July 18, 2024
Hazel Sanchez: Since May, the city has shut down more than 600 shops selling illegal cannabis as part of Operation Padlock to Protect.
Dan Mannarino: Yes, two of those shops were bodegas in the Bronx, where a community tip led to yesterday’s million-dollar bust and a total of nine arrests. This morning, Mayor Eric Adams and New York City Sheriff Anthony Miranda joining us live from Gracie Mansion to talk more about this and other topics.
Good morning to both of you. Let’s get right into it, because we’ve seen these kinds of crackdowns before, right? Where the stores were back up and running shortly after they were shut down. How long will the two bodegas in Throggs Neck actually remain closed? Is it permanent?
Mayor Eric Adams: The goal is to have these shops operate according to the law. Sometimes it takes repeated visits. What happened yesterday with the sheriff’s team is that you saw millions of dollars of illegal cannabis and mushrooms and other products that were probably a distributor location that targeted other areas. Our goal is to repeatedly enforce. Over 600 shops have been closed down. Many of them have remained closed, and we’re going to stay committed to closing down these shops.
Sanchez: Sheriff, nine people were arrested? What charges are they facing, first of all? Do you anticipate more charges or more arrests down the line?
Sheriff Anthony Miranda: Seven people were arrested at this one location, two were arrested at the secondary location. The charges are pending. They are in criminal possession of controlled substance because of the hallucinogenics that they were selling. The investigation is still ongoing. In fact, the same day, we actually hit another shop a few doors down that turned out to be a storage facility for the same location.
Mannarino: I guess the big question here is there any way to trace where the stashes of these illegal products are coming from? This is a million-dollar bust. These are a lot of products here. The pipeline of product is the next focus, right? How are you zeroing in on that?
Mayor Adams: No, well said, and you must have been a fly on the wall the other day when I was speaking with the commissioner and chief, because that is our target. We have to go to the faucet. What is actually driving this? We have to turn that off.
I’ve always stated I believe this is a well-organized, almost chain store type distributor which they are really supplying, not only here in the city, but probably throughout the entire state. That is our focus at this time. Let’s go to the source.
Sanchez: What’s also important to note is how important it is for the community to be involved, to speak out.
Sheriff Miranda: Yes, for us, the community plays a critical role in supplying information. They’re usually the first ones that encounter and know the illegal stores even before as they are operating or opening and they’re preparing to open. We appreciate all the information that continues to come to 311 or directly to the Sheriff’s Office or to New York City Police Department or to any of the elected officials that often receive the same details.
Mannarino: Good stuff right there. Sheriff, thank you, Mr. Mayor. While we have you, I want to get you on a few other off-topics before we let you go. I know you have a string of interviews and I want to start with national politics, which of course play into local, Mr. Mayor, as you know.
There is this reporting that Senator Schumer met with President Biden and asked him to step aside in fear of losing the House and the Senate. Now, I know you said right here on PIX11 last week that you’re riding with Biden. Wondering if that all has changed since then, especially with the leader of the Senate coming forward as well as others?
Mayor Adams: I think this decision is, one, is the president’s and two, I think the party must come together and really direct the course for the next couple of months as we get closer and closer to Election Day. I’m riding with Biden. I will not be making those calls. I will be not stating anything that’s going to get in the way of my focus of making sure that he’s reelected as the president of the United States.
Mannarino: Are you surprised that Senator Schumer reportedly met with him to discuss otherwise?
Mayor Adams: I’m not aware of that. I have not communicated with the senator and I’m sure the senator is focused on regaining the Senate. He’s going to do whatever is possible. He’s a hard worker, he’s the hardest working senator that I know in this country and I have a lot of respect for him and I’m pretty sure he’s going to do what’s needed to regain the Senate. We’re going to have finally in Congress, the majority leader is going to be Congressman Jeffries.
Sanchez: Mr. Mayor, we also want to ask you about this. On Wednesday morning, Councilwoman Susan Zhuang was arrested for allegedly biting a police chief in the arm during a protest. It was all about a homeless shelter in that community. A spokesperson says she was just trying to protect a 70-year-old woman.
First, what’s your response to this? Also, what do you think about some community members saying it’s the city’s fault because they’re not giving community members enough of a voice on what comes to their own neighborhoods?
Mayor Adams: I think it’s a little bit more complicated than that. First of all, I hope the chief is okay. It was a pretty nasty bite in his forearm. I was a little surprised that this happened with the councilwoman. She’s extremely supportive of police. These are emotional issues and no one wants to shelter open in the area. That council district, that area has no shelters at all.
You see the reports. There’s some communities where they have 10, 12, 13 shelters in their community. Every council [inaudible] district must share this crisis of migrants and asylum seekers and the homelessness crisis that we’re facing. No one can be exempt. It’s unfair if other areas are exempt and I cannot allow that to happen, that we have shelters in some communities and we don’t have it in others.
I’m going to reach out to the councilwoman. She has been, she’s a newly elected and she has been a real partner for the law enforcement community and for City Hall. It’s unfortunate this happened and we’re going to come to a resolution.
Mannarino: Those charges were appropriate that she faced?
Mayor Adams: Yes, there was assault on a police officer and we have been consistent about the increase in assault on police officers. Our officers are there to do a job like today, I’m going to go to a funeral of an officer we lost while training. I’ve been to enough funerals and I’ve been through enough issues involving police officers doing their job. I think the charges were appropriate charges.
Mannarino: Mr. Mayor, FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh is resigning and there is some reporting out there that City Hall was already looking for replacements before her resignation. The question for you this morning is, do you have a short list of people? If not, how long will it take to find a replacement?
Mayor Adams: No, we were not looking and this was completely Commissioner Kavanagh’s decision. She came to me some time ago and said, Eric, I’m ready to do other things. I’ve been here for over two years, close to three years, and I want to do other things.
I respect that and I think that it is appropriate that when an individual has really broken ground, what she has done for recruitment of women in that department, what she’s doing around lithium-ion batteries, she has done so much to move that department forward. I thank her for her service and as I told her and I told everyone, she can remain commissioner as long as she wants, as long as I’m the mayor. We’re going to find a replacement like we’ve done whenever someone transitioned out of city government.
Sanchez: Mr. Mayor, we’re also getting very close to the start of school, believe it or not. Can’t believe how fast summer is flying by. Now, there was more funding put towards schools. You’ve repeatedly said to us that every child who wants a seat will get a seat for education. The council agrees. Has every child received a seat in or near their district? What’s the timeline?
Mayor Adams: We remain clear on that. We even added new resources to do so. As you know, the head of our early childhood program is transitioning to another job, but we have a replacement. As I committed to, I’m going to stay with every child that desires a seat will have access to a seat.
I believe we have a few hundred that we were not able to place, but we have a 94 percent, 94 percent of our children that wanted seats, they’re in seats. We have really taken this to the next level, increasing child care seats as this program first opened.
Mannarino: Out of time, I know we got to go. Timeline, though, for those remaining 6 percent. I know 94 percent, but 6 percent don’t have it. September is right around the corner. What’s the timeline?
Mayor Adams: Listen, the team over there, the DOE over there is going to do the job and I’m pretty sure they’re going to get it done.
Mannarino: All right. Mr. Mayor, appreciate you. I know you got another interview to get to, so we’re going to leave it there. Appreciate your time, as always, to you and Sheriff Miranda for joining us this morning to talk about the important issues.
Sources: Midtown Tribune news , NYC.gov
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