New York
N.Y.C. Council Speaker Attacks Trump in Potential Preview of Mayoral Bid
The annual State of the City address by the speaker of the New York City Council, Adrienne Adams, would typically be seen as a blueprint for the Council’s agenda in the coming year.
But her speech on Tuesday carried far more weight.
Ms. Adams formed a campaign committee to run for mayor last week, in preparation for a potential late bid, with the Democratic primary looming in June.
She is expected to make a final decision this week, but signs seem to be pointing to her jumping in the race. She is assembling a campaign team and participated this weekend in a screening for the endorsement of Local 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union, an influential city union.
Even if she doesn’t run, her vision for New York City also carried added importance given the diminished influence of Mayor Eric Adams; under Ms. Adams’s leadership, the Council has overridden the mayor’s vetoes on critical criminal justice measures.
Should she choose to run, Ms. Adams faces an uphill battle. She’ll have a compressed period to raise money and boost her low name recognition. None of the four previous Council speakers who have run for mayor have been successful, and no woman has ever served as mayor. And the entrance into the race over the weekend of former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who polls show is the front-runner, has shifted the center of gravity in the contest.
Ms. Adams mentioned none of that in her speech at Jazz at Lincoln Center, where she instead focused on accomplishments such as plans to boost the production of affordable housing, extend discounts for those struggling to pay bus and subway fares and protect immigrant and L.G.B.T.Q. people from the policies of the Trump administration.
Ms. Adams criticized President Trump throughout her speech, saying he was on a “cruel crusade against immigrant families,” was “willing to burn everything in his way” for power and that his policies were damaging small businesses.
Mr. Adams, who is not related to the Council speaker, has been criticized for not speaking more forcefully against Trump administration policies that are likely to harm the city. The mayor has been accused of being beholden to Mr. Trump after the Justice Department moved to dismiss a five-count federal corruption indictment against him.
The federal prosecutor handling the case resigned rather than dismiss the charges. She said there was a quid pro quo, in which the mayor would participate in Trump administration immigration enforcement in exchange for a dismissal of the charges.
“It is up to us to counter the tyranny taking root at our federal level, and right here in our own backyard,” Ms. Adams said to applause.
Mr. Adams was not in attendance. He had instead traveled to Washington, D.C., where he was expected to testify before Congress on Wednesday about New York’s status as a sanctuary city.
Ms. Adams said in her speech that her agenda reflected her style of collaborative and community-facing leadership, a model that could be “scaled for greater impact” by those who controlled the levers of power.
“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,” Ms. Adams said. “How we gauge policy solutions should be based on their effectiveness in improving the lives of New Yorkers.”
The event had a gauziness more typically associated with mayoral addresses. An ensemble performed the song “A Change Is Gonna Come,” by Sam Cooke; the actor Wendell Pierce spoke; and Ms. Adams was introduced by a young mother who had benefited from one of the City Council’s college access programs.
Among those in the audience was Brad Lander, the city comptroller and one of the Democrats running in the June primary, and Jumaane Williams, the public advocate.
“It sounds like she knows how to run a city,” Mr. Williams said after the speech.
Mr. Lander said Ms. Adams had delivered a strong speech about how to “protect New Yorkers” from Donald Trump and the threats to housing affordability, child care and public safety.
“That’s the conversation New Yorkers want,” Mr. Lander said. “New Yorkers don’t want corrupt chaos agent Andrew Cuomo replacing corrupt chaos agent Eric Adams.”
Among the new proposals Ms. Adams introduced was a plan to fund vouchers for families with children 2 years old or younger that would allow those making slightly more than the limit to be eligible for assistance. She also proposed a plan to help adults and young people obtain degrees at the City University of New York by providing up to $1,000 to clear unpaid balances so students could re-enroll in classes.
To increase the growth of minority- and women-owned business, Ms. Adams proposed a “minority business accelerator” that would help firms gain contracts from the private industry. Jonathan Bowles, executive director of the Center for an Urban Future, which proposed the idea a few years ago, said the proposal would “build wealth in communities of color and strengthen the city’s economy for everyone.”
Ms. Adams also proposed legislation that would speed payment to nonprofits that provided residents with vital city services. To help with the city’s mental health crisis, Ms. Adams proposed creating a “holistic” model to make community centers places that offer mental health services, as well as physical and recreational opportunities.
She also announced a plan to expand library access by restoring seven-day-per-week service at 10 branches across the city. Ms. Adams led a charge to reverse the mayor’s proposal to cut $58.3 million in library funding last year.
“We need solutions more than slogans, service rather than saviors and partnership over patriarchy,” Ms. Adams said as she ended her speech, sounding very much like a candidate for mayor. “The dignity and trust in government leadership has been shaken in our city and it must be restored.”
Every week since 1976, Metropolitan Diary has published stories by, and for, New Yorkers of all ages and eras (no matter where they live now): anecdotes and memories, quirky encounters and overheard snippets that reveal the city’s spirit and heart.
For the past four years, we’ve asked for your help picking the best Diary entry of the year. Now we’re asking again.
We’ve narrowed the field to the five finalists here. Read them and vote for your favorite. The author of the item that gets the most votes will receive a print of the illustration that accompanied it, signed by the artist, Agnes Lee.
The voting closes at 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 21. You can change your vote as many times as you’d like until then, but you may only pick one. Choose wisely.
Click “VOTE” to choose your favorite Metropolitan Diary entry of 2025, and come back on Sunday, Dec. 28, to see which one our readers picked as their favorite.
Click “VOTE” to choose your favorite Metropolitan Diary entry of 2025, and come back on Sunday, Dec. 28, to see which one our readers picked as their favorite.
Two Stops
Dear Diary:
It was a drizzly June night in 2001. I was a young magazine editor and had just enjoyed what I thought was a very blissful second date — dinner, drinks, fabulous conversation — with our technology consultant at a restaurant in Manhattan.
I lived in Williamsburg at the time, and my date lived near Murray Hill, so we grabbed a cab and headed south on Second Avenue.
“Just let me out here,” my date said to the cabby at the corner of 25th Street.
We said our goodbyes, quick and shy, knowing that we would see each other at work the next day. I was giddy and probably grinning with happiness and hope.
“Oh boy,” the cabby said, shaking his head as we drove toward Brooklyn. “Very bad.”
“What do you mean?” I asked in horror.
“He doesn’t want you to know exactly where he lives,” the cabby said. “Not a good sign.”
I spent the rest of the cab ride in shock, revisiting every moment of the date.
Happily, it turned out that my instinct about it being a great date was right, and the cabby was wrong. Twenty-four years later, my date that night is my husband, and I know that if your stop is first, it’s polite to get out so the cab can continue in a straight line to the next stop.
Ferry Farewell
Dear Diary:
On a February afternoon, I met my cousins at the Staten Island Ferry Terminal. Their spouses and several of our very-grown children were there too. I brought Prosecco, a candle, a small speaker to play music, photos and a poem.
We were there to recreate the wedding cruise of my mother, Monica, and my stepfather, Peter. They had gotten married at City Hall in August 1984. She was 61, and he, 71. It was her first marriage, and his fourth.
I was my mother’s witness that day. It was a late-in-life love story, and they were very happy. Peter died in 1996, at 82. My mother died last year. She was 100.
Peter’s ashes had waited a long time, but finally they were mingled with Monica’s. The two of them would ride the ferry a last time and then swirl together in the harbor forever. Cue the candles, bubbly, bagpipes and poems.
Two ferry workers approached us. We knew we were in trouble: Open containers and open flames were not allowed on the ferry.
My cousin’s husband, whispering, told the workers what we were doing and said we would be finished soon.
They walked off, and then returned. They said they had spoken to the captain, and they ushered us to the stern for some privacy. As the cup of ashes flew into the water, the ferry horn sounded two long blasts.
Unacceptable
Dear Diary:
I went to a new bagel store in Brooklyn Heights with my son.
When it was my turn to order, I asked for a cinnamon raisin bagel with whitefish salad and a slice of red onion.
The man behind the counter looked up at me.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I can’t do that.”
Teresa
Dear Diary:
It was February 2013. With a foot of snow expected, I left work early and drove from New Jersey warily as my wipers squeaked and snow and ice stuck to my windows.
I drove east on the Cross Bronx Expressway, which was tied up worse than usual. Trucks groaned on either side of my rattling Toyota. My fingers were cold. My toes were colder. Got to get home before it really comes down, I thought to myself.
By the time I got home to my little red bungalow a stone’s throw from the Throgs Neck Bridge, the snow was already up to my ankles.
Inside, I took off my gloves, hat, scarf, coat, sweater, pants and snow boots. The bed, still unmade, was inviting me. But first, I checked my messages.
There was one from Teresa, the 92-year-old widow on the corner.
“Call me,” she said, sounding desperate.
I looked toward the warm bed, but … Teresa. There was a storm outside, and she was alone.
On went the pants, the sweater, the coat, the scarf, the boots and the gloves, and then I went out the door.
The snow was six inches deep on the sidewalks, so I tottered on tire tracks in the middle of the street. The wind stung my face. When I got to the end of the block, I pounded on her door.
“Teresa!” I called. No answer. “Teresa!” I called again. I heard the TV blaring. Was she sprawled on the floor?
I went next door and called for Kathy.
“Teresa can’t answer the door,” I said. “Probably fell.”
Kathy had a key. In the corner of her neat living room, Teresa, in pink sweatpants and sweaters, was sitting curled in her armchair, head bent down and The Daily News in her lap.
I snapped off the TV.
Startled, she looked up.
“Kathy! Neal!” she said. “What’s a five-letter word for cabbage?”
Nice Place
Dear Diary:
When I lived in Park Slope over 20 years ago, I once had to call an ambulance because of a sudden, violent case of food poisoning.
Two paramedics, a man and a woman, entered our third-floor walk-up with a portable chair. Strapping me in, the male medic quickly inserted an IV line into my arm.
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see his partner circling around and admiring the apartment.
“Nice place you’ve got here.” she said. “Do you own it?”
“Yeah,” I muttered, all but unconscious.
Once I was in the ambulance, she returned to her line of inquiry.
“Do you mind me asking how much you paid for your apartment?”
“$155,000,” I croaked.
“Wow! You must have bought during the recession.”
“Yeah” I said.
They dropped me off at Methodist Hospital, where I was tended to by a nurse as I struggled to stay lucid.
At some point, the same medic poked her head into the room with one last question:
“You wouldn’t be wanting to sell any time soon, would you?”
Illustrations by Agnes Lee.
‘Part of the job’
Edwin Guity was at the controls of a southbound D train last December, rolling through the Bronx, when suddenly someone was on the tracks in front of him.
He jammed on the emergency brake, but it was too late. The man had gone under the wheels.
Stumbling over words, Mr. Guity radioed the dispatcher and then did what the rules require of every train operator involved in such an incident. He got out of the cab and went looking for the person he had struck.
“I didn’t want to do it,” Mr. Guity said later. “But this is a part of the job.”
He found the man pinned beneath the third car. Paramedics pulled him out, but the man died at the hospital. After that, Mr. Guity wrestled with what to do next.
A 32-year-old who had once lived in a family shelter with his parents, he viewed the job as paying well and offering a rare chance at upward mobility. It also helped cover the costs of his family’s groceries and rent in the three-bedroom apartment they shared in Brooklyn.
But striking the man with the train had shaken him more than perhaps any other experience in his life, and the idea of returning to work left him feeling paralyzed.
Edwin Guity was prescribed exposure therapy after his train struck a man on the tracks.
Hundreds of train operators have found themselves in Mr. Guity’s position over the years.
And for just as long, there has been a path through the state workers’ compensation program to receiving substantive treatment to help them cope. But New York’s train operators say that their employer, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, has done too little to make them aware of that option.
After Mr. Guity’s incident, no official told him of that type of assistance, he said. Instead, they gave him the option of going back to work right away.
But Mr. Guity was lucky. He had a friend who had been through the same experience and who coached him on getting help — first through a six-week program and then, with the assistance of a lawyer, through an experienced specialist.
The specialist prescribed a six-month exposure therapy program to gradually reintroduce Mr. Guity to the subway.
His first day back at the controls of a passenger train was on Thanksgiving. Once again, he was driving on the D line — the same route he had been traveling on the day of the fatal accident.
M.T.A. representatives insisted that New York train operators involved in strikes are made aware of all options for getting treatment, but they declined to answer specific questions about how the agency ensures that drivers get the help they need.
In an interview, the president of the M.T.A. division that runs the subway, Demetrius Crichlow, said all train operators are fully briefed on the resources available to them during their job orientation.
“I really have faith in our process,” Mr. Crichlow said.
Still, other transit systems — all of which are smaller than New York’s — appear to do a better job of ensuring that operators like Mr. Guity take advantage of the services available to them, according to records and interviews.
A Times analysis shows that the incidents were on the rise in New York City’s system even as they were falling in all other American transit systems.
An Uptick in Subway Strikes
San Francisco’s system provides 24-hour access to licensed therapists through a third-party provider.
Los Angeles proactively reaches out to its operators on a regular basis to remind them of workers’ compensation options and other resources.
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority has made it a goal to increase engagement with its employee assistance program.
The M.T.A. says it offers some version of most of these services.
But in interviews with more than two dozen subway operators who have been involved in train strikes, only one said he was aware of all those resources, and state records suggest most drivers of trains that strike people are not taking full advantage of them.
“It’s the M.T.A.’s responsibility to assist the employee both mentally and physically after these horrific events occur,” the president of the union that represents New York City transit workers, John V. Chiarello, said in a statement, “but it is a constant struggle trying to get the M.T.A. to do the right thing.”
new video loaded: Protesters Arrested After Trying to Block a Possible ICE Raid
transcript
transcript
Protesters Arrested After Trying to Block a Possible ICE Raid
Nearly 200 protesters tried to block federal agents from leaving a parking garage in Lower Manhattan on Saturday. The confrontation appeared to prevent a possible ICE raid nearby, and led to violent clashes between the police and protesters.
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[chanting] “ICE out of New York.”
By Jorge Mitssunaga
November 30, 2025
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