Here and Now preview: Mayor-elect Eric Adams focused on crime, COVID, economy
Watch 'Here and Now' on Sunday at 12:00 p.m. on Channel 7 and later across our digital platforms
NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- Mayor-elect Eric Adams talked to Sandra Bookman for "Here and Now" this Sunday about taking office and putting the team together that will help him lead New York City.
Last week, he tapped David Banks as the next public schools chancellor. On Wednesday, it was Nassau County Chief of Detectives Keechant Sewell, who will be the first woman to lead the NYPD as commissioner.
Watch 'Here and Now' on Sunday at 12:00 p.m. on Channel 7 and later across our digital platforms
She'll take over a department struggling to clamp down on rising crime, as some of its most experienced officers are leaving the force.
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But Adams doesn't seemed concerned.
"We're going to build onto a system, and some of the ideas will be embraced better by those who are not inundated with the old ways of policing," he said. "So I'm excited about the new birth of some of the young officers coming up and some of the new methods we're going to use."
Adams acknowledged that crime is the number one issue for many New Yorkers, and he's promising to zero in on the violence starting day one.
"We're going to take down these gang crews," he said. "We're going to ensure an installment of a plainclothes anti-gun unit. Not the street crime unit, not the anti-crime units of yesteryears that were extremely abusive."
Also near the top of the new mayor's to-do list are the economy and the pandemic.
Adams says we won't get people back in the subways or office buildings unless they feel safe, whether it's from crime or COVID.
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"We are part of an financial eco-system, and that eco-system lives on having people back in the office spaces, not remotely carrying out their assignments," he said. "I need the city back up and operating, and we only do that by getting COVID under control and making sure that people feel safe."
Watch 'Here and Now' on Sunday at 12:00 p.m. on Channel 7 and later across our digital platforms.
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