By: Hal C Clarke

Mayor Eric Adams has rejected 14 City Council bills and other measures during his not-yet-four years in office – a rare level of pushback that supporters say is necessary to counter what they call the Council’s far-left agenda, the New York Post reported.

By contrast, his predecessor, former Mayor Bill de Blasio – a self-described progressive who enjoyed a close relationship with the Council’s left-leaning majority – never issued a veto during his eight years in City Hall, according to records cited by the Post.

“When the City Council pushes unserious or dangerous legislation, it’s the mayor’s duty to stand up and fight back,” said Queens Democrat Robert Holden, one of the chamber’s more moderate members, who praised Adams for blocking what he called “reckless bills.”

The Post detailed Adams’ most notable vetoes, which include:

• A measure banning solitary confinement in city jails. Adams not only vetoed the bill but fought the Council’s override attempt in court, where in July 2024 a federal judge ruled in the city’s favor and blocked the law from taking effect.
• A police transparency bill requiring the NYPD to record every street stop in a written report – dubbed the “How Many Stops Act” – which the Council passed over his veto.
• Legislation to decriminalize illegal street vending, which the Post said the Council is expected to override later this month.
• Four bills expanding and reforming the city’s housing voucher program. Adams argued they would increase shelter stays and cost taxpayers billions. The pro-migrant Council majority overrode him on all four.
• Six measures that would have prevented a zoning change crucial to Bally’s $4 billion plan for a Bronx casino on land formerly owned by President Donald Trump. Adams vetoed them, and the Post reported the measures lacked enough support for an override.

Supporters frame Adams’ vetoes as an effort to preserve public safety and quality of life in the face of what they see as ideological overreach.

“The City Council is out of control,” said Republican Councilwoman Vickie Paladino of Queens, adding that Speaker Adrienne Adams “can’t find any middle ground on anything” and often resists the mayor even on “common-sense” issues.

The disagreements extend beyond vetoes. As the Post noted, the mayor has opposed pending bills that could cost the city $3 billion to remove 300, 000 parking spaces near intersections, criticized a taxpayer-funded trash bin giveaway, and clashed with legislators over his failed 2023 nomination of Randy Mastro as corporation counsel. Mastro, a former top aide to Rudy Giuliani, later joined Adams’ team as first deputy mayor.

The tension dates back to Adams’ 2021 mayoral transition, when he failed to marshal enough Council votes to elect his preferred speaker, Francisco Moya of Queens. That defeat, a former top de Blasio aide told the Post, signaled to the new Council majority that they could beat him in a political fight.

By contrast, de Blasio’s early days were smoothed by the election of his chosen speaker, Melissa Mark-Viverito, in 2014 – a political win that gave him a reliable ally in the chamber.

Critics, however, suggest Adams’ vetoes are less about governance and more about political theater aimed at appealing to centrist and moderate voters.

Mayoral spokeswoman Kayla Mamelak defended her boss’ actions, telling the Post that the Council had “passed laws so extreme that they defy commonsense and undermine the goals they were elected to achieve.” She said Adams was “compelled to use his veto power to call out the Council’s excesses and stand up for working-class, law-abiding New Yorkers who know the difference between commonsense and extremism.”