Column: Judging Eric Adams by tweet, by George Fiala

I’ve been wanting to write a column about Eric Adams for quite a while. I met him a few times when he was our Borough President, and frankly, I thought he was perfect at that job, which is basically a figurehead position.

BP’s used to have real governing powers back when there was a Board of Estimate running the city, in which the five borough presidents shared real power with the Mayor and Comptroller. A 1989 Supreme Court decision calling that arrangement unconstitutional led to its demise, with much of its power moving to the City Council.

The last Mayor who came up from Borough Presidency was David Dinkins who served while there was still the Board of Estimate.

It’s my contention that Adams does not have the proper background to lead the city, and I like to call him the first Borough President of all the boroughs at the same time.

However, I’m only the publisher of a lowly community newspaper, an industry which Adams seems to feel contempt for (more on that in a future column). I don’t get to see him in action.

But someone who does attempt to see him as much as possible is Chris Sommerfeldt, City Hall reporter for the NY Daily News. His tweets keep me informed about the mayors doings, and so the rest of this column will be those tweets. I’ve edited some for clarity.

See what you think.

Sept. 5  “We can’t live in this perpetual COVID…COVID is in our rearview mirror,” Mayor Adams said today in response to a question about Staten Island Ferry snack bars still being closed.

COVID has, in fact, been on the rise in NYC this summer.

Sept. 1 Mayor Adams & Deputy Mayor Phil Banks defend plans to deploy drones to monitor large parties this weekend. Banks suggests drones could even be deployed “if someone’s having a heart attack” to give them advice before EMS arrives. “Don’t be afraid of the unknown,” he says.

August 28 Reposted @katie_honan: 3 hosts of an @ericadamsfornyc fundraiser at Russo’s on the Bay are said to face indictment.

August 27 A campaign fundraiser for @NYCMayor in the Hamptons yesterday was co-hosted by Republicans Anthony Scaramucci, John Catsimatidis & Democrat and frequent NY Post contributor David Paterson. Source who was there tells me Patterson delivered remarks. Ex-Councilman Robert Cornegy (a Dem) also delivered remarks, per source.

August 27 reposted @katie_honan: “Those of you who live in New York City, you should thank God every day that those other characters did not win and become mayor” the mayor says at Blue Dream fundraiser https://bluedreamhamptons.org

August 26 The ribbon-cutting event Adams attended yesterday without listing it on his public schedule was for a new Champion Pizza outpost. Champion’s owner, Hakki Akdeniz, has donated $3,100 to the mayor’s 2021 and 2025 campaigns, per CFB records.

August 25 reposted @JCColtin: Reminder that Mayor Adams’ public schedule is a farce since the team just seems to randomly decide what does and doesn’t go on there, and also he hasn’t released retroactive detailed public schedules for the last 14 MONTHS, a huge reduction in transparency from de Blasio.

August 25 NEW: Two top execs at the philanthropic group that bankrolled Mayor Adams’ Israel trip — which cost $33,999 in total — have significant business interests before his admin. While likely not illegal, watchdogs say this is an “obvious” conflict of interest.

August 23 In a press briefing from Tel Aviv, Mayor Adams says “one thing that really caught my eye” in his meet with Israeli police leaders today is “using motorcycles and drones together” for law enforcement purposes. Applying this in NYC could help with “traffic delays” impacting NYPD.

August 23@NYCMayor has amended his financial disclosure to reflect his Bitcoin holdings after we reported in July that he omitted them in his original filing. But the revised filing doesn’t report any Ethereum. This is a bit odd, given he has said he’s invested in both cryptocurrencies.

August 22 reposted @nick_garber: NEW: Mayor Eric Adams quietly created a two-person office, staffed by a personal friend and an NYPD lieutenant, whom he tasked with taking pitches from private-sector entrepreneurs wanting to do business with the city. Crypto has been a top focus. City Hall never announced the office’s creation, and its existence puzzles some business and tech insiders. “Like many things in the administration, it feels a little discombobulated and potentially duplicative,” one lobbyist told me.

August 22 Citing the Times of Israel report, @jstreetdotorg, the pro-two state solution group, condemns the mayor for “pledging to boost settlements.” “We hope that Mayor Adams will learn the difference between the State of Israel’s sovereign territory and occupied territory,” group says.

August 18 This bombshell on new Adams campaign straw donor revelations comes a month after six Adams supporters were indicted on charges that they orchestrated a sweeping straw donor scheme to benefit the mayor.

August 18 NEW: Mayor Adams’ office today rejected an accusation from Hochul’s admin that NYC “involuntarily” bused migrants upstate this month — prompting the gov’s team to double down on its claim and accuse City Hall of giving misleading info about the incident.

August 17 NEW: Mayor Adams’ admin wants clearance from the feds to house migrants at Manhattan’s Metropolitan Correctional Center, an infamous jail closed in 2021 following years of reports about dangerous conditions. It’s also the jail where Jeffrey Epstein died.

August 15 The mayor has a habit of comparing himself to Jesus Christ and regularly says he speaks directly with God (including claiming God told him for years that he was going to be elected mayor).

August 14 reposted @Jesse_Coburn @TwoTreesNY touts its commitment to “livable streetscapes.” But the firm has been quietly lobbying City Hall against a bike lane project on a block where Two Trees built a luxury apartment tower and where a Two Trees subsidiary runs a parking garage.

August 10 At his town hall event in Manhattan, @NYCMayor says he wants to “close the borders” in order to address the migrant crisis. Then he quickly reverses himself, says he doesn’t mean “close” in the “physical” sense but as a strategy to send migrants to other cities besides NYC.

August 8 At his Dominican Heritage event tonight, Mayor Adams started off by saying: “I may be from Alabama, but I’m Dominican, baby.” (It’s a reference to a factually incorrect comment Adams has made before that was highlighted in this week’s New Yorker piece.