NEW YORK (PIX11) -- Mayor Eric Adams skipped a public forum hosted by New York City's largest municipal union Wednesday night.
In a statement that was read at the start of the event, Adams said it was "on the advice of counsel" while he "awaits the conclusion of his case," a reference to his federal corruption case.
Six of the other Democrats who want to be the next New York City Mayor gathered instead on stage for the District Council 37 Mayoral Forum at the Borough of Manhattan Community College Wednesday night.
On the stage from left to right were State Senator Jessica Ramos, Former State Assemblyman Michael Blake, Former City Comptroller Scott Stringer, State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, City Comptroller Brad Lander and State Senator Zellnor Myrie.
Each candidate gave an opening and closing statement and then sat for 2 hours of questions from a moderator. Repeat topics included affordable housing, child care, after school programs, homelessness and crime.
Blake said at one point, "We should not have cops addressing mental health concerns cause they weren't trained to do that in the first place."
Myrie said, "I want 24/7 police and clinician trios that are actually getting people into stabilization."
Ramos said, "Retaining our teachers, making they have the funds to maintain their classrooms and not dipping into their own pockets is really important."
Stringer said, "I'm going to prioritize making sure that we baseline our childcare funding, that we work with our state partners to get the resources."
Mamdani pledged to make the city affordable again, adding "We're going to do it by freezing the rent, we're going to do it building 200,000 new affordable union-built homes. "
Lander pledged if he's elected mayor, he will "be your partner in ending street homelessness, in getting affordable housing built, in getting universal child care."
District Council 37 President, Shaun D. Francois told PIX11 News they have not decided who to endorse yet in the race, despite having supported Eric Adams in the last election. Francois said, "We got to do what we got to do to make sure the proper candidate gets in office, not because of stereotypes or nonsense or morale, but for what he's going to do for the City of New York."
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