Transcript: Mayor Eric Adams Announces Nearly $100 Million in Economic Activity for NYC from 2022 Yankees, Mets Playoff Games

October 11, 2022

Andrew Kimball, President and CEO of New York City Economic Development Corporation: Okay. Good morning everybody. What a beautiful day in the Bronx. It's only going to get better as the day goes on. Very exciting moment. I'm New York City Economic Development Corporation President and CEO Andrew Kimball, and it's great to be with you here today. We're joined by Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson; Calvin Brown, deputy commissioner for neighborhood at Small Business Services; Brian Smith, senior vice president for corporate and community relations at the New York Yankees; President of the Bronx Chamber of Commerce Lisa Sorin; Executive Director of the 161st Street BID Trey Jenkins; and local business owner Joe Bastone — owner of the famous Yankee Tavern a few blocks away that's going to be rocking later on today. And it's now my great pleasure to introduce the man leading our economic recovery in New York City and its greatest fan, Mayor Eric Adams.

Mayor Eric Adams: Thank you. Thank you. Thanks. Thanks so much, Andrew. Good seeing you. Let's go Yankees. My heart is a little sore that the Mets is not in it. We were looking for a playoff series. Michael Bloomberg always teases the previous administration that they didn't bring home one ring, and so I have to bring home a couple of rings. And Yankees will do it for us. We're excited. Playoff baseball is back in New York City, but it's more than what happens on the baseball diamond. It brings about an economic stimulus for our city. And sometimes people don't connect the dots that when you have playoff baseball, it is just an economic revitalization for the entire city. Brings up our spirits, but it also fills our cash registers and pockets. We believe that the Mets and Yankees supporters bring joy to the fans, but it is really the economic recovery that we want to talk about.

After two years of the pandemic, New York City has its game in order for economic recovery. We highlight some of the recovery process, some of the bad things. But listen, the city is back and there are so many good things that are happening every day. And playoff season is hitting the ball out of the park for us to recover in the economic end. The Major League Baseball postseason is expected to generate a minimum of a hundred million dollars in economic activity for New York City. Each home game for the New York Yankees and the New York Mets generates roughly 15 million in economic activity for the city. Supporting local businesses, like your tavern, and supporting restaurants, supporting buying merchandise, and just really putting a boom in our economy. New York City's the largest economic engine for this country. There's no getting around it. And by having that economic engine generate the fuel power for this country, it's important to factor in what the game of baseball and sports are playing over this economic recovery.

Over 30,000 visitors flock to each playoff game here in New York City, spending real money, real dollars. No matter where I go in Times Square this morning, I just give tourists one message, spend money, spend money, spend money. The hospitality and tourism industry, which I am really excited about, plays a major role in our city, it's a lifeblood of our economy. When you look at Wall Street and technology, we often overlook the role that the hospitality industry plays. It's extremely significant. Each time someone spends money, it hires a dishwasher, a cook, a bartender, someone that collects tickets, or sell hot dogs here at the stadium or some soft drink. It is all connected and plays a vital role in how we are going to recover across the city in every economic avenue that we have. And it really helps the taverns throughout this city.

People stop before and after a game, grab something to eat and drink. It's just part of this overall economic energy that we have. Our city is hitting the home run. Like Aaron Judge, we're knocking it out the park. It's going to take a while before some people start seeing how well we are doing and the numbers speak for themself. Times Square visitors are up. If you go to Times Square during the evening, you will see how well we are doing and how people are coming back to New York and experience just a livelihood of this city. But it's more than Times Square. We are looking at a 91 pcercent recovery in our hotels from the pre-pandemic level. Highest hotel market in the 25 major markets — New York is leading the way. 156,000 private sector jobs. We are just really seeing a recovery in this city. We're going to continue to move in the right place, but nothing does it better than postseason baseball.

We are excited, both our teams the Mets in the Yankees, two different jerseys, but they plan on one team, Team New York. And the recovery of New York is so important and vital for all of us. So I want to thank the New York Yankees, I want to thank the New York Mets for the combined efforts of assisting us in bringing back our economy. Thank you very much. Andrew?

Kimball: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. EDC puts out a monthly report on how the city's doing from an economic perspective. And I just want to add two stats to the numbers that the mayor just put out there, that I find particularly extraordinary and speaks to how the sector that was hit the hardest during Covid. Small business is once again leading the recovery in New York City. Two stats are one in 10 businesses in New York City, one in 10 of all businesses in New York City started in the last 12 months. And you see particular strengths in the boroughs with those small businesses starting up. And the Bronx is no exception. The other stat is that we are at the highest level of workforce participation in this city in 12 years. That means people are hungry to get back to work, companies of all sizes are opening up and hiring, and that is very positive. And so next to get up to the mic is Brian Smith from the New York Yankees, somebody who's going to be very happy to see people spending money tonight. Brian?

Brian Smith, Senior Vice President at New York Yankees: Thank you. Thank you. Good morning. It's an honor to be here this morning. Today, Tuesday, October 11th generates a great deal of excitement in the borough of the Bronx and throughout New York City. Not only for what it represents when we kick off the postseason this evening here at Yankee Stadium, but what it represents is serving as an economic driver for our local community and throughout New York City. And we're honored to be a part of this group here this morning with the mayor, with Joe Bastone, my buddy for years, the BP, Lisa Sorin, long standing partners, Trey Jenkins from the BID. Welcome, Trey. It's been great working with you and the EDC. It is an honor to work together to put the spotlight on our borough, put the spotlight on our city. And with that being said, I would like to say go Yankees, go the Bronx, and let's make this an October to remember. Thank you.

Kimball: Thanks very much, Brian. I'd now like to ask Joe Bastone to come up and say a couple words. This is going to be a good night for him, but I think we owe all of us… owe a debt of gratitude to our small business owners who risk everything every day to drive our economy. Joe?

Joe Bastone, Owner of Yankee Tavern: Good morning. I just want to say I'm excited. This is my 59th year in this one 161st Street community. I was eight-years-old when my father and his three partners first came here. The Yankees are a great team and this is a great neighborhood and we're going to go all the way. And it's a real, real, real big stimulus for us in the neighborhood, all the businesses, we need it. We went through very hard times and you can't make it up, but this is going to help. Thank you.

Mayor Adams: Alright, Joe. Thank you, brother.

Kimball: Thanks, Joe. Now it's my pleasure to introduce the leader of the Bronx. Somebody that we're working on a slew of projects all across this great borough, somebody who really cares passionately about economic development, is on us every day to do our job as well as we can at the EDC, and that's Borough President Vanessa Gibson.

Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson: Thank you. Thank you.

Mayor Adams: First playoff.

Borough President Gibson: Yes, first playoff as borough president. What an honor. Good morning everyone. What a great pleasure to be here with our mayor and our president of EDC, the New York Yankees and the Yankee organization, the Bronx Chamber of Commerce, the 161st Street BID, as well as our good friend, Joe Bastone at Yankee Tavern, and really each and every one of you. We are so proud to represent this great borough, the birthplace of the New York Yankee organization. And right here in our beloved borough as the Yankees for the sixth consecutive year, make it to the playoffs and begin with tonight's game against Cleveland. So we are rooting for the New York Yankees. This is a Yankee town. We are pinstripes all the way. But we also know that as many of us are Yankee fans, we are thinking about the small business economic development and the fact that we know that many of our tourists and residents here near and far are going to stimulate our economy.

They're going to take advantage of the 161st Street Business Improvement District of all of the businesses along 161st street, as well as River Avenue and Gerard Avenue, whether it's the restaurants, the sports bars, purchasing Yankee merchandise. And so we're really grateful that we have a mayor that understands what this means in terms of stimulating our local economy. We are very proud to represent the New York Yankees and to work hand in hand with Senior Vice President Brian Smith and the entire Yankee organization, not just when the Yankees make it to the playoffs. Because in the last 28 years, the Yankees have made it to the Playoffs 24 times. They are a 27 World Series Championship team. The greatest.

World Series Championship team, the greatest right here in our beloved borough. And so what that means for us, is not just local jobs, it means economic development. It means stimulating our economy. It means giving so many of our residents and opportunity to not only witness a game, but to be a part of the growth of our great borough. We know that what happens right here on 161st Street transcends throughout the entire borough of the Bronx. And I am so proud to work with our colleagues at EDC, at the Yankee Organization, at the business improvement district, the Bronx Chamber of Commerce, working with the Adams administration, as well as our Bronx overall Economic Development Corporation. And our Acting President Rob Walsh, as well as my Deputy Borough President Janet Peguero.

We are in this to win and no matter what, we are going to make sure that we do our part to stimulate the economy, to create the local jobs, to support our minority and women owned businesses, and many of our entrepreneurs that see these opportunities for growth. So let's go Yankees. We are a Yankee town all the way. BX, throw our X's up. Thank you very much to our mayor and our president of EDC for being here this morning. Let's go New York Yankees.

Mayor Adams: All right. You had to tell me about all those championships…

Borough President Gibson: 27.

Mayor Adams: As a Mets fan. A few on-topics before we do some off-topic.

Question: Mr. Mayor, you're a Mets fan. Are you going to be a better good luck charm for the Yankees?

Mayor Adams: Yes, yes I am. I am a New York fan and anytime we have our New York teams — 101 victories was really amazing. I take my hat off to the operation. And so we're like the old roller derby, we got to make sure one of us get to the World Series. And so I'm happy that the Yankees are going to get there. We're going to get past this pennant run and I look forward to cheering on behalf of the Yankees. And my son is a Yankee fan, so this is a real win, you don't lose.

Borough President Gibson: That's right.

Question: So I saw some of the CDC data that the Mets brought in about 17 million per postseason game and the Yankees are projected to bring in about 21 million. So given — looking forward to some dire fiscal headwinds, how do you justify being a Mets fan? The Yankees are bringing more money into the (inaudible).

Mayor Adams: (Laughter.) The goal is... I think what we missed is that it's the combined number that gives us the success. And so by making sure we support both teams, we are seeing the economic stimulus in Queens and the economic stimulus in the Bronx and it's coming together. As I stated, two different jerseys, one team, Team New York, they both have that NY on their uniform.

Kimball: I got a technical answer… All right. Just to be the technical geek here, just so you understand, the first round generates a slightly lower dollar then the division around. So if the Mets were in the division around it would be the same thing, $21 million. The farther the Yankees go, the more money, so the hundred million dollars that the mayor talked about is just based on the games we know will be played, not if the Yankees make it all the way through the World Series, which we expect they will.

Question: Actually, I have a semi-serious question on the topic of economic recovery in general.

Mayor Adams: Yep.

Question: You may have seen a report out of Bloomberg and citing LinkedIn, that the city is just not attracting young people into entry level jobs like it used to. They cite skyrocketing rent, cost of living being off the charts, places like Austin and Nashville are outpacing New York in terms of hiring young people. How do you attract that younger cohort, so the city can stay lively and vibrant into the future?

Mayor Adams: Well, I think we have to be clear — the attractions to young people to employment and really getting people back post-pandemic is a national issue. It's playing out across the country. I speak to my mayors all over the country, they're saying the same thing. Getting people back to work has been a challenge and we're going to continue to do that. I did two openings last week of global headquarters that are opening in the city. The attraction that we're seeing in our finance industry, they're doubling down on New York. And so there's a period that we're going through, the experience, as you know, that many of our companies that are seeing that work places must turn into experiences.

Young people are looking for something different in their working environment. They're looking for a good work-life balance. And I think there's an adjustment period. But New York is a place where people are going to continue to flock to. We are extremely comfortable that this economy is going to continue to recover. In April we have 30 percent of office based occupancy. We continue to trend high and higher. There's just this natural flow that we are going to attract workers to this city. People want to be in New York, I say that over and over again and we believe we're going to hit them all. What's up, Jeff?

Question: When you lifted the vaccine mandate — the carve out, the exception for athletes back in March — part of the legal rationale was that these teams need to win. It's good for the economy, it's good for the morale of the city. Now that the Yankees and the Mets were both in the playoffs, did the vaccine mandate lifting play a role?

Mayor Adams: Well, remember the mandate lifting was really around the unfairness that we were allowing players in other markets, in other cities to play when we were not allowing our home team players and that just made no sense. And we wanted to make sure that those who were entertainers, we were treating those who were performing on stage, should be treated the same way as people who are performing on the stage of athletic fields. You are a performer, you are an entertainer. So we wanted a consistency in the message and we thought it was the right thing to do and we would've done it again the same way. It was smart for us to do that.

Question: Yeah, this is off-topic.

(Inaudible)

Question: In past announcements about the city's recovery you've talked about hotel occupancy numbers. Do you know what the latest numbers are on that?

Mayor Adams: 91 percent pre-pandemic level, we're at 91 percent. We are leading the market in the 25 major markets. New York City is number one. We are not coming back, we're back. And again, I say over and over again, if you highlight the worst part of your day, you begin to define yourself by that day. I like to highlight the best part of our day, 23 point 30 minutes is good stuff in this city. We have 30 minutes of bad stuff and if that is on the front pages every day, that defines our city. But I know the 23 hours, 30 minutes, which is some darn good stuff. And that hotel occupancy number is a reflection of that. New York is back.

Question: So with the Mets collapsing the way that they did (inaudible)... I'm a Mets fan, but first losing the division and then the wild card round, was that expected revenue that the city lost out on?

Mayor Adams: Well, as Andrew stated, the deeper we go into the playoffs, it increases the volume of money. And so we wanted the team to win, not only because we believe it will help our economic benefits, but it also boosts the spirits of the team. I'll never forget after September 11th when Mike Piazza hit that home run, what it just did to our energy. And it showed the invincibility and the resiliency of our city. Winning this World Series with the Yankees is going to revitalize New York City, which in return cascades throughout the entire country. When New York wins, the country wins. And we wanted a subway series, but if we don't get it, we would like a D-train series. So we're happy to have the Yankees win the World Series and Vanessa's going to be, the ball president's going to be extremely happy. This is our first World Series.

(Crosstalk.)

Question: Well, I meant to put them together, but I don't want to beat (inaudible.) You talked about hotel occupancy and one thing the city has got to contend with is the lower office occupancy. Can you talk a bit about, maybe this is for you Andrew, what the city's plans are to get that space filled? I mean, if it doesn't get filled, it could be a pretty big revenue stream that's (inaudible).

Mayor Adams: And Andrew could talk on some of the things that EDC is doing. But I think a lot of our major corporations, Goldman Sachs and others — and we have even heard from tech industries, they heard my call. It's time to get back to work. It's time to get back in office spaces so that we can feed the ecosystem of our economy, that includes all those who benefit from people being in office spaces. And at the same time we want to expand the outer boroughs, where people are thinking differently about creating smaller business districts.

I take my hat off to the various local business groups, the bids, we are seeing a thriving increase in local businesses and business districts are popping up. The goal is to get people back to work. And a lot of the corporate leaders that I'm speaking with, they're stating it's time to get people back into the office. Monday.com, a tech company, when I visited them, they put the call out and you saw the energy, you saw a different office environment. So we have to address, post-Covid is a different work experience, we have to be prepared for that. But the goal is we want to get people back into those office spaces one way or another. Andrew, you want to touch on that at all?

Kimball: Sure. EDC and the mayor's office is working with the governor's office right now on the new New York Panel, which is a group of business and civic leaders brought together, chaired by Dan Doctoroff and Rich Buery, two former deputy mayors, that's coming up with a set of recommendations that goes very much to this question, but I would say even though there's a recognition, and the mayor's talked about this before, at the need to look at some excess office space and potentially the need for conversion, the creation of more of a 24/7 environment in midtown in particular, all the trend lines are going in the right way. And when you talk to both companies and businesses, they are very optimistic about the direction of midtown.

And just to go back to the question earlier about young people coming here, there is a reason that Google, Facebook, Apple, every single large tech company took more space during Covid. It's because this is where their workers want to be. They want the diversity, they want the culture, they want the experience. So even if they're working at home part of the week, they want to be doing that in New York City. And we are growing jobs here at a faster pace than every other city in the country, with the exception of Dallas and Miami. But a bunch of those folks who went to Miami, if you follow the press, they're coming back.

Mayor Adams: Okay. Do you want to (inaudible) something? Okay. Do some more off-topics. Okay. Thanks folks.

(Crosstalk.)

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. I wanted to ask you, there has been an influx of asylum seekers to Staten Island. There's going to be a community board meeting tonight about it. Members of the community said that they've been getting knocks on their door from asylum seekers asking for food and some supplies. Can you speak to that? Did you know that there were buses going to Staten Island? How many buses have gone there and what's the plan for those asylum seekers that are going to the Comfort Inn hotel there?

Mayor Adams: Now when you say buses going to Staten Island, I'm not sure if this is direct buses going there or is this through the shelter or through how we are accommodating? I'm not quite sure where the groups are talking about. But every community is going to see asylum seekers. That's why I was clear. My goal last week was to answer four questions. What are we dealing with? What have we done? What are we doing? And what do we need from our partners in government? And so this was a moment of speaking directly to the people of this city, of what this city is facing. And so Staten Island and other communities, everyone is going to see asylum seekers. So all the calls that I'm getting from elected officials, all the calls that I'm hearing from people, of saying, "Please not here." That is just can't happen. This is a citywide crisis and all of us are going to be impacted. And Staten Island is going to be impacted like the other four boroughs.

Question: Did you know that asylum seekers were being sent directly there before today? Did you know that there were buses…

Mayor Adams: Directly, and we said directly mean those who are coming from the southern state are dropping off directly? No, not of my knowledge. We keep account of the 18,000 that have come through our system. I'm not aware of anyone directly dropping off buses somewhere else. And we'll look into that, because there should be an organized way within our city to make sure these buses are doing what they're supposed to do. And that's why we keeping a focus on these buses.

Question: Mayor, on Friday when you made the declaration of emergency and you called upon your state and federal partners to help New York, since that declaration have you gotten any commitments from either the federal or state governments that make you feel better about where the city is today on this?

Mayor Adams: Well I think, I get lost in days. That was on Friday. Was it Friday? Friday to Saturday, Sunday. I'm the only one that works all year round as the Daily News once reported. That's a weekend, so a lot of people... Monday was Memorial Day. So I know it's difficult to have the patience sometimes. But we have been communicating with our federal and state partners. Today is the first workday. I believe that we're going to start seeing some influx of assistance that we need of... I want to thank Governor Hochul for how she has been coordinating with our team of... The goal is for, this is an all hands on deck moment and we need to make sure that we respond to this. So to answer your question directly, there's nothing specific that I can point to. But we have been on our communication since we've been this morning when the team briefed me.

Question: (Inaudible) been out Randalls Island to inspect yourself already. Are you happy with what you're seeing? And how soon can it open?

Mayor Adams: I did. I went to the Skyline Hotel on Friday night around 11 p.m.to see what was happening on the ground. I communicated with both the commissioner of NYCEM, as well as communicated with Deputy Mayor Williams-Isom and Commissioner Jenkins who's giving me an update on what's happening on Randalls Island. And I'm going to be visiting there. And before, when our first round of asylum seekers go there, I'll be there to greet them as well.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. Sorry about the Mets. (Inaudible) because of the Mets. I wanted to ask, you mentioned before getting calls from elected officials saying, "Please not here, don't send the asylum seekers here." Could you clarify that? I mean are there specific Council members who are pushing back on you or areas you're having trouble finding housing because of the politics behind it?

Mayor Adams: Yes, there are specific elected officials in all levels of government. And what's surprising, some of the loudest that are saying we need to make sure we house asylum seekers have been some of the loudest of saying not on our block.

Question: You want to name names?

Mayor Adams: Oh no, it doesn't serve a purpose. The loudest have been the least benevolent. And so, as I shared to them, can you send me that over in writing? And there's a reluctancy to put it in writing. That's the inconsistency that we continue to see in this city. "Hey, let's build affordable housing. Wait, you can't build it in my district." "Hey, let's make sure we have asylum seekers have a place to stay. Wait, you can't put it in my district." No, you can't have it both ways. Either we're in this together or we're not. And I'm not listening to that. No one gets a pass during an emergency. Everyone must do their share. And if they're willing to stand up and hold a press conference in their district and say, "We don't want any asylum seekers here," then they can do that. If not, we going to look at any available space to find it.

Now it's also interesting, some of the loudest have not volunteered spaces. They have not reached out to us and said, "Hey, we have a space here. Can you come and use it?" And I got to take my hat off to those elected officials who have stepped up. Senator Sanders reached out to me and said, "I want to help. I'm out here in Rockaway. How do we help?" Erik Bottcher, "I want to help." There's so many of them that have stood up and said we want to help. But far too many of the loudest have become silent when it's time to do what they have been advocating for. That's what's interesting. And also find that in policing. Some of the loudest who are anti defund, "Hey, we need more cops on our blocks." I mean I'm like, "Are you guys kidding me?" So this hypocrisy is really troubling.

Question: Just as a quick follow up, I know that the Council released a list of 10 hotels, I think it was, that they offered to provide space for the asylum seekers. This was on Friday. Did you have a chance to review that? Any thoughts on that?

Mayor Adams: We were, first of all, we opened I think 46 or 47 emergency hotels. We were already looking at hotels. And what they did was they put out a letter on their website that we should be using more hotels. Why put it on the website? Why not just give it to us? Why not say, "Listen, we're in an emergency, here are 10 hotels that you folks can look at." It took us almost three, four days to get that list.

See, the spirit of cooperation is not posting something on a website. It's just calling us. We speak to them all the time. "Hey, we got 10 hotels that we would like to help solve this crisis that we are facing." And so we are already, we've opened up emergency hotels, over 40. I think it's 46, 47. And we're looking for more spaces, but it's more than the hotels. Whatever they have in their district, they should be coming up right now saying, "Here are places we could house the asylum seekers." Everyone should be doing that that's in... And this is in government. This is a leadership moment. And so whatever list they gave us, we're looking at them. It would be great if they vet them first, come back with a complete package. But we're going to do our job. We were already looking at hotels. That has always been part of our plan as well as the (inaudible), as well as other settings that we're doing, as well as speaking to the faith based community. That's part of our overall plan of dealing with emergencies.

Question: Mr. Mayor?

Mayor Adams: Yes.

Question: (Inaudible) where you reported that there's several families there and they've been telling us there's no laundry services. Some of the babies are hungry, they want food that's more (inaudible) But what is this siting process like when you're picking locations because…

Mayor Adams: I'm sorry I didn’t get the last word.

Question: What's the sighting process like when you're picking these locations because this (inaudible), there's no access to a grocery store. There's only one bus in and out of the neighborhood. Did you talk to any of the elected officials beforehand? Cause the Staten Island community board there said that they only got one day heads up before the hotel was opened.

Mayor Adams: Yeah, first of all, an emergency is an emergency. We can't give people a month heads up. We don't know the count of these buses. These guys in the south are not coordinated. So for people to say, "Well, I got a one day heads up," we're not even getting a one day heads up. As the emergency comes, we have to make these on the ground moves and make sure that we deal with the crises that's in front of us. And a lot of people have not really dealt with emergencies before. So it's like hard for some of those who are in leadership right now to understand during the crises and emergency how you have to move things around. I remember during September 11 how we had to respond and everyone rallied together. And when I hear people talking about the hurt. I mean, are we rewriting history? We opened a hospital tent in Central Park. So if New Yorkers can be in the hospital tent in Central Park during the crisis, are you saying others can't? We had a hospital boat to deal with the emergency. So I'm not quite unsure that people understand the seriousness of this moment. And yes, we would love to give people a 30 day notice. We don't have a 30 day notice. We got to respond to a crisis.

And this is a leadership moment, being willing to respond to the crises and handle the criticism at the same time, to navigate us out of these turbulent waters so we can look back on it and saw how amazing we were as a city. This is not permanent. This is responding to a crisis. And we are going to get through this because I know this city and I've been through enough crises in this city. I know our capability, but you need clear firm leadership to navigate us out of this moment. And that's what this is about right now.

Question: (Inaudible) people that the shelter system…

(Inaudible.)

Mayor Adams: Let me get this from Bernadette. Would you say Bernadette?

Question: Are you considering a cap? Because right now you're nearing 20,000, which is around the level of how many people were in the shelter system before the pandemic. Is there going to be a number that kind of say, listen, we can't take anymore?

Mayor Adams: We already have more than we've ever had in history. We are looking through our court council at all of the legal avenues that we can go to make sure that New Yorkers are not treated unfairly. Because we still have to provide services for long term New Yorkers.

Question: I'm curious, first of all, one quick… anything new to report on the possibility of cruise ships being used here?

Mayor Adams: We're not leaving any stone unturned and once we come with a real plan and announcement, we're going to immediately notify right away what we're doing. We're looking at all these different avenues.

Question: The main question, I'm sure you've seen some Republicans using your words and turning them into their talking points about migrants and the border crisis. What do you make of your words being used potentially against your own democratic colleagues?

Mayor Adams: Well, listen, I'm what I must do for the New York City public, I must be honest, forthright, and let them know what they are dealing with. That's all I'm doing. So no matter what I say, people can try to distort, but it's about informing the New York public of what they're doing. So when people end up on their block, they end up in their classrooms with their children, they end up doing different things. I want people to be informed. So people can always use your words to try to distort them, but I'm not going to sit back and wait to say the right thing while we are seeing the wrong thing happen to people.

Question: Mr. Mayor, on the list of the hotels that the Council put out, has your administration begun to evaluate them and which hotels on that list do you think the city's more likely to use than others?

Mayor Adams: Well, we're going through the list and some of them are those who are already on our overall list. This was not rocket science, this wasn't new to us. As I stated, we opened over 40 emergency shelters using hotels. Over 40. And so we have been looking at every available hotel in the city that's available to open. And so what I need from everyone is to do an analysis in their districts. In their districts I need people to do an analysis and say, hey, here is a place you can house in my district. We're looking all over the city and some of those hotels were already on our list. We were looking at, we were speaking to our hotel partners to say, let's do this. We've been already talking about continuing to expand the hotels. But I need other spaces in the districts of elected officials. This is the leadership moment. I want like some of the Council and state and congressional delegations have done, everyone needs to come up with and say, Eric here are three locations in my district that we're willing to house.

Question: Why not tell us who the worst, in your eyes, offenders are in the City Council that are telling you, no, not in my district? That would be helpful now.

Mayor Adams: Because it serves no purpose. The overall goal is to tell everyone to step up right now. That's the goal.