A heinous crime recently took place not far from where Eric Adams was sworn in as the 110th Mayor of New York in the heart of Manhattan in the earliest hours of January 1, 2022. 40-year-old Michelle Go was pushed onto the tracks at the Times Square subway station by a man and hit by an approaching train. She succumbed to her injuries. The perpetrator turned himself in shortly afterwards, and Adams, the very new mayor, called out to the city’s residents not to fear anything on the subway.
But is that true?
Adams had chosen what was probably the most symbolic location in New York City for his swearing-in ceremony. The city flashes and lights up like nowhere else in Times Square. During the ceremony, Adams held up a photo of his mother for the cameras. More specifically, he held up a photo of a brandy glass with his mother’s portrait printed on it. As it turned out again a little later, he is a family man, and he promised that a new era would begin in the city. His motto is: “Get stuff done.” getting things straight.
There is indeed plenty to do in New York City. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the crime rate has been rising steadily. In 2021, the city registered 485 murders, the highest number in ten years. In addition, the number of attacks in the subway system has increased significantly, although the number of passengers has fallen significantly due to the pandemic.
The MTA, the agency responsible for the New York subway, registered about half the number of passengers in 2021 compared to pre-pandemic times. She also registered eight murders and eight rapes. According to the MTA, there were also 461 raids. Those are the highest numbers since the late 1990s. Adams insists that’s nothing to worry about. But anyone who takes the subway these days will see how everyone stays away from the edge of the platform.
The plans for a smaller police budget are probably obsolete
But fear among subway passengers is far from the only problem Adams faces. This Monday he announced that he was reinstating a unit of plainclothes police to take action against illegal gun ownership. This unit was abolished by Adams’ predecessor Bill de Blasio in 2020 because of allegations that it would primarily target African Americans and Latinos. Adams decided to get this unit back on the streets quickly. He named the next three weeks as the time frame.
Adams, himself an African American, belongs to the conservative wing of the Democrats. He worked as a police officer in New York for a long time. Originally he had said that he wanted to try to reform, i.e. reduce the police budget. Now it looks like reality is getting in the way.
At the end of last week, two police officers were shot in the Harlem area. They had been called because of a domestic dispute. One of the officers, Jason Rivera, died at the scene. His colleague Wilbert Mora died in hospital on Tuesday. There were demonstrations in Harlem – a kind of miracle in New York – for the police. Adams said he will make sure it doesn’t happen again. Which in turn means that it is unlikely that he will cut the police budget. Rather the opposite.
In addition: About a week and a half ago, 17 people, including eight children, died in a fire in a large apartment building in the Bronx district. This raises questions about the conditions under which poorer people in New York City have to live. That certainly wouldn’t have happened in the expensive areas like Manhattan’s Upper East Side.
Mayor Adams had promised the New Yorkers exactly two things, among other things: to take action against the violence in the city and against the blatant social inequality. His predecessor Bill de Blasio had already promised that, but achieved nothing in eight years in office. Therefore, the two cases are the first test for Adams.
A lucrative job for your own brother
Apparently the family man he is, Adams had as one of his first acts landed his brother Bernard the job of chief of security for the mayor. This job is worth $210,000 a year. When allegations of nepotism were raised, Adams was surprised. He needs someone he trusts completely in this position, he said. He gambled away his own leap of faith in record time.
And: New York not only had to cope with the deaths of police officers Jason Rivera and Wilbert Mora and Michelle Go in January. A baby died in a gunfight in the Bronx after being hit by a ricochet. A 19-year-old employee at a Burger King restaurant was killed in a robbery. In the districts of Staten Island, Harlem and the Bronx, other police officers were injured in shootings, some seriously.
Former police officer Adams is now trying to raise his profile as a law and order man in times of trouble with the return of the civilian unit tasked with fighting illegal gun ownership, which was announced earlier this week. “We will not leave the city to the violent few,” he said. How civilian this new unit will be and what powers it has exactly remained unclear for the time being. You will be able to identify them “somehow”, the mayor promised.
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