Eric Adams, the second black mayor of New York City in history, is rapidly gaining the reputation of being the most despised mayor in the country

 Eric Adams, the second black mayor of New York City in history, is rapidly gaining the reputation of being the most despised mayor in the country

Eric Adams, the mayor of New York City, often makes news for his agendas and statements tackling a number of contentious social problems that disproportionately affect minority populations.

His efforts may serve as models for other mayors of major cities because of this plus the fact that he is the mayor of the city with the highest concentration of Black Americans in all of America. And more often than not, his controversial and dubious views on many socioeconomic issues are covered in his national news segments.

Only 29% of Black voters approved of Adams, according to a Siena College study, while 50% had a negative opinion of him. Adams became the second Black mayor in the history of New York City when he was chosen as the 110th mayor in 2021. The first was David Dinkins, who held office from 1990 to 1993.

After more than 20 years in the NYPD, Adams resigned as a captain and ran most of his campaign on a broad, tough-on-crime platform, promising to reform the NYPD in response to worries about an increase in violent crime. Working-class Democratic voters as well as those in Brooklyn and Manhattan's liberal neighborhoods responded favorably to his message.

His time in public service is not his first. After leaving the NYPD, the 63-year-old served in the New York State Senate from 2006 until 2013. He later became the first Black president of the borough of Brooklyn.

Adams was given a serious set of circumstances to deal with when he became mayor. He had to deal with the COVID-19 crisis' effects on the health and economy of the whole city, a national reckoning over police brutality, and the need to identify strategies for lowering violent crime in the city, which increased throughout the epidemic. Meeting the reform expectations of the public while adhering to his own plan for police reform would be difficult.

Adams, unlike his predecessor, former Mayor Bill de Blasio, was not against the excessive use of the stop-and-frisk technique on residents of underprivileged neighborhoods. But his goal was to counteract the tactic's harmful use.

"If you have a police department where you're saying you can't stop and question, that is not a responsible form of policing," Adams said of the strategy.

Many Black Lives Matter (BLM) leaders and protestors in the city disagreed with his ideas to police reform. For instance, he reinstated the anti-crime squads linked to the murders of Amadou Diallo, Sean Bell, and Eric Garner. Residents have long complained that the city's stop-and-frisk program has been misused by these squads, which comprised police in plainclothes.

When Hank Newsome, a co-founder of BLM of Greater New York, warned Adams that riots and "bloodshed" would result if he reactivated the units, he was even branded a domestic terrorist by NYPD officers.

He openly supported police who embellished the truth in 2022 over the violent arrest of a Bronx youngster found in possession of an illegal firearm. When police seized 16-year-old Camrin "C-Blu" Williams by the sides, the revolver in his pocket went off, wounding both Williams and another cop, as shown in the video. Adams said that the police shouldn't be "demonized" for their conduct, even if a court ruled that they had no justification for searching or detaining Williams.

Adams said, "I don't think those officers broke the law." "There are steps to take to ensure you protect yourself and the public," the officer said, "and I think those officers were aware from a previous arrest of that young man."

Adams received criticism for how he handled the murder of homeless man Jordan Neely, who was strangled to death by Daniel Penny after allegedly going through a mental health crisis. After Neely died, there was much outrage that Penny should be prosecuted with murder. Neely, a well-known Michael Jackson lookalike and subway artist, was also notorious for getting into altercations in the system and once assaulting a 67-year-old lady.

Adams, on the other hand, refrained from using the word "murder" and urged people to hold off until the conclusion of the police inquiry. Neely's family and Democrats including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez criticized the mayor's comments, believing he ought to have shown more sorrow and outrage over the loss.

Adams added gasoline to the fire by using Neely's passing in support of a practice that many people are against: the forced hospitalization of mentally ill individuals who are unable to care for themselves. According to the New York Civil Liberties Union, the practice "fast and loose" with people's legal rights, while Adams views it as a vital intervention to address both homelessness and mental health problems. Last year, California Governor Gavin Newsom passed legislation allowing forcible treatment of homeless, mentally ill individuals.

Adams recently announced a new agenda to increase services for those living on the streets of New York City who have serious mental disorders but lack access to treatment and care, despite the fact that the drive garnered a great deal of public backlash. In accordance with that strategy, medical personnel rather than police officers would respond to 911 calls for persons in distress, and centers of community would be established for those who often suffer in solitude so they could be connected with employment and educational possibilities.

However, that agenda comes after one of Adams' most controversial initiatives by far, which he carried out in his first few months as mayor: the clearing of several homeless camps to counteract the COVID-19 pandemic's impacts.

Adams sent teams to demolish more than 200 homeless encampments without indicating where or if any of these unhoused persons would be transferred, infuriating many New Yorkers and prompting accusations that he was criminalizing poverty. Communities of color are disproportionately impacted by this project. It adopted a relatively recent tactic put out by New York Governor Kathy Hochul to stop homeless individuals from camped out on subway vehicles.

He has recently revealed a plan to attempt to halt the city's migrant problem by implementing a policy to cease hosting adult single asylum applicants, which might result in thousands of people being left without shelter or care and being forced into the streets.

Anyone in need will be given refuge, according to New York City's shelter rule. Adams decided to put the guarantee on hold for the time being. Since 2022, more than 100,000 migrants have entered the city, and more than 60,000 are now in its custody.

A study conducted by the Siena College Research Institute found that just 31% of respondents approved of how Adams handled the matter, while 47% disapproved.

A significant 59 percent of Black voters in the state approved of the moderate Democratic mayor in June, in sharp contrast to the 16 percent who disapproved in the mid-May poll.

Although Adams has reacted harshly to those who have accused his government of being racially discriminatory, Black and Brown communities have not generally supported his tenure in office so far. We'll have to wait and watch what he does with his remaining two years in office.