19 THE QUEENS COURIER • APRIL 15, 2022 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
the shelter system, and yet you are breaking up
the encampments. So in a chicken or the egg
scenario, which comes fi rst, 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. Th is 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 fi nd permanent housing. It is not safe nor
is it dignifi ed 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
fi nd 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 undignifi ed
environment. Th ese are fellow New Yorkers
and I’m not going to abandon them.
Schneps Media: Th e 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
left offi ce, 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. Th ey 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:
on-the-ground drug treatment, get people
off drugs, put them into permanent housing,
permanent employment. Th ose 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. Th ink about this.
Th is is the fi rst 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 fi nd
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.
Th irty 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 diff erently and
give the support that they need. Th is 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 run-ins 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 offi ce spaces,
government offi ce buildings. We’re looking at
the possibility of having local struggling artists
in the lobby of those offi ce 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.
Photo by Dean Moses
Mayor Eric Adams making a point at City Hall on April 8, 2022.
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