It has been a tumultuous few weeks at City Hall, with a number of different investigations and abrupt resignations, and while the mayor is maintaining a confident stance, one expert warns serious challenges could lie ahead.
“Adams is in serious trouble just in terms of running this city. I have never seen an administration unravel so dramatically and so quickly. It’s a very, very bad spot for him there right now,” Andrew Kirtzman, managing director of the consulting firm Actum and former host of “Inside City Hall,” said during an appearance on “Mornings On 1” Wednesday.
Over the past several weeks, a number of people within the mayor’s orbit have been named in an investigation or have had a search warrant executed against them. Meanwhile, the administration has seen a slew of resignations, including that of Schools Chancellor David Banks, who on Tuesday said he will retire at the end of the year.
Despite the upheaval, Adams is maintaining an optimistic outlook, saying Tuesday, “I'm stepping up, not stepping down. I have a city to run that I will continue to run.”
However, Kirtzman believes there could eventually be mounting pressure for the mayor’s own resignation.
“I think we're probably in Act One, maybe Act Two of this drama, right? You've seen a lot of activity from law enforcement. No indictments yet, though, and I think if we see indictments, that's when the temperature is really going to rise at City Hall, and that's when you're going to see a lot more calls for his resignation,” he said.
“There are no coincidences in a scandal. The schools chancellor does not just resign three weeks into the school year or announce his resignation just by coincidence, right?” he added. “Everything is timed to something, and I think basically this story has yet to be reported out, and I think we'll know a lot more in the coming days.”