Eric Adams facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Eric Adams
Adams in 2023
110th Mayor of New York City
Incumbent
Assumed office January 1, 2022
Deputy	Lorraine Grillo Sheena Wright
Preceded by	Bill de Blasio
18th Borough President of Brooklyn
In office January 1, 2014 – December 31, 2021
Preceded by	Marty Markowitz
Succeeded by	Antonio Reynoso
Member of the New York State Senate from the 20th district
In office January 1, 2007 – December 31, 2013
Preceded by	Carl Andrews
Succeeded by	Jesse Hamilton
Personal details
Born	Eric Leroy Adams (1960-09-01) September 1, 1960 (age 64) New York City, U.S.
Political party	Democratic (before 1997, 2001–present)
Other political affiliations	Republican (1997–2001)
Domestic partner	Tracey Collins
Children	1
Residence	Gracie Mansion (Official)
Education	New York City College of Technology (AA) John Jay College of Criminal Justice (BA) Marist College (MPA)
Occupation	Politician police officer author
Signature
Police career
Department	New York City Police Department
Years of service	1984–2006
Rank	Captain

Eric Leroy Adams (born September 1, 1960) is an American politician and former police officer currently serving as the 110th mayor of New York City since 2022.

Adams was elected mayor of New York City in the city's 2021 mayoral election. As mayor, he has taken what is seen as a tough-on-crime approach and reintroduced a plain-clothed unit of police officers that had been disbanded by the previous administration. He has also implemented, alongside increased police presence, a zero-tolerance policy on homeless people sleeping in subway cars.

In September 2024, a series of criminal investigations into Adams's administration emerged. On September 25, Adams was indicted following a federal corruption investigation. He is the first mayor in New York City history to be charged with crimes while in office.

Early life and education

Adams was born in Brownsville, Brooklyn on September 1, 1960. His mother, Dorothy Mae Adams-Streeter (1938–2021), worked double shifts as a housecleaner and had received only a third-grade education. His father, Leroy Adams, was a butcher. Both of his parents moved to New York City from Alabama in the 1950s. Adams was raised in a rat-infested tenement in Bushwick, Brooklyn. His family was so poor that he often brought a bag of clothes to school with him in case of a sudden eviction from his home. By 1968, his mother managed to save up enough money to buy a house and move the family to South Jamaica, Queens. He was the fourth of six children. As a young boy, he sometimes earned money as a squeegee boy.

At age 14, Adams joined a gang and was later arrested for criminal trespassing. Adams was sent to a juvenile detention center for a few days before being sentenced to probation. Adams had post-traumatic stress disorder after the incident and has said that it motivated him to enter law enforcement. A local pastor of The House of the Lord Pentecostal Church added to his motivation when he suggested that by joining the police force, he could aid in reforming police culture from within. Adams would later attend his church often.

Adams graduated from Bayside High School in Queens in January 1979, but struggled to maintain good grades. He began attending college while working as a mechanic and a mailroom clerk at the Brooklyn District Attorney's office, receiving an associate degree from the New York City College of Technology, a bachelor's degree from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and an MPA from Marist College in 2006. Adams experienced an academic turnaround that he credits to a dyslexia diagnosis in college: "I went from a D student to the dean's list." As a result, he became a strong advocate for early dyslexia screening in public schools.

Policing career

Adams served as an officer in the New York City Transit Police and the New York City Police Department (NYPD) for 22 years. He attended the New York City Police Academy and graduated second in his class in 1984.

Adams started in the New York City Transit Police and continued with the NYPD when the transit police and the NYPD merged. He worked in the 6th Precinct in Greenwich Village, the 94th Precinct in Greenpoint, and the 88th Precinct covering Fort Greene and Clinton Hill. During the 1990s, Adams served as president of the Grand Council of Guardians, an African American patrolmen's association.

Early political career

In the 1990s, Adams began to eye a political career with the ultimate goal of becoming the Mayor of New York City. Adams registered as a Republican in 1997 before switching back to the Democratic Party in 2001, according to the Board of Elections. Adams has said his switch to the Republican Party was a protest move against what he saw as failed Democratic leadership.

New York State Senate (2007–2013)

In 2006, Adams ran for the New York State Senate. He was elected and served four terms until 2013, when he was elected Brooklyn Borough President. He represented the 20th Senate District, which includes parts of the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Brownsville, Crown Heights, East Flatbush, Park Slope, Prospect Heights, and Sunset Park.

Brooklyn Borough President (2013–2021)

Adams in 2020

On November 5, 2013, Adams was elected Brooklyn Borough President with 90.8 percent of the vote, more than any other candidate for borough president in New York City that year. In 2017, he was elected with 83.0 percent of the vote. In both of his campaigns, he was unopposed in the Democratic primaries.

Adams with Judge Rachel Freier in 2016

Adams with Councilmember Kalman Yeger and members of the Jewish community

2021 mayoral campaign

On November 17, 2020, Adams announced his candidacy for Mayor of New York City in the 2021 election. He was a top fundraiser among Democrats in the race, second only to Raymond McGuire regarding the amount raised.

Adams ran as a moderate Democrat, and his campaign focused on crime and public safety. He has argued against the "defund the police" movement and in favor of police reform. Public health and the city's economy were cited as his campaign's other top priorities. Initiatives promoted in his campaign include "an expanded local tax credit for low-income families, investment in underperforming schools, and improvements to public housing."

Adams faced Republican Curtis Sliwa in the general election and was heavily favored to prevail. He was elected on November 2, 2021, winning 67.4% of the vote to Sliwa's 27.9%.

Mayor of New York City (2022–present)

Mayor-elect Adams at a Chabad House in Accra, Ghana

Adams took office shortly after the New Year's Eve Ball Drop at midnight in Times Square, holding a picture of his recently deceased mother, Dorothy, while being sworn in. He became the city's second mayor of African descent to hold the position and the first since David Dinkins left office in 1993.

Adams with President Joe Biden and Governor Kathy Hochul in February 2022

Adams speaking about his subway safety plan in February 2022

Shortly after becoming Mayor, Adams implemented a zero-tolerance policy for homeless people sleeping in subway cars or subway stations. Police officers, assisted by mental health professionals, were tasked with removing homeless people from the subway system and directing them to homeless shelters or mental health facilities. The plan has been met with criticism from some activists. The Adams administration also took a stand against homeless encampments. In the first three months of Adams's tenure, more than 300 homeless encampments had been declared and cleared. To track encampments, the Adams administration created a shared Google Doc that NYPD officers are directed to use to report homeless encampments. The Department of Homeless Services is then tasked with responding to such reports within a week.

On February 14, 2022, 1,430 New York City municipal workers were fired after refusing to be vaccinated against COVID-19. The mandate had been introduced in October 2021 by Adams's predecessor but kept in place by Adams. In March 2022, Adams ended the city's vaccine mandate for indoor settings and the city's mask mandate in public schools. That same month, Adams announced that he would keep the city's vaccine mandate for private-sector employees but create an exemption for athletes and performers. The policy became known as the "Kyrie Carve-Out", as it was intended to allow unvaccinated Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving to play home basketball games.

On February 23, 2022, Adams called on companies based in New York City to rescind remote work policies put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic, saying, "You can't stay home in your pajamas all day." Adams cited the need for in-person workers in the city who would patronize local businesses, saying "I need the accountant in the office so that they can go to the local restaurant so that we can make sure that everyone is employed."

In June 2022, Adams unveiled his administration's "comprehensive blueprint" for affordable housing. However, the plan was critiqued for being too vague as it did not propose rezoning to build more housing, and did not contain any actual estimate of how many new housing units would be built.

In response to an influx of asylum seekers sent to New York City from the states of Florida and Texas, Adams announced plans to install Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Center Tent Cities on Randalls Island. After about one month, the tent city was closed and the migrants were moved to hotels in downtown Manhattan.

In late November, as part of his campaign to combat crime and clear homeless encampments in New York City, Adams announced an effort to allow the police to commit mentally ill people to psychiatric institutions involuntarily. The policy states that those hospitalized should only be discharged once they are stable and connected to ongoing care. The policy will be enforced by police, care workers, and medical officials, who will be tasked with identifying those who have a mental illness and who are unable to care for themselves. The policy applies to those who pose no direct danger to themselves or others.

In late February 2023, at the annual interfaith breakfast, Adams said he disagreed with the notion of separation of church and state. During the speech Adams said, "Don't tell me about no separation of church and state. State is the body. Church is the heart. You take the heart out of the body, the body dies." Additionally, Adams said he disagreed with the Supreme Court's 1962 decision in Engel v. Vitale, which held school prayer to be unconstitutional. Adams said, "When we took prayers out of schools, guns came into schools..."

In March 2023, as a result of the high office vacancy rates, the New York City Department of City Planning advanced plans to convert vacant office buildings into "affordable" apartments. Adams elicited backlash after proposing "dormitory style accommodations" and declaring that apartments did not require windows.

In 2022 and 2023, Adams and the Municipal Labor Committee (MLC), which is led by the presidents of two sizeable municipal labor unions, District Council 37 (DC 37) and the United Federation of Teachers (UFT), agreed on a deal that would move City retirees from traditional Medicare to a new, privately run Medicare Advantage plan. Although the MLC comprises the leadership of every municipal union, MLC voting is proportional to the union's size, giving DC 37 and the UFT more than enough votes to prevail over unions opposed to the deal. Many City retirees have protested the agreement between the Mayor and the MLC.

In 2023, the Adams administration spent $50,000 to relocate 114 migrant households who entered New York City from the Mexico-United States southern border to countries like China and other states within the United States. They were resettled during the years of 2021 and 2022. The migrants were seeking political asylum.

In 2023, Mayor Adams vetoed a bill to increase penalties for zoning violations in New York. In July 2023, during the New York City migrant housing crisis, Adams argued that New York City was running out of room and resources to provide for the influx of roughly 100,000 migrants from the southern border.

On June 23, 2023, Adams vetoed legislation that would have increased eligibility for housing vouchers to homeless families and individuals under the CityFHEPS program; Adams implemented part of the legislation via executive order, eliminating a 90-day waiting requirement for people currently in shelters. On July 13, 2023, the City Council overrode the Mayor's veto by a vote of 42–8, marking the first veto override since the administration of Michael Bloomberg.

On January 30, 2024, The New York City Council voted to override Mayor Adam's veto of the How Many Stops Act under the command of Council Speaker Adrienne Adams. The new law officially limits the use of solitary confinement of prisoners being held on Rikers Island and all city jails and requires police officers to take detailed notes of encounters with members of the public who they suspect of committing a crime or for other reasons. Councilman Yusef Salaam is the Chair of the Public Safety Committee and he also had a part in bringing this legislation to the floor for a vote.

Adams has promoted a series of changes to New York City's zoning laws called the "City of Yes". The first proposal, intended to make environmentally-friendly building renovations and rooftop solar installations easier, was approved by the City Council on December 6, 2023. The second proposal, intended to allow businesses more flexibility in terms of where they can operate, was approved on June 6, 2024. The third proposal, intended to allow "a little more housing in every neighborhood", is scheduled for a vote in December 2024. Proponents say the proposal is crucial to address the New York City housing shortage, while opponents have raised concerns about changes it will bring to low-density neighborhoods.

On May 21, 2024, Adams created a Charter Revision Commission to propose changes to the New York City Charter. It released five proposals, which will be subject to voter approval on November 5. Critics said the proposals, three of which limit the City Council's power, were designed to push an earlier ballot measure, which would have limited mayoral power, off the ballot. A spokeswoman for the City Council called the commission a "sham" and accused it of "undermining democracy and oversight of the Mayor’s administration".

Federal indictment

On September 25, Adams was indicted in a sealed case. Prior to the indictment, several prominent New York politicians had resigned. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of the Bronx, called on Adams to step down, believing that while he was under investigation, the city services could not function properly.

Electoral history

Personal life

Adams has never been married, but has a son, Jordan Coleman, with former girlfriend Chrisena Coleman. His son is a graduate of American University, and is a filmmaker and television actor. Adams is currently in a relationship with Tracey Collins, the Senior Youth Development Director for the New York City Department of Education.

Adams is a non-denominational Christian. In September 2023, along with New York City Police Commissioner Edward Caban, Adams became a Prince Hall Freemason as well as a 32nd Degree Member of the Scottish Rite. He has cited Mahatma Gandhi as an inspiration.

Plant-based diet

In 2016, Adams switched to a plant-based diet after his diagnosis of type 2 diabetes. In October 2020, Adams published the plant-based advocacy cookbook, Healthy at Last: A Plant-Based Approach to Preventing and Reversing Diabetes and Other Chronic Illnesses, which also chronicles his health journey. He was also a contributor to the 2021 anthology Brotha Vegan: Black Men Speak on Food, Identity, Health, and Society.

See also

In Spanish: Eric Adams (político) para niños