Jumaane Williams isn’t slowing down on pushing for progress

On Sept. 29, New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams spoke in Foley Square alongside Democratic Lt. Gov. nominee Adrienne Adams, Brad Lander and other community advocates. He endorsed the Hochul-Adams ticket, discussed the urgency of preventing gun violence and criticized Hochul’s opponent, Republican Bruce Blakeman. The appearance was a part of Adams’ tour titled “The Cost of Blakeman.” Williams spoke with City & State about the Mamdani administration, the governor’s race and his advocacy priorities. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

I’m curious about your position on Gov. Kathy Hochul and her running for reelection. You previously criticized her for her resistance to taxing the wealthy. Have you had any further conversation on this issue?

I mean, I think I’ve had a lot of criticism and critique. I think I’ve been very clear: I think that many Democratic leaders made poor decisions that actually brought us to Donald Trump. So I’ve been very clear about that, and the insistence that I don’t think there’s enough of an autopsy in what happened and how we got here. With that said, I’m asking folks who joined me in that critique to let that critique be known by voting on the (Working Families Party) line, so that way we can provide critique without creating harm.

And when it comes to her tax policy, do you think that the pied-à-terre tax on luxury second homes is a good solution, or do you think that it needs to go further?

Oh, we absolutely need to go further. We need to literally tax the wealthy in a very real, intentional way. I’m happy that we have the pied-à-terre tax, it’s something that we did not have before. It’s something that we have to push for. I feel like we maybe need to push a little harder than I hoped we would have to. But again, if you look at the two choices, you’re not going to get that from Bruce Blakeman. Quite the opposite. He might do the same kind of transfer of wealth from the poor and working-class folks to wealthy people, like Donald Trump did. So, if you are liking paying more based on Donald Trump’s policies, that’s what you get from Bruce Blakeman. So, again, right now the choice is between two folks on Nov. 3, and we have to be clear and definitive that we’re not going to allow Bruce Blakeman, the mini Trump, to be the governor of the state.

It’s no secret that you have been critical of the governor, but when it comes to this election cycle, what do you two agree on? And do you think that there are any issues in particular that Hochul has handled very well?

Well, I think, as you mentioned, the pied-à-terre tax. Since she’s become governor, much better on gun issues, and there’s a clear gulf in between how she views concealed carry bans, getting permits for people with guns, versus Bruce Blakeman. Since she’s become governor, there’s a gulf between what she thinks of ICE, and the militia and immigrant New Yorkers, and Bruce Blakeman, who has nephews on the militia who are armed, who believes in the militia, who wants to cause harm to New Yorkers, whose own county has a 10-year high in violent crime. So, there’s a world of difference. What she’s done with helping the mayor here on 2-K is also something that’s very laudable. So there's a lot of points of agreement, and I want to continue to push even further on those points. I’d rather have to push someone where there is some alignment than someone who’s going to be horrific in everything that people care about in this state.

What are your thoughts on New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's performance thus far? What do you think he’s done well, and what would you like to see him prioritize going forward?

What’s amazing to me, he’s accomplished a lot of things in the past few months that I think people should be like, “Wow, how did you get that done so quickly?” I think he’s made some campaign promises that he wanted to do, and then he went out and started doing a lot of them, so that’s very laudable. There’s always, you know, things you want to push a little bit. So we’re going to continue to push on issues. And my job as public advocate is to make sure that every voice is heard, all the issues are pushed forward. So I’m enjoying this administration. Obviously, the last one was terrible, so I’m very glad that’s gone. I think that’s better for everybody in this city, and most importantly, the voters have been very clear about what type of leader they want, and so the Mamdani election, I think, is just a great move forward.

Are there any proposed policies or ideas, or things that Mamdani’s already executed on, that you’ve been a fan of?

The things he’s done with 2-K with the governor’s help, I think is great. The fact that he’s been working on the grocery store, I think is great. The housing plan that he put forward, while there’s some tweaks I would have (made), is probably the best housing plan that I’ve seen, and I’ve been working on a housing policy now, I’m sorry to say, for like 20-something years now, and so this is one of the best ones. Of course, governing is hard, so execution is difficult, and I think that’s where you need a public advocate to make sure we can go from what we want to do to execution.

The mayor launched the Office of Community Safety in March. Have you seen results from this office? Are there any areas of improvement you want to see when it comes to that office, or just the NYPD in general?

Well, thanks to all of our partners, we are on historic lows of shootings and murders, and those two stats are really important to me because many of us have been trying to figure out the combination of things that help get us to that point. And I always want to be clear that data means nothing to you (when) you’re a victim of crime, or your family’s a victim of crime, and even with lower data, the communities that are dealing with the violence are still the same communities, and that’s a problem. I have pushed for something like the Office of Community Safety for such a long time, so it’s an honor to be a part of that press conference announcing that. I think Deputy Mayor (Renita) Francois is an excellent choice. I am hoping to see some more investment in the Office of Community Safety. The work that’s being done with the crisis management system is amazing, but I do think we have to build on it, so I’m looking to see that being built on.

I’m hoping to see more integration into the discussions of public safety with NYPD and the Office Community Safety, and that is just a culture shift that has to happen. I’ve seen it work well in other cities, so I’m looking forward to (that happening) here. I’m thankful for the NYPD partners for (the) work that they’re doing to help with pushing down on crime. But there’s some other issues that are very concerning, like low-level stops, some of the things we’re seeing around the increase of stop, question and frisk, and the lack of transparency there. So there’s some concerns there still. I’m going to continue to push and continue to have conversations.

You have a recent report out on AI governance. What’s the most important step that you think the Mamdani administration needs to take when it comes to guardrails and AI usage?

Unlike the president and probably Blakeman, at least there’s an acknowledgement that we have a problem. So the first thing is to acknowledge that we definitely have a huge, existential problem with AI. … So we have to slow down. Thankfully, we pulled back some of it with school. I think we may need to pull back even a little bit more, and really put some firm guidelines in place of how we can use this, because AI is here. There’s no way around that, but it’s the guardrails and the guidelines that are missing of how all of the agencies can use it. People look at New York, and I think a lot of folks are struggling with this, so if we can (say) “here’s how we can use it, here are the guidelines that will keep folks safe,” New York City has a huge sway on how things go across this country.