During an event held with senior citizens at JASA Bay Eden Older Adult Center in the northeast Bronx on Thursday, Nov. 30, Mayor Eric Adams addressed what he referred to as “the pink elephant in the room,” fielding questions on cuts to the City Budget, announced in mid-November and affecting all city agencies, and defending himself against an allegation of sexual assault, as reported, filed in a recent civil lawsuit under the New York State’s Adult Survivor Act. He also addressed a separate, ongoing federal investigation, as also reported, into his campaign finances in 2021, when as then-Brooklyn borough president he was running for the office of mayor.

 

Adams was joined at the center, located at 1220 East 229th Street in Edenwald, by nearly a dozen heads of city agencies and local officials for his fifth town hall held at various city senior centers across the city.

 

He told those gathered that at the four other senior town halls he hosted across the city, the number one topic raised was how his administration was handling the influx of migrant workers and asylum seekers to the city.

Adams told the crowd, “Every time we go to the town hall, people say, ‘Okay, why don’t you just stop the flow in?’ I can’t; it’s against the law. I don’t have the authority to do that.” The mayor continued, “People say that we are giving more to immigrant and asylum seekers [than] we are giving to long-term New Yorkers. That is not true; there are benefits that are for long-term New Yorkers that migrant and asylum seekers are not allowed to get, based on law and policies.”

 

Adams pointed out that the migrant crisis has cost the City $7 billion in this fiscal year alone. “This was dropped in our lap,” he added. “We’ve been asking for help for over a year now, and our voices are not being heard in Washington D.C.”

 

Addressing the civil suit brought against him, Adams later told the crowd, “There was an allegation made against me by someone 30-something years ago. I don’t know who the woman is.” He added, “The allegation did not happen. It is not true, and I don’t even know what the allegation is to be honest with you.”

Adams continued, “And the second thing is the investigation with the [U.S.] Justice Department, based on the actions I took with the Turkish embassy. I reached out to the fire department as the [Brooklyn] borough president, and I asked the [then] fire commissioner [Daniel Nigro] to look into what was holding [up] the permit process for the embassy. That was the extent of my inquiry.” The mayor added that he would be cooperating with the investigation.

 

Norwood News asked U.S. attorneys for the Southern District of New York and the mayor’s legal representatives if the latest revelations into his prior discussions with the Turkish consulate in New York and the former fire commissioner form part of the same investigation as the one into his 2021 campaign finances, or if it’s a separate investigation.

 

A representative from federal prosecutors for the Southern District of New York replied, saying, “Pursuant to department policy, I am unable to confirm, or discuss, the existence of any investigations.” We did not receive an immediate response from the mayor’s legal firm to our question.

 

When we sent a previous request to the mayor’s legal firm for comment on the seizure, last month, of his iphone/ipads by the FBI, as reported, we received a statement from the mayor via his attorneys, saying, “As a former member of law enforcement, I expect all members of my staff to follow the law and fully cooperate with any sort of investigation, and I will continue to do exactly that. I have nothing to hide.”

The mayor’s campaign attorney, Boyd Johnson, also shared the following statement with Norwood News at the time in relation to the probe into his 2021 campaign finances: “After learning of the federal investigation, it was discovered that an individual had recently acted improperly. In the spirit of transparency and cooperation, this behavior was immediately and proactively reported to investigators. The mayor has been and remains committed to cooperating in this matter.”

 

Johnson continued, “On Monday night, the FBI approached the mayor after an event. The mayor immediately complied with the FBI’s request and provided them with electronic devices. The mayor has not been accused of any wrongdoing and continues to cooperate with the investigation.”

 

Back at the JASA center, Adams’ first question from the crowd was, “Are you proposing budget cuts that will directly affect senior centers throughout the city?” Adams passed the question to Lorraine Cortes-Vasquez, commissioner for the aging, who responded, saying, “We’ve been housing over a hundred thousand people now; 60,000 are on a regular basis. That costs money, and so that means that all agencies have had to face a budget cut.”

Cortes-Vasquez continued, “I can tell you that at New York City Aging, we are looking at everything possible so that we do not cut older adult clubs at this time. I can’t talk to you about the future and what that brings, but we are also making sure that we do not impact home delivered meals, and we’re looking at transportation and home care with the same commitment.”

 

Adams said that out of his $106 billion city budget, about $76 billion “is locked in,” and the $12 billion in cuts would have to come from the remaining $30 billion. He added, “We are in a predicament; we have to balance the budget for two years by law.”

 

Longtime Gun Hill Road resident, Barbara Gibson, 84, spoke to Norwood News after the mayor’s visit and said, “It was a pleasure to have him come to the Boogie-Down Bronx to listen to our problems, but will some of these problems be addressed?”

Meanwhile, retired nurse and Williamsbridge resident, Kathleen George, told Norwood News that she was concerned with scooter riders driving on the sidewalks, a topic that was addressed during the town hall. Asked if she was feeling hopeful after what she heard, George replied, “Yeah, we’ll wait and see and hope something positive comes out of it.”

 

Neither Adams nor any member of his campaign team has been accused of any criminal wrongdoing.

 

The mayor denies any wrongdoing in relation to the civil lawsuit.

 

As reported, an off-duty police officer shot a man in a store in Wakefield amid a dispute at around the same time as the mayor was due to arrive, a short distance away, at the event in Edenwald.

 

For some recent coverage on Bronx seniors, click here, here, and here, and for a recent article on e-bike regulation, click here.

 

Meanwhile, check out our recent Inquiring Photographer feature to read what some residents think about the recent budget cuts.

 

*Síle Moloney contributed to this story.

 

Editor’s Note: On Nov. 16, the mayor said that in August 2023, he laid out new projections estimating the cost of the asylum seeker crisis to grow to at least $12 billion over three fiscal years — between FY23 and FY25 — if circumstances do not change.

 

With sunsetting COVID-19 stimulus funding, slowing FY24 tax revenue growth, expenses from labor contracts which he said his administration inherited, and a lack of what he said was significant state or federal government action on the asylum seeker crisis, he said he took action the following month, announcing a 5 percent PEG [program to eliminate the gap] i.e. budget cuts on city-funded spending for all city agencies with plans for additional rounds of PEGs in the preliminary and executive budgets.

 

He said new city-funded spending was limited to those protecting life and safety, fulfilling legal mandates, maintaining necessary operations, or generating revenue.

 

In response to a request for clarification regarding the timing of the referenced budget cuts, Charles Lutvak, a City Hall spokesperson, told Norwood News, “The mayor announced in September that city agencies would [be] subject to three separate 5% PEGs [reductions in city-funded spending]: one in the November plan, one in the preliminary budget (in January 2024), and one in the executive budget (in April 2024).” Lutvak added that only the first announced round of cuts have been implemented so far i.e. in November.

 

In the meantime, in lieu of cutting the budgets of city agencies, some progressive Democrats have proposed increasing taxes on the rich to make up the budget shortfall.