New Yorkers have strong feelings about a question grabbing the city’s attention these days: Should Eric Adams step down as mayor or hang on and fight?
Across the city, residents spoke to the Daily News about how they view the mayor’s political future after his plea of not guilty to federal charges of bribery and wire fraud. They are, as one might expect, of many minds.
The indictment, the result of an investigation by the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s Office that looked as far back as the mayor’s time as Brooklyn borough president starting in 2014, also charges him with receiving campaign contributions from foreign nationals, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and federal program bribery.
Mayor Adams arrives for his arraignment outside Manhattan Federal Court Friday. (Barry Williams for New York Daily News)
As Adams rebuffs calls to leave City Hall, a fierce debate on whether or not he should step down is underway, with allies like Queens Assemblywoman Jenifer Rajkumar sticking by the mayor, and Gov. Hochul, who has the power to remove Adams from office, withholding her judgement.
On Friday, Marist released a poll that revealed 69% of New York residents believe Mayor Adams should resign, and if he continues to refuse, 63% says Gov. Hochul should remove him from office.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was the first elected in a growing chorus of voices calling for the mayor’s resignation, making a statement on X hours before the indictment was announced Wednesday.
“For the good of the city, he should resign,” she posted.
Upper East Side resident Marilyn Mangual, 59, agreed.
“He’s supposed to be for the people and you’re doing things that you know you’re not supposed to be doing so how can you be trusted?” said Mangual as she walked by the East River.
“If you can’t trust someone, well how can you trust them to even run your city?”
Another Upper East Sider said she believed in the principle of innocence until proven guilty but didn’t think there would be an indictment without evidence.
“He’s never been a traditional type of mayor. It’s very strange [having] a mayor that’s partying every night and wears $3,000 dollar suits and all these different things. Like those were red flags,” said Gabriella Mayers, 46, who works in social media production.
Mayers, who was saddened by the accusations, didn’t vote for Adams and does not think he has been an effective leader.
“Then you’re gonna try to turn it around and say, ‘Oh, I fought for New York?’ This doesn’t got anything to do with New Yorkers. You didn’t fight for us — for what?” asked Mayers.
“I can’t say off the top of my head one good thing, one lasting thing, one legacy thing that he’s done for New York where he could say, ‘Well at least I did this.’”
David Portcello, a 45-year-old Bronx resident, acknowledged that Adams’s decisions have sparked controversy but he still believes in the mayor’s leadership.
“He’s a good mayor. I don’t doubt that but there’s so much pressure to get him out,” said the construction broker. “We only heard the indictment not Adams’s testimony or proof on his side. There’s a lot to be revealed and I think they’re gunning for him.”
Adams is accused of accepting tens of thousands of dollars in illegal straw donations from Turkish nationals and later allowing them to cash in on the contributions in the form of favors and special treatment. Adams is also said to have accepted bribes in the form of luxury travel and opulent hotel stays.
Adams repaid the favors by, among other actions, pressuring the FDNY into fast-tracking the opening of a new 36-floor Turkish Consulate in Manhattan despite serious fire safety concerns, the indictment charges.
The indictment comes after revelations earlier this month that authorities are also looking into communications between Adams and the governments of five other foreign countries.
“Should he step down? Certainly. Oh, absolutely,” said Bruce Winokur, 76, a retired teacher and professor who lives less than a block from Gracie Mansion.
“I don’t want a guy like that to run this town,” added Winokur. “I don’t think he would win the Democratic primary, not after this.”
East Harlem resident Lisa Perez, 55, thinks the indictment is unfair and baseless and that Adams is being persecuted for his handling of the migrant crisis — but that he should still resign.
“I think he should sit down because he already made a big mess and somebody else has to clean it up,” Perez said. “We need a brand new start. We need a brand new environment.”
George Keller, 68, also of East Harlem, said Adams makes Democrats look bad.
“We don’t want him to tarnish the Democratic Party by hanging on,” he said as he sat in Central Park.
Keller, who worked on Wall Street before being employed by an AIDS foundation, had harsh words for supporters of Adams who stood beside him during a defiant press conference outside Gracie Mansion Thursday.
“What has he really done for this city? Nothing really. And then yesterday when he had that press conference, he had Hazel Dukes, Reverend Daughtry. What are they gonna do?” said Keller. “They’re gonna rally behind him and support whatever he’s doing whether it be legal or illegal? It’s bad.”
Retired physician Harold Satz of the Upper East Side was disappointed but “not shocked” when he heard the allegations against Adams, he said.
However, the 91-year-old said he believed the accusations of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas accepting expensive gifts and the many legal cases against Donald Trump were more pressing.
Satz said he thought Adams should stay in office “for the time being” and said he would vote for him again but that he doubted there would be a next time.
“I think he’s entitled to a fair trial. What a fair trial would be is another question.”
Eric Charles, a 75-year-old former ceramics artist and Harlem resident, emphasized the importance of due process, noting that the trial has not yet occurred.
“We have to wait to see what’s gonna happen,” said Charles.
Sandi Jacobs, on the other hand, was direct and unwavering in her opinion.
“He’s dirty and he should step down — in a nutshell. That’s it,” said the 74-year-old Upper East Side resident.
Adams is the first New York City mayor in the modern era to face criminal charges while in office. His administration has been reeling from additional federal corruption investigations and a series of high-profile resignations in recent weeks by top advisers to the mayor.
Adams is facing the possibility of up to 45 years in prison if convicted of the bribery, campaign finance, wire fraud, and conspiracy offenses, federal officials said.
Even if he isn’t convicted, Marilyn Mangual believes the accusations have doomed the mayor’s reelection campaign.
“Now the people of New York won’t trust you. So don’t expect to get reelected.”
