In a free-wheeling farewell press convention Tuesday, Mayor Adams and his prime aides waxed nostalgic about his years accountable for the nation’s largest metropolis, reminiscing about all the nice, unhealthy and ugly that got here with it.
“Unfiltered, perfectly imperfect, no telling what I’m going to do and what I’m going to say at any time — I am just Eric,” Adams, flanked by his deputy mayors and a number of other company commissioners, mentioned within the Metropolis Corridor Rotunda whereas reflecting on his legacy.
“And probably in the history of time as mayor, so many mayors want to be filtered, they want to pretend who they are and act like they are perfect. I am not.”
Adams is about to go away workplace Dec. 31 after a time period marked by achievements, however marred by corruption scandals.
The latter contains his personal federal indictment, which hurled his administration into chaos final yr. The feds’ case accused Adams of taking bribes and unlawful marketing campaign money from Turkish authorities operatives in alternate for political favors, however was quashed by President Trump’s Division of Justice, a dismissal that created its personal set of controversies.
All through Tuesday’s hour and a half-long press convention, Adams, town’s second Black mayor, acknowledged there have been ups and downs all through his time period.
However when all is alleged and executed, Adams argued historical past can be variety to him, pointing to drops in most index crimes, the adoption of a citywide housing rezoning plan, implementation of trash containerization efforts throughout town and different achievements.
“When you look from the outside, you think that all our team may have done is frown, but no, we laughed a lot,” mentioned Adams. “We leaned into the work,” he continued, “we knew what we were fighting for, we stood firm and we stood tall.”
Adams and his aides assembled a time capsule crammed with numerous memorabilia, together with elements of an NYPD drone, the ID badge for a migrant who resided on the Roosevelt Resort and a padlock to represent the administration’s crackdown on unlawful hashish shops.
First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro, a Giuliani administration alum who got here on board final spring after 4 of Adams’ prime aides resigned amid fallout from his indictment, positioned a speedometer set to fifteen mph within the capsule, a nod to the administration’s profitable push to decrease town’s permissible e-bike velocity restrict.
“That’s the kind of legacy, that’s the kind of innovation of this administration of which I am very proud,” Mastro mentioned. “And I will say: As a second generation Italian-American, in closing, I paraphrase the immortal Frank Sinatra: We did it our way.”
After the press convention, Adams, Mastro and the opposite prime staffers walked outdoors Metropolis Corridor to bury the capsule in a gap dug up within the sidewalk on Park Row. Adams declined to take questions after the occasion.
Adams has but to reveal his subsequent skilled transfer. However he indicated Monday he’s more likely to take a personal sector job, and sources say he has been eyeing a job associated to an Israeli development agency. He was headed to Mexico later Tuesday.
Frank Carone, Adams’ first chief of employees who was instrumental in main his 2021 marketing campaign, mentioned “every rational person agrees” the mayor’s administration was “the most successful in history,” citing how he “brought the city all the way back” from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Adams’ successor, democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani, is about to be sworn in as town’s subsequent mayor Jan. 1.
