I got elected, did not have my security detail on many occasions, went into the tents, the encampments, spoke to people who were living there. You know what I saw?
I saw drug paraphernalia, human waste, people have schizophrenic, bipolar, stale food, unkempt. And I came out and told my team, we're not going to sit back and watch this happen. I've been in San Francisco. I've been in Los Angeles. I've been in other places where they're trying hard to deal with this issue. But I was taking a new approach and a different approach. Engagement. We went after those who were living on our streets.
You're not seeing that overproliferation of tents and encampments in this city and places like Tompkins Square Park. We've done several initiatives. We got the loudest and the most organized push back and attack me, said I was inhumane. No, let me tell you what's been inhumane, allowing people to live in that condition when they can't make decisions on their own, and I refuse to do so. And you saw what we've done five times
5,000 encampments were cleaned up on the street. We gave people care. We gave them options to care. And that is the humane way to do it. And so this will never become like San Francisco as long as I'm the mayor of this city and with the agencies that I've given clear instructions to.
In his State of the Union address this year, Joe Biden's big headline-making line was when he said, it's time to refund the police. Got a big applause. It's what everyone was talking about. Was that...
Basically, the Democratic Party or the leadership of the Democratic Party admitting that it let things go too far and that the talk, at least on the progressive wing of the party, about defunding or abolishing the police was foolish and has actually made the poorest Americans more vulnerable. Did you see that as a watershed moment?
Yes, I did. But I also felt that that was a second level of the watershed moment. The real watershed moment happened when I won the Democratic primary and then won the election in November. My statement was clear. Unlike so many who were running, talking about defunding and even in some cases in the country disbanding.
And I refuse to succumb to the philosophical approach to public safety. We had to do intervention, prevention. Public safety is the prerequisite to prosperity, and we could have it with justice. I committed my life to doing that. And I think the president is a blue-collar mayor, a blue-collar president. I'm a blue-collar mayor. But let's be clear on something. It was not the progressive wing of our party. It was the
far left wing of our party who are smaller in number, louder in voice and that live for the most part on social media and they believe they can govern through a tweet instead of governing on the streets as I like to say. The overwhelming number of Democrats had a clear practice
practice in funding police departments, knowing that it impacts communities of color the most when you have high level of crime. I believe that too many of the tabloids played into the far left of our party and did not listen to the everyday Democrats who understood there's a balance with public safety and justice.
When you talk about governing through a tweet, it makes me think about AOC. Is that who you're thinking of when you say that? No, no, not at all. I sat down, I had dinner this weekend with Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez, and we had a very engaging conversation. I believe there are those in this country, not only those who are elected, but those who have never done anything for anyone but themselves.
And they just find moments to come up with extreme ideas to govern a complex country where we should be engaging in conversation and not condemnation. AOC this month said this, we have militarized the city while under-investing in the youth opportunities that actually keep young people employed and prosperous and family supported. We've militarized the city and we don't even have housing. Militarize the city? What's she talking about? How do you respond to that kind of criticism?
You don't. You show exactly what you have done. Advocates have been asking for years to get 75,000 summer youth jobs. You know what? We did even better. We got 100,000. They've been advocating to keep our schools open. We did summerizing through the summer months after the decrease in learning opportunities for our children.
We're the first administration to do dyslexia screening because our jail system here in New York, 40 to 50% of our inmates are dyslexic. And so we're screening not only those in school, but we're screening those who are incarcerated. Our investment in foster care children is unprecedented. Paying 15,000 a year for their college
and giving them a stipend, and continuing their support. So when you do an analysis of what we have done, public safety using police is the least of the way we're responding. There's never been a mayor like me that understands how we must go upstream and not pull people out of the river downstream. And so I respond to all of that by my actions. And, you know, history and current state is going to show how
reflective I am and how strong our policies are. Mayor, it's always struck me as strange that the notion of being tough on crime is perceived as a conservative position when the people who are most harmed by crime are poor and minority communities, not the people that live in high rises with dormant buildings who can afford to go to the Hamptons if the city goes south.
How did it become the Democratic position to be, quote, soft on crime? Why is it a conservative position to be otherwise? Well, you know what, Barry? I think what has happened is that the Democrats have allowed people to hijack their message.
It was the Democrats that invested in a lot of the crime prevention tactics, supporting police department, tough on gun laws, looking to do bans on difficult and dangerous guns that we're seeing. It's the Democrats that wanted to push against what we saw play out in Nashville and Florida. That's what we've always had. We've allowed ourselves to be embarrassed.
to state supporting police means that you don't support justice at the same time. And I refuse to do that. I refuse to succumb to those that believe you have to decouple public safety and justice. They go together. In fact, they must coexist for us to properly keep our city safe.
When you look at who's impacted, it is not those philosophical leaders that sit in their comfort and safe places. It is those who are in the poorer community, immigrant community, black and brown communities. They're the victims of some of this egregious violence that you're seeing.
You're a former New York City police officer and captain. Do you think the criminal justice system, broadly speaking, is getting more or less racist? I think that it has continued to be more racist, the criminal justice system, in a manner which people probably don't even analyze. When you look at the fact, the long period of time
that black and brown and young people are kept in the system even when they are being charged with a particular crime and how long it takes to get justice for those who have overwhelmingly black and brown who are the victims of crimes. So that racism, I believe, plays on both ends of the spectrum. Those who are victims and those who participate in criminal behavior. And because there's a lack of urgency
to really resolve, number one, to give people justice, and number two, believe it or not, to fix the problems that's the feeder of crime. I can't help to believe that if the overwhelming number of people at Rikers Island were not black and brown, that we would not have dealt with dyslexia long ago, that we would have not dealt with mental health issues long ago. So when you look at...
what's downstream of 48% of people mental health issues, 40% dyslexia, 80% don't have a high school diploma or equivalency diploma. When you start to add it all up, you asking yourself, how do we allow this level of neglect and repeated generational issues that are facing people? And I think because the victims that we're pulling out of the river downstream are black, brown, and poor.
Police data shows, Mayor, that anti-Semitic hate crimes in New York City more than doubled over the last two years. And 64% of those victims were Orthodox, visibly Jewish through what they wear. It's not just New York, of course. These numbers mirror nationwide trends. But New York has the largest Jewish community in the world, as you know, outside of Israel. And arguably, to be a Jew, a visible Jew in Brooklyn, has meant to be vulnerable.
For many years now, Jews in European cities like Paris, for their safety, take off their yarmulke in public. I know many of these people. Now, you have a famously good relationship with the Hasidic Jewish community in Brooklyn. And I wonder, what's your message to them, to Jews who are afraid of being seen as Jewish on the streets of your city? You know, it's so important what you just stated. You did something that not many people touch on, and that is when someone attacked a Hasidic person,
is because they're visibly Jewish. When someone attacks someone that wears a yarmulke, they're visibly Jewish. They're not only attacking that individual, they're attacking every Jewish person in the city. That's the symbol that they are attacking. And it breaks my heart when I sit down with many of my Jewish colleagues and friends and they talk about when I ride my car, walk the streets,
or go to the synagogue, I take off my yarmulke because I'm afraid of being attacked. Now, here in the city, we have a 50% decrease in hate crimes across the board, but we need to go further. And there's certain things I think we need to do. There needs to be a no plea bargaining rule. We should not downgrade crimes when someone is arrested for a hate crime. And I think we need to aggressively pursue that. Second, we have to do what those who marched with Dr. King,
We knew the bonds during that era. We knew the bonds during my generation, my relationship with the JCRC and others. But we didn't continue that for the next generation. Our next generation has been sucked into social media where anti-Semitism is systemic and widespread. So we must do what the previous generations have done. That's why I'm doing something called Breaking Bread, Building Bonds,
a thousand dinners across the city, 10 people at each dinner, all coming from a different ethnic and religious and cultural background, and they're doing something revolutionary. They're talking to each other. They're using the lubricating value of food to sit down and leave our comfort zone and lean into the beauty of discomfort of learning from each other. 'Cause we have to police this issue, but we also have to educate this issue. And far too many people are being educated
on the hate that you're seeing on social media and what you're seeing that some celebrities are doing. Celebrities like Kanye? Yes, it's wrong what Kanye has done. And they're using the pain that people are experiencing to displace it and find someone to hate because of it.
Earlier this month, you announced a new mental health initiative, which among things like opening new community centers and increasing the number of mental health street team professionals, will expand New York City's program to send more mental health professionals in place of police officers when there is a specific mental health 911 call. Are social workers adequately prepared to deal with situations that might involve violence or physical force? And how do you determine that?
- A great question. And here's what people must understand when it comes down to dealing with an individual who is dealing with severe mental health illnesses and is armed and dangerous. The situation can turn instantly.
And whomever is subscribing to the belief that every time a person is called, a city's service or city employee is called to respond to a mental health issue, that you can send a social worker in every situation, they are wrong. I've responded to people who are dealing with severe mental health crises and it can change instantly like we saw in the Bronx where the individual pulled out a knife
and ran towards the police officers. That's how quick it could happen. We must have the right balance of the situations where we can send mental health professionals or as a team of police and mental health professionals, we should do so. But whenever it's dealing with imminent threat to life, to the individual or
I'm going to make sure I have the proper, well-trained law enforcement who know how to subdue someone, but also know how to deescalate a situation. And that's what our new plan is. Our new plan, the second wave of our mental health
approach is to deal with our young people who are experiencing some serious mental health issues after the pandemic, to deal with those who are dealing with substance abuse and to deal with those who are having severe mental health illnesses. And we're going to deal with all three levels.
We're now seeing the unintended and devastating after effects of COVID lockdowns, especially among children and teenagers. Children are behind academically across the country. American math scores showed the largest drop ever recorded. And also developmentally with students suffering from unprecedented levels of anxiety, depression, and so on. And these, of course, are the most pronounced for poor and minority students who attend the most under-resourced schools. If we could go back in time three years ago,
Was it a mistake to close down our public schools? No, it was not. It was not a mistake to close it down. I believe the previous administration made a very smart decision. And let's remember, I was out in the streets every day when COVID was at its peak. I moved into Borough Hall, placed a mattress on the floor so I would not infect.
in any way past the virus and my family members because I was in NYCHA developments, our public housing. I was going to the hospitals, and I knew the severity of what we were dealing with. I saw it firsthand. We had morgues outside every hospital. If we didn't stymie the spread...
of we could have lost more lives and we could have really impacted and overwhelmed our healthcare system. It was a smart decision, but I knew back when I was borough president, prior to COVID hitting our city, we had to start thinking differently about education and coming up with this real first-class remote learning tool.
Too many of our communities did not have high-speed broadband, didn't have access to the Internet. That's something that we are turning around here in this administration by ensuring Big Apple Connect. We're going into all of our public housing. Every public housing resident will have free Internet connection. But we now must be prepared.
and think differently about education. That's why we kept many of our schools open over the summer months. There's no reason, we know we have to catch up, we should think about suspending those two months off every year during the summer months. We need to somehow supplement the education loss that our children have experienced.
One of the key battles that's constantly roiling in New York City is the battle over whether or not schools like Stuyvesant and Brock Science, high achieving elite public prep schools that admit students based on a test, should scrap that test because it's not leading to, quote, equitable outcomes.
Those in favor of dropping the test, including your predecessor, Bill de Blasio, point to the fact that the number of black and Latino students at these schools has been dropping. For example, in 2021, only eight black students were admitted to Stuyvesant in a class of about 800. You have said that you're going to keep admissions as they are, despite the protests of some in your party. I wonder why and why do you think schools like Stuyvesant and Bronx Science are important? Let's think about this for a moment.
Our answer to black and brown children not reaching proficiency is to cut off places where people have reached proficiency. I have a better response. Why not have black and brown children reach proficiency? Why do we have a school system where we're spending over $30 billion and 65 percent of black and brown children don't reach proficiency in math and English every year?
So our answer to that is say, okay, accelerated learners. We're going to close down accelerated learning opportunities because we did a terrible job with those who don't reach proficiency. So let's leave the eight schools alone, only eight. It has sucked out all the oxygen out of the room. Let's deal with the 90 something percent of students that are not keeping pace. Let's open up five more schools, have a combination of what it takes
to be admitted into schools. It could be people learn differently. If you're dyslexic, you may not be good at taking a test, but you have other ways of balancing out. I know that because I'm dyslexic. And so what we are failing to do is look at all the opportunities to help accelerated learners
use all of their creativity. And a test is not one way. A test is good for some students, but some students have different ways of expressing their gifts and their talents, and that's what we must lean into. The community that feels most threatened by the prospect of ending merit-based admissions and doing away with grades and test scores are New York's Asian Americans. Stuyvesant's about 70% Asian.
And one of the things that has surprised me in many people is that Asians in New York City who have historically voted for Democrats are now trending Republican in many of their neighborhoods. What's your message to those voters?
Well, you know, I did extremely well with the AAPI community, the Chinese community and others. And listen, their concern was around public safety and education. Those were two driving issue for those communities. And we need to hear them and not ignore them and not interpret their pain.
When someone is hurting, don't tell them they're not hurting. Learn while they are hurting and assist them over that pain. And that is what I am attempting to do with all of my communities in the city in general, but specifically with my Asian community. They were concerned about...
these specialized high schools, as we call them. They were concerned how they were being treated, and they were extremely concerned about public safety issues. We saw at that time an increase in hate crimes towards Asians, particularly our older Asian Americans and those who are here. And we need to zero in and focus on that and ensure that we keep our brothers and sisters from the Asian community as part of the Democratic Party, because they are part of that big tent.
In the past, Mayor, you've called yourself the new face of the Democratic Party. What does that mean? What is the vision of the Democratic Party that you think you embody, and why do you think it's a winning one? Well, first of all, it's not allowing ourselves to be pigeonholed because we feel differently about certain topics. You know,
There's this litmus test of the perfect people tried to attach to everyone. I'm perfectly imperfect because we are perfectly imperfect as human beings. And Democrats should no longer try to believe they must line up and check every box on every issue. If you're a Democrat and you believe in specialized high school, the tent is big enough to fit you inside there. If you're a Democrat and you believe...
and any of these other difficult topics, the tent is big enough for us all. We don't have to line up according to this imaginary criteria that someone created and defined who we should be as Democrats. I think that's the face of the Democratic Party. That's where the overwhelming number of Democrats are.
They understand that we are diverse in our thoughts and our ideas and our likes and our dislikes, and we should not be afraid to articulate them. We should be honestly communicative on how we feel about these topics. After the break, a lightning round with Mayor Adams. Stay with us.
Okay, Mayor Eric Adams, are you ready for a quick lightning round? Always ready for lightning. What's your favorite New York City museum? Has to be the Brooklyn Museum off of Eastern Parkway. Love it. Favorite jazz club? There's a number of it. Blue Note. I love the owner, and it's a good, small, tight spot. How do you feel about the Comedy Cellar? Love the Comedy Cellar. Whenever I'm down and feel like I need a boost, I go there and get some great laughs.
Best vegan ice cream, if such a thing exists. I make my own, believe it or not. Frozen bananas, avocado, a little peppermint, and just a real touch of dates inside. Freeze it, then I have an ice cream maker. You turn it slowly, and it is the bomb. Veggie burger of choice.
I make my own again. I use lentils, mushrooms. I don't like the other veggie burgers that are out on the market. East side or west side? No side. I'm Brooklyn. Best song about New York? My favorite plays. I play it every morning. You know, Frank Sinatra's rendition of New York. That's my theme song. All right. Fill in the blank. Rudy Giuliani is? Hurtful.
Randy Weingarten is. Smart. Eva Moskowitz is. Dedicated. Wokeness is. Something we need to never have gone to sleep. AOC is. Trying to define what she wants to do with the country, and I look forward to her vision as well as mine. Alvin Bragg. Committed, dedicated. Donald Trump. Troubling. Bill de Blasio. Committed to what he was doing.
People have called you the nightlife mayor and the mayor that never sleeps. I'm not going to ask you about what you do between five and nine, but I want to know this. How many hours of sleep do you actually get every night? Roughly about four hours of sleep, but I'm also still like a child. I like my naps every once in a while.
There are people around you who believe you could be the next president of the United States. I'm hearing a lot of scuttlebutt over the past few weeks. Is there anything to that? Listen, you can run the country from New York City. This is the greatest job in politics on the globe, and you can help people. That's why I love it, helping everyday people.
You grew up, famously, in a rat-infested tenement in Bushwick. You were so poor that you reportedly brought a bag of clothes to school in case of a sudden eviction. How does your upbringing shape the way that you govern? You know, it's powerful. I am fighting for those who are living the life that I lived.
And I think about that every day. When I did the dyslexia screening is because I'm dyslexic. When I talk about homelessness is because we lived on our relatives' floors until mommy was able to stabilize us. When I think about police brutality, I think about when I was beat by police officers. Every part of my policy
is attached to the life that I live. We betrayed New Yorkers and we betray Americans. My goal is to end those betrayals.
Mayor Eric Adams, I think we're coming in just under 30 minutes. Now you can get off into your black car. Well, where are you headed next? Got a bunch of events this evening. And, you know, don't forget, I have a MetroCard, too. Okay. Mayor Eric Adams, thank you so much for making the time. Thank you. Take care. Good to speak with you. Start spreading the news. I'm leaving today.
I recorded this conversation with Mayor Adams a few days before Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg announced the unprecedented historic indictment of former President Donald Trump. I emailed the mayor to follow up to ask his thoughts about the indictment. And he only said this through a spokesman. The mayor is in constant contact with Commissioner Sewell about all public safety issues affecting the city. The NYPD continues to monitor all activity and there are no credible threats to the city at this time.
In a city that doesn't sleep above the heap, these little town blues... As always, thanks to you for listening. If you like this conversation, please share it with your friends and family and use it to have a conversation of your own. And to sport honestly, there's always one way to do that. Go to thefp.com, T-H-E-F-P.com and become a subscriber today. See you next time. I'll make it...
Anywhere it's up to you. New York, do I want to.