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Adams Unveils a Rosy Election-Year Budget, Citing Lower Migrant Costs

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Adams Unveils a Rosy Election-Year Budget, Citing Lower Migrant Costs

When Mayor Eric Adams unveiled the final budget of his first (and possibly last) term in office on Thursday, there was no sign of proposed cuts to libraries in the $114.5 billion document, as there had been in years past.

There were no warnings that the surge of undocumented migrants to New York City would prompt budget cuts. There were no new big-ticket initiatives, as one might expect in an election year, with the mayor facing a battalion of well-funded challengers and a federal corruption trial that is set to begin just weeks before the Democratic primary in June.

Instead, the mayor offered a more optimistic budget blueprint, one filled with increasing revenues buoyed by surging business taxes and lower spending for a migrant influx that has slowed in recent months.

“I think it’s really underrated how well of a fiscal manager I have been for the city,” Mr. Adams said on Thursday. “We turned the city around,” he added.

During his budget address, Mr. Adams said his administration had “set the table for success” by managing expenses and spending strategically.

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The mayor’s budget projects spending some $2 billion less for asylum seeker services than originally projected through the 2026 fiscal year, an apparent byproduct of the outgoing Biden administration’s border restrictions and the city’s own efforts to pressure migrants to leave the shelter system.

The city says it has seen 28 straight weeks of declines in its census of asylum seekers.

The reduced spending projections on migrants also seem to acknowledge that the administration had been overstating its projected costs, as the city’s independent budget watchdog contended this month.

“Perhaps the biggest gimmick here is that $2.4 billion of the $2.7 billion that the mayor is claiming in savings is merely correcting for his past overbudgeting of asylum seeker costs, which the Independent Budget Office has highlighted,” Brad Lander, the New York City comptroller, said in a statement. Mr. Lander is running for mayor.

But the city also projects spending $550 million more this fiscal year on homeless shelter services unrelated to asylum seekers, and another $325 million on rental assistance, as the city’s conventional homeless population surges.

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On Thursday, the mayor attributed the rising homeless population to people migrating to New York City’s shelters from elsewhere in the United States.

Mr. Adams said there was “a substantial number of people” from outside New York coming to the city but that he wasn’t sure why.

The city projects budget gaps of $4.2 billion in the 2027 fiscal year and $5.4 billion in the 2028 fiscal year. The city is planning to put no additional money into reserves, even as the nonpartisan Citizens Budget Commission argues that the city is understating those upcoming budget gaps.

“The city chose not to take this opportunity to add to its reserves but should do so if revenues continue to exceed projections or spending is lower than expected,” Thomas DiNapoli, the New York State comptroller, said in a statement. “With the potential for significant policy changes at the federal level in the coming year that could affect city finances, this should be imperative.”

This proposed budget is Mr. Adams’s fourth, and the last before he mounts what appears to be an uphill bid to retain the mayoralty. Mr. Adams is facing trial on five federal corruption counts in April. His legal defense fund is in the red.

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The budget funds several relatively modest initiatives that the mayor announced in his State of the City address this month, including increasing homeless shelter capacity and building up to 100 beds with temporary, wraparound services for mentally ill patients who are transitioning out of hospital care and have no homes to go to.

The mayor’s budget proposal is negotiated with the City Council, and by June 30, it must pass a budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1.

“The investments in this plan simply do not meet the moment or match the scale of the needs of the city,” said Justin Brannan, the chair of the City Council’s Finance Committee. “New Yorkers are struggling, especially working families. They need the city to help them, help with the outrageous cost of child care and early childhood education, help by investing in an affordable CUNY, help them unwind in a safe, clean park and we’re not seeing any of that in this plan.”

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Video: Fans Show Up to the Parade in Their Best Knicks-Themed Attire

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Video: Fans Show Up to the Parade in Their Best Knicks-Themed Attire

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Fans Show Up to the Parade in Their Best Knicks-Themed Attire

New York Knicks fans showed up in droves to a ticker-tape parade in Manhattan in their best orange and blue outfits to honor the N.B.A champions.

“Patrick Ewing. He didn’t get a ring. But I wear your sneakers, bro. When I was in high school, back in the ’90s, Patrick Ewing, John Starks, they were the team that I rooted for in the ’90s. They didn’t make it. So as a tribute to him because this is where I started at being a fan, Patrick Ewing. Knicks hat in denim — I’m a denim fanatic. So I love denim — Knicks hat. And yeah, that’s it.” “This is my style. I usually dress like this every day. But I did a special Knicks edition. It’s all really fun. I start with my makeup. I did really cute flames on my eyes because the Knicks are fire. I don’t really know what I’m going to do before I put it on. I just figure it out along the way. Like, this is a piece of fabric and I just layer in stuff.” “This is from my online boutique and the hat I just bought on the way to the parade because I wanted to match the jumpsuit, and that’s how I came up with the outfit.” “She was ready to go, man.” “Can you show your fingernail?” “She’s been sleeping in her Jalen Brunson jersey for the last 10 weeks. We’ve been watching all the games. You want to tell them who’s your favorite player?” “Jalen Brunson.” “I’m pretty sure this jersey was actually made for a human baby. But they’re selling them around the block. And we threw it on Chester and everyone started clapping. So — he wears it well.” “Blue and orange.” “So I did blue and orange.” “It had to be orange and blue. “Orange and blue. Orange and blue.”

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New York Knicks fans showed up in droves to a ticker-tape parade in Manhattan in their best orange and blue outfits to honor the N.B.A champions.

By Meg Felling, Jeremy Raff, Ang Li and David Cheung

June 18, 2026

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Video: The Democracy of The Dive Bar

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Video: The Democracy of The Dive Bar

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New York dive bars, known for their grit, have also been crucial spaces where people can mix across class over cheap beer, and sometimes organize and resist. Our reporter Anna Kodé describes how rising costs and a decline in drinking now threaten the survival of these establishments.

By Anna Kodé, Gabriel Blanco, Haimy Assefa and Laura Salaberry

June 19, 2026

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Video: Knicks Fans Celebrate With Ticker-Tape Parade

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Video: Knicks Fans Celebrate With Ticker-Tape Parade

“It’s been 53 years. I’ve been waiting that long.” “It’s been a very long time, a long time coming. And I’m so excited that my Knicks finally brought a championship home.” “Let’s go Knicks.” “I had to wake up at six o’clock.” “Knicks in five.” “Let’s go, Knicks.” “Let’s go, Knicks!” “We just moved to D.C. a few years ago, but we’re so happy to be back in New York, celebrating. Once we won we were like — we’re absolutely coming home. So, we had to bring Chester with us. I mean, he’s the biggest puppy Knicks fan there is. Chester, can you say Knicks in 5? Knicks in five.” “I got hurt a couple weeks ago, but this is the first time they’ve been to the finals since I was a year old. And so to be able to be here, this is a once-in-a-lifetime thing.” “My man’s out here with a boot and a Josh Hart jersey. My man’s got heart.” “It feels so overwhelming but overwhelming in a good way, where, like, I want to be — I want to, like, shoot some balls. I want to, like, just vibe with everyone because everyone’s here for one purpose, and that’s celebrating the Knicks.” “This has been like a uniting situation for New Yorkers, and I just can’t wait to feel the love from everybody.” “I think it’s a great equalizer, right? It brings everyone together. It doesn’t matter if you make $900,000 a year, if you make $50,000 a year. You’re united because of the Knicks.” “So often when this city comes together, it is because we are forced to by a moment of tragedy or adversity. What a gift it is to be brought together by pure, unfiltered joy.” “Most importantly, thank you to the fans. I’m not going to lie though, y’all all are some pretty hard critics, but we appreciate it. At least I do, appreciate it a lot.”

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