Continued from Page 15
It shows how you collaborate and
work as a team and we’re going to
continue to do that throughout all
of our agencies.
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.COM | APRIL 15-21, 2022 16
Schneps Media: Speaking
of the homeless encampments, I
have two questions. Firstly, a lot
of the homeless say they don’t feel
safe in the shelter system, and yet
you are breaking up the encampments.
So in a chicken or the egg
scenario, which comes first, the
cleaning up of the shelter system
or getting the homeless off the
streets?
Mayor Adams: I believe that
much of what the homeless are
saying and even advocates are
saying is based on the old model
of homelessness. Of course, if you
had a terrible experience inside
a homeless shelter, you’re going
to believe that is what you will
always encounter and I’m saying
to them, that’s why we printed
brochures to show them. This is
where we are asking you to go so
that we can dismantle the belief
that you can’t have a safe place
to live and sleep as you find permanent
housing. It is not safe nor
is it dignified to live in a tent or
a cardboard box with human
waste, drug paraphernalia, unable
to take a shower, not knowing
where your next meal is coming
from. In our shelters you get
three meals a day, shower facilities
and a bed, and we have our
safe haven beds. We’re going to
open 500 safe haven beds. No one
in this city that states they want
a place to sleep is turned away.
And so when you hear people say
there’s not enough beds, ask them
who’s turned away. Every New
Yorker that wants to bed we find
them a bed so they can sleep with
dignity. And I’m not going to succumb
to the belief that it is OK for
people to live in an undignified
environment. These are fellow
New Yorkers and I’m not going to
abandon them.
Schneps Media: The second
part is you showed media dozens
of syringes taken from the encampments
indicating there are
a lot of hardcore homeless drug
addicts. Your predecessor opened
free injection sites just before he
Eric Adams at City Hall on April 8, 2022. Photo by Dean Moses
left office, I believe in Harlem. Do
you want to expand, keep as is or
get rid of this program?
Mayor Adams: Two things
when you look at the free injection
sites. Number one, we can’t oversaturate
communities. We have
totally destroyed the 125th Street
strip from river to river. When
you walk through that strip, you
see open drug use, you see loitering.
I mean the conditions just
decimated the business. You’re
seeing shootings in the area. We
had a meeting with the community
leaders and Congressman
Espaillat and we had the commissioner
and her top brass attend.
Other agencies attended. We’re
going to focus on that area. They
have too many drug treatment locations
in this area from private
to public, and you can’t oversaturate
the area in that manner.
I believe in the concept of free
injection sites with services to get
individuals off drugs. Not to say
that this is a permanent lifestyle
that you could come in here and
inject for the rest of your life. No,
it must have services there: onthe
ground drug treatment, get
people off drugs, put them into
permanent housing, permanent
employment. Those wraparound
services are crucial. And I don’t
believe we’re doing a good enough
job in doing that now.
Schneps Media: An extension
of mayoral control over city
schools was not included in the
recently passed state budget. Are
you concerned that not passing
an extension of mayoral control
over the city’s schools is hampering
more rollouts of your education
initiatives?
Mayor Adams: I was disappointed
that it was not in the budget.
I’m going to continue to partner
with the lawmakers that are
there to get more accountability.
Think about this. This is the first
time in history where you have
a Black mayor, you have a Black
chancellor, and they were both
public school students.
Schneps Media: Your predecessor
had an adversarial relationship
with charter schools, yet
parents in lower socio-economic
neighborhoods do seek choice on
where to send their kids. What
do you see as the role for charter
schools in public education?
Mayor Adams: I’m big on
scaling up excellence wherever it
is. And I’m not going to engage in
the only public school or district
schools or only charter schools
because they are both public
schools. Many people don’t realize
that. I am saying wherever we
find excellence, let’s scale it up.
We have excellent district schools
and excellent charter schools, but
we pin the two against each other.
When I visit a charter school
and they’re doing the right thing,
I want to incorporate what they
are doing in my district schools.
And the same as when I see a
failing charter school. I want
to look at the successful things
we’re doing in district schools
to assist them such as in Staten
Island. We have a dyslexia focus
school on Staten Island that we
can learn from and help charter
schools and district schools as
we scale up what they’re doing
and give them the resources that
they need. Thirty percent of our
inmates in prisons in the country
are dyslexic. And we want to stop
that. Let’s do dyslexia screening.
Let’s identify how children learn
differently and give the support
that they need. This way we can
start turning around the feeders
of crime.
Schneps Media: On a personal
level, I came here from Chicago
to make my mark in music and
was a subway musician for about
20 years, both as a member of the
MTA’s Music Under New York
program and as a platform musician,
where I sometimes had runins
with the transit beat cops.
Many people come here from all
over the world for a career in the
arts and some take to the streets,
parks and subways to perform.
How do you reconcile possibly
cracking down on street art with
encouraging artists to continue
to come to the Big Apple to make
it?
Mayor Adams: My desire is
on every corner to have a poet, a
musician, a drummer, you know,
spoken word. We need to become
an exciting and unique place.
Just as we had those circles inside
the subway system with Music
Under New York, I would like
to see those circles in our parks
and open spaces or in our various
places where people assemble.
We can open the city up and
music and culture is important.
We have an initiative that we’re
going to roll out and this may
be breaking news. We’re going
to use office spaces, government
office buildings. We’re looking
at the possibility of having local
struggling artists in the lobby
of those office buildings display
their art and play their music, as
people go in to deal with the brokenness
of their lives. To allow
music and art to be part of the
healing process.
Schneps Media: Finally, I
know it’s still a bit early in your
administration, but what would
you like your legacy as mayor to
be?
Mayor Adams: I want a city
that’s healthy and safe because
public safety and justice are a
prerequisite to prosperity. You
can have all the money you want,
but if you’re not safe to go to your
parks, to visit your family, to
know that you’re home safe, then
what is it all for? I believe when
we turn around the city and
make it a safe place, we’re going
to enjoy the beauty of the greatest
place on the planet and that’s
New York.
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