By Florence Mafomemeh
It was 12:06 am on January 1, 2022 just after the ball dropped in Times Square that mayor-elect, Eric Adams was sworn in as the 110th mayor of New York City.
With his left hand on a family bible held by his son, Jordan Coleman and his right hand holding up a framed photograph of his mother, Dorothy, who died last spring, Adams took the oath of office administered by Judge Sylvia Hinds-Radix during a New Year’s Eve festive but pared-down Times Square ceremony.
Adams, who had canceled his inauguration ceremony indoors at Kings Theatre in Brooklyn because of COVID-19 and chose the backdrop of the ball-drop crowd, is now the second black mayor in the city’s 124-year history. The first was the late Mayor David Dinkins in 1990. He died in November, 2020 at 93.
Adams, 61, is the son of a house cleaner who grew up poor in Queens. He was a New York City police captain before entering politics. He served four terms as a state senator before becoming Brooklyn Borough president in 2013.
In a city where murders, shootings and other kinds of violent crimes have gone up steadily especially in the pandemic, Mr. Adams ran for mayor on a public safety message, using his working-class and police background to convey empathy for the parts of New York still struggling with the effects of crime and poverty. He pledged to address crime and longstanding inequities as the city’s “first blue-collar mayor,”
“I wore a bulletproof vest for 22 years and protected the people of this city,” Mr. Adams said. “And when you do that, then you have the right to question me on safety and public safety matters. I think I know a little something about this,” Adams said.
Adams always recalled being brutalized by the NYPD officers at the 103rd Precinct station house in Jamaica, Queens when he was 15. Standing outside that same precinct just hours before becoming mayor, he said that encounter eventually compelled him to join the police department, retiring with the rank of captain. “Today is an important moment for me as I finally leave the demons right here on these streets,” Mr. Adams said, after he led a roll call at the station. He said that he told the officers that they would be given “the tools and support that they need.” “But we are also going to hold them to a high standard,” he added.
Adams won by a landslide in the general election over Republican challenger Curtis Sliwa following an intense June primary contest against 12 Democratic candidates. During the campaign, while his primary rivals presented a progressive platform as a pathway toward improving the city’s quality of life, Adams embraced a center-left agenda largely focused on reducing crime.
Mr. Adams takes office with a tough task ahead of him as the coronavirus driven by the Omicron variant engulfs the city. The former Brooklyn Borough President succeeds Bill de Blasio, a progressive Democrat who took over from Michael Bloomberg. Bloomberg was Rudy Giuliani’s successor.
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