Gotham Gazette

The Place for New York Policy and politics

Eric Adams

Eric Adams

  • 'Clear Proof Lives Have Been Saved': Will New York Expand on First Overdose Prevention Centers?

    An Overdose Prevention Center (photo: @nycHealthy)


    In December, New York City became the first municipality in the country to establish Overdose Prevention Centers to allow people with substance use disorders to safely use drugs under medical supervision while receiving services such as medical care, mental health treatment, and more. After years of consideration and discussions with other levels of government, the de Blasio administration gave a longtime nonprofit service-provider the go-ahead to offer safe injection sites.

    Within the first three months, the two sites in East Harlem and Washington

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  • Williams and Lander Start Presenting United Progressive Counterweight to Adams

    Jumaane Williams & Brad Lander as members of the City Council (photo: William Alatriste/City Council)


    All three of New York City’s citywide elected officials – Mayor Eric Adams, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, and Comptroller Brad Lander – are Democrats from Brooklyn. But their respective victories in last year’s elections signified different things to their supporters and political analysts. Those who backed Adams saw his win as a rejection of left progressive politics that they believed had gone too far in the city, while Williams and Lander supporters

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  • As City Pilots New Weapons Scanner in Bronx Hospital, Adams Eyes Expansion Into Schools

    Scanners at work (photo: Evolv Technology)


    New York City is currently running a pilot program at Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx using an advanced weapon detection system created by Evolv Technology, a Massachusetts-based security technology firm, and Mayor Eric Adams has indicated that the technology could eventually be rolled out in schools across the city.

    In the wake of several incidents of gun violence in the city this year, Mayor Adams has...

  • Max Politics Podcast: Dr. Jay Varma on New York City's Battle with COVID-19

    Dr. Jay Varma (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)


    March 8, 2022 - Max Politics Podcast: Dr. Jay Varma on the Next Phase of NYC Covid Protections

    Dr. Jay Varma, former senior advisor for public health to Mayor Bill de Blasio and international expert on disease control and prevention, joined the show to discuss his views on what covid protections and restrictions New York City should have in place and what's next in managing the pandemic, as well as reflections on the city's long battle with COVID-19.

    Listen to the conversation and let us know what

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  • How Mayor Adams is Reorganizing City Government

    (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)

    Mayor Adams at City Hall (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)


    Mayor Eric Adams came into office promising a more efficient and effective city government that doesn’t operate in silos and he’s taken steps in his first weeks on the job that he says will achieve that goal. Adams has reorganized the structure of city government, merged and consolidated several offices, created new roles while separating previously existing ones at the top of City Hall and established his top

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  • Elected Officials and Activists Call on Mayor to Fully Implement NYC 'Green New Deal'

    Thursday's rally (photo: @NYCComptroller)


    With climate crises bearing down on New York City, including hurricanes and tropical storms that flooded landlocked neighborhoods and killed more than a dozen New Yorkers last year, elected officials and activists are pressing Mayor Eric Adams to act with urgency in implementing a law to tackle carbon emissions in the city.

    At a rally in midtown Manhattan on Thursday morning, climate activists gathered with officials including Public

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  • A Safer City to Rebuild New York and Bring Us Together

    Mayor Adams & an NYPD officer (photo: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office)


    Those who live, work, and visit New York City deserve to feel safe, whether walking to the store, visiting a park, or taking the subway. For those who commute to work in the city, like many union construction workers, they deserve to feel safe and know they will go home to their families at night. Unfortunately, right now in New York City, crime is rising, and violence is permeating our normal way of life. It feels like every day, headlines are filled with stories highlighting preventable and tragic

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  • Questioning ‘Austerity,’ City Council Begins Examining Mayor Adams' $98.5 Billion Preliminary Budget

    Speaker Adams with Council Members Brannan & Brewer (photo: William Alatriste/NYC Council)


    The New York City Council on Wednesday kicked off the process of examining Mayor Eric Adams’ $98.5 billion preliminary budget proposal for the 2023 fiscal year, which begins July 1. It was the first of many hearings that will take place over the next several weeks as the Council digs into the first spending plan of Adams’ four-year term.

    Last month, Adams proposed a somewhat cautious budget while stressing “fiscal discipline.”

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  • Comptroller Lander Launches Tracker for City Spending of $11 Billion in Federal Pandemic Aid

    Comptroller Brad Lander, standing (photo: Office of New York City Comptroller)


    New York City Comptroller Brad Lander on Tuesday unveiled anonline dashboard tracking how the city is spending and allocating more than $11 billion in federal stimulus funds. Lander pointed to several deficiencies in the city’s accounting of those funds, with unclear links between the source of funding and expenditures

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  • Eric Adams' 2021 Campaign Plans

    Mayor Eric Adams (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)


    Eric Adams, then the Democratic Brooklyn Borough President, ran for Mayor of New York City on an extensive policy platform and many big promises.

    Not long after becoming mayor, Adams' campaign took down its website. Below, find links to the texts of all of the Adams 2021 campaign policy plans, saved by Gotham Gazette from the campaign website -- https://ericadams2021.com/ -- in late 2021 and recreated verbatim to

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  • Will New York City Be Ready to Implement Landmark Building Emissions Law?

    Buildings of New York City (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)


    New York’s Climate Mobilization Act of 2019, billed a “Green New Deal” for the city, included a groundbreaking law to cut carbon emissions by the biggest buildings, and the biggest polluters, in the city through caps and mandated energy upgrades and retrofits — or face financial penalties. The first set of emissions caps are set to go into effect in 2024, and the city has the complicated task ahead of setting new rules and regulations by the start of 2023, a formidable task with 10 months to go.

    While Mayor Eric Adams’ administration

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  • In First Budget, Adams Fails to Fulfill Pledge of 1% for Parks

    Erica Sherman/Brooklyn BP's Office

    Mayor Eric Adams as BK BP (photo: Erica Sherman/Brooklyn BP's Office)


    When he was running for the position and since becoming Mayor, Eric Adams publicly committed to increasing the budget for the Department of Parks and Recreation to 1% of the total city operating budget, which would mean nearly $1 billion annually. But as he presented his first budget plan this past week, an $98.5 billion spending plan for the next fiscal year,

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  • 'Laser-Focused on Fiscal Discipline': Mayor Adams Presents First Budget Plan

    (photo: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office)

    Mayor Adams at City Hall (photo: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office)


    Mayor Eric Adams on Wednesday released a $98.5 billion preliminary budget proposal for the 2023 fiscal year, which begins July 1. The plan makes for a reduction in spending of about $4.3 billion compared to the last modification of the current fiscal year 2022 budget in November by Adams’ predecessor, Bill de Blasio. With his first budget proposal, Adams outlined cost-cutting measures at city agencies, added funds to the city’s reserves, and made investments in

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  • State Aims to Reinstate Hundreds of Psychiatric Beds Shifted During Pandemic

    (photo: Kevin P. Coughlin/Office of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo)

    Medical evaluation (photo: Kevin P. Coughlin/Governor's Office)


    New York State is looking to reinstate all of the roughly 400 beds in the state's inpatient psychiatric system that were converted to medical beds at the start of the pandemic two years ago. But there is a long road to restore them despite mounting pressure from elected officials, representatives of the state Office of Mental Health (OMH) told lawmakers at a joint state legislative budget hearing Monday.

    "Across the state there have been

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  • Why We Welcome Vegan Fridays in New York City Schools

    (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)

    Mayor Adams at a vegan cooking demo (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)


    The Adams administration recently announced that plant-based meals, free of animal products except for federally-required fluid milk, would be served across the New York City public school system on Fridays. Mayor Adams had been crystal clear throughout his campaign about the connection between food and health: “We must stop feeding the crisis.”

    Because city schools serve nearly 1 million meals each day, rolling out the program

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  • After Subway Shoving, Officials Look to Expand State Laws on Mandatory Treatment for Mental Illness

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    Subway outreach (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)


    In January 1999, Kendra Webdale, a 32-year-old writer, was pushed to her death into the path of an oncoming N train by a schizophrenic man. Webdale’s death prompted the passage of the eponymously named Kendra’s Law, which allows courts to order a person to receive supervised mental health treatment, also known as assisted outpatient treatment, failing which they can be temporarily committed to a hospital.

    Twenty-three years later, the killing of 40-year-old Michelle Go in eerily

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  • Adams Testifies Before State Legislature with Focus on Criminal Justice Reforms, Mayoral Control of Schools, and Social Safety Net

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    Mayor Adams (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)


    Mayor Eric Adams on Wednesday appeared before the State Legislature to testify on Governor Kathy Hochul’s proposed budget for the 2023 fiscal year and his own Albany agenda, as well as take questions from legislators. Adams, a former state senator making his first appearance before the Legislature as mayor, reiterated his calls for changes to state criminal justice laws, pushed for changes in state law to enhance child care and tax credits for working New Yorkers, asked for more state

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  • Public Policy Survey Aligned with Adams Administration Gets Feedback from 45,000 New Yorkers and Counting

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    New Yorkers have a lot to say (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)


    Over 45,000 New Yorkers have participated in a public policy survey aimed at informing the nascent administration of Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat who took office on January 1. The results could bolster the mandate for many of Adams’ campaign promises and priorities and bring new ideas to City Hall.

    The survey, which is open to any New Yorker and anonymous, is scheduled to close on Friday, February 11. It’s part of ...

  • Adams to Present Albany Agenda, React to Hochul Budget

    (photo: Mike Groll/Office of Governor Kathy Hochul)

    Mayor Adams and Governor Hochul (photo: Mike Groll/Governor's Office)


    During his first month in office, Mayor Eric Adams issued a plan to address gun violence, signed several executive orders, and announced a few other policy initiatives, but he has largely been occupied by a series of tragedies in the city and building

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  • 'We Will Not Surrender Our City': Eric Adams' Tough First Month as Mayor

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    Mayor Adams at the scene of a deadly Bronx fire (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)


    Mayor Eric Adams had a hectic and tragic first month in office, responding to several devastating deadly incidents, establishing a new tone out of City Hall, and overseeing a shaky transition beset by questions about several appointments and punctuated by praise for others.

    In the wake of a Bronx fire that killed at least 17 New Yorkers, the murder of a teenage cashier during a robbery in Harlem, a deadly subway pushing in Times Square, an 11-month-old baby

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  • Adams Begins Mayoralty with Series of Ethics Questions

    (photo: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office)

    Mayor Adams, middle, with Chief of Staff Carone, right, & First Deputy Mayor Grillo (photo: Ed Reed/Mayor's Office)


    When Eric Adams was running for mayor, his opponents in both the primary and general elections repeatedly questioned his honesty and integrity. They pointed to his involvement in a state corruption investigation, ...

  • 'An Unprecedented Job Program': Adams Promises Overhaul of Workforce Development in New York City

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    Mayor Adams at a small business (photo: office of Eric Adams)


    New York City’s wounded economy and the rise and fall of key sectors during the pandemic has heightened pre-pandemic concerns about the match between the labor needs of employers and the skills of hundreds of thousands of jobseekers. Eric Adams made better preparing the city's workforce a major area of focus as he pitched his vision of the city's recovery to New Yorkers in his successful campaign for mayor.

    "We are going to launch an unprecedented job program to link

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  • We Need Eric Adams to be the Mayor Who Closes Rikers

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    Eric Adams at church (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)


    Throughout his campaign, Mayor Eric Adams spoke about the dysfunction that plagues our city, stemming from a failure to go ‘upstream’ to address the problems we face. There is no more tragic example of this than Rikers Island, where conditions are so dire that hundreds of incarcerated people have launched a hunger strike.

    The moral costs of this stain

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  • Mayor Adams Wants to End Agency Silos; Five City Initiatives Have Been Doing It

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    New Yorkers at work (photo: Ed Reed/Mayor's Office)


    Mayor Eric Adams has repeatedly cited inefficiencies of city government for failing New Yorkers and has vowed that he will end silos that prevent city agencies from working together for better governance. His predecessor, Mayor Bill de Blasio, attempted some of that with five pilot programs aimed at addressing poverty-related issues. Those pilot programs are nearing the end of their timeline and, according to the official coordinating the efforts, have made “significant progress” despite the challenges posed by the

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  • Max Politics Podcast: Bill de Blasio's Legacy and Eric Adams' Agenda

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    Bill de Blasio & Eric Adams (photo: Erica Sherman/Brooklyn BP's Office)


    January 5, 2022 - Max Politics Podcast: Bill de Blasio's Legacy and Eric Adams' Agenda

    Bill de Blasio recently left office after eight years as Mayor, handing city government off to Eric Adams. Joining the show to discuss de Blasio's legacy, the city he left to Adams, and what's ahead for the new Mayor are: Sally Goldenberg of Politico, Dr. Christina Greer of Fordham University, and Harry Siegel of The Daily Beast and The Daily News (Greer and

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