New York City Mayor-elect Eric Adams (D) is urging Democrats to be “practical” in their policy goals.
“Practical is progressive,” Adams said during an appearance on CNN’s “New Day” Wednesday.
He continued, “I am progressive in my policies. When you go online and see my 100 steps forward for New York City, you see how progressive I am. But we have to be practical. Let’s not talk about closing our jail building when we leave the pipeline that feeds to jail open. Fifty-five percent of our prisoners have a learning disability. Why aren’t we talking about that?”
Adams went on:
“We can’t talk about housing when we’re not dealing with affordable and real housing for middle and low-income New Yorkers. We have to deal with public safety. When you talk about disbanding police departments when crime is increasing, you’re not being progressive because you’re not dealing with the safety of people who are impacted by that.”
Finally, he said, “So let’s be practical and progressive, not preach to people but provide services to people.”
Watch the video below:
NYC Mayor-elect Eric Adams (D) on his win:
— The Recount (@therecount) November 3, 2021
“Practical is progressive … When you talk about disbanding police departments when crime is increasing, you’re not talking about the safety of people who are impacted by that.” pic.twitter.com/M3x49wnrOq
Adams defeated Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa on Tuesday, becoming the second Black mayor of New York City.
As CNN reports, Adams, a retired police captain, “embraced a public safety message.”
“Adams won a chaotic Democratic primary this summer on a promise to both beef up and reform the NYPD amid worries over a rise in violent crime. His message — that ‘public safety is the prerequisite to prosperity’ — resonated with working class Democratic voters outside the traditionally liberal enclaves of Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn, which fueled his nomination,” CNN noted.
His election came on the same night that voters in Minneapolis, Minnesota, voted down a measure to replace the city’s police department with a public safety department, as IJR reported.
According to Fox 9 KMSP “the proposed charter amendment would have eliminated the minimum police staffing requirement as well as the position of police chief.”
