Mayor Eric Adams stopped by Jonesy in the Morning on 94.7 The Block to talk about key NYC issues, from garbage collection and street sweeping to crime, mental health, and composting. He addressed concerns about overwhelmed 911 operators, the city’s fight against rats, and his stance on political rumors. Adams also took aim at Andrew Cuomo’s record, defended his own leadership, and stressed the need for real solutions for struggling communities.

Mayor Adams Appears Live on 94.7 the Block’s “Jonesy in the Morning”

April 2, 2025

Tarsha Jones: Good morning, mayor. [Mayor] Adams, good to see you in person and thank you for pulling off today.

Mayor Eric Adams: In your little space here in the morning. Yeah. This is where all the magic happens.

Jones: And we’re a small operation.

Mayor Adams: Mm, I love it.

Jones: You see, it’s just me and Wayne. Thank you for coming in and–

Mayor Adams: The BX meets the BK.

Jones: Oh, yeah. Wayne be talking heavy about the BX. So we jumped right in because I don’t want to spend, I know you have a busy day. And I just know that people have been anxious to talk to you and they have serious concerns. So the last caller was asking about the operations of when they complain about the garbage, the pickup. And you guys heard the question.

Mayor Adams: Yeah. Alternate side of the street parking. That sister is accurate on some of the stuff that she was asking about. But number one, I heard too often that people say they’re not doing street sweeping all over the city. And I’ve been asking people to give me locations so I can go out, take a look because you got to inspect what you expect, or is all suspect, I like to say. 

So if there’s a particular location, reach out to my office. I looked at some of the locations, and we were finding that people was being parked and not allowing the streets to be sweeped. There were some locations in East New York, but we were able to modify it. But if you see that, please let me know. The second, the closing of the tickets. I heard this when I was at an event, and we looked into it. There are times where the ticket is being closed on 311, just on a referral. That should not happen. It should be closed when the problem is fixed. And we have to constantly stay on top of this. My unit is looking at this, trying to identify who’s actually doing this. 

But, sister, you were right. There are some glitches in both those problems, and we have to fix them. This is a city that is extremely complex, and not everyone carries out the mission to the fullest. We have over 300,000 employees, and overwhelmingly, they do an amazing job, but we must stay on top of our product, and thank you for that call. I’m gonna look into it some even more, but you were right in your observation based on what I received complaints previously for. We gotta get it right, that’s the bottom line. We have a product, and that product must be excellent.

Jones: So, shifting gears real quick, because the latest development is the composting, and I don’t know that New York has got enough advance notice to even be able to approach this successfully, and there are fines attached if they don’t.

Mayor Adams: It actually, we started rolling this out quite some time ago, and what we heard is that folks in Queens, they said, listen, why aren’t we getting composting also? to do it in other affluent communities. And I say, listen, that’s not going to happen. We’re going to do it city-wide. The first city-wide project, first borough-wide project was Queens. 

It was unbelievable how successful it was. And then we started rolling it out city-wide. This is so important because we can’t continue. We’ve got to deal with these environmental issues. And so this whole city, like that sister was saying, the city can’t just have one place where they do certain things. It needs to be city-wide. We did citywide composting, those little brown containers. 

It’s been a real success, and we’re going to continue to educate more, let people know what should go inside those two containers. And as the sisters were saying about the rats, you can’t control the rat population if you don’t take away their food supply. That’s why we containerize garbage. That’s why we’re doing composting. These are real solutions to deal with the cleanliness and the roading problem in our city. And we’re seeing real victories, decrease in rat complaints that we’re seeing city-wide and in rat mitigation zones. And so these are real Ws for us all.

Jones: I was a little disappointed, because I said, damn it, if it’s successful, they’re going to bring that nonsense over to Jersey. Don’t bring that over here. 

Mayor Eric Adams is here in the studio with us, people. We’re glad to have you. We’re going to take a quick break. And if you guys have questions or comments, please feel free to give us a call, 844-947-0947. I’m also streaming live on Miss Jones Official, M-I-S-S, Jones Official. We’ll be back.

[Commercial Break.]

Wayne Mayo: Mayor Adams is on The Block. We have a caller on the line asking about 911, Josie.

Caller: 911 is overwhelmed and unprotected. The majority of women all around, who’s protecting the first response? 

Jones: The first response. Yes.

Mayor Adams: We got it. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. 911 and the PCTs, you know, I spent many years, you know, dealing with the 911 and 911 workers there. And you’re right, overwhelmingly women, overwhelmingly women of color. back when I was president, we did several rallies and protests to talk about the issues that are there. And, you know, as you know, I visited over there several times to deal with the issue and the whole, you know, overwhelmingly disciplined in that area. 

We need to coordinate with your union, DC37, to look at some of the specific issues that you are facing so we can give you the relief and support that you need. I have spent a lot of times throughout the years of really looking at the conditions with our 911 operators and the just a volume of calls, you’re dealing with stress every day and so I’m going to reach out to the union and my commissioner that’s in charge of labor to see how we sit down and identify some of those specific problems that you’re facing there. Thank you.

[Music Break.]

Jones: Sitting here talking, I’m asking all your questions that you guys have been asking on the live, I’m asking in between. We’re talking to Mayor Eric Adams. He’s physically in the studio, guys, so now is your chance. 844-947-0947. 

And Wayne and I were asking you about the mentally ill people that are in the streets making life harder for other New Yorkers, not necessarily because they want to. And you can’t just go pointing out somebody because some mentally ill people are functional. So you were just telling us that.

Mayor Adams: And it’s important, and you’re right. And we see them, you know, and people who are dealing with–

Jones: Functioning, sorry.

Mayor Adams: People are dealing with, you know, mental health issues. All of us are going through some level of stress, but some need round-the-clock care. And we are now trying to get a bill passed in Albany to deal with what’s called involuntary removal. This is when you clearly can’t take care of yourself, you endanger to yourself, you endanger to others. 

We need to get you inside and get you care. Some people need to get back on their medication and then give you support so that you can live a normal life. And we see it every time you get in the subway station, you’ll see someone with no shoes on, no shirt on. It’s, you know, 20 degrees out, they’re yelling and screaming. We should be able to take them in and give them the care that they need.

Jones: Like we did Wayne here at the block.

Mayor Adams: And some people just believe that folks should be left out there and we just don’t feel that way.

Jones: And a lot of people just want to mind their business, because you never know what’s on the other end of that.

Mayor Adams: Right, well said.

Jones: So what are we going to do about this Cuomo situation?

Mayor Adams: Well, you know, the campaign is really just heating up. This is the season. I don’t know if many people remember the other Andrew, Andrew Yang. Andrew Yang, he was beating me by double digits. And he thought that he was going to be the mayor. but we know how to get out there, connect with people, communicate with people. Being the mayor is complex, sister. Don’t let anybody kid you, you know?

Jones: But you make it look so smooth and easy, and…

Mayor Adams: You know, and we’re gonna show our successes. When you look at what we did in this city, everything from housing, building more housing in year one and year two than any other mayor in individual years in the history of this city, invested in foster care children, free high-speed broadband for all, people living in public housing, 20,800 guns removed off our streets.

Jones: By Mayor Adams.

Mayor Adams: Yes.

Jones: People get distracted really easily by the shiniest object in the room, and right now that’s Donald Trump and your affiliation with him. 

So what do we, like, you gotta make us feel that you’re not on the take, and that you didn’t fly down to Mar-a-Lago to get a pardon or a potential pardon for yourself, because that’s the headline.

Mayor Adams: Yeah, and who’s writing those headlines? Those are the same headline writers that do not acknowledge any of the good things that were done. Go back when I first came elected. They have not reported our success since I’ve been in office. This is the same playbook from David Dinkins. This is no different. 

And so people who know me from my days of 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care, fighting for reforms in the Police Department while I was a police officer. And so you don’t change who you are. And you know, especially when you talk about Black folks, Black folks, let’s stop writing each other off. 

Jones: So quickly, please. You understand what I’m saying? Because these new politicians, they’re already coming and talking about, oh, we’re going to make, was it Jewish studies or Israeli studies, they said this morning. We’re going to make that a mandatory part of the curriculum. And I’m not mad at either, but does that mean that the Black studies, once again, gets pushed out the consideration or doesn’t get any like, I don’t want to go back to that. Andrew’s got his mess with him as well.

Mayor Adams: Well, listen, any time you deal with how do you bring down hate is educate. And we should know about those African-American studies, Jewish studies, Muslim studies. You know, go down and look. 

Jones: All the studies. It ain’t just white studies that matter.

Mayor Adams: And so you hear people, you know, acting like Andrew Cuomo is the flavor of the day. Hey, folks, wake up, you know? When Andrew was the governor, we were not getting tested in our communities around COVID-19. The nursing home issue is real. People lost their lives in the nursing homes. Families are still dealing with those issues. 

His bail reform legislation that he got through, that is why you’re seeing a lot of this repeated crime and recidivism. And so let’s hold everybody accountable. Don’t run from your living room, sending out tweets every once in a while. Come like me. Come out and answer the question. Be among the people and answer tough questions. And many people don’t want to do that in general, but specifically how he’s running. 

And so when it comes down to it, sister, I saw this during David Dinkins, how Black folks started saying, Okay, Mayor Dinkins, you were here for four years. You haven’t found the cure of cancer yet. What are you doing wrong? Stop doing that to us. I know how well I turned around the city. And particularly for Black and brown people, our unemployment rate was four times the rates of whites. 

We dropped unemployment by 20 percent in the Black and brown community. We’re paying the college tuition of foster care children so that they can graduate, don’t slip through the cracks. Improving the conditions on Rikers Island where many of our brothers and sisters are living.

Jones: Can I jump in real quick on that? Because every week I’m reading a story about someone dying in custody. Like it’s a lot now.

Mayor Adams: Yes, yes. But you said that, think about it for a moment. Many of our folks who are on Rikers Island are dealing with serious healthcare issues. By the time they get there, these are folks that may have abused themselves throughout their lives. They’re not dying because someone strangled them to death or murdered them to death.

Jones: But some of them are. They’re dying at the hands of the COs.

Mayor Adams: No, look at the numbers. Look at the, each time there’s a death on Rikers Island, it’s investigated thoroughly. Look at, I think we had five deaths this year, and look at how they die. Some people are dying from overdose, that’s why we’ve been trying to stop and fight the fentanyl from coming into the system. 

And so when you come into a system where you’re already dealing with serious health issues, you know, that is what we must look at. How do we get people on a healthier lifestyle? Like if somebody goes to the hospital and you say, hey, this person died in the hospital, they came here with some serious health issues.

Jones: Yeah, but some of them were healthy. I watched the video, and the cops were beating the boy, and they were holding him down, and they killed him in their custody.

Mayor Adams: Where’s, this is not, this is not, right now.

Jones: Let’s take a break. I’m going to Google, Google. And they rolled back DEI, I’m going to go back to Yahoo. But I’m going to find the story. Mayor Eric Adams is here, people.

[Music Break.]

Jones: So, the situation I was referring to about the young man dying in the custody of police was upstate, but I know somewhere in New York that has happened.

Mayor Adams: Yeah, and that was a horrific, horrific case. We all saw that. And that’s why you must have the right oversight. Those video cameras, that’s how we caught it, because of the cameras. And technology should be used to ensure the safety both inmates and officers, particularly here down in the city, an overwhelming number of those officers are officers of color and almost 40 percent of them are women. They really have a hands-on approach to doing the best they can for those who come inside the system.

Jones: Another question, are you switching political parties?

Mayor Adams: I’m always, I’m a Democrat. I’m going to be a Democrat. I’m going to run as a Democrat and I’ve said that over and over again. So all of those rumors out there that I’m not going to to be a Democrat, I’m just wrong, I’m a Democrat. 

Mayo: I got a quick question, I read somewhere you have to have some, there’s a deadline, you got to get some petitions in. Is that today? 

Mayor Adams: Yes, about Thursday, it’s actually tomorrow, and you know this is really holding this case, you know this is bogus, unjust case is holding up and it’s overshadowing because it’s taking so long to come to a resolution one way or another, and you know, but I got to stay focused, know, you know, we all go through some type of distractions and we can’t lose our focus on that, but this has really been an issue. 

I want to get out there and not have people say, okay, what about the case, what about the case, what about the case? We’re hoping that Judge Ho comes to a resolution one way or another so that we can just fully engage ourselves in the campaign. 

Jones: Okay, I appreciate that. I appreciate you. I guess our love affair is back on.

Mayor Adams: You know, I heard of red bottom shoes, but you know, these are red bottom headphones.

Jones: Yeah, yeah, they’re trimmed in red. So are we doing Easter at the Adams compound, and I’m telling the Cuomos I can’t make it, or we’ll discuss that privately.

Mayor Adams: Listen, the resurrection is here.

Jones: You remember Alderman Davis, from Good Times, I’m going to keep you clean, good luck, right?

Mayor Adams: Listen, during this Easter season, let’s just pray for each other, you know, people going through hard times and difficult times. I think about that family, husband lost his wife and two children through that vehicle accident you know sitting down in the house with him and speaking with him it just realized that we have to keep our family close and we’re blessed sometimes we look at what we’re going through and not realize that our neighbors going through even more so let’s lift each other up in prayer. 

Jones: Thank you for your spirit in light of everything that you’re personally going through, you always keep the upbeat, so I wish you strength. Okay, thank you for your time.

Mayor Adams: Thank you, me and Miss. Jones.

April 2, 2025 New York City Hall, Manhattan

Sources: NYC.gov., Midtown Tribune
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