Garnet Samuels (left) and Ed Lawrence at Maloney’s, a bar in Queens where they were watching news of the mayor’s indictment. (Credit: Julia Shannon-Grillo)
Should Mayor Eric Adams step down? Or was he set up?
Those are the questions New Yorkers grappled with Thursday as they saw the news that their mayor had been indicted on federal bribery and fraud charges.
Here’s a survey of opinion across several boroughs.
“Mini-Trump”
Many citizens are drawing parallels between their mayor and former President Donald Trump, who was convicted earlier this year in a Manhattan courtroom.
“Trump kind of made people desensitized,” said Pedro Burgos, a Harlem resident. “Hearing about Adams being corrupt is like ‘Oh well, OK.’ It’s not a big deal after Trump. He just made it easier to be corrupt.”
“It would be nice if he resigned, but it’s like asking Trump to resign if Trump was president,” said Maria Washington, a spiritual healer on the Upper West Side who has been a New Yorker all her life. “And he’s like a mini Trump, he’s not going anywhere.”
Marvin Theodore Sr., who was born and raised in the city, said Trump’s indictment proves that Adams isn’t a victim of racial discrimination.
“Mayor Adams is Black, Trump is white, now what’re you going to say about two high elected officials in prestigious positions who were indicted, you’re going to say it’s a race thing? No, it’s politics,” he said.
Others however, don’t think that the allegations match up to the level of charges against Trump.
Elizabeth Percy, a 75-year-old Crown Heights resident, said the feds should leave Adams alone and “go get Trump instead.”
“The president got all of those crimes, 34 counts and they still got him running for president” she said.
To Resign or Not to Resign
New Yorkers are split on whether Adams should step down.
Miguela Ovalle, born and raised in Brooklyn, once met Adams in 2017 when he was serving as Brooklyn borough president. She said Adams should leave office.
“I don’t follow everything on politics, but I feel like they should kick him out… until everyone decides to vote on what happens next.” Ovalle said.
Claudia Rojas, an immigrant living in the Bronx, is an admirer of Mayor Adams and doesn’t believe the charges against him. “I want him as mayor since he’s helped us immigrants, no matter where they are from. He’s always here with us – the people– and always caring,” she said.
Florence Mckenzie, a 71-year-old resident of Crown Heights, Brooklyn, said she did not believe Adams committed the crimes he is accused of and should be allowed to finish his term. Mckenzie, who moved from Grenada 30 years ago, said, “We voted him in, and we will keep him there. We love him.”
Percy agreed: “We Black people, we should go out there and march.”
Garnet Samuels was raised in Jamaica, the country, and now lives in Jamaica, Queens. He served in the U.S. military for six years and is a retired paralegal.
“When he [Adams] was elected, as a Black man, I was very proud,” Samuels said. But his view of Adams has since soured. “Greed is bringing all that stuff up.”
His friend Ed Lawrence, a bartender at Madison Square Garden and resident of Queens, said he wants to see “who’s still left” in the Adams administration before deciding if the mayor should resign. “You need the backup center in basketball, you need the backup quarterback in football, before you get rid of the starter,” Lawrence said.
Above All, Due Process is a Must
Many New Yorkers across the city agree that Adams’ trial will be the determining factor.
“It’s still early,” said Jason Edwards, a 47-year-old barber based in Crown Heights. “We still need due process.”
Theodore Sr., the Harlem resident, would like to see Adams step aside until a verdict has been reached.
“Any time there is any kind of pending investigation and it’s about your position in question, you gotta take a leave until it’s done and over,” said Theodore. “From that point on, we can reconvene when everything is founded.”
What would happen then? It’s hard to say, said Theodore, “but when it comes to the city of New York, it’s business as usual. It’s like the A train or the 4 train at night. You don’t know if it’s going to come on time, but you know it’s coming.”
About the author(s)
Maria Guinnip is a Stabile Investigative Fellow at the Columbia Journalism School covering labor violations and mass incarceration.
Nuria Díaz Muñoz is a Stabile Investigative fellow at Columbia Journalism School. She’s previously had bylines at PolitiFact, NBC Washington, GW Hatchet, 4-Football and The Borgen Project.
Riddhi Setty is a Stabile investigative fellow at Columbia Journalism School. She previously reported for Bloomberg Law as a labor reporter.
Julia Shannon-Grillo, originally from Vermont, is a Stabile investigative fellow at Columbia Journalism School. Her reporting focuses on health care and public policy.
Madison Edward-Wright is an investigative journalism fellow originally from Montreal with bylines in Briarpatch Magazine and on rabble.ca.