Transcript: Mayor Adams Holds Virtual Briefing

May 10, 2024

Deputy Mayor Fabien Levy, Communications: Hi everybody, thanks very much for joining us today for our virtual briefing. We have Mayor Adams joining us from Rome, so we'll just kick it right over to the mayor to give a little bit of an overview on what he did today, and then we'll take some questions.

Mayor Eric Adams: Thanks so much, Fabien, and thanks everyone for joining. In early day, we shared this morning, we arrived this morning from our flight from New York, landed in Rome, and the start of the day, we went to what I was extremely impressed with, a new metro extension of a new metro line. The extension is actually running not directly under the Colosseum, but close to it. 

It was extremely important for those who were operating the construction site to be conscious of any potential historical elements that were there, because many of these cities are built on top of each other, and they did discover many artifacts, and they had to preserve them. It will be part of the museum setting of the new metro line, the extension of a new metro line. 
And then we took a trip over to a former slaughtering house, slaughtered animals, it was one of the largest in Italy, and it slaughtered cows and other livestock. They are converting it into a place of art.

They're partnering with the university to make sure that they use this large piece of land to really turn it into a meeting and gathering place for young people, for the citizens and the residents of Rome. It was really impressive to see that conversion using a piece of property that historically, they stated, was used for bad things. 

It was in a blighted area. It was extremely dangerous, but they totally turned it around. I think about what we did with the High Line and some areas across our city where they have remained blighted for a long time. I'm going to sit down with the team and look at what are some of the places we can potentially convert for artist space and community space and allow people to come together and meet together. 

We also had an opportunity to sit down with the mayor of Rome. Just true to form, cities go through the same crises. He talked about the housing crisis here. He talked about the public safety issue here. He talked about the cost of living in the city as well. He talked about this migrant and asylum seeker issue that he's facing. And so it just really reinforces how mayors have to respond to national policies, where it impacts residents is really what the mayors must deal with. It was just an engaging conversation with him as he shared the challenges of being the mayor of a city the size of Rome. It's not as big as New York but clearly, it represents the challenges that mayors are facing all over the globe.

 It was a good day. We have so much more to do. We'll be moving to around 11 p.m. tonight and we're looking forward to the other parts of this endeavor. This is the second World Meeting on Human Fraternity. There are four pillars that they are focused on: personal, spiritual, social, and ecological. These are the four pillars that they are really leaning into focusing on as we deal with our humanitarian response to governing and that is what my speech will be on tomorrow. Fabien, I'll open the floor to any questions.

Deputy Mayor Levy: Thank you very much, mayor. If you have a question, please utilize the raise hand feature. Again, to ask a question, please utilize the raise hand feature. We'll give it a few seconds for the queue to populate. Great. 

First, we'll start with Kelly Mena from New York One. Kelly, your line is unmuted. Please unmute your line. 

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. My question to you is, so far on the trip, what do you think are going to be your main takeaways? You mentioned speaking to the mayor of Rome about the migrant and asylum crisis, public safety. Was there anything he said to you that you feel could be used for New York City that you think it will be a valuable piece of information? 

Also wondering, a lot of the events today, you don't have a lot of media. Do you think that that's been, getting more media access to you on this trip, do you think that that's an issue?

Mayor Adams: Actually, there was media. I was happy to see some familiar faces where we were at the former slaughtering house, spoke with some of the New York reporters who were there and shared what happened during the day. And the Vatican is extremely sensitive when it comes down to entering their grounds, and we're respectful to our hosts. On some occasions, the host is stating they do not want media presence, and not only media from the states, but even their local media, and we're going to be respectful of their desire. But we did communicate with some of our local journalists while we moved around at one of the locations, and we want to have the media as accessible as possible, but we do want to be respectful to our hosts. 

In the area of tomorrow, we are going to asylum seeker migrant locations. It could be tomorrow or Sunday, maybe Sunday. We're going to migrants and asylum seekers. I would love to see how they are housing them, the services they are providing. What really jumped off at me in my conversation with the mayor is how quick they are able to work. One of the requirements is that you learn the language of the country, basic Italian, and you are allowed to work within a short period of time, anywhere from two months, you are able to really be a part of the society and contribute to the society. It just really reinforces the importance of working. 

I'm not seeing a lot of visible signs of homelessness or people living on the streets, but that was a real takeaway for me, and I'm looking forward to Sunday when we go to some of the migrants and asylum seeker locations.

Deputy Mayor Levy: Thank you next, we'll go to Ethan from AM New York. Ethan, you can unmute your line. 

Question: Hi, mayor. So I'm wondering with the subway station that you viewed, obviously getting big subway infrastructure projects done here is a process that takes many years. Would you like to see further expansions of subway lines in the city and I don't know, did this give you any insight on how that could happen? Also, I'm assuming the numbers they're seeing for migrants in Rome is a lot less than what we're seeing. Did you get a sense of what those numbers are?

Mayor Adams: Yes, they are lower than what we're seeing here. As you know, we had 194,000 that went through our system. It is a small amount, but it's still a challenge. It's a challenge because of where the migrants and asylum seekers are coming from. Many of them are coming from areas where they do not have families here in the city. They are learning on how to be acclimated to the city of Rome and that is a challenge. As we know, with many of our Venezuelan migrants and asylum seekers did not have a large Venezuelan population in the city of New York. That's similar to what they're experiencing here. Again, they're teaching them the language and they are giving them the information they need to move about. 

In our city, unlike others, it is easy to move about because of our excellent transportation system. Here, they only have, they're only going to have four lines, which is totally different from ours. The cars, they're dependent on the car here, unlike New York City. When you look at how well they're handling the situation, it just really, it just says a lot of their commitment and dedication. You have one more question at the top, first question. What was that again?

Question: Yes, just about like, on that subway point. 

Mayor Adams: Yes, that's right. 

Question: What expansion would you like to see in New York? I know the Second Avenue Subway is an ongoing project. Are there any other places that seeing this project has inspired you to be like, oh, we should do something similar?

Mayor Adams: One thing is for sure. We cannot wait the numbers of years to do something like a Second Avenue. We're doing an expansion of Second Avenue thanks to Congressman Espaillat, who really leaned into this to get the funding. I think that we should look at the potentiality of having the subway line going further out on Utica Avenue. Transportation, subway transportation is one of the best way to move throughout the city. We expanded, one of the last projects he did was expanding the 7 line going over to the West Side. It is a popular route for people to take. 

The technology that I saw today shows how great the possibility is in comparison to the way it was before. They use a boring machine that not only does it dig the tunnel for the subway and the train, but it also seals the walls as it bores through. I think this technology that I've seen over and over again by different companies, I think it's something that if we're not looking into, we should look into because it is showing that clearly it moves at a faster rate and it makes a greater possibility of expanding our subway line. I think it's far time that we start having that conversation.

Deputy Mayor Levy: Thank you. As a reminder, if you have a question, please raise your hand. Next, we'll go to Jeff Mays, The New York Times. Jeff, you can unmute your line.

Question: You're scheduled to have an audience with the Pope along with others. I'm wondering, you've often talked about your faith and how that guides you in terms of how you govern the city. I'm wondering if you could talk a little bit more about what it might mean to meet the Pope. You're not Catholic, but does that still have the same effect on you as a Christian? What are you hoping to take from your meeting with the Pope?

Mayor Adams: No, thank you for that. I think that, no, I'm not a practicing Catholic. I am a Christian and I believe that those who are not Catholic still hold His Holiness with a level of respect. I think it's crucial for what he's doing about having this second meeting on Human Fraternity is so important because as young people would say, he's a credible messenger. He's an influencer. His voice on these topics would cause those who would probably traditionally ignore the topic to sit up and take note. 

For his call for us to have this meeting, I use the analogy of it’s a family reunion for us to ask ourselves, how are we treating our fellow human being? Although I'm not a practicing Catholic, I know we have millions of people in our city and across the country in America that they practice, they're practicing Catholics and particularly many of our Spanish-speaking, not only new residents, but longtime residents. This is my way of showing respect to religion on the whole, but just to be able to be part of the group that is going to be in a room with him and have the potentiality of engaging with him, this is a very important moment in my overall spiritual outlook.

Deputy Mayor Levy: Thank you. Next, we'll go to Craig McCarthy at the New York Post. Craig, you can unmute your line.

Question: …The round table that you had with the Nobel Prize winners. Can you talk a little bit about who you spoke with, what their topic was? 

Then also the meeting with the mayor of Rome today. I've been walking around the city today and I've been exploring everything and I really haven't seen a homeless presence. There's something you said you guys talked about. Was there any exchange of ideas there and maybe how you might bring home to tackle the homelessness issue in New York City?

Mayor Adams: There were several Nobel Laureates who sat down at the table. We didn't have a long conversation, I'm looking forward to the conversation as the days continue. It was about their overall ideas. Everyone is leaning into this Human Fraternity concept. They talked about different ways that they believe we can lean into it even further. 

What I'm really surprised about, and I guess I should not be surprised, is what New York City means to the entire globe. There was just this level of respect for the city and a level of respect as the mayor of the city. People really look up to New York for ideas to come from. Some of the Nobel Laureates that I sat down with talked about either traveling to the city, studying in the city, or being a part of a New York City fraternity. As we have this world meeting, there's this great fraternity with those who have went through New York City. I don't hear people bragging about visiting any other city the way they just hold this level of admiration about here in New York. 

And no, I did not see any homeless around the areas. Those are tourist areas where the Colosseum is and some of the other locations where Rome actually started on the hilltop. Those are tourist areas. The mayor did share with me you see more of a presence when you're outside of the tourist area. It's not at a threatening level, but you do see a presence of homelessness.

Deputy Mayor Levy: Thank you. Again, as a reminder, if you have a question, please utilize the raise hand feature. We'll next go to Mike Gartland at the New York Daily News. Mike, you can unmute your line.

Question: Hey, can you hear me? 

Mayor Adams: Yes, I can, Mike, how are you doing? 

Question: I'm good. How are you doing? 

Mayor Adams: Great. 

Question: I was sorry to hear about your brother. 

Mayor Adams: Thank you very much. 

Question: Just about your meeting with the Pope, do you plan to invite him to pay a visit to New York City? You talked about him as an influencer. If you had your druthers, how would you like to see him influence the issues impacting New York City now?

Mayor Adams: It's a great question. It's a great question. First, he is an influencer. Yes. As my son would say, he's a credible messenger. Credible messengers and influencers not only entertainers, athletes, and those who do hilarious things online. There are other people who voices carry. One of the positive aspects of social media is that you can have these positive voices. The mere fact that he's talking about the environment, ecological issues as one of the cornerstones and the pillars that we should be leaning into, that says a lot. Many people would not even engage in that conversation because they think it's something far off. Hearing from the Pope forces people to sit back and hear about it. 

I think that his voice on the migrants and asylum seekers, calling on mankind to do their part. As we have done in New York, so many nonprofits, so many volunteers. I think about our principal, getting clothing for those students that went to their schools. That is a type of action we need more of to just look at your fellow human being as your fellow brother or sister. I think that his voice will go a long way of getting people more engaged in the volunteerism and see how blessed we are in our lives and have volunteerism be part of our daily interactions with each other.

Deputy Mayor Levy: Great, thank you. Our final question comes from Emily Ngo, Politico. Emily, you can unmute your line. 

Question: …Also on the loss of your brother. May I ask you who's traveling with you from the city, what aides, what advisors that might be taking in some of this information that you are learning while you're in Rome? Additionally, since it is an exchange of ideas, did you relay or advise the mayor of Rome on what he can do better that New York is doing well?

Mayor Adams: Yes, I brought one person from our Intergovernmental Affairs team, an Arab Christian. I wanted to really put on display the diversity of our city. Oftentimes people think of Arabs, they don't realize that they're Christians, they're Muslims, they're other groups. It's been extremely fruitful. I brought a member of our photography team here because I really want to document this trip as much as possible. 

In my conversation with the mayor, I talked about what we do to bring people together, like our Breaking Bread, Building Bonds initiative. A thousand dinners, many of you heard me talk about it. Each table has 10 people and all come from different walks of life and engage in conversations with each other. I talked about what we're doing with our youth in the next couple of months, where we're bringing various youth from various religious and cultural backgrounds together to engage in conversations so we can start talking to each other and not at each other. And shared what we're doing around our containerization of garbage. Here in the tourist area, they keep it extremely clean, but there's some trash issues outside the tourist area that they are focusing on. 

We just shared ideas around public safety and our housing and how important housing is. He shared with me what many of my mayors across the globe have stated, that we have to really build a coalition together. Because as I stated at the top of this conversation, the problems that are created or the solutions that are handed down on a national level, the mayors of cities must address those issues. We want to start producing a unified voice around these issues, around everything from environment to public safety, to the issues of drugs, to issues of sustainability, housing. All of these issues are impacting our cities.

Deputy Mayor Levy: Great. Thank you very much, mayor. Thank you, everybody, for joining us today. We'll do another one of these tomorrow and as well on Sunday. Otherwise, we'll talk to you tomorrow. Ciao. 

Mayor Adams: Thank you. Take care all.

###