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With the federal government finally giving New York permission to use Floyd Bennett Field to house some of the 100,000 migrants that have descended on the city, one would think Mayor Eric Adams and Governor Kathy Hochul would be celebrating a partial solution to the daunting problem. Instead, the governor accused the mayor and his team of being slow on the draw in dealing with the crisis. Adams shot back, saying the state needs to shoulder more of the city’s burden of housing the migrants. Former Nassau County Executive Laura Curran is among those bewildered by the governor’s rebuke of Adams. Speaking on 710 WOR’s Len Berman and Michael Riedel in the Morning program, Curran expressed her take on the no-win situation.
“I found that very puzzling,” Curran told Berman and Riedel. “I couldn’t understand, I’m trying to get into her head, and I’m wondering what is the motivation here? Why are you attacking and criticizing the mayor, who I think, frankly, is handling this as well as he possibly can. He’s in an impossible position. I mean, it’s one thing to not be helpful, but it’s another thing to slam the guy and criticize the way he’s handling this. He’s not getting any help anywhere.”
Ultimately, Curran feels Hochul shouldn’t take her eyes off the key issue since using Floyd Bennett Field only solves part of the migrant problem. “That’s a big win because, remember, she tried to get permission from Biden to do that, it wasn’t allowed and now they’re finally allowed to do that, so that is a big deal. However, these are all just temporary Band-Aids… warehousing people without an actual plan on the federal level- that’s the biggest problem, and that’s beyond both the governor and the mayor.”
Curran also praised Adams for making a trip to Israel, where he kept a neutral stance on the region’s hot-button issues. “His tone, which has been ‘I’m not taking sides here, I’m just here to learn’ is exactly right… going is great, and I think the way he’s handling it is great… and it’s historical. All mayors and governors (go there); it's what you do.”
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