Brooklyn borough president warns of City Hall dysfunction, defends sanctuary city status, and pushes for housing reform.
NEW YORK, NY – After the recent departure of high-level officials from Mayor Eric Adams’ administration, following the Department of Justice’s decision to drop corruption charges against him, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso is concerned the city has lost some of its smartest and most competent leaders.
In a wide-ranging interview with City Newsroom on February 19, Reynoso urged the mayor to resign, while discarding the idea of removing Adams through the city’s incapacity committee. He also spoke about New York’s sanctuary city status, his policy priorities as borough president, and his campaign for reelection.
Back in September, Adams was indicted on multiple counts, including bribery, conspiracy, wire fraud, and accepting campaign contributions from foreign nationals, becoming the first New York City mayor to face federal criminal charges in recent memory. Prosecutors alleged that he had received illegal luxury gifts from Turkish officials seeking influence.
But in a Feb. 10 memo asking for the charges to be dropped, the Justice Department argued the case against the mayor interfered with his reelection efforts and with his ability to enforce President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. The memo left the door open to reviewing the case after the November election.
A few prosecutors in the U.S. attorney’s office resigned in protest. New York Deputy Mayors Maria Torres-Springer, Meera Joshi, Anne Williams-Isom and Chauncy Parker also stepped down.
On Friday, Paul Clement, an attorney appointed by District Judge Dale Ho to review this decision, recommended dropping the case permanently in order to avoid the appearance of Adams being pressured by the Trump administration. But the damage to the mayor’s credibility had already been done.
The Brooklyn borough president expressed concerns about the city’s ability to function, with Adams’ apparent new ties to the Trump administration. Reynoso said he worries that Adams’ “policies or the budget that he would be pushing would be for Donald Trump and the federal administration, not for the city of New York.”
Last year, Reynoso, who occupies the office Adams used to lead, told the New York Times he had met with F.B.I. officials after receiving -and returning- 10 gold-plated tea sets from the Turkish government. Reynoso said that dignitaries from other countries give him gifts often but mentioned “this was unusual because this was a nice tea set and you could see it right away.” He added that Turkish officials had even offered him trips to Istanbul, which made him “uncomfortable.”
Reynoso sees these gifts as a sign of City Hall’s larger corruption problem, which he said is distracting government officials from addressing “root problems” New Yorkers face like housing, mental health, and maternal mortality.
He also believes the mayor has done a poor job defending New York’s sanctuary city status, putting undocumented immigrants at risk.
Reynoso, who served as a council member for eight years and is now running for a second term as Brooklyn borough president, also spoke about his broad agenda, despite the mostly ceremonial nature of his office.
He said that in the last few years he had allocated $45 million to ensure Brooklyn has “state of the art” and “world-renowned” public hospitals to help reduce the high mortality rates among Black women during childbirth. “I want to make Brooklyn the safest place in all of New York City for Black women to have babies,” he said.
Another key issue on his mind is housing. “What we should be doing is building housing everywhere, and that’s not happening,” said Reynoso.
He is calling for a “citywide comprehensive plan,” similar to his own in Brooklyn, to address the housing crisis. Building units across all neighborhoods and boroughs, rather than concentrating new developments in a few areas, is a strategy he believes will help curb gentrification and displacement.
Reynoso used Minneapolis as an example of good housing policy. There, single-family zoning was abolished, leading to an increased housing supply and lower rents. His office has already pushed forward developments like Liberty Tower Gardens and Windsor Terrace, areas that hadn’t seen new affordable housing built since 1968.
As he seeks reelection, Reynoso is confident of his chances at winning, calling himself a “proud democrat” and “progressive.” He emphasized the need to better communicate his office’s successes as he assembles a new press team. His main goal as an elected official, he said, is “to take care of people.”
Isabella Morales is a City Newsroom reporter covering transportation. Born and raised in Miami, she speaks Spanish as well.
Jennifer Gan is from Nanjing, China, and covers Arts and Culture for City Newsroom. She has experience in broadcast reporting and obtained a dual degree in Journalism and Psychology before coming to J-school.
Laïny is from Guadeloupe in the French Caribbean, covers immigration in New York City with a focus on its intersection with LGBTQIA+ rights.
