On His Last Day, Adams Drops From View but Still Flexes His Muscle

When he became mayor of New York City more than 1,400 days ago, Eric Adams’s schedule was stuffed to the brim with events and meetings.

He was a ubiquitous presence who branded himself as the mayor of “swagger” who liked to be out and about “sampling the product” of the city he led. When he released six months of public and private schedules in 2022, some days had as many as 12 calendar entries. His pace was so furious that some wondered when he had time to make decisions.

But on Wednesday, his final day in office, Mr. Adams was nowhere to be found.

There were no flag-raising ceremonies for foreign countries; no last-minute announcement of international travel to Albania, Georgia, Uzbekistan or Israel — all places he’s visited in the last three months as mayor.

So how did Mr. Adams spent his last day after four tumultuous years in office? It’s hard to know, exactly.

Only two events were listed on his public schedule. The first was his standard 8 a.m. meeting, typically a video chat, with his staff, followed nearly 16 hours later by what will presumably be his final act as mayor: pushing the button to begin the countdown for the New Year’s Eve ball drop in Times Square — ending his mayoralty in the same place he began it four years ago with his swearing-in.

Around 2:30 p.m., Mr. Adams, wearing a newsboy cap, entered City Hall, its plaza already filled with a stage and thousands of chairs for the inauguration on Thursday of Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.

About 30 minutes after Mr. Adams showed up, Mr. Mamdani arrived at City Hall with his wife, Rama Duwaji, to walk through the inaugural proceedings. Mr. Mamdani practiced waving from City Hall’s top steps and then kissed Ms. Duwaji on the cheek.

They sat in their assigned seats for the inauguration ceremony, and Mr. Mamdani walked to the podium before heading into City Hall to examine the waiting area for the event. Mr. Mamdani did not see or meet with Mr. Adams, according to Dora Pekec, a spokeswoman for Mr. Mamdani.

Fabien Levy, the deputy mayor for communications, said Mr. Adams spent the day preparing to leave Gracie Mansion, the official residence of the mayor of New York City, where Mr. Mamdani and Ms. Duwaji plan to live. Mr. Adams also had meetings and was closing out his administration, Mr. Levy said.

He also recorded a social media video showing him accepting a gift from his staff: a mug with some of his more memorable quotes, which he read aloud, laughing.

Just because he was out of public sight for much of Wednesday did not mean that the mayor wasn’t exercising his power during his last hours, particularly in ways that aggravated his critics. With fewer than nine hours left as mayor, Mr. Adams announced the creation of another Charter Revision Commission — the third of his tenure — that would review whether New York City should have open primaries.

The commission will “explore ways to create a more inclusive, democratic city government,” Mr. Adams said in a statement.

Critics of the mayor called the decision to appoint the commission an abuse of power. Grace Rauh, executive director of Citizens Union, a watchdog group, said the mayor was exercising a “power grab” that “makes a mockery of our city’s constitution.” She urged those who were appointed as commissioners not to serve.

Mr. Adams appointed several loyalists to the commission, including Menashe Shapiro, his current deputy chief of staff and senior adviser; Kayla Mamelak Altus, his former press secretary; and Robert S. Tucker, the former commissioner of the Fire Department who resigned the day after Mamdani won the general election because he disagreed with the mayor-elect’s positions on Israel.

Mandela Jones, a spokesman for Adrienne Adams, the outgoing speaker of the City Council, said the mayor has abused the charter review process in that past, “so it is no surprise that his abuses of power continued into the last day and final hours.”

By creating the commission, Mr. Adams has set in motion a technical process that would essentially kill the Council’s active charter revision commission. If Mr. Adams’s commission puts questions on the ballot to change the City Charter, that would take precedence over any other potential revisions. Gov. Kathy Hochul vetoed legislation earlier this month that would have ended that arrangement.

Mr. Adams also vetoed 19 City Council bills on Wednesday, ranging from legislation that would grant more licenses for street vendors to another that would provide the Civilian Complaint Review Board access to all the Police Department’s body camera video.

Julie Menin, a councilwoman from Manhattan who is expected to be the next speaker of the City Council, said that the mayor had “sidelined the legislative process” and that the Council would consider its options. The Council could override the vetoes.

Mr. Levy defended both decisions as within the mayor’s prerogative. The charter revision commission is independent and could take up ideas from Mr. Mamdani, he added.

“He is the mayor until 11:59. He was elected for four years, four full years,” Mr. Levy said outside the mayor’s office as he hugged teary-eyed departing staffers goodbye. “He’s going to use every minute of it.”

Mr. Adams slipped out of City Hall without any fanfare in the early evening. He and Mr. Mamdani exchanged texts on Tuesday, and the mayor-elect invited Mr. Adams to attend his inauguration. Mr. Adams, who had said he did not want to be a distraction, agreed to attend.

It’s unclear what Mr. Adams’s plans are after he leaves City Hall. Speaking at a news conference on Monday, he said he wanted to write a book, go back to school and also “use cryptocurrency to go after violence, educate our children, and really deal with antisemitism that we’re seeing globally.”

On Tuesday at a news conference about preparations for New Year festivities, Mr. Adams seemed to be taking it all in stride. Being back in Times Square, where he took his oath of office in a city still reeling from the pandemic, represented a “full-circle” moment, the mayor said.

“Listen, it has been a blast,” Mr. Adams continued. But, he added, “I’m looking forward to a single malt scotch and a cigar.”

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