Mayor Eric Adams is responding to the growing outcry over budget cuts by calling on everyday New Yorkers to travel to Washington, D.C. and express their anger at the federal government, a risky, politically charged tactic that could further strain his relationship with President Joe Biden, a fellow Democrat.
Adams has repeatedly blamed the city’s budget woes on the multibillion-dollar cost of caring for tens of thousands of migrants who have arrived by bus over recent years, and at one point the mayor claimed the crisis would “destroy” the city.
“New Yorker must understand this is not an Eric Adams issue. This is a New York City issue,” Adams said on Wednesday during an interview on FOX5. “I have the obligation of solving this as the mayor, but I need all New Yorkers to know I can’t stop buses from coming in by law. I can’t deport anyone by law, and I’m required by law to provide them with the food, the housing and all these other items.”
Adams later said he was conversing with local clergymembers about meeting with lawmakers in D.C. In an interview with Gothamist, the Rev. Edward-Richard Hinds, who serves as a youth pastor at Rugby Deliverance Tabernacle in Brooklyn, said he and as many as 50 faith leaders sought to travel there by bus next month.
He said it would not be a protest, but “conversations with key persons in Congress.”
Hinds could not say whether he believed all New Yorkers needed to make a trip to Washington, D.C., but he said he believed the city’s faith-based community — which has donated food, clothing and other necessities — had a role to play.
“Not only are we seeing it, we are also doing work to alleviate the strain,” he said.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
More than 150,000 migrants have arrived in the city since last spring, and over 67,000 of them are staying in the city’s shelter system, according to City Hall statistics.
Biden, who is up for re-election next year, has…
Read the full article here
Leave a Reply