Mayor Eric Adams and Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch arrive on the forty second Avenue–Occasions Sq. subway station on Friday, forward of the heated information convention marking the one-year anniversary of the PATH outreach program.
Picture by Michael Appleton/Mayoral Pictures Workplace
Mayor Eric Adams on Friday marked the one-year anniversary of his administration’s Partnership Help for Transit Homelessness (PATH) program, touting record-low subway crime earlier than the occasion erupted right into a heated alternate over a tabloid report a couple of former Metropolis Corridor official and a romantic associate’s new memoir.
Talking on the forty second Avenue–Occasions Sq. subway station alongside Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, Adams stated the PATH program had contacted greater than 20,100 individuals dwelling within the subway system and that outreach staff have supplied shelter, meals, and medical therapy over 6,100 instances.
Launched in August 2024 as a part of the mayor’s Subway Security Plan, PATH pairs NYPD Transit Bureau officers with nurses and outreach staff from the Division of Homeless Companies and NYC Well being + Hospitals. The groups function in a single day—from 8 p.m. to midday the next day—conducting centered outreach throughout Manhattan’s subway stations and trains to have interaction people who seem like with out shelter.
Based on Adams, about 2,100 individuals have been faraway from the transit system for quality-of-life violations, whereas almost 1,900 people have been linked to shelters for the reason that program started.
“Keeping New Yorkers safe is our number one commitment, especially on the subways,” Adams stated. “The days of ignoring people in need on our streets and in our subways are over.”
Commissioner Tisch referred to as this system “a model for co-response,” crediting collaboration between police, social staff, and clinicians for lowering each dysfunction and danger within the transit system. “This is what happens when every agency pulls in the same direction,” she stated, noting {that a} thousand individuals had been linked to everlasting housing.
Adams reported that total transit crime fell 17 % in September in contrast with the identical month final 12 months—the bottom stage for any September on report outdoors the pandemic years.
Requested concerning the latest arrest of David Mazariegos, accused of fatally beating 64-year-old Brooklyn resident Nicola Tanzi on the Jay Avenue–MetroTech station on Oct. 7, Adams stated such incidents will persist till the town and state take stronger motion. He once more urged the passage of state laws that will enable the town to involuntarily hospitalize people combating extreme substance abuse in public.
Adams first launched the proposal, referred to as the “Compassionate Interventions Act,” final month. The plan would authorize metropolis first responders to involuntarily commit people who pose a danger to themselves or others because of drug or alcohol use—a measure presently prohibited beneath state legislation. The laws would additionally enable medical professionals to hunt court docket orders for mandated substance use therapy following an analysis.
The mayor described the initiative as an enlargement of a state legislation handed earlier this 12 months, which permits metropolis officers to hospitalize people neglecting their primary wants because of extreme psychological sickness. He framed each measures as lifelines for New Yorkers unable to entry assistance on their very own and as steps towards bettering high quality of life.
“We’re fighting against state lawmakers that don’t seem to understand what involuntary removal means. There are people who need care that don’t know they need care. There are people who are going through the revolving door system that are constantly coming back out over and over again,” stated Adams. “So we’re fighting with not only making sure they get the care, but with lawmakers, lawmakers that are not on the ground, riding the subways like I am, and seeing how hard it is to talk a person off the street.”
Advocacy teams, together with the Authorized Support Society and the New York Civil Liberties Union, have criticized the proposal. NYCLU Government Director Donna Lieberman denounced it as a part of the “same old playbook” of politicians who “arrest and coerce people” combating dependancy.
‘Your sick mind!’
On Thursday, Adams had inspired individuals to learn the e book, saying he revered Ray for writing it and that he “enjoyed it.”
“Jas has always led with integrity. Writing this book wasn’t easy, but she wanted people to understand the work, the mission, and the human side behind the headlines,” the mayor wrote on X, previously Twitter.
However at Friday’s press convention, Adams denied that the passage seems within the e book and accused the reporter and different members of the media of “sick” and “dark” protection that oversexualized him.
“Some of you have been covering me for three-and-a-half years,” he stated. “You’re one of the most dark writers I’ve ever seen in this city.”
“The sickness of how you think of over sexualizing a black man. That in the book, you stated that there was a sexual action in Borough Hall that was never in the book, but that’s typical of the sickness and the darkness of your sick mind. You’re one of the sickest reporters I know,” Adams stated.
Former Sports activities Czar Jasmine Ray and Mayor Eric Adams pictured at an occasion with Côte d’Ivoire delegates in Aug. 2024Photo by Benny Polatseck/Mayoral Pictures Workplace
New York News was unable to independently confirm the main points of the alleged encounter on the heart of Friday’s alternate, however excerpts of the e book shared on-line allude to a sexual encounter.
“He didn’t ask. He didn’t explain. He just looked at me… And in that look, I knew. He had made up his mind. He closed the distance like a man stepping into something he couldn’t walk back from. And then he said, ‘F–k it’” the excerpt reads.
Ray, appointed by Adams in 2022 as the town’s first sports activities czar, incomes $160,000 yearly, left Metropolis Corridor final month. She not too long ago launched her memoir, revealing particulars about her relationship with Adams and his political challenges as the town’s chief. Whereas selling the e book, Ray stated she hopes it evokes Adams to reenter the mayoral race and permits the general public to see a extra “human side” of him.
Adams dropped his unbiased reelection bid after his recognition fell sharply in latest months following a corruption indictment final 12 months that the Trump Justice Division dropped earlier this 12 months beneath disputed circumstances. Latest polls had proven Adams trailing far behind his three opponents, in some circumstances incomes solely single-digit help.
On Friday, Adams went on to defend his report, saying his administration had delivered “the lowest crime in the city’s history,” report job development, and main housing positive aspects. He accused the media of unfairly “destroying” his fame regardless of his accomplishments and stated his eventual successor would inherit “a better city.”
