← Smart Girl Dumb Questions
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- [00:01]
Naeem Araza
This episode is brought to you by JCPenney. And if you've been to JCPenney recently. Yes, JCPenney, you'll know it's becoming the way to find good clothes for prices that still make sense. They've got hidden gems for everyone and every budget, with deals and rewards that actually make a dent. If you already shop JCPenney, you feel like you know a secret. But if not, it's time to ask. Wait, am I sleeping on JCPenney? Shopjcpenney.com Yes, JCPenney. He does his own slate. Scott.
- [00:32]
Eric Adams
I always wanted to do that.
- [00:34]
Naeem Araza
You've never done that?
- [00:35]
Eric Adams
No.
- [00:35]
Naeem Araza
You got to call Dick Wolf. I feel like Law and Order. Sbu. I'm Naeem Araza. This is Smart Girl, Dumb Questions. And that is New York City Mayor Eric Adams. He's running for reelection in a local race that has captured the broader zeitgeist. Kind of like a Coldplay Jumbotron. These candidates have big personalities, divergent worldviews, and reputations that precede them. So, as a New Yorker, I wanted to do a Wait, who's Running for Mayor? Series where I go beyond the headlines and the memes and what we think we know to understand the people in play. Today, I'll talk to Eric Adams, and in future episodes, I'll have on other candidates, too. I'll ask them the questions we all want to know pointedly and directly. Like I asked Mayor Adams, what is up with the whole Turkish Airlines thing. Is that still his favorite way to fly? If New Yorkers should trust him when it comes to Donald Trump, why the city is so expensive and why it feels less safe than the stats would tell us. Does he have a plan to fix that? Does he have a plan to fix dating in New York City, too? Finally, we get into the dynamics of this race, and you'll find out if Eric Adams would rather be trapped in an elevator with Zoran Muhamdani, Andrew Cuomo, or Curtis Lewa. Here's my conversation with Mayor Eric Adams, taped on Thursday, July 24. Smart girl, dumb questions. Thank you, Mayor Adams, for doing this.
- [01:50]
Eric Adams
Great to be here.
- [01:51]
Naeem Araza
You have called your job the second most important job. What's number one?
- [01:56]
Eric Adams
Being the President of the United States.
- [01:57]
Naeem Araza
And then you think it's New York City, not vice president, not Secretary of State. No.
- [02:01]
Eric Adams
And actually, there are moments, I believe, for the individual person, being mayor is more challenging than being president. Say more presidents are in a cocoon. They're surrounded by Secret Service. Their day is actually laid out, is predictable, and a lot Goes into because of the security purposes. But mayors are on the ground and people see you, they touch you, they feel you. Particularly if you are a mayor like me. Having the name of a nightlife mayor, having the name of a mayor that's always hanging out with people in parks or what have you. I'm so visible, and I live being mayor. I'm not just going through the motion. I'm not in this bubble at City Hall. I opened Gracie Mansion up to all of these different ethnic groups and cultural groups. And so being there all the time and New York is. This is a different place. I tell people all the time, New Yorkers have five fingers, they love the middle one the most.
- [03:03]
Naeem Araza
Yeah, I would say it's hard to be in a cocoon in New York City.
- [03:06]
Eric Adams
Yes.
- [03:06]
Naeem Araza
Oh, New Yorkers do not want to cocoon their mayor. No, you brought up, you know, being out all the time. You and I were both at Casa Cipriani this last Friday night.
- [03:13]
Eric Adams
I didn't see you.
- [03:14]
Naeem Araza
I didn't want to interrupt.
- [03:15]
Eric Adams
I didn't want to interrupt you.
- [03:16]
Naeem Araza
I should have. So talk about being nightlife mayor, you seem to take pride in this title. I think people. People level it as some kind of, you know, busy. We need a daytime mayor. What's nightlife mayor?
- [03:27]
Eric Adams
And that's what people miss. What I learned from policing, I did overnights as a police officer. I did 11 at night until like 8 in the morning. Right, right. For several years. And what I learned is that New York is not a 9 to 5 city. There's a whole body of people who, they do day hours, they do these afternoons until 12 o'. Clock. And then this new group of people come. They sleep during the day, they're nocturnal, and they're out overnight. And what has happened, mayors have never witnessed them, you know, and so as this nightlife mayor, when I came into office, our nightlife industry was decimated. Covid.
- [04:08]
Naeem Araza
Covid. Yeah.
- [04:09]
Eric Adams
And people don't realize when you see that fancy Casa Cipriani, you're missing the fact that the cooks, the dishwashers, the waiters, the people who clean up after hours. And I knew I had to say.
- [04:20]
Naeem Araza
This, but you weren't in the kitchen, you were.
- [04:21]
Eric Adams
No, no, I actually go in the kitchen. When you go to these major establishments and you ask them, you know, has the mayor been in here and what happened when he comes in? He stops in the kitchen.
- [04:31]
Naeem Araza
No, actually, the staff did tell me that you chat to them.
- [04:33]
Eric Adams
Yeah, I talked to them. And I knew I had to revitalize our nightlife, $30 billion industry. If I didn't get that industry back up and operated, working class people would have suffered. And so, you know, I took hits for it because people thought it was okay. He just wanted to hang out and, you know, do X, Y, and Z. No, I was. It was part of my overall plan of I got to revitalize my nightlife. I have to revitalize my business industry. I had to revitalize my 4-12s, as we call them.
- [05:04]
Naeem Araza
Okay?
- [05:04]
Eric Adams
The whole city.
- [05:05]
Naeem Araza
And now the city is. Is humming. Humming. But you're still going. Cause it's also fun. It's also fun.
- [05:11]
Eric Adams
You're me. People want to see you. They want to see you out.
- [05:13]
Naeem Araza
Are you a member of any of these clubs?
- [05:15]
Eric Adams
No, no, no. I have so many people that are members of different clubs. You come in as their guests. These are too expensive for me on my salary. You know, I'm a civil servant.
- [05:25]
Naeem Araza
Yeah, but you. You know, every interview I hear with you starts with the story of, really your first interaction with the cops and your teens being arrested. But also, you know, you were born in Brownsville. For people who don't know New York, that's one of the poorest parts of New York. You grew up in Jamaica, Queens. Single mother, right?
- [05:42]
Eric Adams
Yes, I'm Jamaica Queens.
- [05:44]
Naeem Araza
Yeah.
- [05:45]
Eric Adams
Yes. And, you know, it broke my heart. I thought I was Jamaican because I grew up in Jamaica, Queens.
- [05:49]
Naeem Araza
You did not think you were Jamaican.
- [05:51]
Eric Adams
Yes, I did. They said you're not Jamaican. Eric.
- [05:54]
Naeem Araza
Different accent than Queens. Different accent.
- [05:57]
Eric Adams
You know, people often looked at. And I'm glad you asked that question, because people look at. Okay, you're the mayor. Second mayor of color, first person of color to be borough president, state senator, captain. That's my glory. And people don't realize sometimes, you know, they look at you. You're a big time podcaster. That's your glory. You know, take the moment and dig into our stories. You know, my story is growing up and walking in the classroom and seeing dumb student wrote on the back of my chair and praying to God that I didn't have to read because of my undiagnosed dyslexia. And the students would mimic me throughout the day. Let's act like we're Eric Reed and stumbling over roads. My story is my negative encounter with police officers living on the verge of homelessness. That's my story, though.
- [06:41]
Naeem Araza
Just being in these fancy places in these fancy rooms. And I'm not judging you for it. I'm in them, too. I'm a big time podcaster as you said, I don't know. But does it change you? Does it make you part of the elite, or are you part of the group chat?
- [06:55]
Eric Adams
I think just the opposite. It is so important that you'd be surprised how people believe that they're not deserving of certain things. You know, and what I hope happens at the end of my tenure of being the mayor of the city, that people will look at me and say, wait a minute. You know, God made this perfectly imperfect person. I'm perfectly imperfect. And so the young person who's growing up dyslexic or with a learning disability, they say, wait a minute. The mayor had a learning disability. The young person on Rikers island who feel that they hit the end of the road. It's just a bend in the road. He starts to make the turn. I got rebapped on Rikers Island. I went and sat next to the inmates and said, we're going to get re baptized together. And so I wanted them to say, wait a minute. My mayor got arrested. My mayor lived on the verge of homelessness, lived in a domestic violence situation.
- [07:48]
Naeem Araza
A lot of New Yorkers feel this city has become unaffordable, has become untenable. Who see the ceilings you're talking about.
- [07:53]
Eric Adams
Right, right.
- [07:54]
Naeem Araza
They don't think they're gonna make it. They came here to make it. They don't think they're gonna make it. All of these candidates, I mean, you know, by virtue of becoming mayor, becoming governor, you know, being able to run for this office, how should New Yorkers, working class New Yorkers, connect to these people? And do you feel like you are the mayor of all of the people or of the people who own the buildings?
- [08:14]
Eric Adams
Okay, and that's a great question, because both matters. I want the person who drives the limousine to be able to afford to be in the city and a person who sits in the back of the limousine to understand their contribution. There's a financial ecosystem that we all need each. If we don't have each other, we can't make it. If I don't have that billionaire. To use their discretionary dollars to pay for nonprofits like the Robin Hood foundation to put into our museums or do other projects. You look at the head of JPMorgan Chase. He and his wife, they have an amazing internship program.
- [08:51]
Naeem Araza
Jamie Dimon.
- [08:52]
Eric Adams
Jamie Dimon. So if you disconnect my discretionary dollars that are in the city and say, no, we don't need you here, people don't understand an economic ecosystem. We are. But I think what's Important Cause this is a great question you're asking. You're saying that people don't think they can make it here. That is untrue. Every day I'm hearing the stories of people. I came here with a dollar in my pocket and was a dishwasher, now own a chain of restaurants. I came here as a person that didn't understand English. Now I'm running schools that teach English.
- [09:24]
Naeem Araza
How much do you think a person needs to make it in New York? I know with the poverty line. The poverty line is something like $22,000 for a single person in New York. It's something like 45K, I think, for a family. Well, what do you think people need to make it in New York and to make it in Manhattan? Dollar amount.
- [09:41]
Eric Adams
I'm loving these questions. I'm loving these questions.
- [09:42]
Naeem Araza
Thank you.
- [09:43]
Eric Adams
I have friends who are making a half a million dollars a year and say I don't have enough. I have friends who make a million dollars a year and say, wow, I'm struggling, you know, so really, you know, what we must do as government and what we have done and the story has never been told what we've done in the city. When I go to town halls, when I do podcasts, speak to my son, and I sat down and had dinner, actually it was breakfast. And I was sharing what we were doing. He said, dad, I didn't know that. I hear that all the time.
- [10:14]
Naeem Araza
Right?
- [10:15]
Eric Adams
People don't know that we put $30 billion back in the pockets of New Yorkers. We paying off medical debt.
- [10:20]
Naeem Araza
Yeah, you forgave medical debt for something like $10,000.
- [10:23]
Eric Adams
But not only that, do you know low income people in this city, because of what I did with extra tax, they're paying no income tax anymore.
- [10:30]
Naeem Araza
You have a opponent who's running against you on the subject of affordability. But I really do want to get. We're gonna get to this conversation, to all of those calls.
- [10:37]
Eric Adams
I'm low main.
- [10:39]
Naeem Araza
Are you low maintenance?
- [10:40]
Eric Adams
Yes, I am.
- [10:41]
Naeem Araza
I'm gonna ask your. I'm gonna ask your team, Kate, is he about low maintenance?
- [10:44]
Eric Adams
I'm so easy, you know that.
- [10:46]
Naeem Araza
No, but I wanna ask you about these things and why you think people don't know. But before we get there, you have a candidate who's running against you, Zoramdani, who's running on affordability.
- [10:54]
Eric Adams
Right.
- [10:55]
Naeem Araza
He's running on some idea of redistribution, which you're talking about the billionaires, the limo drivers, the guy in the back. How do you look at that? Do you think that Your, or actually, let me ask it this way. You did not run on the Democratic primary.
- [11:08]
Eric Adams
Yes.
- [11:09]
Naeem Araza
If you had and your supporters, who would put you as vote ranked? Choice one, who do you think they would put as rank two?
- [11:17]
Eric Adams
Good question. Because the party was so far left of me, you know my mindset. I'm a pro public safety, pro business, pro family person. And you can't, you can't. I don't check boxes like I don't check. Here's the box of what, you know, the left arm of the party believe is a good Democrat. Here's the box at the far right of the party believe. I just don't fall into that. My life experience doesn't allow me just to embrace. Here's a list of rules. And that's what makes it difficult. It was difficult.
- [11:51]
Naeem Araza
But you're out there talking to voters, you know your base. Right. So do you think your base, you know, if they had to choose between the other two options. I know you're not gonna drop that, as you said, but if they did, which way does it go or how does it split up?
- [12:04]
Eric Adams
I think it has. There's a little piece of my base in many of the candidates, but not a lot same when I ran. When I ran in 2021. Look at the talent that I was running against. And it was a different feeling. Maya Wiley was more left of me. Ray Maguire was just as moderate as I was. Sean Donovan was moderate as well. And so my base, you know, is, is hard to really define. That's been a challenge of people. People want to put me in a box and I can't be put in a box.
- [12:35]
Naeem Araza
You don't have a sense of how it shakes out. Like 80% would go this way.
- [12:38]
Eric Adams
I wouldn't have a clue. Where would my number two and number three will go? Some people would probably just bullet vote. They would probably say, listen, we want to rock with Eric. You know, we know Eric, we know how he is. We're not going to go down the line and go with others like people did before.
- [12:55]
Naeem Araza
When I ran, I usually ask my guests a fuck, marry, kill. Familiar with that game?
- [13:00]
Eric Adams
No, tell me.
- [13:02]
Naeem Araza
I'm not going to make you. I'm not going to play, make you play that game. But I'll do a more PG version.
- [13:06]
Eric Adams
No, no, don't do no pg. I don't want pg.
- [13:09]
Naeem Araza
You don't want pg?
- [13:10]
Eric Adams
Oh, no, no.
- [13:11]
Naeem Araza
Well, I don't think you want to marry or, or kill or any of your kill. Let me ask you this. I love that we're going to do tap, trade, and toss.
- [13:19]
Eric Adams
Okay.
- [13:20]
Naeem Araza
Squamo, Mamdani or Sliwa? Who of your opponents would you tap to be part of your advisory, you know, part of your administration in some future, who would you trade to another city? You've got to send them to Chicago. And who would you toss out of the race entirely?
- [13:35]
Eric Adams
Good Lord. I'm not gonna be able to tap, I'll tell you that right now. I would definitely send Madani to Chicago. You know, I would send. Cuomo needs to just get out of the race altogether. And Adarsha won't tap. I would have to find maybe one of the cats in his house. I'll tap, you know, but, you know.
- [13:59]
Naeem Araza
He'S a different kind of cat, right? Who would you rather be stuck in an elevator with? Of the three of them.
- [14:07]
Eric Adams
Probably Madani. We had dinner together. We had a good conversation.
- [14:10]
Naeem Araza
When did you have dinner?
- [14:12]
Eric Adams
I met him in Albany while he was in assembly. And I was always interested in what Africa was like under IDI Amin and how IDI Amin purged many of the Indians who were there. And it always fascinated me when I read the stories growing up. And there was a movie about IDI Amin.
- [14:35]
Naeem Araza
I remember that.
- [14:35]
Eric Adams
And when I learned that he was from Uganda and who his dad was, I said, you know, I would love to have dinner with you and your dad. And just, you know.
- [14:43]
Naeem Araza
Did Zoran bring his dad to dinner?
- [14:45]
Eric Adams
Yeah, he did. His dad came, he came. We had a great conversation, you know? You know, you could disagree, agree without being disagreeable. You know, we just philosophically disagree. I think his policies are hurtful. I think they're not fully flushed out, and they don't understand the ramification. But I'm not saying that I dislike a person. I get along with people. I like people. And I know we don't have to all agree. I don't agree with myself all the time, so how am I going to agree with someone else all the time?
- [15:16]
Naeem Araza
You don't agree with past you. You mean right this moment? Okay, that's interesting. See? Would you have a drink with Mamdani again?
- [15:24]
Eric Adams
Yeah, definitely. Definitely.
- [15:25]
Naeem Araza
Or sit down for dinner with him? I don't know if you.
- [15:27]
Eric Adams
It will surprise you, the types of people I sit in the room with. There's a guy named Hawk Newson, okay? He is from Black Lives Matter. He thinks he is. Hates me. He wakes up every morning and says, how could I make Eric's life miserable? And I enjoy talking to him.
- [15:43]
Naeem Araza
Yeah, you know what? Would you ask Mamdani if you were to sit down with him, I would.
- [15:48]
Eric Adams
Love for him I would pick upon his policies.
- [15:50]
Naeem Araza
Okay, so what don't you like about his policies?
- [15:52]
Eric Adams
It's not like. Because on paper they sound good.
- [15:56]
Naeem Araza
Okay.
- [15:56]
Eric Adams
But growing up in South Jamaica, Queens, I remember clearly how people would come around and campaign with mom and they would promise things and they would never get them. People knew they were. People knew they were lying to us. And we would still wake up the next day and say. I would say, mommy, didn't they say that we were all of a sudden not to eat this hard cheese anymore? You know, and so what his policies that he's doing, he's promising things he know he can't deliver.
- [16:24]
Naeem Araza
Can you be specific?
- [16:25]
Eric Adams
Yeah. The free buses.
- [16:27]
Naeem Araza
Okay.
- [16:27]
Eric Adams
Which is one of his top priorities. It costs $3 billion and he's saying that I'm gonna get to $3 billion by raising taxes on our top 1% owners earners in the city. Mans don't raise taxes. Assemblymen raise taxes. He's an assemblyman. And the governor already said I'm not signing off on that. So why are you running around keep saying you're gonna get free buses when you know you can't?
- [16:53]
Naeem Araza
So you're not opposed to free buses. You're opposed to the promise of free buses when the hurdles to deliver them would be the state legislature and the.
- [17:00]
Eric Adams
And mayors can't do that. And let's go even one step further. No, I'm not opposed to free buses. When he presented that to me at Gracie Mansion, I said, wow, that's a good idea. I'll support that and do a pilot in Albany.
- [17:13]
Naeem Araza
People are getting stuck in this idea of, you know, obviously Mamdani runs as a democratic socialist.
- [17:17]
Eric Adams
Yes.
- [17:17]
Naeem Araza
Do you think he's a socialist from.
- [17:20]
Eric Adams
Based on what he is, you know, as found in. Based on what he's saying. That's his belief. And it is not up to me to say you're wrong for your belief. I hate when people tell me I'm wrong for my belief. That belief is not good for me and it's not good for the city. You know, as you stated that many people feel they can't make it here. They're not going to make it here by people saying, hey, let me just give you something. They're going to make it here the way your parents. My parents did. Grit, hard working. If someone would have just given me something, I would still be sitting there in school believing that, hey, I'm dyslexic, so I could never go any further. No And I collect stories of New Yorkers. And I am blown away at the resiliency of New Yorkers.
- [18:07]
Naeem Araza
It's funny to me because socialism gets thrown out a lot. But like a lot of these policies, you know, Bloomberg, who I would not call a socialist. Would you call him a socialist?
- [18:16]
Eric Adams
No, I would not.
- [18:17]
Naeem Araza
The former mayor of Bloomberg wanted free cross.
- [18:19]
Eric Adams
Free cross.
- [18:19]
Naeem Araza
Yeah, free cross town buses. He campaigned that in 2009. He did this grocery store fresh subsidy program that I think still runs today. You know, he did increase taxes on the wealthy at least a couple of times. So I just always find that funny when that term gets lobbed around and some of the things you did. Forgiving medical debt.
- [18:37]
Eric Adams
Yes.
- [18:39]
Naeem Araza
Taxes for the lowest income earners in.
- [18:41]
Eric Adams
New York City, giving people, subsidizing those who need help. We should always do that. But you should always maintain that pathway. You know, when I go to, I've been to Venezuela, I've been to Cuba, they still give out those ration books and you walk into the grocery stores and you're missing, you know, hey, we ran out for milk this week and, you know, you out of luck. So the goal is we never should take away the desire to move up the capitalist instinct. Exactly. Because that's who we are. Let's not, let's, you know, we should. Don't apologize. We don't have to apologize for our way of life. This is a. We need to be compassionate capitalists. When you look at what affluent New Yorkers are doing for this city, the boards that they're on, the volunteer that they do, the foundations that they're part of, so it's, you know, we want to demonize. It's nice to demonize someone who earns $10 million a year. It's not to demonize them, but without them. Remove them from the equation, take them out. Let's say all of a sudden some.
- [19:41]
Naeem Araza
Of them have left, some of them going to Miami, some of them are fleeing Connecticut, New Jersey, Florida.
- [19:47]
Eric Adams
So I don't want to divide our city. I don't want to say to billionaires, we don't want you here. Because I know why we need them here. The money we make just on stock transfer, taxes and bonuses, that actually impacts our budget.
- [20:02]
Naeem Araza
You're famous for saying, you know, New York City is the Zagreb of America, Istanbul of America, Islamabad of America.
- [20:09]
Eric Adams
New York City is the Athens of America, is the Istanbul of America, is the Keys of America.
- [20:14]
Naeem Araza
Do you ever think New York City could literally be the Havana of America or the Pyongyang of America?
- [20:20]
Eric Adams
Yes. Really, because of the people. The socialism? No, no, the people. When I say New York City of America, I'm saying the people. Because we in New York, we have the largest populations of people. We have the largest population of DOMINICANS Outside of Dr. We have probably the second largest population of Chinese. You know, we have the largest population of Haitians. So when I say that, I take the capital of those cities and say we're the largest here, that's what's great about this.
- [20:47]
Naeem Araza
But you don't think it's going to become Havana, Cuba or Pyongyang because of the people. Right? It could never become.
- [20:54]
Eric Adams
But here's the problem. The candidates break down into three groups.
- [20:59]
Naeem Araza
Okay, tell me how you see it.
- [21:01]
Eric Adams
Three of them don't have a record. One of them is running from their record. That's Andrew. I'm the only one in the record. That's why you could actually criticize and critique me. And so what my concern is, we've come too far to go back. And when you look at some of these policies, they are going to take us back. You can't open Rikers island and let out the inmates. So we have 7, 400 inmates. You know how hard it is to get on Rikers island because of bail reform that Andrew passed. And so now we're saying, let's let them out. You know where they're going? They're going back to the communities that they preyed on. That's unfair to those communities.
- [21:41]
Naeem Araza
It's funny, I think there is something about experience. You're talking about experience. Yes, Experience has been lauded as an asset. But these days in American politics, it feels like experience hurts you. People are like, I don't want more of the same thing. Look at Trump. People are like, I don't want the same incremental policy. I want some new person that isn't from the system. Do you feel like that hurts you, your experience?
- [22:03]
Eric Adams
Well, first, here's what hurts me and has hurt me. Our story has never been told. And so it's difficult for average New Yorkers to say, I don't want more of this, but they don't even know what my this is. They don't know I paid off medical debt. If you walk down the street with the mic, you know how people check people on the street and say, hey, has the mayor paid off low income medical debt? No. Has the mayor did universal childcare for what everyone asked for? No one's able to do? No. Has the mayor built more housing in year one, year two, and year Three than de Blasio and Bloomberg. They said, no, people don't know my story.
- [22:39]
Naeem Araza
Why don't they know it?
- [22:40]
Eric Adams
Well, I had a hostile media. You know, you just go do an analysis. Here's a project to do. No, my podcast is this long form conversation has been a home run for me. I did 200 and something podcasts when I ran for Matrix.
- [22:56]
Naeem Araza
Oh, I don't feel so special.
- [22:59]
Eric Adams
You know, but when you, if you were to do an exercise, a classroom exercise.
- [23:03]
Naeem Araza
He'S giving me homework.
- [23:05]
Eric Adams
I say, I'm gonna flip through the paper for the last. Don't even take, don't even do for three years, just a year. I'm gonna flip through the paper and see how this man has been covered. Did we talk about any of the good stuff that he has done or did we find a negative tint on whatever was done? I knew something was wrong on Dr. King's Day when I was at Madison Square Garden and they announced that I was there and they gave me a standing ovation and there was one drunk heckler that said, f you, Eric Adams. That became the headline of the story. And I said right then to my team, I went back, I said, this is going to be a rough, you know, four years.
- [23:43]
Naeem Araza
But what do you always say? New Yorkers have five fingers, but their.
- [23:46]
Eric Adams
Favorite one is the middle one. First of all, our media. Our reporters. Not the media. Let me be honest. Our reporters are lefties.
- [23:58]
Naeem Araza
Are lefties. But there's also. There is a bit. I mean, the media is not a monolith, right?
- [24:02]
Eric Adams
No, no, without a doubt.
- [24:03]
Naeem Araza
There's a huge amount of information. People are getting their information from all kinds of places these days. They're going direct, I mean, TikTok, et cetera. Look at that. I mean, you're doing it now in your campaign.
- [24:11]
Eric Adams
So we just started. We gonna amp up. But when city hall has city hall reporters, that's a lot of people don't understand. I'm not talking about my editorial boards who have real level head deep thinkers and really go into the project. I'm talking about the people who are covering me. They're lefties. So they get happy whenever. If I don't do something they like about bike lanes they enjoy, we're gonna rip them apart. So what you did, you're doing more pre K seats. In the history of it, yeah. We're gonna find one parent who's upset.
- [24:46]
Naeem Araza
Do you think we do that? Don't you think that. I mean, that's kind of the job of John. I love that you know, I used to work at the New York Times, New York magazine. I feel like that our job is to report what's news as new. What do you think?
- [24:55]
Eric Adams
I'm loving that you asked that question.
- [24:57]
Naeem Araza
Yeah.
- [24:57]
Eric Adams
Yes. That is. It's not. There's not one mayor or elected official that say the media's unfair. That's it. But what I thought, and that was my biggest mistakes. I said they're gonna hit me when I do something wrong. That's the nature of the beast. But you know what? When I settle 98% of my union contracts with 98% ratification levels, when I build more housing than mayors in 20 years, when I pay off college tuition for foster care children, high speed broadband for NYCHA resident, when I do all this stuff, they're gonna at least have an article that, hey, the mayor just.
- [25:32]
Naeem Araza
Did X. I think they have those articles but no one clicks on them.
- [25:35]
Eric Adams
Nah, I don't wanna have those articles.
- [25:36]
Naeem Araza
No, they don't have them. They don't have them. But we're gonna talk about all your policies. Cause I wanna get to that last question. Mamdani. I wanna talk about the campaign, then get onto this. How do you make sense of the energy around Mamdani right now? What do you think that energy is? What does it reveal to you as a candidate? Do you learn anything from it?
- [25:55]
Eric Adams
He was never a candidate. He was a social media influencer. He wasn't a candidate when I ran and won in 2021.
- [26:09]
Naeem Araza
Yeah.
- [26:10]
Eric Adams
At my victory speech, I said, social media does not win an election. People on Social Security. Social Security win elections that was flipped upside down. He did an amazing job of this time that we in people don't look at. People don't read full body, they read headlines.
- [26:37]
Naeem Araza
But he goes out, he meets with communities, he's doing the thing. I mean, isn't that what campaigning is? Social media is just part of it.
- [26:43]
Eric Adams
When everybody went out and meet with people, what made his name seem to be almost omnipresent? It was a well run social media influence campaign.
- [26:57]
Naeem Araza
And now you're trying to do that. Are you trying to do?
- [26:59]
Eric Adams
That's what I'm trying to do. I'm trying to utilize that mechanism that my experts are now assisting me with to get my story out.
- [27:10]
Naeem Araza
Okay?
- [27:11]
Eric Adams
All I have to do is get my story out. All people need to know, hey, this is a mayor. That can't be defined by the lawfare he experienced. Can't be defined by the narrative of saying he's anti immigrant. You know, what's the Most interesting part of this campaign, Tell me all that I am has been hijacked. When you talk about a working class mayor, you know, I wasn't born with a silver spoon. I was born with a wooden spoon and no food was on it. When you talk about a mayor that produced for working class people, that's what I have done. So social media has successfully turned upside down who I was. And that's what happened in 2021. Also in 2021, people would label me as pro police reform when all this police reform, that's what I cut my teeth on. But there was a whole narrative that. Eric, don't want to do anything about police reform. Eric is.
- [28:06]
Naeem Araza
Yeah. That you were anti police reform.
- [28:08]
Eric Adams
Sorry, that was anti police reform. That was the whole narrative. And I would go to debates and I was saying, wait a minute, what are we talking about here?
- [28:15]
Naeem Araza
So you feel misunderstood, Mayor?
- [28:19]
Eric Adams
I don't know if misunderstood is the right term.
- [28:21]
Naeem Araza
Misrepresented.
- [28:22]
Eric Adams
Yes. I like that better. You know, feel misrepresented. So the beauty of campaigning is that you are allowed to use your resources to tell your story. Because remember when I ran in 2021, I was losing to Andrew Yang by 13 points.
- [28:38]
Naeem Araza
He was walking around with Andrew Yang. I forgot about Andrew Yang.
- [28:41]
Eric Adams
He was walking around with a tape measure, measuring the drapes. He said, you know, when I'm in. When I'm in. I was losing to Andrew Yang by black men.
- [28:49]
Naeem Araza
Wow. And he was in the bodegas, right? Yeah, exactly.
- [28:51]
Eric Adams
They were saying, eric, we love you, but Andrew Yang is giving us $1,000 a month free. We don't love you that much. And so I had to get out and sell to them. Here's why. What he was selling was bogus. And here's what I want to do. I'm going to cut unemployment. And we did about 30%.
- [29:08]
Naeem Araza
I want to ask you about this narrative you think has been hijacked. I'll give you a chance to respond, but before we do that, very quick questions on one or more people. So former Governor Andrew Cuomo, he lost the Democratic primaries running as an independent. You said he called you and asked you to come to an agreement to come out of the race.
- [29:27]
Eric Adams
We both articulated our desires for. He wanted me out, I wanted him out. And we shared that.
- [29:33]
Naeem Araza
And you guys had a phone call. Who called who?
- [29:35]
Eric Adams
I think I text him. And then I called him and said, listen, Andrew, what are you doing? You lost by double digits.
- [29:41]
Naeem Araza
This was after his video came out that he was rerunning or.
- [29:44]
Eric Adams
No, this was before that, before that.
- [29:46]
Naeem Araza
And you were saying, okay, so you need to bounce.
- [29:49]
Eric Adams
You know, you just lost. You spent $25 million. People heard your message and they decided that they didn't want to go for it. And then he never wanted to be mayor. You have to campaign to be mayor. You know, you can't come out and go to a black church on Sunday and, you know, go eat fried chicken somewhere and all of a sudden act like you're campaigning. I mean, he took New Yorkers for gr and it was unfortunate.
- [30:11]
Naeem Araza
What did he say to you when you. What was the end of that call? What were the last five words of that film call?
- [30:17]
Eric Adams
Listen, I feel like he feel like he could win. Everybody feels they could win. All nine of the candidates that won in the primary felt that they could win. Duh. You know, but the fact that you lost, okay, that's the fact he lost.
- [30:28]
Naeem Araza
Is that the last conversation you've had with him?
- [30:31]
Eric Adams
We probably exchanged, you know, texts, you know, from time to time. He complained about something I say, I complained about something he states. And I didn't want. Listen, I didn't want to go back and forth with Andrew. I said, listen, you're in a race, you in the race. I'm run my race. But when you start saying that failed leadership, when you start saying that the city's out of control, I'm like, whoa, what are you doing? Failed leadership is having 15,000 of our parents die in a nursing home. Failed leadership is spend $60 million on defending yourself for your lawsuit. I could go down the list of failed leadership from not for closing psychiatric beds. And now we have people walking in our streets, et cetera.
- [31:13]
Naeem Araza
Are you getting the. I mean, obviously you've had these phone calls with the former governor, but are you getting pressure from donors directly to.
- [31:20]
Eric Adams
Stay in the race? Donors are telling me, and not only donors, I'm walking down the block and people are saying, eric, don't you go anywhere. Stay in the race. Don't you go anywhere.
- [31:32]
Naeem Araza
Do you think that's gonna change closer to the fall as like if it's still this three way race and people are, you know, especially in these rooms like Casa Cipriani, where we're both last Friday night. There's the fear in some parts of New York.
- [31:44]
Eric Adams
Yeah, the fear is real. But my fear is based on policies. I fear his policies, Andrew's, and I fear Madani's policies. But let me say this because this is an important question that you're asking that remember, 9, 10% of voters voted, 90% have yet to speak.
- [32:03]
Naeem Araza
The primary turnout was incredible. It was close to the mayoral general turnout.
- [32:07]
Eric Adams
Right, right. In 2021. Because people sl on this election. Nine months ago, when I was telling people, madani's gonna win the primary, people were telling me, eric, what are you talking about?
- [32:16]
Naeem Araza
You called that. Okay, let me ask you a question. Let's move away from the race for a second. Just as a New Yorker, I have this, like, dumb question of, you know, this city. I love New York. I've lived in a lot of cities of London, wherever, but I love New York. I feel like such talented people all over the world, working hard, paying too much in rent to be here. And yet we are stepping over rats. We have trash in our streets. Things are expensive. Like, the city does smell like weed. Although you are shutting down some of these illegal cannabis shops. Is this just a trade New Yorkers have to accept? I mean, for so long, I feel we walk around and we're just like, oh, this is New York.
- [32:54]
Eric Adams
No, I don't buy that. I don't buy that. And if we're honest in our analysis, because you have to use indicators to determine how well a city's moving, and it must be done based on an independent source. So rack complaints are down. People told me I couldn't containerize garbage. It's impossible in New York to put garbage in containers and bins. 75% of our garbage are now in bins, and we're gonna reach 100%. They told me it was gonna take me five years. I did it in three and a half years.
- [33:23]
Naeem Araza
I walked by so many piles of trash bags. I'm just seeing 25%.
- [33:29]
Eric Adams
People are now getting acclimated to the law to make sure it's done correctly.
- [33:35]
Naeem Araza
These bins gotta be bigger.
- [33:36]
Eric Adams
These bins have bigger size of the. We've done another project. The first order business you had to do is have New Yorkers wrap their heads around. We are now putting our garbage in bins. When I go to South America, Central America, Greece, you don't see garbage in plastic bags. They said plastic bags. What are you talking about? And so our parks are cleaner. You're seeing more pet workers and more park employees. What we're doing.
- [34:01]
Naeem Araza
You've been in this job for a few years now. Why is it so hard to change this stuff? I feel like. It feels like this is. This is like. I know you're saying things have changed, but the. But, you know, we walk out of New York City right now, it's not gonna smell like roses. Actually, it might. We're on 28th street, the flower street. It might smell like roses, but, you know, probably it's not gonna smell like that. Why is it so? What is the thing that is in the way of mayors doing the job?
- [34:27]
Eric Adams
I love that.
- [34:28]
Naeem Araza
Is it Albany? Is it bureaucracy?
- [34:31]
Eric Adams
Bureaucracy is one. But at the same time, we first have to acknowledge where we were. And the way you determine how cities are doing is do a comparative analysis. Go look at la. Go look at San Francisco. Go look at Oakland. Over our weekend, Fourth of July weekend, we had Fourth of July day. We had one shooting. Chicago had 50 something. So when you do an analysis of the complexities of running big cities with different languages and different cultures, you have to do a comparative and say, okay, let's see how well these cities are running, moving, and we're moving in the right direction. Record break. Decreases in crime. Broadway had the best 12 months on history. More jobs. We built a record for jobs 11 times. One out of five of the small businesses started under this administration. So think about this for a moment, because this is so important, what you're asking. Okay. Why didn't we snap our finger and we get to change for a moment? Because, you know, when I came in office, all my businesses were closed. And we had this thing called Covid.
- [35:34]
Naeem Araza
Yes, I remember.
- [35:35]
Eric Adams
Nobody was coming back into their office. I had to manage us through that. And then as we managed us through that, out of Nowhere, I got 237,000 migrants and asylum seekers that came to our city. That cost me $7 billion. So I had to take money out of my budget that could have hired hundreds of more sanitation employees that could have handled more rat cleanup. So all of that money that we would have normally used to put into, we had to take because the federal government wouldn't give us the money that they should have given us to pay for these things.
- [36:15]
Naeem Araza
Here's a question. If you're married to New York. Because I feel like New York's kind of like your wife.
- [36:19]
Eric Adams
Yes, it is. Yes, it is. She's a jealous mistress.
- [36:22]
Naeem Araza
She's a jealous mistress. How is your relationship going right now? Do you say it's complicated. It's happily ever after. You need some therapy. What's the situation with your marriage? With New York? With New York?
- [36:34]
Eric Adams
Listen, I understand. In any reason.
- [36:36]
Naeem Araza
With your 8.3 million wife.
- [36:38]
Eric Adams
That's right, 8.3 million shorties.
- [36:40]
Naeem Araza
Yeah, exactly. What's the marriage like?
- [36:43]
Eric Adams
Look, I know that relationships are ups and downs. I know that relationship goes. They go through good days, they go through bad. Days, they go through joyous moments. There's moments when you want to choke each other, and there are moments that you want to hug each other. But at the foundation, you got to look at. I always say, what is the foundation of a relationship? Do you love the person you're in a relationship with? It's not a bumper sticker or T shirt for me. I love New York. Listen, I wore a bulletproof vest for 22 years. And I stood on street corners. I cried with family members who lost loved ones. I sat in hospitals when I was off duty after an incident that happened. I knocked on doors. I sat in living rooms. This is a city that I love. And so no matter the ups and downs, no matter when I walk by people and they say, I hate you, Eric, I. Or people say, oh, I love you, my mom love you. Take a picture. No matter those emotions, I love this city. And we've come too far to go back. We can't go back.
- [37:43]
Naeem Araza
I think I'm not your couple's therapist, but let me play one for a second. I think there's some trust issues right now with you and New Yorker.
- [37:51]
Eric Adams
Right?
- [37:52]
Naeem Araza
And I wanna let you address. You brought up the indictment. So I wanna address that elephant in the room. Cause a lot of rooms you go into, this comes up, I bring up. I'm interviewing Eric Adams. They say, oh, ask him about Turkish Airlines. You know, let's talk about what happened with the federal corruption charges.
- [38:07]
Eric Adams
Right?
- [38:08]
Naeem Araza
So talk about that.
- [38:09]
Eric Adams
Think about this for a moment. Many people didn't read the indictment. They heard the story, but they never read the indictment.
- [38:15]
Naeem Araza
Indictments are not fun to read.
- [38:17]
Eric Adams
Right, right, right. So they really don't know the story. There are two aspects of the indictment.
- [38:21]
Naeem Araza
But they read the emails, right? Like, there was a lot of coverage of the correspondence.
- [38:25]
Eric Adams
Yeah, but stuff like that. Look at the correspondence. The correspondence should have vindicated me. So there were two asp. And I couldn't talk about it. I was so pissed that I couldn't talk about it while I was in the court because my attorney said, eric, shut up, Alex. Bureau said, yes, shut up, Eric. You know, there were two aspects of this indictment. One of the aspects of it was that I called the fire department commissioner and said, can you go do a building inspection? Because the president is coming here, and y' all got all of this darn bureaucracy that everybody complained on. I ran on the lack of having these building inspections. And I said to him, if you can't do it, let me know and I'll manage their expectations.
- [39:08]
Naeem Araza
This Is the Turkish Consulate building.
- [39:10]
Eric Adams
Exactly. Turkish consulate building. And so what they said that, well, you have flown on Turkish Airlines for years, paid, and when you flew, you asked for upgrades. When you run, when you go on official travel, it's all right for you to get those upgrades, but when you went on your personal travel, you should have got those upgrades. And so we feel as though you were being bribed because one day you were going to call the fire commissioner, and so you were bribed for that. So we're going to charge you with bribery. Made no sense. Even legal experts that read it said, wait a minute, this is the Senate mayor of New York. And you indicted him on that. Now, what was the second aspect? We did hundreds of fundraisers. Hundreds. A lot of volunteers. A lot of volunteers come out. Anyone that knows this, they know about this whole straw donor, what have you. It appears as though that a volunteer, not a staffer, not an employee, did something improper. And it appears as though to save her own rear, as they do all the time. I'm a former law enforcement officer. Hey, if you tell something on him, we will let you go free. They never charged her. She was never charged. When the emails that you talked about showed she did something wrong. There was no email showing that I did anything wrong.
- [40:28]
Naeem Araza
The emails, there was correspondence about, oh, how much is their tickets gonna be? It's gonna be 500. There's some negotiation on that stuff. I mean, I think people read this, I wanna get to the current situation because there was a question of, like, was there quid pro quo on the Turkey question? And now the question is, was there quid pro question mark with the dismissal of the case against the case.
- [40:47]
Eric Adams
Okay, so let's.
- [40:48]
Naeem Araza
So let's talk about that because let's.
- [40:50]
Eric Adams
Peel that part for back. And. Yeah, and let's be honest about it. Let's be honest on people. People say, okay, was it a quick pro quo? How much of that do you really believe had to do it was because it was Donald Trump?
- [41:04]
Naeem Araza
Well, I mean, I don't speak for all New Yorkers. I will say this. I think that you were tough on immigration before. And I think part of the. So I do recognize that you have.
- [41:13]
Eric Adams
Been not tough on immigration.
- [41:14]
Naeem Araza
Yeah, sorry, I should say you were sounding the alarm on the migrant crisis in 2023.
- [41:20]
Eric Adams
And I was tough on those committed crimes.
- [41:22]
Naeem Araza
Exactly. Yeah, you were.
- [41:23]
Eric Adams
I support immigration.
- [41:24]
Naeem Araza
Yes. And so we are gonna get to that. But here I wanna quote. So Reverend Al Sharpton. Friend of yours.
- [41:30]
Eric Adams
Yes. Yep, yep.
- [41:30]
Naeem Araza
Ally of yours. He was quoted saying that he thinks the Trump people have compromised you and that you've put the city where we're hostage. This is a quote from earlier this year. I mean, New Yorkers.
- [41:42]
Eric Adams
Let me say that when he. Cuz there's more to that comment that he made. He was saying, saying don't put Eric in this position. His indictment should be dismissed with prejudice. It could never come back. And people cannot say what they're holding is over the mayor's head.
- [41:59]
Naeem Araza
The Trump administration, when they dropped the charges, they wanted to drop it without prejudice. Without prejudice, meaning they could have brought those charges again.
- [42:05]
Eric Adams
Right.
- [42:06]
Naeem Araza
And the judge, the district court judge said, we're not gonna do that. We're gonna drop it with prejudice because otherwise it would create the appearance that you owe the President without a doubt.
- [42:15]
Eric Adams
But remember, even when they.
- [42:18]
Naeem Araza
But there was space between that, it was February to April and.
- [42:20]
Eric Adams
But this is going to be one of the most important chapters in my book because do you have a book deal? Because the majority of times, overwhelming majority of the times when cases are dismissed on the federal level, they're dismissed without prejudice. This wasn't unique to Eric. So it wasn't like, okay, we're gonna do this to hold it over Eric's head. No, it's dismissed without prejudice. So they always want to have the option if something else comes up that they could bring it up. But they made it unique for me. No one wanted to look at. That's how they always do it.
- [42:57]
Naeem Araza
Let me ask you straight. Do you feel that you owe Donald Trump something?
- [43:01]
Eric Adams
No.
- [43:01]
Naeem Araza
A thank you card in chauffeur. Thank you.
- [43:04]
Eric Adams
A thank you. And let me tell you why I say a thank you. Those two incidents that I stated that the indictment was based on. I'm the sitting mayor of New York and that's what is. You're going to indict the city mayor of New York York, mind you. The prosecutor who indicted me, soon as he left office, he put up a website that looked like a campaign page, like he was running for office. So we're going to put a pin into that. But when he. I didn't know Donald Trump. I lived in the city, but we never met, we never spoke. First time I met Donald Trump was at the Alfred E. Smith dinner.
- [43:37]
Naeem Araza
So fall last year.
- [43:38]
Eric Adams
Yes, yes. While he was on the campaign trip, he was saying, look at what they doing to that mayor in New York. It's wrong. I was saying this over and over again. So here you have a person that's acknowledging what they're doing to you is wrong. I was facing 33 years in prison. 33 years in prison, millions of dollars in legal fees. So if someone that if you were in my shoes and someone was saying that you knew you didn't do anything wrong, and someone is saying this is wrong, what they're doing to her, you wouldn't say thank you.
- [44:10]
Naeem Araza
You found an ally in Donald Trump.
- [44:14]
Eric Adams
No, but not only did I find an ally in Donald Trump, President Trump, I found it in President Biden. President Biden said the Justice Department under him was politicized. He pardoned his son.
- [44:25]
Naeem Araza
Yeah. He made remarks that were implied the politicization of his son.
- [44:28]
Eric Adams
President Trump said the Justice Department was politicized. Yeah, I said it.
- [44:32]
Naeem Araza
I remember that New York Times headline you held up at a press conference.
- [44:35]
Eric Adams
And you know who else said it? Brian Benjamin, highest ranking African American in the state of New York as Lieutenant governor. They indicted him for receiving campaign contribution from someone associated to a nonprofit. The judge dismissed the case before it went to trial.
- [44:54]
Naeem Araza
So talk about here and now, because New Yorkers feel New York, I mean, the worry would be, okay, the mayor is getting pressure and there's federal demands that to are going to overwhelm New Yorkers needs. So are you actually getting pressure? We know Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy's on the MTA complaining about the MTA doesn't like our congestion pricing in New York City. Donald Trump doesn't seem to like it either. You know, there's the ice of it all. Are you, how many calls are you getting pressuring you to do something? And does your gratitude to Donald Trump, to President Trump, extend to helping him on these calls when you get up?
- [45:30]
Eric Adams
So let's peel this back for a moment. This is important. That's why I like these long form conversations. Do you know that when the federal government does something that a city believes is inappropriate, unfair, you go to court and you sue? Do you know I have taken this administration to court more than any mayor in the country?
- [45:50]
Naeem Araza
The Trump administration?
- [45:51]
Eric Adams
Yes, more than any mayor, Mayor in the country.
- [45:55]
Naeem Araza
What are you taking him to court over? Can you rattle off a few things?
- [45:57]
Eric Adams
Yes, we took him to court when they went inside and took the young student that was following the process. We took them to court when they clawed back $80 million from our FEMA money. We took them to court for that. We took them to court when they took finances out of some of the health benefits. So there's a whole list you could see. Now you'll never read that. That doesn't fit into the narrative because the narrative is, Eric is under his thumb, then what are the other mans in the other cities? What thumb are they under if they're not going to court like me? You know, that doesn't fit into the narrative of Eric is under the thumb. But at the same time, when I needed the president for the city, they were getting ready to put a stop work order on a multi billion dollar project we had in Sunset Park. It was a wind farm. 500,000 homes were going to receive electricity, 1,500 jobs. They would put a stop work order. I flew to washroom, I said, Mr. President, this is a union job. Can you please take another look at it? He lifted the stop work order and allowed the project to go. And those union jobs are going to happen and we do it in the environmental important thing right now. But no one wants to look at that. They don't want to look at. When I go to Washington and fight on behalf of the city, the governor goes to Washington to fight on behalf of the city. Others go, I'm the mayor of the largest city in America. I went to Washington 10 times under, under President Biden. I met with him twice.
- [47:25]
Naeem Araza
So New York, I know you have taken well before this administration. You called out the migrant crisis.
- [47:31]
Eric Adams
Exactly.
- [47:32]
Naeem Araza
A lot of money. You see it as a crisis for our streets, for crime, et cetera. New York is of course, a sanctuary city.
- [47:38]
Eric Adams
Yes.
- [47:38]
Naeem Araza
Will you go to Washington to fight on immigration if you disagree? Or are you and Donald Trump actually aligned on how you see immigration as it comes to public safety?
- [47:49]
Eric Adams
Listen, he has his beliefs on immigration, I have mine. He doesn't support the concept of sanctuary cities. And that's not a law, by the way, it's a status. Yes, he doesn't support that. And I've made it clear of my support of sanctuary city and what it means. Because if someone from any country come to New York and they walk in the store and buy a loaf of bread, they're paying those taxes. No one is saying, let me see your documentation so you don't have to pay taxes. So if you pay taxes, those taxes go to the delivery of goods and services. So you have a right to send your children to school. You have a right to get health care, medical care when you need it. You have a right to call the police if you're a victim of a crime. I support that. I believe that. Because if children aren't in school, they can be victims of crime. If people wait and overcrowd our emergency rooms, that's the problem.
- [48:37]
Naeem Araza
So you're going to hold that line.
- [48:38]
Eric Adams
For a doubt, without a doubt.
- [48:41]
Naeem Araza
When it comes to ICE going to Rikers, ICE going on to campuses to get students, how do you fall if.
- [48:47]
Eric Adams
They'Re not breaking the law? We don't coordinate with ICE on civil deportation. We don't, period. Never have, never will. That's what the law is. But if you are a dangerous gang in this city, like the Venezuelan gang we took down Trende Araga and others, what people are missing? Those dangerous gangs were preying on migrants and undocumented people. They were forcing women into prostitution. Everyone is wrapping their arms around these groups without realizing they're preying on immigrants. And so when people say, well, I shouldn't be on Rikers with other agents to go after these guys, I disagree with that.
- [49:31]
Naeem Araza
Okay, let's talk about crime for a second before we do. Do you think Donald Trump will endorse you? Because he said very flattering things about you. But he's also said, it's good that Andrew Cuomo is in this race. He thinks he has a shot. Do you have a sense of how that shakes out?
- [49:43]
Eric Adams
No, but it's interesting. When he said Andrew had a shot, no one had an issue with it. But when he said something, it led just about every headline. We gotta show the inconsistency. No one wants to acknowledge the inconsistency. So when he said something nice about Cuomo, it was okay, but when he said something nice about me, it was a problem. We have to be honest about the inconsistency. One does not have to like me. But come on, we're intelligent enough to say, wait a minute, something's not right here. Why were we upset when he says something about Eric Adam, but we're not upset when he says something about Andrew Carson Cuomo that doesn't make you say.
- [50:21]
Naeem Araza
Do you think that actually, though an endorsement from Donald Trump would be good for any candidate, or would it be an ad for Mamdani?
- [50:28]
Eric Adams
Listen, in New York City, my desire of working class New Yorkers and all this other stuff is just noise and distractions. They want to pull you into. I feel like Al Pacino in the Godfather. Every time I get out, they want to pull me back in.
- [50:48]
Naeem Araza
Which Godfather? One, two, three.
- [50:50]
Eric Adams
All of them. I think that was. I think that was the last one. I love that. I love that. Doctor, you know, if you allow this, when I ran for camp for 2021, they would come up with all of these real questions. I said, stay focused, no distractions, and grind. All this stuff that is to pull you off your game. I'm talking about working class people. I'm talking about how am I going to make sure they can remain in the city that I love and they love all that other this stuff.
- [51:16]
Naeem Araza
You're trying to save your marriage. Use the analogy. We'll be right back to talk about crime and more. And just remember, this conversation was taped before the tragic shooting in midtown Manhattan. Guys, today's sponsor, Dumb Question is from me. I'm going to take the next minute to tell you a little bit about smart girl dumb questions and to ask you for your help in continuing to make independent, fact based and curious journalism. No, I'm not going to ask you for money. Here's what I need. I would love you to tell 10 of your friends about the show we or 100, I don't know, blast that reunion group that you muted and definitely tell your mom and tell your mom to tell her friends too. Even if you don't like the show and you're just like hate watching it or listening to it. Tell 10 of your friends to hate watch it too. Numbers are numbers, people. Let's talk about crime. I really want to talk about crime. This is an important issue for me as a woman who loves walking home from places at 1 in the morning. In New York City, you campaigned on public safety. Violent crime is down in your administration. But the city, the vibes. The vibes are not with you. The vibes feel unsafe.
- [52:25]
Eric Adams
Right?
- [52:25]
Naeem Araza
I mean, and you know, some months ago I saw a woman hit on the street. A friend of mine, Canal street station. Somebody threw a cup of urine on her at 5:36pm on a Thursday night. And then, you know, much more serious this. We have people lit on fire or a woman lit on fire on the subway. We have shootings on the subway. What do you think is happening here?
- [52:46]
Eric Adams
Three things. Three things. One, severe mental health issues. Throwing urine, someone face pushing someone to the subway. Those actions, people are dealing with severe mental health issues. We remove over 8,000 people off our subway system that should not be on the subway system. Because of that, got a lot of pushback. We want involuntary removal where we can compel people to go in for service and stay longer so they can get the help that they need. I can't tell you how many times we have fought with city council, we have fought with Albany, getting a lot of pushback to deal with this severe mental health issue, particularly since the psychiatric beds were closed by Cuomo. That's number one.
- [53:28]
Naeem Araza
Okay.
- [53:29]
Eric Adams
Severe mental health issue, mental health. Yes, number one. Number two, random acts of violence. Nothing strikes Us to the core. More than random acts of violence. You're walking down the block, someone punches you for no reason at all, someone slash you. Those random acts just cut to the core. And often they are people with severe mental health issues that are causing those acts. Number three, revolving door. You know, I cannot tell you the revolving door of criminal justice.
- [53:57]
Naeem Araza
Oh. Cause the bail. This is bail reform issue that we can't.
- [54:00]
Eric Adams
Andrew, State lawmakers passed these bail reform bills and they did other things that many that the public is not aware of, such as discovery law. But these revolving doors go look at who's committing these crimes. They got records of seven, eight, nine times, and they're back on our streets.
- [54:18]
Naeem Araza
I had a situation where I was grabbed by somebody on the street. And I told a police officer, he said, look, and I saw the guy was just there afterwards, and he said, I can't even take him. And he's going have to be right back out here two days later with a grudge against you.
- [54:30]
Eric Adams
Yeah. That should not have happened. That was inappropriate by that police officer. It's not his job to say what failed criminal justice legislative policies may be. That's not his job. His job is to do his job. He should have grabbed that person and brought him in. And if he comes back the next day, that's not up to him to decide.
- [54:48]
Naeem Araza
Right.
- [54:49]
Eric Adams
He needs to do his job. And so. But he's right in his assessment that we have 542, I think, people who were arrested for shoplifting that were arrested 7,600 times.
- [55:04]
Naeem Araza
Oh, wow.
- [55:05]
Eric Adams
We're having people who are arrested for grand larceny arrested 50, 60 times. Of those two guys that shot the custom border patrol officer, they had long arrest sheets from stabbings, for robberies, for kidnapping.
- [55:19]
Naeem Araza
Can you. These three things, Mental health, the revolving door, and the random acts of violence. What can you fix by the time, by the months you have left, guaranteed in office? And what could you fix in.
- [55:30]
Eric Adams
Well, we're already on the road to do so. And then when you add those three items with a fixation, if it bleeds, it leads. You know, if you're reading about madness on our subway system and you go downstairs and you hear somebody yelling and screaming, you're gonna say, oh, my God, I'm not safe. I'm not safe.
- [55:48]
Naeem Araza
Yeah. It's Gotham, right?
- [55:49]
Eric Adams
But think about this. We have 4.6 million daily riders. We have five felonies a day on our system. Five. We want to get rid of all five. But look at what those police officers are doing.
- [56:04]
Naeem Araza
How Many misdemeanors do we have?
- [56:06]
Eric Adams
I don't know the exact total, but the serious crimes, someone pushes someone, that's a misdemeanor. Someone's spitting on someone, that's a misdemeanor. You know, you could have misdemeanors, but those serious crimes crimes were 4.6 million daily. I don't want to go to work riders. And so looking at those three things that you're talking about, we won some victories in Albany around severe mental health. We didn't get what we wanted, but it's going to take us closer. So we're taking more and more people off our system that are dealing with severe mental health. We are really going after the random acts of violence. Commissioner Tisch put something in place called the QT 1500 offices that are focused on quality of life, open drugs, use on our streets, abandoned vehicles, the, you know, the wild scooter rides, things like that.
- [56:59]
Naeem Araza
You obviously came up as a cop. You did this video that I Love from 2011. Searching the room, searching the kid's room.
- [57:05]
Eric Adams
Something simple as a baby doll. Could be just a baby doll, but also it could be a place where you could secrete or, or high drugs. I felt something bumpy, I would reach in, see what it is.
- [57:17]
Naeem Araza
I gotta ask you, in your 20 plus years of working at the NYPD, right, is that correct? 22 years. 22.
- [57:23]
Eric Adams
22.
- [57:23]
Naeem Araza
22 years. Did you ever find a gun in a throw pillow?
- [57:27]
Eric Adams
No, but I heard about guns being in throw pillow.
- [57:29]
Naeem Araza
Do you ever find drugs in a baby, A baby doll?
- [57:32]
Eric Adams
No. So it was an accumulation of all the stories that I heard.
- [57:36]
Naeem Araza
Really?
- [57:36]
Eric Adams
It was accumulation of, you know, people coming in, holding the baby doll, throwing it on the desk where I was, the sergeant or lieutenant, I said, what's this? They said, inside we found crack cocaine or coming in with an automatic weapon, and they voucher the pillow that it was found in. So all of those things that I show are stories that I heard.
- [57:58]
Naeem Araza
Okay?
- [57:59]
Eric Adams
And now you have some communities that say, oh, you're violating the child's right. You know, you shouldn't be doing that. Listen, inside your house, my mother used to tell me, boy, you don't have no rights in my. You have rights when you get in your house. And people don't realize you find a gun in someone's house, you find drugs in someone's house, the whole house is going. The kids are going to protective child, protective custody. Mom and dad are going in, Grandma is going in. So you rather police your own home than allow the police to come in and do it.
- [58:31]
Naeem Araza
Okay. I want to do that was the main part of policy. I wanted to focus on crime. I want to do two lightning rounds.
- [58:37]
Eric Adams
I'm going to let you out of here. I like lightning rounds.
- [58:38]
Naeem Araza
Okay. All right. So the first, I'm going to do a policy lightning round.
- [58:41]
Eric Adams
Okay.
- [58:42]
Naeem Araza
Okay. I know there's a lot to say, you've spoken about what you've done, but let's start with housing and affordability.
- [58:47]
Eric Adams
Yes.
- [58:48]
Naeem Araza
Dumbest thing that we do in housing policy right now takes too long.
- [58:53]
Eric Adams
When you have a person in a low income house, put them in the apartment. Takes too long. Sometime it could take up to a year. When you could have an immediate turnaround. When it's non affordable unit. Takes too long.
- [59:05]
Naeem Araza
Okay. Takes too long. Healthcare, you relieve medical debt for thousands of New Yorkers or you plan to do more of that.
- [59:11]
Eric Adams
Yes. And what we have done, revolutionary. Everyone told me we couldn't do it. We are connecting with what we eat, with what our diet. Everyone knows my diabetes journey changed. My diet was able to reverse my diabetes. Your vegan? Yes. It's not plant based. I like to call it. It's not your DNA, it's your dinner. We're now having plant based food as a default menu in all of our hospitals and it has been a success. And so we want to do that more. We want to be proactive in health, not reactive.
- [59:41]
Naeem Araza
Got it. Okay. I talk about Israel and Palestine. Hard to do in a lightning round, but there's a lot of talk about Israel in this mayoral race. What role does the mayor actually have when it comes to the Middle east, to Israel and Palestine and the communities who support each of those.
- [59:55]
Eric Adams
Again, probably the only mayor that has visited Palestine.
- [59:59]
Naeem Araza
Okay.
- [60:00]
Eric Adams
Visited Palestine and Israel. And I think that what plays out on the international stage, it plays out on our streets in New York. What we must do is make sure we bring people together. Like what I do with my breaking bread, building bonds. We did 19,000 dinners, 10 people at the table from different walks of life, ethnicities. And they're doing something revolutionary. They're talking to each other. I don't think that we have to hate each other. We have to coexist in the city. And I've done it over and over again.
- [60:33]
Naeem Araza
From my point of view, it's like two thirds. It's hate crimes, but anti Semitism, the Islamophobia, policing those, making sure that that doesn't happen. And the second is protests.
- [60:41]
Eric Adams
Yes.
- [60:42]
Naeem Araza
Protecting the rights of protesters on, you know, and free speech for All New Yorkers. I taught a class at Columbia last term. Columbia students still feel the after effects, the shock of having NYPD on their campus. I think I'm not speaking for Columbia students. This is what I heard from some students. Were the cops there because you wanted them there or because donors wanted them there?
- [61:03]
Eric Adams
Here's why they were there. We cannot go on a college campus as the police unless we are invited. I would have gone on day one because you should not disrupt those who want to go to school for their education. I saw some of the videos. Spitting at the Jewish students, harassing them, surrounding them. I saw those videos. I wouldn't want Jordan to go on a college campus. This is your son and my son Jordan to go on the college campus. And people are calling him the N word, surrounded him, him, threatening him and him coming home and say, dad, you are paying $80,000 a year and I cannot sit in my school. No. If you want to protest, protest peacefully. You don't target students based on their ethnicity. I wouldn't want it to be done to a black student. I saw what happened to the Asian students during COVID It was wrong then and it was wrong for it to happen to the Jewish students. We went on because we were invited on when they broke into Hamilton and it got out of control.
- [62:03]
Naeem Araza
Do you feel like there's some Islamophobia around Mamdani's race right now?
- [62:08]
Eric Adams
Yes. There are people who are saying very hurtful and harmful things. Listen, there are people in New York who have hate in their heart. We can't lie about that. But look where I have been on this subject. When a young woman was attacked for wearing a hijab years ago, I went out and visited her and took the bus into Staten island to say this can't happen happen. When someone put out a flyer saying kill a Muslim day. I walked the street with my Muslim brothers and sisters and said, this cannot happen in, in our. In our city. And during 911 I was a. I was a police officer at the time on Coney Island Avenue. During 911 there were major sweeps in that community that young men were picked up. I went to 3rd Avenue and 30 Something street where the federal penitentiary is located and called for their release. I said, this is really wrong what we doing to these young men. So there's a history that just as I stood with Jewish brothers and sisters, Sikh community, when they attack Aapi community, there's a history of me saying hate has no place in New York.
- [63:09]
Naeem Araza
Hard pivot, congestion pricing. Sean Duffy doesn't Like it? Governor Hochul says she gonna keep it. Where does Mayor Adams stand?
- [63:18]
Eric Adams
I think we could have done it differently. I would love to have witnessed some more wave for New Yorkers, but I don't control that Many people don't realize that's controlled by the MTA and the governor's office, right? I wish the mayor and the city council would have mapped out that plan because these are our streets. But we are creatures of Albany. Albany is the big brother and we have to listen what Albany states.
- [63:41]
Naeem Araza
Okay, but it sounds like you like congestion pricing with some tweaks.
- [63:44]
Eric Adams
Yes. Okay.
- [63:45]
Naeem Araza
Is that fair? Okay. Bikes. New York City cyclists are apparently getting 10 times more criminal in recent weeks. This is just reported by Gothamist. Are they dangerous? I kind of think an E bike is going to kill me. Like an E bike with some Chinese food. Go kill me.
- [64:00]
Eric Adams
That's funny.
- [64:02]
Naeem Araza
It's the last seat of my life.
- [64:03]
Eric Adams
Listen, what happened after Covid. The use of our streets have changed. We did not have all the mopeds, the delivery foods, the bikes. It has changed. Now we have to modify our streets to fit this new norm because it's going nowhere and we need to do it right now. We removed over 100,000 illegal mopeds, dirt bikes of cars.
- [64:26]
Naeem Araza
I know you rode them over in that social media video. Why didn't you donate them to.
- [64:31]
Eric Adams
Cause we don't want our streets. They're dangerous.
- [64:33]
Naeem Araza
But in some other faraway place, no one wanted us.
- [64:35]
Eric Adams
Batteries are dangerous. We didn't want them. You know the explosion from the bootleg batteries. And so we wanted to make sure that they could never terrorize New Yorkers again.
- [64:44]
Naeem Araza
Okay, cannabis. You say the city can be the cannabis capital of the world. You've closed down how many illegal?
- [64:50]
Eric Adams
1400.
- [64:50]
Naeem Araza
Is this like being the bouncer at your own block party?
- [64:55]
Eric Adams
No, not at all. When it comes down to cannabis, there are two areas that give me a great deal of concern. I talked about at the debate when I was running in 2021 one illegal shops. We don't know what's in the cannabis. You know, spike with things. I'm concerned about what's being sold. That's number one. Number two, our children are high on the time. You know, the science is clear. Early use of cannabis. Teachers have tell me all the time. They say, eric, these children are coming into school smelling like cannabis. They're high all the time and they're self medicating themselves. I'm really concerned about that. It impacts brain development. The science is clear. We need to have a Real dividing line between sending a message out that cannabis is okay without the. The health problems that comes with it.
- [65:43]
Naeem Araza
Very quickly on schools. New York City's public schools as of this week are gonna fall follow the cell phone ban for New York State, which is a new thing. You've also implemented meditation in school, something that you do yourself.
- [65:53]
Eric Adams
Yes.
- [65:54]
Naeem Araza
Can you talk about that?
- [65:55]
Eric Adams
You know, we often judge our children by how academically smart they are. We need to have indicators of the emotional intelligence and how they manage crises and manage stress. I think this generation, because of the influx and the incoming from social media, media and others, we're seeing increase in suicidal ideations. We're seeing suicide cases, depression, how girls feel about them themselves. We have to really start giving our children the tools they need to go inward and survive. I'm a breather. I do Wim Hof Breathing. Yes. Wim Hof W I m H o F. He has a whole breathing routine, as you know. I do also transit. Transcendental meditation. Yes.
- [66:37]
Naeem Araza
The mayor and I were both at the Transcendental meditation gala in 2022, and.
- [66:41]
Eric Adams
We need self healing. People are hurting and hurt people, hurt people.
- [66:45]
Naeem Araza
Okay. Does meditation make the sirens go away?
- [66:49]
Eric Adams
What I'm finding I was a big meditator until I transitioned into breathing.
- [66:55]
Naeem Araza
Now you're breathing.
- [66:56]
Eric Adams
Yes, I enjoy breathing so much.
- [66:58]
Naeem Araza
Does breathing make the headlines go away?
- [67:00]
Eric Adams
Yes, they do.
- [67:01]
Naeem Araza
Gotta breathe more. Okay. Dating New York is known as the worst place for women to date in the country. That's what they say. That's what they say.
- [67:10]
Eric Adams
Who said that?
- [67:11]
Naeem Araza
People report. It's a numbers issue, apparently. It's a Peter Pan issue, actually. You never got married, you know, so do you have a policy to fix that?
- [67:22]
Eric Adams
Yes. Go out more nightlife. That's why I'm the nightlife man. You know, New York is one of the top places. And the beauty of New York is the diversity of who you can choose. You know, I see interracial couples, mixed marriages. No one is living within these barriers anymore. No. New York is. If you can't find a boo in New York, then it's you.
- [67:48]
Naeem Araza
That's not gonna help you get some voters in this situation. That's funny. I think that's fair. The problem is you get so many boos, you gotta choose that. That's the New York dating problem, actually. Okay. A different kind of the war on rats. This is where I want to end this point. Mirand, how's the war on rats going? You said good.
- [68:04]
Eric Adams
Decreasing rat complaints in rat mitigation areas.
- [68:07]
Naeem Araza
Okay. I Gotta ask you a story. I heard from somebody, gave me a tip. I could never run this out, but apparently decades ago, New York City had this rat birth control plan.
- [68:17]
Eric Adams
Have you heard this story? Yes.
- [68:18]
Naeem Araza
Okay. I was told, and I do not know if this is true, but I was told that they wanted to use rat birth control. They had used it successfully in India and Bombay and Mumbai, they had given curry flavored birth control. In Italy, they had given tomato and garlic flavored birth control to the rats. This person told me that in New York City, the rats were too picky. They could not find a flavor that would get all the rats. Is this true or is this just.
- [68:41]
Eric Adams
That's probably an urban myth, you know, urban legend. I know. We're trying. We are exploring different things. The rats has been unbelievable, says Kathleen Karate. Yes, yes, she has been unbelievable. And you know, she has performed beyond our expectation. She has rat schools to tell people what they need to do. I hate rats.
- [69:05]
Naeem Araza
I hate rat rats. I do too, by the way. I feel there are fewer of them, but there's still a lot.
- [69:10]
Eric Adams
And those guys have been around a long time. They're smart, you know, you try to trick them. I had a rat in my backyard one day and I put out a. And he put something in his mouth and dropped the rock on the trap. And when it went off, he ate the food. And I swore that I can't contest to it, but I swore he gave me the middle finger.
- [69:31]
Naeem Araza
You gotta get these rats to respect you, Mayor. Once you get them, are you going for the squirrels or the pigeons? What's next?
- [69:37]
Eric Adams
Love squirrels. Love pigeons.
- [69:38]
Naeem Araza
Okay, great. Last lightning round. These are five cook questions. Favorite vegan.
- [69:46]
Eric Adams
Pizza with vegan cheese.
- [69:47]
Naeem Araza
Favorite slice of pizza in New York City.
- [69:49]
Eric Adams
There's a place in Williamsburg, I forgot the name of it. They do a great vegan pizza, but I make my own. I do a cauliflower crust pizza with vegan cheese, some tomatoes, some seasoning and avocado. And it's the bomb diggity avocado on your pizza? Yes. Yes.
- [70:10]
Naeem Araza
That's wild.
- [70:11]
Eric Adams
I've never heard of that.
- [70:12]
Naeem Araza
Okay. Favorite curry in the city.
- [70:14]
Eric Adams
Curry?
- [70:15]
Naeem Araza
Yeah. You got a curry spot?
- [70:16]
Eric Adams
Oh, yeah, there's a couple of them. I go up to Uptown Veg. They have a nice little curry, mixed vegetables that I love.
- [70:25]
Naeem Araza
We love. Okay. Favorite dim sum. You got a dim sum spot?
- [70:29]
Eric Adams
Not really. I'll bounce around.
- [70:31]
Naeem Araza
You bounce around. Favorite members, Club Zerobahn Kasichu.
- [70:35]
Eric Adams
What's that? Everybody says zero. You know, I get in trouble if. If I say which One. So I'm just saying all of them, they all popping up now.
- [70:41]
Naeem Araza
There's so many coming. Chamargaud, I saw you at Shen Margaux the other day. I gotta start saying hi to you when I see you at night.
- [70:46]
Eric Adams
You gotta do that.
- [70:47]
Naeem Araza
Okay. I know you don't like free grocery stores, but how do you feel about free nightclubs if they let folks in?
- [70:52]
Eric Adams
Friends. We lost our nightclub industry. Remember, this was a city that never sleep. We used to go to the Paradise Garage, the warehouse. You know, so many great clubs. People like to go out and dance, but they come to coming back, they're coming back. To be able to hang out with your friends, celebrate an event, and just dance off all that stress, that's a great experience in New York.
- [71:14]
Naeem Araza
Okay. Free entry for dance clubs so that we can meet our booze. That's the policy that you need. Gotta ask. Favorite airline?
- [71:26]
Eric Adams
Oh, gotta be. It's a combination. I love Turkey. I always say that. Turkish Airlines, I love this they're serving. But I also. I'm a Delta guy as well. I love Delta.
- [71:38]
Naeem Araza
Delta. All right. Okay. Thank you for being a good sport. I end every interview asking my guest a dumb question. They have something that they have been like they haven't wanted to ask out loud. Or maybe it's just they can't figure it out. Maybe it's if that rat gave you the middle finger. But do you have such a question? A question that you have that we could find out? Like, Mark Cuban asked, why do people chew with their mouth open? Neil DeGrasse Tyson was like, how do you get the cranes up there at the top of the building? Anything that plagued the.
- [72:04]
Eric Adams
Oh, man, that's a hard one. Because anything that you know that I'm curious about, I go and explore. I am in.
- [72:12]
Naeem Araza
You go to dinner with Zoramdani and his dad to find out.
- [72:15]
Eric Adams
That's right. You know, so that's a tough one. I'm like stealing my Y years. So I go explore wherever curiosity I may have.
- [72:23]
Naeem Araza
All right, thank you so much. I really appreciate. This was fun. All right. I'm gonna wait to debrief these conversations till we've had more of them. But I want to know what you think, so drop me a note at naimarazza101gmail.com also, to the mayor's point, he did actually have a question that he asked out loud when he came into the room. And I think it's a question a lot of people have. I'll give it to you before the credits.
- [72:44]
Eric Adams
Noah, my producer, I always hear the time. Producers, what exactly do they do?
- [72:49]
Naeem Araza
What do you do? Everything, I guess.
- [72:53]
Eric Adams
You coordinate everything.
- [72:54]
Naeem Araza
They produce the product, the act, outcome. That's what they do. Really? I. I came up as a producer.
- [72:59]
Eric Adams
Love it, love it, love it.
- [73:01]
Naeem Araza
Speaking of producers, this episode was produced with Dana Balut, Keely Cruz, Andrea Lopez, Crusado, and of course, Noah Friedman, who you just heard. Noah actually hosts an awesome show called no Such thing. And you should totally check it out wherever you get your podcasts. That's it for this week on Smart Girl, Dumb Questions. See you next time.