To calm chaos, Adams appoints a new first deputy and plans restructuring

NEW YORK — After weeks of legal chaos and unprecedented upheaval in city government, Mayor Eric Adams is replacing his first deputy mayor and planning to restructure government in the hope of quelling questions about his ability to lead the city.

First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright is resigning and another deputy mayor, Maria Torres-Springer, will be elevated to take her place, the mayor announced Tuesday.

“Maria has been doing the work so long at a high level. She knows all the players involved,” said a person familiar with the mayor’s thinking, adding that Torres-Springer “now will explicitly have the support of the mayor to take the ball and run with it.”

Adams made the announcement at his weekly media availability Tuesday, focusing on Torres-Springer’s two decades in city government, where she worked under both Mike Bloomberg and Bill de Blasio before joining Adams’ team as a deputy mayor focused on housing and economic development.

Torres-Springer will team up with Chief of Staff Camille Joseph Varlack to “conduct an immediate review of personnel, programs and policies” in City Hall, Adams said.

“Everything is being reevaluated,” explained a senior City Hall staffer, who was granted anonymity to speak about internal dynamics. That person discussed the current structure in stark terms, calling it “a motherfucking shit show,” but said Torres-Springer coming in was “an opportunity to reinvent.”

Adams pushed back on the criticism at his press conference Tuesday, saying “this show has been a great show” and that the administration’s results on providing housing and lowering crime speak for themselves. But he said he’d consider changes in structure.

“You go back and say, what could you do better? What could you learn from? Isn't that part of growth?” he said. “I want to grow. I want to be the best I can in my position." Part of that, he added, includes having conversations with “external people,” including “the business community.”

Torres-Springer’s expected appointment was reported by POLITICO Monday evening. Wright’s departure has also been in the air , POLITICO reported Friday, after her phone was seized in a federal investigation last month. About a dozen Adams aides have left or announced plans to leave in the last month, including his chief counsel, police commissioner and Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Phil Banks, who resigned on Sunday.

Straining credulity, Adams directly denied that his indictment and other federal investigations led to the resignations.

“Not one person that has decided to do something else with their life said 'Eric, it's because so much is going on.’ Not one person,” Adams said.

“As long as you can deliver for the city of New York and hold to the high ethical standards that come with it, you could work for me,” he added. “But people wanted to go on with their lives.”

When indictments felt imminent, Wright “kind of disappeared,” said the person close to the mayor. “People had been pushing for her to go for a while. And when she responded in crisis like that, it was like how can we possibly count on you?”

When it was communicated that she needed to leave, Wright didn’t fight at first, the person said. But that changed, and her exit had to be “massaged.”

Wright pushed a New York Post photographer’s camera outside her home last week. While news broke Friday of her imminent resignation, City Hall waited until Tuesday to make the announcement, so that Torres-Springer’s promotion could be announced at the same time.

Adams refused to declare Tuesday that Wright’s departure would mark the end of high profile resignations, saying people coming and going is part of life, and “the goal is don’t remain stagnant. Be willing to evolve and grow.”

But there was a sense among close observers of the administration that the people who need to resign are now gone, or on their way out.

That includes controversial figures like Senior Adviser Tim Pearson, who resigned on Sept. 30 after weeks of push and pull from other top Adams aides, and Special Adviser Winnie Greco, who’s under multiple investigations.

Adams Chief Counsel Lisa Zornberg resigned earlier in September, in protest of Adams’ refusal to push out loyal aides. Now, many are gone.

According to the person close to Adams, for the “permanent government” of labor unions, big business and nonprofits, “this is the best case scenario, if Eric stays in, and gets rid of all the dummies.”.

Many people who have worked with City Hall described an unclear power structure, undergirded by an organizational chart that gave the mayor too many direct reports, and bogged down Wright with smaller offices, while keeping core agencies out of her portfolio.

Before Tuesday, Wright, Joseph Varlack and Chief Adviser Ingrid Lewis-Martin all competed to be in charge. Now, the elevation of Torres-Springer is meant to create certainty.

“It’s clear that Maria will be empowered to speak for the mayor, act for the mayor and that adds such much needed grease to the gears in government,” the person close to the mayor said.

Torres-Springer is well regarded as a competent operator inside and outside city government. Adams said Tuesday that her fellow deputy mayors all stated she was the right person for the role.

Adams, not ignorant of the turmoil, praised her “ability to remain calm during rough seas” adding “she has the ability of landing the plane.”

Torres-Springer’s hire was supported by Hochul, an essential validator who has said Adams needs to prove he deserves the trust of the people. Hochul pushed Adams to pick one person to clarify the power structure and to act on his behalf, according to people familiar with the discussions, who were granted anonymity to talk about private conversations.

Hochul’s office declined to comment, but a source familiar with the governor’s thinking said she thinks Torres-Springer has a good reputation as a strong manager and has proven she can work effectively with this mayor.

“I had a great conversation with the governor over the weekend. She gave me some of her suggestions. We implemented some of her suggestions,” Adams said on Tuesday. But he bristled when asked if Hochul directly signed off on hiring Torres-Springer.

“She has to run the state,” Adams said about Hochul, “and she's not sitting around asking what movement you're going to make.”

Torres-Springer’s appointment earned praise even from some of the mayor’s harshest critics, like progressive City Council Member Chi Ossé, who has called on Adams to resign .

“Maria Torres-Springer is a true public servant,” he posted on X. “Throughout all of the chaos coming from this Mayor and many of his appointments, she has proven consistently that serving the people of our city comes first.”

Wright had little to no interaction with the city council, members said, and a council official wasn’t impressed with the era. “Their whole org chart was so scrambled you never really knew who was making decisions,” the official said.

Wright’s lack of previous government experience hurt her standing with the council. “You need somebody who understands government very well from the City Hall side and the agency side to be an effective first deputy,” like Torres-Springer, the official said. “It’s not the type of position that’s your first foray into government.”

Adams’ allies outside of government were also happy with the shakeup.

“I think everyone took a sigh of relief today, and is very happy,” said Carlo Scissura, CEO of the New York Building Congress, an advocacy group for the construction industry who said he couldn’t think of a better appointment.

“I applaud the mayor for showing true leadership, and for clearly making the changes at the highest levels of city government that I think New Yorkers could be proud of now,” Scissura said.

The role of first deputy mayor has changed depending on who was mayor at the time and who held the job. Under de Blasio, First Deputy Mayor Tony Shorris was given an expansive portfolio, which many blamed for sloppiness in the administration.

Torres-Springer will continue managing her previous agency portfolio while taking on new responsibilities as first deputy, City Hall said in a press release announcing her hiring.

That concerned a former de Blasio administration official, who was granted anonymity to speak freely about a powerful person.

“To have a deputy mayor with a portfolio that big, and also managing the morale of the staff is a recipe for disaster,” the former official said. “The job that Maria has to do is a job that no deputy mayor in New York City’s history has been asked to do.”