Eric Adams’ crisis PR playbook: outer boroughs, quality-of-life issues, loyalty

Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Phil Banks joined New York City Mayor Eric Adams in Queens Wednesday for a quality of life announcement, making his second public appearance in two days as pressure mounts on the mayor to force Banks and top aides out of his administration amid a swirl of federal investigations. 

The circumstances around the press conference, which centered on the city’s ongoing crackdown on “ghost cars,” sheds more light on Adams’ PR playbook as his administration is rocked by investigations and a string of high profile exits. Loyalty to longtime aides and a focus on quality of life issues have been hallmarks of his tenure. 

Banks’ front and center appearance Wednesday, appears to signal Adams’ continued vote of confidence in his longtime friend nearly two weeks after federal agents came to his Queens home, seizing his electronic devices and searching the residence. The homes of Schools Chancellor David Banks and Terence Banks, the deputy mayor’s brothers, were also searched. Nobody has been charged with any wrongdoing. 

The visit to Springfield Gardens, a neighborhood Adams handily carried in the 2021 mayoral primary, follows appearances in two East New York, Brooklyn, churches on the Sunday after the raids. The churches were located in another Adams’ electoral stronghold.

Fabien Levy, deputy mayor for communications, said that despite the investigations and anything else happening in the city, New Yorkers still care about whether they are safe, if they can afford to live in the city, and whether their quality of life is good. 

“Every day, every week, we deliver what we are required to and we do deliver for New Yorkers,” he said. “We are talking about making our city safer, making our city more affordable, and cracking down on quality of life issues that working class New Yorkers care about. That was the case on day one of this administration, that was the case ten months ago, that still is the case today.” Wednesday’s announcement about the ghost cars was part of that, Levy said.

Adams has garnered a reputation for his loyalty to longtime allies. He also frequently cites his belief in second chances. He’d first appointed Banks in 2022 as deputy mayor for public safety despite some concerns that he’d previously been named as an unindicted co-conspirator in a 2014 federal corruption case. Adams has also so far resisted growing calls to oust longtime friend and aide Timothy Pearson – reportedly including the urging of then-Chief Counsel Lisa Zornberg who abruptly resigned over the weekend – despite his own phone being seized by federal agents, sexual harassment allegations, and a city investigation into Pearson’s role in a physical confrontation with security guards at a migrant shelter.

Banks made his first public appearance yesterday following the federal raids at a Police Athletic League fundraising luncheon. 

Adams has sought to change the narrative around his administration amid the most turbulent period of his tenure, seeking to quell concerns about his ability to manage the city despite the investigations. On Wednesday, he announced that the New York City Police Department and the Department of Sanitation were launching a new joint task force to remove cars with forged or altered license plates from the streets – building on the ongoing city and state effort to crack down on ghost cars. The press conference followed Adams assembling reporters at City Hall on Monday to unveil the annual report card on city agencies work known as the Mayor’s Management Report. For the past two years, City Hall published the report on a Friday and held no press conference. 

“I told the team we have to write our own narrative, because if we don’t show the success and we don’t have a person who has benefited from what we’re doing, it just doesn’t seem to get covered,” Adams had said of his decision to formally announce the report’s release.