Newly Sworn In As NYC Mayor, Eric Adams Urges Residents to Stay Resilient Amid Crime Wave and Omicron Explosion
Mere hours after Andy Cohen drunkenly railed against outgoing New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio on CNN’s live New Year’s broadcast, the new mayor had a busy first day dealing with a city under siege from the Omicron variant of the Coronavirus.
Eric Adams was sworn into office in Times Square as the city rang in the new year and later pledged to steer the nation’s largest city out of the pandemic by “drawing on the resiliency of its people” and promising a government that works better, even if it’s not radically different.
Mayor Adams used his inaugural address to promise more efficiency, invoke New Yorkers’ reputation for toughness, and urge the city’s nearly 9 million residents to make a New Year’s resolution that their lives not be controlled by the pandemic. “Getting vaccinated is not letting the crisis control you,” Adams said at City Hall. “Enjoying a Broadway show. Sending your kids to school. Going back to the office. These are declarations of confidence that our city is our own.”
Maybe it was a day 1 stunt, but seeing our new mayor Eric Adams taking the subway to the office on his first day of work (without a security detail) was smart optics.
— George Hahn (@georgehahn) January 1, 2022
The city has also been facing a rise in violent crime, particularly in shootings and killings, that is part of a national trend in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. A former New York City police captain, Mayor Adams kicked off his first day in office by taking the subway from his Brooklyn brownstone to City Hall for his first day on the job. Adams chatted with New Yorkers and a throng of reporters following him. Adams also called 911 to report two men fighting, and later in the day promised to aggressively go after violent crime while holding a news conference about a police officer who was shot and injured hours earlier.
In under 2 minutes, Mayor-elect @ericadamsfornyc gives a clear, straightforward, common-sense message on keeping New Yorkers safe. Committed. Undestracted. No gobbledygook. No equivocating. Just the facts and a plan.
👏👏👏 pic.twitter.com/LtcFCOpAZf— Kalman Yeger ונשמרתם מאד לנפשותיכם (@KalmanYeger) December 22, 2021
While the new mayor has pledged to keep the city open and stave off any return to shutdowns, he is taking the helm of a city that has seen subway lines, restaurants, and even urgent care centers temporarily close because of staffing shortages driven by the virus. Adams and his new police commissioner, Keechant Sewel, held an afternoon news conference outside a hospital after the police officer was shot Saturday while sleeping in his vehicle in a precinct parking lot between shifts. The officer is expected to fully recover.
Watch Eric Adams be sworn in as New York City's newest mayor. #CNNNYE pic.twitter.com/rUYZy93gVt
— Anderson Cooper 360° (@AC360) January 1, 2022
After canceling initial plans to be sworn into office at a Brooklyn theater, Adams said Saturday that he chose to hold his inauguration ceremony at the scene of the New Year’s Eve ball drop to show that the city was open and alive and “that New York can and should be the center of the universe again.” The new Mayor declared that New York is “not going to be a city of violence.”
Eric Adams arrives at City Hall at 8:30am via the J train from Brooklyn on his first (rainy) day as mayor. pic.twitter.com/TlvVgXQofY
— Emma G. Fitzsimmons (@emmagf) January 1, 2022
The city’s second Black mayor after David Dinkins, who served from 1990 to 1993, and the 110th mayor of New York City, Adams is going to put his years as a cop to good use from Gracie Mansion and City Hall. “I am clear on my mission to aggressively go after those who are carrying violent weapons in our city,” he said.
Happy New Year, New York! I'm so excited about the future of the greatest City in the world, and humbled to be your Mayor.
Tonight, let's (safely!) celebrate. Tomorrow the work begins! pic.twitter.com/OdAYQzxn4W
— Eric Adams (@ericadamsfornyc) January 1, 2022