Eric Adams’ ‘State of the City’: Key takeaways from his 2023 NYC vision
Mayor Eric Adams delivered his second “State of the City” speech Thursday, focusing on core issues that affect the quality of life for what he called the Big Apple’s “working people.”
Here are six key takeaways from Hizzoner’s address at the Queens Theatre:
CRIME
The mayor vowed to crack down on the 1,700 repeat offenders whom he blamed for committing “a disproportionate amount of violent crime in our city.”
“These are New York’s ‘Most Wanted.’ We know who they are, and we need to get them off our streets,” he said.
“This year, we are going to work with our partners in Albany to find reasonable, evidence-based solutions to this recidivism crisis.”
Adams — who has been calling in vain for a rollback of the state’s controversial bail reform law — said everyone agreed “that no one should be in jail simply because they cannot afford to post bail.”
“But we should also agree that we cannot allow a small number of violent individuals to continue terrorizing our neighborhoods over and over again,” he added.
The mayor also vowed to target illegal weed shops, issuing a warning “to those who think you’re going to come into our communities without a license, put our kids at risk, steal jobs away from people trying to do it the right way.”
“Let’s be clear, man, you must be smoking something — because that’s not gonna happen,” he said.
Adams, a former NYPD cop, publicly thanked Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell “for all her work keeping New Yorkers safe this year” and said she’d “saved lives and supported the department through a very tough year.”
The audience then gave Sewell a standing ovation that appeared to bring tears to her eyes.
TRAFFIC
Adams pledged that “2023 is the year we are going to tighten the screws on reckless drivers, hold them accountable for their actions — before they harm others.”
“You must treat traffic violence the same way we treat other dangerous crimes,” he said.
Adams said he was “working with our partners in Albany” on legislation to be dubbed ROADS — for “Removing Offenders and Aggressive Drivers from our Streets.”
“We will also continue to save lives by expanding protected bike lanes, crack down on illegal placards and placard abuse and ensure swift and serious consequences for those who drive with suspended and revoked licenses. We’ve had enough of gridlock and scofflaws,” he said.
“Going forward, we’re going to deploy more NYPD tow trucks on our streets. We’re going to ticket and tow abandoned or illegally parked cars that blocked traffic and visibility. This is going to help to keep our delivery zones, bus lanes and bike lanes clear and help us to make driving, biking and walking easier and safer for everyone.”
RATS
Adams, who’s been repeatedly slapped with summonses over rat infestations at his multifamily Brooklyn brownstone, vowed to hire “a new rat czar.”
“And it won’t be Curtis Sliwa,” he quipped, in a dig at the Guardian Angels founder, who was recently caught trying to employ feral cats for the problem near Adams’ Bedford-Stuyvesant property.
The mayor later returned to the vermin issue while discussing plans to make the city “cleaner, greener and healthier for all — including our wildlife and marine life.
“Like the dolphins who recently visited us in the Bronx River — that’s the future of our city,” he said. “More dolphins, fewer rats.”
HOCHUL
Adams repeatedly gushed over Gov. Kathy Hochul, who was in attendance along with a slew of other dignitaries, saying, “I may be the pilot for the city but she’s the pilot for the state.”
“Thank you, Governor, for what you do every day,” he said.
The repeated praise came as Hochul, who was elected to her first full term in November, is struggling to retain her footing with fellow Democratic lawmakers who have veto-proof super-majorities in both chambers of the state Legislature.
The mayor noted that Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx) wasn’t present due to illness but notably snubbed state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Yonkers), who skipped his speech.
DYSLEXIA
Hizzoner, who has acknowledged struggling with dyslexia, said he planned to expand screenings in city schools because kids with the learning disability “should not have to be part of the 30% to 40% of inmates at Rikers Island who are dyslexic.”
“They should be able to know that they just learn differently. And if we give them the tools that they need, they will go from despair, they will go from uncertainty — and they will rise up to be the mayor of the City of New York,” he said.
MIGRANTS
Adams notably saved the city’s spiraling migrant crisis — which led him to declare a state of emergency in October — for the end of his speech, when he repeated his oft-made push for help from President Biden and Hochul.
“Over the past year, our ability to care was put to the test by the asylum-seeker crisis. New Yorkers rose to the occasion — as they always do,” he said. “We’ll continue to do our part but we need everyone else to do their part, as well … We can’t continue to shoulder this course on our own. We’re gonna need help.”
Adams added: “The asylum-seeker crisis is a national crisis. And it should not be just for New York City residents. That’s just unfair.”
