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By Bill Egbert
Brooklyn Daily
State Sen. Eric Adams took to the steps of Borough Hall Sunday, joined by its current and previous occupants, to kick off his bid to become the next borough president.
“Together we will realize the dream of what Brooklyn can be for ALL of us,” said four-term state Sen. Adams (D-Flatbush), promising a pro-active government that will help turn the borough’s popularity into broad-based prosperity.
While declaring himself “pro-development,” Adams also emphasized the need to develop the borough’s human capital as well as its real state.
“We have a responsibility to build structures and infrastructure—but we also have a responsibility to build people,” he told the crowd. “We built a new home for the Nets, now we have to build affordable homes for families. We built our brand, now we have to continue enriching lives.”
Borough President Markowitz showed up to endorse Adams along with former beep Howard Golden and about 40 other elected officials, and told his fellow Brooklynites that Adams, who now represents roughly the same senate district Markowitz once did, is well placed to follow in his footsteps once more.
“As someone who plans to spend the rest of my days in Brooklyn,” said Markowitz, “I am excited for Eric Adams’ future and hope that his contributions even surpass mine.”
While acknowledging that “Mr. Brooklyn” will be a tough act to follow, Adams outlined for this paper some of the ways his borough presidency would distinguish itself. The Albany lawmaker plans to take full advantage of one of the office’s few remaining powers in the city charter by introducing legislation to the City Council, something Markowitz never did.
Adams also described plans for aggressive outreach to promote under-utilized city services, promoting financial literacy by persuading banks to sponsor programs in public schools, and other programs Borough Hall could champion without requiring major expenditures.
The 22-year veteran of the NYPD also suggested applying the Compstat model to local government, using mapping software, social media, and other technology to track and improve the delivery of public services.
Asked what his “passion project” for the borough would be, Adams described a vision of a redeveloped Brooklyn Terminal Market featuring restaurants serving food grown on-site in hydroponic “vertical farms.”
Reach reporter Will Bredderman at wbredderman@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260-4507. Follow him at twitter.com/WillBredderman.