City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams on Monday opened up about the relationship between her and Mayor Eric Adams, emphasizing that despite recent tensions, they maintain a "cordial" working relationship.
During an appearance on “Mornings On 1,” Adams acknowledged that while they have a longstanding personal connection, differences in governing have created friction in the past.
"We have a very good relationship. It's cordial. What we're seeing playing out though, is the both of us in two very distinct roles, governing together in co-equal branches of government, and we have differences of opinions," Adams said.
Their most recent disagreement revolves around the mayor's veto of the "How Many Stops Act," a piece of legislation that would compel police officers to document all investigative encounters with civilians.
However, Adams expressed assurance that the City Council would be able to override the veto, saying, “I'm very confident that we came through this legislation with a veto-proof majority of council members voting in favor of this bill. So, I feel very confident that we will succeed at the override.” The Council will meet Tuesday to vote.
Another contentious issue is the legislation aimed at banning solitary confinement in jails.
The mayor vetoed the bill, and has asserted that solitary confinement is not practiced in New York City jails, which the speaker countered, saying, “In my opinion, if we don't do solitary confinement, there shouldn't be no problem in codifying that into law.”
The conversation also touched upon the recent police stop of Councilmember Yusef Salaam, who declined an NYPD ride-along invitation after being pulled over without being provided a reason. Adams said she spoke directly with Salaam, who expressed concern over the lack of information provided during the stop.
“The bottom line to me, and what I got out of this and as I watched the video also, was that he was never told why he was stopped. He was never told why he was pulled over. The information came out afterwards when the video was put out and then the statement as to why he was stopped,” she said. “So, it's very interesting to me that I heard what the councilmember said directly after to me personally, and what he said was accurate in his statement, but there was never an explanation.”