Transcript: Mayor Adams Holds In-Person Media Availability

November 4, 2024

Mayor Eric Adams: Good morning, good to see you all. Those of you who ran the marathon, I hope you have a lot of epsom salt and you soaked a little. Hats off to Fabien, wearing his medal, he's so proud today, Deputy Mayor Williams-Isom and Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer for all running, and did any of the other D.M.s run? Meera, who conveniently got a sore foot, but really hats off to the millions of New Yorkers who were out there watching and cheering on and the 50,000 runners.

As always, it's imperative to us that we talk about keeping New York safe, particularly tomorrow during election day. Our election security is on top and we want to reiterate we are going to ensure that election day is a fair opportunity for New Yorkers to cast their votes and ensure the integrity of our sacred electoral process tomorrow. So we are encouraging all New Yorkers to get out and vote.

The Board of Elections, if you have any issues at polling sites tomorrow, you can call 311 or the Board of Elections at 866-868-3692. Every day we're going to continue to build a safe city, and again, we're encouraging New Yorkers to make sure you get out and vote.

Speaking of keeping New Yorkers safe, we are extremely concerned about the subway surfing. We're watching young people taking these extremely risky actions and it has taken six lives this year, four last year, and we've seen 20 serious injuries in the last two years alone. Really hats off to the New York City Police Department, the MTA, and student advocates who have come together and really started to look at this issue of subway surfing and our introductions of drones with the New York City Police Department and MTA, particularly on those lines where we have a great deal of subway surfers.

The No. 7 line, for whatever reason, I don't know if it's an outdoor line, many young people tend to want to use that line to do subway surfing. So we stood with Interim Police Commissioner Donlon and Chancellor Aviles-Ramos, as well as a mother who lost her child - I remember speaking with her after she lost her son to subway surfing - to really encourage young people to look at this dangerous action. We're going to need everyone on board.

The PSAs we did with the young people, we thought touched the lives of some of them, and using the drones, 114 individuals, we believe we were able to save them from some form of harm last year when we started rolling this out. And so subway surfing is real, social media has an awesome responsibility to not put up these videos, there should be a zero tolerance of these videos, and we're going to continue to call on them to be responsible and make sure we save the lives of these children.

Affordability is always important, City of Yes, we're in the midst of it, hats off to the entire team, good conversations with the City Council, City Council put out their plan as well, and I am pleased that they're doing that, because it is showing that all of us need to be focused on a unsustainable 1.4 percent vacancy rate. Our team hit the streets, 100 volunteers, interacted with 10,000 New Yorkers, giving them educational material about City of Yes.

The goal is 108,000 new homes over 15 years. We have to build new housing. There's no way of getting around this housing crisis if we're not going to build more, and those communities that historically did not have affordable housing and housing built in their communities, we all have to get engaged, and that's why it's important.

So I'm going to bring on a team, it's almost interesting to talk about a drought watch. You know, global warming is real, and we're dealing with a drought watch, even right now we're dealing with a brush fire in New York, a brush fire, and so whomever believes that this is not a real issue of global warming, they're wrong.

I want to bring on Deputy Mayor Meera Joshi, Chief of Staff Camille Joseph Varlack, Deputy Mayor Rit Aggarwala, and Emergency Management Commissioner Zach Iscol, just to go over this whole discussion about what we're doing around this drought, and how we New Yorkers need to step up. We just ended a historically dry October, which saw the second longest dry streak in city records dating back to 1869. So I'm going to turn it over to you, Rit.

Commissioner Rohit Aggarwala, Department of Environmental Protection: Thank you, mayor. I'm Rit Aggarwala, Commissioner at the Department of Environmental Protection. Every single day, no matter what the weather or the conditions, DEP assesses our reservoir levels, assesses daily consumption of water in the city, and looks at both near, medium, and long-term forecasts from a variety of sources.

We've been very carefully monitoring the situation over the last about 10 weeks, when the weather turned from an unusually wet August, into the second most severe dry spell that we've had. Over the last couple of weeks, I'm sorry, the last couple of months, we now have nearly a six-inch deficit of rainfall, comparing the last 10 weeks to the average rainfall.

And when we look at our reservoir levels, which are now below two-thirds, when they should at this point in the year, be it about or above 75 percent, that combined with the forward-looking forecasts that suggest that for the next two to three months, we are expecting drier-than-average conditions.

All of that taken together led us last week to confer with the deputy mayor and the mayor, with a recommendation to move to the first stage of drought preparation, which is a drought watch. I will point out, we are not alone in this. New Jersey and Connecticut have both declared states of drought. New York State, in conjunction with us, we conferred with them last week, and declared a drought also in the southern counties of New York State.

We need a lot of rain, not just a little, and one of the things I want to ask New Yorkers is, as we work together, and I'll turn it over to Commissioner Iscol in a moment to talk about what we're going to be doing as a city government, but we're going to be asking New Yorkers to save water. This isn't about a little rain one day, as I said, we need six inches of rain to recover what we are missing, and the other thing to remember is, we don't actually need the rain here in the city, we need it upstate where the reservoirs are. So if you happen to have a rainy day, please continue to conserve.

And I will point out, this is the first of several stages. We first do a watch, that's really preparatory, then if necessary, we will go to a warning, and the real issues, the real constraints and mandatory efforts come when it is an emergency, and part of what we're trying to do now is stave off that emergency as long as possible. And to talk about how we are coordinating across city government to lead by example and get ahead of this, Zach Iscol.

Mayor Adams: Before you do that, people often hear six inches, and we think that's not significant. Can you sort of humanize what we're talking about when we're talking about six inches?

Commissioner Aggarwala: Sure, well, I think New Yorkers remember Hurricane Ida, which of course killed 13 New Yorkers tragically and was the worst rainfall New York City had ever had. That was a seven-inch rainstorm. And now, Lord knows, we don't want all of it at once like we did that day. We need it over time, but it is a lot of rain we need. Thank you, mayor. Zach.

Commissioner Zachary Iscol, Department of Emergency Management: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So as Rit said, you know, the city is doing a lot to start preparing for this. Just to provide a little bit of context, the last time that we had a drought emergency was in 2001 to 2003. At that time, the city went into a watch in December. We were in a warning for January, February, and March, and then we were in a drought emergency stage one, that level, from April until the end of October. We were back in a watch in November, December, and then it ended in January of 2003.

So as Rit will explain, you know, we have an annual water cycle of June 1st to May 31st. Right now is the time when we're generally filling up the reservoirs, and the reservoirs are below what they should be right now. So this is a long-term effort. Right now for the watch, what we are doing with our partners at DEP is we're working with all of our city agency partners to make sure that they are prepared to start conserving water.

Every city agency has protocols in place for how they can reduce water. You can see some of the things that we would then implement for sanitation, NYPD, FDNY, for some of our partners like the MTA, schools, DCAS, DOH, MH, NYCHA, and HPD. Every single agency has protocols. Right now in the watch phase, what we're doing is we are reviewing those protocols, and making sure that all agencies are ready should we go into a warning in the next couple of weeks, in which case we would implement the agency protocols.

And then if there's an emergency, that's really where we start talking more about different types of actions we would take, not just for city agencies, but also with the public. And while there is a lot that the city does, it's also important that all New Yorkers do their part, and Rit will talk a little bit more about some of the great recommendations that New Yorkers can do to help us conserve water. Back to you, Rit.

Commissioner Aggarwala: Thanks, Zach. Yes, and so, New Yorkers, every day, we consume, on average, about 1 billion gallons of water a day. And one of the reasons that we are doing this now, to get ahead of what might be a long-term challenge, is that if you think about it, if we can cut our water consumption by only 5 percent today, every 20 days we do that, that buys us another day of full water supply later on. Probably next summer, when we really need it, if this dry spell continues.

And so we're really urging all New Yorkers to be conscious of water consumption, and here are a couple of things that we can do, certainly leaking water, leaking fire hydrants are a big concern, as soon as you see something like that, please call 311, we will get on it immediately. If you can shorten your showers, one minute in the shower uses between 5 and 7 gallons of water, so just shaving a couple minutes off your daily shower makes a big difference.

We all tell our kids, you don't need to run the water while you're brushing your teeth, we should be following that advice ourselves, and making sure our kids are doing that. Of course, using appliances only when they're full, and remembering that actually, appliances are often more efficient than doing it yourself, right, a full load in the dishwasher is going to use less water than washing all those dishes by hand. And in the same way, for example, please do not wash your car on the street, or in your driveway, a mechanical professional car wash is going to be far more water efficient than somebody running a hose for a very long time which loses a ton of water.

And of course, the biggest source of water waste in homes is actually leaking toilets. And people do not understand how much water a running toilet can actually consume, you don't think about it, but it is hundreds of gallons in a week or two. And so as soon as you think there's a toilet that needs addressing, please get that fixed, it'll save you money on your water bill, it'll also save the city the water that we need. Thank you.

Commissioner Iscol: Can I just add one thing to that? One other thing is, as the mayor mentioned, we did have a brush fire in the Bronx today. There is an increased fire hazard during periods of drought, so also be cautious when you are grilling, be cautious about what you are doing with cigarette butts, and about other fire hazards as well during this time. Thank you.

Mayor Adams: Anything, Camille? Anything here? Okay, thanks a lot, thanks. Any questions, I'm sorry, any questions on this topic? Yes?

Question: So, you're urging New Yorkers to use less water. My understanding is that Bitcoin mines upstate are using a tremendous amount of water. Have you talked to any of these mines about slowing down usage or anything like that?

Mayor Adams: Well, I think that the governor also mentioned this drought, and the governor's team is going to be looking at whatever we can do in the state to deal with the issues of water, and how we could address this drought in front of us. Yes?

Question: I am curious, and I know we're just in a watch now, I believe. What would happen, I mean, I know you're predicting less than average rainfall over the next few months, but is there a timeframe when we can expect it to get moved up to a warning, or I guess what would happen for that? The escalation of the...

Commissioner Aggarwala: Well, as Zach suggested, the watch is really kind of preparatory, and as the example of 2001-2002 suggested, the watch generally doesn't last very long. I think the reality is that if the drier than normal November does come to pass over the next couple of weeks, we will certainly be reconsidering every day, but I think we would likely be weeks, not months, away from a warning, and again, if that is so, the city can lead by example, urge New Yorkers to participate, and that way we can push off mandatory restrictions in an emergency as long as possible.

Question: Were there mandatory restrictions in 01 and 02?

Commissioner Aggawala: Yes, there were. As Zach said, all the way from April through, I think, to October of that year, and of course, you know, the mandatory restrictions are most significant during the warmer weather, because it is about, you're not allowed to water your lawn, you're not allowed to do things that are often outdoors, and our water consumption as a city is generally higher during the summer than it is during the winter.

Question: What's the status of the, I don't know if the fire commissioner is in here, but that brush fire, I know there's other susceptible, Staten Island, I don't know what the latest is with that.

Commissioner Iscol: The last update is it probably will hold, so they're starting to, you know, they brought a couple additional resources up there, but really just because of exhaustion, and you know, because of the firefighters doing their job, but right now it probably will hold.

Question: Do you know what alarm it was up to?

Commissioner Iscol: I think it was a two alarm. It was a two alarm.

Mayor Adams: We'll get back to you.

Commissioner Iscol: It was a two alarm.

Mayor Adams: Okay? All right. Thanks. Thanks so much. Thank you. Kayla is back. How are you, N.J.?

Question: You are, without question, a veteran politician. You've been through many electoral cycles. What do you make of the Iowa poll? What do you make of the chances of your chosen presidential candidate? And I'm sure all of us would like to hear you make a prediction.

Mayor Adams: I don't have a prediction. My prediction is that New York is going to get out and vote. And I just want to encourage people, don't be on the sideline and, you know, say, I wish I would have. Name of the game, get out and vote. Exercise our democracy. This is one of the greatest democracies we have ever known in the history of, you know, running countries. And so, get out and vote. That's the most important thing. You know, look at the issues, become knowledgeable of the issues, and get out and vote.

Question:Hi, mayor. So, I wanted to ask you about this A train closing in the Rockaways. The MTA announced that the A train is going to be closing on the peninsula for four months at the start of next year. And Andrew Cuomo, the former governor, criticized the plan and said that they need to go back to the drawing board. What do you think of the MTA closure on the A train?

Mayor Adams: You know, when you look at it, the MTA, you know, they don't close these stations, you know, just to be cruel or rude. Navigating the system is just so important. And you know, I'm a big believer in the ferry system that we have. And I, you know, I just support the MTA and how they know we have to get New Yorkers around. And so, they're making a call that they have to close it for that period of time. We have to have alternatives. We saw that before, during storms, that the entire system collapsed.

And it's unfortunate, the Rockaways, like Staten Island and other locations, the buildup of these communities are not really accommodating the needs of the mass transit that needs to be in place. So, the MTA is making this call. I support the call that they're making. And we must make sure we have a good ferry system to get those New Yorkers in the Rockaways around.

Question:Just wondering, are there any lessons that you hope Democrats can take away after this election? Anything that you hope that they might have learned in this cycle?

Mayor Adams: Yeah, I think that if we do an analysis of, you know, the last cycle, I talked about public safety. And I thought public safety was crucial, and it became top of the agenda for many voters. And I think that it's important that we have a real plan to allow those who come into the country to be able to move forward and have a real working people agenda.

People are very clear. Affordable housing, being able to live in cities, being able to be gainfully employed. These are real, clear messages. And I'm hoping that we use the opportunity to continue to drive down these working class issues. These are working class issues and I think that's important.

Question: I didn't see you at the marathon where were you?

Mayor Adams: Dealing with my religious obligations.

Question: Do you think it's right that Governor Hochul said New Yorkers who vote Republican are anti-American, anti-women, and anti-abortion? And I've got one more question for you.

Mayor Adams: Okay. Why don't you give me both of them?

Question: And then your top spokesperson, at the marathon that you missed, for the NYPD Tarik Sheppard, slammed a woman's head against a bus and called her a bitch in one incident.

Mayor Adams: I'm sorry, say that again?

Question: And called a Post reporter a scumbag in another.

Mayor Adams: Hold on, hold on, hold on. Go back from the beginning because I didn't hear the whole thing.

Question: Sorry. So your top spokesperson for the NYPD, Tarik Sheppard, once slammed a woman's head against a bus and called her a bitch in one incident and called a Post reporter a scumbag in another. Now we reported him yelling at the interim police commissioner to the point that the chief of department had to step in. Is this how you believe your administration should act, and how do you defend keeping Sheppard in such a high-ranking position?

Mayor Adams: This is the first time I'm hearing of those two incidents that you talked about. And if those incidents happened, he should have been held accountable for them. Because professional decorum, and I say it over and over, let's decrease how we communicate with each other. And I continue to say that. And I'm seeing far too many examples of that we're not just showing, just proper decorum to each other.

And so when I spoke with the commissioner, the interim police commissioner, and when I spoke with Tarik at the same time, they both know what is my expectation on how one should communicate. And so those two statements that you made that he did previously, I don't know if they were substantiated, was he found guilty for those, or that's what someone reported? Because that's a big difference. Substantiation of allegations are crucial.

And listen, anyone that's in any type of relationship, a business relationship, a marriage, a relationship with your children, human beings, we have arguments, we have disputes. How do you manage those arguments or disputes after? And that is what's expected. I have one mission of the New York City Police Department, to be respectful and drive down crime. They're doing that.

From the transit systems, to shootings, to managing the parades and the protests, to the Halloween Day parade, their goal to me, you are going to bring down crime and you're going to do it in a respectful way to New Yorkers. That is what they're doing. They're successful at doing it. No one thought we were going to turn around crime at the level that we have turned it around on our subway systems and on our streets, and that's what I expect from them.

Are we going to have encounters where people are going to disagree about something as passionate as they are? Yes, we are. And just because you have an argument with your spouse, your child, your business partner, doesn't mean you don't love them, you don't like them. If that was a signature of you don't care for the other person in your life, then we're all in trouble. Because I don't know of anyone in this room that is married or has children that have not had a feeling where you just wanted to probably yell at them or argue with them. That's just part of life. You've got to move forward.

Question: Do you think it's right that Governor Hochul said New Yorkers who vote Republican are anti-American, anti-women, and anti-abortion?

Mayor Adams: Listen, Governor Hochul is a real partner for the City of New York. I cannot say enough about her. And her way of expressing what she feels during this passionate time, that's something you have to ask her. I do know this. I said it over and over again, we need to show decorum as we're dealing with this very emotional issue. These elections are emotional. We're talking about the direction of our country in the next four years.

And I don't think that she's saying anything or doing anything that she means to be harmful in any way. I find her to be a very respectable leader. And tomorrow in the election, I'm solely focused on making sure New Yorkers can vote safely. That's my No. 1 concern. I want New Yorkers to get to the poll and get there safely. And I have a great deal of respect for Governor Hochul.

Question: So the first question is about polling tomorrow. What is New York City doing to make sure New Yorkers are safe when they go to vote, and are there any additional measures that people should expect to see at the ballots? And then the second one, there's a DHS intelligence bulletin that says some are already calling for violence, making allegations of election fraud. So have you been talking with your teams about the aftermath of the elections, and what can you do to continue to keep the city safe?

Mayor Adams: Listen, it's the greatest democracy, as I said, probably in the history of mankind. We're celebrating 400 years next year, and our democracy is going to continue. It's going to continue. We have two officers at each polling site. The intelligence division under Deputy Commissioner Weiner is monitoring all of these different chats and channels to know how do we deploy personnel if needed. And people have the right to call the Board of Elections, as I gave the number earlier, 866-868-3692. And we're going to protect the integrity of our electoral process. It's extremely sacred to New Yorkers, and we're going to make sure it's protected. And we've done it over and over again.

And you always hear these issues. All of us heard about what could happen at the Israeli Day Parade, what could happen on October 7th, what could happen when we do the Halloween Day Parade. We hear this all the time. We're professional enough, all of our agencies, to make sure we respond to the challenge as the challenges come up. And the omnipresence of NYPD officers in uniform is a real great deterrent. We're not going to allow people to get in and disrupt our process.

Question: Two questions. I know you got tired of being asked this last week, but you're voting tomorrow, from what I've heard. Who are you voting for in the presidential? And the second question, are you going to SOMOS, and if so, what do you hope to get out of it?

Mayor Adams: I always look forward to going to SOMOS. I think I've missed a couple of years. I'm planning on going, I'm not 100 percent sure. I would like to go. It's a good time to convene with folks in Puerto Rico. So, I have plans on going. But, you know, I got a lot of stuff going on I have to do in the city. And if I can get a lot done before next week, then I'll definitely go. But I'm not going to stay long, no matter what. I made it clear who I endorse, and who I endorse is who I'm voting for. Made that very clear. I was a delegate in Chicago.

[Crosstalk.]

Question: And like I said, we'll never say it enough, thank you for acknowledging the ethnic media. Now, Mr. mayor, tomorrow is the election day. If you know it or not, the immigrant communities are really worried about what will be the outcome. We heard it from President Trump. Donald Trump said if he ever wins, there will be a mass deportation. Either way, whoever wins, under your leadership, what can New Yorkers expect, and most definitely the immigrant community?

Mayor Adams: No one does it better than New York. You know, as you know, this is a sanctuary city, and I agree with that up to the point of those who commit crimes in our city, particularly repeated offenders. After they serve their time, I believe they should be deported. We need to modify the existing law and go back to what Mayor Koch did and Mayor Bloomberg did. I thought it was a big mistake to allow those who are dangerous to New Yorkers and other immigrants and migrants and undocumented, they should not be able to remain in our city. It's a privilege to be here in New York.

But mass deportation, that is not going to happen in New York City. People who are undocumented, migrants, asylum seekers, no matter who you are, you have a right to police services. You have a right to city services. Your children have a right to be educated in our school system. You have a right to get health care and emergencies that you needed. That's who we are. This is a city of immigrants, if not a country of immigrants, and we're going to maintain that.

Question: So, in terms of the election, you spoke a lot about securing the election. But are you confident in the Board of Elections being able to carry out its mission tomorrow? And also, I'm wondering, you know, over the weekend in Pennsylvania, President Trump made a lot of comments about doubts on the results of the election, criticizing the electoral process, saying the winner should be decided at 9 p.m. Tuesday night. I'm wondering if you can react to that as well.

Mayor Adams: Yeah, you know, every election, you know, are there hiccups in the Board of Elections? Yes. You know, you're dealing with hundreds of thousands of people going out. The team does a great job, the Board of Elections team and staff, they do a great job. You know, do you have machines that break down? Do you have polling sites that sometimes they're not open on time? Yes. But overall, you see our democracy being protected, and if there are concerns, there are ways of reporting those concerns. And again, that's the number that I gave, 866-868-3692, for folks to come out and exercise their right to vote.

And if you can't vote on the machine, there are other mechanisms that are in place to make sure your vote is counted. We take it seriously here in the city. And the Board of Elections, they do a Herculean job each year that we have elections, and I think they're going to continue to do so. I didn't hear what the former president's concerns were, so I don't want to respond on something I don't know exactly what was said and what context that it was said, but we should have a fair process no matter where we are in the state. If it's Pennsylvania or Pennsylvania Avenue in Brooklyn, people should be allowed to vote.

Question: I wanted to go back to election day tomorrow. I know that you've endorsed the vice president. Is there a final pitch you have for voters in support of her as they go to the polls tomorrow?

Mayor Adams: Is there a what?

Question: Is there a final pitch you have to voters in support of your endorsed candidate going into the polls tomorrow?

Mayor Adams: Get out to vote.

Question: And then I wanted to ask you about last week. Judge Ho set the trial date of April 21st to start your trial. I wanted to know what your thoughts are on that date. Your lawyer wanted something earlier, but do you feel like it gives you enough time to still run a re-election campaign while sitting on trial?

Mayor Adams: My counsel wanted March, and so you should reach out to the counsel and he'll give you his thoughts on that process. Alex can go into that. He was pushing for a March date.

Question: I'm curious why you, when you're answering these questions, aren't saying Kamala Harris' name. It seems like maybe it's not as strong of support for her. And then I also wanted to follow up on Anita's question. Are there any additional details you can tell us about the argument between Donlon and Sheppard? What led up to it, and will either of them face any discipline?

Mayor Adams: First, you know, I have to be extremely careful. Everything I do is critiqued highly, and I have to be careful. And if I'm doing electioneering here at this podium, you're going to write a story on me. So I got to understand what I'm doing. So my legal team said, "Eric, here's what you can do and what you can't do." And I have to make sure I do it correctly. So you're damned if you do, you're damned if you don't.

Everyone knows who I endorse. Everyone knew that I left this beautiful city to go to the Windy City as a superdelegate. So I don't know how much more enthusiasm you need from me to do so. And about the, can I go into the details of, you know, what was the conversation between Tarik and the interim police commissioner? No.

Question: What about the discipline?

Mayor Adams:I'm sorry?

Question: Discipline to either of them?

Mayor Adams: The police commissioner, if they did something that's inappropriate, the police commissioner would sit down, the interim police commissioner will make that determination if there needs to be some next steps.

Question: I wanted to ask about the A train. The MTA controls ferries, right? Would you be willing to add additional ferries to make up for that, you know, period in which there won't be A trains running? My second question is, Chief Chell opened up a personal account, social media account on X, and I'm wondering what was it that, you know, what was it that prompted that? Was it something that the NYPD asked him to do, or was that just his own personal decision?

Mayor Adams: Well, okay, first, number one, you know, the ferries is a good idea. You know, you should be on my EDC team, you know that? You know, I believe in ferries and I think ferries are a good way to move around, particularly in those remote locations, like I said, Staten Island and Rockaway. And those are all of the avenues we're looking at to see the feasibility of doing that. And there's a lot that goes into if we're going to have a new ferry route.

Jimmy Oddo, when he was the borough president of Staten Island, he and I asked to see if we could get a ferry, you know, that's going from Staten Island into Brooklyn. So, I don't think we use our waterways enough, and we want to look and see how we could expand that and what's the feasibility of doing it.

Like you said about Chief Chell, those were not instructions from the Police Department. And you said he's opened a personal account, like many of you have your personal accounts. That is the beauty of, you know, this great country. One can give their personal views, you know. So, I think it's smarter to do it in his personal account. So, in no way, he should infringe on his NYPD account.

If he wants to open a personal account, he should do so. I think it's important, I think he has good opinions and good views. It's not monolithic. Listen, 8.3 million people, 35 million opinions. And, you know, we like to hear from all their opinions. And opinions are not only opinions that we like. Opinions are opinions, and he has some good opinions. I like some of his stuff.

Question: Okay, so you don't want to electioneer from the podium. I want to know if you've done any political work at all over these last couple months, whether that's campaigning for Harris or campaigning also for state legislative folks. That sort of thing.

Mayor Adams: Always doing something to move the city's agenda forward. This is about New York City, and whatever I can do to move New York City's agenda forward, I am encouraged to do. And that's what I've been doing.

Question: Have you been doing it?

Mayor Adams: Yes.

Question: Going back to your trial date. You know, I heard Kelly ask specifically about that interfering with your ability to campaign. You know, I know you referred that to Alex. But are you concerned about your ability to campaign while you're going to be spending all this time in the courtroom? You know, it's going to be during April and May, that's like prime time for primary.

Mayor Adams: Let me share this with you. Anything you say dealing with your trial can impact on your trial. Anything. You may see it as a simple comment. But that is not how it's done. I respect my trial attorney. If you have any questions concerning trial, Alex is the person to speak with.

Question: Hi, Mayor Adams.

Mayor Adams: What's happening? Rockaway, is that going to impact your commute?

Question: No, I don't live there anymore, I just grew up there. Run more ferries, I guess. You don't have to work for the EDC to know that, it seems like an easy thing to do. I wanted to ask you about police chases. I know a few weeks ago, a cyclist was killed in Astoria after police were engaged in a high-speed chase with suspected burglars, and over the weekend, there was another person killed in Upper Manhattan. A driver was fleeing a police chase after a stop.

So I'm just curious, I know we've written a lot, my colleagues have written a lot about the uptick in police chases with the NYPD, do you think someone's life is worth trying to arrest people over stolen items or whatever the purpose of the police stop was? And how many deaths is too many when you'll finally, I guess, maybe tell the NYPD to do a different approach when it comes to these chases?

Mayor Adams: Yeah, that's a fair and good question. What I will say is this: I'm not sure if your classification of a high-speed chase on the first one was actual. Because based on the video that I saw, the police were not engaged in a high-speed chase. So the goal is every one of these encounters are analyzed. The supervisor who hears the chase come over the radio makes a determination if he's going to call it off or not. And they do. Oftentimes, they weigh, say, "What do you have?" "We're unsure, the person ran a red light." "Call it off."

So these supervisors that are on the ground that must make the determination, they make that call, they make that call often. They weigh, is it more important to catch this person? Or is it more important to make sure that someone is not the victim of a chase? And they make that call on the ground. Now, you may come across a vehicle. This plate came across. This person is wanted for a shooting. This person is wanted for eight robberies. Now you have to make that determination, "Hey, are we going to let this guy go? Or are we going to reasonably pursue them and use other methods?"

We've been using a lot of different methods. Some methods we don't want to share because we don't want to tip people off. But we've used a lot of methods to go after that person who's committed in the chase. And so it's crucial that the police department does an analysis, and that is so important for the supervisor that's on the ground to make that call. Terminate the pursuit or to allow the pursuit going on. If it's late at night, if it's on a highway, there's so many factors that are involved.

And you don't don't want an innocent person being hit or killed or seriously injured based on a chase. But I have to trust that supervisor that's on the ground to do that evaluation and make that call. When that call comes over the radio, we are in a pursuit. That supervisor needs to come back and say, what are we dealing with? What do we have here? And then they've got to make the call. And they factor in, what's the weather condition? How many people are out? Where the chase is taking place. I have to trust those supervisors to be able to make that call.

Question: You spoke about safety on election day, mayor. What about the day after? The week after? We don't know, it's a close race.

Mayor Adams: Yep. Yep. No one does it better. You know, I think that you just do an analysis over these last few months. I would use October 7th as a date of acknowledgement that no one has done it better than this city. Based on the circumstances, all of these agencies, not only the New York City Police Department, but the entire team, they've all come together to maintain a level of safety in this city.

You know, we're still the safest big city in America. We step up to these challenges. What happens in local countries, those incidents play out on the streets of New York. And what happens nationally in this country, it plays out also on the streets of New York. New York is where all of these issues play out. But we've stepped up to the plate.

I think if you do an analysis of how challenging these last 12 months have been, you have to see how, time and time again, we sat here in this room and you talk about the incident that's going to happen next week. "Are you guys going to be ready?" We're going to keep showing why we are professionals. And we're going to do it on Wednesday after the election.

Question: So maybe there's a specific scenario depending on the situation. The NYPD hasn't left.

Mayor Adams: Yes, yes. Different role-plays, different incidents, different analysis. But listen, let's be clear. Game day is different from preparation. The most important thing you can do on game day is to be flexible enough to pivot and shift, and that's something that we've mastered.

Question: Can you provide an update on the search for a permanent NYPD commissioner, and specifically, how many candidates are you currently looking at and is Interim Commissioner Donlon in the running?

Mayor Adams: Yes, he's in the running, and we will be making an announcement and let you know as soon as we make that announcement. But he's in the running. And, you know, being the Commissioner of the City of New York is one of the most coveted law enforcement jobs, and even non-law enforcement, some of the people who have sent me resumes go beyond law enforcement and have reached out to me.

And so he's being considered as well as others. You know, there's New York, the country. And when you talk about the police commissioner, there's a deep bench. But New York City has a deep bench, and we have some very qualified people. And I was really impressed with how many would like to continue the success that we've shown in the New York City Police Department.

Question: I'm looking at the sign behind you, which says the NYPD's drone response has saved 114 lives. Can you walk us through exactly how they've saved 114 lives?

Mayor Adams: We had, 114 people were subway surfing. We've identified them, and we were able to proactively get them off the trains before they lost their lives.

Question: Are the drones hovering above certain subway stations looking for teenagers? How does this work?

Mayor Adams: Yeah, and you should take a trip over to 1 Police Plaza to see that actual operation. It's something really to look at, I was impressed with what I saw. So this is a shot of the drones. See that young man there? See these two here? These are the drones catching them proactively to get them down off the system before they fall or knock down. Okay?

And what we do is go speak with their families, show their parents. Which is fascinating when their parents learn that they're subway surfing. You should see the parents' reaction of, you know, "you have the wrong child." "It's wrong." And then when they see the video, then the realization hits, you know, "yes, this is my child riding on top of a train."

And so Commissioner Daughtry, deputy commissioner of Operations, we analyzed [911] calls, 311 calls, and do an analysis of where it's most likely. Look at this. You have 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 young people on top. And based on those analyses, we deploy the drones. And if you go over to 1 Police Plaza, you can see drones are now part of our patrol. And you can actually see the patrol of what I call the three-dimensional patrol where you can now patrol from the sky.

And I don't know if you noticed on top of those trains, they're extremely slippery because of the metal that it's made of. And oftentimes they go around curves. And if you ride trains, the trains jerk, they stop. This is very dangerous. This is very dangerous. And so that is how we're saving lives based on these lives. And God knows how many we saved just based on young people seeing this.

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