March 15, 2022 • 54 mins
The COVID-19 pandemic has been a source of upheaval and suffering for over two years, but it has also presented us with an opportunity to try to do things differently going forward—in our personal lives, in our communities, and in the way governments serve people.
During what looks to be a much-needed reprieve from the pandemic, Hillary turns to two brand new mayors, with different backgrounds and leadership styles, who are seizing this opportunity to transform their cities with vision and determination. First, we hear from Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, whose commitment to affordable housing, accessible transportation, and better health outcomes for all stem from her own experiences navigating dysfunctional public services for her immigrant mother with a mental health disability.
Then we turn to New York Mayor Eric Adams, a former NYPD officer, state senator, and Brooklyn Borough President who says he wants to bring back the city’s “swagger” by improving the quality of life for all New Yorkers while attending to both public safety and justice.
Bios:
Michelle Wu is the first woman, the first Asian American, and the first mother to be elected Mayor of Boston. She previously served on the Boston City Council, as a member and then, in 2016, as President.
Eric Adams served with the NYPD for 22 years. In his second career as an elected official, he served as a state senator and Borough President of Brooklyn before winning the nomination for Mayor of New York in a crowded Democratic primary and going on to become New York’s 110th, and only its second African American, Mayor.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You and Me Both is a production of I Heart Radio.
I'm Hillary Clinton, and this is You and Me Both,
as we finally seem to be getting a much needed
reprieve from the COVID nineteen pandemic. I think we owe
it to ourselves to try to find opportunities coming out
(00:22):
of this really difficult period and maybe try doing some
things differently in our own lives, in our families, our communities,
and certainly in government, trying to figure out how better
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
(00:45):
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
(01:10):
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
(01:33):
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.
(01:55):
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
(02:15):
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
(02:35):
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
(02:57):
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.
(03:20):
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
(03:42):
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
(04:03):
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
(04:24):
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
(04:44):
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
(05:07):
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
(05:28):
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
(05:48):
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
(06:09):
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
(06:29):
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
(06:51):
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
(07:13):
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
(07:35):
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
(07:55):
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
(08:18):
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
(08:38):
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
(09:01):
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
(09:25):
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
(09:48):
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
(10:09):
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
(10:31):
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
(10:51):
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
(11:13):
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
(11:34):
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.
(11:55):
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
(12:15):
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
(12:36):
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
(12:59):
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
(13:21):
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
(13:44):
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
(14:07):
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
(14:29):
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
(14:51):
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
(15:14):
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
(15:38):
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,
(16:00):
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
(16:23):
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
(16:44):
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
(17:06):
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
(17:28):
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
(17:52):
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
(18:12):
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
(18:32):
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.
(18:53):
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
(19:16):
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
(19:37):
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
(19:59):
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
(20:22):
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
(20:44):
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
(21:05):
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
(21:28):
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
(21:51):
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.
(22:14):
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
(22:37):
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,
(23:00):
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
(23:24):
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
(23:46):
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
(24:08):
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
(24:29):
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
(24:52):
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
(25:14):
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
(25:38):
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
(25:58):
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
(26:20):
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
(26:42):
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.
(27:03):
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
(27:24):
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
(27:47):
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
(28:08):
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
(28:30):
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,
(28:52):
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
(29:13):
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,
(29:37):
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
(29:58):
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.
(30:19):
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,
(30:40):
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
(31:05):
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
(31:26):
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
(31:48):
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.
(32:12):
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
(32:34):
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
(32:57):
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
(33:20):
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,
(33:43):
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
(34:06):
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
(34:28):
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,
(34:50):
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
(35:10):
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.
(35:32):
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.
(35:56):
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
(36:19):
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
(36:40):
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,
(37:01):
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.
(37:24):
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
(37:48):
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
(38:10):
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
(38:32):
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
(38:55):
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,
(39:16):
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
(39:37):
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
(40:01):
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
(40:22):
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
(40:43):
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
(41:03):
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
(41:27):
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
(41:49):
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
(42:10):
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
(42:33):
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,
(42:55):
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
(43:15):
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
(43:37):
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,
(43:58):
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
(44:21):
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
(44:45):
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
(45:07):
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
(45:27):
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
(45:50):
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
(46:10):
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
(46:31):
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
(46:52):
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
(47:13):
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
(47:35):
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
(47:57):
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
(48:19):
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.
(48:41):
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,
(49:03):
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
(49:25):
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.
(49:46):
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.
(50:08):
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
(50:30):
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
(50:51):
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.
(51:15):
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,
(51:37):
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
(52:00):
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.
(52:28):
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.
(52:51):
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
(53:14):
your question on the show You and Me Both is
brought to you by I Heart Radio. We're produced by
Julie Subran, Kathleen Russo and Rob Russo, with help from
Huma Aberdeen, Oscar Flores, Lindsay Hoffman, Brianna Johnson, Nick Merrill,
(53:36):
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(53:57):
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next week
You and Me Both is a production of I Heart Radio.
I'm Hillary Clinton, and this is You and Me Both,
as we finally seem to be getting a much needed
reprieve from the COVID nineteen pandemic. I think we owe
it to ourselves to try to find opportunities coming out
(00:22):
of this really difficult period and maybe try doing some
things differently in our own lives, in our families, our communities,
and certainly in government, trying to figure out how better
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
(00:45):
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
(01:10):
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
(01:33):
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.
(01:55):
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
(02:15):
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
(02:35):
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
(02:57):
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.
(03:20):
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
(03:42):
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
(04:03):
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
(04:24):
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
(04:44):
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
(05:07):
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
(05:28):
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
(05:48):
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
(06:09):
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
(06:29):
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
(06:51):
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
(07:13):
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
(07:35):
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
(07:55):
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
(08:18):
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
(08:38):
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
(09:01):
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
(09:25):
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
(09:48):
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
(10:09):
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
(10:31):
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
(10:51):
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
(11:13):
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
(11:34):
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.
(11:55):
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
(12:15):
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
(12:36):
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
(12:59):
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
(13:21):
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
(13:44):
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
(14:07):
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
(14:29):
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
(14:51):
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
(15:14):
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
(15:38):
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,
(16:00):
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
(16:23):
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
(16:44):
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
(17:06):
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
(17:28):
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
(17:52):
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
(18:12):
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
(18:32):
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.
(18:53):
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
(19:16):
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
(19:37):
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
(19:59):
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
(20:22):
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
(20:44):
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
(21:05):
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
(21:28):
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
(21:51):
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.
(22:14):
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
(22:37):
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,
(23:00):
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
(23:24):
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
(23:46):
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
(24:08):
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
(24:29):
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
(24:52):
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
(25:14):
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
(25:38):
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
(25:58):
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
(26:20):
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
(26:42):
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.
(27:03):
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
(27:24):
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
(27:47):
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
(28:08):
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
(28:30):
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,
(28:52):
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
(29:13):
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,
(29:37):
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
(29:58):
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.
(30:19):
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,
(30:40):
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
(31:05):
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
(31:26):
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
(31:48):
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.
(32:12):
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
(32:34):
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
(32:57):
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
(33:20):
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,
(33:43):
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
(34:06):
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
(34:28):
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,
(34:50):
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
(35:10):
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.
(35:32):
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.
(35:56):
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
(36:19):
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
(36:40):
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,
(37:01):
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.
(37:24):
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
(37:48):
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
(38:10):
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
(38:32):
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
(38:55):
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,
(39:16):
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
(39:37):
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
(40:01):
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
(40:22):
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
(40:43):
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
(41:03):
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
(41:27):
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
(41:49):
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
(42:10):
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
(42:33):
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,
(42:55):
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
(43:15):
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
(43:37):
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,
(43:58):
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
(44:21):
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
(44:45):
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
(45:07):
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
(45:27):
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
(45:50):
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
(46:10):
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
(46:31):
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
(46:52):
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
(47:13):
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
(47:35):
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
(47:57):
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
(48:19):
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.
(48:41):
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,
(49:03):
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
(49:25):
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.
(49:46):
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.
(50:08):
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
(50:30):
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
(50:51):
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.
(51:15):
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,
(51:37):
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
(52:00):
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.
(52:28):
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.
(52:51):
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
(53:14):
your question on the show You and Me Both is
brought to you by I Heart Radio. We're produced by
Julie Subran, Kathleen Russo and Rob Russo, with help from
Huma Aberdeen, Oscar Flores, Lindsay Hoffman, Brianna Johnson, Nick Merrill,
(53:36):
Laura Olan, Lona Velmorrow and Benita Zaman. Our engineer is
Zack McNeice and original music is by Forest Gray. If
you like you and Me both, please tell someone else
about it. And if you're not already a subscriber, what
are you waiting for? You can subscribe to You and
(53:57):
Me Both on the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening, take
care of yourself and each other, and we'll be back
next week
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