Eric signs order to shield free speech and assembly
Mayor Adams signed an executive order Monday that he said aims to better protect journalists and require city agencies to conduct a regular review of policies that could impact the public’s rights to free speech.
The order, which Adams autographed from the podium at a City Hall press briefing, also directs deputy mayors and city agency heads to revamp city policies in ways that “would advance the public’s rights to free speech and peaceable assembly.”
He acknowledged that while the First Amendment already protects free speech, his order is intended to make sure that it actually happens in practice when it comes to how city agencies operate.
“I was on the ground during Occupy Wall Street. We saw members of the press who were arrested, who were harassed, who were not allowed to cover the story — even those who were wearing their press passes,” he said. “It’s one thing to have something in writing. It’s another thing to make sure that all of the agencies that are involved in protecting that authority and right in carrying out their jobs.”
His signoff on the executive order was prompted by a list of recommendations made by a panel on social justice led by his political ally, Norman Siegel.
The panel also recommended that the Adams administration increase diversity among the higher ranks of the NYPD, make the Police Academy’s curriculum more transparent and “formally abandon” the broken windows policing philosophy. The latter was often employed under former NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton.
The panel also called for Adams to strengthen the Civilian Complaint Review Board by extending the statute of limitations for complaints against cops to three years from 18 months and create a commission to examine “the brutal, racialized history” of Rikers Island, as well as drastically lower the jail’s population.
The mayor did not lay out a specific time line for when he would address each of those recommendations, but said he would do so in an “expeditious fashion.”
Adams suggested he would support some form of affirmative action when it comes to the Police Department by saying “there are ways to be creative,” such as making some positions within the NYPD civilian posts.
“We need to do an analysis ... make sure the exams are fairer,” he said. “We have to put the available people in the pipeline to be promoted.”
Siegel backed Adams’ mayoral run and has represented him as a client, but he said he wouldn’t hesitate to sue the mayor if he doesn’t live up to his promise to make the city a more just place. Adams was the first to acknowledge that possibility.
“Norman will sue me in a New York minute,” Hizzoner said, chuckling. “And he reminds me all the time — ‘If you get it wrong, I’m going to tell you to get it right, and then I’m going to take you to court and make you get it right.’ ”
Siegel, who stood side by side with the mayor Monday, said he and his 11-member panel are “cautiously optimistic” about the Adams administration and that they “take seriously” Adams’ “stated desire” to make social justice and public safety priorities simultaneously.
“We know with the executive order — and we’re very pleased — it’s a first step,” Siegel said. “We’re putting everyone on notice: We’ll be here to closely monitor the implementation.”
One area in particular that Siegel suggested he’d be watching closely is how Adams and his government respond to Freedom of Information Law requests, both from the press and the general public.
To illustrate this, he pointed to a request for records he made on behalf of Adams when he served as Brooklyn borough president. The request, which went to Adams’ predecessor as mayor, Bill de Blasio, was for records on where COVID vaccines were distributed throughout the city.
Siegel recounted making the request to the mayor’s office and Health + Hospitals 14 months ago. Health + Hospitals still has not responded, and the mayor’s office has sent several notices that a response would be delayed, citing COVID as an excuse for the holdup.
“The irony is he’s now the mayor,” Siegel said. “So we don’t have to go to court because he can get that information, but that’s an example of why you need this.”
Siegel then added that if Adams’ administration follows the same pattern as de Blasio’s, he will flag delayed public records requests to the new mayor. And if the problem is not remedied, he said he’d recommend to the mayor that the agency heads in question be fired.