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      Yang and Garcia Form Late Alliance in Mayor’s Race, Drawing Adams’s Ire

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      Andrew Yang and Kathryn Garcia campaigned together on Saturday in a show of unity that their top rival, Eric Adams, sought to portray as racially motivated.Andrew Yang and Kathryn Garcia, two leading candidates in the New York City mayor’s race, joined each other on the campaign trail on Saturday, a late alliance that the contest’s front-runner, Eric Adams, immediately sought to portray as an attempt to weaken the voice of minority voters.Mr. Yang and Ms. Garcia stopped short of an official cross-endorsement, with Mr. Yang urging voters to rank Ms. Garcia second on their ballots but Ms. Garcia refraining from doing the same for him. Still, the two distributed fliers at a rally in Queens that featured their photos and names side by side.“Rank me No. 1 and then rank Kathryn Garcia No. 2,” Mr. Yang said.The display of unity, just three days before the Democratic primary scheduled for Tuesday, appeared to be aimed at Mr. Adams, the Brooklyn borough president, who has been leading in the polls. Mr. Yang and Ms. Garcia are centrists in the top tier of candidates who are trying to stop Mr. Adams’s momentum, and theirs was the first major alliance under ranked-choice voting.The new voting system, in which voters can list up to five candidates on a ballot in ranked preference, has made campaign strategies more complicated. Candidates are not just asking for votes; they need to persuade as many of their rivals’ backers as possible to rank them second or third. If Mr. Yang and Ms. Garcia can persuade their supporters not to rank Mr. Adams, that could significantly hurt him.Mr. Adams inserted the notion that Mr. Yang and Ms. Garcia were playing racial politics, a provocative claim that his campaign attempted to back up by distributing statements from several of his more prominent supporters, including the former Gov. David A. Paterson and the Bronx borough president, Rubén Díaz Jr., who echoed the accusation.Mr. Adams said that the alliance between Mr. Yang and Ms. Garcia was aimed at preventing a “person of color” from winning the race. “For them to come together like they are doing in the last three days, they’re saying we can’t trust a person of color to be the mayor of the City of New York when this city is overwhelmingly people of color,” Mr. Adams said.At a separate news conference, Mr. Yang responded, “I would tell Eric Adams that I’ve been Asian my entire life.” (Mr. Adams clarified that he was accusing Mr. Yang and Ms. Garcia of trying to prevent a Black or Latino person from becoming mayor.)The Brooklyn borough president, Eric Adams, said the Yang-Garcia alliance was an effort to weaken the voices of minority voters in the mayoral election.Desiree Rios for The New York TimesMr. Adams, appearing at a news conference on Sheridan Avenue in the Bronx, where a man was shot this week as two children scrambled to get out of the way, said that Ms. Garcia and Mr. Yang were being hypocritical, and he highlighted how Ms. Garcia had previously criticized Mr. Yang. “We heard Kathryn talk about how Yang treated her as a woman,” Mr. Adams said. “We heard how she felt he did not have the experience, the know-how, to run the city.”Ms. Garcia and Mr. Yang dismissed Mr. Adams’s allegations. “I’m not even going to respond to that,” Ms. Garcia said. Her campaign later released a statement that accused Mr. Adams of “resorting to divisive politics that erode New York City’s democracy.”Mr. Yang, however, still made it clear that the rally was aimed at Mr. Adams, whom Mr. Yang has criticized in the past as a corrupt and unprincipled politician.“There’s some candidates I do not think should be anywhere near City Hall,” Mr. Yang said before adding, in reference to the police captains’ union and to Mr. Adams, who is a former police captain, “One of them — his union endorsed me this week, and that should be all you need to know.”Ms. Garcia was more circumspect, even about her alliance with Mr. Yang. She praised Mr. Yang and said they shared some of the same stances, but said she would not ask her supporters to rank him second.“I am not telling my voters what to do,” Ms. Garcia told reporters at a news conference in Manhattan, adding that she would be open to campaigning with other candidates.A victory by any of the four leading candidates would be momentous: Mr. Adams would be the city’s second Black mayor; Ms. Garcia would be the first female mayor; and Mr. Yang would be the first Asian American mayor. Maya Wiley, a former counsel to Mayor Bill de Blasio, would be the first Black female mayor.The Rev. Al Sharpton, who has not made an endorsement in the race, said that candidates should be free to make their own strategic decisions about how to encourage voter turnout.“My sense is, everybody should do whatever they can to get the vote out,” he said. “I think it would be good if the other candidates teamed up, too, to get the vote out.”.css-1xzcza9{list-style-type:disc;padding-inline-start:1em;}.css-3btd0c{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:1rem;line-height:1.375rem;color:#333;margin-bottom:0.78125rem;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-3btd0c{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.5rem;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}}.css-3btd0c strong{font-weight:600;}.css-3btd0c em{font-style:italic;}.css-w739ur{margin:0 auto 5px;font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.3125rem;color:#121212;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-w739ur{font-family:nyt-cheltenham,georgia,’times new roman’,times,serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.375rem;line-height:1.625rem;}@media (min-width:740px){#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-w739ur{font-size:1.6875rem;line-height:1.875rem;}}@media (min-width:740px){.css-w739ur{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.4375rem;}}.css-9s9ecg{margin-bottom:15px;}.css-uf1ume{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-box-pack:justify;-webkit-justify-content:space-between;-ms-flex-pack:justify;justify-content:space-between;}.css-wxi1cx{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-flex-direction:column;-ms-flex-direction:column;flex-direction:column;-webkit-align-self:flex-end;-ms-flex-item-align:end;align-self:flex-end;}.css-12vbvwq{background-color:white;border:1px solid #e2e2e2;width:calc(100% – 40px);max-width:600px;margin:1.5rem auto 1.9rem;padding:15px;box-sizing:border-box;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-12vbvwq{padding:20px;width:100%;}}.css-12vbvwq:focus{outline:1px solid #e2e2e2;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-12vbvwq{border:none;padding:10px 0 0;border-top:2px solid #121212;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-rdoyk0{-webkit-transform:rotate(0deg);-ms-transform:rotate(0deg);transform:rotate(0deg);}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-eb027h{max-height:300px;overflow:hidden;-webkit-transition:none;transition:none;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-5gimkt:after{content:’See more’;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-6mllg9{opacity:1;}.css-qjk116{margin:0 auto;overflow:hidden;}.css-qjk116 strong{font-weight:700;}.css-qjk116 em{font-style:italic;}.css-qjk116 a{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:visited{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:hover{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}Indeed, aides to Ms. Garcia, who has been trying to increase her support in the Black community, said that the campaign of Raymond J. McGuire, a Black candidate and a former Wall Street executive, had contacted her campaign two weeks ago to discuss a cross-endorsement. After a forum, Ms. Garcia approached Mr. McGuire and said, “We should talk.”Ms. Garcia wanted access to the base of Black support that Mr. McGuire had cultivated in Harlem and southeast Queens, and she wanted an introduction to Representative Gregory W. Meeks and Assemblyman Robert J. Rodriguez, both of whom had endorsed Mr. McGuire as their first choice. Ms. Garcia wanted to visit a subway stop in southeast Queens with Mr. McGuire or take a trip to the Bronx with Mr. Rodriguez.The plan was progressing until Mr. McGuire’s campaign leaders changed their minds, feeling that the cross-endorsement would not help them because they already had white supporters, according to a person familiar with the matter.“It didn’t work out,” Annika Reno, a spokeswoman for Ms. Garcia, said, confirming the negotiations. Ms. Wiley suggested on Saturday that she, too, had been offered the opportunity to campaign with Mr. Yang and Ms. Garcia. But she said she “couldn’t do it” after Mr. Yang’s comments at the final debate about wanting to get people with mental health problems off the streets.The campaigns of Mr. Yang and Ms. Garcia both denied that Ms. Wiley had been invited to Saturday’s events. Ms. Wiley declined to criticize the joint appearance of Ms. Garcia and Mr. Yang, even as she seemed to dismiss the possibility of doing something similar.“Candidates gonna candidate,” she said on Saturday. “I’m going to talk to people.”Ms. Wiley also received an endorsement on Saturday from Alessandra Biaggi, a prominent state senator, another sign of momentum for Ms. Wiley among progressive leaders. Ms. Biaggi had endorsed Scott M. Stringer, the city comptroller, but withdrew her support after he was accused of sexual misconduct. Mr. Sharpton suggested that Mr. Adams’s strategy appeared to be centered on attracting as many Black and Latino voters as possible in places like the Bronx, Central Harlem and Central Brooklyn, and making inroads with moderate white voters. Public polls suggest that Mr. Adams has a clear advantage with Black voters, but Mr. Yang and Ms. Garcia are also competing for Latino and moderate white voters.“He’ll get some moderate white voters because of his crime stand,” Mr. Sharpton said of Mr. Adams. “With this uptick in violence, he’s the one that’s taken the definitive stand in terms of public safety.”The Yang-Garcia event did cost Ms. Garcia a ranked-choice vote from Jumaane Williams, the city’s public advocate. Mr. Williams had endorsed Ms. Wiley as his first choice and announced his secondary choices on Saturday, among them Mr. Adams.Ms. Garcia’s alliance with Mr. Yang, he said, was enough to exclude her from his ballot. “As I’ve said previously, while I have concerns about multiple candidates, at this point I’m singularly most concerned about Andrew Yang for mayor,” he said.Mr. Adams, for his part, seemed to be having fun on the campaign trail. At Orchard Beach in the Bronx, he appeared in swimming trunks, grinning and waving at beachgoers who called out greetings from the sand. Then Mr. Adams waded out into the water.Reporting was contributed by Anne Barnard, Katie Glueck and Michael Gold. More

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      Rising From Pandemic, New York Seeks a New Mayor to Face Looming Crises

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      Eric Adams is considered the front-runner in Tuesday’s Democratic primary, but the race is fluid enough that another candidate may win.The New York City mayor’s race began in the throes of a pandemic, in a shuttered city convulsed by a public health catastrophe, economic devastation and widespread protests over police brutality.Now, with voters heading to the primary polls on Tuesday, New York finds itself in a very different place. As the city roars back to life, its residents are at once buoyed by optimism around reopenings, but also anxious about public safety, affordable housing, jobs — and the very character of the nation’s largest city.The primary election marks the end of an extraordinary chapter in New York’s history and the start of another, an inflection point that will play a defining role in shaping the post-pandemic future of the city. The leading mayoral candidates have promoted starkly divergent visions for confronting a series of overlapping crises, making this primary, which will almost certainly determine the next mayor, the most significant city election in a generation.Public polling and interviews with elected officials, voters and party strategists suggest that on the cusp of Tuesday’s election, Eric Adams, the Brooklyn borough president, is the front-runner, fueled by his focus on public safety issues and his ability to connect in working- and middle-class communities of color.Eric Adams, the Brooklyn borough president, leads most of the late polling in the mayor’s race.Michael M. Santiago/Getty ImagesYet even on the last weekend of the race, the contest to succeed Mayor Bill de Blasio appears fluid and unpredictable, and credible polling remains sparse.Two other leading candidates, Andrew Yang and Kathryn Garcia, campaigned together on Saturday in Queens and Manhattan, a show of unity that also injected ugly clashes over race into the final hours of the election, as Mr. Adams accused his rivals of coming together “in the last three days” and “saying, ‘We can’t trust a person of color to be the mayor of the City of New York.’”Mr. Yang, at a later event, noted that he had been “Asian my entire life.” (Mr. Adams later clarified that he meant that Mr. Yang and Ms. Garcia were trying to prevent a Black or Latino candidate from becoming mayor.)The primary election will ultimately offer a clear sense of Democratic attitudes around confronting crime, a major national issue that has become the most urgent matter in the mayoral primary.The outcome will also show whether New Yorkers wanted a political outsider eager to shake up City Hall bureaucracy, like Mr. Yang, or a seasoned government veteran like Ms. Garcia to navigate staggering challenges from issues of education to evictions to economic revival.And it will reveal whether Democrats are in the mood to “reimagine” a far more equitable city through transformational progressive policies, as Maya D. Wiley is promising, or if they are more focused on everyday municipal problems.In recent polls and last-minute fund-raising, Ms. Garcia, the city’s former sanitation commissioner, and Ms. Wiley, a former counsel to Mr. de Blasio, seem to be gaining late traction, while Mr. Yang, a former presidential candidate, remains a serious contender even amid signs that his momentum may have stalled.Kathryn Garcia, a former city sanitation commissioner, bills herself as an experienced problem-solver.Michelle V. Agins/The New York TimesBut other factors may muddy the outcome.For the first time in New York City, the mayoral nominee will be determined by ranked-choice voting, which allows New Yorkers to rank up to five candidates in order of preference. Some New Yorkers remain undecided about how to rank their choices, and whether to rank at all.And with many New Yorkers accustomed to a primary that usually takes place in September, it is not at all clear what the composition of a post-pandemic June electorate will look like.For such a high-stakes election, the contest has felt at once endless and rushed. For months, it was a low-key affair, defined by dutiful Zoom forums and a distracted city.The final weeks have more than made up for an initial dearth of drama, with frequent controversies: There were sexual misconduct allegations against Scott M. Stringer from decades ago, which he denied; a unionization uprising on Dianne Morales’s campaign and questions over Mr. Adams’s residency that prompted him to give journalists a narrated tour of what he said was his ground-floor apartment.Andrew Yang, who was endorsed by the Uniformed Firefighters Association, is seeking to become the city’s first Asian American mayor.Michael M. Santiago/Getty ImagesBut if there has been one constant in the last month, it has been the centrality of crime and policing to the contest.“Public safety has clearly emerged as a significant issue,” said Representative Hakeem Jeffries, New York’s highest-ranking House member, when asked to name the defining issue of the mayor’s race. “How to balance that aspiration with fair, respectful policing, I think has been critical throughout the balance of this campaign.”Six months ago, few would have predicted that public safety would be the top issue of the race, only a year after the“defund the police” movement took hold in the city. Crime rates are far lower than in earlier eras, and residents are confronting a long list of challenges as the city emerges from the pandemic.But amid a rise this spring in shootings, jarring episodes of violence on the subways, bias attacks against Asian Americans and Jews — and heavy coverage of crime on local television — virtually every public poll shows public safety has become the biggest concern among Democratic voters.Mr. Adams, Ms. Garcia, Mr. Yang and Raymond J. McGuire, a former Citi executive, vigorously disagree with the “defund the police” movement. But no one has been more vocal about public safety issues than Mr. Adams, a former police captain who has declared safety the “prerequisite” to prosperity.Mr. Adams, who had a complex career at the Police Department and battled police misconduct as a leader of 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care, an advocacy group, says that he was once a victim of police brutality himself, and argues that he is well equipped to manage both police reform and spikes in violence.In recent weeks, however, Mr. Adams has come under growing scrutiny over questions of transparency and ethics tied to taxes and disclosures around real estate holdings. That dynamic may fuel doubts about his candidacy in the final days, as his opponents have sharply questioned his judgment and integrity.If he wins, it will be in part because of his significant institutional support, as a veteran politician with union backing and relationships with key constituencies — but also because his message connects at a visceral level in some neighborhoods across the city.“Mr. Adams! You got my vote!” Blanca Soto, who turns 60 on Monday, cried out as she walked by an Adams event in Harlem on Thursday.“I am rooting for him because he’s not going to take away from the police officers,” said Ms. Soto, a health aide, who called safety her top issue. “I do want to see more police, especially in the subways. We had them there before. I don’t know what happened, but everything was good when that was going on.”Scott M. Stringer, the city comptroller, is one of several candidates pressing for cuts to the police budget.Hilary Swift for The New York TimesMr. Stringer, the city comptroller; Shaun Donovan, a former federal housing secretary; Ms. Morales, a former nonprofit executive; and Ms. Wiley have taken a starkly different view on several policing matters. They support varying degrees of cuts to the Police Department’s budget, arguing for investments in communities instead. The department’s operating budget has been about $6 billion. Ms. Wiley, Mr. Stringer and Ms. Morales have also been skeptical of adding more police officers to patrol the subway.Ms. Wiley argues that the best way to stop violence is often to invest in the social safety net, including in mental health professionals, violence interrupters and in schools..css-1xzcza9{list-style-type:disc;padding-inline-start:1em;}.css-3btd0c{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:1rem;line-height:1.375rem;color:#333;margin-bottom:0.78125rem;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-3btd0c{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.5rem;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}}.css-3btd0c strong{font-weight:600;}.css-3btd0c em{font-style:italic;}.css-w739ur{margin:0 auto 5px;font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.3125rem;color:#121212;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-w739ur{font-family:nyt-cheltenham,georgia,’times new roman’,times,serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.375rem;line-height:1.625rem;}@media (min-width:740px){#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-w739ur{font-size:1.6875rem;line-height:1.875rem;}}@media (min-width:740px){.css-w739ur{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.4375rem;}}.css-9s9ecg{margin-bottom:15px;}.css-uf1ume{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-box-pack:justify;-webkit-justify-content:space-between;-ms-flex-pack:justify;justify-content:space-between;}.css-wxi1cx{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-flex-direction:column;-ms-flex-direction:column;flex-direction:column;-webkit-align-self:flex-end;-ms-flex-item-align:end;align-self:flex-end;}.css-12vbvwq{background-color:white;border:1px solid #e2e2e2;width:calc(100% – 40px);max-width:600px;margin:1.5rem auto 1.9rem;padding:15px;box-sizing:border-box;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-12vbvwq{padding:20px;width:100%;}}.css-12vbvwq:focus{outline:1px solid #e2e2e2;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-12vbvwq{border:none;padding:10px 0 0;border-top:2px solid #121212;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-rdoyk0{-webkit-transform:rotate(0deg);-ms-transform:rotate(0deg);transform:rotate(0deg);}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-eb027h{max-height:300px;overflow:hidden;-webkit-transition:none;transition:none;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-5gimkt:after{content:’See more’;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-6mllg9{opacity:1;}.css-qjk116{margin:0 auto;overflow:hidden;}.css-qjk116 strong{font-weight:700;}.css-qjk116 em{font-style:italic;}.css-qjk116 a{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:visited{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:hover{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}Ms. Wiley, who has been endorsed by some of the most prominent left-wing leaders in the country, including Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, is seeking to build a coalition that includes white progressives as well as voters of color across the ideological spectrum.Rival campaigns have long believed that she has the potential to build perhaps the broadest coalition of voters in the race, but polls suggest that she has not yet done so in a meaningful way.Maya Wiley has won endorsements from prominent left-wing leaders, including Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.Jonah Markowitz for The New York TimesMr. Jeffries, who has endorsed Ms. Wiley and campaigned with her, said that she offers change from the status quo, “a fresh face” who is both prepared “and is offering a compelling vision for investing in those communities that have traditionally been left behind.”Mr. Jeffries has said that he is ranking Mr. Adams second, and that if Mr. Adams were to win, it would be on the strength of Black and Latino communities “who have increasingly felt excluded from the promises of New York City, as it has become increasingly expensive.”A number of campaigns and political strategists see Latino voters as the crucial, late-breaking swing vote, and the leading candidates all see opportunities with slices of that diverse constituency, with candidates including Mr. Adams and Ms. Wiley airing new Spanish-language ads in recent days — an Adams spot criticizes Ms. Garcia in Spanish — and Mr. Yang spending Thursday in the Bronx, home to the city’s largest Latino population.Mr. Yang, who would be the city’s first Asian American mayor, is betting that he can reshape the electorate by engaging more young, Asian American and Latino voters as he casts himself as a “change” candidate.Mr. Yang was a front-runner in the race for months, boosted by his strong name identification and air of celebrity, as well as a hopeful message about New York’s potential and an energetic in-person campaign schedule.But as New York reopened and crime became a bigger issue in voters’ minds — and as Mr. Yang faced growing scrutiny over gaffes and gaps in his municipal knowledge — he has lost ground.His tone in the homestretch is a striking departure from the exuberant pitch that defined his early message, as he sharpens his criticism of Mr. Adams and tries to cut into his advantage on public safety issues. Mr. Yang, who has no city government experience, has also sought to use that outsider standing to deliver searing indictments of the political class.Ms. Garcia has moderate instincts — she was one of the few leading mayoral candidates to favor President Biden as her first choice in the presidential primary — but she is primarily running as a pragmatic technocrat steeped in municipal knowledge.She has been endorsed by the editorial boards of The New York Times and The New York Daily News, among others, and has generated palpable traction in politically engaged, highly educated corners of the city, like the Upper West Side, even as Mr. Stringer and Mr. Donovan have also vied for the government experience mantle.“I don’t think New York does that well, as progressive as I am, with a series of progressives who think that we should spend more time dealing with those kinds of issues rather than actual stuff that needs to be done,” said William Pinzler, 74, as he prepared to vote for Ms. Garcia at Lincoln Center. “Kathryn Garcia picked up the garbage.”But Ms. Garcia, who has struggled to deliver a standout moment during several televised debates, is in many ways still introducing herself, and it is not yet clear whether she can attract the same kind of support citywide.Asked what lessons national Democrats may take from the results of Tuesday’s contest, Representative Grace Meng, who has endorsed Mr. Yang as her first choice and Ms. Garcia as her second, and appeared with them on Saturday, pointed to questions of both personal characteristics and policy visions.“How much people prioritize a leader with experience or vision to get us out of the pandemic, but also to address issues like public safety and education — I think that it’ll kind of be a filter through which we see the next round of elections nationally,” she said. “Wherever they may be.” More

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      Yang and Garcia Announce Plans to Campaign Together

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      Their plan to appear together over the last weekend before the primary, appears aimed at creating a bloc against the presumed front-runner, Eric Adams.Andrew Yang had been hinting for days that he might form an alliance with one of his rivals in the New York City mayor’s race to stop the front-runner, Eric Adams, from winning the Democratic primary.On Friday night, Mr. Yang announced he would spend Saturday campaigning with Kathryn Garcia, another leading candidate, in an apparent signal of a likely cross-endorsement, or something close to it.An email from his campaign said Mr. Yang and Ms. Garcia planned on Saturday to attend a rally, greet voters and hold a news conference together, grabbing attention in the final days of the race. A spokesman for Mr. Yang, Jake Sporn, would not say if the joint events meant the candidates would cross-endorse each other.“Stay tuned,” he said.Cross-endorsements are a common feature of ranked-choice elections — a voting system that New York City is using for the first time in a mayoral election. Candidates encourage their supporters to rank another candidate second on their ballot, boosting both campaigns.For months, Mr. Yang, a 2020 presidential candidate, has made his respect for Ms. Garcia, the city’s former sanitation commissioner, well known. Mr. Yang had said that she was his second choice and that he would want her to serve in his administration, but Ms. Garcia had not returned the favor. Both candidates are trying to stall momentum by Mr. Adams, the Brooklyn borough president, who has been leading in the polls. Mr. Adams, who has faced questions over his residency and his finances in recent days, stood before supporters in Harlem on Friday to dismiss the growing attacks from his rivals.“All the stuff you are seeing out there is to throw Eric off his game,” Mr. Adams said. “That’s all this is. And they are not going to do it.”For days, Mr. Adams has advised those who support him, “no distractions, stay focused and grind.” On Friday, his opponents appeared to be heeding that message as well, hopping between boroughs for campaign events and making their final appeals.The flurry of activity heading into the weekend reflected the candidates’ urgent efforts to get their supporters to cast ballots in the final days of early voting, which ends Sunday, and to the polls on Tuesday. As of Friday, 130,000 people had voted early, a relatively small number that suggested much the electorate could still be up for grabs.Appearing earlier in the day in Queens, Mr. Yang had announced a cross-endorsement with Elizabeth Crowley, a former City Council member running for Queens borough president. When asked about the possibility of a cross-endorsement with one of his rivals, he said only “there will be more news to come on that front.”Andrew Yang, standing with firefighters and other supporters, criticized Mr. Adams for his connections to the city’s political establishment.Michael M. Santiago/Getty ImagesAs he has often done in the weeks since Mr. Adams began to consolidate his lead in the race, Mr. Yang criticized his rival over his ties to Mayor Bill de Blasio. “We need to break the stranglehold of the special interests that have been running our city into the ground,” Mr. Yang said. Mr. Yang also continued to focus on public safety, an issue that has dominated the campaign’s late stages amid a rise in violent crimes, even as the rate of such offenses remains well below where it was in the 1980s and ’90s.Mr. Yang, citing the endorsements he has received from the firefighters’ and police captains’ unions, again criticized Mr. Adams’s record on public safety. (Before entering politics, Mr. Adams was Police Department captain.)The New York Mayoral Candidates’ Closing ArgumentsHere is how the leading Democratic candidates for mayor are pitching themselves to New Yorkers in the final stretch.Voters who are still undecided, Mr. Yang said, should look to the unions for guidance on choosing a candidate. Mr. Yang did not mention that the fire officers’ union, which represents lieutenants, captains, and chiefs, has endorsed Mr. Adams.“I’m the right choice for New York City, according to the firefighters, the police captains,” Mr. Yang said. “And as New Yorkers discover this in the next number of days, they’re going to come out and vote for me.”Maya Wiley, a former counsel to Mr. de Blasio who has also taken aim at Mr. Adams, held a rally in Brooklyn where she spoke of her support for police reform.Maya Wiley and her partner, Harlan Mandel, after voting in Brooklyn this week. Jonah Markowitz for The New York TimesSurrounded by a crowd of mostly Black supporters outside the Brooklyn Public Library’s main branch, on Grand Army Plaza — a frequent site of protests after the police killing of George Floyd last year — Ms. Wiley invoked the Black Lives Matter movement and promised that she would bring its message to City Hall..css-1xzcza9{list-style-type:disc;padding-inline-start:1em;}.css-3btd0c{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:1rem;line-height:1.375rem;color:#333;margin-bottom:0.78125rem;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-3btd0c{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.5rem;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}}.css-3btd0c strong{font-weight:600;}.css-3btd0c em{font-style:italic;}.css-w739ur{margin:0 auto 5px;font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.3125rem;color:#121212;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-w739ur{font-family:nyt-cheltenham,georgia,’times new roman’,times,serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.375rem;line-height:1.625rem;}@media (min-width:740px){#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-w739ur{font-size:1.6875rem;line-height:1.875rem;}}@media (min-width:740px){.css-w739ur{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.4375rem;}}.css-9s9ecg{margin-bottom:15px;}.css-uf1ume{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-box-pack:justify;-webkit-justify-content:space-between;-ms-flex-pack:justify;justify-content:space-between;}.css-wxi1cx{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-flex-direction:column;-ms-flex-direction:column;flex-direction:column;-webkit-align-self:flex-end;-ms-flex-item-align:end;align-self:flex-end;}.css-12vbvwq{background-color:white;border:1px solid #e2e2e2;width:calc(100% – 40px);max-width:600px;margin:1.5rem auto 1.9rem;padding:15px;box-sizing:border-box;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-12vbvwq{padding:20px;width:100%;}}.css-12vbvwq:focus{outline:1px solid #e2e2e2;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-12vbvwq{border:none;padding:10px 0 0;border-top:2px solid #121212;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-rdoyk0{-webkit-transform:rotate(0deg);-ms-transform:rotate(0deg);transform:rotate(0deg);}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-eb027h{max-height:300px;overflow:hidden;-webkit-transition:none;transition:none;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-5gimkt:after{content:’See more’;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-6mllg9{opacity:1;}.css-qjk116{margin:0 auto;overflow:hidden;}.css-qjk116 strong{font-weight:700;}.css-qjk116 em{font-style:italic;}.css-qjk116 a{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:visited{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:hover{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}Representative Yvette Clarke, a Brooklyn Democrat who has endorsed Ms. Wiley, urged voters to advance the movement’s goals and not to be swayed by appeals for more aggressive policing.“Vote your hopes,” Ms. Clarke said, “not your fears.”Kirsten John Foy, a civil rights activist, went further, attacking Mr. Yang, Mr. Adams and Ms. Garcia, a former sanitation commissioner, directly.“There are dangerous candidates out here,” Mr. Foy, who was an aide to Mr. de Blasio before he was mayor, said. “We have got to pull the curtain back and call out these wolves in sheep’s clothing.”Mr. Foy accused Ms. Garcia of trying to cozy up to New York’s largest police union, whose leaders are politically conservative. The union’s president asked officers in an email, obtained by The New York Times, to rank Ms. Garcia, Mr. Adams or Mr. Yang on their ballots — and not other candidates.Ms. Garcia scoffed at the comment later, telling reporters that she had not “had any conversation” with the union at all.At his Harlem event, Mr. Adams dismissed the criticisms leveled against him by Ms. Wiley and her supporters, deriding her as a “college professor” with little practical understanding of public safety.“We need a professional that knows how to keep this city safe,” Mr. Adams said. “My résumé out-beats everyone on that stage. They know it, I know it.”Standing alongside Mr. Adams were several anti-violence activists and parents of people who had been killed in violent incidents. He and his supporters continued to argue that his experience made him the best candidate to both keep residents’ safe and address discriminatory policing.“If you break the law, you are going to be accountable for it under Eric Adams,” said Hazel N. Dukes, president of the N.A.A.C.P.’s New York chapter. “How do I know that? Because I trained him.”Asked about issues related to his real estate holdings, including a co-op apartment he bought in Brooklyn in 1992 with a woman he has described as a good friend, Mr. Adams said he had already answered questions on the subject. He has previously said he gave his shares in the co-op to the woman, Sylvia Cowan. Ms. Cowan, in a text message to The New York Times on Friday, said Mr. Adams “transferred all of his shares” to her in March 2007. But an email that Ms. Cowan sent to the co-op’s board in May, which The Times obtained, suggests that Mr. Adams still owned his shares in the unit as recently as last month.When asked about his residency and his finances, Mr. Adams called the criticism of him “desperate attempts” by his opponents.“I’m so finished with all that,” he said. Anne Barnard More

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      The New York Mayoral Candidates’ Closing Arguments

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      Analysis
      In arguing why he should be elected, Mr. Adams has leaned heavily on his life story: Growing up poor in Brooklyn and Queens, being abused by police as a teenager and joining the Police Department, and speaking out against racism within its ranks. “They wish they had my bio,” Mr. Adams often says of his rival candidates.

      Analysis
      Mr. Adams co-founded a group called 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care to highlight racism in the New York Police Department. Mr. Adams was once a frequent and high-profile critic of incidents of police brutality, including the fatal shooting of Amadou Diallo in 1999.

      Analysis
      In 2013, Mr. Adams, then a state senator, testified that he was at a meeting with Gov. David Paterson and Raymond Kelly, the police commissioner, when Mr. Kelly said Black and Latino men were the focus of stop and frisk because “he wanted to instill fear in them.” Mr. Adams’s testimony helped a federal judge rule that the Police Department was using stop and frisk in an unconstitutional way.

      Analysis
      Mr. Adams said he has the background needed to hold officers accountable. He says he would give civilian review panels the power to choose their precinct commanders and strengthen officers’ de-escalation training while speeding up the release of body-worn camera images and disciplinary decisions.

      Analysis
      Mr. Adams often speaks about how a poor education system leads people, specifically Black boys, to be forced into making bad choices and getting swept up in the criminal justice system.

      Analysis
      Mr. Adams has had to answer questions about his primary residence and his relationship with donors to his campaign. Rival campaigns have questioned whether he lives in the home he owns in Brooklyn, or in the co-op he owns in New Jersey. Mr. Adams invited reporters over for a tour of the apartment in Bedford-Stuyvesant that he says is his primary residence.

      Analysis
      Mr. Adams often talks about how poverty made his youth precarious. His mother worked multiple jobs, including as a house cleaner, and neighbors would sometimes leave food and clothes outside his door. Mr. Adams worked as a squeegee man on Jamaica Avenue in Queens when he was 17 to help support his family.

      Analysis
      Mr. Adams says he was shot at while he was in the Police Department and speaking out against racism. He says his son had just been born and that led him to become more private about his personal life. He says he never told some of his colleagues in the Police Department that he had a son.

      Analysis
      Mayor Bill de Blasio is believed to favor Mr. Adams and has been working behind the scenes to get others to support him. Mr. Adams said that he, like Mr. de Blasio, wants to end inequality in the city, but that he would use different methods to accomplish that goal.

      Analysis
      Mr. Adams’s son Jordan, 26, is working on a master’s degree in screenwriting at Brooklyn College. He made an appearance when questions arose about Mr. Adams’s residency, standing beside him outside the rowhouse that Mr. Adams owns. Jordan also appeared in a campaign ad with his father.

      Analysis
      Mr. Adams is fond of saying that “public safety is the prerequisite to prosperity.” He has spoken about the need for balance between public safety and police reform. But some police reform advocates believe he is too focused on policing as a cure-all.

      Analysis
      Mr. Adams is a vegan who says that changing his lifestyle helped him overcome Type 2 diabetes. He says the disease was causing him to lose his sight before he switched to a plant-based diet. If elected, Mr. Adams has said he will make sure the city’s public school children are being served the healthiest foods.

      Analysis
      Mr. Adams is considered a moderate Democrat who would be more business-friendly than Mr. de Blasio. Mr. Adams has spoken out against the “defund the police” movement and the police officer’s union advised their members that he was one of three candidates they would suggest casting a vote for.

      Saturday, May 22

      Rally of Harlem Men for Eric Adams

      Frederick Douglass Circle in Harlem

      You know my team from time to time, brothers and sisters, they move with me throughout the city. And people will be at gatherings. And people will stop, and they’ll say to my team: ‘Let me tell you my Eric Adams story.’

      And they’ll go back to the 80s, and back to the 90s, and then talk about the time when their child may have left home and Eric will pay the fare to bring them back from sex trafficking in other states. They tell you about the time we would sit in living rooms and talk to young men who were on the way to crime and we put them on a pathway to college. They talk about 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement each month, helping people on the lower level and using our skills and ability. They talk about the ‘what to do when stopped by police’ program that we put in place. I mean, the legacy is just so rich, of so many things that we did as an organization.

      I was so proud to find the people who lived in the crevices of our communities and stated that we can do better, we can get better and we can be better. And so it mystifies me, with all those who are running, who have all the full understanding of who I am, what I am and what I’ve been doing, they want you to redefine my history. Are you kidding me?

      Listen, you can critique me on a lot of things, but the audacity of some people to say he has not been the leading voice on stop and frisk. Where have you been? If you don’t know my history on that issue, then something is wrong with you.

      The audacity of people to state: ‘Well, he has never been strong on police issues.’ What! Can someone mail an alarm clock to those folks who are sleeping? You gotta come better than that.

      And let me tell you something else, brothers, let me tell you something else. And I want to drop this on you because you have to understand this. America has a history of criminalizing Black men.

      The next 30 days, you are going to see the attacks on me that you could never imagine. These are going to be the hardest 30 days of my life, you hear me?

      Harder than being arrested and beat by police. Harder than being under surveillance by the Police Department. Harder than being a person that had to carry a garbage bag full of clothing to school every day because we thought we were going to be thrown out. Harder than not having the opportunities to go to the best schools. Harder than being shot at. Harder than all those things. The next 30 days, I want you to watch what happens.

      There are people in the city of power that are saying Eric Adams could never be the mayor of the city of New York, because he’s going to end inequalities, he’s going to keep our city safe and he’s going to stop us believing we have to live like we’re living in our communities.

      It’s no secret that 65 percent of Black children never reach proficiencies in the city, and everyone is comfortable with that. Trust me, if 65 percent of any other group was not reaching proficiency in school, there’d be riots in the street.

      They wrote off our children. They gave up on us. They allowed folks to normalize the conditions that we’re living in. My son won’t grow up in a city that I grew up in. You should not have to have, right here in Harlem, the gun violence that’s pervasive, and doing routines, when you hear gunshots or a car backfire, you have to tell your children to learn how to duck down. Don’t need to live like this, people. And I’m saying that that’s why I’m running for mayor. I’m running for mayor because I’m qualified to do this job. My entire life has prepared me for the moment. Now why is that, Eric?

      What is the most pressing, pressing issue in the city? Police reform and public safety. Who has the better résumé? What about health care, and how Covid virus has decimated our community?

      Who is reforming the health care system, first personally reforming my own health care for my body? Eric Adams.

      Who went to school with a learning disability, taught myself and went from a D student to a dean’s list student? Eric Adams.

      Who’s going to stop 30 percent of our babies in jail that are dyslexic? Fifty-five percent have a learning disability. Eighty percent don’t have a high school diploma or equivalency diploma. Who understands that better than any candidate that’s running? Eric Adams.

      Who knows how to attract businesses to the city and ensure that they come and pay fair, decent wages so we can build up our middle class and not decimate our middle class? Eric Adams.

      I check the box. So vote on the box for Eric Adams. Folks went from rolling their eyes to focusing their eyes. Trust me, when I started out, they said: ‘Well, listen, man, we’re not trying to hear you, Eric.’ And then all of a sudden, they started saying ‘Wait a minute, listen to this guy.’

      Listen to him when he’s talking about the dysfunctionality of our agencies and the wasting of taxpayers’ dollars. Listen to him, how he’s saying, why is the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene fighting childhood obesity, diabetes and asthma, but the Department of Education, they’re feeding our children foods that cause diabetes, childhood obesity and asthma?

      Why do we have a Department of Buildings in conflict with small business services? Small business services are trying to open restaurants every day and the Department of Buildings is doing just the opposite, doing everything they could possibly do to keep a restaurant closed. So we can’t hire a dishwasher, a cook, a waiter?

      Why do we have these conflicts in the city? You know why? People are making money off the dysfunctionality of this city. And I know the hustle. It was right here in Harlem, where I heard the words that resonate today. We have been bamboozled, we have been hoodwinked and we have been sold out.

      We’re going to turn that around. That’s what we’re running for.

      And so they say well, what are you? Are you a moderate? Are you this? Are you that? No, I’m a New Yorker. And New Yorkers are complex. Don’t put me in a box. That box has put us where we are now. I’m not going to go outside the box, I’m going to destroy the box.

      New city, new attitude, new mindset, build this city up, ending inequalities, creating a safe city where we raise healthy children and families and tear down those walls that prevented us all of these years from seeing what this city is made of. We are made up of the best stuff on Earth. We are New Yorkers. Let’s win this race. More

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      A Very Specific Guide to Ranking Candidates for N.Y.C. Mayor

      by

      New York City has embarked on the biggest ranked-choice voting election in American history with the Democratic primary for mayor on Tuesday. Plenty of New Yorkers are looking for advice on how to fill out their ballots to help their favorite candidates — or to try to block other candidates they don’t want in City Hall.As a longtime planner and champion of ranked-choice voting, I’ve pulled together some guidance for marking your ballot for a variety of scenarios involving the mayoral candidates, in particular Eric Adams, Maya Wiley, Kathryn Garcia, Andrew Yang and Scott Stringer. But first, the good news for voters: This is not rocket science.The system is designed for voters to express themselves and arrive at a consensus candidate. Because voting to get the results you want is so intuitive, ranked choice has become the nation’s most popular new electoral reform after successful uses in elections in Maine for president and Congress, mayoral elections in more than a dozen cities and elections for leaders of many major associations.Among the upsides: In Tuesday’s primaries, races up and down the ballot have multiple candidates of color and women, and in ranked-choice voting, none of them have to worry about split votes. That term describes what often happens when two or more candidates appealing to the same voters run in an election and the votes are divided, causing neither to win. This helps to explain why RepresentWomen and FairVote show sharply rising success for underrepresented candidates.The best advice is simple: Rank your favorite candidate first, your second favorite second and so on until you reach New York’s maximum of five ranked candidates. If you rank five, you’ll have cast your most expressive ballot ever.But for voters who want to think strategically, here are a few scenarios to keep in mind.‘I want Adams to win and Wiley to lose.’ More

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      How the Candidates for N.Y.C. Mayor Would Tackle Homelessness

      by

      In the Democratic primary’s last days, and with New York’s economy starting to regain its footing, a chronic problem gains new urgency.Random slashings on the subways. Groups of men clustered outside Midtown Manhattan hotels serving as homeless shelters. Anti-Asian attacks on the streets.In the closing days of New York’s Democratic primary for mayor, the city’s chronic struggle with homelessness has taken on increasing urgency. As the city moves to reopen for business and tourism, public concern — and the candidates’ attention — has focused on a small number of people who are mentally ill and potentially violent.The issue is complicated. Homeless people are not involved in every unsettling incident, and they also have been targeted in vicious killings and other attacks. Their advocates warn against demonizing a large group of people who are struggling just to survive. Most of the 48,000 people in the main shelter system are families with children, not single men.Before the pandemic hit, the shelter population had increased since Mayor Bill de Blasio took office, even as he doubled spending on homeless services to more than $3 billion. The number of families in shelters has dropped sharply since early last year, largely because of an eviction moratorium that has been extended through August. If it expires then, hundreds of thousands of tenants who collectively owe over $1 billion in back rent could lose their homes.Now, a spate of attacks on the streets and in the subway, combined with an increase in gun violence, have fed a perception in many quarters that the city is in danger of sliding into chaos. The candidates seem to be split, seeing the issue through two different lenses: the plight of people with an illness that can last their whole lives, and the safety and quality of life of everyone else.At the final debate on Wednesday, Andrew Yang, the former presidential candidate, left no doubt where he stood.“Yes, mentally ill people have rights,” the Democratic candidate Andrew Yang said at a mayoral debate this week. “But you know who else have rights? We do.” Andrew Seng for The New York Times“Mentally ill homeless men are changing the character of our neighborhoods,” Mr. Yang said. “We need to get them off of our streets and subways and into a better environment.” Later, he added: “Yes, mentally ill people have rights. But you know who else have rights? We do: the people and families of the city. We have the right to walk the street and not fear for our safety.”Candidates with more progressive agendas took a softer stance. Scott M. Stringer, the city comptroller, described his plan to build 30,000 units of so-called supportive housing, where people with mental illness would get a range of services. Maya Wiley, a former counsel to Mr. de Blasio, lamented that the Rikers Island jail complex had effectively become the city’s biggest psychiatric facility.Unlike some of Democratic rivals, Maya Wiley does not favor assigning more police officers to the subway system.Jonah Markowitz for The New York TimesThe causes of the apparent increase in the number of homeless people on the streets and in the subway of pandemic-era New York are many.When the lockdown hit last year, the city moved thousands of people from barrackslike group shelters across the city into unused hotels — many of them in densely populated middle-class and wealthy Manhattan neighborhoods — to stop the spread of Covid-19. Many people living under precarious conditions lost their jobs and, thus, their homes. With workers doing their jobs remotely, far fewer people were in the main business districts, leaving those who live on the streets to stand out. Some hospitals used inpatient psychiatric beds for Covid patients. Many libraries and other places where homeless people typically spend their days closed.The city is accelerating its efforts to move homeless people off the Manhattan streets. On Wednesday, Mr. de Blasio said that 8,000 people would be moved from 60 hotels back to group, or congregate, shelters by the end of July. Starting next week, the police will begin sweeps along 125th Street in Harlem to clear it of homeless people and those using drugs, according to a senior city official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the plan has not been publicly announced. A spokeswoman for the mayor said the effort was focused on “helping people with substance abuse issues access harm-reduction resources” and that offer would be on hand to “assist as needed.”The leading Democratic candidates have proposed many plans to address the homelessness problem. Here are some of them. More details can be found in voter guides produced by RxHome and the Family Homelessness Coalition and City Limits.Reduce or end reliance on congregate shelters.Kathryn Garcia, a former sanitation commissioner who calls shelters “a band-aid solution to a long-term problem,” says she would cut the shelter population in half. Shaun Donovan, a former city housing commissioner under Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, said he would end the use of congregate shelters entirely in his first term. (Mr. Donovan’s tenure was the only time during Mr. Bloomberg administration that homelessness fell). Ms. Wiley cites “real concern” that people who stayed in hotels during the pandemic “will be unwilling to come to shelter if we shift back to congregate settings.”Build more “deeply affordable” housing — a lot more.All of the candidates say they will do this. Mr. Stringer says that Mr. de Blasio, despite highlighting his record on creating affordable housing, “has built more housing for people who make over $150,000 a year than for people who make $40,000 or $30,000.” He says he would require most new residential buildings financed with city subsidies to house people with very low incomes.Expand the use of shelters that offer more privacy and have fewer rules.So-called safe haven and stabilization shelters offer single-occupancy rooms and fewer rules and restrictions as to who qualifies for them than group shelters do. Many of the candidates want to build more of such shelters, including Raymond J. McGuire, a former Wall Street executive, and Mr. Yang, who said, “It’s a sign of the city’s broken politics when the choice is either temporary hotels or overcrowded shelters.”.css-1xzcza9{list-style-type:disc;padding-inline-start:1em;}.css-3btd0c{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:1rem;line-height:1.375rem;color:#333;margin-bottom:0.78125rem;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-3btd0c{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.5rem;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}}.css-3btd0c strong{font-weight:600;}.css-3btd0c em{font-style:italic;}.css-w739ur{margin:0 auto 5px;font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.3125rem;color:#121212;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-w739ur{font-family:nyt-cheltenham,georgia,’times new roman’,times,serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.375rem;line-height:1.625rem;}@media (min-width:740px){#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-w739ur{font-size:1.6875rem;line-height:1.875rem;}}@media (min-width:740px){.css-w739ur{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.4375rem;}}.css-9s9ecg{margin-bottom:15px;}.css-uf1ume{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-box-pack:justify;-webkit-justify-content:space-between;-ms-flex-pack:justify;justify-content:space-between;}.css-wxi1cx{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-flex-direction:column;-ms-flex-direction:column;flex-direction:column;-webkit-align-self:flex-end;-ms-flex-item-align:end;align-self:flex-end;}.css-12vbvwq{background-color:white;border:1px solid #e2e2e2;width:calc(100% – 40px);max-width:600px;margin:1.5rem auto 1.9rem;padding:15px;box-sizing:border-box;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-12vbvwq{padding:20px;width:100%;}}.css-12vbvwq:focus{outline:1px solid #e2e2e2;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-12vbvwq{border:none;padding:10px 0 0;border-top:2px solid #121212;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-rdoyk0{-webkit-transform:rotate(0deg);-ms-transform:rotate(0deg);transform:rotate(0deg);}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-eb027h{max-height:300px;overflow:hidden;-webkit-transition:none;transition:none;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-5gimkt:after{content:’See more’;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-6mllg9{opacity:1;}.css-qjk116{margin:0 auto;overflow:hidden;}.css-qjk116 strong{font-weight:700;}.css-qjk116 em{font-style:italic;}.css-qjk116 a{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:visited{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:hover{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}Get more people into psychiatric treatment.Mr. McGuire, Mr. Yang and Ms. Garcia all say they would press for wider use of Kendra’s Law, which allows courts to require treatment for people with mentally illness.Add psychiatric beds.Mr. Yang said that the number of psychiatric beds in city hospitals had decreased 14 percent and that he would double the current number, although he did not say how he would pay for it. Eric Adams, the Brooklyn borough president, and Mr. Yang both favor adding psychiatric “respite beds” for people with mental illness who are not deemed sick enough to be admitted to a hospital but are too sick to return to a shelter or to the streets.Focus more on providing mental health services to people in the streets and less on arresting people.“We cannot continue criminalizing being Black and brown, criminalizing mental illness, criminalizing having substance abuse issues,” Dianne Morales, a former nonprofit executive, said at the debate. “That is not the answer for creating a safe city.” Ms. Garcia supports sending “crisis teams” into the subway that include mental-health professionals “who will make a determination and get people the treatment that they need.” Ms. Wiley says Mr. de Blasio’s approach, which she called overpolicing, “never tried to solve homelessness and merely led to displacement, for example, moving those experiencing homelessness from the subways to the streets.”Close the prison-to-shelter pipeline.Mr. Donovan notes that more than half of the people released from state prisons to New York City go directly to homeless shelters, a cycle he pledged to break by providing housing vouchers to people leaving jail.Increase pressure on shelter operators to find permanent housing for clients.Mr. McGuire says he would shorten shelter stays by holding operators responsible for moving people into permanent housing and by “shifting contracts and investment to the most successful operators.”Build more domestic violence shelters.Mr. Yang has noted that domestic violence is one of the main reasons that families seek shelter and that only 23 percent of domestic-violence victims in shelters are in ones that are designed for them. He says he would build more of those.More police in the subway.Mr. Adams, a former transit police officer, says, “We should have a police officer on every train.” Ms. Garcia wants officers “walking the platforms and riding the actual trains, not just standing around.” Mr. Yang, Mr. McGuire and Mr. Donovan also want more police in the subway. Ms. Morales, Mr. Stringer and Ms. Wiley do not.Help tenants and landlords alike in order to prevent evictions.Mr. Donovan favors a “holistic approach” that would “provide direct rent payments for hard-hit tenants” and “offer stabilizing funds to landlords” who agree not to evict.Joseph Goldstein contributed reporting. More

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      Yang Faces Backlash for Comments on Mentally Ill

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      The candidates remained focused on crime on the campaign trail, while Andrew Yang was criticized by his rivals for comments he made on the debate stage.Andrew Yang faced criticism over his debate-stage comments about people with mental illness on Thursday as the New York City mayoral candidates sharpened their focus on public safety during the race’s final days.Mr. Yang said during Wednesday’s Democratic primary debate, the final matchup before next week’s election, that he wanted people with mental health problems off the streets — comments that several of his rivals blasted as insensitive.“Yes, mentally ill people have rights, but you know who else have rights? We do! The people and families of the city,” said Mr. Yang, a former presidential candidate. “We have the right to walk the street and not fear for our safety because a mentally ill person is going to lash out at us.”Eric Adams, the Brooklyn borough president, said he was “really disturbed” by the remarks and that Mr. Yang was trying to “demonize” people with mental health problems.Maya Wiley, a former counsel to Mayor Bill de Blasio, said that Mr. Yang lacked empathy and suggested he was fearmongering for votes.“I thought it was deeply disturbing, deeply lacking in compassion,” she said.One of Ms. Wiley’s advisers, Ifeoma Ike, went further and said Mr. Yang was “anti-Black” because mental health problems and homelessness disproportionately affect Black people. She told voters not to rank Mr. Yang on their ballots.The candidates have focused on public safety in the final weeks of the campaign — an issue that New Yorkers cite as their top concern. As the race’s dynamics continue to shift, Ms. Wiley has tried to consolidate support among left-leaning voters, Kathryn Garcia has shown signs of momentum, and Mr. Adams, who leads in the polls, has faced questions over his real estate holdings.Mr. Yang was trying to highlight voters’ fears over safety at the debate, but he moved quickly to clarify his comments shortly after it concluded. “Full context here was mental illness is behind half of anti-Asian hate crimes,” he said on Twitter. “We need to get them compassionate, comprehensive care — and not let them languish on our streets.”At a news conference in the Bronx on Thursday to highlight his cash relief plan for poor New Yorkers, Mr. Yang refused to say whether he regretted his comments.“Everyone agrees that people who are struggling with mental illness on our streets should be in better, more caring environments where they can get what they need,” he said.Ms. Garcia, the city’s former sanitation commissioner, also remained focused on public safety on Thursday, holding a news conference at a Manhattan subway station where a 64-year-old man was slashed and robbed last month.She called for more police officers on the subway, accompanied by her cousin Clark Gregg, an actor who played a government agent in the Marvel Avengers series.“New Yorkers need to feel safe on the subway if they’re going to get back on the subway,” she said, adding the subways were “vital” to the city’s comeback.Kathryn Garcia appeared at a news conference with her cousin Clark Gregg, an actor who played a government agent in the Marvel Avengers series.Michelle V. Agins/The New York TimesMs. Garcia also released a new ad claiming that as an experienced crisis manager, she was the best choice to make the city safer.“We fought Covid only to endure a new epidemic of crime,” she said in the ad.At the debate, the candidates were asked if there should be more officers on the subway. Five raised their hands, including Ms. Garcia and Mr. Adams. Three candidates said they opposed adding more officers, including Ms. Wiley, who is running to the left of the field.Ms. Wiley, too, started running new ads on Thursday, though hers featured Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the city’s most high-profile progressive. One ad features Ms. Ocasio-Cortez speaking in front of City Hall on the day she endorsed Ms. Wiley and shows the two women embracing.“We have an option of a candidate that has a lifetime of dedication to this — racial justice, economic justice and climate justice,” Ms. Ocasio-Cortez said.Separately, Ms. Wiley appeared to rule out making a cross-endorsement of any other candidate in the mayoral race, a day after Mr. Yang focused attention on the issue by nodding to the prospect of a cross-endorsement.“I am not going to do any cross-endorsements in this mayor’s race,” she said.At a news conference at his Harlem headquarters, Mr. Adams made fun of the appearance by Ms. Garcia’s cousin.“Public safety is not a bumper sticker,” Mr. Adams told reporters. “It is not a television program. What are we going to do next? We’re going to pick our police commissioner from ‘C.S.I. Miami?’”But Mr. Adams also danced with those gathered and said he was having fun in the final days of the campaign.“I am just an ordinary cat,” Mr. Adams said. “I am going to put cool back into being mayor.”Eric Adams, receiving endorsements in Harlem, has argued that he has the broadest coalition of supporters among the leading candidates for mayor.Mary Altaffer/Associated PressMr. Adams announced new endorsements from two prominent Black leaders — David A. Paterson, the former governor, and Keith L.T. Wright, the leader of the New York County Democrats.He has continued to face criticism over his real estate portfolio, including in a story this week by The City about a co-op apartment he owns in Brooklyn with a “good friend.” Mr. Adams has said that he gave his shares to Sylvia Cowan, a woman whom he bought the property with in 1992..css-1xzcza9{list-style-type:disc;padding-inline-start:1em;}.css-3btd0c{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:1rem;line-height:1.375rem;color:#333;margin-bottom:0.78125rem;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-3btd0c{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.5rem;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}}.css-3btd0c strong{font-weight:600;}.css-3btd0c em{font-style:italic;}.css-w739ur{margin:0 auto 5px;font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.3125rem;color:#121212;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-w739ur{font-family:nyt-cheltenham,georgia,’times new roman’,times,serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.375rem;line-height:1.625rem;}@media (min-width:740px){#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-w739ur{font-size:1.6875rem;line-height:1.875rem;}}@media (min-width:740px){.css-w739ur{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.4375rem;}}.css-9s9ecg{margin-bottom:15px;}.css-uf1ume{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-box-pack:justify;-webkit-justify-content:space-between;-ms-flex-pack:justify;justify-content:space-between;}.css-wxi1cx{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-flex-direction:column;-ms-flex-direction:column;flex-direction:column;-webkit-align-self:flex-end;-ms-flex-item-align:end;align-self:flex-end;}.css-12vbvwq{background-color:white;border:1px solid #e2e2e2;width:calc(100% – 40px);max-width:600px;margin:1.5rem auto 1.9rem;padding:15px;box-sizing:border-box;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-12vbvwq{padding:20px;width:100%;}}.css-12vbvwq:focus{outline:1px solid #e2e2e2;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-12vbvwq{border:none;padding:10px 0 0;border-top:2px solid #121212;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-rdoyk0{-webkit-transform:rotate(0deg);-ms-transform:rotate(0deg);transform:rotate(0deg);}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-eb027h{max-height:300px;overflow:hidden;-webkit-transition:none;transition:none;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-5gimkt:after{content:’See more’;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-6mllg9{opacity:1;}.css-qjk116{margin:0 auto;overflow:hidden;}.css-qjk116 strong{font-weight:700;}.css-qjk116 em{font-style:italic;}.css-qjk116 a{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:visited{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:hover{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}But an email, obtained by The New York Times, suggests that Mr. Adams still owned his shares in the apartment as recently as last month — days before Politico raised questions about his residency and his tax and campaign-disclosure filings.The email, sent by Ms. Cowan on May 28, asked the co-op board to approve the transfer of Mr. Adams’s shares to her and named a person who could “represent the Board, Eric and me for the transaction” — suggesting that at that point, the transfer had not yet occurred.Mr. Adams has not declared the home on any campaign filings since he began running for office in 2005, documents show. Ms. Cowan also owns a unit in a tower in Fort Lee, N.J., on the floor below an apartment that Mr. Adams co-owns with his partner, Tracey Collins.His campaign insists that Mr. Adams has not owned any part of the Brooklyn property since 2007, when he took office as a state senator. State ethics guidelines at that time asked officeholders to disclose assets they had held in the previous two years but did not require that they do so.“Sylvia is the owner and has been the owner for some time,” Evan Thies, a campaign spokesman, said on Wednesday.Mr. Adams said on Wednesday that it was Ms. Cowan’s responsibility to formalize his transfer of the property to her in city records. Ms. Cowan could not be reached for comment.At a news conference later Thursday, Ms. Wiley laced into Mr. Adams.“If you want to be the most powerful person in this city, show this city that you can manage your financial affairs,” Ms. Wiley said.“It is right and appropriate to have transparency,” Ms. Wiley said, brandishing her own tax returns.Ms. Wiley said New Yorkers should consider questions including, “Have you engaged in tax fraud, or have you stayed on the right side of the law? I don’t know, show us your tax returns. ”The Adams campaign has said that the borough president would release his amended tax returns, but he has yet to do so.The latest payments from the city’s matching funds program were also made on Thursday, giving Ms. Garcia and Ms. Wiley in particular significant sums to spend on additional television advertising in the closing days of the race. Ms. Garcia received $2.1 million; Ms. Wiley received $1.1 million.Fernando Mateo, a Republican entrepreneur, qualified for public matching funds for the first time, giving him more than $2 million to compete against his only rival, Curtis Sliwa, the founder of the Guardian Angels.“Now we have the money to get our message out that we are the best candidate to save and revitalize New York City unlike never-Trumper Curtis Sliwa,” Mr. Mateo said, in reference to Mr. Sliwa saying that he did not vote for President Donald J. Trump in 2016 or 2020.Anne Barnard, Michael Rothfeld, Michael Gold, Katie Glueck and Mihir Zaveri contributed reporting. More

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      Major Moments From the Final Democratic Mayoral Debate

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      [Want to get New York Today by email? Here’s the sign-up.]It’s Thursday. Weather: Sunny again, with a high close to 80. Alternate-side parking: In effect through tomorrow. Suspended on Saturday for Juneteenth. WNBC-TV and NYC Campaign Finance BoardFive days of campaigning left.With Tuesday’s primary fast approaching, Democratic candidates for mayor of New York City sparred over matters of public safety, schooling and homelessness last night as they shared their closing arguments in the final debate before the vote closes.The early voting period lasts through Sunday, and the ranked-choice system has injected a large degree of unpredictability into the race. Still, Eric Adams, the Brooklyn borough president, remains a consistent front-runner in the sparse available polling.[Read more about the debate and the candidates’ visions for New York.]Here are a few of the standout moments:Attacks flew over an endorsementThis week, Andrew Yang, a former presidential candidate, received the endorsement of the Captains Endowment Association, the union that represents police captains. When asked at the debate to explain why he was the candidate best equipped to tackle a rise in shootings, Mr. Yang pointed to the endorsement.“The people you should ask about this are Eric’s former colleagues in the police captains’ union,” Mr. Yang said.Mr. Adams tried to dismiss the endorsement, suggesting that he had not even asked for it. Mr. Yang accused him of lying.The discussion about homelessness became heatedMr. Yang sounded alarms around matters of mental health and homelessness, saying that the issues were impeding the city’s recovery and that homeless people needed to be introduced to a “better environment.” He said he would rebuild “the stock of psych beds in our city.”Scott M. Stringer, the city comptroller, shot back: “That is the greatest non-answer I’ve ever heard,” he said, discussing a need to create tens of thousands of units of “truly affordable housing.”‘The worst idea you’ve heard from another candidate?’The question encouraged contenders to sling a little mud, and Mr. Yang and Mr. Adams again targeted each other. Kathryn Garcia, the former sanitation commissioner, ripped the “defund the police” movement. Maya Wiley challenged Mr. Adams on policing.“The worst idea I’ve ever heard is bringing back stop and frisk and the anti-crime unit from Eric Adams,” said Ms. Wiley, a civil rights lawyer. “Which, one, is racist; two, is unconstitutional; and, three, didn’t stop any crime; and, four, it will not happen in a Maya Wiley administration.”Mr. Adams responded that, if he was elected, the abuses of stop and frisk would not return.From The TimesMaya Wiley Takes Credit for Daniel Pantaleo’s Firing. Is That Justified?Barred From Her Own Home: How a Tool for Fighting Domestic Abuse FailsWhy New York Progressives Are Pinning Their Hopes on the City CouncilGoogle to Open Physical Store in New YorkNew York City Gets Another Major Marathon, in BrooklynSummer is here and New York City is reopening. Stay up to date on the best things to do, see and eat this season. Take a look at our latest newsletter on upcoming Juneteenth celebrations, and sign up here.Want more news? Check out our full coverage.The Mini Crossword: Here is today’s puzzle.What we’re readingHow one after-school program in Brooklyn transformed into a neighborhood support system during the pandemic. [Chalkbeat New York]The mayor announced that a parade next month would be held in recognition of essential workers during the pandemic. But one group was disappointed not to be mentioned. [Gothamist]The annual Queens World Film Festival is returning to the borough next week. Here are more details on what it will look like. [QNS]And finally: Renaming 16 parks for Black historyA Black feminist writer from Harlem. The first Black woman to have a play produced on Broadway. An actress and singer who lived in Manhattan and broke ground for Black performers..css-1xzcza9{list-style-type:disc;padding-inline-start:1em;}.css-3btd0c{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:1rem;line-height:1.375rem;color:#333;margin-bottom:0.78125rem;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-3btd0c{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.5rem;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}}.css-3btd0c strong{font-weight:600;}.css-3btd0c em{font-style:italic;}.css-w739ur{margin:0 auto 5px;font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.3125rem;color:#121212;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-w739ur{font-family:nyt-cheltenham,georgia,’times new roman’,times,serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.375rem;line-height:1.625rem;}@media (min-width:740px){#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-w739ur{font-size:1.6875rem;line-height:1.875rem;}}@media (min-width:740px){.css-w739ur{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.4375rem;}}.css-9s9ecg{margin-bottom:15px;}.css-uf1ume{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-box-pack:justify;-webkit-justify-content:space-between;-ms-flex-pack:justify;justify-content:space-between;}.css-wxi1cx{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-flex-direction:column;-ms-flex-direction:column;flex-direction:column;-webkit-align-self:flex-end;-ms-flex-item-align:end;align-self:flex-end;}.css-12vbvwq{background-color:white;border:1px solid #e2e2e2;width:calc(100% – 40px);max-width:600px;margin:1.5rem auto 1.9rem;padding:15px;box-sizing:border-box;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-12vbvwq{padding:20px;width:100%;}}.css-12vbvwq:focus{outline:1px solid #e2e2e2;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-12vbvwq{border:none;padding:10px 0 0;border-top:2px solid #121212;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-rdoyk0{-webkit-transform:rotate(0deg);-ms-transform:rotate(0deg);transform:rotate(0deg);}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-eb027h{max-height:300px;overflow:hidden;-webkit-transition:none;transition:none;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-5gimkt:after{content:’See more’;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-6mllg9{opacity:1;}.css-qjk116{margin:0 auto;overflow:hidden;}.css-qjk116 strong{font-weight:700;}.css-qjk116 em{font-style:italic;}.css-qjk116 a{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:visited{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:hover{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}New York City officials announced on Wednesday that 16 parks across the five boroughs would be named for those figures and other Black leaders who made significant contributions in areas from education and entertainment to civil rights and community relations.“Our goal is to represent the culture and diversity of New York City,” the city’s parks commissioner, Mitchell J. Silver, said at a news conference at Mullaly Park in the Bronx. The roughly 15-acre park in the Concourse neighborhood of the borough was a focus of local activism as protests arose to push for officials to change its title, citing concerns about the record of its namesake, who published attacks on the Emancipation Proclamation.“For years, the community has expressed discontent and a desire to rename this beloved green space,” Mr. Silver said. A new name that honors the Rev. Wendell Foster, the first Black elected city official in the Bronx, will be adopted in September 2022, he said.The move comes amid a larger push to change some names of monuments and landmarks in New York and elsewhere, sometimes to leave behind references to figures with racist pasts and at other times to honor Black New Yorkers. Several top Democratic mayoral candidates have suggested they would support renaming sites including streets named for slaveholders.As for park spaces, those that will take on new names include the Prospect Park Bandshell in Brooklyn (changing to Lena Horne Bandshell); Hell’s Kitchen Park in Manhattan (to become Lorraine Hansberry Park); and St. Albans Oval in Queens (to be renamed Musicians Oval in honor of influential Black jazz musicians).It’s Thursday — get outside.Metropolitan Diary: Waiting for Denzel Dear Diary:My mother loves Denzel Washington. So it was only natural that we would go see him in the “The Iceman Cometh” when she visited a few years ago.My legs were stiff and my mouth was dry after the four-hour production ended, and I was ready to go home. But my mother loves Denzel Washington. So we waited outside the stage door for the cast to emerge.My mother was easily the oldest person there, but she was grinning like a teenager about to meet her hero.“Do you have a pen?” she asked me nervously.“These actors always carry pens,” I said with confidence. “Don’t worry.”Soon, though, I was frantically asking everyone around us for a pen while my mother continued to wait for the star to emerge.When I got back to where she was standing, I overheard her chatting with other members of the cast.Denzel Washington never came out that night, but my mother still proudly tells everyone back home how she invited half the cast of a Broadway show to visit her in Colorado.I’m glad I didn’t have a pen.— Sid GopinathNew York Today is published weekdays around 6 a.m. Sign up here to get it by email. You can also find it at nytoday.com. More