A day after New York City Mayor Eric Adams released what he described as the “Best Budget Ever” on May 1, saying the balanced $115.1 billion budget focuses, among other areas, on safety, affordability and quality of life, he paid a visit to Norwood’s North Bronx Islamic Center & Jam-E-Masjid on East 205th Street and Bainbridge Avenue for a closed press event in front of a male audience to deliver remarks at the center’s Jummah prayer.

 

As reported, after the recent and controversial definitive dismissal of bribery and corruption charges by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) against the mayor, Adams announced he would not be running in the upcoming Democratic mayoral primary in June, and instead plans to run as an independent in the November general election.

 

Nonetheless, the mayor has continued campaigning throughout the City seemingly playing the electoral long game as various Democratic candidates including the Rev. Hon. Michael Blake, a former assemblyman for A.D. 78, City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, Queens Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, former City Comptroller Scott Stringer, current City Comptroller Brad Lander, and former Democratic NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo, to name a few, fight it out in the upcoming primary.

 

The mayor took the occasion to talk about his relationship with the Muslim community. “Many people want to redefine that relationship but it goes back to 2001 when many of you were probably young men at that time,” he said. “When the incident happened at the trade center [the September 11th attacks], they went out and rounded up young men and took them to incarcerate them. I stood in front of the federal court building and federal penitentiary and called for the release of those young innocent men, and all the time, I stood alone.”

Adams continued, “I stood alone when I went to Albany as a state senator. and fought against the islamophobic attitudes that many of the senators [had]. I stood for this community when someone put out a flier, “Kill a Muslim” day.” He added, “We walked together through the streets to defy any form of hate, and when women from your community were attacked when they wore hijabs, I stood with my brothers and sisters in this community like I would protect my sister, my mother.”

 

The mayor went on to say that when Muslim leaders came to him and said they wanted to have a call to prayer in the City, he helped facilitate it. “Never been done before. I said you have the right to have your call of prayer and duty of the call of prayer, and now you are able to do that,” he said. “Our precincts are open spaces where you can go and pray inside our precincts.

 

He continued, “City government allows Muslims to come in and pray inside City Hall in the areas that are roped in downtown areas. Not only have we invited our Muslim brothers and sisters inside of Gracie Mansion, raised the flags from countries that represent the Muslim population, but I too, have traveled to visit many of your homelands from Africa to Oman, to Saudi Arabia, just to continue to show my appreciation and respect for this community.”

The mayor was later seen taking photos with local Norwood community residents, including some from the Muslim faith like Monjur Chowdhury, a member of Bronx Community Board 7, who recently organized the Bengali Muslim community’s celebration of the end of Ramadhan.

As reported, Agallas Equities, the losing bidder in the redevelopment of the Kingsbridge Armory, recently blasted comments made by the mayor during a recent interview with Piers Morgan on the possibility of the creation of a microchip production plant at the Armory.

Meanwhile, as reported, the New York City Conflicts of Interest Board recently settled a case with former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio over travel expenses incurred during his time in office in a first enforcement action against a New York City mayor.

 

Elsewhere, Democratic mayoral candidate Scott Stringer, who also ran for the top job in 2021 but later dropped out amid a sexual harassment allegation, has proposed extending school hours to 4.30 p.m. (against his son’s wishes). “Being a working parent isn’t easy […. ] and no matter how hard we try, sometimes our work schedules don’t align with our kids’ school schedules” Stringer said on May 3.

 

“Extended school hours are a win for both parents and students. Our kids will have more opportunities to learn, improve their grades, engage with athletics, and more. They may not see the vision now, but they’ll thank us later. Too many working parents in New York face this challenge, and I have a plan to address it.”