Mayor Eric Adams on Friday marked the one-year anniversary of his administration’s Partnership Assistance for Transit Homelessness (PATH) program, touting record-low subway crime before the event erupted into a heated exchange over a tabloid report about a former City Hall official and a romantic partner’s new memoir.
Speaking at the 42nd Street–Times Square subway station alongside Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, Adams said the PATH program had contacted more than 20,100 people living in the subway system and that outreach workers have provided shelter, meals, and medical treatment over 6,100 times.
Launched in August 2024 as part of the mayor’s Subway Safety Plan, PATH pairs NYPD Transit Bureau officers with nurses and outreach workers from the Department of Homeless Services and NYC Health + Hospitals. The teams operate overnight—from 8 p.m. to noon the following day—conducting focused outreach across Manhattan’s subway stations and trains to engage individuals who appear to be without shelter.
According to Adams, about 2,100 people have been removed from the transit system for quality-of-life violations, while nearly 1,900 individuals have been connected to shelters since the program began.
“Keeping New Yorkers safe is our number one commitment, especially on the subways,” Adams said. “The days of ignoring people in need on our streets and in our subways are over.”
Commissioner Tisch called the program “a model for co-response,” crediting collaboration between police, social workers, and clinicians for reducing both disorder and risk in the transit system. “This is what happens when every agency pulls in the same direction,” she said, noting that a thousand people had been connected to permanent housing.
Adams reported that overall transit crime fell 17 percent in September compared with the same month last year—the lowest level for any September on record outside the pandemic years.
Asked about the recent arrest of David Mazariegos, accused of fatally beating 64-year-old Brooklyn resident Nicola Tanzi at the Jay Street–MetroTech station on Oct. 7, Adams said such incidents will persist until the city and state take stronger action. He again urged the passage of state legislation that would allow the city to involuntarily hospitalize individuals struggling with severe substance abuse in public.
Adams first introduced the proposal, called the “Compassionate Interventions Act,” last month. The plan would authorize city first responders to involuntarily commit individuals who pose a risk to themselves or others due to drug or alcohol use—a measure currently prohibited under state law. The legislation would also allow medical professionals to seek court orders for mandated substance use treatment following an evaluation.
The mayor described the initiative as an expansion of a state law passed earlier this year, which allows city officials to hospitalize individuals neglecting their basic needs due to severe mental illness. He framed both measures as lifelines for New Yorkers unable to access help on their own and as steps toward improving quality of life.
“We’re fighting against state lawmakers that don’t seem to understand what involuntary removal means. There are people who need care that don’t know they need care. There are people who are going through the revolving door system that are constantly coming back out over and over again,” said Adams. “So we’re fighting with not only making sure they get the care, but with lawmakers, lawmakers that are not on the ground, riding the subways like I am, and seeing how hard it is to talk a person off the street.”
Advocacy groups, including the Legal Aid Society and the New York Civil Liberties Union, have criticized the proposal. NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman denounced it as part of the “same old playbook” of politicians who “arrest and coerce people” struggling with addiction.
‘Your sick mind!’
The event’s celebratory tone shifted in its final minutes when Adams lashed out at a Daily News reporter over an article describing claims from former City Hall official Jasmine Ray’s new book, Political Humanity. The story reported that Ray wrote she and Adams had a sexual encounter in Brooklyn Borough Hall when he was borough president.
On Thursday, Adams had encouraged people to read the book, saying he respected Ray for writing it and that he “enjoyed it.”
“Jas has always led with integrity. Writing this book wasn’t easy, but she wanted people to understand the work, the mission, and the human side behind the headlines,” the mayor wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
But at Friday’s press conference, Adams denied that the passage appears in the book and accused the reporter and other members of the media of “sick” and “dark” coverage that oversexualized him.
“Some of you have been covering me for three-and-a-half years,” he said. “You’re one of the most dark writers I’ve ever seen in this city.”
“The sickness of how you think of over sexualizing a black man. That in the book, you stated that there was a sexual action in Borough Hall that was never in the book, but that’s typical of the sickness and the darkness of your sick mind. You’re one of the sickest reporters I know,” Adams said.
amNewYork was unable to independently verify the details of the alleged encounter at the center of Friday’s exchange, but excerpts of the book shared online allude to a sexual encounter.
“He didn’t ask. He didn’t explain. He just looked at me… And in that look, I knew. He had made up his mind. He closed the distance like a man stepping into something he couldn’t walk back from. And then he said, ‘F–k it'” the excerpt reads.
Ray, appointed by Adams in 2022 as the city’s first sports czar, earning $160,000 annually, left City Hall last month. She recently released her memoir, revealing details about her relationship with Adams and his political challenges as the city’s leader. While promoting the book, Ray said she hopes it inspires Adams to reenter the mayoral race and allows the public to see a more “human side” of him.
Adams dropped his independent reelection bid after his popularity fell sharply in recent months following a corruption indictment last year that the Trump Justice Department dropped earlier this year under disputed circumstances. Recent polls had shown Adams trailing far behind his three opponents, in some cases earning only single-digit support.
On Friday, Adams went on to defend his record, saying his administration had delivered “the lowest crime in the city’s history,” record job growth, and major housing gains. He accused the media of unfairly “destroying” his reputation despite his accomplishments and said his eventual successor would inherit “a better city.”
