New York City Mayor-elect Eric Adams stopped by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert Tuesday night full of insight into what he hopes to accomplish in office. He also brought a tote bag full of goodies for the happy host, including what appeared to be a bag of marijuana and some rolling papers.
While the former state senator’s weed wasn’t real, his Bamboo rolling papers were.
During his conversation with Colbert, Adams claimed that New York nightlife used to be the “coolest place on the globe,” but the city is “so damn boring now,” according to The New York Post.
“We have to be among the people enjoying life,” said Adams, who’s served as Brooklyn Borough President since 2014. “I want the cross-pollination of our energy and diversity of this city.”
The retired New York Police Department captain and former NYC transit officer revisited and rehashed several of his campaign talking points, such as his pledge to “redefine” the NYPD.
“I’m going to tell my police officers I have your back, so do your job, but darn it, if you don’t understand the nobility of public protection, you’re getting out of my department,” Adams told Colbert. “You will not use that job to abuse people … we have to redefine policing and what it means in our country and our city. And I’m going to get it right. We’re not going to be heavy-handed. We’re going to show how we can have a partnership between police and community. I know we can get it right.”
Later in their conversation, Adams made it clear he doesn’t “want people to put me in a box” after Colbert asks New York City’s next mayor to define himself.
“Long before people discovered this term called progressive, we were leading the way, and what progressive is all about,” he said. “So I don’t want people to put me in a box. There are some things I’m conservative-thinking about, moderate-thinking about, ultra-left thinking about, that is who I am. I tell New Yorkers and Americans, don’t let people define you. I know who I am, I don’t need any title. I’m Eric Adams.”
At the end of the segment, Adams gave Colbert a gift bag of New York City-centric knickknacks, such as a blanket, a GSD NYC t-shirt, a mock bag of ganja and some rolling papers. Adams also gave Colbert’s audience members tickets to the Broadway musical Chicago to help promote NYC.
By the way: marijuana is now legal in the city — and its second Black mayor supports it.
Adams cruised to victory on Election Day earlier this month, theGRIO reported.
Adams first triumphed this summer in a crowded Democratic primary after he struck a nuanced stance on law enforcement issues. His message on crime and his experience as a police officer largely insulated him from attacks by Republican opponent Curtis Sliwa, the founder of the Guardian Angels anti-crime patrol.
As mayor, Adams has vowed to address “racism built into” the city’s infrastructure, theGRIO reported. In a Nov. 10 tweet, he wrote, “Racism is built into our infrastructure, and we need to confront and combat it. Capping the Cross Bronx Expressway is just the start!”
With his tweet, Adams joined Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, as well as New York Rep. Ritchie Torres, who all noted that racism inspired a lot of the design of America’s highway system.
For example, a freeway cap, also known as a freeway lid, is a type of deck bridge built on top of a controlled-access highway or roadways like the Cross Bronx Expressway. Adams, Schumer and Torres all support the idea of adding a cap to the Cross-Bronx, which would — according to an Adams interview on WNYC’s The Brian Lehrer Show, per The New York Post — “roll back the Robert Moses division of our city and reunite neighborhoods and communities,” the mayor-elect said, “and I love that idea.”
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