NYC-MYR: Rising crime in New York has gripped the mayoral race. Eric Adams says he alone can fix it.
CNN)For the first few months of New York City's Democratic mayoral primary, the campaign seemed to be trundling along in search of a defining issue.
Covid-19 numbers were dropping, Democrats in Washington delivered financial aid to head off a potential budget crisis and, with the outlook generally bright, the candidates' plans -- many of them crafted in painstaking detail -- blurred together as the contest, which often played out in a long series of interminable Zoom forums, took a backseat to other provincial political dramas.
But with the race now entering its final stretch, a series of high-profile shootings, instances of graphic street and subway violence and a rise in hate crimes -- especially against Asian Americans and Jews -- have sharpened the debate. Voters, as they finally zero in on the election, are listing crime as one of their leading concerns. The spike in violence has pushed visceral concerns over public safety into the spotlight and rekindled the brand of fiery rhetoric over policing that had mostly faded during more than two decades of diminished crime rates in the city.
The upswing in gun violence, which surged during the pandemic summer of 2020 and continues to climb this year, has set off a sprint among the mayoral candidates to sell their solutions. But the issue has been seized on with particular vigor by one in particular, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, a retired former captain in the New York Police Department. Adams has been the field's most vocal advocates of stepped-up policing, calling for the return of a remodeled version of the city's controversial plainclothes anti-crime units, which were disbanded last year. Believed to be one of the frontrunners in a wide-open race, Adams argues that he is singularly equipped to beat back and reverse the current trend.
Adams can be a confounding figure. For decades, he has been a prominent voice against racism in the NYPD, including during his time in its ranks. But the man who could become New York's second Black mayor is just as likely to criticize the department as roll his eyes at calls for funding cuts and has defended -- with caveats -- some of its most controversial practices.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/29/politics/new-york-mayor-primary-eric-adams-rising-crime/index.html
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Hmmmm ....
