A hearty congratulations to New YorkMayor-elect Eric Adams, who now has no more time for jaunts to Monaco. Instead he faces a two-month sprint before taking the oath of office, time that must be spent staffing up the top echelons of his administration and refining proposals put forward in the campaign. Slightly misquoting Gov. Mario Cuomo, Adams has spoken of campaigning in poetry and governing in policy (the actual quote is “prose”). This is when evocative stanzas must become actionable plans.
Fortunately, the most urgent area is the one where ex-NYPD Capt. Adams has done the most homework: public safety. With murders up 41% and shootings double their 2019 numbers, Adams needs to settle on a police commissioner and determine precisely how he will deploy cops to reverse the tide. Relations between Mayor Bill de Blasio and the rank-and-file were notoriously strained, and things got worse, not better, when de Blasio correctly gave all members of the department a COVID vaccine ultimatum.
Nor is it too soon to start finding ways to find savings in the city budget, where deficits swell in future years due in part to unwise de Blasio commitments of federal funds to programs that will recur in future years — and tax revenue, especially property-tax revenue, that is already falling off a cliff.
To that end, Adams should stop playing games with the de Blasio-brokered changes to municipal retirees’ health plans, which take more than $600 million annually off the city’s books while preserving generous benefits. Adams called it a “bait and switch” last month. Nonsense; it represents exactly the type of fix needed to curb a rapidly growing slice of city spending.
Not least, Adams needs to choose clarity and transparency over obfuscation when asked legitimate questions about his taxes and living situation. And he must set clear boundaries to stop favor-seeking friends and donors from getting special treatment. His history of cozying up to lobbyists and business interests hasn’t stopped his political ascent, but it becomes a liability beginning now.
