Tarsha Jones: Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the rat controller, the rat czar himself, Mayor Eric Adams. Good morning.
Mayor Eric Adams: Hey, sister. Good to speak with you this morning.
Jones: You did it. You did it.
Mayor Adams: You know, when you start out doing something, you accomplish that task.
Jones: You stayed the course. You did not let up. Now they’re complaining about the– they’re complaining about no parking spaces from the rat garbage cans that you put out there. They’re never, they’re never, they’re never satisfied.
Mayor Adams: You know what? That’s why you have to just stay focused. You know what your mission is. And we heard back in ‘22, when we first came into office, rodents were everywhere. And a young lady stopped me the other day. She’s a small property owner. I was in Harlem. She said, “Where did the rats go?”
Jones: We missed that. The []. Well, congratulations on that, because we’d be quick to attack you anytime something’s wrong. And finally, an issue that affected just about everybody in New York. We’re starting to see some progress. So kudos to you for that, mayor.
Mayor Adams: You know, when you add the progress of, you know, dealing with our road issue, our trash issue, you add the progress of dealing with gun violence and removal of guns on the street, how we decreased the numbers. You know, some of the lowest records in history. And then you add the job progress. You know, dropping unemployment in the Black community by, you know, over 20 percent in the Black and brown community. And dropping it citywide.
You start to really peel back and understand how much we have turned the city around, around public safety [and the] economy. And then add to that the scores that just recently came out with our children. And the reading and writing scores have increased because of what we’re doing in our schools.
So it’s just, the record is a clear record of just real progress in our city. And that’s the message I got to get out to everyday New Yorkers [of] how much we have improved the city. And we should all be proud as New Yorkers, the city is moving in the right direction.
Jones: It is. It absolutely is. And I also want to thank you for jumping in so quickly and putting together a mass shooting, an investigative team based on the mass shooting that took place in Crown Heights over the weekend.
Mayor Adams: Really, really sad and it hurts us all.
Jones: That’s horrible.
Mayor Adams: Yeah, our heart goes out to the families. And when you look at it and see that, you know, two of the shooters have been identified.
Jones: Good.
Mayor Adams: And they were shooting at each other.
Jones: But everybody else be []. Like everybody else be []. But you swooped right in and put together that squad to get to the bottom of the mass shootings. That was in record time.
Mayor Adams: Yeah, no, because we wanted to really deal with the retaliatory action that comes after a shooting. You know, oftentimes people don’t realize the shooting spurs other shootings. And so hats off to the crisis management team of one group that covered that area. It’s called Elite Learners. And they’re doing an amazing job. Shooters in that area have dropped by 60 percent because of what they’re doing.
And they were on the ground. And so this mass shooting should not tarnish the good work that they’re doing in the other crisis management teams. So the mass shooting response includes getting our crisis management team members on the ground, supporting each other, and really stopping further harm to the community and individual people.
Jones: I agree. We are on the phone with Mayor Eric Adams, ladies and gentlemen. If you have a question, try and call 844-947-0947. No guarantees that I’ll be able to actually get through to you, but give it a try. And we’ll be back with more of him when we return.
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Mayor Adams: … And that’s been used as evidence to further investigate the case and make sure we finally got what happened there.
Jones: Thank you for that. Also, thank you for shutting down the beaches. I know you’re probably getting backlash for that. Although, you know, with the weather and the riptides and the hurricane that’s approaching, that was very responsible and, again, quick thinking.
Mayor Adams: Yeah, you know, and people don’t realize the riptides and the heavy waves. You may not realize it. You may not think that it’s going to impact you because you’re a good swimmer. But in reality, it is dangerous, extremely dangerous, even for good swimmers. And so the decision was to nearly close down for today and tomorrow. Now, the hurricane may not hit land here. That’s what the National Weather Service is telling us. But it still would impact the coastal areas.
So low-lying areas, people should be prepared. They should have to go. They should have to go back. And they should be, you know, really locked into NotifyNYC. So they’d be prepared for it. But you’ve got to be very careful. Even when the hurricanes don’t hit our shores, it still could be extremely dangerous.
Jones: Right. The riptide’s been ripping before this hurricane even got on the sphere. So thank you for saving people from themselves.
Mayor Adams: Well done. Well said.
Jones: Thank you. There’s a 6-year-old child and a mother and another 20-year-old high school student arrested because of these ICE arrests, and you have stepped up. Well, go ahead and tell everybody what you have done.
Mayor Adams: You know, we’ve done a—when it comes down to those who are undocumented in the city, we’re a big believer that we should put people on the pathway to a green card of citizenship. And we’ve done a lot to do that. We’ve put money in our Best Budget Ever. We’ve put money into legal services. and we also put people on the pathway of getting a work authorization because people want to work, and we don’t want people depending on the government.
And part of the process is showing up for your court cases. If your court case is up on a docket, you come in, you have to come in for your visit. And we believe when people go to court, they should not be arrested while going to court or held in custody, I should say held in custody, and then later deported while they go into court because that makes people fearful to carry out the process.
Jones: Right, and that’s by design. That’s a setup.
Mayor Adams: Right, right. And, you know, I always talk about when I was a rookie cop, a Chinese immigrant was being robbed while I was off duty and I took action, and he was afraid to come forward because he was an immigrant. And people were preying on immigrants back then. Because they knew they were afraid to go to the police.
So we want to encourage people to go to the police, children to go to school, and all the other activities, and not feel as though that they’re going to be held, you know, in custody because they’re showing up. Now, if the person is wanted for a serious violent act, then we believe ICE should take action. You know, they should do what’s right and apprehend that person, but not innocent people who are going to court to follow the process.
Jones: I hope that the court sides with you and the other reps that are filing the suit to stop this heinous activity. But is it too much, too little, too late?
Mayor Adams: Well, number one, when you take these cases– number one, you want to set precedent. And number two, you want to give the opportunity for the person to be returned back to another city they were deported from. And so it’s like you saw. Some cases where people were returned back. And so it’s, no, it’s never too little, too late. Because precedent is very important in these cases.
Jones: Are they allowed to go to the schools and snatch these kids out of school? Because school’s about to start, and the kids might be afraid to show up. Are the ICE agents allowed to go and sit outside the schools and snatch them up as we stand today?
Mayor Adams: No, no, no, they’re not. You cannot go into the schools unless you have what’s called a federal judicial warrant that allows you to do so. So, no, they cannot go into the schools.
Jones: Can they stand outside the school and wait for the kids to come out and say, oh, that looks like this person that we, or they look of dissent. So let’s snatch them up.
Mayor Adams: Yes, technically they can. Technically they can. But we have had no actions at all where they stood out to schools and, you know, grabbed children. And in this case with the child, they took the family while they were showing up for court proceedings. They took the family, and this young child was included in the family. But technically they can stand outside the schools, but we have had no cases involved in that. And they cannot go inside the schools and take a child.
Jones: Thank you, Mayor Eric Adams. I appreciate you always checking in here every other Wednesday, guys. And be safe out there. Keep up the good work. Don’t get distracted.
Mayor Adams: Thank you. Stay focused, no distractions, and grind. That’s my message.
August 20, 2025
Sources: NYC.gov
