New York’s likely next mayor, Eric Adams, is serving up some much-needed common sense.
No. 1: On Monday, he politely-but-firmly differed with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-Bx/Queens) on “Tax the Rich.”
“I think AOC and I believe we both want the same things, we just have different pathways to get there,” he said when asked on CNBC about the notorious dress she wore to last week’s Met Gala. “Her mother was a domestic worker, or did things on that level, [and] so was my mother.
“But when you talk about just blanketly saying tax rich in this city, . . . 65,000 [people] pay 51 percent of our income taxes. . . . And if you say to those 65,000 to leave, then we’re not going to have the firefighters, the teachers, all of those basic things.”
No. 2: Speaking to advocacy group InformNYC via Zoom earlier this month, the Democratic mayoral nominee said he would ditch Mayor Bill de Blasio’s plan to take control of school-safety agents away from New York’s Finest.
Hizzoner wants to shift oversight of the 5,000-plus agents from the NYPD because that supposedly creates a hostile and demoralizing atmosphere inside schools.
But Adams, a former NYPD captain, vociferously disagrees, saying that school security involves more than breaking up hallway fights and often requires dealing with more serious violence and misconduct issues. He’ll add new training, change the uniforms and improve coordination with school officials; that’s it.
No. 3: On CNBC, Adams rightly labeled the city Department of Education “dysfunctional.” “Sixty-five percent of black and brown children don’t meet proficiency in the Department of Education,” he said. “Our school system is dysfunctional and we have to stop acting like it’s not. We sometimes have to call a thing the thing and be honest about the basic essentials.”
Such sound talk delivered in a non-combative way is not only refreshing but bodes well for actually bringing New York City the changes it so desperately needs.