In his fourth State of the Metropolis speech, Mayor Adams vowed to double down on housing in the course of the the rest of his time period — and a doable second.
Adams, talking from the Apollo Theater in Harlem on Thursday, said his case for New Yorkers as he faces a discipline of mayoral challengers and authorized headwinds. The mayor is slated to face trial in April on federal corruption costs as he heads right into a June main.
The mayor, who has seen a lot of his prime advisors resign in current months after being ensnared in varied corruption investigations, kicked off his speech by thanking his deputy mayors and senior officers.
“The hardest job in politics is working for Eric Adams,” the mayor stated, nodding to his aides.
Adams started the speech by emphasizing his file on public security and the “City of Yes” zoning plan. He touted crime stats, citing numbers that Brooklyn has seen the “lowest amount of gun violence” in its historical past and general crime fell by 15% in December citywide.
“I promise you this: No one will fight harder for your family than I will,” he stated.
In the course of the speech, Adams introduced a set of bold initiatives addressing road homelessness and housing.
Homelessness
Adams promised town would put $650 million towards getting folks off subways and into housing. He pledged to create 900 Protected Haven shelter beds and open an facility for homeless folks with severe psychological sickness.
“We must do more to help people struggling with serious mental illness,” he stated in the course of the speech. “We can’t just walk past them and act like they can take care of themselves when they can’t. We know that too many New Yorkers cycle between the hospital and homelessness.”
The mayor additionally set a objective of seeing no extra youngsters born into the shelter system. He introduced a pilot program to attach anticipating dad and mom with companies to assist discover everlasting housing earlier than their baby is born.
Housing
The mayor introduced a brand new plan, dubbed “City of Yes for Families,” supposed to construct extra models particularly for households by each zoning modifications and increasing cost help applications.
As a part of that, Adams stated town would construct 100,000 new models in Manhattan — an enormous 11% enhance for the already densely-packed island the place native residents typically resist new housing and zoning modifications.
Extra swim lessons
The mayor vowed to increase free swim classes to 4,800 second graders in underserved communities.
Cleaner parks
Adams stated town would add a second cleansing shift to spots at over 60 parks across the metropolis.
Forward of the mayor’s speech, dozens of members of the NYPD sergeants union gathered outdoors The Apollo to protest what they view because the Adams administration’s refusal to deal with pay disparities that depart them incomes lower than a number of the officers they supervise.
Additionally outdoors the theater was a smaller contingent of anti-Adams protesters from the “Close Rikers” coalition and Make the Street, an immigrant advocacy group. Adams has confronted more and more heated criticism from Shut Rikers activists in current months, amid rising concern over the feasibility of town’s plan to shutter the notorious island jail by 2027.
Initially Printed: January 9, 2025 at 1:32 PM EST
