Mayor Eric Adams did not attend the first candidate forum for the New York City mayoral race, but his record — and the criminal charges he faces — received plenty of attention on Saturday from the Democrats who are running to unseat him.
The attacks covered Mr. Adams’s indictment on federal corruption charges last month, but even more criticism was heaped on his budget cuts to free preschool, stalled bus improvements and his response to the city’s affordability crisis.
“Eric Adams promised to be the mayor for communities like yours, and long before all of these corruption scandals, he has failed to do so,” Brad Lander, the city comptroller, said at the forum at a church in the Bronx. “Let’s be clear: You deserve a safer, more affordable, more livable and better-run city.”