109 Facts About Eric Adams

1.

Eric Adams served in the New York State Senate from 2006 to 2013, representing the 20th Senate district in Brooklyn.

2.

In November 2013, Adams was elected Brooklyn Borough President, the first African-American to hold the position, and reelected in November 2017.

3.

On November 17,2020, Eric Adams announced his candidacy for mayor of New York City.

4.

Eric Adams defeated Republican Curtis Sliwa in the general election in a landslide victory.

5.

Eric Adams was sworn in as mayor shortly after midnight on January 1,2022.

6.

Eric Adams was born in Brownsville, Brooklyn, on September 1,1960.

7.

Eric Adams's father was a butcher who struggled with alcohol abuse.

8.

Eric Adams was raised in a rat-infested tenement in Bushwick, Brooklyn, and his family was so poor that he often brought a bag of clothes to school with him in case of a sudden eviction from his home.

9.

Eric Adams was the fourth of six children and as a young boy he sometimes earned money as a squeegee boy.

10.

At age 14, Eric Adams joined a gang, the 7-Crowns, and became known as "a tough little guy".

11.

Eric Adams ran errands, including purchasing groceries, for a dancer and part-time prostitute named Micki after she became injured.

12.

Eric Adams was sent to a juvenile detention center for a few days before being sentenced to probation.

13.

Eric Adams had post-traumatic stress disorder after the incident, and has said that the violent encounter motivated him to enter law enforcement.

14.

Eric Adams was particularly intrigued by the black police officer and by the "swagger" and "respect" that comes with being in law enforcement.

15.

Eric Adams graduated from Bayside High School in Queens in 1978, but struggled to maintain good grades.

16.

Eric Adams served as an officer in the New York City Transit Police and in the New York City Police Department for 22 years.

17.

Eric Adams has described his wanting to serve as a reaction to the abuse he suffered by NYPD in his youth and separately stated that he was encouraged to join to lead reform from within.

18.

Eric Adams attended the New York City Police Academy and graduated second in his class in 1984.

19.

Eric Adams started in the New York City Transit Police, and continued with the NYPD when the transit police and the NYPD merged.

20.

Eric Adams worked in the 6th Precinct in Greenwich Village, the 94th Precinct in Greenpoint, and the 88th Precinct covering Fort Greene and Clinton Hill.

21.

Eric Adams worked with the Nation of Islam in the 1990s because of their work in patrolling crime-ridden housing projects.

22.

Eric Adams met with their leader Louis Farrakhan and appeared on stage with him at an event.

23.

In 2006, Eric Adams was put under surveillance and investigated by the NYPD for appearing on television in his official capacity as a police officer and critiquing Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

24.

Eric Adams retired with the rank of captain from the police force in 2006.

25.

In 1994, Eric Adams ran for Congress against incumbent Major Owens in the Democratic primary for New York's 11th congressional district, condemning Owens for denouncing Louis Farrakhan but failed to receive enough valid signatures to make the ballot.

26.

Eric Adams claimed his petition signatures had been stolen by someone on behalf of Owens, but police found no evidence of any such thing.

27.

Eric Adams registered as a Republican in 1997, before switching back to the Democratic Party in 2001, according to the Board of Elections.

28.

Eric Adams has said his switch to the Republican Party was a protest move against what he saw as failed Democratic leadership.

29.

Eric Adams was elected and served four terms until 2013, when he was elected Brooklyn Borough President.

30.

Eric Adams represented the 20th Senate District, which includes parts of the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Brownsville, Crown Heights, East Flatbush, Park Slope, Prospect Heights, and Sunset Park.

31.

Eric Adams was known for being a rabble rouser in the State Senate, who could capture the attention of the media.

32.

Eric Adams published an instructional video to teach parents how to search their child's room for contraband.

33.

That same year, Eric Adams was one of the 24 state senators to vote in favor of marriage equality in New York State.

34.

Eric Adams spoke in support of the freedom to marry during the debate before the vote.

35.

In 2010, Eric Adams became Chair of the Senate Racing and Wagering Committee and was praised for his engagement in this position.

36.

Eric Adams would spend hours traveling and visiting racetracks to further study the issue.

37.

Eric Adams came under investigation for his handling of choosing an operator to run the gambling operation at the Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens.

38.

Eric Adams was a vocal opponent of the NYPD's "stop and frisk" policy, which predominantly affected young black and Latino men, and which in 2000 the US Commission on Civil Rights said constituted racial profiling.

39.

Eric Adams championed a bill to stop the NYPD from gathering data about individuals who had been stopped but not charged.

40.

In 2012, Eric Adams served as co-chair of New York's State Legislators Against Illegal Guns.

41.

On November 5,2013, Eric Adams was elected Brooklyn Borough President with 90.8 percent of the vote, more than any other candidate for borough president in New York City that year.

42.

In 2016, Eric Adams launched a mobile app that could be used as a paperless alternative to applying for a position on one of Brooklyn's community boards.

43.

Eric Adams has encouraged New York City to build affordable housing on municipally-owned properties such as the Brownsville Community Justice Center, over railyards and railways, and on space now used for parking lots.

44.

Eric Adams created the Faith-Based Property Development Initiative, which supports religious institutions that want to develop property for the benefit of the community, such as affordable housing and space for community activities.

45.

In September 2017, Eric Adams unveiled his recommendations for the future of the Bedford Union Armory in Crown Heights.

46.

Eric Adams's recommendation was to disapprove the application with conditions while calling for the inclusion of a greater amount of affordable housing on-site.

47.

In July 2018, Eric Adams announced a joint $10-million, 19-plaintiff lawsuit with the Housing Rights Initiative filed in Kings County Supreme Court.

48.

Also in July 2018, Eric Adams urged the developer involved in the Kensington Stables site in Windsor Terrace to help preserve the stables as part of a new proposal for the site.

49.

In partnership with Medgar Evers College, Eric Adams created the Brooklyn Pipeline, which provides developmental learning and enrichment opportunities to public school students in Brooklyn, teaches parents to better support their children's education, and facilitates professional development training to teachers and school leaders.

50.

Eric Adams wrote an editorial in The New York Daily News calling on the New York City Department of Education to test all pre-Kindergarten students for gifted and talented programs, including African-American and Latino children who have historically been excluded.

51.

Eric Adams entered Brooklyn into the "Hour of Code" challenge with Chicago Public Schools.

52.

Eric Adams has advocated for making two-year CUNY colleges free.

53.

Eric Adams is a supporter of Orthodox Jewish Yeshivas, which have faced accusations of failing to properly educate students when it comes to secular subjects.

54.

Eric Adams created at least five sister city agreements between Brooklyn and cities in other countries that he visited.

55.

Eric Adams allocated $2 million towards a plan to build a 40-foot friendship archway in the Chinese neighborhood of Sunset Park, Brooklyn, but the Chinese government ended up rescinding gifting the archway and the deal fell through.

56.

Eric Adams has visited Israel multiple times, including leading a 2016 delegation focused on public safety and economic development between the US and Israel.

57.

Eric Adams opposes the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.

58.

Eric Adams launched the Family Friendly Brooklyn initiative by creating a lactation room in Brooklyn Borough Hall, with open access to the public.

59.

Eric Adams introduced a bill in the New York City Council that would require all municipal buildings providing services to the public to have lactation rooms.

60.

Additionally, Eric Adams has prompted the City Council to pass a resolution called "Ban the Baloney," which aims for schools across the city to stop serving processed meats.

61.

Eric Adams has been an avid supporter of "Meatless Mondays" in public schools.

62.

In 2021, Eric Adams authorized a grant from the borough to SUNY Downstate College of Medicine to establish a plant-based supplemental curriculum.

63.

Eric Adams showed a group of reporters one of the traps that had caught rats around Brooklyn Borough Hall.

64.

Eric Adams presented their corpses in an effort to demonstrate the trap's effectiveness.

65.

In June 2018, Eric Adams suggested lowering the height of the Alloy Development's Downtown Brooklyn project, 80 Flatbush, from 986 to 600 feet in order to not disrupt or overwhelm the existing community surrounding the building.

66.

In January 2020, Eric Adams gave a speech at an event in Harlem celebrating Martin Luther King Jr.

67.

Together with Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and civil rights attorney Norman Siegel, Eric Adams held a series of seven public forums and four Google Hangouts for community residents to share their experiences with the police.

68.

That same month, after a correctional officer endured a beating from six inmates at the George Motchan Detention Center on Rikers Island, Eric Adams stood outside the Brooklyn Detention Center to express his support to reinstate solitary confinement in prisons.

69.

Eric Adams partnered with tech startup Heat Seek NYC to allow tenants to be able to report conditions in their apartments with sensor hardware and web applications.

70.

Eric Adams opposed efforts to limit the number of new e-hail cars, such as Uber, explaining that such technologies provide opportunities for people of color to find work and travel in their communities.

71.

Eric Adams had been criticized during his tenure as Brooklyn Borough President for allowing his staff to abuse official "parking placards," which permit temporary or emergency lifting of parking restrictions for official government business.

72.

In 2014, Eric Adams established One Brooklyn Fund, a non-profit organization for community programs, grant writing, and extolling local businesses, though it has been criticized as serving as a conduit for his public profile and allowing non-campaign pay to play contributions from developers and lobbyists.

73.

Eric Adams' office have been investigated twice by the city Department of Investigation over One Brooklyn's fundraising.

74.

In 2016, Eric Adams' office was found by the DOI to wrongly license the use of Borough Hall to the Mayor's Office for an event.

75.

Eric Adams had long been mulling a run for New York mayor, and on November 17,2020, he announced his candidacy for Mayor of New York City in the 2021 election.

76.

Eric Adams was a top fundraiser among Democrats in the race, second only to Raymond McGuire in terms of the amount raised.

77.

Eric Adams ran as a moderate Democrat, and his campaign focused on crime and public safety.

78.

Eric Adams has argued against the defund the police movement and in favor of police reform.

79.

On November 20,2020, shortly after formally announcing his run for mayor of New York City, Eric Adams attended an indoor fundraiser with 18 people in an Upper West Side restaurant during the COVID-19 pandemic, drawing criticism.

80.

Eric Adams held an already scheduled fundraiser the following day in Queens, when a 25-person limit on mass gatherings was in place.

81.

Eric Adams's campaign said that there were eight people at the event and that they were required to wear masks and practice social distancing.

82.

Eric Adams faced Republican Curtis Sliwa in the general election and was heavily favored to prevail.

83.

Eric Adams received support in the primary from New York elected officials including US Representatives Thomas Suozzi, Adriano Espaillat and Sean Patrick Maloney, as well as fellow Borough Presidents Ruben Diaz Jr.

84.

Eric Adams received endorsements from labor union locals, including the Uniformed Fire Officers Association, District Council 37, and Service Employees International Union, Local 32BJ.

85.

Various local media outlets endorsed Eric Adams, including El Especialito, The Irish Echo, The Jewish Press, New York Post, Our Time Press, and the Queens Chronicle.

86.

Eric Adams was ranked as the second choice in the Democratic primary by the New York Daily News behind Kathryn Garcia.

87.

Some Black Lives Matter activists denounced the effort, but Eric Adams labeled the behavior "grandstanding".

88.

On November 4,2021, Eric Adams tweeted that he planned to take his first three paychecks as Mayor in bitcoin and that New York City would be "the center of the cryptocurrency industry and other fast-growing, innovative industries".

89.

On December 2,2021, Eric Adams took a trip to Ghana where he visited the Elmina Castle.

90.

Eric Adams took office shortly after the New Year's Eve Ball Drop at midnight in Times Square, holding a picture of his deceased mother, Dorothy, while being sworn in.

91.

Eric Adams became the city's second mayor of African descent to hold the position and the first since David Dinkins left office in 1993.

92.

On his first day in office, Eric Adams rode the New York City Subway to City Hall.

93.

In March 2022, Eric Adams ended the city's vaccine mandate for indoor setting and city's mask mandate in public school.

94.

That same month, Eric Adams announced that he would be keeping the city's vaccine mandate for private-sector employees in place, but would be creating an exemption for athletes and performers.

95.

Eric Adams worked virtually to issue a response to the attack, and criticized the national "overproliferation" of guns as being responsible for gun violence.

96.

In June 2022, Eric Adams unveiled his administration's "comprehensive blueprint" for affordable housing.

97.

In late February 2023, at the annual interfaith breakfast, Eric Adams said that he disagrees with the notion of separation of church and state.

98.

In March 2023, as a result of the high office vacancy rates, the New York City Department of City Planning advanced plans to convert vacant office buildings into "affordable" apartments, but Eric Adams elicited backlash from his constituents after proposing "dormitory style accommodations" and declaring that apartments did not require windows at all.

99.

Eric Adams has never been married, but has a son, Jordan Coleman, with former girlfriend Chrisena Coleman.

100.

Eric Adams's son is a graduate of American University, and is a filmmaker and television actor.

101.

Eric Adams is currently in a relationship with Tracey Collins, the Senior Youth Development Director for the New York City Department of Education.

102.

In 2016, Eric Adams switched to a plant-based diet after his diagnosis of type 2 diabetes.

103.

Eric Adams made lifestyle changes rather than pursuing traditional treatments for diabetes.

104.

Eric Adams switched to a whole food plant-based diet, removing animal products, processed sugar, salt, oil and processed starches.

105.

Eric Adams began exercising regularly, including using an exercise bike and treadmill in his office.

106.

Eric Adams has stated that he wants to encourage others to switch to a healthier diet and that public health spending for diabetes should go towards lifestyle changes rather than treating disease.

107.

In February 2022, after several accounts of Eric Adams eating fish in public surfaced, questions emerged about whether Eric Adams was truly a vegan.

108.

In October 2020, Eric Adams published the plant-based advocacy cookbook, Healthy at Last: A Plant-Based Approach to Preventing and Reversing Diabetes and Other Chronic Illnesses, which chronicles his own health journey.

109.

Eric Adams is a contributor to the 2021 anthology Brotha Vegan: Black Men Speak on Food, Identity, Health, and Society.