Mayor Adams Picks New Location to House Migrants and Didn't Disclose the New Cost

Mayor Eric Adams on the new tent locationScreenshot from Twitter

Just as construction started to build the migrants camps in the Bronx, New York Mayor Eric Adams announced a change of plans. The new plan was not met with overwhelming support. In fact, there were just as many complaints as before the tents were for migrants. Then there is the cost of money that was already wasted on the first project.

Mayor Adams said at the City College of New York’s main campus in Harlem:

“It’s not about money lost — it’s about using our dollars smartly.”

“Once we get the exact cost, we will give it to you. We don’t do anything prematurely so you can say, ‘Eric lied on the cost.’ So, we’re going to give it once we get it.”

The new destination is Randall’s Island instead of the Bronx. Randall’s Island is already home to several homeless shelters and bus transportation. The site doesn’t have subway access.

Previously, Borough President Vanessa Gibson said the location where the tent is being built floods. The new location also floods when it rains which Mayor Adams may not have considered.

In response to Gibson’s comment, Adams finally said:

“We could have mitigated the pooling of water” at the flood-prone Orchard Beach parking lot but that “we made the decision to move to Randall’s Island — and that’s what we did.”

“There’s a lot of pivoting and shifting that’s going to take place.”

Director of research for the conservative Empire Center for Public Policy in Albany Peter Warren said:

“It sounds like poor planning.”

“I don’t know why they didn’t just wait.”

“If it’s such an emergency couldn’t they have suspended some of the seasonal activity on Randall’s Island? They’re certainly not in a position to be wasting money at this time if it’s avoidable.”

Warren added that Adams asked President Biden for at least $500 million in emergency aid, saying:

“They’re banking on this federal relief right now.”

U.S. Representative Nicole Malliotakis (R-Staten Island/Brooklyn) said:

“It’s sickening to see the way the city and the federal government are wasting taxpayer money to deal with problems they created that are totally avoidable.”

“It’s frustrating to see the way money is thrown away by the city, state, and federal governments at a time when we are dealing with budget issues, a $31 trillion debt, and an economy where New Yorkers and Americans are struggling to get by.”

New York is dealing with the migrants that Texas Governor Greg Abbott began sending to the city in August.

Do you think this was the best idea to move the tent for migrants?