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Brian Lehrer: It's The Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. Good morning, everyone. In just a minute, we'll meet the head of mayor-elect Eric Adams's transition team, Sheena Wright, president and CEO of the United Way of New York City. First, in case you missed it, the mayor-elect made some interesting news Tuesday night when he went on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Now, it wasn't the straight-up policy announcement kind of news but it showed more of the personality of the mayor the city is getting and how he's hoping to be a breath of fresh air. Maybe the most surprising was when he unveiled the box of gifts he brought for Colbert and his audience. Did you know about this? Beginning with a t-shirt.

One thing to know before you hear this in case you don't know, Bamboo and Raw are two brands of cigarette, well, marijuana cigarette rolling papers.

Eric Adams: I have a t-shirt for you. This is my theme, GSD is I'm going to say get stuff done for you, but there's another meeting with the S, but get it done. One of my best gifts, as you know, marijuana is legal. I have Raw.

Colbert: I did not know.

Eric Adams: I have Raw.

Colbert: I'm not aware, Mr. Mayor. I'm not into that scene.

Eric Adams: I have Bamboo.

Colbert: It's big.

Eric Adams: I can't give you this gift. I'll give it to you later.

[laughter]

[applause]

Brian Lehrer: Eric Adams promoting the fact that New York is now a legal state. The laughing at the end, you couldn't see why, was because the gift to be given later was a presumably fake bag of weed to go with the rolling papers. He also announced that the whole Colbert audience would be given free tickets to the Broadway musical Chicago. That definitely made a couple of hundred friends. That was one clip. The other one was, again, off of straight policy more in the realm of another classic role of New York City mayors, cheerleader for the city. This one came with a little dig baked in as well.

Eric Adams: We used to be the coolest place on the globe. We're so damn boring now, man. We have to be among the people enjoying life. I want the cross-pollination of our energy and the diversity of this city.

Brian Lehrer: He dinged the city of today a little bit by calling it boring there, right? Debatable, to be sure, as he promoted all the nightlife that people can enjoy as he hopes it can flourish again. Maybe boring is just the pandemic state of being or maybe he meant something a little more universal, I don't know, but interesting. Definitely, a new person coming in with his own brand of leadership on both policy and New York spirit. With us now, the chair of mayor-elect Adams's transition team Sheena Wright, who in her day job is president and CEO of the United Way of New York City.

The transition team is largely concerned with finding the best candidates to be top officials in the Adams administration. Police commissioner, schools chancellor, deputy mayors, et cetera. We'll hear more about the transition's teamwork too. Sheena, thanks so much for making this one of your stops. Welcome back to WNYC.

Sheena Wright: Thanks so much, Brian. I'm so happy to be here this morning.

Brian Lehrer: I know it's not your job to comment on any of what we just heard but I will say I think Eric Adams got more laughs in four minutes on Colbert than the last three mayors combined got in any of their four-year terms. We're in for a different kind of energy. Is anything from the spirit of that reflected in how he's guiding the transition team's work?

Sheena Wright: Absolutely. I think we've been under so much anxiety during this COVID experience, that we've collectively had as a city, and we need a renewed energy and momentum to really move forward into this new year and into this new administration. Doing it was just a real deep love and appreciation for the city, and with some joy and fun. We want to really come out of this funk and real challenging place that we've been in. I think that spirit and that energy and that momentum is certainly what we are trying to use to propel this transition process.

Brian Lehrer: Listeners, we can take some questions for Sheena Wright, chair of mayor-elect Eric Adams's transition team on how they're setting up for the new administration. 212-433 WNYC, 433-96-92. While you're at it, listeners, do you agree with Adams that the city has gotten boring? Anyone want to have a debate about that? 212-433 WNYC, 433-96-92 or tweet @brianlehrer. How about his slogan that he cited on the t-shirt there that he was giving Steven Colbert GSD? It's just the initials, GSD. That's what was on the t-shirt for, get stuff done, or get some other S-word done as he noted.

It suggests he knows what the job is and he's going to hit the ground running on implementation and maybe doesn't need a lot of new policy deliberation. Would that be reading too much into that slogan?

Sheena Wright: Well, I think it's fair to say. He certainly shared that he's been wanting to be mayor for years and really actively running for several years. He's had hundreds of conversations with policy experts, practitioners on the ground, and really appreciates that we need an action plan. We really need all of those steps to move us forward. The other thing that he has talked a lot about extensively is that we need to measure and be accountable for our progress on that plan. What we're really drilling down on during this transition is really refining those priorities and getting much more specific about the steps that it will take to GSD, to get the stuff done, and making sure that we have the right people in place in order to execute.

That's just really hopefully going to give the administration a tremendous head start, because the problems are big. There's a lot to do, and to be very focused and intentional on really moving the needle for the city of New York is what the work of the transition is.

Brian Lehrer: How would you describe the scope of the transition team's diversity? You were chosen for various kinds of representation, it looks like, from the business community, nonprofits like the United Way, labor unions, higher education, ethnic diversity. It would be the most interesting and most wonky dinner party I can imagine. Are you meeting in groups and having interesting conversations about the state of the city from different points of view?

Sheena Wright: Absolutely. The transition has been very intentional in having that diversity of thought, experience, perspective. There are about 20 committees that are being fielded in terms of teams of people across all the sectors and really realizing that we need a cross-sector approach in order to really make change. We can't work in a silo. The nonprofit community can't work in a silo from government, can't work in a silo from the corporate sector. It's only when we come together and really understand what our unique role is and how we connect the dots that we can really get to the change. It's been wonderful.

Yes, there's been some debates in terms of priorities or how to get things done. There is healthy tension, but also affirming as well, as we have these diverse groups and stakeholders really coming together. More than anything, there is such an energy. Everyone is raising their hands, they want to lean in, they want to roll up their sleeves and get it done, and there's just this really bringing together across what I think might have been seen as false divides because we all love the city and we all want it to be what it should be.

Brian Lehrer: I want you to follow up on two things you said there if you would. False divides just now, and a little earlier in that last answer you said there has been some debate and lively discussion of different points of view. I respect the fact that confidentiality is important on something like your transition team so that you can really work together without playing stuff out in the press, but can you give us any example of that spirited debate that you think listeners would find interesting?

Sheena Wright: Well, maybe to the point about kind of the false divides. Every sector in this city makes it work. We are absolutely committed to equity and economic mobility for people of color in the city of New York. This is incredibly important work. In order to do that, we absolutely appreciate that we've got to work in partnership with the corporate sector and the business community so that we can have economic growth and economic mobility, and shared prosperity. That's the goal. They don't have to be mutually exclusive or any tension or debate between the two.

It's really about how are we developing very concrete plans and strategies for that shared growth and prosperity for the city, as an example. Just being very intentional about making sure that that's our shared goal. That it's not one versus the other, but it's our collective goal that we have for the city. Those are the kinds of things that we're just trying to really be very, very clear about as we move forward during this transition period.

Brian Lehrer: Well, let me drill down even further on that because we don't know yet how it's going to be expressed in policy, but Crain's article that you were quoted in quoted your transition team colleague, Darren Walker, who some of our listeners know is president of the Ford Foundation and very dedicated to reducing income inequality. He said Adams will not be a tale of two cities Mayor like Bill DeBlasio, but rather a reconciliation mayor. Is that a difference you can explain in the context of the massive inequality that we do have in the city, maybe even made worse by the pandemic and how moving away from articulating it as a tale of two cities helps the cause rather than leaves it by the wayside?

Sheena Wright: Yes, it is about that shared prosperity, and that, as I said, really, really is the focus. The corporate sector absolutely appreciates and wants to also ensure that there is a level of economic mobility and prosperity for people in the workforce. We want to make sure that we have more equitable opportunities available to students, and that there's not such opportunity gaps based on race and class. Those are shared ideals. The key is going to be how do we make sure that every part of the puzzle, every sector, every entity, is playing the role that we need them to play in order to achieve those goals. Really focusing more on that, and that being a mobilizing factor, to really get done what we all collectively want to get done and need to get done.

Brian Lehrer: One more question about that before we take some calls from people calling in for my guest Sheena Wright, the chair of mayor-elect Eric Adams's transition team. Mayor-elect said in his victory speech on election night that he wants to ask CEOs in the business community to open more doors for more traditionally excluded people, and that they really haven't been asked. When I heard that I could imagine some activist heads exploding like, "We've been doing nothing but asking for more inclusion for decades." Is that anything that members of your transition team, which does include people from nonprofits, people from labor, people from the corporate sector, is that anything that members of the team are discussing or asking the CEOs on your team for help with in any specific ways?

Is it anything that your corporate engagement committee, which is I know one of the committees you created for the transition team, following up on at this early stage with any specific asks if Adam says they haven't been asked in the past?

Sheena Wright: I think it's a little bit more nuanced than that. It's not as simple as opening doors. It's really about what is the plan. We have a skills gap. It's well known in this country, where we have jobs that are open and we have people that are available, but they might not necessarily have the skills to do those particular jobs. There is a divide that needs to be filled in a really coordinated way. The business sector really clearly identify these are the skills and the trajectory of the jobs, the nonprofit sector, really taking that information and building that trajectory of opportunity and experience in partnership with business.

There's a knitting together. This is my work. I'm in the nonprofit sector. We'll say we haven't had as coordinated an approach where we're closing the gap between necessary skills and available jobs. We just have not, and so government can play a role there. That's what this next administration is really endeavoring to do and be very planful around, really making that connection so that there is no excuse. We've got all the steps laid out. We understand what the trajectory is. Everyone knows what their role is and really just getting it done.

You can have the will and the desire, but if you don't have the operating mechanism, and you don't have the infrastructure and the support to make it happen, it doesn't happen as well as it should. Everyone would admit on all sides that our workforce system has not operated optimally for our city, and it needs to be fixed and that's part of a big role that government can and should play.

Brian Lehrer: All right, listeners. Now to some of your questions for Sheena Wright, chair of Mayor-elect Eric Adams's transition team, on how they're setting up for the new administration. Also if you heard the clip from Colbert when he was on there, or if you saw it later, online or heard it when we played it at the beginning of the segment, do you agree with Adams's little dig, kind of a joke, but kind of not? He was really promoting New York City nightlife as needing to flourish more when he said the city had gotten boring. 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-96-92 or tweet @BrianLehrer. Nick in Manhattan, you're on WNYC. Hi, Nick.

Nick: Hey, Brian. Manhattan and New York in large, is definitely not boring. We've got everything here that you would want. People travel from all over the world and pay a lot of money to live here if they can because of entertainment, and because of everything we have. I think he knows we're not boring and I'm not certainly sure what he's getting at. Probably didn't get the reaction from the crowd that he was looking for but if you're looking for it's probably here in New York.

Brian Lehrer: Right, he didn't get a big round of applause like, "the city we're in watching you and the live audience on Colbert is boring.' We got some groans there, Sheena, to be fair. Nick maybe inadvertently made another point. We can't call the city boring if it's such an expensive city that people are paying so much money to live in. Maybe that was part of the mayor's elect's point, that if it's such an unaffordable city where only the better off can live, increasingly, that's not the kind of cauldron that produces create a foment. Right?

Sheena Wright: Well, I don't know about that. I'm from New York. I'm born and raised, I grew up in The Bronx, I live in Harlem. Certainly, there's a lot of creative foment, and joy and culture in all communities of the city, even those like the ones I grew up in and want that could be considered economically challenged. I along with he, I think, are one of those New Yorkers that really believe that this is the best place on the planet. Again, I think it was more of a nod to we've been under so much anxiety, and fear, and challenge with COVID, how do we get our New York swag back, how do we get our sense of inner sensibility?

Just to be audacious and have some joy and really momentum going forward, and I appreciate that. I think it's been a bit of a hard road. We're going into a new year with some new opportunities, real challenges, but just very intentional about finding some joy in it.

Brian Lehrer: Ed in Brooklyn, who says he's a musician, I think has a different policy-related comment on New York allegedly being boring. Ed, you're on WNYC. Hello.

Ed: Hi Brian, hi, Sheena. When I heard that about the mayor saying the city was boring. The first thing I thought was, "Well, yes, because it's anti-artist.

Brian Lehrer: Why do you say that?

Ed: Well, because of the high prices, specifically congestion pricing, the first thing that happens when the mayor comes in is this congestion pricing thing is going to come on, which is going to make it impossible for musicians to get their equipment into Manhattan.

Brian Lehrer: Well, it's going to make it a few dollars more expensive, certainly that. Sheena, does the administration incoming have a position on congestion pricing? I know Mayor de Blasio has been pushing for it to finally be implemented as a way of funding the MTA primarily, as well as cleaning the environment in New York City and fighting congestion itself on the roads. Is this something you're talking about on the Adams transition team?

Sheena Wright: It certainly is an area that mayor-elect Adams is studying and developing and will express his point of view on it. I'm not prepared to do that right now, but it is a complicated and important issue. I do think just to the point about art and culture, there is a committee being set up with a focus on that, appreciating how important it is to our community and a lifeblood and in so many ways and how to continue to support it. Appreciating that there are real difficulties in ensuring that we have a vibrant art and culture community and scene here in New York City.

Brian Lehrer: Is there a tension, and I understand that you're not ready to announce any policy positions on the part of the mayor-elect, but is there a tension that you're expressing that they're revisiting between all the good things that congestion pricing is supposed to bring that I just listed? The freer flow of people between the Boroughs and between in the city and out of the city that easier access even by car allows in a good way.

Sheena Wright: I apologize Brian, I am not the expert here on congestion pricing. I am going to defer on any specific details there, but I know that there are smart people who are really studying this issue and advising the mayor elect on it, but it's a little bit outside of my wheelhouse, I will admit.

Brian Lehrer: That's fair. I always say there are a few people I respect more on the show than those willing to say I don't know when they don't know instead of trying to fake it. We'll continue in a minute with Sheena Wright, chair of mayor-elect Adam's Transition Team. Brian Lehrer on WNYC.

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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC with mayor elect Eric Adams's Transition chair Sheena Wright, president and CEO of the United Way. By the way, we're still doing Ask the Mayor with mayor de Blasio for a few more weeks and we're going to do a special edition tomorrow. Now that he's so close to leaving office, we're going to do a few look backs on Fridays over the eight years. Tomorrow, mayor de Blasio is going to come on with schools chancellor Meisha Porter to do an Ask the Mayor about education policy over the last eight years and even longer. What did they inherit when they came in? This is always a big debate. It always needs help. There's been inequality for the full lifetimes of anybody alive today in the education system and an educational outcome.

We're going to have a really big historical and present and future looking conversation about education as mayor de Blasio gets ready to leave office on tomorrow's show with him and his school's chancellor Meisha Porter. That's tomorrow. Here's something I just learned, Sheena. Maybe you know it already. We just saw this tweet which says Eric Adams will be in LA tomorrow to take Bill Maher's HBO show and he'll be on a panel with Chris Christie. He's doing the political comedy talk show rounds with Cole Bayer on Tuesday night, Bill Maher Friday night. Does this make your job as leading the transition team easier or harder?

Sheena Wright: I think it's easier. That is just how you reach so many people to really communicate and articulate the work and the message and the way forward. It gets people excited and enthused again to really lean in. I think it's wonderful and it's exciting to see how he's so well-received, and he is a great spokesperson for our city. It's all good.

Brian Lehrer: On Colbert again, one of the ways that he got a laugh was presenting Colbert with a gift of rolling papers, noting that marijuana is now legal in New York City. A number of people want to comment on that. Let's say one or two. Steven in Harlem, you're on WNYC. Hi Steven.

Steven: Hi, good morning. How are you? Thank you for having me.

Brian Lehrer: What'd you got?

Steven: I live in Harlem in an area where marijuana sales occur regularly in front of our apartment building. Ever since marijuana has become legalized and COVID happened, there has been a huge increased in the activity on the street and everything has become extremely visible and no longer concealed. What's happened to us in our building is that people that are partying on weed are actually coming inside of our lobby illegally, trespassing and using our lobby to smoke weed in groups of 5 to 10 people. We have to call the police to try to get them out of the building and the police come when we call, but they just ask them to leave.

No one's being given any trespassing citation or any fine or anything, and the police leave and then they just come back. I've lived in my apartment building for 20 years. This has never happened before. This just started over the past 2 years.

Brian Lehrer: Because it is legal to smoke wherever it's legal to smoke, tobacco. Sheena, again, it's not your job to get into policy debates about marijuana is legal in New York State. That's a state policy right now, but for mayor-elect Adams who talks about wanting to reduce the amount of disorder in the city, but at the same time wanting to respect the rights of young, especially people of color and not go back to an era of mass incarceration and strike that balance, where does something like this fit in?

Sheena Wright: Well, I'm sure there's lots of details and specifics to that. As you just said, it is legal in the state to smoke marijuana where it's legal to smoke tobacco. If law enforcement does that deem that anyone is doing anything illegally, I'm sure that they're doing their jobs and behaving appropriately. I don't know what else to say about that specific incident.

Brian Lehrer: That's fair. Why don't you talk about, as the transition team that's going to recommend people for the various high positions, what are you looking for in a police commissioner? Have you gotten guidance on that from the mayor-elect?

Sheena Wright: Well, he has certainly obviously has a tremendous amount of experience and insight and what is needed in order to lead the New York Police Department. Certainly his vision of policing that is just and meets the needs of the community is the core of what is part of the job in leading that really important institution. Everything he said about that balance and making sure that people have the skills and the competencies to lead that really important institution is a part of what is being considered and what he's considering as part of the process.

Brian Lehrer: Is there an insider or outsider debate, or not debate but evaluation, taking place on your team? One of the questions that different mayors seem to go back and forth on for big positions like schools chancellor and police commissioner is do you prefer someone who came up through the system and knows its issues well that way, or someone from outside who might see with a different fresh eye? Are you approaching that question in any particular way with guidance from the mayor-elect or just among your team members?

Sheena Wright: I think that's a general question any time. As part of the process, there's pros and cons on all sides. For any role that anybody is filling where you have some choices in a pool, you think about that. That's necessarily a part of any conversation in a search process. Certainly the transition overall is looking across all the agencies in the city. The mayor-elect will obviously have a lot and is very focused on making sure that the right people with the technical skills and the competencies, weighing all of those things that you just mentioned, are in the seats. What's wonderful is that there is an enormous pool of really qualified people who are eager and enthusiastic to join him and his leadership on the journey.

That's just an incredible, I think, show of confidence and faith in his mayorality and future administration and leadership as we move forward. That is really, really exciting.

Brian Lehrer: By the way, just so you know this, there's always a separate conversation going on among the listeners on social media while we're having any discussion on the air.

Sheena: Oh-oh.

Brian Lehrer: [chuckles] One of the callers earlier said, "Yes, New York is getting boring because it's more hostile to artists because musicians carrying their equipment into Manhattan are going to have to pay a congestion pricing fee," and somebody tweeted, "Not this Brian Lehrer caller saying New York is hostile to artists because of congestion pricing. Buddy, New York is hostile to artists but not because of congestion pricing. Why not fight for resources, labor protections, and affordable housing instead of dangerous streets?" You don't have to comment on that, I'm just letting people know that's going on.

You told Crain's seriously that you're evaluating people both on their technical merits and on their emotional intelligence. What do you mean by emotional intelligence, and how do you go about evaluating somebody for that?

Sheena: Absolutely. Mayor-elect Adams has talked a lot about emotional intelligence and that really being a priority for him as he's moving forward in his administration. His vision of how to get away from the dysfunctionality of government is that you absolutely need commissioners and deputy mayors and people working in agencies to have a mindset and capabilities that require them to work together, to not just be stuck in your silo but to be able to expand the boundaries. He gives this example of the Department of Education is a silo and it feeds one million children unhealthy food. Then the Department of Health and Human Services has to address asthma, obesity, and all of these issues.

People are just really in their silos. In order to be a real leader, I believe in the Adams administration going forward, certainly, you've got to have really, really strong technical skills. You have to be able to have demonstrated your ability to collaborate and coordinate with others outside of your sphere of influence and outside of your box. You figure that out through interviews, what people are communicating in terms of their accomplishments. There are other probing questions and ways to engage people to understand what's their style.

Are they really good in a box which can be good in many instances or have they really demonstrated some abilities to go outside of the box and reach across to get things done? I think that that's important and unique. Getting those right people will really turbocharge this plan, this GSD plan, and the ability of the administration to really move the needle.

Brian Lehrer: That's good, that sounds like next-level interviewing. We just have a minute left in the segment. Do you want to take the minute and talk about your work as President and CEO of the United Way of New York City, and what kinds of public needs you most have had to address during the pandemic? Just talk about your day job for a minute, I want to give you that opportunity.

Sheena: Thank you so much, Brian. It is one of the greatest privileges of my life to be the leader of the United Way of New York City. This has been such a moment, where, as an organization, we met the food and security needs of millions of New Yorkers, we really supported hundreds of thousands of young people who were cut off. We launched an effort to help struggling small Black-owned businesses in the city and really so many other things. Helped get vaccine and testing access to communities that have been most impacted by COVID. At every turn, I'm so proud of my colleagues that I work with. We met the challenges as best we could.

With all of our corporate partners, we have over 600 hundred community-based organizations that we work with and in partnership with the government. The United Way of New York City continues that work really with an explicit focus on equity as we move forward and really bringing those three sectors together to solve the great problems that we face. A lot was accomplished, and there's still a lot to get done, and there's certainly is a phenomenal team at United way of New York City that is ready and able to get it done.

Brian Lehrer: Sheena Wright, president and CEO of the United Way of New York City and now the chair of mayor-elect Eric Adams’s transition team. Thank you so much for sharing some of the work of your team with us and listening to some of my and the listeners’ comments along the way after the mayor-elect was on Colbert this week. Thank you so much for coming on.

Sheena: Thank you so much, Brian.

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