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National News See other National News Articles Title: Eric Adams Takes Office as New York City's Mayor Eric Adams Takes Office as New York City's Mayor by Emma G. Fitzsimmons - January 1, 2022 4:17 PM © Gabriela Bhaskar/The New York Times Eric Leroy Adams was sworn in as the 110th mayor of New York City early Saturday in a festive but pared-down Times Square ceremony, a signal of the formidable task before him as he begins his term while coronavirus cases are surging anew. Mr. Adams, 61, the son of a house cleaner who was a New York City police captain before entering politics, has called himself “the future of the Democratic Party,” and pledged to address longstanding inequities as the city’s “first blue-collar mayor,” while simultaneously embracing the business community. Yet not since 2002, when Michael R. Bloomberg took office shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks, has an incoming mayor confronted such daunting challenges in New York City. Even before the latest Omicron- fueled surge, the city’s economy was still struggling to recover, with its 9.4 percent unemployment rate more than double the national average. Murders, shootings and some other categories of violent crimes rose early in the pandemic and have remained higher than before the virus began to spread. Mr. Adams will keep on the current health commissioner, Dr. Dave Chokshi, until March to continue the city’s Covid response. Mr. Adams ran for mayor on a public safety message, using his working- class and police background to convey empathy for the parts of New York still struggling with the effects of crime. Indeed, on his first day in office, Mr. Adams was confronted by an example of the violence he is trying to solve: He paid a hospital visit to a police officer who was struck by a bullet early Saturday in Harlem; the officer was sleeping in his personal car during a gap between two work shifts. Mr. Adams captured the mayoralty by focusing on a public safety message, empathizing with working-class voters outside Manhattan. © James Estrin/The New York Times Mr. Adams captured the mayoralty by focusing on a public safety message, empathizing with working-class voters outside Manhattan. The new mayor also witnessed a street fight as he awaited a train to City Hall, and called 911. “I have an assault in progress — three males,” Mr. Adams told the dispatcher before providing his name: “Adams, Mayor Adams.” Mr. Adams’s first task as mayor, however, will be to help New Yorkers navigate the Omicron variant and a troubling spike in cases. The city has recorded over 40,000 cases per day in recent days, and the number of hospitalizations is growing. The city’s testing system, once the envy of the nation, has struggled to meet demand and long lines form outside testing sites. Concerns over the virus caused some rejiggering of inauguration plans: Alvin Bragg, the first Black person to hold the office of Manhattan district attorney, postponed his inauguration ceremony to March 6 because of Covid concerns; he took the oath in a private ceremony after midnight. Mr. Adams canceled his inauguration ceremony indoors at Kings Theatre in Brooklyn, which was meant to be a tribute to the voters outside Manhattan who elected him. Instead, Mr. Adams chose the backdrop of the ball-drop crowd, which itself had been limited for distancing purposes to just a quarter of the usual size. Mr. Adams has signaled that his agenda will not differ greatly from that of his predecessor, Bill de Blasio. Mr. Adams has signaled that his agenda will not differ greatly from that of his predecessor, Bill de Blasio. Mr. Adams, the second Black mayor in the city’s history, was sworn in using a family Bible, held by his son, Jordan Coleman, and clasping a framed photograph of his mother, Dorothy, who died last spring. Mr. Adams named Keechant Sewell, center left, as the city’s first female police commissioner. As Mr. Adams left the stage, he proclaimed, “New York is back.” Mayor Bill de Blasio also attended the Times Square celebration and danced with his wife onstage after leading the midnight countdown — his last official act as mayor after eight years in office. Mr. Adams, who grew up poor in Queens, represents a center-left brand of Democratic politics. He could offer a blend of the last two mayors — Mr. de Blasio, who was known to quote Karl Marx, and Michael R. Bloomberg, a billionaire and a former Republican like Mr. Adams. Mr. Adams narrowly won a competitive Democratic primary last summer when coronavirus cases were low and millions of New Yorkers were getting vaccinated. The city had started to rebound slowly after the virus devastated the economy and left more than 35,000 New Yorkers dead. Now that cases are spiking again, companies in Manhattan have abandoned return to office plans, and many Broadway shows and restaurants have closed. Mr. Adams celebrated his election night victory at Zero Bond, a private club in NoHo. With schools set to reopen on Monday, Mr. Adams must determine how to keep students and teachers safe while ensuring that schools remain open for in-person learning. Mr. Adams has insisted that the city cannot shut down again and must learn to live with the virus, and he has been supportive of Mr. de Blasio’s vaccine mandates. On Thursday, Mr. Adams announced that he would retain New York City’s vaccine requirement for private-sector employers. The mandate, which was implemented by Mayor de Blasio, is the first of its kind in the nation. Even so, Mr. Adams made it clear that his focus is on compliance, not aggressive enforcement; it remains unclear whether he will require teachers, police officers and other city workers to receive a booster shot. Mr. Adams has also said that he wants to continue Mr. de Blasio’s focus on reducing inequality, even as he has sought to foster a better relationship with the city’s elites. “I genuinely don’t think he’s going to be in the box of being a conservative or a progressive,” said Christina Greer, an associate professor of political science at Fordham University. “Adams is excited to keep people on their toes.” When Mr. de Blasio took office in 2014, he and his allies made it clear that his administration would offer a clean break from the Bloomberg era; he famously characterized New York as a “tale of two cities,” and vowed to narrow the inequity gap that he said had widened under Mr. Bloomberg. For the most part, Mr. Adams has signaled that his administration will not vary greatly from Mr. de Blasio’s. Several of his recent cabinet appointments worked in the de Blasio administration. There will be some differences: Mr. Adams said he does not plan to end the city’s gifted and talented program, as Mr. de Blasio had intended. Mr. Adams has also vowed to bring back a >a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/15/nyregion/nypd-plainclothes- cops.html">plainclothes police unit that was disbanded last year, in an effort to get more guns off the street. Mr. Adams will take the helm of the city during a period of racial reckoning, after the pandemic exposed profound economic and health disparities. At the same time, calls for police reform and measures to address the city’s segregated public schools are growing. During the mayoral campaign, Mr. Adams faced significant questions from his opponents and the news media over matters of transparency, residency and his own financial dealings. Mr. Adams said he was unfazed by the criticism and was focused on “getting stuff done.” Mr. Adams, who served four terms as a state senator before being elected as Brooklyn borough president in 2013, will have to build relationships with city and state lawmakers, some of whom want to push him to the left. He faced a setback last month when his pick to be the next City Council speaker lost to Adrienne Adams, a Democratic member from Queens who was supported by left-leaning members. Still, Mr. Adams is close with Ms. Adams, who endorsed him for mayor, and the pair recently posted a photo together on social media standing outside the high school they attended in a show of unity. Mr. Adams has sought to establish a friendly relationship with Gov. Kathy Hochul, who appeared onstage with him at his election night victory rally in November. Working together — unlike their famously warring predecessors, Mr. de Blasio and former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo — could have political benefits for both of them. His mayoral campaign focused on public safety, but he also released a flurry of proposals on other issues, including keeping schools open year-round, offering tax credits to poor New Yorkers, and creating “universal child care” for children younger than 3. But his recent comments about bringing back a form of solitary confinement in jails, which he calls “punitive segregation,” have set up his first major battle with the City Council. “I wore a bulletproof vest for 22 years and protected the people of this city,” Mr. Adams said. “And when you do that, then you have the right to question me on safety and public safety matters. I think I know a little something about this.” On Saturday, Mr. Adams re-emphasized his policing roots as he stood outside the 103rd Precinct station house in Jamaica, Queens, where he has often said that he was beaten by officers when he was 15 — an episode that he said eventually spurred him to become a police officer. “Today is an important moment for me as I finally leave the demons right here on these streets,” Mr. Adams said, after he led a roll call at the station. He said that he told the officers that they would be given “the tools and support that they need.” “But we are also going to hold them to a high standard,” he added. Earlier on Saturday, Mr. Adams struck an upbeat tone about the city’s recovery in his first speech as mayor, and quoted two of his predecessors: David N. Dinkins, the city’s first Black mayor who called its diversity a “gorgeous mosaic,” and Edward I. Koch, who vowed that the city would recover from the 1970s financial crisis. Mr. Adams also cited a quote from the “great owner of Snapple soft drinks,” saying that New York was “going to win because we’re made up of the best stuff on Earth.” Mr. Adams, who has been guarded about his personal life, will reside in Gracie Mansion; his longtime partner, Tracey Collins, a high- ranking official at the city’s Department of Education, will not live there. Ms. Collins appeared by his side in Times Square — a rare public appearance together. Stylistically, Mr. Adams could be the most flamboyant mayor New York City has seen in decades. Mr. Adams is an early riser, a vegan and a wellness enthusiast who keeps a frenetic schedule; he is a stylish dresser who campaigned shirtless at Orchard Beach in the Bronx; he socializes with Republican billionaires and celebrities; he wants to take his first paycheck in Bitcoin. After his election night victory speech, Mr. Adams partied at Zero Bond, a private club in NoHo, where that night’s guests included the comedian Chris Rock, the actor Forest Whitaker, the rapper Ja Rule and business leaders like Eric Schmidt, the former chief executive of Google, and James Dolan, the owner of the Knicks and Madison Square Garden. “Yes, I like my Ferragamo, and yes, I do go to Zero Bond,” Mr. Adams said at a Democratic fund-raiser in November. “Yes, I do hang out with the boys at night, but I get up with the men in the morning.” Mr. Adams has promised to make the city fun again. He visited “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” recently with a pretend bag of marijuana in tow — a nod to legalization efforts. “We used to be the coolest place on the globe,” he said. “We’re so damn boring now.” Poster Comment: Eric Adams is no Harold Washington, and NYC is not Chicago. Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
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