APRIL 15, 2022 www.qns.com RIDGEWOOD TIMES
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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 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: on-the-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 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
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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