Should You Be My Mayor? with Eric Adams

24:33That's it. But what I thought, and that was my biggest mistakes, I said, they're going to hit me when I do something wrong. That's the nature of the beast. But you know what? When I settle 98 % of my union contracts with 98 % ratification levels, when I build more housing than mayors in 20 years, when I pay off college tuition for foster care children, high-speed broadband for NYCHA residents, when I do all this stuff, they're going to at least have an article that, hey, the mayor just did X. I think they have those articles, but no one clicks on them. Nah, they don't have them. No, they don't have them.

25:07They don't have them. But we're gonna talk about all your policies, because I want to get to that. I think... Last question, Momdani. I want to talk about the campaign, then get onto this. How do you make sense of the energy around Momdani right now? What do you think that energy is? What does it reveal to you as a candidate? Do you learn anything from it? He was never a candidate. He was a social media... of, what do you, influencer. It wasn't a candidate. When I ran and won in 2021, at my victory speech, I said social media does not win an election. People on Social Security win elections. That was flipped upside down.

25:54He did an amazing job of the, this time that we're in, people don't look at... People don't read full body. They read headlines. But he goes out, he meets with communities, he's doing the thing. I mean, isn't that what campaigning is? And, like, social media is just part of it. It's generational shit. Everybody went out and meet with people. What made his name seem to be almost omnipresence? It was a well-run social media-influenced campaign. And now you're trying to do that? Are you trying to do that now? Here's what I'm trying to do. I'm trying to utilize that mechanism that my experts are now assisting me with to get my story out.

26:40All I have to do is get my story out. All people need to know, hey, this is a mayor that can't be defined by the lawfare he experienced. Can't be defined by the narrative of saying he's anti-immigrant. You know what's the most interesting part of this campaign? Tell me. All that I am has been hijacked. When you talk about a working class mayor, you know, I wasn't born with a silver spoon. I was born with a wooden spoon and no food was on it. When you talk about a mayor that produced for working class people, that's what I have done. So social media has successfully turned upside down who I was.

27:19And that's what happened in 2021 also. So in 2021, people would label me as pro-police reform. When all is police reform, that's what I cut my teeth on. But there was a whole narrative that Eric didn't want to do anything about police reform. Yeah, that you were anti-police reform. Anti-police reform. That was the whole narrative. And I would go to debates, and I would say, wait a minute, what are we talking about here? You feel misunderstood, Mayor. I don't know if misunderstood is the right turn. Misrepresented. Yes, I like that better. Feel misrepresented. The beauty of campaigning is that you are allowed to use your resources to tell your story.

28:03Because remember when I ran in 2021? Yeah. I was losing to Andrew Yang by 13 points. He was walking around with... Oh, yeah, Andrew Yang. I forgot about Andrew Yang. He was walking around with a tape measure, measuring the drapes. He said, you know, when I'm man, when I'm man. I was losing to Andrew Yang by Black men. Wow. And he was in the bodegas. Right. They were saying, Eric, we love you, but Andrew Yang is giving us$1 ,000 a month free. We don't love you that much. And so I had to get out and sell to them, here's why what he was selling was bogus, and here's what I want to do. I'm going to cut unemployment.

28:35And we did, by 30%. I want to ask you about this narrative you think has been hijacked. I'm going to give you a chance to respond. Before we do that, very quick questions on one of the other people. So, former Governor Andrew Cuomo, he lost the Democratic primaries, running as an independent. You said he called you and asked you to come to an agreement to come out of the race? Is that...? We both articulated our desires for... He wanted me out, I wanted him out. And we shared that. And you guys had a phone call? Who called who? I think I texted him, and then I called him and said, Listen, Andrew, what are you doing?

29:09You lost by double digits. This was after his video came out that he was rerunning, or...? No, this was before that. Okay. Before that. And you were saying, okay, so you taxed him. You need to bounce, you know? You just lost. You spent$25 million. People heard your message, and they decided that they didn't want to go for it. And then he never wanted to be mayor. You have to campaign to be mayor. You know, you can't come out and go to a black church on Sunday and, you know, go eat fried chicken somewhere and all of a sudden act like you're campaigning. I mean, he took New Yorkers for granted, and it was unfortunate.

29:41What did he say to you when you... What was the end of that call? What were the last five words of that phone call? No, he shouldn't. I feel like he could win. Everybody feels they could win. All nine of the candidates that won in the primary felt that they could win. Duh! You know? But the fact that you lost. Okay. That's the fact. He lost. Now... Is that the last conversation you've had with him? Oh, uh, we probably exchanged, you know, texts, you know, from time to time. He complained about something I say, I complained about something he states. And I didn't want... Listen, I didn't want to go back and forth I say, listen, you're in the race, you're in the race.

30:12I'm going to run my race. But when you start saying that failed leadership, when you start saying that the city is out of control, I'm like, whoa, what are you doing? Failed leadership is having 15 ,000 of our parents die in a nursing home. Failed leadership is spending$60 million on defending yourself for your lawsuit. I could go down the list of failed leadership, you know, So from not for closing psychiatric beds, and now we have people walking in our streets, etc. Are you getting the—I mean, obviously you've had these phone calls with the former governor, but are you getting pressure from donors directly to drop out— Stay.

30:50Stay in the race. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Donors are telling me—and not only donors, I'm walking down the block, and people are saying, Eric, don't you go anywhere. Stay in the race. Don't you go anywhere. You think that's going to change closer to the fall as, like, if it's still this three-way race and people are, you know, especially in these rooms, like Casa Cipriani, where we're both on last Friday night. There's a fear in some parts of New York. Yeah, the fear is real. But my fear is based on policies. I fear his policies, Andrew's, and I fear Mondani's policies. But let me say this, because this is an important question that you're asking, that, remember, of nine, 10 % of voters voted, 90 % have yet to speak.

31:33The primary turnout was incredible. It was close to the mayoral general turnout. Right, right. But if there's a... Because people slept on this election. Nine months ago, when I was telling people, Madonna's gonna win the primary. People were telling me, Eric, what are you talking about? Yeah, you called that. Okay, let me ask you a question. Let's move away from the race for a second. Just as a New Yorker, I have this dumb question of, you know, this city, I love New York. I've lived in a lot of cities of London, wherever, but I love New York. I feel like such talented people all over the world working hard, paying too much in rent to be here, and yet we are stepping over rats.

32:09We have trash in our streets. Things are expensive. Like, the city does smell like weed, although you are shutting down some of these illegal cannabis shops. Is this just a trade New Yorkers have to accept? I mean, for so long, I feel we walk around and we're just like, oh, this is New York. No, I don't buy that. I don't buy that. And if we're honest in our analysis, because you have to use indicators to determine how well a city's moving, and it must be done based on an independent source. So, rat complaints are down. People told me I couldn't containerize garbage. It's impossible in New York to put garbage in containers and bins.

32:4575 % of our garbage are now in bins, and we're going to reach 100%. They told me it was going to take me five years. I did it in three and a half years. I walked by so many piles of trash bags. I'm just saying 25%. People are now getting acclimated to the law to make sure it's done correctly. But these bins got to be bigger. These bins have to be the size of the building. We've done another project. The first order of business you had to do is have New Yorkers wrap their heads around, we are now putting our garbage in bins. When I go to South America, Central America, Greece, you don't see garbage in plastic bags.

33:21They say plastic bags? What are you talking about? And so our parks are cleaner. You're seeing more pet workers and more park employees what we're doing. You've been in this job for a few years now. why is it so hard to change this stuff? I feel like it just feels like this is life. I know you're saying things have changed. But, you know, we walk out of New York City right now, it's not gonna smell like roses. Actually, we're on 28th Street, the Flower Street. It might smell like roses. But, you know, probably it's not gonna smell like that. Why is it so... What is the thing that is in the way of mayors doing the job?

33:57I love that. I love that. Is it Albany? Is it... Well, first, this bureaucracy is one. but at the same time, we first have to acknowledge where we were. And the way you determine how cities are doing is do a comparative analysis. Go look at LA. Go look at San Francisco. Go look at Oakland. Over our weekend, 4th of July weekend, we had, 4th of July day, we had one shooting. Chicago had 50-something. So when you do an analysis of the complexities of running big cities with different languages and different cultures, you have to do a comparative and say, okay, let's see how well these cities are running, are moving.

34:35And we're moving in the right direction. Record break decreases in crime. Broadway had the best 12 months on history. More jobs. We built a record for jobs 11 times. One out of five of the small businesses started under this administration. So think about this for a moment, because this is so important, what you're asking. Okay, why don't we snap our finger and we get to change for a moment? Because you know what? I came in office, all my businesses were closed, and we had this thing called COVID. Yes, I remember that. Nobody was coming back into their office. You know, I had to manage us through that.

35:09And then as we managed us through that, out of nowhere, I got 237 ,000 migrants and asylum seekers that came to our city. That cost me$7 billion. So I had to take money out of my budget that could have hired hundreds of more sanitation employees that could have handled more rat cleanup, you know? So all of that money that we would have normally used to put into services, we had to take because the federal government wouldn't give us the money that they should have given us to pay for these things. Here's a question. If you're married to New York, because I feel like New York's kind of like your wife.

35:49Yes, it is. Yes, it is. She's a jealous mistress. She's jealous. How is your relationship going right now? Do you say it's complicated, it's happily ever after, you need some therapy, what's the situation? With my marriage. With your marriage with New York, with New Yorkers. Listen, I understand in any relationship... With your 8.3 million wifeies. That's right, 8.3 million shorties. Yeah, exactly. What's the marriage like? Look, I know that relationships are ups and downs. I know that relationships, they go through good days, they go through bad days, they go through joyous moments. of there's moments when you want to choke each other and there are moments that you want to hug each other.

36:26But at the foundation, you got to look at, I always say, what is the foundation of a relationship? Do you love the person you're in a relationship with? It's not a bumper sticker or T-shirt for me. I love New York. Listen, I wore a bulletproof vest for 22 years. And I stood on street corners. I cried with family members who lost loved ones. I sat in hospitals when I was off duty after an incident that happened. I knocked on doors. I sat in living rooms. This is a city that I love. And so no matter the ups and downs, no matter when I walk by people and they say, I hate you, Eric Adams, or people say, oh, I love you, my mom loves you, take a picture, no matter those emotions, I love this city.

37:08And we've come too far to go back. We can't go back. I think, I'm not your couples therapist, but let me play one for a second. I think there's some trust issues right now with you and New Yorkers. Right. And I want to let you address, you brought up the indictment. So I want to address that elephant in the room. Because a lot of rooms you go into, this comes up. I bring up, I'm interviewing Eric Adams. They say, oh, ask him about Turkish Airlines. You know, let's talk about what happened with the federal corruption charges. So talk about that. Think about this for a moment. Many people didn't read the indictment.

37:43They heard the story, but they never read the indictment. Indictments are not fun to read. Right, right, right. So they really don't know the story. There are two aspects of the indictment. Like, there was a lot of coverage of the correspondence. Yeah, but look at the correspondence. The correspondence should have vindicated me. So there were two aspects of it, and I couldn't talk about it. I was so pissed that I couldn't talk about it while I was in the court, because my attorney said, Eric, shut up. Alex Spiro said... Yes, shut up, Eric. You know. There were two aspects of this indictment. One of the aspects of it was that I called the fire department commissioner and said, can you go do a building inspection because the president is coming here, and you got all of this darn bureaucracy that everybody complained on.

38:29I ran on the lack of having these building inspections. And I said to him, if you can't do it, let me know, and I'll manage their expectation. This is the Turkish consulate building in New York. Exactly. The Turkish consulate building. President Erdogan's business. And so what they said that, well, you have flown on Turkish airlines for years, paid, and when you flew, you asked for upgrades. When you run, when you go on official travel, it's all right for you to get those upgrades. But when you went on your personal travel, you should have got those upgrades. And so we feel as though you were being bribed because one day you were gonna call the fire commissioner, and so you were bribed for that, so we're gonna charge you with bribery.

39:13Made no sense. Even legal experts that read it say, wait a minute, this is the city mayor of New York? and you indicted him on that? Now, what was the second aspect? We did hundreds of fundraisers, hundreds. A lot of volunteers. A lot of volunteers come out. Anyone that knows this, they know about this whole straw donor, what have you. It appears as though that a volunteer, not a staffer, not an employee, did something improper, and it appears as though to save her own rear, as they do all the time, I'm a former law enforcement officer, hey, if you tell something on him, we will let you go free.

39:49They never charged her. She was never charged. When the emails that you talked about showed she did something wrong. There was no email showing that I did anything wrong. The emails, there was correspondence about, oh, how much is their ticket? It's gonna be$500. There's some negotiation on that stuff. I mean, I think people read this. I want to get to the current situation. Because there was a question of, like, was there quid pro quo on the turkey question? And now the question is, was there quid pro question mark with the dismissal of the case against you. So let's talk about that. Let's peel that part back.

40:22And let's be honest about it. Let's be honest on people say, okay, was it a quick pro quo? How much of that do you really believe had to do because it was Donald Trump? Well, I mean, here's... I don't speak for all New Yorkers. I will say this. I think that you were tough on immigration before, and I think part of the... Thank you. So I do recognize that you have been... Not tough on immigration. Sorry, I should say, you were sounding the alarm on the migrant crisis in 2023. And I was tough on those who committed crimes. Exactly. Yeah, you were... I support immigration. Yes, and so we are going to get to that.

40:56But here, I want to quote, so Reverend L. Sharpton, friend of yours? Yes, yep, yep. Ally of yours. He was quoted saying that he thinks the Trump people have compromised you and that you've put the city where we're hostage. This is a quote from earlier this year. I mean, New Yorkers... When did he say that? Because there's more to that comment that he made. He was saying, don't put Eric in this position. His indictment should be dismissed with prejudice. It could never come back, and people cannot say, well, they're holding this over the mayor's head. The Trump administration, when they dropped the charges, they wanted to drop it without prejudice.

41:34They could have brought those charges again. And the judge, the district court judge, said, we're not going to do that. We're going to drop it with prejudice, because otherwise it would create the appearance that you owe the president. Without a doubt. But remember, even when they did... But there was space between that. It was February to April. But this is going to be one of the most important chapters in my book, because... Do you have a book deal? Because the majority of times, overwhelming majority of times, when cases are dismissed on the federal level, they're dismissed without prejudice.

42:09This wasn't unique to Eric. So it wasn't like, oh, we're going to do this to hold it over Eric's head. No, it's dismissed without prejudice. So they always wanted to have the option if something else comes up, that they can bring it up. But they made it unique for me. No one wanted to look at it. That's how they always do it. So let me ask you straight. Do you feel that you owe Donald Trump something? No. A thank you card? In Sharpie? A thank you. A thank you. And let me tell you why I say a thank you. Those two incidents that I stated that the indictment was based on, I'm the city mayor of New York, and that's what is...

42:43You're going to indict the city mayor of New York. Mind you, the prosecutor who indicted me, soon as he left office, he put up a website, like a campaign page, like he was running for office. So we're going to put a pin into that. But when he... I didn't know Donald Trump. I lived in the city, but we never met. We never spoke. First time I met Donald Trump was at the Alfred E. Smith dinner. So fall last year. Yes, yes. while he was on the campaign trail, he was saying, look at what they're doing to that mayor in New York. It's wrong. I was saying this over and over again. So here you have a person that's acknowledging what they're doing to you is wrong.

43:23I was facing 33 years in prison. 33 years in prison. Millions of dollars in legal fees. So if someone that... If you were in my shoes and someone was saying that you knew you didn't do anything wrong, and someone is saying this is wrong, what they're doing to her, You wouldn't say thank you? You found an ally in Donald Trump. I found... Not only did I find... No, but not only did I find an ally in Donald Trump, President Trump, I found it in President Biden. President Biden said the Justice Department under him was politicized. He pardoned his son. Yeah, he made remarks that were implied that politicization of his...

43:58Exactly. President Trump said the Justice Department was politicized. Yeah. I said it. I remember that New York Times headline you held up at a press conference. And you know who else said it? Brian Benjamin. highest-ranking African American in the state of New York as lieutenant governor. They indicted him for receiving campaign contribution from someone associated to a nonprofit. The judge dismissed the case before it went to trial. So talk about here and now, because New Yorkers, I mean, the worry would be, okay, the mayor is getting pressure and there's federal demands that are going to overwhelm New Yorkers' needs.

44:35So are you actually getting pressure? We know Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy's on the MTA, complaining about the MTA. Doesn't like our congestion pricing in New York City. Donald Trump doesn't seem to like it either. You know, there's the ice of it all. Are you... How many calls are you getting pressuring you to do something? And does your gratitude to Donald Trump, to President Trump, extend to helping him on these calls when you get them? So let's peel this back for a moment. This is important. That's why I like these long-form conversations. Do you know that when the federal government does something that a city believes is inappropriate, unfair, you go to court and you sue?

45:16Do you know I have taken this administration to court more than any mayor in the country? The Trump administration. More than any mayor in the country. What are you taking them to court over? Can you rattle off a few things? Yes. We took them to court when they went inside and took the young student that was following the process. We took them to court when they clawed back$80 million from our FEMA money. We took them to court for that. We took them to court when they took finances out of some of the health benefits. So there's a whole list you could see. Now, you'll never read that. That doesn't fit into the narrative, because the narrative is Eric is under his thumb.

45:55Then what are the other mayors in the other cities? What thumb are they under if they're not going to court like me? You know, that doesn't fit into the narrative of Eric is under the thumb. But at the same time, when I needed the president for the city, they were getting ready to put a stop work order on a multi-billion dollar project we had in Sunset Park. It was a wind farm. 500 ,000 homes were going to receive electricity, 1 ,500 jobs. They would put a stop work order. I flew to Washington. I said, Mr. President, this is a union job. Can you please take another look at it? He lifted the stop work order and allow the projects to go, and those union jobs are going to happen, and we do it in an environment too important thing right now.

46:39But no one wants to look at that. They don't want to look at when I go to Washington and fight on behalf of the city. The governor goes to Washington to fight on behalf of the city. Others go. I'm the mayor of the largest city in America. I went to Washington 10 times under President Biden. I met with him twice. So, New York, I know you have taken, well before this administration, you called out the migrant crisis. Exactly. A lot of money. You see it as a crisis for our streets, for crime, et cetera. New York is, of course, a sanctuary city. Yes. Will you go to Washington to fight on immigration if you disagree?

47:13Or are you and Donald Trump actually aligned on how you see immigration as it comes to public safety? Listen, we... He has his beliefs on immigration. I have mine. He doesn't support the concept of sanctuary cities. And that's not a law, by the way. It's a status. Yes. He doesn't support that. And I've made it clear of my support of Sanctuary City and what it means. Because if someone from any country come to New York and they walk in the store and buy a loaf of bread, they're paying those taxes. No one is saying, let me see your documentation so you don't have to pay taxes. So if you pay taxes, those taxes go to the delivery of goods and services.

47:52So you have a right to send your children to school. You have a right to get health care, medical care, when you need it. You have a right to call the police if you're a victim of a crime. I support that. I believe that. Because if children aren't in school, they can be victims of crime. If people wait and overcrowd our emergency rooms, that's the problem. So you're gonna hold that line firm. Without a doubt. Without a doubt. When it comes to ICE going to Rikers, ICE going onto campuses to get students, how do you fall? If they're not breaking the law, we don't coordinate with ICE on civil deportation.

48:24We don't. Period. Never have, never will. That's what the law is. But if you are a dangerous gang in this city, like the Venezuelan gang we took down, Trendy Araga and others, what people are missing, those dangerous gangs were preying on migrants and undocumented people. They were forcing women into prostitution. Everyone is wrapping their arms around these groups without realizing they're preying on immigrants. And so when people say, well, I shouldn't be on Rikers with other agents to go after these guys, I disagree with that. Okay. Let's talk about crime for a second. Before we do, do you think Donald Trump will endorse you?

49:05Because he said very flattering things about you, but he's also said it's good that Andrew Cuomo is in this race. He thinks he has a shot. Do you have a sense of how that shakes out? No, but it's interesting when he said Andrew had a shot, no one had an issue with it. But when he said something nice about me, it led just about every headline. We got to show the inconsistency. No one wants to acknowledge the inconsistency. So when he said something nice about Cuomo, it was okay. But when he said something nice about me, it was a problem. We have to be honest about the inconsistency. Not... One does not have to like me, but come on, we're intelligent enough to say, wait a minute, something's not right here.

49:42Why are we upset when he says something about Eric Adam, but we're not upset when he says something about Andrew Cuomo? That doesn't make you say, hmm. Do you think that actually, though, an endorsement from Donald Trump would be good for any candidate, or would it be an ad for Mom Donnie? Listen, I... In New York City. My desire are working class New Yorkers, and all this other stuff is just noise and distractions. They want to pull you into... I feel like Al Pacino in The Godfather. Every time I get out, they want to pull me back in. I'm focused. Which Godfather? One, two, three, all of them?

50:20I think that was the last one. I love that. I love that docu-series. Godfather, yeah. You know, if you allow this, when I ran for campus for 2021, they would come up with all of these real questions. I say, stay focused, no distractions, and grind. All this stuff is to pull you off your game. I'm talking about working class people. I'm talking about how am I going to make sure they can remain in the city that I love and they love. All that other stuff. You're trying to save your marriage. Use the analogy. We'll be right back to talk about crime and more. And just remember, this conversation was taped before the tragic shooting in Midtown Manhattan.

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53:25I really want to talk about crime. This is an important issue for me as a woman who loves walking home from places at one in the morning in New York City. You campaigned on public safety. Violent crime is down in your administration. But the city, the vibes, the vibes are not with you. The vibes feel unsafe. Right. I mean, and, you know, some months ago, I saw a woman hit on the street, a friend of mine, Canal Street Station, somebody threw a cup of urine on her at 5.30, 6 p.m. on a Thursday night. And then, you know, much more serious to this, we have people lit on fire, or a woman lit on fire on the subway.

53:58We have shootings on the subway. What do you think is happening here? Three things. Three things. One, severe mental health issues. Throwing urine to someone's face, pushing someone to the subway, those actions, people are dealing with severe mental health issues. We removed over 8 ,000 people off our subway system that should not be on the subway system because of that. Got a lot of pushback. We want involuntary removal where we can compel people to go in for service and stay longer so they can get the help that they need. I can't tell you how many times we have fought with city council, we have fought with Albany, getting a lot of pushback to deal with this severe mental health issue, particularly since the psychiatric beds were closed by Cuomo.

54:44That's number one. Okay. Severe mental health issue. Mental health. Yes. Number two, random acts of violence. Nothing strikes us to the core more than random acts of violence. You're walking down the block, someone punches you for no reason at all, someone slashed you. those random acts just cut to the core. And often, there are people with severe mental health issues that are causing those acts. Number three, revolving door. You know, I cannot tell you the revolving door of criminal justice. Oh, because this is bail reform issue. Andrew, state lawmakers passed these bail reform bills, and they did other things that the public is not aware of, such as discovery law.

55:26But these revolving doors, go look at who's committing these crimes. They got records of seven, eight, nine times, and they're back on our streets. I had a situation where I was, you know, I was grabbed by somebody on the street, and I told a police officer, he said, look, you know, and I saw the guy, he was just there afterwards, and he said, I can't even take him, and he's gonna be right back out here two days later with a grudge against you. Yeah, that should not have happened. That wasn't appropriate by that police officer. It's not his job to say what failed criminal justice legislative policies may be.

55:56That's not his job. His job is to do his job. He should have grabbed that person and brought him in. And if he comes back the next day, that's not up to him to decide. He needs to do his job. And so, but he's right in his assessment that we have 542, I think, people who were arrested for shoplifting that were arrested 7 ,600 times. Oh, wow. We're having people who are arrested for grand larceny, arrested 50, 60 times. Of those two guys that shot the Custom Border Patrol officer, they had long arrest sheets from stabbings, from robberies, from kidnapping. Can you... These three things, mental health, the revolving door, and the random acts of violence, what can you fix by the months you have left guaranteed in office, and what could you fix in the office?

56:47Well, we're already on the road to do so. And then when you add those three items with a fixation, if it bleeds, it leads. You know, if you're reading about madness on our subway system and you go downstairs and you hear somebody yelling and screaming, you're going to say, oh, my God, I'm not safe. I'm not safe. Yeah, it's Gotham. Right. But think about this. We have 4.6 million daily riders. We have five felonies a day on our system. Five. We want to get rid of all five. But look at what those police officers are doing. How many misdemeanors do we have? I don't know the exact total, but the serious crimes, someone pushing someone, that's a misdemeanor.

57:29Someone spitting on someone, that's a misdemeanor. You know, you could have misdemeanors, but those serious crimes were 4.6 million daily, I don't want to go to work, riders. And so, looking at those three things that you're talking about, we won some victories in Albany around severe mental health. We didn't get what we wanted, but it's gonna take us closer. So we're taking more and more people off our system that are dealing with severe mental health. We are really going after the random act of violence. Commissioner Tisch put something in place called the Q-teams, 1 ,500 offices that are focused on quality of life.

58:08Open drugs use on our streets, abandoned vehicles, the wild scooter rides, things like that. You obviously came up as a cop. You did this video that I love from 2011. Searching the room? Searching the kid's room. Something simple as a baby doll. Could be just a baby doll, but also it could be a place where you could secrete or hide drugs. I felt something bumpy. I would reach in, see what it is. I got to ask you, in your 20-plus years of working at the NYPD, is that correct? 22 years. Did you ever find a gun in a throw pillow? No, but I heard about guns being in throw pillows. Did you ever find drugs in a baby doll?

58:49No, so it was an accumulation of all the stories that I heard. Really? It was accumulation of, you know, people coming in, saying, holding the baby doll, throwing it on the desk, where I was the sergeant or lieutenant. I said, what's this? They said, inside, we found crack cocaine. Or coming in with an automatic weapon, and they vouched a pillow that it was found in. So all of those things that I show are stories that I heard. Okay. And now, you have some communities that say, oh, you're violating the child's right. You know, you shouldn't be doing that. Listen, inside your house, you know, my mother used to tell me, boy, you don't have no rights in my house.

59:27You don't have rights when you get in your house. And people don't realize you find a gun in someone's house, you find drugs in someone's house, the whole house is going. The kids are going to child protective custody. Mom and dad are going in. Grandma is going in. So you'd rather police your own home than allow the police to come in and do it. Okay. I want to do... That was the main part of policy. I wanted to focus on crime. I want to do two lightning rounds. Yes, yes. I like lightning rounds. Okay. All right. So the first... I'm going to do a policy lightning round. Okay. Okay. I know there's a lot to say.

1:00:00You've spoken about what you've done. But let's start with housing and affordability. Yes. Dumbest thing that we do in housing policy right now... Takes too long. When you have a person in a low-income house, put them in the apartment, takes too long. Sometimes it can take up to a year. When you could have an immediate turnaround when it's non-affordable units, takes too long. Okay, takes too long. Healthcare, you relieve medical debt for thousands of New Yorkers. Are you planning to do more of that? Yes. And what we have done, revolutionary, everyone told me we couldn't do it. We are connecting with what we eat with what our diet.

1:00:36Everyone knows my diabetes journey, changed my diet, was able to reverse my diabetes. You're vegan? Yes, it's not. Plant-based, I like to call it. Plant-based, okay. It's not your DNA, it's your dinner. We're now having plant-based food as a default menu in all of our hospitals, and it has been a success. And so we want to do that more. We want to be proactive in health, not reactive. Got it. Okay. I want to talk about Israel and Palestine. Yes. Hard to do in a lightning round. Yes. But there's a lot of talk about Israel in this mayoral race. What role does the mayor actually have when it comes to the Middle East, to Israel and Palestine and the communities who support each of those.

1:01:12Again, probably the only mayor that has visited Palestine. Okay. Visited Palestine and Israel. And I think that what plays out on the international stage, it plays out on our streets in New York. What we must do is make sure we bring people together, like what I do with my breaking bread, building bonds. We did 19 ,000 dinners, 10 people at the table from different walks of life, ethnicities, and they're doing something revolutionary. They're talking to each other. I don't think that we have to hate each other. We have to coexist in the city, and I've done it over and over again. From my point of view, it's like two things.

1:01:51It's hate crimes, the anti-Semitism, the Islamophobia, policing those, making sure that that doesn't happen. And the second is protests. Yes. Protecting the rights of protesters on, you know, and free speech for all New Yorkers. I taught a class at Columbia last term. Columbia students still feel the after effects, the shock of having NYPD on their campus, I think. I'm not speaking for Columbia students. This is what I heard from some students. Were the cops there because you wanted them there or because the donors wanted them there? Here's why they were there. We cannot go on a college campus as a police unless we are invited.

1:02:26I would have gone on day one because you should not disrupt those who want to go to school for their education. I saw some of the videos spitting out at the Jewish students, harassing them, surrounding them. I saw those videos. I wouldn't want Jordan to go on a college campus... This is your son. ...and my son Jordan to go on a college campus, and people are calling him the in-road, surrounding him, threatening him, and him coming home and saying, Dad, you are paying$80 ,000 a year, and I cannot sit in my school? No. If you were in a protest, protest peacefully. You don't target students based on their ethnicity.

1:03:04I wouldn't want it to be done to a Black student. I saw what happened to the Asian students during COVID. It was wrong then, and it was wrong for it to happen to the Jewish students. We went on because we were invited on when they broke into Hamilton Hall, and it got out of control. Do you feel like there's some Islamophobia around Mamdani's race right now? Yes, there are people who are saying very hurtful and harmful things. Listen, there are people in New York who have hate in their heart. We can't lie about that. But look where I have been on this subject. When a young woman was attacked for wearing a hijab years ago, I went out and visited her and took the bus into Staten Island to say, this can't happen.

1:03:47When someone put out a flyer saying, kill a Muslim day, I walked the street with my Muslim brothers and sisters and said, this cannot happen in our city. And during 9-11, I was a police officer at the time. On Coney Island Avenue during 9-11, there were major sweeps in that community that young men were picked up. I went to 3rd Avenue and 30-something Street, where the federal penitentiary is located, and called for their release. I said, this is wrong, what we're doing to these young men. So there's a history that, just as I stood with Jewish brothers and sisters, Sikh community when they attacked, AAPI community, there's a history of me saying, hate has no place in New York.

1:04:26Hard pivot, congestion pricing. Sean Duffy doesn't like it. Governor Hochul says she's gonna keep it. Where does Mayor Adams stand? I think we could have done it differently. I would love to have witnessed some more waivers for New Yorkers, but I don't control that. Many people don't realize that's controlled by the MTA and the governor's office. I wish the mayor and the city council would have mapped out that plan, because these are our streets, but we're creatures of Albany. Albany is the big brother, and we have to listen with Albany states. But it sounds like you like congestion pricing with some tweaks.

1:05:01Yes. Is that fair? Okay, bikes. New York City cyclists are apparently getting 10 times more criminal summons in recent weeks. This is just reported by Gothamist. Are they dangerous? I kind of think an e-bike is going to kill me. Like an e-bike with some Chinese food. Go kill me. That's funny. It's the last minute of my life. Listen, what happened after COVID, the use of our streets have changed. We did not have all the mopeds, the delivery foods, the bikes. It has changed. Now we have to modify our streets to fit this new norm because it's going nowhere and we need to do it right. Now, we removed over 100 ,000 illegal mopeds, dirt bikes, cars.

1:05:43I know. You rode them over in that social media video. Why didn't you donate them to somewhere else? Because we don't want our streets. They're dangerous. But in some other faraway place, no one wanted them. Those batteries are dangerous. We don't want the explosion from the bootleg batteries. And so we wanted to make sure that they could never terrorize New Yorkers again. Okay. Cannabis. You say the city can be the cannabis capital of the world. You've closed down how many illegal cannabists? 1 ,400. Is this like being the bouncer at your own block party? No, not at all. When it comes down to cannabis, there are two areas that give me a great deal of concern.

1:06:17I talked about it at the debate when I was running in 2021. One, illegal shops. We don't know what's in the cannabis, you know, spike with things. I'm concerned about what's being sold. That's number one. Number two, our children are high all the time. You know, the science is clear. Early use of cannabis, teachers have told me all the time, they say, Eric, these children are coming into school smelling like cannabis. They're high all the time, and they're self-medicating themselves. I'm really concerned about that. It impacts brain development. The science is clear. We need to have a real dividing line between sending a message out that cannabis is okay without the health problems that comes with it.

1:06:59Very quickly on schools, New York City's public schools, as of this week, are going to follow the cell phone ban from New York State, which is a new thing. You've also implemented meditation in schools, something that you do yourself. Yes, yes. Can you talk about that? You know, we often judge our children by how academically smart they are. We need to have indicators of the emotional intelligence and how they manage crises and manage stress. I think this generation, because of the influx and the incoming from social media and others, we're seeing increases in suicidal ideations. We're seeing suicide cases, depression, how girls feel about themselves.

1:07:35We have to really start giving our children the tools they need to go inward and survive. I'm a breather. I do Wim Huff breathing. Wim Huff? Yes, Wim Huff, W-I-M-H-R-F. He has a whole breathing routine. As you know, I do also transcendental meditation. Yes, the mayor and I were both at the Transcendental Meditation Gala in 2022. And we need self-healing. People are hurting, and hurt people hurt people. Okay. Does meditation make the sirens go away? What I'm finding, I was a big meditator until I transitioned into breathing. Now you're breathing. Yes, I enjoy breathing so much. Does breathing make the headlines go away?

1:08:17Yes, they do. Gotta breathe more. Okay, dating. New York is known as the worst place for women to date in the country. That's what they say. That's what they say. Who said that? People report it's a numbers issue. It's a Peter Pan issue, actually. You never got married, you know this story. So, do you have a policy to fix that? Yes, go out more. Nightlife. That's why I'm the nightlife man. You know, New York is one of the top places. And the beauty of New York is the diversity of who you can choose. You know, I see interracial couples, mixed marriages. No one is living within these barriers anymore.

1:08:59No, New York is... If you can't find a boo in New York, then it's you. That's not going to help you get some voters in this situation. That's funny. I think that's fair. The problem is you get so many boos, you got to choose. That's the New York dating problem, actually. Okay, a different kind of rat. The war on rats. This is where I want to end this. How is the war on rats going? You said... Good. Decreasing rat complaints and rat mitigation areas. Okay, I got to ask you a story I heard from... Somebody gave me a tip. I could never run this out. But apparently, decades ago, New York City had this rat birth control plan.

1:09:34You heard this story? Yes, yes, yes. Okay. I was told, and I do not know if this is true, but I was told that they wanted to use rat birth control. They had used it successfully in India. In Bombay, Mumbai, they had given curry-flavored birth controls. In Italy, they had given tomato and garlic flavor birth control to the rats. Right. This person told me that in New York City, the rats were too picky. They could not find a flavor that would get all the rats. Is this true or is this just... That's probably an urban myth. Yes. You know, urban legend. I know we're trying. We're exploring different things.

1:10:07The rat czar has been unbelievable. This is Kathleen Karate. Yes, yes. She has been unbelievable. and, you know, she has performed beyond her expectation. She has rat schools to tell people what they need to do. I hate rats. I hate rat rats. I do, too. By the way, I feel there are fewer of them, but there are still a lot. They gotta go. And those guys have been around a long time. They're smart, you know? You try to trick them. I had a rat in my backyard one day, and I put out a trap, and he put something in his mouth and dropped the rock on the trap, and when it went off, he ate the food. And I swore that I can't contest it, but I swore he gave me the middle finger.

1:10:48You gotta get these rats to respect you, Mayor. Once you get them, are you going for the squirrels or the pigeons? What's next? Love squirrels, love pigeons. Okay, great. Last lightning round. These are five quick questions. Favorite vegan slice? Pizza with vegan cheese. Favorite slice of pizza in New York City? There's a place in Williamsburg, I forgot the name of it. They do a great vegan pizza. But I make my own. I do a cauliflower crust pizza with vegan cheese, some tomatoes, some seasoning, and avocado. And it's the bomb diggity. Avocado on your pizza? Yes. That's wild. I've never heard of that.

1:11:29That's like, okay. Favorite curry in the city? Curry? Yeah, you got a curry spot on it. Oh, yeah. There's a couple of them. I go up to Uptown Veg. They have a nice little curry of mixed vegetables that I love. You love. Okay. Favorite dim sum? You got a dim sum spot? Not really. I'll bounce around. You'll bounce around. Favorite members club? Zero Bond, Casa Chirp? Everybody says zero. You know, I get in trouble if I say which one, so I'm just saying all of them. They're all popping up now. There's so many coming. Shea Margot. I saw you at Shea Margot the other day. I got to start saying hi to you when I see you at these places.

1:12:03You got to do that. Okay. I know you don't like free grocery stores, but how do you feel about free nightclubs? If they let folks in friends. We lost our nightclub industry. Remember, this was a city that never sleeps. We used to go to the Paradise Garage, the warehouse, you know, so many great clubs. People like to go out and dance, you know, but they're coming back. They're coming back. To be able to hang out with your friends, celebrate an event, and just dance off all that stress, that's a great experience in New York. Okay. Free entry for dance clubs. So that we can meet our booze. That's the policy that you need.

1:12:40Got to ask, favorite airline? Oh, got to be. It's a combination. I love Turkey. I always say that. Turkish Airlines, I love their service. But I also, I'm a Delta guy as well. I love Delta. Delta, all right. Okay, thank you for being a good sport. I end every interview asking my guest a dumb question they have, something that they have been like, they haven't wanted to ask out loud, or maybe it's just they can't figure it out. Maybe it's if that rat gave you the middle finger. But do you have such a question, a question that you have that we could find out? Like, Mark Cuban asked, why do people chew with their mouth open?

1:13:14Neil deGrasse Tyson was like, how do you get the cranes up there at the top of the building? Anything that plagues you? Oh, man, that's a hard one, because anything that, you know, that I'm curious about, I go and explore. I am an explorer. You go to dinner with Zoran Mamdani and his dad to find out. That's right, you know? So that's a tough one. And I'm like still in my why years. So I go explore wherever curiosity I may have. All right. Thank you so much, Mirada. Thank you. A lot of fun. I really appreciate it. This was fun. All right. I'm going to wait to debrief these conversations until we've had more of them.

1:13:49But I want to know what you think. So drop me a note at naimiraza101 at gmail.com. Also, to the mayor's point, he did actually have a question that he asked out loud when he came into the room. And I think it's a question a lot of people have. I'll give it to you before the credits. Nell and my producer. I always hear the time producers, what exactly do they do? What do you do? Everything, I guess. You coordinate everything? They produce the product, the outcome. That's what they do, really. I came up as a producer. Love it, love it, love it. Speaking of producers, this episode was produced with Dana Balut, Keely Cruz, Andrea Lopez-Gruzado, and of course, Noah Friedman, who you just heard.

1:14:24Noah actually hosts an awesome show called No Such Thing, and you should totally check it out wherever you get your podcasts. That's it for this week on Smart Girl Dumb Questions. See you next time.