NYC Council preps to override 3 Eric Adams vetoes

The New York City Council is gearing up for another veto battle with the mayor – not over just one piece of legislation, but three. 

The bills – one of which would decriminalize street vending, the others would raise wages for grocery delivery workers – are the latest of more than a dozen measures vetoed by Mayor Eric Adams throughout his tenure. Over the past couple weeks alone, the mayor has overturned four of the City Council’s measures, further fueling tensions between the two sides of City Hall as he pursues a longshot bid for reelection as an independent candidate. 

City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams did not hold back Thursday as she slammed the mayor for vetoing the measures. While she acknowledged that the City Council did not have the “appetite” to overturn one of them: the mayor’s revival of Bally’s casino bid, she said the Council plans to save the street vending and grocery delivery bills. While logistical discussions are ongoing, the City Council will most likely override the mayor’s vetoes on Sept. 10, the next stated meeting. The 30-day clock to do so starts Thursday. 

“These vetoes once again demonstrate how the mayor is failing to serve New Yorkers and the public interest,” Speaker Adams told reporters ahead of the council’s monthly stated meeting. “His own administration recommended these bills, negotiated them and supported their passage.”

Two of the measures, Int. 1135-A and Int 1133-A, would put grocery store delivery workers on even footing with food delivery workers, extending protections previously passed by the City Council to the former and bumping pay to a little over $21 per hour. The other, Intro. 47-B, would ensure street vendors no longer face misdemeanor charges or jail time for violating the city’s vending law. Aimed to limit unnecessary interactions with law enforcement for the vendors – roughly 96% of whom are immigrants – the legislation comes as the Trump administration ramps up deportations. 

“This is such a dangerous moment for immigrants in the city,” bill sponsor Council Member Shekar Krishnan told City & State. “Mayor Adams has put them in further danger, but we in this City Council will not let that happen.” 

Since all three bills initially passed with a solid veto-proof majority, the City Council should have little trouble with the overrides. But for Adams, the vetoes could draw contrast between himself and the City Council as he tries to build support for his mayoral campaign. Just last week, the New York Post published a flattering story about the mayor’s vetoes, framing them as a check on the City Council’s “radical leftist agenda.” First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro also reportedly encouraged the mayor to veto the grocery delivery bills as Amazon and Instacart – both powerful delivery companies – engaged in an aggressive lobbying campaign, according to the Daily News.

Mayor Adams for his part has framed his reasoning in non-political terms. He’s argued that the delivery worker bills would cause grocery delivery companies to jack up their prices for customers – many of whom receive food assistance, are seniors and have disabilities. Of the other bill, he’s argued that decriminalizing street vending would be unfair to “law-abiding business owners” and also poses “real public health and safety risks.” 

Speaker Adams was unmoved by either of these defenses. She argued that the bills aim to protect immigrants and working-class New Yorkers.

“The mayor’s vetoes are anti-worker and anti-working class, aligning him once again with Donald Trump’s agenda,” she said. “He cannot claim to care about working-class New Yorkers or establishing a sustainable delivery sector while also blocking fair wages and protections for the workers that made this sector. The hypocrisy of his claims are on full display time and time again.”