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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC and with us now Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams who is making a certain official announcement today. He joins us now to say it live. Borough President, always a pleasure. Welcome back to WNYC.

Eric Adams: Thank you so much. I've shared the airwaves with you throughout the years. I appreciate an opportunity to speak with you and your well-informed listeners.

Brian Lehrer: I don't want to be a spoiler or an upstager so would you like to just say this yourself for our listeners?

Eric Adams: Yes, I am extremely excited today after several years of looking at the city, and playing a role as a police officer, as a State Senator and now as the Borough President, I am formally announcing my run for mayor of the city of New York. I believe these are important times and I think that the experience that I've shown throughout the years, and just really understanding this city. I grew up in this city.

I love this city and I protected it as a police officer. I know how difficult it is from childhood, of some of the challenges I experienced. I've gone through a lot and we rolled out some of those issues throughout the years. I think it's time for a mayor who has gone through a lot, to help New Yorkers who are now currently going through a lot now. These are very challenging times from crime, to COVID, to how we're going to deal with our economy, and I believe the totality of my life has prepared me for the moment we are in now.

Brian Lehrer: Your first career as you just reminded us was on the force of the NYPD for 20 years, but your introductory campaign video opens with the story of you being beaten by police officers in a police precinct house in Queens when you were a kid. Why did you want to be a cop after that?

Eric Adams: I remember coming home that day, and my mom saying to me that, "Son, in your life, you're going to find yourself in dark places. The question is you make a determination if you are buried or if you are planted." I saw it as an opportunity of a plant. When I was asked by civil rights leaders to go into the police department after Arthur Miller was killed by a chokehold, I knew this was a moment of seeing the fruits of my harvest to help other people.

That's why I went into the police department and moved with the energy of saying public safety and justice they go together. Something else happened during that time that many people are not aware of mine and that I came in with skills as a computer programmer. I was part of the first team that was put together to use data to deal with crime in our city when we were really drowning with crime. Everyone had a no radio sign in their car windows, people were afraid to leave their homes and because of that innovative thinking, we were able to turn around this city and make it a safe city.

I think it's time to do that in every agency in this city. We are dysfunctional, we create our crisis, and that just dysfunctionality is leading to the inequities and injustice that we are witnessing.

Brian Lehrer: Listeners, we invite your phone calls for Brooklyn Borough President, and now officially mayoral hopeful, Eric Adams. What do you want to ask him about Brooklyn right now or about him as a candidate for next year? 646-435-7280, 646-435-7280, or tweet a question @brianlehrer. Before we go on to some other issues, just staying on this, crime and criminal justice reform. As a member of the force, you founded the group 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care, that was in 1995 during Rudy Giuliani's first term.

Here we are 25 years later and we've been through police brutality, protests, and reforms under Giuliani then Bloomberg was supposed to be the kinder gentler Republican. Then de Blasio ran on ending Bloomberg stop and frisk. Yet here we are in 2020, with multiple horrific videos of police violence against protesters, and even against people who wouldn't social distance at the beginning of the pandemic.

You know that Human Rights Watch says the NYPD broke international human rights law in that one kettling incident against peaceful protesters in The Bronx this summer. What's your big picture take of the progress or lack of progress on the systemic racism that you formed your group of police officers to fight in 1995?

Eric Adams: Clearly, based on the information and the observations that we witnessed during the protests in March, or marches in the city, many of them I participated in. We saw that our city and our police department clearly can perform much better. We have far too many officers who are in the department that really are not suitable to wear that badge, that shield and protect the people of the city. I think we could have that justice and safety they go together.

That's what I really, when you look at the three most important issues the city is facing right now, COVID, economy, public safety, you see my life as a officer and promoted to a captain, understanding the inner dealings of the police department, I believe is one of the most crucial things that we can look at now. I want to do three important things right away. Number one, we want to change the demographics of the police department, by allowing those individuals who are in the other law enforcement agencies in the city, school safety, DLT, hospital police, et cetera.

We're going to promote them after two years into the police department when they have exemplary service. Over 85% of Black and brown, 100% of them are New Yorkers. We're going to take that over 30% of our department that is from outside our city, we're going to allow attrition to change that demographic. Second, the most powerful position in the city, the precinct commander, yet local people have no input on a precinct commander in their community.

I'm going to change that to allow community leaders to interview their precinct commander to determine based on the new law 50-a, look at their background, see if they are fit for their community to ensure they're the right person to lead their community. Lastly, zero tolerance for abuse. When a person commits a crime, and he or she is with someone else, they are charged with acting in concert.

Under our police department and I am the mayor, any officer who's on the scene and witness abuse, he is charged with acting in concert, either immediately dismissed, or if something is done criminally, the district attorney's will coordinate with our agency and my internal investigatory body and have them brought up on criminal charges. We must lift up the nobility of policing by having the right offices, protect our public. The public protect the police, but the police must respect the public that they are in charge of protecting.

Brian Lehrer: That's the police reform side of it. I'm going to take a caller for you who I think wants to explore you more on the crime prevention aspect of it. Do we have James ready to go there on seven? Can I take that call? Okay. James is not quite ready to go yet. I'll ask you the question. How do you keep the people safe at the same time? I'm thinking of Minneapolis right now, where George Floyd was killed, and the City Council called for disbanding and reinventing the whole police department.

That effort got bogged down politically. Now from the reporting I've seen, they have both a police shortage as officers are getting out of a job that they feel there is hostility to and there is also rising violent crime there. Is Minneapolis any kind of a cautionary tale for New York?

Eric Adams: I think it's across the country. I want to be extremely clear and I will say this over and over, the prerequisite to prosperity is public safety. We must be safe. I am not going to do anything as the mayor of the city of New York, that would jeopardize the safety of the people of the city of New York. You can't run changes in public safety through bumper stickers or slogans. You must do it in a smart, strategic way.

We will attack three areas of public safety that's crucial. Number one, we're going to reinstitute the anti-crime unit but turn it into an anti-gun unit where we would zero in precision policing to go after known shooters. There are known shooters in this city, and we must go after that. Second, we want to have a full-frontal approach to the issues around gang violence.

Gang violence is really one of the core issues in this city that has been ignored because it has been isolated to certain communities. We want to go after gang violence, have young people get out of gangs, give them the resources they need, employment, and other opportunities but those who continue to participate in the violence like we saw yesterday, where a city bus was shot and an innocent person on the bus was shot because of gang rivals. That's not acceptable. Our city must be safe. Third, we going to become more proactive.

Brian, I talk about this all the time. Right now, we feed our criminal justice crisis through the failures of our department of education. When you look at Rikers Island, over 80% of the men and women on Rikers Island, don't have a high school diploma upon entry. It's just one study that's in Texas is true, over 40% are dyslexic. 55% have learning disabilities.

You see the failure of education is leading to incarceration and why the city of New York, every year, we have the same demographics that are failing in our educational system, predominantly Black and brown students and overwhelmingly Black and brown men. Let's be more proactive, change the ecosystem of public safety, and not be a reaction of the system. We can police better in this city. That's the energy I'm going to bring from my police experience as well as my experience as a legislator.

Brian Lehrer: Sam in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC with Borough president and now mayoral hopeful, Eric Adams. Hi Sam.

Sam: Hi. How are you? I'm a tenant housing lawyer and as such, I'm very involved in the tenant movement. For us, it's pretty much a litmus test of any candidate that will support that they not accept money from the real estate industry because of its outsized influence on policy and of course, what we think is a bad influence. I believe in the past, Mr. Adams, you have accepted contributions from the real estate industry and I'm asking if you will do so in your run for mayor.

Eric Adams: Oh, yes, I am. I will fail your litmus test because one person would say, "Litmus test is real estate." Another person would say, "Litmus test is for someone [unintelligible 00:12:18] family building owner." I own a building in Brooklyn, I have three tenants in my building. One of my tenants, she was in a position where she couldn't pay rent up for over a year and a half because of her employment status.

The city wanted me to take her to court. I refused to do so. I held off on her rent payment and showed her the protection. When you start talking about real estate industry, you lump in everyone who owns a building in the city, I think is wrong. I'll go visit the parents that own an eight-story building and they struggled all their life to buy that property. I'll go look at the ground stone owners who are using their tenants to pay their mortgage because they lost a loved one. I think that we need to hold everyone in the city accountable.

Real estate pays 51% of our taxes. If we need them to pay more, then we need to go to them and demand that they pay more because it was the real estate industry that bailed us out in the '70s. It was the real estate industry that bailed us out after 9/11. We need to hold them accountable. Abusive landlords should be arrested if they do something illegal, but we can't divide this city based on industries. We are all in this together and we must come together to get through the conditions we're in right now.

Brian Lehrer: Interesting but if you're not going to bar donations to your campaign from the real estate industry and some other candidates, perhaps are, why should people trust that even as you make this case right here right now, that this is to not lock out small building owners, that it would leave you indebted to the big real estate interests in the city who have too much power?

Eric Adams: I think, take a look at, which is very interested as one of your colleagues spoke with me yesterday, look at my donors, I have 7,000 donors. It is extremely impressive when you see the cab drivers, the cook, the waiters, the school teachers, the messages, when you look at my donor base, you'll see that my donors are coming from a diverse group of New Yorkers. I have one of the most diverse groups coming from the African American, Caribbean, Chinese, Jewish community, Pakistan. Those are my donors and they look at my [unintelligible 00:14:48] hearings and look at the number of cases and proposals for building improvement.

Brian Lehrer: That's land use hearings, go ahead.

Eric Adams: The number of places my land use hearings where I denied and voted against the development that real estate individuals attempted to do. Don't define your candidates based on particular groups on who support them because real estate industry, business industry, local small business owners, they want a safe city as well. They want a city where children are educated and our streets are clean as well. All of our industry is accountable. That is what I have done and I'll continue to do.

How do we define what is real estate and what's not? How do we look at the small property owners through the large property owners? Once you start doing that, you open the door of this litmus test on who's going to be a successful man in the city.

I have been a strong advocate and voice for housing. I joined the suit against [unintelligible 00:15:55] property that was attempting to harm tenants. I'm a strong tenant advocate. I'm going to continue to do so and no matter where my contributions come from, everyone is going to be held accountable. We are in this together.

Brian Lehrer: Khalil in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC with Eric Adams.

Khalil: I need services. I don't know where to go.

Brian Lehrer: Khalil, can you hear us? You're on the air.

Khalil: Yes.

Brian Lehrer: Hi.

Khalil: Hi, Brian.

Brian Lehrer: Hi there. You're on the air, Khalil with the Borough President.

Khalil: Oh, wow, man. It's such a pleasure. Mr. Borough President, congratulations and I wish you much luck.

Eric Adams: Thank you.

Khalil: This COVID thing is ridiculous, man. I see the work that you're doing and I appreciate every bit of it, but it's slow going out here. I'm out here, I'm boots on the ground and I'm telling you that it's rough out here. You were talking about the landlord situations and the illegalities that they might do. My landlord took my door off the hinges because I couldn't continue to pay the rent and so I just left. I've been living in my car for the last three months because my wife is down in Trinidad and we got split up because I retired and I was supposed to be down there. I'm born and raised here and [crosstalk] Yes, go ahead.

Eric Adams: That is considered an illegal eviction. I met with the former DA, Ken Thompson. I spoke with the AG's office. I'm a strong advocate that we have not done enough to talk at those landlords that break the law, illegal evictions, damaging property, that's criminal mischief, causing fires for tenants to be moved out, that's arson. I think we need to take a more aggressive stance of those landlords who are committing crimes. They should be arrested.

The crimes are on the books. I think far too many illegal landlords who are not doing their jobs correctly, are getting away with committing crime without prosecuted them when they do so. I think we need to take a more aggressive stance towards that type of action. You should not have had your removed, that's an illegal eviction and that landlord should have been arrested for that.

Brian Lehrer: That's a policy statement. Khalil, is there something you want from the Borough President?

Khalil: I have one more question.

Brian Lehrer: Go ahead, Khalil. I'm curious if there are services you need right now.

Khalil: Yes, where can we go? Because right now everything is so slow that you got to go online and you got to get appointments. Is there any way to speed this process up?

Eric Adams: I don't know what services you need right now, but if you reach out to my office, I will have my constituent assistance person communicate and find out what your needs are and we'll point you in the right direction because we want to be here for you.

Brian Lehrer: Khalil, we're going to take your contact information off the air if you'd like and we will give it to the Borough President's office and I trust they will follow-up with you. Give your contact info to my producer here, if you choose to. Debbie in Harlem, you're on WNYC with Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, now running for mayor. Hi, Debbie.

Debbie: Hi. Thank you so much for taking my call. Thank you, Mr. Adams, for highlighting the [unintelligible 00:19:27] earlier. I'm calling because our state laws do not require that teachers K-3 or special ed teachers understand how to teach reading. Do you think you could create policies in the city and the DOE that actually require teachers to know how to teach reading?

Eric Adams: I'm sorry can you repeat the question for me, Brian? I think she was breaking up.

Brian Lehrer: She's asking if you can introduce policies as mayor to require teachers to learn how to teach reading. She thinks reading education is bad and that's why so many kids are reading below grade level.

Eric Adams: Oh, thank you. Thank you for that question. I agree with her 100%. First of all, we have to totally revamp our educational system in New York City. It's disjointed and it's really not preparing our children for careers. What does that look like for me? I think pre-K or 3-K were a great start, but that is not the ending place. I think we need to look at what neurologists and pediatricians have been telling us, if the first thousand days of life in Eric Adams educational system, every new--

Brian Lehrer: Whoops, did his line just pop off again? It looks like his line is still lit up there. Borough President, you still there? Did you accidentally press mute? Borough President, I don't know if you can hear me, but at the moment we can't hear you. We're going to fix that line and finish up with him.

Eric Adams: [unintelligible 00:21:05] question. Yes, Brian.

Brian Lehrer: Sorry. You were on mute there for one second. Do you want to finish up that answer about reading?

Eric Adams: Yes. That's a very important question for me because I believe the foundation of what we're experiencing in this city, lies in our education system. I want to totally change how we educate our young people in the city, starting from the first thousand days of life. Every mother and her first child will receive a doula who learned nutrition, brain development, how to assist in the development of the child during those early years of neuron growth so that they can be prepared for 3-K and pre-K.

Also, nutrition, healthy eating is so important. A mother that's not receiving the right nutrition, that baby can be born with cognitive issues and other serious medical issues. Then 3-K and pre-K is not just daycare, it's the continuation of what our neurologists and pediatricians are saying. Then we must have healthy food in school. 70% of our children have early signs of heart disease at age 12.

Under Eric Adams, we won't have a department of education that will feed our children food that is in conflict with what the department of health and mental hygiene has continually stated that with fighting childhood obesity, diabetes, asthma, yet we're feeding children 960,000 meals a day that also will cause childhood obesity, diabetes, and asthma.

It's about a system where our children are not just school, and by changing the dynamics, even some resolve during the school system. I'm a believer that we need continuing education throughout the summer months. It doesn't mean sit in a classroom, but we could use remote learning to teach our children critical skills, such as communication, operating in groups, critical thinking. This is the type of school system we need for the future and not holding on to a system that has not been reformed in years.

Brian Lehrer: Debbie, thank you for your call. We're almost out of time, but before you go, you're the Brooklyn Borough President, obviously, but I think I learned from a cutaway shot in your campaign video this morning that you went to Bayside High School in Queens. Is that right?

Eric Adams: Yes it is. [chuckles]

Brian Lehrer: Well, so did I. I will have to recuse myself from interviewing you now, but I lived around the corner from Bayside High. Where did you live?

Eric Adams: I lived in South Jamaica, Queens. I was one of those students that was bused into Bayside. We used to take an hour and a half ride every day. That's the symbol that we should not have to be bused to communities to find good quality education. That's why we must integrate our schools to ensure that we could have quality education no matter what your zip code may be. I'm a child of two boroughs. My mother still lives in Queens and as you stated, I am the Brooklyn Borough President, born in Brooklyn, moved to Queens, and then returned to Brooklyn. I look forward to representing the entire city of New York.

Brian Lehrer: I brought it up because if you were bused for integration, how do you look back on that experience? Does it inform what kind of school desegregation policy you would like to pursue? Because I think it's fair to say Mayor de Blasio has not been aggressive at all on that score. He emphasizes that school segregation is mostly a function of housing segregation. As the last issue that I'm going to raise with you, how would you address school integration or desegregation as mayor if you're elected?

Eric Adams: It's crucial that we desegregate our schools. When you look at the experience I had going to school with different ethnic groups, when I went to Bayside, that was the first time I was around groups other than the African American community. It exposed me to the diversity and understanding of different groups. We can do a better job. We currently are corral communities based on where they lived and where they located. You have groups that are in areas where you have a of lack of resources and really everyday parents. When you have parents who have the ability to [unintelligible 00:25:41] grants or get additional funding or learning how to use their skills based on their professional capacity, it helps the school.

The only way we can do this correctly is to allow our children, the beautiful experience of learning from cultures and different groups. Look at Brooklyn, 47% of Brooklynites speak a language other than English at home. The real educational experience is not only in the classroom, but it's really interacting with the different ethnic groups that you around. We will segregate our school system so we can give our children a full education that will develop their full personhood as young people. I'm excited about the thought of that.

Brian Lehrer: On the Bayside High School Wikipedia page, under notable alumni, you are the first person listed. There you go. Two of my fellow Bayside High School commodore, not that anybody knew the mascot name at the time, good luck in your mayoral race, of course, I'm saying this to all the candidates. We look forward now that you've announced to having you on many times between now and the June primary and appreciate you throwing your hat in the ring. We'll keep having you on and keep giving you access to the listeners and listeners access to you. That's good?

Eric Adams: Thank you very much.

Brian Lehrer: Thanks so much.

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