NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — With less than a week to go before New Yorkers hit the polls and fresh off his final debate against his GOP rival, Democratic mayoral nominee Eric Adams joined WCBS 880 anchor Michael Wallace on Wednesday afternoon for a wide-ranging discussion on the issues impacting New York City.
Adams said if elected, tackling crime, especially on the subway, would be his top priority.
"Having someone shoved to the train tracks, having someone assaulted, all of these things really erode the public trust that we have," Adams said. "So we're going to really have a visible presence of our police personnel in the subway system, and make sure mental health professionals are dealing with some of the crises that those who are having mental health illnesses are facing. I was a former transit cop, I rode the subway system, I know what it is to keep the system safe and I'm going to bring those experiences to instructing my next commissioner on what I expect in our city."
Adams told Wallace that he would also reintroduce a plain-clothes police unit focused on getting guns off the street in an effort to combat crime in the city.
"Precision policing, identifying those gang members that are driving much of the gun violence in our city, but also do precision support," Adams said. "We know what areas that the violence is coming from in our city so why wait until violence is committed... we have to be more proactive and not reactive as a city."
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Adams said he will support the NYPD, but will not tolerate bad actors within the department.
"I'm going to have the backs of officers to do their jobs, but I'm also going to say if you don't respect the nobility of public protection you can't serve in my police department because the finest must be the finest," Adams said.
The current Brooklyn Borough President also discussed where he stands on another pressing issue: congestion pricing.
"There are too many cars on the road in Manhattan. It is impacting our finances, taking too long to do business and deliveries. We should have a waiver in congestion pricing for those who essentially must come to Manhattan. We should look at incentivizing trucks to deliver between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. We have to rethink how we are moving in our cities," Adams said. "With the influx of for-hire vehicles, Uber, Lyft, yellow cabs and other people driving in the city really we're going to reach a point where there's going to be almost a stalemate and if we don't factor this in we're not going to continue to have a thriving business district."
Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa will join WCBS 880 live at 2:30 p.m. Thursday.
Election Day is next Tuesday, Nov. 2.
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