Adams Aborts Re-election Bid

After Years of Numerous Allegations of Corruption, Adams Exits Mayors Race

September 30, 2025 / NYC Mayors Race / Manhattan Politics / Manhattan News NYC / News Analysis & Opinion / Manhattan Buzz NYC.

We look at events leading up to Adams exit from the NYC Mayoral Race, which lend credence to Sliwa's accusations that Adams was or will be compensated for dropping out. We identify one huge pending public land transfer that Adams is working on [FEC Chelsea NYCHA], and provide a summary history of many of the many real estate deals Adams implemented which provide public land, tax benefits, financing and possibly public funding to billionaires and real estate developers. Some of the people involved in these deals were Adams supporters.  Then we look at some of the Adams Mayoral track record, including crime, putting his accomplishments in context.  And lastly we look at the aftermath of Adams exit, and what Sliwa, Mamdani and Cuomo had to say about it.

NYC Mayoral Race - Eric Adams Secret Florida Rendezvous with a Trump Official Who's also an NYC Real Estate Developer

Adams traveled to Florida following the Labor Day Weekend.  Coming out of that trip, there were rumors of Adams cutting some sort of deal to drop out of the NYC Mayors race, in exchange for a position in the Trump Administration.  On either September 2 or 3, 2025 Adams reportedly met with Trump Administration member, Steve Witkoff, who is also an NYC real estate developer. 

Stephen Ross & Related Companies - A Huge Public Land Transfer Deal is Lurking in the Background that hasn't been Covered by Billionaire TV News

It's worth noting that Stephen Ross, of Related Companies, lives in Florida. Ross is one of the largest NYC developers, and historically has been one of the largest players in the funding of NYC Mayoral & City Council members campaigns via supportive Political Action Committees or PACs.  And Stephen Ross & Related Companies and affiliates are one of the largest - if not the largest - recipient of NYC public land transfers to a developer over the past quarter century. 

Ross currently has at least one huge transfer of NYC pubic land to him and his companies pending [FEC Chelsea NYCHA], which Adams has obligingly - if not submissively - overseen.  Ross and friends have been supporters of the campaigns of candidates like Adams for many years, which the current state of NYC's affordable housing crisis bears out.  Stephen Ross has also been a financial / PAC Trump supporter, having reportedly hosted a fundraiser for Trump on Long island back in 2020.

Trading Up?  Adams Indulges Billionaire Developers, While Ditching his Supporters

In 2021 the billionaires opened their campaign cash spigots for Adams, thus enabling him to win that NYC Mayoral race based on campaign funding and TV commercials - not merit.  And ever since Adams became NYC Mayor, he's been working hard to move ahead the billionaires' real estate development projects, which far too often appear to include the transfer of NYC public land at rock bottom / oligarchy free-for-all prices.  I believe this is one of the reasons the billionaire developers and media oligarchy don't want to see Mamdani win, as it will slow down their railroading of riches from the public into the private domain.

Adams' meaningful achievements for the working class of NYC are close to non-existent.  This helps explain why Adams repeatedly showcases a picture of his mother Dorothy at public appearances, to lay claim to her working class roots.  Adams may have been born into the working class, but he does not appear to have working class values, nor a true affinity for them - least not since becoming NYC Mayor.  Adams seems to have traded in his affinity with the working class, for aspirational riches a long time ago.  Likely before he was famously quoted saying "show me the money".

The Adams Record as NYC Mayor

Violent Crime Down Significantly Across the U.S. including NYC, But the other NYC Crime Reductions Significantly Trail the U.S.

Adams insinuates, if not outright claims, he's reduced crime in NYC since taking office.  When Adams became Mayor in 2022, we were still dealing with the pandemic. Crime in NYC rose not just here, but in the rest of the nation as well.  But over the past few years, crime has fallen in NYC, and in all other U.S. cities. 

• CLICK here to read more about Eric Adams exits NYC Mayoral Race 2025.

Adams Aborts Re-election Bid

After Years of Numerous Allegations of Corruption, Adams Exits Mayors Race

September 30, 2025 / NYC Mayors Race / Manhattan Politics / Manhattan News NYC / News Analysis & Opinion / Manhattan Buzz NYC. Continued.

And while major crimes in most major cities in the U.S. have fallen below pre-pandemic levels, that is not the case in NYC.  According to both Google and Bing AI, NYC current major crime levels are 30% above pre-pandemic levels [1H 2025 v. 1H 2019]. So likely the largest contributor for falling crime in NYC, like the rest of the U.S., is because we've been recovering from the pandemic and some reports give credit to the Biden Administration for funding police staffing and community outreach programs, which Donald Trump and the Republicans just cut.

That said, at least for the first half of 2025, violent crime in NYC was about even with 2018, which was the lowest violent crime year on record.  But, it's important to put this in context, as the reduction in violent crime to historic levels is a trend seen in most U.S. cities this year.  According to Bing AI the decline in crime is attributed to various factors, including expanded efforts to prevent crime, community involvement, and targeted law enforcement actions.  These actions were funded by the Biden Administration in 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024. 

In 2025 Donald Trump and the Republicans cut these funds from the budget [see graphic above or at right], presumably to foment crime, so Trump can send in the National Guard and emerge the conquering hero of American cities.

Adams' Misleading Housing Record Claims

Billionaire Style Affordable Housing Crushes Truly Affordable Housing

Over the past couple of months, Adams has been self-proclaiming he is the most pro-housing Mayor ever.  That statement should be amended to 'the most pro-Billionaire Housing Mayor', and not ever, but rather since former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who reportedly helped fund Adams legal defense fund.  Now Bloomberg is backing Cuomo to the tune of $5 million ... and possibly more.

Like former Mayor Bloomberg, soon-to-be-former Mayor Adams claims 'affordable housing' is for people making up to $250,000. This is not affordable to the average New Yorker, so to call it affordable either a lie or fraud.  And these falsehoods have been propagated by both Bloomberg and Adams, as well as indiscriminately by Billionaire TV News.  The median personal income estimates for people in NYC range between $50,000 and $63,000; while the median household income is $79,000.  Notice that Eric Adams has never talked about what he classifies as affordable housing in dollars or cents - nor did former Mayor Bloomberg.  The question to ask these mayoral salesmen is affordable to who, making how much, and quantify the monthly rent.

Adams Convinces Black and Brown NYCHA Tenants to Transfer their NYCHA Buildings and NYC Public Land to Billionaires, Investors and Developers

I don't have time to do justice to this part of the Adams legacy.  But in a manner resembling Adams efforts as Brooklyn Borough President, he pushed through real estate deals that seemed to favor the developers, and short change the people of the Brooklyn Borough and the people of the city of New York, who elected him and who he was supposed to represent.

Was the FBI looking into these deals before Trump nixed the federal probe?  At least one [and I believe more] of the deal makers were also supportive of Adams' campaign(s).  Regulators need to stay on top of how real estate developers and investors are finding new ways of funneling cash to the campaigns of their political / public servants such as Eric Adams, because pols like Adams appear to be serving their funders not the voters.

Here's one such deal that's currently in the works that we've been tracking.  FEC Chelsea NYCHA - NYC Oligarchy taking control of public land at alarming rate under Adams.

LINK

Homelessness More than Doubled Under Adams, while NYC Population Stagnated, but this was largely due to U.S. Government Failure to Enforce our Borders

Homelessness in NYC has been something of an intractable problem, not just since Adams came to office, but for the two decades prior to that and arguably longer.  That said homelessness spiked under the mayoralty of Michael Bloomberg, and then spiked again under Eric Adams. Under Adams homelessness spiked, from about 60,000 to between 90,000 to 120,000, depending on which source is used.  And since we've used the Coalition of the Homeless chart for more than a decade, I'm going to stick with them for consistency purposes, even though it's the more conservative estimate. 

Adams Appears to Cut Deal to Use his Mayoral Powers to Help ICE Round up Immigrants in order to Obtain a Presidential Pardon for his Alleged Federal Crimes

Homelessness spiked during the Adams Mayoralty because the federal government failed miserably to enforce our southern borders.  During that time an estimated 10 to 14 million immigrants crossed our southern border - mostly illegally.  A fair number of the immigrants were bussed up to NYC by Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who said he did it in response to Eric Adams bravado statements about sanctuary cities, at a time when NYC wasn't being flooded with illegal immigrants, like Texas was. 

In total NYC is estimated to have received in the neighborhood of 250,000 illegals from 2022 - 2024.  Many of them moved on and went elsewhere. But that said, it's estimated that 58,000 are currently living in NYC Homeless Shelters, which is somewhere between 1/2 and 2/3 of the estimated homeless shelter population. It's worth mentioning that NYC's population was about the same in 2024, as it was in 2021, at roughly 8.5 million. 

As Mayor Adams Oversees Double Digit Growth in Rent Stabilized Prices

Adams used to tell numerous unverified stories about how hard his life was as a child.  He repeatedly claimed he was a working class guy, and yet as Mayor, he appointed folks to the Rent Guidelines Board that put through the most aggressive rent price increases since billionaire Bloomberg was Mayor.  This is believed to be one of the reasons that homelessness spiked during Bloomberg's Mayoralty, and may also have been a contributing factor to the high rate of homelessness during the Adams Mayoralty.

Adams Turns his Back on Al Sharpton and the National Action Coalition & Skips the African American Day Parade in Harlem

In 2025 Adams began to openly shirk some of his strongest supporters in the African American community.  In January Adams snubbed the Reverend Al Sharpton on MLK Day in order to attend the Trump Inauguration.  Adams was reportedly invited to the Inauguration after traveling down to Mara Lago where he is rumored to have pled for a Trump pardon for Adams' alleged crimes. 

Over a half dozen DOJ career attorneys resigned their jobs rather than withdraw the case against Adams, which tells you how serious the case was, as well as how confident the DOJ attorneys were that they could win it. Less than two months after the withdrawal, in April 2025, Adams issued an Executive Order opening up Rikers Island to ICE to use as a detention facility.  In June of 2025, a judge put use of Rikers by ICE on hold, as the Order appeared to be part of a Quid Pro Quo between Adams and Trump.  In September of 2025, the court declared Adams' executive order opening Rikers to ICE, null and void because it appeared to be part of an illegal deal.

IMPORTANT.  Adams denies these allegations, as he appears to deny most or all allegations against him, including the numerous corruption charges levelled against him by the DOJ.  Trump ordered the DOJ to withdraw the charges against Adams, but did not give Adams a pardon.  Back in February 2025, to obtain the withdrawal, Adams reportedly cut a deal to help ICE Border Czar Thomas Honan process illegal immigrants in NYC, in exchange for the criminal lawsuit withdrawal.  The reason I flag this as important, is that a full-fledged presidential pardon might be the carrot that Trump used to get Adams out of the NYC Mayoral Race.  But all of Adams' legal troubles probably wouldn't disappear, as I believe some of the alleged Adams Administration criminality violated NY State and NYC municipal laws.

Republican Curtis Sliwa Says he's Received Multiple Offers from Cuomo Millionaires or Billionaires to Exit the NYC Mayors Race

Sliwa attributed the offers to Cuomo trying to orchestrate corrupt, back door deals. Sliwa said on Wednesday, September 24, 2025 that he believed that Adams would take one of those offers to exit the NYC Mayor's Race soon. 

Both Cuomo and Adams deny there's been any such back door dealings and essentially called Sliwa a liar.  But both Adams and Cuomo have track records which include alleged / real dishonest dealings and statements. 

Now, here's the funny part.  Cuomo went on to call Eric Adams 'selfless'.  Cuomo's statement on Adams hit my funny bone, as Andrew Cuomo is the only person on record who has publicly described Eric Adams as selfless.  And I checked around before posting this.  After covering Adams for four years, that word just does not compute vis-a-vis Eric Adams.

Mamdani's response to all of this was rather cool, calm and collected appearing on Democracy Now on Sunday night, September 28, 2025.  Adams is in the Democracy Now piece telling people he's dropping out, and then adding a dollop of fear mongering to boot. 

What are the billionaires afraid of?  That Mamdani will try to get them to contribute a bit more of all that money they have, to make NYC a better city.  Something that neither Adams nor Cuomo ever had the integrity or courage to do.

https://www.democracynow.org/2025/9/28/zohran_mamdani_eric_adams_nyc_mayoral

The Palpable Fear & Fear Mongering by the Billionaires & Their Mass Media Outlets

The billionaires are behaving like babies.  They're essentially screaming at the electorate to give them back their bat and ball, because they're threatening to go home if the electorate doesn't bow down and let them make the rules.  I'll give you a few for instances.

Rupert Murdoch, the billionaire who owns the NY Post, Wall St Journal and Fox News - all of which he uses to manipulate his audiences' perception of people, policies and other things - this month Murdoch's mass media outlets have told us that there's going to be a billionaire exodus from NYC.  What reputable source do they cite?  They reference their own 'research' by their own 'The Big Money Show', which is also controlled by billionaire Rupert Murdoch. Be advised that Rupert Murdoch's mass media outlets have been caught making things up when it serves their purposes.

Donald Trump's Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, suggested that if Mamdani wins NYC will go bankrupt and that the U.S. government won't bail us out [this is a 100% fictionalized /  manufactured crisis - like the reasons cited for sending the National Guard Troop deployments into Oregon].  I'm beginning to believe these people are taking hallucinogenic drugs, because - just in case you didn't know - Trump has declared over 50 National Emergencies in order legally be able to do some of the things he's doing.  Contact Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Republican House Majority Leader Mike Johnson for details.

The fear mongering has just begun.  But instead of allowing yourself to be manipulated by the dishonest TV ads, change channels, turn it off, or ask yourself - who's paying for this, why are they telling me this now, and does anything in their commercials offer a solution to the problems and corruption facing the everyday voters of NYC?

And then do some fact checking on the web, so you know what's really going on, not what the billionaires who control TV want you to believe.

June 24, 2025 John Catsimitides will close his grocery stores per Fox News.