NEW YORK—Oct. 5, 2025—Mayor Eric Adams signed Emergency Executive Order 867, extending a key provision of Order 865 for five days to address persistent crises in the city’s Department of Correction, including at Rikers Island. The move prioritizes compliance with the federal Nunez use-of-force case and the 2022 Nunez Action Plan, citing ongoing attrition-driven staffing shortages that threaten sanitation, showers, meals, visitation, religious services, commissary, and recreation. The jail system’s state of emergency, first declared in 2021, remains in effect; the extension is effective immediately and may be modified or terminated earlier.
Emergency Executive Order 867
WHEREAS, on September 2, 2021, the federal monitor in the Nunez use-of-force class action stated that steps must be taken immediately to address the conditions in the New York City jails; and
WHEREAS, on June 14, 2022, the federal court in Nunez approved the Nunez Action Plan, which “represents a way to move forward with concrete measures now to address the ongoing crisis at Rikers Island”; and
WHEREAS, although there has been improvement in excessive staff absenteeism, extraordinarily high rates of attrition due to staff retirements and other departures continue to seriously affect the Department of Correction’s (DOC’s) staffing levels and create a serious risk to DOC’s ability to carry out the safety and security measures required for the maintenance of sanitary conditions; and access to basic services, including showers, meals, visitation, religious services, commissary, and recreation; and
WHEREAS, this Order is given to prioritize compliance with the Nunez Action Plan and to address the effects of DOC’s staffing levels, the conditions at DOC facilities, and health operations; and
WHEREAS, additional reasons for requiring the measures continued in this Order are set forth in Emergency Executive Order No. 140 of 2022, Emergency Executive Order No. 579 of 2024, and Emergency Executive Order 623 of 2024; and
WHEREAS, the state of emergency existing within DOC facilities, first declared in Emergency Executive Order No. 241, dated September 15, 2021, and extended by subsequent orders, remains in effect;
NOW, THEREFORE, pursuant to the powers vested in me by the laws of the State of New York and the City of New York, including but not limited to the New York Executive Law, the New York City Charter and the Administrative Code of the City of New York, and the common law authority to protect the public in the event of an emergency:
Section 1. I hereby direct that section 1 of Emergency Executive Order No. 865, dated September 30, 2025, is extended for five (5) days.
§ 2. This Emergency Executive Order shall take effect immediately and shall remain in effect for five (5) days unless it is terminated or modified at an earlier date.
New York City logged its seventh consecutive quarterly drop in major crime, with Q3 2025 offenses down 3.1% and six of seven index categories falling, Mayor Eric Adams and Police Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch said. Shooting incidents declined 15.6% in the quarter (29.7% in September), and shooting victims tied record lows, outcomes officials linked to a data-driven “summer zones” deployment and the seizure of 4,100 illegal guns this year—nearly 24,000 since the administration began. Transit crime reached all-time lows outside the pandemic years, while retail theft fell 19% in the quarter and 13% year to date; the Bronx reversed earlier gains as boroughwide reductions broadened. Murders remain near historic lows, though Adams and Tisch warned federal cuts to NYPD counter-terror funding could erode progress in the months ahead.
Mayor Adams and NYPD Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch Brief the Media on Third Quarter Crime Stats, Record Low Shooting Incidents, and Shooting Victims for First Nine Months of the Year
Mayor Eric Adams: Thank you so much, good afternoon. When I ran for office, I was clear on one message. Public safety is a prerequisite to our prosperity. And I threw everything at public safety and ensuring that our citizens could be safe. Probably unlike any other mayor, I spent so many days on the streets of shootings, of homicides, of victims, of individuals being shoved to our subway tracks.
I’ve been in hospitals, funerals, speaking with parents, hearing and feeling the pain that they experience when they are the victims of any form of criminal action. And numbers don’t lie, what we have done is clear.
We lived up to our commitment, and I say it over and over again, we can’t go backwards. We can’t go back to the days of the early 80s when I was a rookie police officer, and we can’t go backwards to 2021. Guns were known to be ordinary tools that were used on our streets to permit crime.
Our 2025 third quarter crime data shows that our public safety system is working. We have gone to work to sweep out crime and illegal activities from our neighborhoods. So if we were to start with the top line, because of what this team has done, not only the commissioner and Chief LiPetri, but also those who are in the front rows. On our subway system and housing, our chief of the Department, our entire team were out there doing the job every day, as well as the men and women who are adorned in the blue uniform and wear that shield on their chest.
We have finished our seven consecutive quarter of crime reduction, seven consecutive quarters. And when you think about it and say it simply, since January 2024, for almost two straight years, crime has consistently declined each and every quarter. Major crime for the third quarter was 3.1 percent equated to over 1,000 fewer victims. And that’s more than 1,000 real people who were no longer the victims of serious crime. And more specifically, six of the seven major crimes were also down for this quarter. Including declines in homicides, robberies, felony assaults, burglaries, grand larcenies, and auto theft.
Major crime in our subway system and our public housing developments were also down for the third quarter of the year, chief of Housing and chief of Transit, a job well done. We cannot thank you enough for what you have accomplished. And those have been areas, particularly housing, where public safety has eluded us for decades. And although you hear about some of the high profile incidents, overall the residents of NYCHA are safer and the residents of our subway system.
When you take out the two years of the COVID, two years when no one was on the subway, you’ll see how these numbers are significant. We set records in our transit system. We had the safest summer in recorded history in our subways when you exclude the pandemic years.
In the third quarter, July, August, and September, index crime was a record low in our subway system except for ‘20 and ‘21. Shooting incidents were also, once again, at record lows for the first nine months of the year. No caveats, no asterisks, plain and simple, the lowest. [Inaudible] at record lows in our city history has continued to show that we’re doing the right thing.
Shooting incidents were down 29.7 percent for September and 15.6 percent for the third quarter of 2025. For the first nine months of the year, shooting victims were also at record lows, tying the previous record set in 2018. Shooting victims were down 32.5 percent for September and 11.3 percent for the quarter.
Shootings are down at a staggering 54 percent, when you compare New York City year to day shootings to the same period immediately before I took office. Those are the dividends paid for more than 4,100 illegal guns removed off our streets. 4,100 illegal guns and the almost 24,000 guns removed since the start of our administration. And that 4,100 number was for this year alone.
This is 24,000, 24,000 weapons that no longer threaten the safety of our neighbors, our families, and our children. More specifically, for September, major crime was down 2.8 percent. It was driven by a decrease in six of the seven major crime categories. That includes double digit percentage declines in homicides, rape, and auto theft, as well as declines in robbery, felony assaults, and burglary.
Retail theft, which you are watching across the country, is taking off. And so we should think about that when individuals want to stop enforcing retail theft, what impacts the financial stability of our city. Retail theft in this city and hate crimes are both continuing their decline for month, quarter, and year to date. This reduction in crime is no accident.
It’s the product of our administration priority to take on crime and quality of life issues. While these numbers show real progress, we know there’s more to do. And we’re not resting until every New Yorker is not only safe, but feels safe in their home, in our subways, and on our sidewalks. We have been clear in this administration, we will not tolerate a feeling of anything goes in our streets. And that includes those who want to carry out quality of life conditions.
We’re going to ensure that we enforce them as long as I’m the mayor of this city. We’re making New York City the best place to raise children and families. Because of our steadfast focus on public safety, the deep bench of leaders we’ve put in place here at police headquarters. And the hard work of the brave men and women of the NYPD, New York City remains the safest big city in America. And a clear indication was that we just had UNGA, UN General Assembly week. And we had Jewish High Holidays, the New Years, and you saw the proper deployment to deal with the dignitaries who were here, as well as ensure that those who wanted to worship were able to worship in safety.
We’re going to continue to do the job that New Yorkers expect from us. I want to turn it over to the commissioner, Commissioner Jessica Tisch.
Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch: Thank you, sir. Good afternoon. It is with deep appreciation for Mayor Eric Adams and immense pride in the women and men of the NYPD that I’m here to report on some historic, record breaking crime reductions achieved by your NYPD cops in the third quarter of this year. Months of July, August, and September, including the fewest shooting incidents for the first nine months of any year, and for any third quarter in recorded history.
Tied for the fewest shooting victims ever for the year, and the second fewest by one for the last quarter. Seven straight quarters of declining major crime under Mayor Adams going back to January 2024. The safest third quarter ever on our subways with all time low major crime numbers for each of the months of July, August, and September, excluding the COVID years. And murders equaled their second lowest level ever for both the third quarter and the year to date.
So let’s get into it and let’s start with shootings. In the first nine months of this year, citywide shooting incidents are down more than 20 percent, their lowest levels ever, shattering the previous record low set in 2018 by 20 fewer incidents. And they are down nearly 16 percent for the quarter, making it the fewest shootings in any third quarter in recorded history.
Shooting victims are also down 19 percent for this year, tied for their lowest levels ever. And they were down more than 11 percent last quarter, the second best third quarter in recorded history. We always hear about how shootings spike in the summer months, but your NYPD cops did not just slow that trend, they reversed it.
Shooting incidents fell by double digits in four out of our five boroughs last quarter, led by a 26 percent reduction in the Bronx, a 20 percent reduction on Staten Island, a nearly 19 percent drop in Manhattan, and an almost 18 percent reduction in Queens.
In Brooklyn, shootings were up less than 3 percent for the third quarter, which represents two more shooting incidents in that borough from a year ago. But it is still the second best quarter for Brooklyn shootings in recorded history. And to be very clear, over the past nine months, Brooklyn has seen the lowest number of shootings ever recorded.
For the year, the decline in shooting incidents is led by Staten Island at more than 38 percent, Manhattan at over 34 percent, followed by Queens at 22 percent, the Bronx at 20 percent, and Brooklyn at more than 12 percent. And this is not a coincidence. It is the direct result of an unprecedented, precise, data-driven deployment of thousands of officers.
We took cops out of desk jobs and put them on high visibility foot posts where and when they were needed most. And we told them to get the guns and to go after the gangs, and they did that in unprecedented fashion. I encourage all New Yorkers to join me in expressing their deep appreciation for the men and women of the NYPD for their noble, selfless, and historic work this summer.
The centerpiece of our strategy over the last quarter has been our summer zones. Up to 2,300 cops were sent to work in 72 summer zones across nearly 60 communities last May. The largest deployment of its kind in NYPD history. But this strategy wasn’t just about size. It was about planned precision, and it worked.
Over the past 19 weeks in our summer zones, shooting incidents fell more than 47 percent during deployment, with shooting victims down 44 percent. This includes a 77 percent reduction in Manhattan North, a 46 percent reduction in Brooklyn North, and a 40 percent reduction in shootings in the Bronx. I want to be clear, the communities where we’re seeing the deepest reductions in violent crime are the same communities that have historically been plagued by the most gun violence.
We saw crime reductions in every single borough during deployment, with overall crime in our summer zones down more than 18 percent, felony assaults down 25 percent, robberies down 23 percent, murders down 18 percent, auto theft down 15 percent, grand larceny down 12 percent, and burglary down nearly 1 percent.
This is what happens when we’re not only working hard, but we are working smart. We know that this zone plan is effective, and we know why. It is a data-driven, scalpel approach to fighting crime and disorder. That strategy is going to continue into the fall, and you’ll hear more about the summer zones from the architect of that strategy, Chief LiPetri, in a moment.
Now let me give you the overall crime picture. For both the third quarter and year to date, major crime is down in our precincts, on our subways, and in our housing developments. For the year to date, overall crime is down about 4 percent citywide, and fell more than 3 percent last quarter, making this the seventh straight quarter of declining crime under Mayor Adams, going back to January of last year. And for the month of September, major crime was lower in every one of our eight patrol boroughs.
Of note, we had significant crime reductions in Queens of nearly 7.5 percent for the quarter, and more than 9 percent for the year. And Manhattan, down more than 5 percent for the quarter, and over 4 percent for the year. And in the past three months, we reversed an upward trend that we were seeing in the Bronx, going from a 6.2 percent crime increase in the second quarter to a 3.4 percent decrease in the third quarter.
Given that the past three months are historically when our city sees the most crime and violence at any time during the year, I want to commend all of the Bronx cops who refused to accept the narrative that their borough was an outlier when it came to public safety.
Where they did see stubborn pockets of crime, they executed our plan to address it. Looking at the seven major crime categories, citywide murders are down nearly 18 percent for both the year and for the quarter, bringing them to their second lowest level ever for both time frames. And these aren’t just percentages, they are lives saved.
So far this year, there have been 52 fewer people killed in New York City compared to 2024. Burglaries in the third quarter were down to their second lowest level in recorded history, dropping more than 9 percent, and they are down nearly 4 percent for the year.
Citywide robberies are down nearly 10 percent year to date, and more than 5 percent for the quarter. That means 1,200 fewer incidents than in 2024, reversing an upward trend that we saw through the first nine months of last year. Grand larcenies fell by more than 4 percent for the year, and we’re down 0.5 percent for the quarter, extending the declines we’ve seen in this crime for the last three years in a row.
We’re seeing similar multi-year declines in auto theft. After a significant increase during and immediately after the pandemic, we are now down by more than 4 percent for both the year and the third quarter.
Felony assault, a crime that is mainly driven by domestic violence and attacks on our officers, is about 1 percent lower for the year and down nearly 4 percent for the quarter. And back in July, when we presented the second quarter crime stats, we said that rape was the one index crime that had increased up 21 percent through June. And we explained that the rise was largely due to a change in state law that went into effect in September 2024, which rightfully broadened the legal definition of rape to better capture the full range of these crimes.
Now that we’re past the one year mark of that change, we finally have a clear year over year comparison. And the numbers do show progress. For September of this year compared to last, rape was down more than 13 percent, and this is the first time in over 12 months that we are looking at the same universe of survivors.
And the tide is also turning on our subways. Outside of the COVID years, we just had the safest third quarter ever in transit with major crime falling by nearly 14 percent. Each of the past three individual months, July, August, and September, was the safest in recorded history for major crime. And year to date, crime in our subways is down more than 4 percent to its lowest levels in 15 years, excluding the pandemic years.
For this year, robberies in transit are down to their lowest levels ever, and shooting incidents are down a remarkable 67 percent. Overall, crime in our subways is nearly 12 percent below pre-pandemic levels, with robbery down more than 24 percent, and felony theft down nearly 27 percent.
These results don’t just make the transit system safer, they make people feel safer too. A recent poll conducted by the MTA showed that nearly seven out of ten New York City subway riders felt safe while using the system, an increase of 12 percent from the beginning of this year. Why? Because people are seeing more cops on the trains and on the platforms where we know that the vast majority of transit crime occurs.
The sentiment is shifting, and it’s not just about a visible police presence. Over the past ten years, the transit rules against taking up multiple seats, laying outstretched, smoking, drinking alcohol, etc., were not consistently enforced. This increased the perception of an unsafe system, and it needed to change.
So this year, we made that change. Our cops will no longer walk by someone who is violating the law and disrupting other passengers, they will correct the condition. And I want to be clear, this is about restoring a sense of safety and order in the system. It is also a response to New Yorkers telling us that unchecked disorder makes them feel less safe on the trains. That’s why we’re also matching our enforcement with services.
Through the mayor’s PATH program launched last year, the NYPD has partnered with city agencies, local nurses, clinicians, service providers, and others to provide services such as shelter, meals, medical care, and mental health support. This is how we deliver a safer, more accessible system for all.
Looking ahead, I want to highlight an issue that has taken on increased importance in neighborhoods across our city, and that is retail theft. The numbers here are encouraging. In the third quarter, retail theft dropped by nearly 19 percent citywide, bringing us 13 percent lower for the year compared to 2024. And this didn’t happen by accident. It is a true indicator of what an effective, comprehensive crime fighting plan can really do.
For too long, shoplifting was a leading sign of disorder and lawlessness on our streets to the point where everyday goods behind lock and key has become the norm. Since most retail theft is classified as a misdemeanor though, it wasn’t given the same attention as more serious violent crimes were. But tell that to the small businesses who are constantly victimized by thieves. Tell that to the local shop owners who are unable to make their rent and forced to close in the face of crushing shoplifting losses. It’s devastating to them and it hurts our communities and the NYPD has said no more through a multifaceted, precise, data driven approach.
This year, every precinct in the city has designed and implemented a retail theft plan, which puts officers on foot posts in high propensity locations during the specific hours when most retail theft occurs. And we began seriously investigating these crimes as well. Establishing patterns, identifying recidivists, tracking perps, and closing cases.
This includes closer coordination between patrol cops, squad detectives, and transit officers. Since we know many shoplifters attempt to flee into our subways. Finally, retail theft became a focal point of our weekly CompStat meetings, where local commanders provide our executive staff with regular updates on what’s working and discuss solutions to what isn’t.
The results are clear. Our officers made nearly 6,600 shoplifting arrests last quarter alone. A 30 percent increase from pre-pandemic levels and nearly 21,300 arrests citywide so far this year, which is 40 percent more than in 2019. So it is no wonder that in 2025, retail theft is down in four of our five boroughs.
This work restores order in our neighborhoods. It restores the confidence of our local businesses and it sends a direct, unambiguous message. Shoplifters, regardless of the amount they steal, will be investigated, identified, and arrested. Because accountability matters here.
In a moment, our Chief of Crime Control Strategies, Mike LiPetri, will break down these numbers even further. But I want to take this opportunity to thank the women and men of the NYPD. Every piece of data we’re presenting today is a reflection of their work.
When we talk about record setting crime reductions, we’re talking about the cops. These gains have been achieved on their backs. Long, hot nights of grueling foot posts, risking their own lives to get guns off the street, and an uncommon instinct to run toward the danger when everyone else runs away. These results are also a reflection of the steady leadership and forward leaning strategies developed by our chiefs. Among them, of course, our Chief of Department, John Chell, our Chief of Crime Control Strategies, Mike LiPetri, our Chief of Patrol, Phil Rivera, our Chief of Transit, Joe Gulotta, our Chief of Housing, Charles McEvoy, and our Chief of Detectives, Joe Kenney.
New Yorkers should know that they are served by the most extraordinarily talented group of police leaders that I have seen in my 18 year career. No one does it better, and it is truly the greatest privilege of my lifetime to lead them. And of course, none of this would be possible without the leadership of Mayor Adams, who has made public safety the bedrock of his long service to the city.
Under his watch, we’ve invested in the tools of tomorrow from drones that expand our reach to new facilities, like the 4-0 station house and the brand new 116 precinct that strengthen our foundation. He has given us the people we need, setting us on a pace this year to hire more officers than at any time in the past 40 years. He has quite literally backed the blue.
His vision has turned promises into progress, and his partnership has made New York safer, stronger, and more secure. And all these results are a testament to his leadership. So that was some very good news, but now I have to comment on some profoundly bad news.
The federal government’s decision to slash counter-terrorism funding for the NYPD from 90 million down to nearly 10 million is a betrayal of this city. I want to be very direct about this. If these cuts go through as planned, it will represent a devastating blow to our counter-terrorism and intelligence programs in New York City. The impact of these cuts won’t be felt immediately. New York City will not be a less safe place tomorrow as a result of all of this.
But it will absolutely be a less safe place six months from now. Let me be clear, these funds are the backbone of the NYPD’s counter-terrorism programs. They pay for our highly trained bomb squad technicians, our officers with heavy weapons who guard our subways in major events, the critical response teams who do counter-terrorism patrols at our houses of worship and other sensitive locations, our radiation detection capabilities, the intelligence analysts who uncover plots before they become attacks, our camera systems that enable us to monitor conditions in real time, and the training that prepares us for active shooter attacks.
Counter-terrorism funding cannot be a political issue. It cannot rise and fall based on partisan whims. To strip this funding away from the number one terrorist target in the world is a profound mistake. The cold, hard truth is that since 9/11, New York City has faced more than 70 terrorism plots and ideologically driven acts of violence. And with the support of these critical resources, the women and men of the NYPD have kept our city safe.
Cutting these resources now in a time of global conflict and surging threats puts lives at risk and will make our city meaningfully less safe. To be blunt, this is the difference between a city that prevents the next attack and a city left exposed to it. And I will not stop pressing this issue until the federal government restores the funding and ensures that we continue to have the resources that we need to keep you all safe. Now, I will turn it over to our Chief of Crime Control Strategies, Michael LiPetri.
Michael LiPetri, Chief of Crime Control Strategies, Police Department: Good afternoon. So as the commissioner said, I’m going to speak specifically about the Summer Violence Plan of 2025, which started on May 5th and it ended on September 14th. We identified 72 summer zones across the city for targeted deployment at specific times. 40 precincts, 10 transit districts, and 8 public service areas. The zones were based off of historical data, high volume, violent street crime prone locations.
We used historical intelligence and data analytics to determine deployment, with of course, relentless follow up and precision. Collaborative policing and investigations between all units in the department. Our Gun Violence Suppression Division, our Narcotics Division, our Vice Division, our Neighborhood Safety Teams, our Intelligence Bureau, Housing Bureau, Transit Bureau, patrol, detective squads throughout the city.
Summer violent zones saw an overall decrease of 18 percent less index crimes as compared to last year. Every borough is down in index crimes since inception on May 5th. The transit system within the summer violent zones had efforts focused system wide, which translated to a 14 percent decrease in index crimes. Furthermore, our summer violent zones within our Housing Bureau also achieved significant reductions in index crimes to the tune of 17 percent decrease.
While on the topic of housing, year to date, we have seen the lowest number of murders in housing history. For the third quarter, second lowest number of murders in housing history. Year to date, third lowest year for robberies in housing history. And for the quarter, lowest number of robberies in housing history.
I like to talk about the special Times Square zone. Why am I speaking of that? The crossroads of the world, with hundreds of thousands of people going into that area every day. The zone covers from 6th Avenue to 9th Avenue, from 4-0 to 5-1. Saw a 41 percent reduction in overall crime. That’s a 33 percent robbery decrease and a 34 percent decrease in felony assaults in Times Square. Robberies within the zones, down 23 percent. Felony assaults, down 25 percent.
I’d like to touch on the shootings, city wide between that time frame, May 5th to 9/14. City wide shooting incidents overall, lowest in CompStat history. City wide shooting victims, lowest in CompStat history. City wide murders, second lowest in CompStat history. Let’s talk about housing again. Murders, 12, lowest in CompStat history. Shooting incidents, lowest in CompStat history. Shooting victims, lowest in CompStat history.
This city saw 400 less shooting victims from the year prior to Mayor Adams’ administration in 2021. Think about that, 708 shooting incidents in approximately four month period. That’s what the city is in target right now for the whole year. That is just phenomenal. And that’s hard work, and that’s the men and women doing it.
Let’s talk about the individual summer zone shooting stats. 47 percent decrease, as the commissioner said, overall in the summer zones. Upper Manhattan, down 79 percent in shooting in zones. The Washington Heights zone in the 3-4, zero shootings. The Central Harlem zone in the 3-2, zero shootings. The Bronx, down 40 percent in shootings in the zones. Morrisania in the 4-4, zero shootings for four and a half months in that zone. East Tremont, 4-8, zero shootings in that zone for four and a half months.
Let’s go over to Brooklyn North, 46 percent decrease in shootings in those zones. Crown Heights, 7-7, that zone, down 83 percent shootings, they took one shooting. Brownsville, Brooklyn, the 7-3, that zone, down 56 percent in shootings. Cops were deployed at the right locations. 31 percent of all the gun arrests in the summer were within the zones. Over 350 guns recovered in those zones, and I’m going to tell you stories, because they’re really good.
Example number one, in a 90 minute span on July 9th into July 10th in Mott Haven, in the 4-0, we take two shots fired incidents, and we take three separate arrests of teenagers with guns. The first incident, at 2315, on July 9th. There’s a confirmed shots fired in the Mott Haven houses. Within a month, the 4-0 detective squad solved that case, and that individual has been charged and indicted for attempted murder in CPW-2. As I said in the beginning, we’ve asked all our bureaus to do something different in the zone, and they did.
Approximately an hour later, an 18-year-old male arrested with a gun in the Mitchell houses. Two minutes later, we get another confirmed shots fired. But guess what? The deployment was out there, five minutes later, two separate gun arrests, a 17-year-old and a 17-year-old. Why is this even more significant? Because over the past two weeks in this city, 25 percent of our shooting victims have been under the age of 18. That’s why it’s more significant.
Example number two, three live gun arrests in the 4-0 and the 4-4 zones within about two hours. And remember, these are our field training officers that are grabbing these guns. On 9-8, at 0029 hours, FTU personnel observed an individual drinking an open container of alcohol, found to be in possession of a firearm. About a half hour later, our FTU officers observed an individual riding a city bike, recklessly, found to be in possession of a firearm. And at about 3:30 in the morning, as the commissioner said, still out there, 3:30 in the morning, in front of a problematic club in the 4-4, grabbed a guy with a pistol.
With two tragic incidents in the Bronx, on April 23rd and September 1st, where we’ve had multiple people shot, the response by the units that were deployed to those zones yielded four individuals arrested for the first incident with four guns recovered. And for the second incident, same thing. Four individuals running from that scene with four guns recovered.
And I’d like to just compare the Bronx overall, since I gave the Bronx a lot of credit, as they should get credit, because they have the most zones and they have the most cops. But the cops are out there and the detectives are out there doing the work. So let me compare that to 2021, before the Adams administration took over. The Bronx has seen 203 less shooting victims for the year. That’s lives saved. I just want to thank again all the men and women, and my partners to the right of me, for everything. Thank you.
Question: [Inaudible] budget impasse or does it predate that?
Police Commissioner Tisch: It is not part of the current budget impasse. It’s completely separate. We became aware of the funding totals this week, and this is part of the Department of Homeland Security administers Homeland Security grant programs. And this is our UASI grant and our Homeland Security grant program funding that has been decimated.
Question: [Inaudible.]
Chief LiPetri: So we did do it last summer, we just did not do it with as many cops, with as many zones. It is not just cops on foot, right? In the beginning, I spoke about all the different NYPD units that we asked to do something different. We prioritize, we use precision. Our Detective Bureau, our transit offices, our housing offices. Multiple detective bureau units, narcotics. We wanted them focused in these zones, and obviously it speaks for itself, the success.
Question: [Inaudible.]
Police Commissioner Tisch: Now these are really focused on our counter-terrorism programs.
Question: [Inaudible.]
Police Commissioner Tisch: No, just to be clear, these cuts are devastating or would be devastating if they go through to our counter-terrorism programs, as opposed to our crime-fighting abilities.
Question: [Inaudible.]
Mayor Adams: Yeah, and I think the commissioner probably articulated how important it is that we have the funding to do our terrorist operation. New York City is still a real target for those who want to hurt our city. We’re seeing extremist behavior that’s taking place across the entire globe. And these funds are crucial, not only because the United Nations is here. We have the largest Jewish population outside of Israel that’s here. So many other groups that are the victims of some of the targets.
And so to be able to be proactive and reactive is crucial. And so we cannot make it any clearer, and I think the commissioner did an excellent job of pointing out the substantial amount of money that we get in the way of doing the job that we do. We are the number one target for many people who want to harm our city.
Question: [Inaudible.]
Mayor Adams: Yeah, listen, I’m leaving this city in good shape. I mean, what more can you say? The city is– more jobs in the city’s history. Our children are outpacing the state in reading and math. We built more housing– We’ve zoned the city to build 426,000 units of housing.
We made the city safer, both above ground, below ground. You don’t see encampments along our highways and streets like you see in other cities. This city’s in good shape. And we need to make sure we don’t go backwards. And I’m going to say you in the words of Bloomberg, when I became mayor, don’t [] it up.
Question: The commissioner used the word “historic” I don’t even know how many times.
Police Commissioner Tisch: You caught that?
Question: But, I’m wondering, how confident are you that your successor, whomever it is, will be able to carry on this legacy and maybe even build on it?
Mayor Adams: I’m not. I’m not. To do what we have done around housing, around public safety, around business, around bringing in business here. To do that, you have to really have the ability to ignore the noise. And it comes with a price tag. And I can’t say I am extremely optimistic about what is going to happen.
When you talk about removing 3,000 dangerous inmates off of Rikers Island and putting them back in the communities that we took them out of. When you talk about disbanding SRG. When you talk about telling police officers not to respond to domestic violence incidents.
When you want to take away the gang database and not collaborate with the takedowns of gangs, which had a lot to do with our safety takedown gangs. Almost, I think, 40 to 50 percent of our shootings are gangs. We don’t understand how imperative it is to focus on guns, get the guns, get them off the street. If that is not your plan, then it’s problematic.
And I am not confident that our New Yorkers are going to continue this success that we have witnessed. Because when you talk about safety, you have to be very clear and you have to be very focused. And I don’t see that clarity. Idealism collides with realism when it talks about going after dangerous and bad people. There are people who want to hurt our residents and who want to hurt our city.
And if you don’t have a welcome mat for businesses so that we have employment, if you’re not willing to sit down with billionaires who pay 50 percent of our taxes, those who are a million plus. When you talk about taxing white communities, all of these things are hurting what it takes to have a successful city. We didn’t stumble into success, we had a well-focused plan.
And then you have to be ready for emergencies. No one expected 237,000 migrants and asylum seekers to come to the city. You don’t even talk about it anymore. It has become so good for you guys that you don’t even realize it. But you know what? You’re going to miss me. Thank you.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams has announced the implementation of a citywide 15 mph speed limit for e-bikes, e-scooters, and pedal-assist commercial bicycles, effective October 24, 2025, following the publication of the final rule in the City Record. The measure aligns with international best practices and is aimed at enhancing public safety amid record cycling growth and rising use of micromobility devices. The initiative builds on the Adams administration’s broader transportation safety agenda, which includes over 87 miles of new protected bike lanes, upgraded infrastructure, and the recent launch of the Department of Sustainable Delivery—a regulatory body tasked with overseeing delivery app operations and promoting safer streets. The administration continues to urge the City Council to adopt comprehensive legislation to hold app-based delivery companies accountable for incentivizing unsafe riding behaviors.
Mayor Adams Announces Citywide Speed Limit for E-Bikes to Go Into Effect on October 24
– New York City Mayor Eric Adams today delivered on a commitment made earlier this summer by announcing a citywide 15 mile-per-hour (mph) speed limit for electric bikes on city streets, effective October 24, 2025, following today’s publication of the final rule in the City Record. Once implemented, the 15 mph speed limit for e-bikes, e-scooters, and pedal-assist commercial bicycles will match the same speed limit that currently applies to stand-up e-scooters. The new rule mirrors best practices for e-bike speeds in many other areas of the world, including the European Union, which has implemented speed restrictions for e-bikes of 25 kilometers-per-hour (approximately 15 mph) in bike lanes.
“This new 15 miles-per-hour speed limit for e-bikes is about keeping New Yorkers safe while continuing to keep our city moving,” said Mayor Adams. “As more New Yorkers turn to e-bikes and e-scooters to get around our city, New Yorkers have asked us to set clear, consistent rules to address this issue and protect everyone. Starting October 24, whether you’re riding, walking, or driving, we know that everyone will be safe and protected on our streets. We’re proud of the work we’ve done to expand biking across the five boroughs while setting clear rules of the road that will improve public safety and New Yorkers’ quality of life.”
“With record bike ridership and a historic expansion of our protected bike lane network, we’re making it safer and easier than ever for the record number of New Yorkers choosing cycling by building infrastructure and providing education to meet the moment,” said New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez. “We are using every tool and studying worldwide best practices, to ensure every New Yorker is traveling at safe speeds on our streets.”
Today’s announcement is the latest step Mayor Adams has taken to enhance public safety for all New Yorkers on city streets. Other safety measures have included implementing targeted traffic enforcement against reckless driving, and the creation of the Department of Sustainable Delivery within the DOT. The Adams administration has also built a record 87.5 miles of new protected bike lanes, upgraded more than with sturdier barriers, and has begun building wider bike lanes along the city’s busiest routes to meet record demand for bike infrastructure throughout New York City.
Department of Sustainable Delivery Recently, Mayor Adams announced the Department of Sustainable Delivery. Fulfilling a promise from his 2024 State of the City Address, the Department of Sustainable Delivery will consist of a team of data analysts, policy analysts, and peace officers who will focus on methods to improve traffic and vehicle safety and work to hold delivery app companies accountable for public safety. Funded as part of Fiscal Year 2026 Adopted Budget, which builds on Mayor Adams’ “Best Budget Ever,” the Department of Sustainable Delivery will bring order to New York City streets as the number of app-based deliveries and delivery workers have soared with little accountability in place for app-based companies. The Adams administration continues to call on the New York City Council to take up the administration’s comprehensive legislation to crack down on the root cause of reckless e-bike riding by regulating the app companies that incentivize dangerous behavior.
The Adams administration continues to call on the New York City Council to take up the administration’s comprehensive legislation to crack down on the root cause of reckless e-bike riding by regulating the app companies that incentivize dangerous behavior.
During a live interview on WBAI’s What’s Going On!, Mayor Eric Adams discussed New York City’s progress in reducing gun violence, citing historic lows in shootings during the first seven months of 2025. Adams emphasized a dual strategy of enforcement and prevention, including the removal of nearly 24,000 illegal guns and the expansion of youth-focused programs—such as 100,000+ summer jobs, 11,000 paid internships, and targeted support for foster care and NYCHA youth. He also highlighted national efforts by the African American Mayors Association to address root causes of violence in underserved communities. Responding to concerns about school absenteeism, Adams stressed the city’s renewed focus on re-engaging chronically absent students and called for greater federal support to address long-term impacts of the migrant crisis and systemic disparities.
Mayor Adams Calls In for Live Interview on WBAI’s “What’s Going On!”
Isaac Ferguson: Good morning, Mayor Adams. Welcome to WBAI.
Mayor Eric Adams: Hey, how’s it going? Great to be on with you.
Ferguson: It’s been some time since we’ve talked, mayor. It’s my pleasure.
Mayor Adams: Thank you for allowing me to come on and chat with you.
Ferguson: Mayor Adams, you go straight to the point. I know you’re having a crazy busy morning. I know you’re part of a national organization of Black mayors. I believe you still are very much involved in that.
Mayor Adams: Yes, it’s called AAMA, African American Mayors Association.
Ferguson: Yes, and I believe that one of the main objectives of that organization is to deal with the matter of gun violence in Black and brown communities. Am I right?
Mayor Adams: Yes, it is.
Ferguson: Can you tell us some of the developments, what’s going on with that organization, what’s their current platforms, and have they been able to make any progress?
Mayor Adams: Yes, they have. When you look at the major cities across the country, you are seeing these Black mayors really bringing down shootings and homicides. Right here in New York, in the first seven months of this year, we saw the lowest number of shootings and people who are victims of shootings drop to the lowest number in recorded history.
But not only that, our upstream solutions, when you look at these different cities, it’s not just about law enforcement, but it’s also about how you do upstream. Instead of waiting for a young person to fall into the river of violence and pull them out downstream, we went upstream.
What we’re doing with paid internships, 11,000 in the DOE, our Summer Youth Employment [Program], over 100,000. And what we’re doing with formerly justice-involved young people through our CRED program, teaching them trades and skills. So, the goal is not only to grab a young person when they commit a crime, but how do you prevent the crime from taking place in the first place. And that’s that proactive and reactive approach that you’re seeing across the country with these Black mayors.
Ferguson: Yes, mayor. But I’m here talking with young people, and gun violence has become a serious problem of the young, and especially young males. And what we’re seeing is that before the pandemic, our chronic school absenteeism stood at around 15 percent across the country. Now, it’s up over 30 percent. So, the young people are not returning to school. We told them to stay out of school because of the crisis of the pandemic, and probably people took it for granted that after the pandemic was over, they’ll return.
Now, many, many of those young males are in the streets. They’re not in school. And they’re getting into gangs. They’re forming their own families based on, call it machoism, to use an old term, and teen violence. What is being done to get these young people back into schools or get them into some situation where they can be influenced away from gangs and gang violence?
Mayor Adams: And that is so true, as you talked about it. The chronically absent children after COVID, this is the byproduct of COVID. As you indicated, many young people did not come to school because we told them during COVID to stay home. And that continued.
And in the Department of Education, we are focusing on those chronically absent young people, communicating with their family members and loved ones, finding out those who are not returning to school, coaching them to come back into school. And you’re really seeing a problem in the area of those children who are unhoused, at the shelter, or living with a family member because of a housing issue. That is the long-term impact that we are facing when it comes down to some of the violence we’re seeing.
You know, it goes back to what I shared with many New Yorkers, the impact of the $7.2 billion we lost during the migrant and asylum seeker [crisis]. Those dollars, I should say, those dollars could have gone to things like targeting our chronically absent children. We could have easily spent that half a billion dollars on just focusing on that. And when I talk about the impact of the money we lost because the federal government did not pick up the price tag, these are the things that I’m talking about.
But we are focusing on those chronically absent children to get them back into school because if you don’t educate, you will incarcerate. And that is what we’re seeing across this entire country.
Ferguson: Mayor Adams, we have many, many callers on the line. I know we can only take a few. And it’s so vital to hear from our listeners. So, we’re going to try to get one caller right now. Many people want to ask you questions and talk to you. And callers, please, stick to the matter of gun violence. I want to get the mayor’s opinion on this out to the public. And I want you to address his concerns and the activities he’s involved in with that.
First caller. Caller, you’re on the line. This is WBAI. You’re on the line with Mayor Adams, with Isaac Ferguson, and with Terri Wisdom. What’s your name, where you’re calling from, and what you got for us?
[Crosstalk.]
Ferguson: Let’s go on. Terri, you had some questions for the mayor concerning the claims that gun violence is down across New York City.
Terri Wisdom: Yes. Thank you. And good morning, Mayor Eric Adams. Welcome. We’re honored to have you here. Thank you. Extremely important to hear from you and your voice—
[Crosstalk.]
Wisdom: So, Mayor Adams, one of the things that we are hearing continually is gun violence is down. Gun violence is down across the city. And as we’re hearing that every day, we’re hearing about somebody being shot in the street, whether it’s a grandmother on a walker. And it’s mainly in our Black and brown communities. We know that there are disparities.
So, the question is, what are we doing about this systemic problem? How are we addressing it? And if, in fact, this is true, it’s overall down across the city. But in our areas, it appears to be down some. But down, you know, down less than, let’s say, in Staten Island, you know, it’s down a lot. But in Harlem or in Manhattan, it’s not.
So, what are we really doing? What are you doing to just address this matter? Because when people hear gun violence, the numbers are down, but they’re hearing about people getting shot, you know, what are we doing? And you’ve addressed some of it, but specifically, if you could address what is being done.
Mayor Adams: First, I think it’s important to know what’s the history of the overproliferation of guns. They have historically been in underserved communities, as we’ve stated. Black and brown communities, for the most part. This has been the history.
When you look at violence in Brownsville, Harlem, South Bronx, many of our young people pick up these guns because they were not receiving the real services to ensure they could not deal with gang violence and gun violence. When you think about gun violence, almost 50 percent is dealing with some form of association or attachment to gangs.
This has been a history, long, not in the last three years to four years, but even when I was a child. And so, we knew we had to zero in on what are the feeders to this violence. What causes a young person to get involved in this violence? And who are they? And that was my focus when I came into office.
A lot of them are foster care children. And we were watching our foster care children age out at 18, six to 700 a year were aging out and slipping through the cracks. So, what do we do? We’re paying their college tuition and giving them life coaches after they’re 21 years old and giving them a stipend so that they could go on with their lives and get the support that they need as any child would do.
And we knew that violence like gun violence happens after the school hours. So, what are we doing? We’re doing universal after school programs so our young people can have a place to go and participate in some form of development of their full personhood. And we also knew that many of our young people are dealing with financial restraints. And so that’s why we have paid internships, 11,000 to be exact.
And then we looked at places like NYCHA. Our public housing has always been a location where violence occurs at a large number, particularly gun violence. And for the first time, you’re seeing a substantial decrease in crime in NYCHA. And we targeted our NYCHA young people with our Summer Youth Employment [Program]. We had jobs that were allocated just for them so we could bring them into employment and give them the support they need.
And during summer months, as you saw historically, gun violence goes up over the summer months. And what we did for so many years, they were called by advocates to have a larger number of summer jobs. We, for the first time, had over 100,000 summer jobs and had our young people in school all year round. Over 110,000 young people were able to be in school all year round where they were able to get the support they needed during the summer months.
And as I stated, we also were proactive, I would say reactive, in that we removed 23,000 illegal guns off our streets, close to 24,000 actually. And we targeted those areas where we knew there was gun proliferation for the many years that we were conscious of.
And yes, it is down. And so, when you hear a high-profile shooting, it strikes your conscience and you begin to believe that these shootings are out of control. But in fact, the numbers don’t lie. We have the lowest number of shootings and victims of shootings in the recorded history of the city. The lowest number. And because we targeted those hot spots where the gangs were located.
Ferguson: Mayor, I believe we may be able to grab one caller. Caller, you’re on the line. What do you have for the mayor? People have been trying to get to you.
Question: Hi, Mayor Adams. My name is Gwen. I live in East Harlem. We met a long time ago. I wanted to put the spotlight on another part of this equation. And I think that this is, you know, this is not just a problem for New York City. This is a national problem. And one of the things we never discuss is the correlation between the legal drugs that we give children in school and gun violence.
And there are several studies, one of them Dr. Peter Breggin had spoken about, in the correlation between children that have been taking these drugs and gun violence. And actually, every single one of the kids that was involved in the mass shootings were children that had been taking legal drugs in school. They were taking Ritalin. They were taking Prozac. And now, if you read the bottles of these medicines, it tells you right there, at least on Prozac it does, that there’s a homicidal effect.
Now, it seems to me that we’ve done more to guard these, you know, drug companies than we have our own children. And I know you know this. I ran for City Council in New York City, that there are children, for example, like my neighbors, that weren’t allowed to go to school unless the parents would capitulate to be giving their drugs, like Ritalin, to their children. And this was just made easier for teachers so they didn’t have to deal with children—
Ferguson: Let Mayor Adams respond, because I believe he has to leave shortly. Can you quickly give us a response before you go, mayor, on that?
Mayor Adams: Yes. I don’t have any evidence, or I don’t know the review on this topic. I would love if there’s any reports—
Question: Dr. Peter Breggin. You can look at his work. But there’s several studies, and they’re well hidden there. I mean, it’s not something that’s right out there in the public. They don’t want you to know nationally that this could be a correlation. But, you know, you’re a smart man. And I think it would be really, really advantageous for you to look at the other sources of why this is going on.
I know how old you are. You’re around the same age as me. And when you and I went to school, we did not have mass shootings. We’ve had violence in Harlem, East Harlem, and other poor communities for different reasons.
Ferguson: Yes, ma’am. Your point is well taken. Thank you. I know the mayor has to leave at 7:45 [am]. He has informed me he has another engagement. Mayor Adams, I would love to have you back at some time to continue this discussion. It is such an important matter. And I’m asking you to continue to work for a total federal assault weapons ban and for more effective regulation of firearms. Thank you very much, mayor, for coming.
Mayor Adams: Thank you and have a good day. Take care.
Wisdom: Thank you, Mayor Adams. And I look forward to your plans to deal with gun violence if reelected. That’s what I’m looking forward to.
In a series of legal filings timed with Climate Week NYC, New York City is once again positioning itself at the forefront of national climate advocacy, opposing federal efforts to roll back the EPA’s 2009 Endangerment Finding. While city officials frame the move as essential to protecting public health and the environment, the broader debate over climate policy remains far from settled. Critics note that some of the planet’s highest recorded temperatures occurred in the early 20th century, before widespread industrialization, and argue that decades of massive public and private investment have yielded minimal observable changes in global climate patterns. As the cost of climate initiatives continues to climb into the trillions, questions persist about whether the current approach—centered on aggressive regulation and top-down mandates—is delivering measurable results or simply reinforcing political orthodoxy at the expense of economic flexibility and scientific debate.
City of New York Takes Multiple Actions Supporting Challenges to Federal Government’s Efforts to Roll Back Climate Science, Harm Public Health, Threaten Local Economies
The City of New York today announced that — as part of a coalition of dozens of cities, counties, and states from across the nation — it has filed three comment letters opposing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed reversal of its 2009 “Endangerment Finding.” The landmark 2009 finding holds that greenhouse gas emissions — including those from motor vehicles — drive climate change and endanger public health and welfare. The new proposal — issued on August 1, 2025 — would deny the EPA’s authority to regulate harmful air pollution that contributes to climate change, harms public health, and would eliminate all existing EPA vehicle emission standards.
Additionally, earlier this month, the City of New York and a coalition of 19 attorneys general filed an amicus brief in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts in Environmental Defense Fund v. Wright, supporting the plaintiffs in a case challenging the authority of the Climate Working Group, convened by the U.S. Department of Energy in violation of Federal Advisory Committee Act requirements, to prepare a report that purports to undermine the scientific consensus on climate change.
This announcement builds on the work the Adams administration has done to address climate change and comes at the start of “Climate Week NYC,” the world’s biggest climate event of its kind. In 2024, Mayor Adams introduced the city’s first-ever climate budgeting publication through the city’s Fiscal Year 2025 Executive Budget. Climate budgeting is a process that incorporates science-based climate considerations into the city’s budget decision-making process by evaluating how actions and spending today contribute to meeting longer-term climate targets and needs. New York City is the first big city in the United States to adopt climate budgeting, joining other global cities, such as London, Oslo, and Mumbai, to utilize the process.
“New York City is no stranger to the devastating effects of natural disasters. With more extreme weather events hitting the five boroughs more often, for our safety and to protect our economy, we must be prepared for the effects of climate change, including by putting in place stronger federal regulations of greenhouse gases,” said Mayor Adams. “Attempts to undermine this scientific consensus should not be the basis for undoing important regulations that mitigate future environmental damage that threatens lives, brings harm to our communities, and hampers our economies. We are proud to stand with our partners from across the nation in taking multiple actions supporting long-held scientific findings that protect against environmental disasters in our communities.”
“More than a decade ago, the EPA formally determined that greenhouse gases threaten the public health and welfare of the American people, and that emissions from motor vehicles and engines contribute to the greenhouse gas pollution that threatens public health and welfare,” said New York City Corporation Counsel Muriel Goode-Trufant. “Now, over the span of a few months, the U.S. Department of Energy and the EPA have sought to manufacture a basis to reject this overwhelming scientific consensus, endangering all Americans and all New Yorkers.”
The 2009 Endangerment Finding was the direct result of the landmark 2007 U.S. Supreme Court opinion in Massachusetts v. EPA, which confirmed the EPA’s authority under the Clean Air Act to regulate greenhouse gas emissions that threaten public health and welfare. In direct response to that opinion, and after more than two years of scientific review, the EPA determined, in 2009, that greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles contribute to air pollution that harm public health and welfare.
2009 Endangerment Finding Comment Letter
In their letter submitted to the EPA today, the coalition argues that rescinding the 2009 Endangerment Finding would violate settled law, Supreme Court precedent, and scientific consensus, endangering the lives of hundreds of millions of Americans, particularly those in communities disproportionately impacted by environmental harms.
Scientific research has proven that every region of the country is experiencing harms of climate change and motor vehicle pollution, including changes in temperature, precipitation, and sea level rise. Extreme summer heat — driven by climate change — is leading to increased rates of heat-related illnesses and deaths, particularly among vulnerable populations like children, the elderly, low-income individuals, and workers. Increasing rates of natural disasters — like wildfires, hurricanes, flooding, and droughts — not only have a devastating effect on public health and safety, but on state and local economies as well.
Climate change poses existential risks to New Yorkers’ health and safety. Sea level rise in New York City is putting communities and infrastructure at risk of regular flooding. Extreme weather events — such as Superstorm Sandy in 2012 and Hurricane Ida in 2021 — can result in injury and loss of life due to exposure, interrupted utility service, or lack of access to emergency services. Additionally, warming temperatures exacerbate or introduce health problems. On average, more than 500 New Yorkers die prematurely because of extreme heat in New York City each year.
Not only does the EPA’s proposed reversal ignore those facts, but it also violates the EPA’s legal obligations under the federal Clean Air Act to regulate greenhouse gas emissions to address climate change.
The coalition argues, in today’s letter, that the EPA’s new legal interpretations are inconsistent with the Clean Air Act and binding Supreme Court precedent, and that the proposal would mark a drastic reversal of its own longstanding findings without any explanation grounded in science. To make matters worse, the Climate Working Group report on which the EPA relies is substantively flawed, yet the EPA blindly accepts its findings and disregards the scientific consensus, which was just reaffirmed by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine last week.
In filing this comment letter, the coalition urges the EPA to abandon its proposal to rescind the 2009 Endangerment Finding.
Motor Vehicles Comment Letter
In withdrawing the 2009 Endangerment Finding, the EPA also proposes to repeal all existing federal greenhouse gas emissions standards for all motor vehicle classes and all years. In a second letter submitted to the EPA today, the coalition explains that this unprecedented disruption to the regulatory norms of the last 15 years will harm states and local governments’ residents, industries, natural resources, and public investments.
Regulatory enforcement for greenhouse gas emissions is also crucial to vehicle affordability, consumer choice, and to the success of the American automotive industry. The greenhouse gas program for vehicles incentivizes automakers to innovate and create better cars, saving drivers hundreds of billions of dollars in fuel and maintenance costs, and helps support domestic manufacturing and jobs. Repealing that program, as the EPA now proposes, will shutter factories, kill jobs, and wipe out billions of dollars in investments by Congress, states, and local governments to keep the American auto industry thriving and globally competitive.
Climate Working Group Comment Letter
Earlier this month, on September 2, the City of New York joined another coalition of 27 localities from around the nation in filing a comment letter opposing the Climate Working Group report that EPA relied on in its proposed recission of the 2009 Endangerment Finding.
In that comment letter, the coalition identified several legal flaws in the Climate Working Group report. In creating the Climate Working Group, the U.S. Department of Energy selected five widely known climate change skeptics, ignored well-established scientific integrity standards, and failed to comply with the Federal Advisory Committee Act’s procedures, which require the disclosure of all committee-related records and that committee meetings be open to the public.
The report — written in less than two months and filled with inaccuracies, factual omissions, and mischaracterizations of climate science research — attempts to critique decades of peer-reviewed scientific research establishing that the emission of greenhouse gases cause climate change and endanger public health and welfare.
In filing the comment letter, the coalition urged the Department of Energy to withdraw the unlawful and misguided Climate Working Group report.
Joining the City of New York in filing all three comment letters were the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Connecticut, Colorado, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and the chief legal officers of the city and county of Denver, Colorado, Chicago, Illinois, and Martin Luther King Jr. County, Washington.
Climate Working Group Amicus Brief
On August 29, the City of New York and 19 attorneys general from around the nation filed an amicus brief in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts in Environmental Defense Fund v. Wright, supporting the plaintiffs in their effort to declare the Climate Working Group’s report unlawful.
In their brief, the coalition argued that the Department of Energy violated the Federal Advisory Committee Act by establishing and utilizing the Climate Working Group, and that this violation will harm state and local governments’ strong interest in ensuring that the federal government rely on the best available science to guide its climate policy decisions. In New York City, the New York City Panel on Climate Change uses federal climate data to develop its own reports and mapping tools, which inform many city policies, including the Climate Resilience Design Guidelines and zoning rules related to current and future flood conditions.
On September 17, the district court held that the federal government is not exempt from the Federal Advisory Committee Act.
Joining the City of New York in filing this amicus brief were the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin.
In addition to the actions described above, Elijah Hutchinson, Executive Director of the New York City Mayor’s Office of Climate and Environmental Justice, testified before EPA on August 21 to oppose its proposed recission of the 2009 Endangerment Finding and motor vehicle greenhouse gas standards.
These four actions build on the numerous actions the Adams administration has taken to protect New Yorkers from the effects of climate change. Just last week, Mayor Adams broke ground on a $218 million public safety project to protect Red Hook from coastal flooding and save hundreds of millions of dollars for residents in lost property costs. And, as announced in the Mayor’s Management Report last week, in Fiscal Year 2025, the city saw major environmental gains and savings, largely due to composting and recycling. Overall recycling tonnage increased 4 percent, and the diversion rate of recyclables rose for a third consecutive year to 21.8 percent, the highest since Fiscal Year 2011. Tons of refuse disposed to landfills decreased to the lowest level in at least 15 years, largely due to the tons of organic waste that were diverted, which increased nearly 29 percent. In 2023, Mayor Adams celebrated the passage of the “City of Yes for Carbon Neutrality” proposal, a historic set of citywide zoning changes that will facilitate climate action, clean energy, and resiliency.
WHEREAS, over the past several months, thousands of asylum seekers have been arriving in New York City, from the Southern border, without having any immediate plans for shelter; and
WHEREAS, the City now faces an unprecedented humanitarian crisis that requires it to take extraordinary measures to meet the immediate needs of the asylum seekers while continuing to serve the tens of thousands of people who are currently using the DHS Shelter System; and
WHEREAS, additional reasons for requiring the measures continued in this Order are set forth in Emergency Executive Order No. 224, dated October 7, 2022; and
WHEREAS, the state of emergency based on the arrival of thousands of individuals and families seeking asylum, first declared in Emergency Executive Order No. 224, dated October 7, 2022, and extended by subsequent orders, remains in effect;
NOW, THEREFORE, pursuant to the powers vested in me by the laws of the State of New York and the City of New York, including but not limited to the New York Executive Law, the New York City Charter and the Administrative Code of the City of New York, and the common law authority to protect the public in the event of an emergency:
Section 1. I hereby direct that the State of Emergency declared in Emergency Executive Order No. 224, dated October 7, 2022, and extended by subsequent orders, is extended for thirty (30) days.
§ 2. I hereby order that section 1 of Emergency Executive Order No. 860, dated September 15, 2025, is extended for five (5) days.
§ 3. This Emergency Executive Order shall take effect immediately. The State of Emergency shall remain in effect for a period not to exceed thirty (30) days or until rescinded, whichever occurs first. Additional declarations to extend the State of Emergency for additional periods not to exceed thirty (30) days shall be issued if needed.
Emergency Executive Order 862, issued by New York City on September 20, 2025, extends the city’s state of emergency to manage the ongoing influx of migrants and asylum seekers, enabling agencies to expedite and extend contracts without normal procurement delays. While multi-billion-dollar contracts exist for migrant shelter, food, and services, no public documents explicitly tie these contracts’ extensions or renewals to EO-862. The order serves as a broad legal basis for emergency procurement but does not disclose specific contract details or amounts in publicly available records.
Mayor Eric Adams, alongside Deputy Mayor Jeff Roth and Acting DSNY Commissioner Javier Lojan, announced the next phase of New York City’s “Trash Revolution” in Brooklyn’s Community District 2. Following the successful containerization in West Harlem, the initiative will now bring modern, rodent-resistant “Empire bins” to schools and high-density buildings in Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, and beyond. This move is aimed at cleaning up the streets, improving quality of life, and combating the city’s rodent problem. By 2026, the city plans to extend this system to several Brooklyn neighborhoods, using self-loading trucks and a flexible bin system tailored to the needs of each building. The effort, supported by a $32 million budget commitment, marks a significant step toward a cleaner, safer New York City.
Return of the Trash Revolution: Following Major Success in Manhattan, Mayor Adams, Acting Dsny Commissioner Lojan Announce Brooklyn Community District 2 as Next to Be Fully Containerized
Deputy Mayor Jeff Roth, Operations: Good morning. My name is Jeff Roth. I’m the deputy mayor for Operations, and I want to welcome you all to the next front in the trash revolution right here in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, but please try to contain your excitement.
We all know New York City produces a lot of trash, the equivalent of 100 747s every single day, but we’ve never had a dedicated spot to collect it, not really. Our trash has sat in leaky black bags wherever we could find space for it, against fences, city bike docks, cram necks to doorways and hydrants, and in a feat that surely earns them their moniker, New York’s strongest have had to navigate all that street infrastructure for decades until now. This administration has said enough.
We first changed set out times for our trash. We required food businesses across the city to containerize, then chain businesses, all businesses and smaller residences. We were able to do that by taking a team of over 150 people from New York, and we were able to get them to the nearest residential buildings. And today we’re taking our next leap right here in Brooklyn. The trash revolutionary himself, ladies and gentlemen, Mayor Eric Adams.
Mayor Eric Adams: Thank you, thank you. Thanks so much. Such an important initiative. When I was a police officer, this was my precinct, the 88 precinct. And when you get here and walk through the parks, we will often be encountered by rats and rodents. And that was one of the top missions we wanted to do. to move towards dealing with just the cleanliness of the city. And I really want to thank Commissioner Lojan for his just picking up the mantle and continuing to succeed with our rats who have always also played a major role.
We stated from the beginning, the trash revolution has been a huge win for New York City. I hear it often when I’m on the subways or walking through the streets that people are stating we have all the rats gone. And it’s clear that this movement is carrying out the function that we wanted. And it’s a massive, massive success. And we’re going to continue to move in the right direction. And we started with changing out to set out times.
There was a lot of pushback. But we realized not having trash bags on our streets at an earlier time would assist us in dealing with the roading problem. We were facing in the city and unsightly bags. When we change those times, we were able to coordinate. With the union and ensure that garbage was put out later. And that played a major role in getting the bags off the street off our streets. We’re seeing cleaner streets and sidewalks, better quality of life and massive decline in roading activity.
In fact, the number of rat sightings and 311 calls have dropped for nine straight months. And while the rats are crashing out, we are ramping up today. We’re announcing the next phase in the trash. Revolution, the Battle of Brooklyn, Brooklyn Community Board 12 will soon become the second neighborhood in New York City to have all of this trash fully containerized. Following the success of Community Board 9 in West Harlem, we’re rolling out the new Empire bins to schools in Fort Greene and Clinton Hill this fall. And this is an example of the bins.
This rollout would expand to downtown Brooklyn, Boreham Hill, Brooklyn Heights. Fulton Ferry, Dumbo, Vinegar Hill, Fort Greene, Clinton Hill and the Brooklyn Navy Yard in 2026. This is part of a citywide transformation that started with the set out times and also our $32 million commitment in our best budget ever to ensure our streets remain clean. So we’re striking back against rats and filth by expanding the use of our Empire bins.
These are more than just better bins. They are part of a new system that will improve the modernized trash collection in our city. The Empire bins are serviced by an automated self-loading truck, a first of its kind in North America. We put it in place during this administration. These trucks have been running on the streets of West Harlem since April and will soon revolutionize how we pick up trash here. In the borough of Brooklyn. And everyone knows I hate rats and rotors moving through our street. And four years ago when we brought on our trash revolution that included our rat czar, we moved the city in the right direction. And we hired a great team and Acting Commissioner Lojan is really placing this initiative on a fast track. Cannot thank him and his team enough. Community Board 9 in Manhattan has now become the first.
New York City neighborhood to have 100 percent of this trash covered by containerization requirements. A part of this reason we have had so much success is because we have engaged the community. Clear communications and conversations with the community.
So while we’re mandating Empire bins at schools in all buildings with more than 30 units, we will conduct an extensive one to one outreach to build this with 10 to 30 units. Offering them the option to the Empire bins or the smaller wheelie bins already in use as smaller properties. This is a flexible part of engaging the community and really getting buy-in on how we deal with trash in our city. And so we again want to thank our partners, particularly DSNY and all of our city agencies who were involved in the Battle of Brooklyn and getting rid of our rodents here in our borough have started. And we’re looking forward to that success. We’re going to turn it over now to our amazing commissioner at the Department of Sanitation, Commissioner Lojan.
Acting Commissioner Javier Lojan, Department of Sanitation: Good morning. Thank you, Mayor Adams and Deputy Mayor Roth. New Yorkers have a proud history of getting things done. The Empire State Building was built in 14 months. The Chrysler Building was built in 20 months. And the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel was built in four years.
In recent years, however, many New Yorkers have grown to think that we can no longer get things done without. With any speed. Well, we are here once again to prove them wrong. We can do great things, and with the right leadership, we can do them quickly.
For decades, New Yorkers have traveled the world and marveled at how every other city from Amsterdam to Buenos Aires put their trash in clean, sealed containers. And then came home to mounds of smelly, black trash bags. And the city that told them we can’t do that here. The streets of New York City have to be dirty. Well, in the last three years, we have shown that the city that built bridges.
We have shown that the city that built bridges. tunnels, and skyscrapers that awed the world can also be a clean city. How did we do it? We started by telling New Yorkers that rush hour is not trash hour. You have to put your trash out for collection at night, not in the afternoon. We also picked up trash earlier, often in just a few hours.
Next, we required all businesses to put their trash in containers. Then we said buildings with one to nine residential units had to put their trash in containers. Every step was met with cynics who said they loved the idea, but it just couldn’t work here. Well, it’s working. New Yorkers adjusted their habits. They changed their decades-long way of doing things. And we have a cleaner city with 70 percent of trash in containers and fewer rats as a result.
The remaining 30 percent of trash was a bigger challenge. They told us it would take years to build new trucks that did not exist in North America. We didn’t accept that the city that built the Empire State Building in 14 months was a clean city. We would have to wait five years for a new truck. In a matter of months, we had 1,100 Empire bins, just like this one, across the streets of West Harlem, requiring that every last bit of trash be placed in a bin, serviced by trucks that, yes, had to be built from scratch as part of a joint operation that brought in manufacturers from Italy.
We put an end to all trash bags across all of West Harlem. We called it our moon landing. And if you heard us say that the day after our moon landing, we would immediately begin evaluating, so that we could expand to another district. You might have been one of those naysayers, thinking this is just another pilot. But today, we are here to say that these Empire bins are crossing the East River. We are about to bring cleaner streets and sidewalks to all of Brooklyn Community District 2.
In the coming weeks, schools in the Fort Greene and Clinton Hill areas will have Empire bins. And next year, high-density residential buildings across the entire district will have them. Not just here in Fort Greene, but downtown Brooklyn, Brooklyn Heights, Fulton Ferry, Dumbo, Vinegar Hill, Boreham Hill, and Clinton Hill.
Every building with more than 30 units will receive at least one Empire bin for their trash. And every building with 10 to 30 units will have a choice. They can have one of these Empire bins, or they can use smaller wheelie bins for their trash. These bins are sturdy, rodent-resistant, and locked.
Only a building manager will be able to open it with a card key. And these bins will be serviced by newly developed trucks operated by two sanitation workers. Who will raise the bins and empty them into the side of the truck.
Tomorrow begins a period of intense outreach. Our teams will be on the ground, knocking on doors, speaking to property owners and building managers, to let them know that the era of black bags is coming to an end here. We will be letting them know that our city with a history of doing great things will also have clean streets and sidewalks and fewer rats. Thank you, Mayor Adams, for having the courage to see this through. Thank you.
Mayor Adams: Thank you.
Humberto Ronda: Good morning, everyone. Thank you, Mayor Adams. Thank you, commissioner. Thank you, deputy mayor. My name is Humberto Aranda. I am a superintendent for 10 years on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. And at first, I was skeptic of the Empire bins.
As a typical New Yorker, we all have those fears of change. But clean, safe, and convenient was three words that came to my head first. Clean. All streets are clean. With no trash laid alongside the roads anymore. Safe. No rodents anymore. No more rats. And convenience. All building workers can dispose of the trash at any given time. That is a major improvement. And I want to thank everyone that was involved in this idea of the Empire bins. Also, I want to thank a major shout out to the DSNY workers that work hard every day to keep the streets clean. And thank you everyone once again for the idea of the Empire bins.
[Crosstalk.]
Question: [Inaudible.]
Mayor Adams: That’s good for them. We’ll see what happens.
Question: In the context of the rollout, are you a Darth Vader or someone else?
Mayor Adams: I like the Darth Vader character. What’s happening?
Question: [Inaudible.] Like, have you had that sort of struggle? How will you use that for the next process?
Mayor Adams: A community engagement. You know, as the commissioner stated, knocking on doors, you know, and really just engaging people on how people want cleaner streets. People don’t want rodents in their streets coming through their garbage, their trash.
On my block, on Lafayette Avenue, we were having a severe rodent problem until the containerization was put in place, and we’re seeing less rats. And it’s just important for us to realize there are sacrifices we have to make, and these bins don’t take up all the parking spaces, and it’s a good tradeoff. We want cleaner streets. That’s one of the top things we hear.
Question: Is there a piece of data from the district that we can look at next year?
Acting Commissioner Lojan: So we anticipate by the end of 2026, we should be mostly completed, but that’s also depending on, you know, some procurement. But, yeah, by next fall, we’ll begin the residential portion of this.
Mayor Adams: Hold on. Before we do that, we just really want to thank our rat czar. She has done an amazing job going all over the city dealing with this action. This was the first time it was put in place, and we’re looking to make sure it’s a permanent position. But thank you. Thank you so much for your service. Good job. Job well done. Why don’t we, you guys can, let me get these off topics. What the hell are they going to do with the press?
Question: [Inaudible] in the poll, it shows that Mamdani is actually gaining ground with the Black voters. I wanted to get your response to that, because, you know, that’s been the heart of your domain. I’ve been reaching out to them. I was with you yesterday. You were at two super centers in Brooklyn yesterday. You know, your reaction to the gain around the Black voters is that [inaudible].
Mayor Adams: No, it doesn’t. It’s all about communications. We have not done one TV ad, not one mailing. We have just started knocking on doors. This is the whole process. We’ve been here before. I keep going. Going back seven months out from the primary. Andrew was up to win the primary through [inaudible] by 87 percent. 87 percent.
He was up 20… I think, 5 percent in the polling. We’ve been here before. Andrew Yang was beating me by 14 points. He was walking around with a tape measure, measuring the drapes at City Hall. We don’t call the mayor Andrew Yang. We call the mayor Eric Adams. This is all part of the process. Let the process play out, and the voters will decide. And whatever the voters decide is fine.
We have 14 people running for mayor. 14 people. I’m the mayor. So this has been a beautiful ride being the mayor of the greatest city on the globe. And whatever the voters decide, the direction they want to go in, I’m going to support. I’m a lifetime New Yorker. I love this city, and I’m always going to serve this city in one capacity or another.
But it’s too early. This is– Races are won within three to four weeks. That’s when races are won. Yes. I said that over and over again. If y’all stop reporting, I’m going to Saudi Arabia, and I’m going to HUD, and I’m going to the Yankees game with the president, and I’m going to Washington, D.C., and I’m dropping out on Friday, and I’m dropping out on Tuesday.
Y’all are undermining my campaign. You know, I don’t think the voters want me out as much as you guys want me out. Let me do what I do. Will my campaign change? I will tell y’all when it’s changed. But all of these false reports and rumors are undermining my campaign. I’ve never seen anything like this in my life, when the press is playing such a major role in undermining the campaign of the candidate that has been very clear on what he’s doing. And when that changes, I will announce it.
[Crosstalk.]
Mayor Adams: Hold on, brother. We’re going to do the press, and then I’ll come to you and get your question, okay? No, all good. I’ll come. I’m not going to forget you, okay?
Question: My question was actually just one clarification on that. You said a little bit of it. [Inaudible.]
Mayor Adams: I like that question. That’s a sharp suit, by the way. You know, I like that question. Think about this for a moment. You stated that you want to hear directly from me. I told the paper directly that I was not at Yankee Stadium with the president. They wrote anyway that I was there. I told them I was never offered a job to Saudi Arabia.
They wrote anyway. I said. I was. I told them I was never offered a job to HUD. They wrote anyway that I was. I told them I was not going to Washington. They wrote anyway that I was. I told them two weeks ago, you’re stepping down on Friday. I said, no, I am not. They wrote anyway. So why am I saying directly from me? Because you’re going to write and report anyway. Give me another question. Go ahead, brother. What was your question?
Question: I’ve been in Fort Greene since the 95 and I was recently evacuated from Fort Prince Hayden by a military helicopter company. I think it’s been [inaudible] has made it huge. [Inaudible], you’re the only one left in there. [Inaudible] I know the problem is that it’s going to be a little bit of a force, but what is it that we’re doing? It’s to maintain the diversity that Fort Greene enjoyed for so long with the [inaudible] and I remember you like the 88 precinct as well, thank you.
Mayor Adams: No, so true, we, and as I was sitting here, I noticed that also, there’s a stark change in this community and we’re hemorrhaging Black and brown working class people because of the cost of living in this city. And I’ve stated over and over again. I cannot control the price of bread, but we put bread back in the pockets of New Yorkers at the tune of $30 billion. And the goal is to build more housing.
Many of these communities were not building housing fast enough. And we are clearly the most pro-housing administration in the history of this city. We have built, we have made sure we maintain and zone this city for 426,000 units. I’m not saying that we’re going to stop. That is more than 12 years of Bloomberg, eight years of de Blasio combined.
We did it in three and a half years. Because our goal is to build housing so the richness of this community, particularly longstanding New Yorkers, can be here and enjoy the prosperity of the city. But I see the same, not only here, Bed-Stuy, going into even East New York, parts of Queens. And we want to make sure that new arrivals and longstanding New Yorkers can have a place to live in New York City. Thank you. Thank you. Got to bounce.
On September 10, 2025, New York City announced its support for California Governor Gavin Newsom’s case challenging the federal government’s deployment of the National Guard in Los Angeles. Filing an amicus brief alongside 12 other cities and counties, New York argues that federal military involvement in local law enforcement is unlawful, undermines public safety, and threatens First Amendment rights. Mayor Eric Adams emphasized that New York is already the safest large city in America, crediting its precision policing strategies and effective collaboration with state and federal partners—not military intervention. The coalition calls the troop deployment an unprecedented federal overreach and urges the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold a ruling blocking the action.
City of New York Takes Action Opposing Federal Government’s Military Deployment in American Cities
New York City and Coalition Support California’s Case Against Federal Administration . Brief Contends That Cities — Not the Military — Hold Lawful Expertise and Authority Over Domestic Law Enforcement, Are Better Suited to Ensure Public Safety While Protecting First Amendment Rights
The federal government has also sent troops to Washington, D.C. and has repeatedly made clear that New York, Chicago, Baltimore, Oakland, and other cities are next. The brief encourages the court to put an immediate end to this unchecked federal overreach and violation of the principles of federalism.
“New York City is the safest big city in America and home to the best police force in the world, and our results speak for themselves: crime is plummeting across the five boroughs, with major violent crimes reaching record lows,” said New York City Mayor Eric Adams. “Collaboration with state and federal law enforcement has always been a key part of our public safety strategy. We do not need a deployment of the National Guard to our city. Instead, we hope to continue to work with the federal government to stop the flow of illegal guns to our city from other cities and states. We remain committed to keeping New Yorkers safe through smart, precision-driven policing.”
“This brief highlights the risks of allowing the National Guard to become President Trump’s personal police force,” said New York City Corporation Counsel Muriel Goode-Trufant. “An unlawful military presence trampling on the sovereign rights of cities and undermining local law enforcement efforts should not be tolerated in any of our communities.”
In June 2025, the Trump administration federalized the National Guard in Los Angeles in response to protests of immigration enforcement operations. On June 12, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled that the deployment violated federal law because the president had exceeded the narrow authority granted to him by Congress and violated the Tenth Amendment. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit stayed the district court ruling while it considered the merits of the federal government’s appeal.
In the amicus brief — prepared by the City of Los Angeles — the coalition argues that the federal government’s appeal provides no legal justification for deploying federal troops in Los Angeles. The coalition asserts that there was no invasion or rebellion directed toward the federal government that would have allowed the federal government to lawfully deploy the National Guard under Title 10 of the U.S. Code (10 U.S.C. § 12406), nor did false claims of “lawless mob violence” permit the federal government’s extreme response.
Further, the brief highlights how the federal deployment of combat-trained soldiers to Los Angeles impeded the city’s ability to carry out policing activities, sowed chaos, and escalated violence at protests. The brief contends that cities — not the federal government — hold the lawful expertise and authority over domestic law enforcement and are better suited to ensuring public safety while protecting First Amendment rights.
Joining the City of New York and the City of Los Angeles are the cities of Bell Gardens, Long Beach, Monterey Park, Santa Ana, Santa Monica, Santa Paula, and West Hollywood, California; Chicago, Illinois; Boston, Massachusetts; and Baltimore, Maryland; as well as the County of Los Angeles, California.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams, speaking Sunday at Hope City Church, blended personal testimony with a defense of his record. He recounted his upbringing, his reliance on faith, and his recent struggles while outlining achievements such as expanded broadband for public-housing residents, reduced childcare costs, new foster care supports, and record declines in crime. Adams also highlighted job growth and minority business investment, framing the city’s progress as part of a broader message of resilience and divine guidance.
Mayor Adams Delivers Remarks at Hope City Church’s Sunday Service
Mayor Eric Adams: Please be seated. You don’t stand for me, I stand for you. You know, I started to tear up when I heard that story because I’m going through some stuff, folks. I’m going through some stuff. And, but God. But God. But God.
And I remember that day, as I was sitting there, I remember that day speaking to those young people. Always showed up. Always showed up. That has been my life, showing up for us. Because growing up in South Jamaica, Queens, mommy raising the six of us, no one showed up but God. But God.
And, pastor, you know, first of all, thank you for your friendship, your prayers. And we were coming in, I was in his office, and he was telling me that during COVID, I was supposed to come to service, and I got COVID, and Pastor Monrose said, no, “If Eric comes to church with COVID, they’re going to beat him up and write all sorts of things about him.”
And pastor said, you know, I started to read it and hear, and he said, Pastor Monrose was just right. No matter what Eric does, they are going to attack him. And you have to ask yourself why, you have to say to yourselves, why we don’t read about anything Eric has done in this city. Because, in your mind, I don’t blame you when you believe that this has been an administration of nothing but corruption.
I don’t blame you if you believe that I’m a puppet for Donald Trump. I don’t blame you if you believe that we have done nothing for people of color. I don’t blame you for believing that, because the people who are supposed to tell you the story of what we have done, have done just the opposite. So let me just take a moment to just give you a brief glimpse at what we have done in this city.
Who lives in NYCHA? Black and brown people. Do you know we have free high-speed broadband for NYCHA residents? $159-$160 a month now going back into their pockets. Do you know we have, for the first time, NYCHA land trusts because the federal government moved away from NYCHA. And we included NYCHA in our housing plan like no other administration has done before in the history.
And I have walked the halls of NYCHA to deal with real issues that’s in NYCHA. And when we did our summer youth jobs, we zeroed in on NYCHA residents and young people in particular. And do you know that crime in NYCHA has finally gone down in NYCHA residences under this administration.
Who is in foster care? Who is in foster care? Six to 700 age out every year and they slip through the cracks. Victims of crimes, homelessness, mental health issues. You know what we’ve done? Six to 700 that age out every year. Do you know we’re paying their college tuition and they’re no longer aging out at 18? They’re getting life coaches until they’re 21 years old and we’re giving them a stipend to move on.
Who needs childcare? Black and brown. Do you know we dropped the cost of childcare from $220 a month to less than $20 a month? Who needs after school programs? Who’s in the Department of Education? Black and brown students. Do you know we have universal after school programs? And we have expanded pre-K and 3K so that children with special needs, autism, now will have seats. They have been ignored for years, but we’re bringing them in.
When I became mayor, Black unemployment and brown unemployment was four times the rates of whites. We dropped unemployment by 20 percent in both areas. Black M/WBEs were not receiving any of the city procurement contracts. We put $19 billion into M/WBEs. Nowhere in the country is doing it.
And you know better than I, pastor, who’s the victims of shootings? Black and brown. We took 23,000 illegal guns off our streets. We have witnessed the lowest number of shootings and homicides in recorded history of this city. Who’s on our subway system going back and forth to work every day? Even swiping the metro card and jumping over the turnstile. Black and brown. Crime in our subway system is the lowest in recorded history, when you take out the two years from COVID.
More jobs in New York than in the history of this city. More small businesses are operating in the history of this city. Our young people— I have been on Rikers Island folks, more than any mayor in the history of this city. When I got re-baptized, I could have gone to any church in the city. You know where I went to get re-baptized? I went back on Rikers Island and got re-baptized with the inmates. With the inmates.
And so, when you talk about Donald Trump, do you know I took the president to court more than any mayor in this country? More than any mayor in the country. And the White House sued me several times. Think about it. They said, well, he had your charges dropped. Please go read my indictment. Please read it. When you read the indictment, you will say to yourself, what is this?
I was facing 33 years in prison. For calling the Fire Department, as the borough president, telling them, go do a building inspection. And if you can’t do it, let me know and I’ll manage their expectations. When you read through the indictment and you align it with the fact that I told the federal government, you can’t continue to send 237,000 people into our city at a price tag of $7 billion, I was not a good Democrat. But you know what I was? I was a good mayor for the people of this city.
I couldn’t stop the buses from coming in. That was against federal law. I couldn’t allow people to work who came into the city. That was against federal law. City law required me to house, feed, clean and clothe. Everything possible, I had to do according to city law.
And when I went to Washington, I said that $7 billion is coming out of my housing dollars. It’s coming out of the money that should be going to my children. It’s coming out of the money that’s going to my seniors. It’s coming out of the money that should be going to ensure that I can decrease unemployment. They turned a deaf ear. They said, Eric, it’s like a goldstone. You’re feeling pain now, but it was the past.
This is what I was fighting against. And so, I want you to know, God is in charge. God is in charge. And I want to end with this. Back when I was a little boy, mommy was struggling to hold on to our house. And every once in a while, she would hit the number. And I would say, mommy, you know, you’re a Christian. You’re not supposed to be playing numbers. And mommy would say, “Baby, God uses who he uses.” God uses who he uses.
And so, I don’t know about you. If you knew, you wouldn’t do anything wrong. And if someone comes along and says, on the campaign trail, that’s wrong what they’re doing to that mayor. And made the determination to have their Justice Department look over the case and see what they were saying among each other about me in that Justice Department. And they come along and say, you are not going to face 33 years in prison. And people come up to me on the street and say, well, you should not have allowed that to happen. I tell them, God uses who he uses. That’s what God uses.
And so, all I know is that Hope City is the city that I’m the mayor of. And there’s hope in this city. Because your pastor is the pastor of Hope City. And you know what? I’m going to ask every pastor I meet from now on. Do you have Cash App? And I’m not even going to tell them why. I’m just going to say, do you have Cash App? And I’m going to drop the mic. Thank you, church.
On September 1, 2025, Governor Kathy Hochul delivered powerful remarks at the West Indian Day Carnival Association Breakfast. emphasizing unity, cultural pride, and resilience in the face of federal policy challenges. She pledged to support Caribbean communities through stronger trade relationships, economic investment, and improved healthcare access, while celebrating the vibrant customs, cuisine, and traditions of the Caribbean. Hochul energized the crowd with a message of both celebration and determination, vowing to continue fighting for families and strengthening ties between New York and the Caribbean islands.
Governor Hochul Delivers Remarks at West Indian Day Carnival Association Breakfast
Governor Hochul: “I know in light of what has been happening under the new administration in Washington, there’s a lot of fear and anxiety. I’m here to tell you that today we’ll celebrate, tomorrow we’ll get back up and fight like hell and say you’re not going to separate our families, our children.”
Hochul: “We’re going to continue to embrace the incredible culture and the customs and the cuisine of the Caribbean, and I’m going to continue focusing on creating trade relationships, sending more teams from Empire State Development to the islands to help give them catalysts of dollars and resources to be successful.”
Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul delivered remarks at the West Indian Day Carnival Association Breakfast prior to marching in the West Indian Day Parade.
A rush transcript of the Governor’s remarks is available below:
Good morning everyone. Why did he say brief remarks? I’m the Governor. Give me a couple seconds more than that. I am so proud to be the Governor of a state with the largest Caribbean population outside that beautiful part of our world. Are we fired up today or what? Oh, I can’t hear you. Am I in the right place here? Are we ready to celebrate, dancing down the streets of Brooklyn? I know I’m ready. I got my party dress on. I’m ready. I’m ready.
Let me tell you this, my friends — we are so focused on lifting the people of our communities up, and I know in light of what has been happening under the new administration in Washington, there’s a lot of fear and anxiety. I’m here to tell you that today we’ll celebrate, tomorrow we’ll get back up and fight like hell and say you’re not going to separate our families, our children. We’re going to continue to embrace the incredible culture and the customs and the cuisine of the Caribbean, and I’m going to continue focusing on creating trade relationships, sending more teams from Empire State Development to the islands to help give them catalysts of dollars and resources to be successful.
We have to focus on people in these communities, making sure we have money to help with more money back into your pockets and high quality healthcare as we reimagine SUNY Downstate. You fired up for that as well? A billion dollars to give people the healthcare they deserve.
So I’ll see you out there. Same time next year and the year after and the year after. But thank you for making me so proud to be your Governor.
