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Federal charges of bribery, conspiracy and campaign finance violations going back for years. The homes of his most senior staff searched, and their phones seized. Prosecutors publicly suggesting more criminal charges to come. Mayor Eric Adams is facing the worse crisis of his political career. 

Like many Black New Yorkers, I am saddened and disappointed. New York City’s second Black mayor represents the hopes and dreams of so many people. We can all relate to Adams’ aspirational story:  troubled city-kid-turned-police-captain, state senator, borough president and mayor of the nation’s largest city. 

Politics is all about appearances. Right now, the optics are terrible. With his political future on the line, the mayor needs to demonstrate he can fulfill the huge responsibilities of the office. No small feat with federal prosecutors trying to build a case against you. However, Gov. Kathy Hochul should not use her power to remove the mayor from office. 

Going forward, the mayor must use all his powers and remaining political capital to deliver for the people who put him in office. He should fight for high-impact programs, such as expanding Fair Fares to provide discount MetroCards to working-class commuters.  He can also roll back stop-and-frisk and fare evasion arrests. With the stroke of a pen, he could alter the trajectory of mean-spirited police tactics that target young Black and Latinx men.

These actions alone would yield dividends toward Adams’ legacy, especially if he finds a way to stabilize his administration, beat the criminal charges he’s facing, and run for reelection next year. Adams has signaled he intends to remain in office, following in the footsteps of Washington, D.C.’s Marion Barry and Newark’s Sharpe James, who soldiered on in the face of federal investigations.  

The old adage, “the best defense is a good offense” applies to the mayor’s situation. Indeed, now would be a great moment for the mayor to partner with City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams to announce the expansion of Fair Fares, the program that provides 50 percent discounts on monthly Metro Cards for low-income city residents. Expanding the program from the current 145 percent of poverty to 200 percent of poverty would overwhelmingly benefit working-class, outer-borough New Yorkers who helped propel Adams into the mayor’s office. 

Turning to policing, the mayor is certainly deeply involved in management of the NYPD since Edward Caban resigned as commissioner last month. He should immediately direct his interim police commissioner to restore a creditable disciplinary regime and dial back aggressive policing, especially after a new court-ordered study last month that found the NYPD was lax in punishing officers who illegally stop and frisk people on the street. 

The NYPD’s discipline protocol lists a three-day penalty for an illegal stop, frisk or search, but the study found “imposition of that level of discipline is a rarity,” undermining efforts to curb the widespread tactic that violates the civil rights of Black and Latino New Yorkers.  The practice, part of an effort to get guns and drugs off the street by frequently stopping and searching people, has skyrocketed since Adams took office.  Yet, city statistics show 90 percent of stops did not lead to a summons or arrest. 

The study must be viewed in light of a lax attitude toward police discipline by the former police commissioner, who ProPublica reported killed more than 400 cases of alleged police misconduct this year that the Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB) had investigated and substantiated.   Arva Rice, who led the CCRB, was pushed out by Adams after she criticized police, and sought more power and funding for the independent agency.  

Perhaps the mayor is more sensitive to the plight of innocent people patted down by police, after his  57-page indictment unsealed in the Southern District of New York. He pleaded not guilty to the charges and has aggressively denied any wrongdoing. His lead attorney said he will push to have the entire case dismissed.

The downfall of Mayor Adams would be tragic for voters in the Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn who formed the coalition – outside the city’s traditional political power structure – that brought him to office. The coalition also elected, for the first time, a City Council that looks like our racially and ethnically diverse boroughs. 

After suffering through Mayor Bill de Blasio’s doublespeak, broken promises and missed opportunities, everyone was rooting for Adams to get things done. He pledged to make the streets safe, find solutions to the housing affordability crisis, create jobs, rally businesses and dial back aggressive police tactics. This is the time for the mayor to center his efforts, and that of his administration, on making good on these pledges. 

To sum up, the mayor must go back to the basics: deliver on legacy projects that benefit the New Yorkers who put him in office.

David R. Jones, Esq., is President and CEO of the Community Service Society of New York (CSS), the leading voice on behalf of low-income New Yorkers for more than 175 years, and a member of the MTA Board. The views expressed in this column are solely those of the writer. The Urban Agenda is available on CSS’s website: www.cssny.org.

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