NYC Mayor's Public Safety Promise Tested By Subway Killing

Not long after winning New York City’s Democratic primary, Eric Adams had a quick answer to the question of how his potential mayoralty should be judged. “Public safety,” Adams said. “That’s the prerequisite to prosperity.” Adams is now New York’s 110th mayor. Two weeks into his tenure, a stunning crime illustrated vividly the challenges he faces in delivering on his central campaign promise of building a safer and more just New York. Michelle Alyssa Go, a 40-year-old woman who worked at the consulting firm Deloitte, was pushed to her death in front of a train at a Times Square station on Saturday — a horrific killing that captured many New Yorkers’ deepest fears. The man who told officers that he shoved her onto the tracks was homeless and had a history of mental illness, the New York Times reports. The episode gave new urgency to debates about policing, public safety and social services that defined the mayoral race and helped cement Adams’ primary victory. Now, Adams, who pledged that increasing safety need not conflict with criminal justice reforms, will be held accountable for results. “That’s the biggest challenge he really faces,” said Kathryn Wylde, who leads the business-aligned organization Partnership for New York City. She emphasized that business leaders were “rooting for the mayor and his commitment to restoring public safety.” “How does he reconcile, in real life, those things?” she continued. “It’s one thing when you’re on the campaign trail, but it’s something else where you actually have to make policy decisions.” Even before the Times Square killing, the early days of Adams’ tenure were marked by several jarring crimes, including the fatal shooting of a 19-year-old woman working at a Burger King in East Harlem, and the shooting of an off-duty police officer as he slept in a car between shifts.