Adams on Target Closure: We Need to Do More to Combat Theft, But New York ‘Is Humming’

On Thursday’s edition of WABC’s “Sid & Friends in the Morning,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) reacted to Target closing one of its locations in the city due to theft by stating that more work needs to be done, but shoplifting is down and “people who want to wake up every day praying that Eric Adams the pilot fails and crashes, you better wake up, man. You’re a passenger on this plane called NYC. You better hope I land this damn plane and stop hoping and praying that I fail. The city is back. We’re resilient.”

Host Sid Rosenberg asked, [relevant exchange begins around 20:20] “I want to get to Target, and it turns out that they’re leaving. And you know, Mr. Mayor, we can’t afford that. We can’t. We need big business here. We need big names here in New York, and the fact that they can’t survive, just like what’s going on in San Francisco, Los Angeles, because people walk in and rob stuff every day, I mean, come on, man, that is unbelievable. That’s ridiculous. … What the hell is going on in this city that Target is leaving and our daycares are not really daycares, instead, they’re criminal operations?”

Adams responded, “We’re seeing a decrease in shoplifting. I’m a big believer, these habitual shoplifters who are being arrested over and over, we need to ensure that they’re prosecuted. Our job is to make the arrests. Our laws must reflect how we deal with these habitual shoplifters. That’s a real problem. Deputy Mayor Banks brought together a large number of retailers, prosecutors, the law enforcement, so that we can zero in on it. I believe we’re seeing some good results. We have some more things that we want to do to move further.”

He continued, “But, let’s be — Sid, let’s be honest with this. I want all of your listeners that are part of the I hate Eric Adams club, I want them to go Google other cities. Go look at what’s happening in other cities in this country, and then look at what’s happened in New York. This city has come back. 99% of the jobs we lost, we have back. 65 million tourists [are] coming back to this city, we predict, for this year. We have a[n] AA bond rating. Homicides are down, shootings are down, five of the major crime categories are down. You don’t see tents all over our city and encampments all over our city. Screenwriters are back. We have reached our height again, 3.6, 3.8 million riders, capping out at 4 million. People are back in their office spaces, major corporations are coming and opening in the city. Amazon just opened a major headquarters here. This city is humming. And so, people who want to wake up every day praying that Eric Adams the pilot fails and crashes, you better wake up, man. You’re a passenger on this plane called NYC. You better hope I land this damn plane and stop hoping and praying that I fail. The city is back. We’re resilient. No matter how many things that have been thrown at us, from COVID, to crime, to migrants, we continue to thrive, not just survive. I know how well we’re doing as a city, because I have a damn good team that is fighting for New Yorkers every day.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett