Eric Adams

Level
Mayor

More Information
Campaign Site

2020 LID Questionnaire Response

Why are you running for Mayor?

I’ve lived in New York all my life. My single mom struggled to make ends meet for my five siblings and me. We didn’t always know if we would come home to an eviction notice or food on the table. And that is why I’ve spent my entire adult life in public service. Because I lived the life of the people I want to help. I remember what it was like to live with crime. To be hungry. To be on the edge of homelessness. To be forgotten by the city you love.

That’s why I put on a bulletproof vest as a police officer and walked the streets. That’s why I fought racism in the department. That’s why I stood up for human rights in Albany. And that’s why I have spent my Borough Presidency making government work better for the people who need it the most.

And during my 35 years in public service, I have seen what works and what doesn’t in New York. And the problems we face existed far before COVID hit. Because inefficiency leads to inequality. Mismanagement creates crises. We can’t continue to run this city the way we have been.

Please cite your top three-five priorities should you be elected Mayor and why you believe they are priorities.

Racial justice means ridding our society and systems of the biases that currently exist against people of color and especially Black people. I believe that the inefficiencies that exist in our city government lead to many of the racial inequalities and racial injustices experienced in New York City now. I believe that in order to do that, we must focus on the following core ideas:

Public Health: Get to the root systemic issues behind many health issues.

Poverty, homelessness, unemployment and food insecurity all directly lead to poor health—yet hospitals are largely not equipped to address those issues. By utilizing the extra capacity in H+H hospitals to co-locate social services, we will address both the social and physical causes of illness, leading to much better outcomes and cost savings.

Every $1 invested in housing and support is estimated to reduce public and hospital costs by $2 the following year and $6 in subsequent years. That is why we will identify if there are housing issues for each indigent patient and offer direct housing help at hospitals through community-based organizations.

Housing: Build affordable housing in areas with great infrastructure and ensure broadband access across the city.

For years, our rezonings focused on adding apartments in lower-income areas—which often just led to higher-income people moving in, making communities less affordable, and often forcing

out longtime residents. Instead, we will build in wealthier areas with a high quality of life, allowing lower- and middle-income New Yorkers to move in by adding affordable housing and eliminating the community preference rule in those areas, which prevents many New Yorkers from living in desirable neighborhoods.

New York is shamefully behind in guaranteeing broadband service—and now students forced to learn from home are receiving sub-par or no education. We will finally close the broadband gap by using rezoning powers to require affordable Mandatory Inclusionary Internet, creating incentives for 5G providers to offer affordable access, and forcing cable providers to expand affordable internet offerings to every single low-income New Yorker using requirements for their City contracts that are already in place.

The Economy: get New Yorkers back to work, increase access to capital and banking services for minorities and low income communities, and support MWBE.

New York City has 350,000 households that are unbanked and another 680,000 households that are underbanked, meaning they must rely on services such as check cashing or payday loans. Without access to proper banking we are sidelining thousands of people from our economy and we are allowing industries such as payday lending to flourish that profit off of poverty. Community-based banks in lower-income areas that remove minimum balance requirements and overdraft fees will be granted property tax relief, or their landlords will, in exchange for sharing that relief as a rent break.

Right now, the City does not do nearly enough to ensure that its M/WBE program is effectively leveling the playing field for business owners of color, who are now in a much more dire situation during COVID. For instance, M/WBE companies are often unable to participate in the City contracting process because prime contractors are not aware of how to connect with them. To fix this, we will match M/WBE companies with prime contractors and other agencies. We can do that by developing a Preferred M/WBE questionnaire to determine which companies are qualified to participate in bids and log the survey data in a searchable database.

Education: make sure children are educated in state of the art buildings, train our teachers to teach diverse classrooms, and get students the help they need with learning disabilities.

There are both tangible and psychological problems created for students by a poor physical educational environment—and student outcomes are clearly linked. That is why we will prioritize Department of Education schools capital dollars to go toward the construction of state-of-the-art buildings in particularly low-performing communities. Additionally, less than 20% of our schools are fully accessible to children with physical disabilities. All new construction would be fully accessible.

Studies show that up to 30-40% of inmates in prisons are dyslexic, indicating that students whose learning challenges are not discovered are also not addressed, leading to avoidable negative outcomes. By making dyslexia screening universal in City schools, we will identify these challenges early and better ensure success for students.

If elected, what (if anything) would you do differently versus your predecessor (or previous Mayors) and why?

One area where I would have diverged significantly from previous Mayor’s is in our pandemic relief. ​My approach to the COVID-19 crisis has been that of a first responder. My office has distributed a half a million pieces of PPE and tens of thousands of meals to families across New York City. And through it all, we prioritized those most vulnerable, a major fault of the current Administration’s response.

My response would and will:

Significantly Increase COVID-19 Testing, Education, and Treatment

The City is relying far too much on private health companies and hospitals to conduct COVID-19 testing and vaccinations. And we have failed to adequately address the lack of information and spread of misinformation in hard-hit lower-income communities—especially those that do not speak English—through credible messengers who can help prevent the spread through education and resources. Now we must also get those same communities vaccinated as quickly as possible. To do that, let’s engage an army of messengers using the infrastructure of the recent census outreach program, working with local organizations. And let’s put COVID-tasked health workers directly on the ground in dedicated spaces in lower-income areas, including storefronts and pharmacies for an expanded footprint.

Bring Health Care Resources Directly Into Low-Income Areas

Two major reasons that the pandemic hit lower-income communities the hardest are
lack of access to healthcare and a near total failure by government to effectively reach those communities on the ground. During the pandemic and after, health profession-
als should be paired with local organizations and workers to go into those same com- munities and set up in NYCHA complexes and open storefronts, partnering with public and private providers, creating a one-stop shop for basic exams, preventive care, and resources to live a healthier life. These locations would be accessible to any New Yorker, including those who are uninsured or undocumented

Manage our Food Resources to Fight Hunger

There is an overall lack of information of available food resources throughout the five boroughs. Poor communication and information sharing negatively impacts efforts to connect food insecure individuals with SNAP benefits, food pantries, soup kitchens and other food resources; and this is evident now more than ever in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. I would form an integrated and community-engaged structure to coordinate food policy in NYC. A critical component of this structure will be to create and maintain easily accessible databases that New Yorkers and public officials can use to monitor and ensure equitable access to nutritious food across all of our communities.

What is your plan to help NYC recover from the economic crisis caused by Covid-19?

The COVID-19 pandemic did not create racial inequities in our city, it only exacerbated them. In my role as borough president, I have prioritized COVID-19 relief to NYCHA and communities of color most impacted by this pandemic.

At the onset of the outbreak of COVID-19, I was ridiculed by the New York Post for prioritizing mask and food delivery to NYCHA residents in Brooklyn. What I understood before others was that the underlying health conditions and inequities found in low-income and communities of color would only make these communities more vulnerable to COVID-19. My approach as Mayor would be to prioritize those that have been most impacted by this crisis, namely our Black and Brown communities. That means enacting policies and recovery plans to address the existing inequities in our society.

DELIVER BETTER HEALTH TO NEW YORKERS​ To get proper health care and preventative care, including healthy food to all of the people who need it, the City cannot rely on New Yorkers to reach out — the City must go to them. By training and deploying an army of community health workers, which includes volunteers as well as re-assigned City workers, we can significantly increase access to existing health services and address basic health issues without appointments and travel. To do that, we can partner with community and faith-based organizations that are already on the ground in vulnerable communities, working through a shared platform that incorporates New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) and New York City Health + Hospitals resources. Finally, we should open health centers in New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) complexes and partner with storefront medical providers to open offices in lower-income areas to provide basic services in return for tax breaks and other considerations. And we should retroactively allow building owners to convert retail spaces into community facilities space to accommodate them, allowing those landlords to receive property tax breaks on their buildings or density bonuses on new buildings in exchange for the space.

SEED ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ​To jumpstart our economic recovery, we should invest in green infrastructure projects that will generate quality local jobs and economic stimulus, as evidenced by studies from organizations such as the Trust for Public Land. The City should explore a municipal bond program for projects to create that activity, including wind power, grid efficiency, retrofitting solid waste processing to handle organics, transit infrastructure, and traffic controls to reduce idling. The long-term resiliency cost savings will be an added and substantial dividend.

OPEN JOB TRAINING AND FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE CENTERS IN STOREFRONTS ​The COVID-19 crisis has put hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers out of jobs to which they may never return. For those New Yorkers and others who are unemployed, job training and bridge financial assistance will be vital for them to get back on their feet and thrive. To address this need for services, the City should significantly expand access to these programs and reimagine existing efforts such as Workforce 1 Career Centers by partnering with job training and job placement providers, financial services companies, large New York employers, local organizations, and landlords with open storefronts to create all-in-one service centers and outreach programs so that New Yorkers have far-greater access to help than they did before the crisis. We should also offer New Yorkers who participate in the program financial compensation so that they are able to take the time it will require to complete training. This initiative can be paid for largely through foundation aid from non-profit partners. A priority should be placed on high-priority job sectors, such as cybersecurity, nursing, and telehealth, and on digital skills

development that supports an increasingly technology-dependent job market. Further development of this initiative should be done in partnership with workforce development experts such as New York City Employment and Training Coalition (NYCETC) and Per Scholas.

INCENTIVIZE COMPANIES TO HIRE LOCALLY​ To keep good jobs in New York and advance our goals for a fairer economy, the City should reward businesses that hire local workers — especially on City-financed projects. Specifically, businesses should be asked to commit to hiring 90 percent city-based workers, prioritizing M/WBE contractors, and ensuring their contractors pay a living wage, certain benefits, and report their workers’ residency and ethnicity statistics. Employers who agree to these terms could benefit from tax breaks and special consideration for City contracts.

Describe how you’d effectively address police misconduct and brutality, particularly as it affects communities of color.

I joined the NYPD to change it from the inside after suffering brutality at the hands of police, and spent a good share of my career as an officer speaking out against racism and other systemic issues in the department. I founded 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement and I am proud to have forced some of the worst behavior into the light, including the abusive use of Stop & Frisk, which I fought in the street and in court.

As an elected official, I have continued the fight, and laid out a plan for reform. It includes:

●  Allowing communities to choose their own precinct commander from applicants.

●  Recruiting officers from high crime neighborhoods.

●  Making it easier for the "minor league" cops (parks department, CUNY, etc.), who are much more likely to be people of color, to be promoted to the NYPD in order to diversify the ranks and reduce bias.

●  Civilianizing large parts of the police force which are not tasked with fighting crime, including, potentially, the police commissioner.

●  Publicly releasing the department's own “monitoring list” of cops with records of complaints and violent incidents.

●  Making it easier for cops to anonymously report bad behavior by their colleagues that results in swift action by the department.

Describe your plan to address/reduce the NYPD budget while better ensuring public safety and meeting community needs?

Diverting wasteful spending from the third-largest agency operating budget in our city is essential to combating our deficit, and ensuring that budgetary waste is redirected toward Black and Brown communities is necessary for a real recovery, one where the City goes upstream to proactively tackle the feeders of the criminal justice system. Taking units out of the NYPD and moving them to another facet of City government is not achieving the mission at hand; the mission at its core is defunding reactive policing.

We can do this by increasing civilianization of our police force. Early estimates, based on consultations with policing experts, suggest that approximately $200 million in savings can be

achieved by strategic civilianization of NYPD units where the existing ratio of police officers is simply not necessary. In general, this would entail an 80/20 split of civilians to police officers going forward in these units. Civilian titles are not only less costly to the City, they largely tend to be held by Black and Brown public servants who live within the five boroughs and thereby contribute more directly to the local economy. These savings would be coupled with a uniform headcount loss via attrition in these civilianizing units.

We must also combat overtime. There are two general types of overtime: arrest and programmatic. Transferring more police officers to enforcement-related duties, a concept in line with civilianization efforts, would lead to a reduction in overtime because more personnel would be focused on the same data points. Personnel assigned to Saturday/Sunday regular days off can be reassigned to Friday/Saturday or Sunday/Monday, by default providing more personnel to fill the programmatic overtime.

Finally, I would conduct annual forensic audits of the NYPD. NYPD spending is notoriously opaque, which directly feeds budgetary inefficiency and waste. The Mayor and NYPD Commissioner must commit to forensic audits and transparent reporting by the New York City Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to get to the heart of the waste. Focus should be placed on contracts for equipment expenditures, including firearms and vehicles, as well as technology like data aggregation, facial recognition, and gunshot detection softwares. Without impeding on the primary goal of public safety, the goal must be to determine necessity and possible duplication either within the department or another City agency. Significant cuts can be made in this area that do not impede on uniform headcount, which serves in an active public safety role on our street

What would you do to further LGBTQ+ rights, equity, and justice if elected Mayor?

I have long been a champion of the LGBTQIA+ community. I was a key vote to make same-sex marriage legal in the State of New York and was one of the earliest supporters of GENDA legislation that would help fight discrimination against transgender New Yorkers.

As Borough President, I have continued my support for the LGBTQIA+ community by funding the future build out of the Brooklyn Pride Center at the Bedford Union Armory as well as the recently completed Stonewall House LGBTQIA+ senior housing infill development at Ingersoll Houses in partnership with SAGE. In addition, I appointed the first ever openly transgender individual as a community board member in Brooklyn.

Also, in concert with my late colleague and friend Lew Fidler, I prioritized support for Runaway Homeless Youth (RHY) by leading the charge to extend the age of designation from 21 to 25. RHY are largely LGBTQIA individuals and are some of the most vulnerable among our homeless populations.

As mayor, I will build on these successes and will seek insight from LGBTQIA+ advocates to guide the discussion on what must be at the forefront of the advocacy agenda, whether that be advancing LGBTQIA+ competent health care policies at H+H, improving access to safe and

healthy housing by prioritizing runaway homeless youth in housing and Fair Futures programmatic work and funding, or ensuring that an LGBTQIA+ lens is integrated into all policy making in my administration.

I will not presume to speak to what the LGBTQIA+ community needs, but I will be a steady ally and partner to see the needs are met.

Do you commit to retaining the New York City Unity Project, the City’s first Mayoral-level effort to coordinate LGBTQ+ policy efforts across city agencies, and if so, what actions would you take to build upon or revise the project?

Yes. Throughout my tenure as borough president, LGBTQIA+ advocates routinely reminded my office that LGBTQIA+ needs are not separate and apart from other New Yorkers, but rather an LGBTQIA+ lens is needed to be weaved through all policy making. The Unity Project is so important in advancing this idea and I will work to see its influence expanded to other areas beyond the current pillars of education, public wellness, housing, and employment to name a few.

In particular, I will prioritize public safety improvements in the Unity Project. Thankfully, the “Walking While Trans” ban has been enacted, but so much more needs to be done to improve public safety for the LGBTQIA+ community. It is well known that LGBTQIA+ members are too often victims of over-policing and we must make the NYPD more sensitive to the unique issues facing the community, whether that be misgendering transgender and non-binary people or simply using demeaning language.

In addition, we must do more to prioritize resources for RHY who are disproportionately LGBTQIA+ and protect the community from a spike in hate crimes that we have seen in recent years. We must be forceful in responding to all instances of hate crimes against the LGBTQIA+ community and the Unity Project must drive that conversation to set the agenda. We must also do more to support our LGBTQIA+ seniors through intergenerational programming.

I would also seek to do more to connect the most vulnerable members of the LGBTQIA+ community, namely Black and Brown LGBTQIA+ members, to resources to which they are entitled.

What would you do differently than your predecessor(s) to address New York City’s affordable housing crisis?

My siblings and I grew up housing insecure to the point where I often brought a plastic bag of clothes to school with me because of fear of eviction. Housing security isn’t theoretical for me, it is real for me. To tackle this crisis, I would:

ADD HOUSING—FOR EVERYONE—IN WEALTHY NEIGHBORHOODS: For years, our rezonings focused on adding apartments in lower-income areas—which often just led to higher-income people moving in, making communities less affordable, and often forcing out longtime residents. Instead, we will build in wealthier areas with a high quality of life, allowing lower-and middle-income New Yorkers to move in by adding affordable housing and eliminating the community preference rule in those areas, which prevents many New Yorkers from living in desirable neighborhoods.

REPURPOSE CITY OFFICE BUILDINGS: We will convert some City office buildings into 100% affordable housing by taking advantage of more City workers working from home and consolidating workers that will still be in-person to free up space.

ALLOW PRIVATE OFFICE BUILDINGS AND HOTELS TO BECOME HOUSING: The pandemic has unfortunately left many of our hotels and office buildings empty. In some cases, their owners want to convert the buildings to housing, but current City regulations make that either too expensive or too challenging. By making some zoning tweaks and other rule changes, we can facilitate conversions where appropriate and add desperately needed housing stock—particularly at hotels in the outer boroughs.

THINK BIG BY BUILDING SMALL: Outdated rules prevent New York developers from building the kind of small, cheaper micro-units that are common today around the world. Homeowners in single family zones are also prevented from legally leasing “accessory units” like “granny flats”. And single room occupancy units, or SROs, and basement apartments are still illegal, despite their common use elsewhere. By allowing for all of these to be built or legally used, we will quickly add hundreds-of-thousands of affordable apartments​.

GIVE FAITH-BASED INSTITUTIONS THE TOOLS TO PROVIDE HOUSING: Faith-based institutions have the social vision and local understanding to advance affordable and supportive housing projects with excess development rights on their own properties, but they also often do not have the financial or technical capacity to do so. We will partner with faith-based institutions across New York City to leverage these development rights for a public purpose.

PRIORITIZE THOSE WHO NEED SUPPORTIVE HOUSING THE MOST:
New Yorkers in local shelters—especially those who lived in the neighborhood beforehand and were displaced—will be prioritized for supportive housing. So too will young people aging out of foster care, who should be given every chance at starting off adulthood on the right foot.

GIVE CITY-OWNED PROPERTY TO NON-PROFIT LAND TRUSTS TO CREATE AFFORDABLE HOUSING:
Vacant and underutilized City property is a massive waste of our resources and often a blight on neighborhoods. In the midst of this housing crisis, we will aggressively seek to partner with community land trusts by offering properties to organizations that commit to building permanently affordable housing.

Yes I have accepted donations from real estate. Real estate is not just large developers, it is also small building owners like myself and the real estate community overall employs hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers and makes up a large portion of the tax base

Relatedly, and keeping in mind the City’s legal and moral obligation to provide shelter, how would you improve shelter and services for New Yorkers experiencing homelessness, particularly as it relates to reducing the number in need of shelter?

Combating homeless necessitates a multi-pronged approach, centered on keeping people in their homes.

We must do this by improving rent subsidies to prevent New Yorkers from becoming homeless in the first place.

New Yorkers on the brink of homelessness and in shelters need far greater assistance than is available now to transition into permanent housing. One way we will accomplish this is by increasing the value of the City FHEPS housing vouchers so they reflect the value of the housing that is actually available in our city. There was a time when $1,323 for a one bedroom and $1,580 for a two bedroom was sufficient, but that time is long gone. And when the cost of a person in the shelter system is $124, and the cost of a family is $196 per day, increasing the value of vouchers is common sense governing.

Keeping in mind the specific needs of LGBTQ+ New Yorkers experiencing homelessness, will you commit to increasing capacity for clients (youth and adults) who require single room placement for reasons of health and safety including clients with mobility issues and/or who identify as TGNC (because placement in traditional single adult shelter may compromise their safety)?

Absolutely. One of the earliest efforts I embarked upon as borough president was a partnership with State Senator Diane Savino and Assembly Member Helene Weinstein, supported by great partners like the Ali Forney Center, Coalition for Homeless Youth, and GHMC, to expand the application of the New York State Runaway and Homeless Youth Act to include individuals under the age of 25 from, at the time, 21. We must continue to provide safe, culturally competent support for not only our youth but those most at risk for violence and discrimination.

Describe what you believe is meant by “gender equity” and what steps you’ve taken to date and will take if elected Mayor to support and further gender equity?

I was proud that the Brooklyn Borough President’s office scored highest in a recent pay equity study by the New York City Public Advocate, which showed my office​ actually pays women 14 percent MORE than men.

But advancing gender equity does not just mean achieving pay equity--it means creating a city that works for all, where all are treated equally. It is why my campaign is led by two strong

women and why 60 percent of the senior leadership positions at Borough Hall are occupied by women.

I was also proud to create a publicly available lactation room for new mothers and passed City legislation that required these facilities in public facing agencies across New York City. Changes to how we plan and implement our city must be done from a gender perspective, meaning we must design cities for all regardless of their gender identity. We can do this by ensuring housing is safe and available regardless of gender identity, our transit network is safe for all, our streets are designed to be safely utilized by all, and that budget decisions are made through an equity lens.

I am also committed to shining a light on the gender inequities that exist in our city agencies. I commit to requiring my agencies to track and report metrics on gender pay equity and whether there is a talent pipeline issue where cis men are consistently promoted over others.

If elected, do you commit to using inclusive and gender neutral language in all official documents and press releases, and will you order city agencies to do the same?

Yes.

How much money has your campaign raised to date and what are your key sources of support? Relatedly, are you rejecting contributions from specific sectors, such as lobbyists, real estate interests, pension fund managers, police unions, etc.?

I have over 7,000 donors with over 8.6 million dollars raised. These more than 7,000 donors come from all backgrounds and every corner of the city. These contributors are overwhelmingly hard working New Yorkers from blue collar communities who share my vision for the city.

The campaign will not accept contributions from police unions like the PBA, SBA, and State Troopers that do not align with my view of justice and reform.

Why do you want LID's endorsement? If LID endorses you do you commit to including that endorsement on your website, social media, and all campaign literature on which you list or make mention of endorsements?

LID has been a driving force in the fight for equality for decades. From marriage equality to GENDA to RHY advocacy, LID has been a true ally in educating me to be an ally to the LGBTQIA+ community. I would be proud to affiliate myself with LID in making mention of an endorsement.