Many NYers Want Eric Adams to Resign; He Would Prefer Not To...
Faced with federal corruption charges and the resignation or firing of numerous aides, a defiant Hizzoner declared: “I Will Reign.” But reign over who? The answers are more numerous—and more diverse—than his critics admit.
| 23 Oct 2024 | 02:34
Eric Adams with religious leaders at Gracie Mansion press conference following the unsealing of the five count federal corruption indictment that was unsealed on Sept. 26. (
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Eric Adams (left) with his attorney Alex Spiro, answering questions about the federal five count criminal indictment unsealed against him on Sept. 26 as they exit the mayor’s residence at Gracie Mansion. (
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A Mayor for All Post-Seasons: Paying tribute to both of the city’s playoff teams, Eric Adams wore a startling dual-logo Mets / Yankees baseball cap at the Columbus Day Parade, October 14, 2024. (
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Mayor Adams in a combined Mets - Yankees hat at the Columbus Day Parade, October 14, 2024. (
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Mayor Eric Adams cuts the ceremonial ribbon and marches in the 60th Annual Hispanic Heritage Parade Sunday, October 13, 2024. (
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Mayor Eric Adams delivers remarks at a street co-naming in memory of Detective Troy Patterson in Brooklyn on Saturday, October 12, 2024 (
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Mayor Eric Adams delivers remarks and marches in the 87th Annual General Pulaski Day Parade. Sunday, October 6, 2024. (
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Mayor Eric Adams delivers remarks at the Nigerian Independence Day Parade. Madison Avenue and 24th Street. Saturday October 5, 2024. (
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Mayor Eric Adams marches in a dual Mets - Yankees logo hat at the Columbus Day Parade; Interim NYPD Commissioner Thomas Donlon stands to Mayor’s left (to the right in the photo). (
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On Sunday, September 29, speaking from the pulpit of the Emmanuel Presbyterian Reformed Church in the Bronx, Mayor Eric Adams said, “I’m going to step up. I’m not going to resign, I’m going to reign.”
Which, whatever one thinks about our embattled Hizzoner, is a pretty clever line.
It also one that recalls another historic New York refusal, “I would prefer not to,” a phrase oft repeated in Manhattan boy Herman Melville’s “Bartleby the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street” (1853).
Bartleby is a law copyist, or scrivener, and his story is told by the elderly Wall Street lawyer who employs him, along with two other copyists, Nippers and Turkey, and an office boy, Ginger Nut.
At first an energetic and uncomplaining worker, Bartleby one day stuns his employer, who has just asked him to examine a paper with him, by answering “in a singularly mild, firm voice... I would prefer not to.”
Following are notes on the first two weeks of Hizzoner’s Autumn “Reign” Tour 2024. If such an itinerary suggests neither his guilt nor innocence, it does beg the question: who among his critics look so solemn, smile so broadly, clasp so many hands?
On Monday September 30, Hizzoner attended Queens Evening of Faith at Aliento de Vida Church in Corona.
On October 1, in addition to his weekly press conference at City Hall, the Mayor hosted a celebration of African cultural heritage at Gracie Mansion.
On October 2, the Mayor met with My Brother’s & Sister’s Keeper Youth Council at City Hall; raised the flag of Guinea at Bowling Green; and hosted a Town Hall at the Grace Agard-Harewood Older Adult Club in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn.
On October 3, Hizzoner attended Rosh Hashanah services at the East Side Synagogue, his clean-shaven pate sans yarmulke.
On October 4, the Mayor Rosh Hashanah services at Tribeca Synagogue, and this time he wore a yarmulke.
On Saturday October 5, Adams attended both the Nigerian Independence Day Parade and the Korean Parade in Manhattan. That evening he was at Co-Op City in the Bronx for the NYPD Gospel Fest.
On October 6, Hizzoner marched in the 87th Annual General Pulaski Day Parade celebrating the Polish Community. He wore a Mets cap.
On Monday October 7, Adams was at Rumsey Field in Central Park, attending a memorial for the victims of the 2023 terrorist attacks against Israel.
On October 8, in addition to his weekly press conference at City Hall, that evening Hizzoner hosted a reception celebrating Hispanic culture and heritage at Gracie Mansion.
On October 9, the Mayor spoke at the annual FDNY Memorial Day Ceremony held at the Firemen’s Memorial, on West 100th Street.
On October 10, the Mayor spoke about crime and social services at the 42nd Street-Times Square subway station; worked on math problems at a DOE event in the Bronx and played the djembe during Triumph of the Human Spirit Day at the African Burial Ground National Monument in lower Manhattan.
On October 11, the Mayor hosted a roundtable discussion at City Hall with African-American community leaders from Brooklyn.
On Saturday October 12, Hizzoner attended Columbus Day Parade on 18th Avenue in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. He wore a Mets hat. That same day, the Mayor was in Bedford-Stuyvesant for a street co-naming ceremony honoring Black NYPD detective Troy Patterson. In January 1990, an off-duty Patterson, then 27, was washing his car when he was shot in the head during a robbery attempt. Though the cop survived, he spent the next 33 years severely disabled and died in April 2023.
On October 13, Mayor Adams spoke at One Brooklyn Health Gospel Fest in Brownsville, Brooklyn; attended the Iglesias Jovenes Christianos’ Hispanic Heritage Month Parade in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn where he wore a “Mayor Adams” cap; and the Hispanic Heritage Pride Parade in Manhattan, where he wore a Mets cap.
On Monday October 14, Columbus Day, the question was what hat would Hizzoner wear to the parade? Both the Mets and the Yankees were in the playoffs, and baseball fans would be watching closely. This veteran parade beat reporter couldn’t call it.
Resilient and creative under duress, the Mayor, shocked everyone by donning a hat with both the Mets and Yankees logs on it.
“I’m not going to resign, I’m going to reign” indeed.