3.9k Share this
New York City‘s Mayor-elect Eric Adams celebrated his election win on Tuesday night surrounded by CEOs and celebrities at the swanky, members-only club Zero Bond where he asked billionaire bosses to buy into his paid internship programs for underprivileged kids and promised to restore the Empire City’s businesses.
Adams, a former NYPD cop, was welcomed with open arms by Oscar winning actor Forest Whitaker, Google founder Eric Schmidt, Chris Rock, Ja Rule, American Express executive Anre Williams and reality TV star Jonathan Cheban.
The party was put together by PR whiz Ronn Torossian, a confidante and advisor to the new mayor, but it was paid for by the Adams campaign as a thank you to 125 friends and supporters.
While the exact cost of the bash isn’t clear, it’s likely to have been steep – memberships at Zero Bond cost $3,000-a-year plus initiation fees of $1,000.
Adams won by a landslide 65% last night over Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa’s 28% and was clearly in the mood to celebrate as he gave a rousing victory speech.
Among those who attended were NYC business titans like Knicks President Leon Rose, Softbank CEO Marcelo Claure, Madison Square Garden Sports CEO James Dolan, Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris and Wes Edens, co-owner of the Milwaukee Bucks.
NYC’s next Mayor Eric Adams with PR guru Ronn Torossian – his advisor and confidante – and Kamal Hotchandani, the CEO of Haute Living Media Group – party at Zero Bond on Tuesday night after his sweeping election victory
Forest Whitaker and Eric Adams attend the Mayor Elect Eric Adams Celebration Party at Zero Bond
Adams with his actor son Jordan Coleman and Oscar-winner Forest Whitaker, who was among the well-heeled guests. He embraced Adams’ ‘rags to riches’ story, saying he was ‘part of the community’
Reality TV star and Kardashian pal Jonathan Cheban was also at the event on Tuesday night. The Adams campaign paid for the party as a thank you to 125 friends and supporters, and a promise to NYC’s business titans that they would be looked after
Rapper Ja Rule, Haute Living CEO Kamal Hotchandani and restaurant owner Robert Petrosyants who pleaded guilty to a money laundering scheme in 2014
Kamal Hotchandani, Eric Adams and Anre Williams, an American Express executive, at the party on Tuesday night
Denise Felipe-Adams, Eric Adams and Charle Webb attend the Mayor Elect Eric Adams Celebration Party at Zero Bond on November 02, 2021 in New York City
Standing in front of a roaring fire, he trashed the waste of billions of taxpayer dollars that he said the city had become accustomed to, promised the NYPD that the city once again ‘has your back’ and vowed to get homeless people off the streets where they are ‘camping in front of our restaurants and hotels’.
The party was held after his official election HQ party wound down at around 10.30pm.
Videos from the event obtained by DailyMail.com show him asking the star-studded group to invest in his intern programs and give young black city kids jobs in their high-flying businesses.
Standing in front of a roaring fire, he trashed the waste of billions of taxpayer dollars that he said the city had become accustomed to, promised the NYPD that the city once again ‘has your back’ and vowed to get homeless people off the streets where they are ‘camping in front of our restaurants and hotels’.
‘The way New York goes, America goes. This is where dreams are made. I am so ready for this moment!
‘I wanted to come tonight and ask you can we do something. Can we hit reset? Can we hit reset with our police, and tell them we have their backs again? Can we hit reset with our business community? Can I say to you that this is going to become one of the most business friendly cities [in the world]?
‘You cross the damn Washington Bridge and it says Welcome to the Empire State, not welcome to the place that destroys empires.’
Adams appealed to the well-heeled crowd to agree to take in underprivileged city kids who have ‘no exposure’ to the corporate world, asking them to ‘build out a pipeline’ that will teach them ‘soft skills’.
Earlier in the night he celebrated at an official event with Governor Kathy Hochul who issued her congratulations and support to Adams, promising cooperation among city a state officials
‘What it means to go to Broadway, what it means to go to Wall Street… the best anti-crime program is a job,’ he said to applause.
‘There is something about this place we call America.. we are the only country where ‘dream’ is attached to our name. It’s not the ‘Polish dream’ or ‘the French dream’. It’s the American dream.
Adams was facing Republican Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa in the race. Pictured: Sliwa arrives to vote with a rescue cat named Gizmo in New York, Tuesday
‘You can come to this city with just a $1 and open banks all over the country. You can come here and work in the mailroom, and then become the Mayor,’ he gushed.
Schmidt, who was Google’s CEO until 2011, told The New York Post at the party: ‘New York doesn’t work unless it grows because the costs are so high and the pressures are so great if you hold it flat it doesn’t handle it correctly.
‘So you have to have a pro-growth mayor. He’s clearly a pro-growth mayor which is why the business community came out so strongly for him.’
Madison Square Garden CEO James Dolan called Adams’ victory ‘a great start,’ sharing his desire for New York City to get back to normal after the pandemic. ‘People aren’t in their offices, the tourists aren’t here yet,’ he said.
Forest Whittaker hailed Adams for his rags-to-riches story. The new mayor grew up in abject poverty in Brownsville, Brooklyn and will begin his leadership of America’s largest city from January 1.
‘We have a leader that has some sense of community. He’s somebody who is part of the community. He’s somebody who has experienced some of the greatest hardships the country has to offer,’ Whittaker told the Post.
‘Now we have someone who understands, who’s empathic. He is going to be able to work with us and lead us as a city,’ the actor – who won his best actor Academy Award for his performance in ‘The Last King of Scotland’ – said.
Other big names at the party also joined in with the praise of Adams. Rapper Ja Rule called him ‘an amazing new mayor,’ while Jefferies Financial Group CEO Rich Handle said Adams would ‘bring everyone together’.
During his victory speech on Tuesday night at a hotel in Brooklyn, Adams praised New Yorkers for electing ‘one of their own.’
‘The people of our city have spoken, and tonight, New York has chosen — one of you, one of your own. I am you,’ he told the crowd. ‘After years of praying and hoping and struggling and working, we are headed to City Hall.
Out: Mayor Bill de Blasio leaves office at the end of this year after a disastrous 18 months
Source: dailymail
