New York

N.Y.C. Council Speaker Attacks Trump in Potential Preview of Mayoral Bid

Published

4 months ago

March 5, 2025

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.”

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New York

Video: Inside Rikers Island: A Suicide Attempt as Guards Stand By

Published

2 days ago

July 14, 2025

Press Room

Video: Inside Rikers Island: A Suicide Attempt as Guards Stand By

This is the inside of a psychiatric unit on Rikers Island. It’s the morning of Aug. 25, 2022. And soon, this inmate, Michael Nieves, will attempt to commit suicide by cutting his own throat. He’ll bleed out for 10 minutes as officers stand by and wait for medical help. But Michael Nieves is just one of many cases of preventable harm on Rikers Island that ultimately led a federal judge to strip control of the jail from the City of New York in May. Soon, an independent manager will be appointed. After almost three years of filing Freedom of Information requests and lawsuits, The New York Times has now obtained videos of incidents that contributed to this decision, including that of Nieves. They take us inside Rikers, a place rarely seen by the public, and show serious lapses in the care of inmates. A long-serving member of an independent oversight body, who we’ll hear from later, told us that the case of Michael Nieves is characteristic of the problems inside the jail. Here’s what happened. It’s around 11:30 a.m., and a search of Michael Nieves’s cell fails to turn up a shaving razor he was given to use in the shower that morning. Capt. Mary Tinsley, the supervisor in charge, instructs Officer Beethoven Joseph, whose body camera footage we see here, to take Nieves for a body scan to see if he is hiding the razor. But Tinsley grows impatient with Nieves. Officers close the door and walk away. This is one of a series of mistakes that play out. These officers are trained to work with severely mentally ill detainees like Nieves, a once-gifted student who was later diagnosed with bipolar and schizophrenia disorders. Like most inmates on Rikers, Nieves was awaiting trial and had not yet been convicted of a crime. He was arrested on burglary and arson charges in 2019, but was deemed unfit to stand trial and held in forensic psychiatric facilities before being sent back to Rikers. Nieves had a long history of suicide attempts. And even though officers suspect he has the razor, he is left alone for 12 minutes while they search the cell of another inmate. Then Joseph returns, followed by Tinsley. She radios for help. The scene is disturbing, but we’re showing it briefly to illustrate what the officers could see. Nieves has cut his neck and is bleeding heavily onto the floor. Pressure needs to be applied to the wound immediately, and he needs to get to a hospital. At first, Nieves doesn’t respond. And the officers and Captain Tinsley don’t intervene. Officer Joseph faces a complex situation. Jail guidelines do not clearly say he should treat a severely bleeding wound. And officers are advised to use caution when they might be lured into danger. But state law does require him to render care in life-threatening situations. It’s unclear if he recognizes it as such. No one enters the cell. Instead, they offer Nieves a piece of clothing. Five minutes have passed. Officer Joseph asks about the bleeding. Eight minutes have passed. Nieves slides down to the floor. Officer Joseph shows concern, but remains by the door. After 10 minutes, the medics arrive on the ward and enter the cell. But there’s been a communication breakdown. The medics aren’t aware that Nieves is bleeding profusely, and they don’t have the right supplies. As they spring into action, the medics berate the correction officers. As medics render aid, Officer Joseph goes to review his notes and talks with another staff member. About an hour after Nieves was found bleeding, over a dozen medics, staff, and E.M.T.s are treating him on site. Shortly after, he was taken to a nearby hospital, declared brain dead and removed from life support five days later. “This was preventable.” Dr. Robert Cohen is a member of the Board of Correction, which monitors Rikers, and agreed to speak about the jail and the Nieves case in a personal capacity, not on behalf of the board. He retired shortly after this interview. “He should not have been left alone once they believed that he was in possession of a razor. By policy, he should have been taken immediately to the body scanner.” “He was bleeding to death. The correction officer should have gone into the room, assessed what was going on and should have applied pressure to the area where the blood was coming from.” A city medical examiner found that the officer’s inaction contributed to Nieves’s death, but that he could have died even with emergency aid. The state attorney general’s office therefore declined to charge the officers. Their report also found that the officers lacked clear protocols and might not have had training on severely bleeding wounds. It recommended that officers be required and trained to act in these situations in the future. Dr. Cohen says that what happened to Nieves is characteristic of chronic problems inside Rikers. “Since I’ve been on the board, these deaths have happened multiple times. Jason Echevarria swallowed a number of soap balls. He was screaming all night long. Jerome Murdough was put in a cell where there was a heating malfunction, baked to death. Mercado had diabetes. He was trying to get help. He never received insulin. Nicholas Feliciano hung himself. Seven officers were completely aware of this, and they did nothing — 7 minutes and 51 seconds passed. He did not die, but he has severe brain damage.” Nieves’s death occurred two years into the Covid pandemic, a time when Rikers was facing acute challenges and a staffing crisis that watchdogs say led to a spike in preventable deaths. “Many deaths over the past five years and the reports of deteriorating conditions were instrumental in moving us to the point right now where the judge is going to take over the island with an independent manager.” But even after that happens, New York’s next mayor will be tasked with trying to close Rikers. The original plan was to replace it with smaller jails and in four New York City boroughs by 2026. But after years of delays, here’s what those sites look like today. They’re nowhere near done. Oversight bodies, and even the former Manhattan U.S. attorney, have said that Rikers remains unsafe for detainees. The Department of Correction told The Times that a new medical emergencies curriculum is still being developed. A spokesperson for the Correction Officers Union said they followed regulations and have been vindicated. And the Captain’s Union, which represented Captain Tinsley, said she also followed protocol. Nieves was one of three brothers. His family is now suing the city.

New York

At a Small School in the Bronx, Classical Music Thrives

Published

1 week ago

July 7, 2025

Press Room

At a Small School in the Bronx, Classical Music Thrives

On a recent afternoon, an ensemble of serious young musicians gathered to practice “Fuga con Pajarillo,” a piece by Aldemaro Romero that combines Western concert hall traditions with Venezuelan folk music. The strings soared dramatically, building against a syncopated beat, like a complex dance.

Two hours later, they were exhausted — and exhilarated.

New York

How NYC Neighborhoods Voted in the 2025 Mayoral Primary: Map

Published

3 weeks ago

June 25, 2025

Press Room

How NYC Neighborhoods Voted in the 2025 Mayoral Primary: Map

The candidate leading each neighborhood in the first round

Queens

Brooklyn

Bronx

Manhattan

Staten
Island

Zohran Mamdani, an upstart state assemblyman from Queens, was on the brink of winning Tuesday’s Democratic primary for mayor of New York City. While results were not yet final, Mr. Mamdani leaped ahead of a crowded field thanks to a surge of turnout in gentrifying neighborhoods, and strong support from Asian and Hispanic enclaves.

Mr. Mamdani, a 33-year-old democratic socialist, also ran up large vote tallies in the affluent brownstone-lined blocks of Brooklyn, in the diverse blocks of Upper Manhattan and in areas with substantial South Asian populations in Queens.

His main rival, former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, had hoped to reassemble Mayor Eric Adams’s winning 2021 coalition of Black, Hispanic and Orthodox Jewish voters, but instead lost ground in some of those communities.

Neighborhoods where Eric Adams won

The areas where the current mayor won in the 2021 Democratic primary are outlined.

Queens

Brooklyn

Bronx

Manhattan

Staten
Island

Mr. Mamdani, who campaigned on addressing New York’s affordability crisis, performed stronger than his rivals in areas where a majority of residents are college graduates, as well as in middle-income and higher-income neighborhoods. He won most areas with a majority of Asian residents and was modestly outpacing Mr. Cuomo in majority Hispanic areas.

Mr. Cuomo, 67, had more support in areas with a majority of Black residents and in areas where a majority of residents are low-income. There were some exceptions, most notably Mr. Cuomo’s strong performance on the Upper West and East Sides in Manhattan, where Mr. Mamdani struggled to win over an older, wealthier electorate, which includes a sizable segment of Jewish voters.

How candidates fared with groups of voters

Based on results in precincts where each group is a majority.

Precincts with…	Andrew Cuomo	Zohran Mamdani	Brad Lander
Higher income residents 24% of precincts Advertisement	30%	42%	20%
Middle income residents 49% of precincts	37%	47%	7%
Lower income residents Advertisement 24% of precincts	49%	38%	3%
More college graduates 27% of precincts	28%	45%	19%
More white residents 29% of precincts	34%	39%	19%
More Hispanic residents 16% of precincts Advertisement	41%	48%	4%
More Black residents 15% of precincts	51%	34%	3%
More Asian residents Advertisement 4% of precincts	36%	52%	5%
More renters 70% of precincts	33%	47%	11%

Mr. Mamdani, who would be the city’s first Muslim and South Asian mayor, won the largest vote share in gentrifying neighborhoods like Ridgewood in Queens and Greenpoint in Brooklyn that are home to groups of young, left-leaning voters. Voters in Jamaica Hills, a Queens neighborhood home to a sizable South Asian population, also chose Mr. Mamdani by a large margin.

Mr. Cuomo’s efforts to court the Orthodox Jewish vote paid off. Borough Park and Midwood in Brooklyn were two of his top-performing neighborhoods. He also won large margins in the less dense, coastal communities of Far Rockaway and Bayswater in Queens, far from Manhattan.

Brad Lander, the city comptroller, was in third place overall. The cluster of neighborhoods in Brooklyn where Mr. Lander fared the best — which include Park Slope, Cobble Hill and Windsor Terrace — are all neighborhoods where Mr. Mamdani won most of the votes. That could ultimately benefit Mr. Mamdani under the city’s ranked-choice voting system, because the two men cross-endorsed each other and encouraged their supporters to rank them both.

The system allowed voters to list up to five candidates on their ballots. If their top choices are eliminated, their votes will be transferred to candidates who are lower on their ballots next Tuesday.

Neighborhood	Pct.	Votes
Ridgewood, Queens	80%	7,030
Bushwick, Brooklyn	79%	14,164
East Williamsburg, Brooklyn	75%	2,586
Jamaica Hills, Queens	74%	1,458
Greenpoint, Brooklyn	72%	7,583

Neighborhood	Pct.	Votes
Borough Park, Brooklyn	80%	6,577
Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn	76%	236
Midwood, Brooklyn	72%	9,160
Far Rockaway, Queens	72%	2,489
Bayswater, Queens	72%	522

Neighborhood	Pct.	Votes
Park Slope, Brooklyn	35%	7,330
Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn	34%	1,689
Cobble Hill, Brooklyn	32%	1,199
Columbia St. Waterfront District, Brooklyn	31%	355
South Slope, Brooklyn	30%	632

Neighborhood	Pct.	Votes
Springfield Gardens, Queens	17%	891
Laurelton, Queens	16%	506
St. Albans, Queens	15%	828
Jamaica, Queens	14%	1,381
Cambria Heights, Queens	14%	425

Assuming he prevails in the primary, Mr. Mamdani will face a general election in November that has the potential to be unusually competitive. Mr. Adams is seeking a second term, this time as an independent. Curtis Sliwa, a Republican, will be on the ballot, along with Jim Walden, a lawyer and independent. Mr. Cuomo also still has the option to pursue a third-party fall campaign.