People ask our editorial board what we think of New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
On the whole, we think he’s rather awful. But then the question comes up: “Compared to what?”
While he exhibits none of the leadership of the Giuliani/Bloomberg years that rejuvenated the city, Adams is still a cut above the scary Marxist alternatives that New Yorkers had to choose from in Democratic primaries.
The mayor’s veto of two dangerous progressive bills this week shows that, while he has had a terrible tenure, he is still better than some of the loco alternatives that are out there.
The far, far left City Council passed two terrible bills that would have made New Yorkers even less safe than they are now.
One bill would require police to write up detailed reports every time they have interactions with people on the street. This is so overly burdensome that it’s seen as nothing more than an attempt by the socialist consumer advocate, Juumane Williams, to further embolden criminals and deter police from taking proactive measures to protect the public. Adams, who is a former cop, saw through this canard.
The other bill would ban any use of solitary confinement in prisons, which is at times employed as a deterrent against violence perpetrated by “nothing to lose” inmates against other confined individuals or correctional officers.
Progressives in New York have caused the huge spike in crime since 2019. The ludicrous reforms implemented, including cashless bail, eliminating serious prosecution for those under 18, and imposing unreasonable requirements on prosecutors, has led to a big spike in violent crime. And though there’s been a slight downtick over the last year, the violent rate is up about one-third from where it was in 2019 before these crazy reforms were implemented.
Adams has stopped the bleeding, but he hasn’t brought us back to the good old days as he’s promised.
Meanwhile, his inconsistent rhetoric and policies related to illegal immigrants has devastated the city.
Let’s face it: he doesn’t have the chops to do the job. But as bad as he is, we could do a lot worse.
Here’s an idea for jaded Democrats: How about considering casting a vote for a Republican mayor? Maybe just to shake things up a little bit.