Mayor Eric Adams' candid conversation tackles migrants and crime on Eyewitness News Mornings @ 10
NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- New York City Mayor Eric Adams joined the Eyewitness News Mornings @ 10 team to answer New Yorkers' questions.
"I'm a plain-talking New Yorker, I don't search through a thesaurus, like the energy of this show. You bring this unique energy. You know you go from these plastic, very rigid mayors, and now you got this airing, wearing, different type of mayor," Adams said, referencing the new style of the broadcast.
He was candid in talking about the issues he finds challenging, but one was top of mind. He was asked, what keeps you up at night?
"Migrants. The migrant issue. It's not the migrants, it's what we're doing to the migrants, it is wrong," Adams said. "The precursor to sleep to the American dream is the right to work. There's nothing more tragic than having people come to this country and say you can't provide for yourself."
The mayor said he hasn't communicated with President Joe Biden since earlier this year. However, Adams said he spoke with the White House chief of staff Monday and shared his ideas and the economic impact that this issue has on New York City.
"We have thousands of jobs, that's the irony of it," he said. "We needed lifeguards over the summer, we could have filled those jobs." He's hoping the federal government will come through and change the amount of time it takes for migrants to work in this country legally.
He says that not having the right to work is creating a "Black market of employment." He blames that for the increase in prostitution in the city. "Because people have to provide for their families," Adams said. "It's going to impact the quality of life in our city if we don't get this issue resolved."
Adams says the "Far, far right and far, far left are coconspirators dividing our city and country when everyday New Yorkers are in the middle and just want safe cities to raise their children."
He says New York City is on the upswing and people need to stop and think about what they are actually experiencing.
"We have to move from how we felt to how we are feeling," Adams said. "The city is back. You know how people felt, but I am saying to them, look how you feel. Look at the presence of your police officers, look at the union contracts we have settled."
In the second half of his interview, Mayor Adams talked about his day-to-day life and his healthy eating habits.
"I do not recommend my life, I'm normally up at 4, I meditate and think about mom a lot, and then I would exercise, do my prayers, take a green smoothie, and then read the papers, find out what's going on, and then the day until probably 1 a.m., 12:30 a.m., I'm rocking and rolling and this is the city that never sleeps, I can't take a nap!" he said.
Adams has made many changes to his diet due to being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. He now eats plant-based but said, "You should never deny yourself. If I feel like eating something that I know I'm not supposed to, so what? It's what you do the majority of the time."
He credits his diet with the return of better vision, his ulcer going away, getting rid of high blood pressure, and losing more than 30 pounds. "I don't have a six-pack, I have a case because my body is tight!"
He couldn't leave the set without chatting about Monday Night Football's big Jets win over the Bills, but also the devastating injury to Quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
"I said, 'Oh S!'" Adams said. But added, "The Jets are a New York story!" He believes it can motivate the team.
"A dark moment isn't necessarily a burial, it can be a planting," he said.
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