Mayor Eric Adams returned to a spot that has lengthy anchored his private and political story as his time at Metropolis Corridor attracts to an in depth: the 103rd Precinct in Jamaica, Queens.
Throughout the ultimate days of his administration, Adams sat down with New York News on the precinct was the place he held one in every of his first press conferences as mayor in 2022 — and a long time earlier, the place he skilled a traumatic encounter with police that he has typically cited as formative.
“I really want New Yorkers to use my journey as a symbol,” Adams mentioned, describing his resolution to return to the precinct. “Even in the darkest moments of your life, it’s about how you turn pain into purpose.”
Adams recalled that the incident on the 103rd Precinct pushed him towards activism and finally a profession in regulation enforcement, moderately than bitterness. “Sometimes we don’t realize the darkest moments of your life are not a burial, but it’s a planting,” he mentioned.
Whereas wanting again at his 4 years as mayor of America’s largest metropolis, Adams sought to border how he believes his tenure ought to be remembered. He additionally provided phrases of recommendation (and warning) to his successor, Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.
“He should think them through before he actually makes these major changes. They may sound good because the advocates are calling for it, but when it comes down to where the rubber meets the road, it can endanger the lives of individuals,” he mentioned, predicting that “some of the things he ran on, he’s going to adjust when he gets in the seat.”
Adams’ high precedence
That framing displays the throughline Adams has emphasised since his 2021 marketing campaign: a former police officer and a sufferer of police violence who believed he was uniquely positioned to revive order with out abandoning reform.
He mentioned he made it clear to every of his 4 police commissioners that public security was his high precedence and that he could be “very much involved” in aligning the NYPD with that expectation. He described his present Police Commissioner, Jessica Tisch, as “a smart police administrator” and understands why incoming Mayor Mamdani opted to maintain her within the function.
“His relationship [with her] may be different than mine,” Adams mentioned, including that he doesn’t “know if the next mayor is going to be that much engaged” in public security.
Picture by Lloyd Mitchell
Mayor-elect Mamdani, for his half, has formidable plans for policing, together with the creation of a Division of Neighborhood Security to coordinate prevention and outreach applications. The brand new civilian company is aimed toward “preventing violence before it happens” with a proposed price range of $1.1 billion.
Adams isn’t bought: “There are many great quotes from me. One of the quotes that I think is the best is that idealism collides with realism. When you’re the mayor of the city of New York, it’s different from when you run to be the mayor.”
Whereas crime statistics level to improved public security throughout Adams’ tenure, his file on policing has been shadowed by a sequence of lawsuits from former members of the power, alleging that the NYPD operated underneath a tradition of cronyism, bribery, and retaliation towards whistleblowers.
In July 2025, 5 former high-ranking NYPD officers — together with former interim Commissioner Thomas Donlon and 4 former chiefs — filed separate federal lawsuits claiming that Adams and his allies ran the division as a “racketeering enterprise,” bypassing established promotion procedures and retaliating towards officers who raised issues about misconduct.
Adams has vehemently denied the allegations.
Requested about probably the most testing instances as mayor, Adams pointed to the migrant disaster, saying the town spent greater than $8 billion responding to asylum seekers—prices he mentioned had been by no means factored into the town’s unique price range planning. The sudden spending, he mentioned, required the administration to shift and cut back a few of its ambitions, even because it continued to fund what he described as core priorities, together with public security, youth employment, education schemes, and companies for youngsters.
Adams famous that whereas New York’s $115 billion price range seems huge, solely a fraction of it’s discretionary, which limits the town’s flexibility as soon as the disaster takes maintain.
Not a fan of Mamdani
One factor Adams is not going to do for sure is be a waiter when Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani sits down on the desk of success come Jan. 1.
Adams burdened to this paper that his interactions with Mamdani because the election have been cordial {and professional}, at the same time as he made clear that his disagreements with the incoming mayor are deeply ideological.
“I don’t dislike the incoming mayor,” Adams mentioned. “I dislike his policies and his supporters, the DSA (Democratic Socialists of America). I think their policies are dangerous. They’re harmful to our city, and they will take our city backward.”
Nonetheless, Adams pushed again forcefully towards strategies that he had delayed the transition or sought to undermine his successor with a number of government orders.
He mentioned his administration remained in fixed communication with Mamdani’s crew and assembled intensive transition supplies to make sure continuity. “I’m here. I’m not going anywhere until December 31,” Adams mentioned, including that he needed the incoming mayor to have the ability to “hit the ground running.”
Hizzoner has overtly opposed Mamdani’s plan to freeze rents on rent-stabilized residences and has not dominated out appointing extra members to the Lease Tips Board earlier than leaving workplace, a transfer that would affect lease selections nicely into the following administration.
“I don’t believe in freezing rents without doing an analysis… I’m going to appoint people who I believe understand that,” he mentioned.
Picture by Lloyd Mitchell
Adams has additionally issued government orders and made appointments that seem to lock in insurance policies at odds with Mamdani’s platform. In December, he signed an order barring metropolis companies from participating in contracting practices that may very well be construed as boycotts of Israel, regardless of Mamdani’s public help for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions motion. His administration additionally moved to designate Elizabeth Road Backyard as protected parkland, limiting Mamdani’s potential to pursue inexpensive housing growth on the web site.
In schooling coverage, Adams appointed former Republican councilmember Joe Borelli to the town’s Panel for Instructional Coverage, a physique that performs a central function in overseeing public colleges. He additionally tapped a pro-police ally as the brand new head of the NYPD’s impartial oversight board earlier this month.
The appointments, which lengthen into Mamdani’s time period, had been broadly interpreted as one other effort to form coverage past Adams’ tenure.
Adams defended these late-term appointments and selections as a part of his obligation to manipulate by means of the top of his time period, not an effort to constrain the following administration. Whereas acknowledging criticism, he mentioned mayors have lengthy exercised that authority to guard their coverage priorities.
“While you’re the mayor, you still have the power to make appointments that will protect your legacy and continue your legacy,” he mentioned, calling claims that he was attempting to dam Mamdani “asinine.”
“We’re utilizing our authority to put people on boards, and other positions that’re going to fulfill what I have to do until I’m no longer the mayor,” he mentioned.
Adams additionally addressed questions on whether or not he would attend Mamdani’s inauguration, saying he was cautious of his presence turning into a distraction. He mentioned he needed the second to stay celebratory and traditionally intact, expressing concern that a few of Mamdani’s supporters may try to show the occasion right into a protest. Adams mentioned he would favor to talk instantly with Mamdani earlier than making a ultimate resolution, framing it as a matter of symbolism and respect for a easy switch of energy.
‘I did nothing wrong’
The outgoing mayor spent a lot of the interview addressing his exoneration from severe allegations of corruption that he had repeatedly denied, however which had successfully derailed his reelection bid. These included the September 2024 federal costs accusing him of bribery, wire fraud, and unlawful marketing campaign contributions, a case Adams has described as politically motivated from its inception.
The costs had been finally dismissed by federal Decide Dale Ho in April with prejudice, barring the Justice Division from reviving the case. Whereas President Donald Trump’s Justice Division initially sought a dismissal with out prejudice, which might have allowed prosecutors to refile the fees at a later date, the courtroom rejected that method. The decide cited issues that leaving the case unresolved might create the notion that the federal authorities was wielding the specter of renewed prosecution as leverage over the sitting mayor.
In his exit interview, Adams pointed to that concern instantly, arguing that the case itself mirrored a broader politicization of the Justice Division. He urged New Yorkers to scrutinize the fees themselves.
“People should read the indictment,” Adams mentioned, calling the case an try to border routine conduct as felony. He additionally famous that President Biden had acknowledged issues throughout the Justice Division when pardoning his son, saying the company had turn into “too political.”
Nonetheless, Decide Ho’s ruling fueled widespread hypothesis that Adams’ authorized troubles had been entangled with federal immigration coverage, significantly allegations that his cooperation with the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown had been exchanged for leniency.
That hypothesis intensified within the weeks main as much as the case’s dismissal. On Feb. 13, Manhattan’s high federal prosecutor, Danielle Sassoon, and 5 different senior Justice Division officers resigned. Sassoon mentioned she had refused an order to drop the corruption case towards Adams.
Adams forcefully rejected any suggestion of a quid professional quo. He mentioned there was “nothing wrong” together with his interactions with federal officers and denied buying and selling coverage selections for private authorized aid.
“I did nothing wrong,” Adams mentioned, including that his positions on immigration and public security lengthy predated the indictment and had been primarily based, he mentioned, solely on what he believed was in the most effective pursuits of New Yorkers.
When requested whether or not he would help the discharge of all information associated to the case to clear his identify, Adams mentioned he believed the dismissal itself had already finished so, arguing that the judicial course of, together with the choice to dismiss the case with prejudice, adopted long-standing authorized norms and required no additional disclosure to validate his innocence.
Picture by Lloyd Mitchell
Relating to his relationship with President Trump, he acknowledged that it was according to how he handled President Biden. Nevertheless, he credited POTUS for publicly criticizing the federal case towards him whereas campaigning, not whereas in workplace.
“The president — while campaigning, not while he was president — said this is wrong, what they’re doing to Mayor Adams in New York,” he mentioned. “Without knowing if he was going to win or not, he made it clear that it was wrong.”
He famous he traveled to Washington roughly 10 instances to advocate for New York within the midst of the town’s migrant disaster, and mentioned visits to Trump had been no completely different from these of different Democratic officers and shouldn’t be considered as suspect.
“I don’t understand when Governor Hochul went to visit President Trump, it was applauded… I went to visit… and I was looked down on,” Adams mentioned.
He additionally credit Trump for dealing with border enforcement extra successfully than the Biden administration, arguing that securing the border lowered the circulation of asylum seekers into New York and eased the monetary pressure of the disaster.
“Should we go after those broken people who are just trying to provide for themselves? No, I don’t support that,” he mentioned, drawing a line on the elevated federal immigration enforcement efforts which have seen folks with no felony data detained and deported.
“But should we go after those who are committing a crime… and after they are convicted and serve time, have them deported? Yes, I support that,” he added.
Within the interview, Adams additionally addressed the continued investigation by the town Division of Investigation, which is analyzing whether or not he violated ethics legal guidelines. He emphasised that he had “done nothing wrong” and framed the probe as a part of a broader sample of politicization towards him.
Solely time will inform
Days after the sit-down interview, Adams convened a ultimate press convention together with his senior management crew in Metropolis Corridor’s Rotunda, to not announce new insurance policies, however to put a symbolic capstone on his administration: a time capsule.
One after the other, commissioners and deputy mayors described their work and positioned objects inside, supposed to function a file for future New Yorkers.
A key, a tassel, a padlock, a drone fragment, a child onesie, a miniature ferry, and a trash can had been positioned into the capsule by outgoing Adams administration officers, every meant to represent a pillar the mayor has spent 4 years elevating: public security by means of expertise and enforcement; housing manufacturing by means of rezonings and the “City of Yes” agenda; affordability by means of labor contracts, tax aid, childcare enlargement, and debt forgiveness; quality-of-life initiatives corresponding to containerized trash and the closure of unlawful hashish retailers; and the town’s humanitarian response to the migrant disaster, represented by an ID card from the Roosevelt Lodge, as soon as the nerve heart of New York’s asylum-seeker operations.
Because the ceremony stretched on, Adams returned time and again to the concept historical past, just like the time capsule itself, is formed by what’s chosen to be preserved.
Picture by Ed Reed/Mayoral Images Workplace.
“You have to take the totality and the full scope of the person,” he mentioned, rejecting what he referred to as selective narratives about his tenure. Requested just lately in regards to the distinction between Eric Adams, the mayor, and Eric Adams the person, he mentioned there was none. “Unfiltered. Perfectly imperfect. I am just Eric.”
He used the ultimate press convention, however like his interviews, to border his mayoralty much less as a political chapter than as an extension of a private journey — from a dyslexic baby raised by a mom who “never gave up,” to a mayor who insists that setbacks will not be endings however inflection factors. “A bend in the road is not the end of the road,” Adams mentioned.
“History is not selectively picking out one piece that fits into your narrative,” he mentioned. “History is showing the totality of what an individual does. And that’s what this time capsule is about.”
Sealed beneath Metropolis Corridor, the capsule will stay closed for an additional decade. By then, the town might be underneath completely different management, formed by completely different priorities. However Adams is betting that when future New Yorkers look again, they’ll see greater than controversy or battle.
“I’m ready,” he mentioned. “I did what I had to do. And I’m leaving back a proud record for all of us New Yorkers.”
