“Every New Yorker has the right to speak out when Mayor Adams cuts school budgets, raises rents and repeats right-wing talking points,” Neidhardt said. “Instead of whining and attacking his constituents, the mayor should address the crises that working people face every day in our city. To grow up.”
Mr Adams has faced a lot of criticism during his first year, including allegations of favoritism in his hiring practices and cuts in schools and libraries. He faced another round of outrage on Tuesday when he said there was “no room left at the hostel” for migrants arriving in waves from the country’s southern border.
Mr. Adams’ scathing remark about the De Blasio administration comes despite the fact that the two are political allies who rose to power in the same power circles in Brooklyn. Mr. de Blasio quietly supported Mr. Adams during the competitive 2021 Democratic primary for mayor and worked behind the scenes to help get him elected.
However, major differences emerged. Mr. Adams decided not to expand Mr. de Blasio’s popular 3-year-old preschool program; he has expressed doubts about closing the Rikers Island prison complex on Mr. de Blasio’s timeline; he brought back a controversial anti-firearms police unit that was disbanded under Mr. de Blasio.
Mr de Blasio did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.
As mayor, Mr. Adams has repeatedly criticized de Blasio’s government for causing him major problems throughout the city government, including fewer garbage collections and higher crime rates. Last summer, Mr. Adams told The New York Post that after watching the city’s operations, he was “shocked” to learn “how bad this place is.”
On Wednesday, Mr Adams continued to claim he had inherited a mess.
“They had eight years to do their job — eight years to fix Rikers, eight years to tackle crime, eight years to tackle education, eight years to tackle early childhood education for children with disabilities, eight years to fix NYCHA,” he told reporters. “They had plenty of time to do their job.”
“And did they?” a reporter asked.
No, said the mayor with a laugh.
Stu Loeser, a press secretary to former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, said he understood why Mr. Adams was frustrated by criticism from Blasio officials, noting that Mr. Bloomberg had a policy of not criticizing Mr. de Blasio and encouraged his staffers to oppose it as well.
