The pressure from Mayor Eric Adams’ team to fast-track an FDNY inspection of a 77-story office tower at Hudson Yards triggered the cancelation of fire inspections for a dozen non-VIP New Yorkers, including an overcrowded, racially diverse public school in Brooklyn’s Dyker Heights. In the spring of 2022, 50 Hudson Yards landed at the top […]
Eric Adams
Posted inEric Adams
An Adams Deputy Press Secretary Was a Foreign Agent for Turkish Trade Group in 2021
A year before joining the Mayor’s Office, one of Eric Adams’ press secretaries registered as a foreign agent for a trade group with close ties to the regime of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. In January of 2021, while working as an associate for Mercury Public Affairs, Amaris Cockfield filed with the U.S. Department of […]
Posted inDepartment of Sanitation
Less Compost, More Methane Gas and Landfill Loom in Proposed Budget Cuts
The city sanitation department’s proposal to eliminate funding for community composting means most food waste collected through public programs will become gas or landfill, not compost. Under proposed budget cuts as part of a wider agenda to trim city spending, community compost organizations — GrowNYC, the Lower East Side Ecology Center, BIG Reuse and Earth […]
Posted inDevelopment
High-End Sushi Joint Linked to Big Eric Adams Donor Got Fast-Tracked for FDNY Clearance
A high-end Manhattan sushi restaurant opened by mega-developer SL Green, one of Mayor Eric Adams’ biggest financial backers, landed on a high-priority Deputy Mayor of Operations list of locations eligible for fast-track FDNY inspections needed to open for business, THE CITY has learned. The restaurant, JoJi, was able to open in September 2022 in the […]
Posted inEric Adams
Not Just the Turks: Feds Looking at Mayor’s List That Allegedly Let Big Developers Cut FDNY Line
As part of its probe into the Eric Adams campaign’s connections to Turkey, the FBI is looking into whether an internal list of property owners seeking approval of fire alarm systems, kept by the mayor’s office under both Bill de Blasio and Adams, allowed prominent real estate developers to cut the line for crucial inspections, […]
Posted inAdams Turkey Probe
Mayor Eric Adams Blasts Leaks From Feds as Investigation into Foreign Donors Heats Up
Mayor Eric Adams railed against leaks coming from federal authorities as investigators are reportedly looking into whether he pressured senior fire department officials to help open the Turkish government’s new consulate building in Manhattan before he became mayor. Last week Monday, Federal investigators seized the mayor’s phones and iPad as part of the investigation into […]
Posted inAdams Turkey Probe
Turkey Probe: Eric Adams Campaign Took Money from Leaders of Erdogan-Backed Foundation
Eric Adams’ 2021 mayoral campaign accepted donations from three members of a foundation incorporated by Bilal Erdogan, a son of Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and whose board members include Erdogan’s daughter, Esra Albayrak. The campaign is at the center of an FBI probe looking into whether it conspired with the Turkish government to accept […]
Posted inAdams Turkey Probe
Eric Adams Donor Construction Firm Escaped Past City Graft Tangles
The federal probe of Mayor Eric Adams’ campaign fundraising that exploded into public view last week centers on KSK Construction, a Turkey-tied engineering firm that delivered more than a dozen donations to the mayor’s 2021 campaign that are now a subject of the investigation. But years before KSK’s involvement in this explosive inquiry became public, […]
Posted inAdams Turkey Probe
Before FBI Probe, Eric Adams Campaign Accepted and Returned $10,000 in Donations Linked to Turkish University
Less than two months before the 2021 general election, the Eric Adams campaign received five $2,000 donations from people listed as employees of Bay Atlantic University, a small Turkish-owned institution based in Washington, D.C. Now, the university-linked contributions are under scrutiny as part of an investigation conducted by federal prosecutors and the F.B.I. to determine […]
Posted inManhattan DA's Office
Manhattan DA Drops Charges Against Guard Arrested After Tussle with Adams Advisor Tim Pearson
The Manhattan District Attorney’s office dropped obstruction and harassment charges against a guard at a migrant shelter arrested following a scuffle allegedly set off by Tim Pearson, a top advisor to Mayor Eric Adams. In Manhattan Criminal court Friday afternoon, an assistant district attorney said that after interviewing a dozen witnesses and reviewing body-worn camera […]