Tensions between Mayor Eric Adams and the city council over the How Many Stops Act reached an all-time high on Tuesday as Speaker Adrienne Adams pledged to override Hizzoner’s veto of the bill.
Photo by Dean Moses
Tensions between Mayor Eric Adams and the City Council over the How Many Stops Act reached a boiling point on Tuesday with political drama unfolding when proponents of the bill attempted to stage a press conference in the City Hall rotunda — only to get a hassle from the mayor’s representatives.
Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and City Council members supporting the act — which would require NYPD officers to provide written reports on certain interactions with members of the public — staged the press conference at City Hall on Jan. 23. At first, the event was scheduled to be outside, but inclement weather forced the organizers to move the event indoors to the rotunda.
But that’s where both the elected officials, organizers and reporters there to cover the event ran into the mayor’s security team and City Hall workers, who seemingly did everything possible to keep the conference out of the location.
Attending journalists were pulled in all directions like ragdolls as security guards representing the mayor told the press to pack up their cameras and leave the iconic building while those representing the council informed the media to dig their feet in the ground and stay.
City Hall workers later attempted to remove chairs journalists were sitting upon, then refused to turn on overhead lights for the scheduled press conference — leaving everyone symbolically in the dark.
Williams seethed at the apparent display of gamesmanship, alleging the City Stall staff acted on behalf of the mayor in an apparent effort to bully the How Many Stops Act supporters.
“It’s been proven that he [Mayor Adams] is very often the bully that he’s speaking about, particularly when he’s not getting his way,”…
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