Title: Reporters Ask the Mayor: "Cleaning House" With New Appointments

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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Now we turn to Mayor Eric Adams's weekly Tuesday news conference in which reporters are free to ask questions on any subject. The only time each week that he allows that. This week, the mayor was asked about a new appointment, an interim appointment concerning public safety. With all the resignations, the police commissioner, his deputy mayor for public safety, leaving, et cetera, and one additional resignation, Dr. Ashwin Vasan, who's been on the show so many times as New York City Health Commissioner.

He has announced that he will step down earlier than he was planning. We'll get into all of this and even some policy issues with WNYC and Gothamist lead Eric Adams reporter Elizabeth Kim, who joins us most Wednesdays after these Tuesday news conferences with clips and analysis. Happy Wednesday, Liz.

Elizabeth Kim: Happy Wednesday, Brian.

Brian Lehrer: The mayor announced that Chauncey Parker will be the next deputy mayor for public safety. That's following the resignation of Phil Banks, who's under a cloud of suspicion. Here's a clip of Deputy Mayor Parker at yesterday's press briefing.

Chauncey Parker: Every morning at 10:00 AM, this team comes together and reviews this small number of people. Today, it's one person that meets that description but it's vital to the safety of the city to achieve the mayor's North Star of ending gun violence that we work as hard as we possibly can when those people hurting people most come through the criminal justice system. That is a model for-- there's nothing like it anywhere in the country, and I don't think there's anything like this anywhere in the world.

760 days, all these different partners come together, look at the same map at the same time, and work together to achieve that North Star of ending gun violence.

Brian Lehrer: The new deputy mayor for public safety, Chauncey Parker. Liz, the New York Times has called this appointment unusual, noting that Parker is not part of the mayor's inner circle. Why him?

Elizabeth Kim: For one thing, he is the assistant deputy mayor to banks, who, as you said, left. Before that, he worked in the NYPD as the Deputy Commissioner for Collaborative Police. Prior to that, he was a prosecutor in the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District and then in the Manhattan DA's office. I immediately reached out to Elizabeth Glaser. She's a criminal justice expert who was a top advisor to former Mayor de Blasio.

She's been very critical of Adams, but when I asked her about Parker, she offered a really enthusiastic endorsement. She's known him for 30 years. They were prosecutors together. She called him inventive, a deep thinker, and someone who really goes out of his way to engage other groups. I thought that clip of him was very interesting because he spoke for about five minutes, but in that five minutes, he articulated his vision for his role and just the Office of Public Safety, and that's fighting gun violence.

He explained how he's doing it. He talked about there where he's saying, "We're having these daily meetings at 10:00 AM with a task force where we look at a map and we zero in on," what he says are just a handful of people who are responsible for shootings. Then he goes on to talk about another program under the mayor called the Saturday Night Lights Program, which is making gyms open for youth on Saturday nights.

It occurred to me that this was something that was essentially missing under Banks because Phil Banks, he didn't like to appear before the press very often. In fact, he was the only deputy mayor who was exempt from the mayor's Tuesday weekly press conferences. We rarely got to see him, but as a result of that, we didnt quite understand what did he see his role as? This is somewhat of a new role in New York City. We havent had a deputy mayor for public safety since under Dinkins.

I thought this was an interesting choice. I thought he made a very strong impression yesterday during his appointment announcement.

Brian Lehrer: Speaking of what somebody's role is, there's the Interim Police Commissioner, Thomas Donlon, who himself now is being investigated for something or had his phone seized, is that right, as part of this investigation?

Elizabeth Kim: It was documents. He had his homes searched and documents were taken out of his home. I don't know if that included phones. It may have.

Brian Lehrer: As interim commissioner, and there's been some reporting that he himself might step down earlier than expected. Asked why this is not an official appointment, in other words, if Tom Donlon is so good like Chauncey Parker, why not just make him the police commissioner, the mayor had this to say yesterday.

Mayor Eric Adams: I don't see why you feel it's a delay. I think we got about 22 people who ask can they serve in that position. One of the most coveted positions you could have in law enforcement. Everyone knows the police commission's name. There's no delay. When he's ready to make an announcement, we will. Tell me something. Is crime going up? Is there disorder in our streets? Are we managing 3000 protests? Did we just have this important October 7th commemoration where people thought there was going to be total disorder and there wasn't?

I can go down the list. We are doing the job we're supposed to do. Instead of rushing anything, I want to make sure I keep the synergy of a very winning apparatus and team over there. Tom Donlon is doing the job. He's the interim commissioner, and when it's time to make a change decision, if I do, we'll do that.

Brian Lehrer: That sounded like common sense in a certain way. Were you reading something between the lines there?

Elizabeth Kim: No, I think the mayor makes a fair point there, which is that we havent seen any major disruption within the NYPD, but on the other hand, as long as Tom Donlon has interim in his title and also the fact that his homes were searched by the FBI, which raises question, why is he under federal scrutiny? Those two things will raise questions about the future of that position. It is very high profile, and the mayor said it is very coveted.

Now, what happened last week was, late last week, there were sources who were saying Donlon was on his way out, but then the mayor held a press conference with Donlon. It was about subway safety and homelessness outreach. Since that time, Donlon has been very much in the public eye. Coupled with his public appearances, and also the mayor's statements yesterday, it seemed designed to put those rumors at rest, but again, as long as he has interim in his title, the mayor is going to be asked, who is the next NYPD commissioner.

Brian Lehrer: With our lead Eric Adams reporter Elizabeth Kim, coming on today, as she usually does on Wednesdays after the mayor's Tuesday news conferences, with clips and analysis and to take your calls if you have any calls, 212-433 WNYC. 212-433-9692. It can be about more of the comings and goings in the administration and whether with all of them, Adams can continue to effectively manage the city, or it can be about this. The mayor was asked about the Elizabeth Street Garden in Nolita.

Listeners of this program are definitely familiar with the battle to protect the green space or some of you are, especially if you live in the neighborhood, but the mayor did not want to get involved, or he did want to get involved on the side of the senior housing that's going to be built on that land, on that parcel. Listeners, if you want to weigh in on this or ask Liz a question about anything from the mayor's news conference yesterday, 212-433 WNYC. 212-433-9692. Call or text.

Liz, do you want to remind people or tell those who haven't heard about it what this battle over the Elizabeth Street Garden is and why the mayor is taking the side that he is?

Elizabeth Kim: Sure. I remember covering Elizabeth Street Garden six years ago. It's been that much of a protracted legal battle in the city. This is a plot of land in Nolita. It's owned by the city, but beginning in around 1990, it was leased by a gallery owner named Alan Reaver. Initially, he put a lot of sculptures in the garden, but then over time, he opened the garden up. It became a public space.

Somewhere around 2014, the city decided that they wanted to redevelop this piece of land, in particular for senior affordable housing. Then what happened was a fight ensued. It was no longer Alan Reaver spearheading the fight, but his son, Joseph Reaver. This became a really pitched battle. It's reflecting a lot of the fights right now in the city over housing. We often tend to think of these fights over housing as some nimby issues.

In this case, it's about balancing a very, very pressing need for housing and the need for green space. What the advocates for Elizabeth Street Gardens argued was that this is a false choice, that New Yorkers should be able to have green space. According to them, it's a beloved green space. It's very popular if you go there on weekends, but it's a false choice, and we should be able to have those kind of spaces, and building more housing should not come at the expense of spaces like this that add to the city's character.

What's happened is over time, as people are talking about the 1% vacancy rate in the city and the inaffordability of New York City, and the growth of the YIMBY movement in New York, there's been a little bit moving away of sympathy, I think, from the Elizabeth Street Gardens core camp. I think that now the city feels more ready, that it has more support to move on with this plan, but at the same time, I think some of the advocates felt that maybe there was a little bit of a chance they could persuade Mayor Adams.

This was because among the many advocates for this garden, and there are many, there are celebrities, Robert de Niro, Martin Scorsese, Patti Smith. Norman Siegel, who is a civil liberties attorney, he's also a very close friend and informal advisor to the mayor. I think there was an 11th-hour pitch to the mayor to ask him to come visit the garden, come see if there is another possible solution. The garden advocates have pitched alternative sites for housing, which they say that the city has not taken seriously.

At the end of the day, the mayor did leave it open. He said he wanted to see if there was a win-win solution, but at the end of the day, when he was asked about it yesterday, he came down on the side of housing and he said, "This has to be built for housing." The expectation was that because an eviction notice was served earlier this month, that they were going to be evicted as early as Thursday, but then again this morning, the group fighting to save the gardens, they sent out an email and they said that they won a stay in court delaying the eviction. Once again, we will see how this plays out in the courts.

Brian Lehrer: Breaking news. Looks like we have the director of the Elizabeth Street Garden calling in. I want to take this call if he's ready. Is that line ready to go? Can I go to line three? Here's Joseph in Manhattan who says he's the director of the Elizabeth Street Garden. Do I have that right? Hi, Joseph. You're on WNYC.

Joseph: Hi, Brian. I haven't heard the segment yet, but people in the community were telling me that you're talking about the garden, so I figured I'd call in.

Brian Lehrer: We were talking about the mayor and his news conference yesterday, basically saying the garden is great, but the priority has to be senior housing. Do you have a response?

Joseph: Absolutely. We have always sought to get affordable housing for seniors in this district, and we've presented to both Mayor Adams and Maria Torres-Springer and Fabian Levy, and the director of HPD private sites in the district. Not only the city council district, but one of them is actually just a few blocks around the corner from the garden. These are private sites where the developers, the owners, are willing to incorporate affordable housing at minimum the amount that they would put at the garden in order to save the garden, but also to get housing in the district.

City Council Member Marte is working with us. I personally sent this proposal to Mayor Adams, and he actually visited the garden and walked with me to one of the sites. Both of these sites are empty buildings. They're not being utilized right now. This is a false choice to say that they have to destroy a community garden. What the city has done, instead of really entertaining these choices, these alternatives is they've discredited the community, spread misinformation about the community and the garden, and really worked to destroy it, and they're discrediting the thousands of people--

Brian Lehrer: Joseph, let me ask you a follow-up question. If that's all true and you really did show the mayor alternative sites, if we can assume that the mayor has no inherent desire to destroy a garden in the Nolita neighborhood of Manhattan, why do you think they're making the choice that they are?

Joseph: I believe that this also has a lot to do with Maria Torres-Springer's involvement and her history with HPD and this project in particular. The mayor keeps quoting these general numbers for housing. Housing is absolutely needed. Affordable housing is needed in this district. We've never said otherwise. We're working to get that housing. We're just also doing it without any loss to the community. I have to tell you, Brian, thousands of people have sent the mayor, have sent Maria, have sent Fabian, have sent his administration, some of those people have resigned since, but still, they've sent letters saying they should save it.

Over 130 seniors in the community, some of which who would qualify for affordable housing, signed on to an open letter to the mayor saying that they need this garden and they want to get housing at these alternative sites.

Brian Lehrer: Joseph, I'm going to leave it there. I appreciate you calling in. Liz, what would the mayor say to that? You heard Joseph saying he showed the mayor personally two alternative sites where senior housing could be built and save the garden.

Elizabeth Kim: I think what the mayor would say to that is, "That's great. We need those sites, too." The mayor, when he was asked about this, I think it was several weeks or maybe a month ago, he said that he had two goals in this city. One, he wants the city to be safe, and the second goal is, "I want to make sure people are housed." He said, "Everything else is a luxury." Now, you might not agree with that statement. I'm sure Joseph Reaver would say, "No, this isn't a luxury. Green space is essential."

We've seen that during COVID, how important those spaces are, but that is the mayor's stance. Everything else is a luxury. His goal is public safety and building more housing.

Brian Lehrer: We have a couple of minutes left. Listener goes back to the clip of the mayor that we played earlier where he was celebrating the new deputy mayor for public safety and saying that he's the first mayor who's had a deputy mayor for public safety, or maybe you were describing that timeline. First deputy mayor for public safety since the Dinkins administration.

Listen to rights in a text, "Did anyone ask why we need a deputy mayor for public safety when the position did not exist before?" I guess the implication is, "Crime went down under Giuliani, crime went down under Bloomberg, crime went down under de Blasio, why all of a sudden do we need a deputy mayor for public safety?"

Elizabeth Kim: The mayor's argument was always about that he wanted to remove what he often calls silos in city government. This is the idea that public safety is a policy that should be woven through other agencies like schools, parks, and recreation. He felt that having this role-- he wasn't alone in this kind of thinking. Like I said, there was a deputy mayor for public safety under Dinkins. Policy advocates like Elizabeth Glaser supported this idea is that you would have this person who would make sure that public safety was being woven into other government policies and that it was not acting as this silo where public safety is confined to the NYPD.

Brian Lehrer: I'll acknowledge, by the way, that we're getting texts on various sides of the Elizabeth Street Garden issue. One pushback says they only opened the Elizabeth Street Garden to the public after it was "under threat" 2016. Totally obfuscated in that last statement by the caller. I don't even know if that's factually correct, but it's an example of the pushback and the fact that people seem to be lining up on either side of this, Liz.

Elizabeth Kim: That's right. I've read that, too, and I think I've heard that the date is something around 2014. I would say, regardless of that-- I don't remember what year I wandered into the Elizabeth Street Gardens, but I think maybe you can point out that what's important is it is open to the public now. I thought it was important that the mayor did go and visit the garden. That was an important gesture to see what it is that the supporters of the garden value so much in having that space. I think that that was a good idea for the mayor to visit it, but all the same, he has decided that the housing is more important.

Brian Lehrer: Just very briefly, Liz, before you go, 30 seconds, if you can. This latest announced departure of the health commissioner Vasan, earlier than Dr. Vasan had previously said he was going to leave. I don't think he's one of those people who's being investigated for anything, correct me if I'm wrong, but why is he suddenly departing?

Elizabeth Kim: That's correct, Brian. I think that's a very important distinction to make from the other departures. He does not appear to have any tie with any of these ongoing federal corruption investigations. He had announced last month that he was resigning because he wanted to spend more time with his family. What happened was, he originally said that he was going to leave sometime early next year. Yesterday, he moved up that date dramatically. He will now be leaving on Friday.

What he said was there was more urgency to the reason as to why he needed to leave. The mayor acknowledged that as well yesterday when he was asked about it. He said, "I've always told my staffers that I want them to put family first."

Brian Lehrer: For the moment, we take him at his word at that, because there's no particular counter indication.

Elizabeth Kim: There's not, but I don't think it's wrong to assume that it's not unusual for some of these top officials to want to leave. We've talked about this. The mayor's indictment shouldn't affect the day-to-day running of the city, but it's his attention span and his political capital around new initiatives for commissioners in New York City. These are very ambitious people. They took these jobs in many ways because they wanted to push new initiatives. New York City is considered a laboratory for testing out new and progressive ideas. If you can't do that here, it's a reason to think about leaving.

Brian Lehrer: We leave it there with our lead Eric Adams reporter Elizabeth Kim, who joins us most Wednesdays after the mayor's Tuesday news conferences. Liz, thanks, as always.

Elizabeth Kim: Thanks, Brian.

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