By Ilana Siyance
There was a full cart of candidates striving for a bid to be the next Mayor of New York City, which Eric Adams eliminated in the Democratic Primary. It won’t be an easy job though, and the incoming mayor will face especially tough challenges.
The pandemic pushed the city into an economic contraction. Unemployment and crime are up. Further, the city will be limited in its undertakings due to a billion-dollar budget deficit, which might get even worse when assessed property values dip amid the weak commercial real estate market.
As the likely next mayor, Brooklyn Borough President Adams is facing questions on how he would handle the city’s public-policy challenges. As reported by Crain’s NY, Adams says the city will need to confront its challenges in partnership with the business community, encouraging investment and a return to normalcy, even if there is resurgence in coronavirus. “We have to put our toes back in the water,” Adams said in an interview. City employees were slated to finally return to their offices in September, but now the Delta Variant is putting a damper on those plans. Adams is calling on CEOs to bring workers back to the office two days a week “as soon as possible.” He also says offices can make people feel safe via visible Covid-19 inspection certificates. He says return to offices would help improve commercial vacancies and bring people back in for local shopping and dining. Adams also wants to put more money into marketing organizations like NYC & Company to promote tourism and lure business conventions.
The city’s unemployment rate was 10.1% two months ago, with 535,000 jobs still lost since the pandemic struck, as per the state comptroller’s office. Adams suggests creating jobs by retrofitting thousands of buildings to meet lower greenhouse gas emissions. He says the city doesn’t even need to put money down, just sell bonds to fund the program. “Just put in place a good capital program, where we don’t have to spend the money now. It’s a great investment for our future. It will encourage employment, and it’s good for our environment,” said Adams.
As per Crain’s, to address massive budget deficits, the Democratic nominee would aim for budget cuts of 3% to 5% in every city agency in his first year, as well as a hiring freeze. He also plans to raise taxes on city residents who make $5 million or more in income, though he says the increase should be delayed two years, till the city has recovered.
The former police captain says he would prioritize tackling crime by implementing new training for officers, and an anti-gun task force.
