NYC Mayor Eric Adams steps away from embattled city to visit Puerto Rico

New York City’s mayor left the turmoil of his city behind for a weekend fact-finding mission to Puerto Rico after it was hit by Hurricane Fiona.

Mayor Eric Adam’s official Twitter account has been awash in posts from the trip including a video filmed Sunday with Miguel Romero, mayor of San Juan, at the island’s emergency command center.

“Puerto Rico is our sixth borough of New York. We’re tied at the hip,” Adams said during in a video, where the two mayors were accompanied by state Rep Adriano Espaillat (D), Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, several New York City Council members and city Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez.

“We’re going to… identify exactly what’s needed,” the mayor added. “We want to pinpoint what the needs are.”

Romero responded that the island needed electricity to get water running in the city as soon as possible.

Commenters under the video blasted Adams for not taking care of his own city, which is struggling with surging violent crime and a migrant surge that has pushed shelters to the “breaking point.”

“Why are you wasting our tax dollars on trips you should not be taking, Eric?!” wrote one user.

The New York mayor’s media blitz comes after he declined to take questions from reporters, outside of scheduled TV and radio interviews, since announcing Thursday that his administration will build large tent cities to house the hundreds of migrants arriving to the Big Apple daily, reports the New York Post.

Adams’ Sunday schedule also included meetings with Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Pierluisi, FEMA’s administrator for the region and Dominican Republic president Luis Abinader – all of which were closed to the media.  

Last week, Adams’ office reported that emergency responders are taking longer to respond to crimes, fires and medical emergencies due to serious staffing shortages, which some experts have blamed on the “defund the police” movement.  

The former NYPD captain has struggled to rein in high crime despite criticizing Black Lives Matter and defund the police activists during his campaign.