Eric Adams plays both hero and villain — but loses public trust in the process

During his first two years and two weeks in office, Mayor Adams has been plagued by a stubborn opponent who thwarts his every initiative and contradicts his every public statement. That stubborn opponent is: Mayor Adams.

Last week, Adams set about reversing his high-profile budget cuts, hoping the city will see him as a hero — but if he’s the hero, it’s only as one fighting against his own worst enemy: himself. 

In November, Adams made apocalyptic budget pronouncements, reversing his rosy picture of just five months before.

“We’re in some serious financial trouble,” he told a group of seniors. “It is a disaster . . . the most painful exercise I’ve ever done.”

Migrant costs, the mayor’s budget advisers told us, were “skyrocketing,” rising so fast that between June and November, the city had to raise its estimates of such costs by $6.2 billion, to a total of $10.8 billion over just two years, and $12 billion over three. 

This created such a dire situation — a $7.1 billion budget gap, or nearly 10% of city tax revenues — that everything was in peril, even the mayor’s signature issues, public safety and quality of life.