Transcript: Mayor Adams Appears Live On NY1's “Mornings On 1"

May 20, 2024

Jamie Stelter: City Council is expected to vote this week on the next phase of Mayor Adams' City of Yes Plan. This is one of three parts which the administration hopes to spur housing and economic growth. It's also the most potentially consequential because it would change the zoning rules that have been on the books for decades. 

Some parts of the City of Yes Plan would include permit businesses to operate in ground floor and upper floor spaces, allow corner stores to open in residential zones, eliminate rules that currently prohibit dancing in restaurants and other venues, and allow businesses like barbershops to be based in residential homes. For more on this, I'm joined by Mayor Adams and the commissioner of City Planning, Dan Garodnick. Good morning to you both. Thanks for being here.

Mayor Eric Adams: Good morning. Good morning. Great to be here with Commissioner Garodnick. He really understands this topic very well.

Stelter: Yes. Let's start with you, Mr. Mayor. What do you want New Yorkers to know about this part of your City of Yes Plan?

Mayor Adams: Well just think about it. 1960 something. Rotary phone. Rotary phone. We had rules and regulations and zoning that was associated with a rotary phone generation. We now have a smartphone. So how do we stay stagnant and expect our city to grow? We've recovered more jobs in this city's history, but we have to go further. And this is a way to do so.

Stelter: Change is good in some ways, of course. To you, Dan, there is a wall of neighbors, community groups, politicians, a lot of members of the City Council, that instead of a City of Yes Plan, they're really operating as a city of no. They don't want new neighbors. They don't want some of these changes. What is your message to them?

Dan Garodnick, Director, Department of City Planning: First of all, we were really encouraged to see all five borough chambers of commerce, 31 business improvement districts, smart planning groups come out in favor of this plan. when we look at our zoning, which was created in 1961, our manufacturing and business rules really have not changed in over 60 years. References to taxidermy and typewriter repair shops and no reference to 3D printing or virtual reality or even a cell phone store the mayor was alluding to. 

We are holding ourselves back as it relates to good jobs and innovation. That's what this plan is about. We understand that people fear change. This is also an effort for us to update our zoning rules so that we are not perpetuating vacant storefronts in New York City. We're giving people an opportunity for jobs and for the ability to take care of their own families.

Stelter: Vacant storefronts have been a big problem. But Dan, what do you say to the people who live in parts of Queens and Brooklyn that have a more sort of suburban existence in the city and don't want some of that in their residential area?

Garodnick: I would say to them, I understand the concern. The furthest we have gone in this proposal in a way that would allow for any commercial activity in a residential area is to create an opportunity for a corner store, which is something which, 265,000 New Yorkers live more than a quarter mile from a place where they can get a carton of milk. 

We in this proposal create an opportunity for the possibility of a corner store goes through process. We need approval from the City Planning Commission. That's as far as we go. Otherwise, we're trying to normalize and right size our existing zoning rules in commercial places where they already exist.

Mayor Adams: And keep in mind, I'm very familiar with those, suburban style neighborhoods I grew up in when we sell the family homes there. Many of those individuals would like to work from home now. They would like to be independent workers. We want to make it easier for people who are working out of their homes. There's just a different dynamic of working now. We want to adjust to those changes.

Garodnick: And I would add, Jamie, that as it relates to home occupations today, we have a very unusual set of rules that are baked in 1961, which allow you to be a music teacher but not an interior decorator in your own home. We need to modernize these rules. This is the 21st century. We need to get out of our own way. We're hitting record job numbers in New York City, but we're also holding ourselves back here.

Stelter: All right. We will see how the City Council votes on that this week. In the meantime, Mr. Mayor, I have to talk to you about what happened over the weekend. By now, of course, you've seen the video of what happened in Bay Ridge on Saturday at this pro-Palestinian protest. Police seen wrestling someone to the ground, repeatedly punching them while they're down. Justin Brannan, who represents the district, was saying that nothing that he saw warranted such an aggressive response. What do you say to that? Do you think this was an appropriate response by the NYPD?

Mayor Adams: Justin and I must have looked at two different protests. We all have a right to protest. You don't have a right to ride on the top of a bus. You don't have a right to spit at police officers. You don't have a right to disobey lawful orders. We're looking into the isolated incident that people want to point out. Look at that entire incident. 

That was a complete disruption of the Bay Ridge community. Over 60 something 911 calls were held up because people were blocking emergency vehicle traffic. That was unacceptable. I take my hat off to the Police Department, how they handled an unruly group of people. 

When we look at the number, over 30 something people who were arrested did not live in the Bay Ridge community. In some cases, did not even live in the city. Job well done by Police Department of dealing with a very volatile situation. People want to take that one isolated incident that we're investigating. They need to look at the totality of what happened in that bedroom community. That is unacceptable. 

Stelter: It is unacceptable. The NYPD this morning saying once again that same line that you were using after the Columbia protests about it being outside agitators and that it's people who don't live here. Does it really matter whether they live here or not? Because when they go in with a response, they haven't checked any IDs yet. They don't know where these people live.

Mayor Adams: Let's be clear. Remember when I first said that? Everyone was pushing back on me on it until we did an analysis of who was on our school campuses. We saw the numbers, almost 40 percent, 40 percent on those school campuses we're arrested were associated with those demonstrations came from outside of these college grounds. 

I was right then. We're right now. We're not going to ignore the fact that when you arrest people who are predominantly not even from our city and have a record of being reckless and call for the destruction of America, the destruction of America, that's not acceptable to me. They have to follow the law. They have the right to say what they want. They don't have a right to be disruptive and destructive in our city.

Stelter: I want to talk to you about other news from last week. 2,500 children did not receive a free pre-K seat. You have long wait lists now, possible long commutes for people who can't get the preschool that they want in their neighborhood. We all know it's just not doable for families to have preschool be that far away from where you live. What went wrong here?

Mayor Adams: Nothing went wrong here. I was clear from day one. I'm going to continue to say and I want to be very clear. Every child that wants a seat is going to have a seat we had thousands of empty seats that we were paying for, thousands that we were paying for. That is not a good use of taxpayers dollars. We're not going to disrupt the lives of children and families. Every child that wants a seat will have a seat.

Stelter: All right. Before I let you go, Mr. Mayor, we saw you at one of the Knicks games at the Garden, Game Seven last night. Come on. They just couldn't pull it out. What is your message to Knicks fans this morning?

Mayor Adams: It's to all New Yorkers, give it your all. Give it your heart. Leave everything you have on the court, on the ice, on a baseball diamond. Give it your all. You always don't come home with the ring. But they showed us the grit, the gut and the determination of New Yorkers. There’s always next year. I'm really proud of those guys for what they did accomplish. Even with the injuries, they gave it their all. They left every ounce on the floor. Let's continue to do that in our lives.

Stelter: We still have the Rangers in it. They are playing again on Wednesday night. 

Mayor Adams: That’s right.

Stelter: Mr. Mayor, Mr. Commissioner, thank you so much for being with me this morning.