Eric Adams Realizes the Situation of New York City…
In an exclusive interview that Mayor Eric Adams did with the New York Post, he admitted that he was “shocked” by the poor state of New York City. He stated that prior to taking office, he had no idea how fundamentally broken the city was.
In the interview with the Post in which he rode the subways overnight for more than three hours, Adams said he was astounded by the ineffective “distribution of resources” that has New Yorkers on edge considering the nearly 40% increase in major crimes this year.
He spoke of the city saying, “Let me tell you something: When I looked into this, I was startled at how bad this place is.”
Adams, who ran for office on a platform of bringing order to an increasingly lawless Gotham, has stated that the scales came off his eyes the instant he started analyzing internal city operations after being sworn in just after midnight on New Year’s Day.
He admitted to having spent more time in the office. This has reportedly given him a good understanding of the system. He said, “As I began to remove layers, it became clear to me that while we had a good exterior system, the interior was bad.”
He stated, “We have not exploited this fantastic agency and all our skills,” citing the NYPD as one example of an agency that can do more for the city.
Adams also criticized prior mayors for concentrating on a single “pet project” in an effort to establish a “legacy,” listing examples that included “pre-K education,” in a clear dig at former mayor Bill de Blasio, who was Adams’ immediate predecessor.
He remarked, “You know, they hold onto this one item or project. That’s why, whenever someone or people asks me ‘Eric, what are your one or two things?’ I always respond, ‘To fix this mess!’”
In 2021, nearly every major crime category in the city increased to levels that hadn’t been seen in years. The last year of de Blasio’s administration saw felony assaults surpassing 22,000 for the first time since 2001.
Additionally, there were 486 murders, which is a record high since 515 murders were last recorded in 2011.
Last year’s news headlines witnessed disheartening incidents which ranged from a shocking, unprovoked hatchet attack inside an ATM lobby in Manhattan’s Financial District, a string of shootings in Times Square, and the trampling of a 10-year-old girl and her 5-year-old brother when a masked gunman opened fire on a Bronx sidewalk.
Compared to the same time last year, gunshot incidences are down almost 12%, while homicides are down 13%.
Robberies are up about 40%, while grand larcenies and auto thefts have also increased by 50% and 48%, respectively.
The COVID-19 pandemic has left the city struggling to recover and, at the same time, crimes in the transit system are up a startling 54%.
Still on Eric Adams realization of New York City
Mayor Adams has expressed his frustration while trying to put into action his first significant project, which was to strictly enforce the subway’s rules and forbid homeless individuals from living in stations and on trains.
That action came after Upper West Side resident Michelle Go, 40, was shockingly killed on January 15th at around 9:30 a.m when she was pushed onto the tracks in the Times Square subway station and struck by an approaching R train.
Adams had to concede that MTA users “don’t feel safe” after originally defending the transit system’s general safety. He added, “I don’t feel that way when I take the train.”
Mayor Adams told The Post that City Hall has set up a “mechanism” and developed a shared Google document so that police officers patrolling the subways could “put it on the paper” for follow-up by the Department of Homeless Services and others within seven days if they come across a homeless camp.
Adams stated that he looked at the document on his phone after spotting an encampment, just to find out that it wasn’t there.
Adams also stated that he returned to the station a few days later and asked the officers, “Did y’all log this encampment in?” He says they retorted, “We weren’t instructed [that] we were expected to log it in.”
What that demonstrated, he argued, was that we weren’t checking the system.
Adams, who did not identify the NYPD official, said that the document was now being used as intended after speaking with the local precinct commander.
It wasn’t until about three or four weeks after that incident that “We really started to learn how to operate as a team to really accomplish a mission,” he said.
