It’s highly probable on Jan. 1, 2022, Eric L. Adams will be inaugurated the 110th mayor of New York City. (He faces token opposition in the general election.) However, Adams isn’t the only person in City Hall who’ll be starting a new job. There’ll be a slew of newcomers throughout municipal government trying to find the bathrooms and learning how to work the phones — including the city comptroller, four of the five borough presidents, and more than two-thirds of the City Council.
With less than six months before Gotham’s dramatic makeover, this transition of power will be longer than any other in living memory because of the timing of the primary elections. (Prior to 2018, the primaries took place in September.) As someone who’s run for office, I can relate to the overwhelming temptation to decompress on a beach after a tiring primary. The moment the city finds itself in means that isn’t a possibility. The time afforded by a longer transition should be spent preparing to govern. This impending changing of the guard represents an unusual opportunity to shape city government and advance structural change at a scale that could make New York more equitable, just and fair for years, and possibly decades, to come.
The backdrop of this remarkable changeover is a fragile city. New York has yet to fully recover economically from the COVID-19 pandemic and is a long way from it. Violent crime is rising. Longstanding crises like the dwindling supply of affordable housing and homelessness have only compounded in difficulty and complexity. This is the tip of the iceberg confronting the city’s new officeholders. Furthermore, the outcome of the recent primaries and upcoming nominal fall elections alone cannot be expected to produce different results on any of these fronts.
Though the stakes couldn’t be higher, Adams has a rare window to build bridges and lay the foundation for change. He can begin engaging with Mayor de Blasio informally to discuss the upsurge of gun violence and reopening schools in the fall. The former he’s already done with President Biden. Additionally, he can initiate formal conversations with policy experts on topics including maintaining the fight against COVID-19, rebuilding the city’s economy, and alleviating the effects of the pandemic and recession on housing security and policing. Finally, by meeting with the city’s progressive activists and organizers, many of whom actively opposed him, he can rally their support and potentially recruit them into his administration.
While de Blasio made diversity the cornerstone of his transition, Adams should form an administration that not only centers individuals from different backgrounds but leads with empathy. To do this, he and his transition team should recruit personnel with the ability to leverage a wide range of political, economic, moral and social points of view when crafting public policies and managing city agencies (i.e. Housing Preservation & Development). Most importantly, they should exhibit the capacity to lead with an experimental mindset. Ultimately, it will be bold and daring public policy that will bring about systemic change that will benefit all New Yorkers.
For many of the incoming members of City Council who came to prominence as advocates or movement builders, there are significant technical aspects to their new role. Along with the new borough presidents and comptroller, preparing to govern goes beyond learning how to use their bully pulpits as a counterbalance to the mayor (or each other). Incoming councilmembers will need to absorb the arcane rules of parliamentary procedure while learning how to pass proposed legislation. The incoming comptroller, Brad Lander, will manage a $100 million budget and oversee nearly 800 employees — not a simple day-to-day feat. And though seen as largely ceremonial posts, the borough presidents will have to weigh in thoughtfully on land use in their respective boroughs.
While the beach sounds better than diving into briefing and resume books, if the city’s incoming government utilizes these next couple of months wisely, they can position themselves to handle the unique and difficult moment that the city currently finds itself in.
Bunkeddeko, who twice ran for Congress in Central Brooklyn, is Executive Director of Coro New York.
