City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, who’s considering a run for mayor, declared in her State of the City speech Tuesday that the public has lost “trust” in local government and vowed to turn the tide on that trend by standing up to President Trump and fighting to boost funding for libraries, parks and child care.
The speaker’s annual address, delivered at the Jazz at Lincoln Center concert hall in Manhattan, came less than a week after she filed paperwork last Wednesday to open a campaign account allowing her to start raising money for a primary challenge against Mayor Eric Adams in June’s Democratic primary.
Her team said last week she expected to make a final decision on a run after Tuesday’s speech, an expedited timeline that comes as ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo has emerged as a front-runner in the race.
In the roughly 45-minute speech, the speaker, who’s not related to the embattled incumbent, didn’t directly address her mayoral plans.
But she took shots at what she described as the mayor’s lack of action and vision on key issues while suggesting his federal corruption indictment and surrounding scandals have left city government in a vulnerable place.
“New York City is bigger than one person, and our city deserves leadership that prioritizes its people over individual glory or interests. We need solutions more than slogans, service rather than saviors, and partnership over patriarchy,” she said to cheers from the crowd of fellow elected officials and some top members of the mayor’s administration.
“The dignity and trust in government leadership has been shaken in our city, and it must be restored.”
In talking about Trump, she also sought to draw a sharp distinction with the mayor, who has made a commitment to not publicly criticize the president as the Justice Department seeks to drop Adams’ indictment with some unusual strings attached.
“The Trump administration’s cruel crusade against immigrant families, within a nation of immigrants, is threatening our democratic values. New Yorkers are already feeling the consequences of Trump’s mass deportation plans,” the speaker said before noting that some businesses in immigrant-rich Queens communities have reported 50% drops in sales since Trump’s return to the White House.
“Employees and customers are staying home out of fear. None of this helps our city.”
She continued: “In his quest for power, Trump is willing to burn everything in his way, but a house built on ashes will fall. We’ve been through the fire before. We’ll make it through again by defending our city and fighting for each other.”
Mayors typically attend Council speakers’ State of the City addresses. Eric Adams has attended each of the speaker’s previous three.
But the mayor didn’t attend Tuesday’s address, Adrienne Adams’ last as speaker. “Welcome to my grand finale,” she said upon taking the stage.
Instead, the mayor traveled to Washington, D.C. on Tuesday ahead of his expected Wednesday testimony before a U.S. House Oversight Committee hearing focused on scrutinizing New York’s sanctuary protections for immigrants.
The mayor, who has pushed to roll back some local sanctuary protections didn’t have any public appearances in the capital listed on his Tuesday schedule. His office declined to say if he planned on meeting with anyone in particular in the capital on Tuesday. The mayor’s office also didn’t immediately provide a statement on the speaker’s address.
In addition to her potential mayoral run looming, the speaker’s speech came just as Council Democrats are expected to this week officially start negotiations with the mayor’s office on this year’s city budget, typically a contentious affair.
On the policy front, the speaker in her speech ripped the mayor for standing in the way of the Council’s reforms seeking to expand access to CityFHEPS, a program that heavily subsidizes rent for low-income New Yorkers. The mayor, citing cost concerns, vetoed the reforms in summer 2023, prompting the Council to override him to force the measures into law, but he did not enact them anyway, triggering a legal battle that remains ongoing.
“The administration has refused to implement them, and homelessness remains at record highs. Every day without action is another eviction, and another family stuck in the shelter system,” the speaker said. “The purpose of government is to work through our most pressing challenges. Why lead if your default is to insist that something is too hard, or that we just can’t do it? Why not try to help New Yorkers?”
The speaker also laid out a proposal for restoring seven-day-per-week service at 10 libraries that had to scale back their open hours last year due to budget cuts pushed through by the mayor. In another sign of her priorities for the upcoming budget fight, she said she will fight for restoring funding for the city Parks Department, one of the few agencies that didn’t see a full reversal of cuts enacted by the mayor last year.
On the legislative end, the speaker announced a proposal to expand access to vouchers subsidizing child care for families with kids younger than 2.
She also floated a plan to make it easier for young New Yorkers to get City University of New York degrees by providing them with new tuition discounts.
“Throughout my time in office, I’ve been labeled a ‘moderate’ in people’s attempt to make sense of who I am. But my focus has always been public service, which has no political label,” she said. “How we gauge policy solutions should be based on their effectiveness in improving the lives of New Yorkers.”
Originally Published:
