NYC Mayor-elect Eric Adams sworn in after Time Square ball drop
Eric Adam, New York City's Mayor-elect, takes his oath of office in Time Square shortly after the ball drops on new years.
Not unlike the Israelites wandering 40 years in the desert, denizens of New York City have suffered eight years under the awful, incompetent, horrendous leadership of our, thankfully, former mayor Bill de Blasio. In fairness, we did elect him, somehow twice, and yet, there is a palpable sense of relief among the people of the 5 boroughs that the New Years Eve swearing in of our new mayor Eric Adams might be a return to the promised land.
As Hizzoner graces Gracie Mansion for the first time as its resident there are give simple and quick steps he can take towards reversing the effects of the de Blasio decline.
ERIC ADAMS SAYS NYC'S GOVERNMENT HAS BEEN ‘DYSFUNCTIONAL FOR FAR TOO LONG’ IN FIRST SPEECH AS MAYOR
Mayor-elect Eric Adams speaks during an announcement at Brooklyn Borough Hall. Adams announced his appointments of Lisa Flores as director of the Mayor's Office of Contract Services and Marjorie Landa as director of the newly-created Mayor's Office of Risk Management and Compliance. He also said that new COVID pandemic policy will be announced after he takes office on January 1, 2022. (Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Support the Police
Without question, de Blasio’s greatest failure was his adversarial relationship with the New York City Police Department, the nation’s first, largest, and most effective law enforcement agency. From almost day one de Blasio showed New York’s Finest no respect, and the feeling was mutual, with cops going so far as to turn their backs on him at the funeral of a slain officer.
But even worse than his attitude were de Blasio’s policies that took away vital tools to prevent crime, especially in Gotham’s most vulnerable, often minority, neighborhoods. His steep reduction in plain clothes officers and stubborn refusal to maintain the highly effective Stop, Question, and Frisk policy led to more guns on our streets and more bodies in our morgues.
As a former police officer who was himself a victim of police brutality in his youth Adams is as well suited as can be imagined to reestablish the fond relations between police and government we so badly need.
A New York City police car is pictured, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., November 1, 2021. (REUTERS/Carlo Allegri)
Reduce Covid Restrictions
This one goes without saying. Gotham has the dubious distinction of having been a leader in nonsensical restrictions that have done extraordinary harm. The rules are so absurd that Kyrie Irving, a star of the mighty Brooklyn Nets, is allowed to play in basically any city except his own. Meanwhile, to meet up with friends at a bar or restaurant New Yorkers have to show a vax card, personal medical information, to bouncers with neck tattoos and hostesses tired of being the Covid police.
But the most shameful of our pandemic diktats are the masks our children have to wear every hour of their school days. Adults are allowed maskless mixing and mingling all night long, but kids, who are least susceptible to serious sickness, have to be muzzled. End that, Mayor Adams. End it right now.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - AUGUST 31: People wear face masks in Times Square on August 31, 2021 in New York City. (Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images)
Confront Homelessness among the mentally ill
Anyone who has ventured into Midtown Manhattan over the past 2 years has seen the throngs of mentally disturbed homeless accosting tourists and locals alike. Predictably, de Blasio’s plan that lined the pockets of his wife did nothing to alleviate the problem. In fact, it has only grown worse.
This is not an easy thing to fix. The question of when to intervene with these troubled souls is rife with difficulty. Is screaming at people enough? Threatening them? Touching them? Thus far we don’t have good answers. But this is why, Mayor Adams, you're getting the big bucks, as they say. At the very least, it must be a top priority for his administration.
New York City, NY - March 22, 2017: Unidentified New York homeless people sleeping in the subway station in Manhattan, New York City
Enough with the Bike Lanes and Piazzas
This isn’t Florence. Nine million people live in New York City. They need groceries and sundries, sometimes they need to move apartments, All of these things require trucks, they can’t be accomplished on bicycle rickshaws. Sometimes we need to get someplace in 30 minutes by car instead of 2 hours by bike. Everyone wants to be nice to the planet, but the city can’t function on two foot human power, it needs actual engines.
There are bike lanes in the city that get less use than bacon a Jewish Delicatessen. And our recently added pedestrian piazzas are mostly an oasis for vagrancy. This is the city that never sleeps, not the city that sits around outside all day. Enough already.
FILE - This Feb. 27, 2014 file photo shows New York City taxis passing through New York's Times Square. A New York man who talked about wanting to throw a grenade in Times Square has been arrested and is expected to be arraigned Friday on weapons-related charges, law enforcement officials told The Associated Press. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)
Promote Personal Responsibility
This one is just as much former Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s fault as de Blasio’s. Both of the failed former presidential candidates labored to turn our city into the very model of the nanny state. From banning plastic bags, to cigarette taxes that impoverish smokers, from ridiculous licensing regulations, to refusing to let restaurants use propane to heat outdoor dining, we are suffocating under absurd and needless rules. Nobody wants a paper straw.
New York has traditionally been the place where people come to be themselves, to chart their own courses, make their own choices, live their own lives and in so doing change the world. The new mayor must end the 21st Century trend of controlling every aspect of people’s lives. Put simply, in many, if not most cases, the best thing the city government can do is leave us alone.
If you do these things Mr. Mayor, you’ll be doing us a really big favor. You might even stop the bleed of citizens flowing to Florida. They may come back to a well functioning city once they get tired of having no place to walk, alligators, and utter cultural irrelevance.
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Mayor Adams, you were elected as the most cop friendly, moderate, and reasonable Democrat available. We trust you to govern as you ran. Do that and we will have your back.
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