Hello, Mayor! (with Michelle Wu & Eric Adams)

to actually serve and help people. That's why on this week's episode, I'm delighted to be speaking with two brand new mayors there on the front lines, trying to take on this moment of opportunity with vision, determination, and dare I say, uh, some swagger too. Later we'll hear from Mayor Eric Adams, a former police off sir and state senator who's working to improve the quality of life for everyone in New York City. But first I'm talking with

Boston Mayor Michelle Wou. Mayor Wu broke a lot of glass ceilings when she was elected as the first woman, the first Asian American, the first mom to be mayor of one of America's greatest and oldest cities Boston. Her path into politics has not been a straight line, something I can relate to. After graduating from Harvard, she returned home to Illinois to help her family care for her mom,

who was struggling with undiagnosed late onset schizophrenia. A few years later, Michelle went back to Boston, went to law school, won a seat on the city Council, and started her family. Since taking office as mayor in November, Michelle has pursued bold policies around climate change, public transportation, and a vaccine mandate that surprise got her into hot water with some of her constituents. Hi, Mayor, how are you. Hi'm out of secretary. I'm so excited to see you. I am

equally excited to see you. So let's just jump right into it. Welcome to the show, Michelle. So, how have the first months as mayor been for you? It's been quite thrilling to be in this role, to have been thinking about issues for so long on the city Council and organizing and working with community, and now to have a moment where we can just roll up our sleeves and get in there. It's certainly been quite intense as well.

As it's felt like guidance from all different levels of government on COVID changes week by week, and we're in a time of such division still and deep emotion and deep misinformation that is spilling over even to the most local and grassroots interactions between our residents. Was there anything that surprised you. I know, you've been on the city council, You've been an activist and an organizer that once you actually were in that office, you went, oh, wow, that's interesting.

I really am surprised by that. You know, Boston is such an incredible city. We are surrounded by resources, and oftentimes people think of that in terms of large institutions, whether it's a hospital sector, that universities, life sciences, which helped lead the way out of this pandemic. I would say that in addition to all of that, one of our most potent resources is the activism from our residents. Right this is where town meeting was born, the founding

of our democracy. I will put our residents up as more engaged than anywhere. I mean, in one small neighborhood you can find twenty blood neighborhood associations. And what that has meant in this role is that at a time when so much is happening and people are trying to stay connected and trying to still be engaged even though

we're physically not in person. The back and forth through the media is very, very important, but it can be very distorting as well, and so more than ever, getting the chance to get directly to people through social media through podcasts is a really important supplement to how people understand and take in information in order to be engaged and be active. I think that's a very smart observation.

And you know that point about all of the activity in the midst of a information ecosystem that is more difficult to manage and even break through, I think is especially important. You know, you're not new to politics, but you are someone who had a different path way, a different journey to deciding to run for your first office on city council and then to run for mayor. I know you grew up in Chicago. What did you think you'd be when you grew up back in those days?

You know I was. I was talking about this recently with some friends, and to be completely honest, I always expected that I would be a stay at home mom. I'm the oldest of four kids, I come from an immigrant family. My parents culture was very traditional. My mom was so talented, and I think was on track to be a professional singer in Taiwan had she not immigrated to this country with my father, And she gave up a whole career to take care of kids, and and

that was the expectation growing up. And so I had the opportunity of a lifetime to come to the Boston area when I got that scholarship to Harvard, But still in some ways was never thinking that far ahead and never saw people who looked like me in positions of power or in politics. Had never met a politician by the time I got to college. One of the moments

that I still cringe out a little bit. I remember my very first my first couple of months at Harvard, the Institute of Politics was hosting their welcome session for new members of Congress, and because my home district was one where there was a new member, I was invited to go as one of the students to be sitting

in the room. It ended up at that dinner that that congress person didn't end up coming, so I was just sitting by myself the whole time, and found myself next this very nice woman at dinner who when I asked what she did, she said she was a historian, and I said, okay, you know, and I can't even meet a member of Congress I did. All I get to do is talk to the the only other person

here who's not in politics. And then the speaking program started, and she was, of course the keynote speaker, Doris Kurrent's Goodwin, who had no idea who she was anything like that. And so it's been a wild journey for me unexpectedly into government, into public service, and for the chance to try to shape our communities from someone who understands what it's like from the outside the other thing you understand.

And I do want to mention this, as you describe on your campaign website, your mom began struggling with mental illness as you were finishing college, and you became her caregiver. And through your family's struggle, you really saw how hard it was to you know, keep it together, to find care. And so could you talk a little bit about that.

There's truly no way I would be where I am now in a position in government had it not been for my family's journey and for my mom's experience with mental illness and hospital systems and the many, many barriers that it felt like our family was always facing in

the moments of greatest need. What I've realized is that not only is this such a common experience to be living in a family where there is such sometimes terror and stress and shame about what is going on, but it's just as common to then feel like you can't reach out for help. Coming from an immigrant family with language barriers, it just felt like the systems, the very places where we were supposed to be able to go

to get help. Right that moment when I was finally able to trick my mom into getting health care because she was so insistent on not acknowledging it, not speaking about it, and the impacts on on her not eating, not sleeping, the intense delusions and paranoia, and and just a strong, strong refusal even to admit something was wrong,

much less seek treatment. When we finally got to that point in a hospital setting, in the emergency room, it turned out to be the most humanizing experience of all, And so in some ways that still drives me and what I do every day of realizing how much it matters when government works, but especially when government doesn't work for people, and the ways in which all the programming grew, create all the funding we put to this, all the

systems were building. If it's not actually meeting people where they are in those moments, then we aren't delivering the impact that we could. Oh, I am so grateful for you sharing your insights and your experience, and you know, honestly, Michelle, we are still woefully failing at mental health and the full gamut of mental health. I appreciated so much former Mayor Walsh of Boston being open about his struggle with alcoholism and addiction, and so I think it's important for

leaders to speak out because there still is aigma. There still is shame. So anything that you do, I think adds to the conversation helps to diminish the stigma. And then you're now in a position where maybe with all the resources that are in Boston for health care of all kinds, there could be some you know, improvements made.

And I really appreciate that. It does feel like from everything that we see throughout this pandemic, that mental health will continue to be the epidemic that even after COVID nineteen recedes knock on Wood, we see it in the crisis calls coming into the Boston Police just the intensity of mental illness ratchet it up. We hear it from our school nurses who are reporting that more than ever,

our young people and students need the supports. We hear it from our providers working with seniors who have faced such grief and isolation. And it's quantifiable the impact of stigma. One researcher was telling me that if you measure life expectancy across nearly every type of gap that exists, things have gotten better and they've narrowed over the last two decades. Of course, there are still stark disparities by race, by

income that we need to continue to narrow. The one place where the gap has been consistent and has not narrowed over the last twenty years is there's a difference in life expectancy between individuals living with schizophrenia and without. And that's what your mother was diagnosed with, wasn't she. I want to talk about how challenging it is to be a leader right now, a mayor in particular, because

we are still coping with a global pandemic. You know, it's easy to understand why people are living with this long tail of COVID because small businesses were closed, schools were closed. Now we're coming out of it, we see an increase in violent crime in many parts of the country. We see an increase in mental health reports. So what

is Austin facing right now? I know you you've been facing the challenge of trying to you know, mandate vaccinations, which have been upheld in many parts of the country, but you're still in a legal battle over that. Talk a little bit about what it's like to be governing as we hope we're moving out of COVID, but we're

really living with the consequences of that. In fact, I would say all of the challenges that we are facing now that are urgent and so stressful on our family's shoulders in Boston are the same challenges that communities had been advocating to solve for decades and generations before COVID nineteen and so the most intense needs are around housing stability in a city where housing prices continue to go up.

There was a brief dip during the pandemic, but we are right back up where we were before, and we've seen now the impact of housing as safety, health opportunity in the midst of a very stressful time. Housing has been life or death for so many and we're working intensely to invest in the intersection of our crises around homelessness, the opiate epidemic, and mental health as well. Our school buildings are historic in in good and bad senses of that.

We have some of the first schools anywhere in the country, and two thirds of our school buildings were built before World War Two, and so they are in dire need of updated ventilation and h VAC systems. And we're investing in the healing of our school communities as well as

the physical footprint for healthy, inspiring buildings. And we see all across the city the chance to seize on this moment as an opportunity federal funding that will have a generational impact and knock on wood, h uh more to come if we can get there at the local level. Would very much appreciate that and the chance for people to truly be aligned across all levels of government for investing in our recovery. I think that's a key word.

It's investing because there are so many changes that we should be making now, motivated by the pandemic and aided by federal funding, and if you can crack the affordable housing dilemma, you will be doing not just a great service for the residents of Boston, but the entire country. It's gotten absurd. Rents are going up even faster than monthly mortgage. Where are people supposed to live. It's so frustrating to me because so much of it ends up

in the local zoning battles. I really hope that you've got some ideas and plans, because we can't go on like this. Well, there are a couple buckets that we're working on in Boston. One is to directly create and build more affordable housing. Know it's hard, but we have the opportunity right now to marry great local jobs with climate resiliency and all the health benefits that come from energy efficient homes and the increase in housing supply that

we need. We are looking to speed through our zoning process affordable housing developments. We're looking to keep people stabilized in their homes. Some of these protections during the pandemic have been absolutely necessary. But the other side of the coin from housing is transportation right. Transportation access is what will fundamentally open up the chance for families to get to their jobs to school. We just announced three free bus routes which will be life changing, and we've seen

some of the impacts locally. And imagine if we could really make the infrastructure investments to make it a twenty minute train ride between ends of our commonwealth, that would unlock so much housing an opportunity all across the state. Well, I will be watching with great interest because this has to happen, and it's going to take leaders with vision and determination like you. We're taking a quick break, stay

with us. I want to just circle back for a minute about COVID and the vaccine, because in January you implemented a vaccine mandate for public employees that got a lot of support from many circles, not just public health experts, but frankly a lot of us who are vaccinated who want to see this come to an end. So you faced a lot of pushback and you had to make

that tough decision. And you look back over the last two years, elected officials have been in the arena trying to make these hard decisions, and they have been really the target for so much hate and victory. Al and I know you have as well. How have you found the strength to just keep going not get diverted in

the face of all of that incoming attack. It's a very difficult moment in our history, and I see that almost every day outside my house, and we're faced with seven am protests, banging and yelling, and it's seeded in vast waves of misinformation and conspiracy theories. You know, I sleep well at night. I am good for you, lucky

that Boston is home to such expertise. And the way that I like to lead and make decisions is to ensure that the people who are closest to the issue, with the greatest expertise on this are informing the decision making and so we are solid and how we've been leading on public health and how we've been taking action. Of course, vaccines are the different to how we will

end this pandemic. Now you can attribute all sorts of Facebook algorithms or Fox News and now having been on as a target of of some of those same right

wing sources. It's sad, but because at the end of the day, this is not about vaccines to a lot of these people, This is about a changing country and power structures that see women advancing in leadership and women of color, and we are here to stay, and we're governing to make sure that our kids are kids kids, the ways in which our futures are intertwined, that we are grabbing hold of that brightest future. And so I'm

I'm excited for what's ahead and how how we vote. However, you to suspend your time early in the morning at someone's house or not, this is in our collective best interests. We will continue taking steps that way. Oh I love hearing that, because that's exactly the right approach. But you also faced, sadly, tragically, some of this criticism because you are a woman of color, because you are Asian American. We've seen across our country a terrible rise in hate

crimes targeting Asian Americans. You know, the the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism found that they increased three hundred and thirty nine percent last year. And I know as an Asian American leader, you have not been immune to this trend. How do you think about this and what more could we be doing at every level of society, not just government, to protect Asian Americans, to

protect communities. How are you handling this in Boston? It is heartbreaking and infuriating to continue to see incidents of violence and even recently in New York, of loss of life if related to a grieving Asian American community that's still very much dealing with the impacts of the former federal administrations obsession with demonizing and using racist rhetoric against

Asian Americans. I think it's always difficult when you are breaking down a barrier, no matter what field you're in, no matter what background you're coming from, because it takes a bit for people to adjust. And I remember that serving on the City Council when I was elected in that year, we doubled the number of women serving on the Boston City Council from one to two when I joined Diana Pressley. And since then, when we doubled again and again, and now we're at a majority women serving

on the council, majority people of color. It's a completely different ecosystem. It takes all of us standing together and calling out instances of racism and hatred and anti Semitis them that are all on the rise right now in our in our country. And so I give so much love to my sisters in service, especially in Massachusetts, to Asian American women leaders all across the country. You lead New New York City, and Stephanie Chang in Michigan, Helen

Gim in Philadelphia, and many locally here in Massachusetts. These are my heroes there that support network, and UM it takes all of us changing the definition of leadership, but also insisting powerfully that we are fighting for our collective future and it doesn't have to be pitting communities against each other. This is about ensuring that the next generation and the generation after that have a chance to live in a society that represents the beauty and the strength

of our entire community. That's exactly what I think as well. And I'm going to ask you specifically. You've got two little boys, how do you talk to them about, you know, those people protesting you in front of your house, any rude and and nasty comments they hear being yelled at you. How do you help them deal with specific instances of racism,

of discrimination, of misogyny. My boys are four and seven, and it's been such a test of parented raising kids in this time, and some days there's deep anxiety that I feel about that. It's such a jarring experience to be working my hardest to raise boys who hopefully will turn into caring, kind, strong young men, concerned about the

world and ready to help their community. And then to have to explain to them what they're hearing when they wake up every day outside our home and and how you know, some people I don't think the same way, or or are upset about the world and where it is, and it's okay to disagree, and we want to try to do it in a way that's respectful, not like this. And so it's been very hard, um, but there are moments in some ways that I'm grateful for the age that they are now, because they are full of joy

and everything's an adventure. I'll just share that. A couple of weeks ago, when holiday cards were still coming in, my older son was helping us sort the mail. And he's seven now, he's starting to learn how to read bigger words. And he was going through the pile and he said, Mama, the protesters sent us some mail. And I said, oh, no, what does it say on there? I sort of rushed over and then he gave a

big sigh and he said, oh, never mind. He said it says to the honorable Michelle, who I thought it said to the horrible, Michelle, but he was truly disappointed because he was so excited that we were going to get this male interaction. So you know, in some ways, at the end of the day, kids are kids, and they have fun in any situation. Love you know. We Bill and I uh When Chelsea was six and he was running for governor again, and Orville fab Us, the

old segregationist former governor, was running against him. We wanted to prepare her and what she would be hearing out on the campaign drugs. We would take her with us, and she was also old enough like your son to recognize words in the newspaper and all. So we're telling her that this man was going to say terrible things and she was like, well, like what. And it was such a good exercise for us to go through. But it was also so touching to see your child go,

wait a minute, well, what's happening? Who are these people? Um? I'm wondering as we wrap up, and I think about Boston, a city that I love, having gone to school at Wellesley and having spent a lot of time in Boston. For people who haven't been to Boston, who don't know it and love it like you and I have been lucky enough. If you were explaining Boston, you were at a like a meeting of mayors somewhere else in the world, how would you describe, you know, the wonderful advantages and

the challenges that Boston presents. Well, when I'm at meetings of mayors, I try not to bring up our sports teams and the many, many championships that we have. Uh But in some ways, the intensity that Bostonians feel the loyalty to our sports teams is really the loyalty that the city feels to its politics, to its neighborhoods, to

its communities, to the sense of history here. And we are so proud of the many ways in which we have made history, whether it's the birth of our democracy, or first public school in the country, first public library, first public park, first subway tunnel, anywhere in the country.

And my goal in this moment in our city is to ensure that we e that legacy, not as sticking to the ways that things have always been, and that we then must cling to the past, but recognizing our legacy of taking the lead, of innovating, of standing up and fighting for what's right, fighting for the common good, and investing as we've been saying in the ways that we are connected. So this is an incredible city because we are full of resources, we are full of energy,

we're full of activism, and we're ready. We're ready to take that next step together and set a course that I hope other cities will join across the country as well. I love hearing that, Michelle. I'm so proud of you being in this position, and I'm so excited to see how you lead with that vision and determination into the future. Thank you so much for joining me on this podcast, and I hope I get to see you in person when we all start traveling again. We can go hiking

in Franklin Park when your next in town. Let's do it. I'm signing up for that. Thank you so much. It's been a pleasure to keep up with Michelle. You can follow her on Twitter at mayor woo. That's w you now. It takes a certain amount of hootspa to run for mayor of any major city, and I think that's especially the case in New York. But if anyone's got what

it takes, it's Eric Adams. He was raised in Brooklyn and Queens by a single mom struggling to support her six children, and he joined a gang by the time he was fourteen. When he was fifteen, he and his brother were caught stealing a TV and during his arrest, Eric was badly beaten by two white police officers until a third officer, who was black, intervened at that painful incident.

In his memory and with some mentoring and support from older men in the community, Eric would go on to become a New York City Police officer himself, serving with

the NYPD for over twenty years. In his second career as an elected official, Eric served as a state senator and as borough president of Brooklyn before winning the nomination for Mayor of New York in a crowded primary and then going on to win the general election last November, and was sworn in as mayor a New Year's Eve in Times Square holding a photograph of his late mother. I loved that Eric's got a big heart and a

big personality, and he's no stranger to controversy. Since taking office, he's made news with everything from his appointments to a silly kerfuffle over describing him self as vegan even though he eats fish. We'll talk about that most recently, though, he's earned admiration, but also as goes with the job criticism for pushing folks to get back to work in person and for easing some of the COVID safety restrictions we've lived with for nearly two years. It's time, he says,

for New York to get back it's swagger. I've known Eric since I served as Senator for New York, so I can attest to his own personal swagger, and I was really excited to speak with him for the podcast. Well, I know how busy you are, and I just want to dive right in. It is so great to have the new mayor of New York City, Mayor Eric Adams, on the podcast today. And boy, Mayor, you're really in

the middle of it. You have become mayor of our biggest, greatest city at such a challenging time for the country in the world. And yet I know with great challenges come even greater opportunities. UM. I wanted to give you a chance to talk about your vision for the city as we emerge from this pandemic. What are your biggest priorities? UM, How you feel about approaching the role to get the most out of everybody in the city. A great question.

You know, people think I'm kidding when I say it, but I don't feel anything personally was different from the day I got elected to now. Uh, this is the life I've lived for thirty five years and responding to crisis, responding to people in need, being a former police officers, state senator, and bart president. UH, and then coming from you know, some dog moments when I was arrested and beat by police officers. But I went into the department UH to serve for justice and safety. And so this

is a natural transition for me. But along the way, UH, you know, Ms Clinton, you would be surprised that along the way Bill Lynch told me. Yeah, he told me what I needed to do to be mayor one day. I kept a journal throughout the last twentysomething years, and I made my observations as a cop in the state senator, involved president, and I've walked away with one thing that is at the heart of my administration, and it comes from the quote of Archbishop desmon To two that we

just lost. Paraphrasing him, we spend a lifetime pulling people out of the river. No one goes upstream and prevent them from falling in in the first place. So if you were to sum up my administration, all I can say is that it's an upstream administration where we're going to stop people from falling in the river. We're gonna catch those who are on their way downstream and pull them out, and then we're going to have a safe

landing place for people who are already in. And government can do a better job of not only upping people from falling in, but dawn it, we're pushing them in every day whole with dysfunctional ways we're running cities. I really appreciate your talking about that because it's an investment approach. It's a you know, preemption approach. Try to prevent the problems, try to invest in what will help people, you know, make the most out of their own lives. And your

background I think uniquely suits you for this time. You are a lifelong New Yorker, grew up in Brooklyn, the Queens Um and as you just said, as a young black kid, you know, you had your challenges and yet you had to believe in yourself. Talk about the neighborhood you grew up it, because those are stories that could still be told about kids, right now aren't they so true? And you know what I saw on the campaign trail.

I was two months in and I realized that everyone wanted to be heard, and I knew who I had to be felt. I wanted New Yorker Is to fill the authenticity of my run. And I taught up the playbook and I said, all I'm going to do is to give my story. I gave the story of growing up in in public school, believing I couldn't learn, only to get to college to realize I had a learning disability and went from being a D student to being

on the dean's list when I got help. I talked the story of carrying a garbage bag full of clothing to school every day because my mom thought we were going to be thrown out and she did not want us to be embarrassed. And she said, you need a change of underclothes and showed so socks. She has six children, and you know, I tell everyone she loved all of us, but she just adored me. I was just a favorite child.

But but it was it was tough. And you know what was interesting as I now I'm doing, you know, a real review. We betrayed mom, you know, like we betrayed so many mothers all over the globe. When mother needed help to give food to eat, we were giving her food that was feeding the chronic diseases, you know, processed cheese and can meet and fatty substances. You know. When mother needed help with childcare, we betrayed her and

then given the childcare. That's why I'm pushing for universal childcare. Is crucihoet and even my sister who had to raise all of us, my oldest sister, my mom was working those two jobs. My sister had to abandon her childhood and not do what the young girls do, but she had to take care all of us. So that abandonment is generational, and we need to stop the abandonment and

be there for everyday New Yorkers. That is incredibly important, you know, because you know from my perspective, having been a child advocate, work for the Children's Defense Fund, all the work that I've done over so many years, if we would own we show some more empathy, compassion and kindness and help people before they got evicted, before they were at their wits end because they couldn't figure out how to do the job and take care of their kids.

I mean, this is really not complicated. Mayor we just refused to do it. You know, I know that even though as as a young kid, you got into, you know, a situation where two white police officers literally beat you up. I've read that it was the intervention of a black officer that stopped the beating, but also kind of inspired you can you can you describe how you ended up being a New York City police officer for I think

what twenty two years? Yes, twenty two years. And I enjoyed every moment of you know, fighting on behalf of safety because I said all the time public safety and justice. They are the prerequisite to prosperity. You can't have just this without safety, and you can't have safety without justice. And you know, when I think about mom, uh you know was her third grade education. She was filled with so much wisdom. And I remember the day after I was arrested and I went home and she said, baby,

you're going to find yourself in dog places. You decided that dog place is a burial or a planting. And you know, any pain that you received, you have to turn it into purpose. And I always remember that over and over again. I was fifteen at the time, and you know, leaving the precenting months after, I was just so angry, and I remember going to the social worker that the centers to and the social worker told my brother to come back for a follow up visit and

she said to me, Eric, don't bother coming back. You have too much anger. You're going to find yourself constantly in trouble and there's no reason to waste time. Keep talking to you. And I left her office that day, walking down the block and felters though this was my destiny, this is what I was going to be, but it stand out of the pain of the loss of someone a young man named Cliffic Glover. He was shot by a police officer. I was able to meet a man

named Reverend Herbert Daughtry, who you know I do. And Reverend Daughtry met with me and twelve other young men. Um. This was after Cliffic Glover shooting and another businessman that was died from a choke holl from police. And he came to us and said, listen, we're fighting from outside. We want you guys to go inside and be advocates

for the justice and safety. And I decided reluctantly to join the police department and started an organization called one of your Blacks and law Enforcement who Cared and we fought from within well, and thank goodness you did, because you now are bringing that inside outside perspective to dealing with like safety in a way that does promote both justice and safety and one of the biggest issues facing you. And thank you for making it so clear that gun

violence is a scourge. It's surging. People have guns that should never be near guns, and we are not doing enough. And I know you met with President Biden. You've done so much and after the terrible killings of police officers in the city, you've been so strong and outspoken. But I'm afraid Mayor that you know this Supreme Court and the other political party, they're heading in the wrong direction. What are we gonna do about guns and the gun

violence that stalks too many neighborhoods. And you're right, it's a real fear. And I know this is this is natural for you, you know, being Winn of the co founders back in your time of ARKANSAURS advocates for children and families and for creation of children's health insurance programs. So believe you know we gotta plant the seeds early, and we gotta get it right, and we are moving

in the wrong direction. There's a case in front of the Supreme Court about the right to carry that is extremely dangerous for New York City to have, you know, open carry in our city as Dens is New York, in other places like Chicago, it's a real crisis. And then we're looking at the mass production of guns. It's not only impact in New York, it's impacting our whole regions South American Caribbean diaspora. We are actually feeding the

gun and the crime crisis in the entire hemisphere. Not just extremely dangerous, well, it just outrages me because these gun manufacturers, I don't think they have any conscience. I mean, thankfully, the parents of the poor little kids killed at Sandy Hook, finally upheld one of the manufacturers, Remington, accountable, by pointing out that they were advertising assault weapons to young men and it didn't matter whether those young men were stable,

had a criminal record, or anything else about them. All the manufacturer wanted is to sell more guns. And you know, Keita, increasing public safety and ensuring justice is building trust between communities of color and police officers. While at the same time supporting our police department. So you're in a unique position to be able to walk that balance. Beam Mayor, and I want to congratulate you on appointing the very first female commissioner in the long history of New York's

Police Department, Commissioner Sewell. And I read that you had picked her because of her emotional intelligence, and that was a good pick. But how do we get that calculation right? We have to have you know, public safety, and we have to have a a good, well trained police department that has you know, morale about helping. How do we do that, Well, we start with, as you indicated, the right leadership and we don't have to trade off safety

and justice. That must become the cornerstone of our public safety mindset. And then we have to do something that I like to call intervention and prevention. If you find many people from our party, they are comfortable with talking about prevention. The long term things we need dealing with dyslexia, so we don't have thirty of our prison population being dyslexic. Uh, you know, education, housing, healthcare. Those are the middle and

long term things. But even the best prevention plan, let's say it takes a year, two years, it's something even longer. What are we going to do right now? What are we going to do this weekend? And we do that by giving police office is the moral support and the support to have the resources of defining the proper police

practices they have. And that's what I'm doing. I am not going to allow the numerical minority that are the allowedest to dictate how we're going to keep my city safe now and what we're going to do in the long term. So it's that's the combination. I tell people all the time, it is not what happens in tweets, is what happens on our streets. And then preach, preach mayor that is music to my ears. I mean, let's

get real here. You know, sadly, you know, I know, I've lived long enough to know, you know, there are some people who are doing harm right now, and they are harming innocent people. They're doing bad stuff right now, and to go just in one or the other direction, it's just shortsighted and it doesn't work. So thank you for helping to educate uh, not only the city, but literally the country about how you can't separate safety and justice. They have to go hand in hand. We'll be back

right after this quick break. Look, we know public safety and justice are tied up in a lot of other issues. You've got, you know, record amount of homelessness. You've got people unable to afford their housing. You have a lot of families like your family, with your mom working one two jobs, your sister taken care of you, doing the best she can and not getting paid enough to be able to afford the rent. So how do we deal

with this housing issue, this homelessness issue? And I know you're trying to address and I also thank you for saying, look, people are not going to be sleeping on our subway. You know, we've got to come up with a better approach than now, without a doubt. And again it goes back to you know, as I say, I think you and your husband understood clearly that you have to meet people where they are and take them where they ought

to be. That's what it was about when you were a U. S. Senator, and that is what we want to carve our administration about. And you know at the heart of my administration, every staffer, my deputy mayors, when you listen to their stories, it shows that they are individuals who have gone through a lot. And I believe if you're going to help people who are going through a lot, you should be someone that has gone through a lot. And my top team, they are representatives of

the people that they are providing services for. So we have to go after what creates the crisis. Do you know in New York City, sixty of black and brown children never reach proficiency And if you don't educate, you're going to and us right when we have young people enforced the care aging out of one clearly understanding that only twentysomething percent will graduate from high school, three will graduate from college, and they were more likely to be unemployed, homeless,

mental health illness. Yet we do nothing every year with those sixty seven young people that age out. That's why I'm putting money into the force to care system, you know, with fair futures, to give them the wrap around support and life coaches into the We have to go at the heart of the problem so that we don't continue to be pulling people out of the river downstream because of the problem we've ignored, and you know there are solutions.

I was thrilled when you tapped my longtime friend David Banks for the Department of Education because I got to know David back when I was a senator, and he had this crazy idea that we could educate black and brown boys guess what and and and you know, give them all future. And I believed in him, and he started the Eagle Academy. We have seen the results, and now I know he's going to try to do the same for all students in the New York City public schools.

It's really more of an indictment of us that kids never reach proficiency because there's enough information about what good teaching methods are, what kind of good wrap around services. There should be uh time on task all of that so that we know what to do. We just have to exercise the will and put the resources behind it. And it's about that holy listing. Something as simple as if we need washing machines in our schools, then we should have them. I mean, you children miss school just

because they don't have washing machines. And then how some of youth employment. We're going to give a hundred thousand young people some of youth employments. But it's not just going to the park and learning how to sweep leaves. No, we're gonna build in financial literacy, We're gonna build in how to dress, dress for success, um, how to work

in a corporate environment. Technology. So we're going to use the hundred thousand jobs to give those children the life skills they need so that they can be ready when they leave school. Many of these children, their parents never received the foundation. And you know, we were as a family. You know, the whole block was poor, so we didn't realize we were poor. But but mother had the foundation. She showed me how to him my parents. She showed me how to wash clothing. She showed me how some

of the basic skills. If no one is home to teach you that, our schools believe it or not, we can't be just academic institutions. We have to reinforce the life skills and almost be seek your parents, because many of these children are going home to atmosphere because unfortunately their parents never received that support. So no one is breaking the chain, and we must break the chain. Well, and you referenced earlier cyclical trauma, generational trauma, and it's

true with life skills instruction and education as well. And I've always thought that it was so unfair to just wash our hands of kids or blame parents instead of saying, well, nobody taught those parents, And don't you think we ought

to do something. You know, my mother who was abandoned as a very young girl and sent to live with grandparents who didn't want her, and then finally, at the age of thirteen, she was working in somebody else's home to get out of the situation she was in with grandparents. When I was old enough to understand, I said, so, what was that like? I mean, you're thirteen years old and you have no family. In effect, she goes, it was the first time I ever saw a real family.

It's the first time I learned what a family was and how to take care of kids and all of that. So, from my perspective, should be part of what we do, and we used to do more of that in school, and so I'd like to see us come back with

some more of that. You know, I know, how busy are I just have two more points, and I want to raise with you, Mayor, and I could literally talk to you all afternoon, and I want to defend you because Bill, you know, really was vegan for a couple of years and then his doctor said you got to add more protein, and he started eating fish. So he is primarily you know, vegan like he will he'll eat salmon, He'll eat whitefish and tuna, fish, things like that from

you know, time to time. So I'm coming to tell you living with a vegan man, I get it. You gotta have occasionally some you know, other protein. And this is where we are right now. Well is such an energy. You know, Unfortunately as some of the media where we want to play gotcha instead of saying we got you, you know, putting out the signal. I'm sure Bill would tell you having a hopeful plant based lifestyle really helped us. You know, he was dealing with his heart condition, I

was dealing with diabetes. You know, it just helps us. And we just want to encourage other Americans to know that you can do some things that, you know, to really deal with healthcare challenges. Some people want to are afraid or upset that we're doing that, but we're focused on, you know, just getting the message out and I want to thank him for if what he has done, and we have to stop trying to judge people who want

to inspire, and that's all we're doing. We're inspiring people, and you are, and you even wrote a book called Healthy at Last, a plant based approach to preventing and reversing diabetes and other chronic illnesses. So I know you work, you're you. You are like my husband and me. Your your idea of fun is, you know, work at another ten hours. But you know, as somebody who's done that to being older than you, mayor for a long time, you still have to kind of some fun, get off

of the you know, the fast track. So what do you do for fun in the city? I mean, who works harder than you? You know that, But but I do. I have, I have some amazing downtime. But you and I both know when your work becomes your passion and your love is no longer work, you know, but I do. I start my day with breathing exercises and meditation, ride my bike a lot. When it's time for me to travel, I'll get on the plane in a minute, and you know, get out of here and just enjoy, you know. But

you're right, and I encourage any and everyone. You know, you're no good to others. You're not going to yourself. But I do a lot of self care, you know, I laugh and joke. I'll tell you the minute. I'll put some bubble baths and some rose tellers and incense and sitting a hot tub in a minute. You are a man after my own heart. Mayor. Nothing like a hot bath. I mean, I can't believe I'm talking to Eric Adams, Mayor of New York City about our bath practices.

I want to thank you. Thank you for your passion, your devotion, your determination to lead this city that we both love. Thank you, Mr Mayor, Thank you. Take care. You can follow Eric Adams on Twitter at n YC Mayor. Before I go. As a reminder, I'll be answering your questions on a future episode of You and Me Both. Now. Maybe you're wondering, after my conversation with Mayor Adams, what I'm doing to, you know, get myself in fighting form.

Or maybe you're wondering what's happening around the world or right here at home in our own cities and towns. Whatever your question might be, just write to You and Me Both pod at gmail dot com, or you can leave a voice message at two oh two seven eight oh seven five one. Who knows, I might just answer your question on the show You and Me Both is

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