NYC Mayor Eric Adams delivers his State of the City address for 2025. Here's what he focused on.
NEW YORK -- New York City Mayor Eric Adams delivered his 2025 State of the City address Thursday at the Apollo Theater in Harlem.
The speech comes as Adams faces a federal corruption trial scheduled to start in April.
The speech seemed to be the kick off for his bid for reelection this year. A drum corps played, and a slickly produced video touting Adams and his achievements ran before he took the stage. Adams paid respect to his late mother, placing a picture of her prominently on the stage. Signs displayed on the stage read "Making NYC the best place to raise a family."
Adams acknowledged the headwinds he's facing by calling out his top advisors and thanking them for sticking with him.
"Challenging year. Difficult year. And many thought we couldn't get through it, as we continue with this amazing team to make it happen. There were some who said step down. I said no, I'm going to step up," Adams said.
Adams said nearly 20,000 guns have been taken off the street during his tenure, while touting a decline in murders and shootings, an increase in padlocking of illegal cannabis shops, increased enforcement against ghost vehicles, and more.
"New York City is finally becoming a city of yes," Adams said. "The state of our city is strong. I always say, there are two types of Americans - those who live in New York, and those who wish they could."
Adams went on to deliver a wide-ranging speech that touched on everything from crime, to affordability, to asylum seekers, to curbside composting, and more.
Affordability, safety in focus
Adams said a looming concern is affordability.
"But there's no denying, New Yorkers are anxious about the future," he said. "Despite all we have accomplished, I won't stand here and tell you that our work is complete."
Adams said he is focused on making New York City the best place to raise a family, and it starts with keeping people safe. Earlier this week, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch announced crime dropped in the last year under the mayor's leadership.
Adams insists New York City is still the safest big city in America, despite some horrific incidents in recent weeks, including a deadly stabbing spree in Manhattan, the UnitedHealthcare CEO being killed in Midtown, and a woman burned to death on the subway in Brooklyn.
"People need to be safe, but they also need to feel safe," Adams said. "We're starting by adding hundreds of new officers in the subway system later this month."
Adams announced a new "City of Yes for Families," with a plan to build 800 new units of housing for families.
Adams announced a $9 million transformation of the 103,000 square-foot Brigadier General Charles Young Fields in Harlem to replace the grass with synthetic turf and enhance other aspects. He called it the "Harlem field of dreams."
"The beautiful thing about this field is that it is a synthetic turf field. If you know other synthetic turf fields -- where it can be pouring rain, and then five minutes later, you could be playing baseball -- that's what this field is. And it's built by the Cal Ripken Foundation, which has built a hundred fields like this across the country. So it's the best sports field you can imagine," Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Chauncey Parker told CBS News New York's Marcia Kramer in a exclusive interview. "It will be 12 months a year, it will be early morning until late at night, and it will be every sport that any kid could ever imagine or dream about playing."
Parker said the field is expected to be completed by April.
Adams announced a $650 million investment to address the homeless and the mentally ill, including 900 new beds for people in need. He also announced a plan to build a facility for homeless people with mental illness.
He also announced plans to teach students how to manage their money and improve their financial skills.
Federal trial and reelection campaign for Adams in 2025
Adams has had a controversial time in office, from his handling of the migrant crisis to his ongoing legal woes, which led to many officials on his staff stepping down.
On Tuesday, federal prosecutors said in a court filing they have uncovered "additional criminal conduct" by the mayor, but did not provide any further details.
The mayor told reporters, "I've done nothing wrong," and said his legal team is handling the case while he runs the city.
"This is amateur hour. They are just looking for a headline instead of doing the right thing. I assume we are at the point where New Yorkers are not falling for it," said his lawyer Alex Spiro.
Political experts say the stakes remain high for the mayor's final State of the City address of his first term, as he will have to prove he's focusing on his job and successfully leading the city, despite his recent indictments and those in his administration.
He's facing a competitive primary election in June, but has not done much campaigning.
Demonstrations held outside the Apollo Theater
The Sergeants Benevolent Association held a news conference outside of the Apollo Theater, calling for an end to what the union says has been an ongoing wage disparity.
"At the end of the day, we need to be respected," an SBA official said. "You have people making less money. What they are not going to tell you is that there is a staffing crisis. We are less than, right now, 200 sergeants that we have vacancy positions for."
The People's Plan NYC also demonstrated outside of the theater before the mayor's speech, demanding better funding for education, public services and justice reform.
"We are done with having a mayor full of corruption that is defunding education, defunding child care, increasing policing, increasing jailing, and we're showing him that New Yorkers are united," a demonstrator said.
