New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) said on Friday that he is “extremely optimistic” about the direction of the city as he heads into his second year as mayor.
“2022 was my rookie year. 2023 is my Aaron Judge year,” Adams told John Catsimatidis on Friday’s “Cats at Night Show” on WABC 770 AM. “I’m trying to knock it out the park this year.”
Judge, an outfielder for the New York Yankees, set the American League record for the most home runs in a single season in 2022 and received the Most Valuable Player Award.
Adams touted recent improvements in the city’s crime rates on Friday, adding that he wants to “continue that success going into 2023.”
Overall crime decreased for the second month in a row in December, down 11.6 percent from last December, according to data released by the city on Thursday. However, for the entirety of 2022, crime actually increased by 22.4 percent over 2021.
Adams’s confident response comes amid a very public disagreement with former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s (D) administration.
After several former aides in the de Blasio administration criticized Adams’s running of the city, the current mayor lashed out and accused de Blasio of leaving the city in “total disarray.”
“I am so tired of the previous administration and their antics,” Adams said at a news conference on Wednesday.
“They left the house in total disarray!” he added. “And then they come and say, ‘Look at the mess … that you created, Eric.’ No! It’s the mess we inherited.”
However, de Blasio himself appeared to take a middle-of-the-road stance amid the dispute.
“I sympathize with his frustration with certain critics but want to emphasize this: no one speaks for me but me,” de Blasio said in a Twitter thread on Wednesday. “Finally, for all the members of my team who served this city with tremendous devotion, especially during the pandemic, I want to thank you. You made this city better.”