FAQ NYC

Co-hosts Christina Greer, Katie Honan and Harry Siegel discuss the high court’s ruling in June that public servants are free to accept gratuities in exchange for their public actions, which the mayor’s attorneys brought up Monday in a motion to dismiss the charges against him. Plus, the pod digs into a new poll conducted just before the mayor was charged that shows New Yorkers overwhelmingly disapprove of his job performance, whether the city can still function while Mayor Adams fights the charges against him, and how his case and the city’s future could both be determined by what happens in the presidential election this November.

For the first time, New York City’s sitting mayor is now a criminal defendant — one who says the 57-page case against him is a pack of “lies” and that the federal government and the city’s permanent powers are trying to bring him down for doing right by New Yorkers. In an “emergency” episode marking this historical moment, Christina Greer, Katie Honan and Harry Siegel dig into the case against the mayor, his public defense, where the city looks to be going from here, how the example of Donald Trump looms over all of this, and much more.

Venture capitalist and political strategist Bradley Tusk joins hosts Christina Greer and Harry Siegel to discuss his new book, Vote With Your Phone: Why Mobile Voting Is Our Final Shot at Saving Democracy, proposing a tech solution to the seemingly intractable problem of low-turnout local elections leading to ever-more radical politics. And Tusk, who’s a supporter of the podcast, digs into the mess Eric Adams has made for himself, and how the mayor could still dig his away out of it. That starts, he says, with not getting indicted — and then defining himself as a mayor who's produced for New Yorkers while boxing in his challengers to compete for the progressive share of the primary vote in a citywide contest that includes many more moderate Democrats.

The hits keep coming as Eric Adams' chief counsel walked away, effective immediately, on Saturday night, an associate director of a mayor's office got fired after he allegedly told a business member to pay off the former police commissioner's brother, two former FDNY chiefs just got charged with corruption, another Democrat launched a run again the mayor and a Republican announced his plan to run if Adams can'f finish his term. Hosts Christina Greer and Harry Siegel talk about all that, and how the mayor on Monday tried to turn the page and reassert his narrative about grinding away and getting stuff done on the issues New Yorkers care about, explaining that "I want to write my own story—and this story is how great we have done.”

The FBI raided the homes of Eric Adams' closest allies last week in what look to be two new federal investigations of the mayor and his inner circle altogether, making four . This isn't normal and it isn't good, but the mayor — comparing himself to the biblical character Job — says he's done nothing wrong, stands by his police commissioner who just his phones seized, and is going to stay focused and keep grinding on behalf of New Yorkers. Hosts Christina Greer, Katie Honan and Harry Siegel discuss all of the "gossip and hearsay" inside and outside of City Hall, and much more — including the cautious responses so far from the Democrats aiming to challenge Adams in next year's primary, which looks to be the first competitive one against a sitting mayor since David Dinkins upset Ed Koch in 1989, and the question of "why would Eric Adams say anything," when "shutting up is free."

Hosts Christina Greer, Katie Honan and Harry Siegel dig into the mayor’s insistence on seeing through the nomination of a chief lawyer for the city even after lawmakers made it clear they wouldn’t approve his nominee. They also discuss what a second Trump administration would mean for New York, the possibility of a strong challenge to Gov. Kathy Hochul from within the Democratic party, what's wrong with journalists who "discover" news after reading about it in other people’s reporting, and much more.

Hosts Christina Greer and Katie Honan discuss Mayor Eric Adams’ low profile at the DNC in Chicago, the so-called Central Park Five’s powerful appearance there, and why it’s good that Beryoncé didn’t show up after all. They also dig into the city’s surge in COVID cases, the latest death of a detainee at Rikers and, speaking of Central Park, RFK Jr.’s bizarre shaggy bear story.

Hosts Katie and Harry discuss the federal investigations into Mayor Eric Adams, at least of one which appears to headed to either charges or its end soon, and why those matter even if "ordinary" New Yorkers mostly don't care. They also dig into the NYC subplots of this week's Democratic Convention in the Second City, George Santos' guilty plea, stranded air travelers, weekend beach closures, what to expect from protesters in the Fall, and more.

In the debut episode of Lit NYC, the FAQ NYC Podcast Network's off-cycle show covering books, art, music and more, you'll be hearing from Ross Perlin, author of the brilliant Language City: The Fight to Preserve Endangered Mother Tongues, and co-director of the Endangered Languages Alliance. He sat down at the Alliance's office in Manhattan to talk with Haidee Chu, Queens reporter for The City and a native Cantonese speaker, and monolingual Harry Siegel, to discuss his work mapping the languages spoken here in what may be the most linguistically diverse city in the history of the world, why our melting pot is also a threat to some of those languages, and much more.

The New Yorkest podcast takes a minute to shout out the New Yorker article about us, and the mayor, and then to fill listeners on the upcoming LIT NYC, which will be the new home of arts, books, culture, music and more coverage while FAQ NYC sticks to politics. After that, hosts Chrissy, Katie and Harry get down to business, talking about another bizarre week of bad headlines about Mayor Eric Adams' friends in the NYPD brass, including Yaov Gonan's latest report in The City about the commissioner who still counts as a cop when it comes to carrying a gun but not when it comes to being subject to civilian oversight, why most New Yorkers don't care about any of that, and much more.

The public advocate joins FAQ NYC for an extended interview about how "the law-and-order mayor chooses not to follow the laws that are passed," the very different conversations he used to have with Borough President Eric Adams, the merits of ranked-choice voting and much more. That includes Williams’ view of why “if anybody had a mandate, it wasn't him. It was the rest of us” who were elected at the same time “with a very different vision of public safety.”

Hosts Christina Greer, Katie Honan and Harry Siegel discuss some of the news from another jam-packed week in New York City, including the big march in support of the Council member who allegedly bit a cop and NYPD chief of patrol Jeffrey Maddrey getting off the hook on the latest charges against him for allegedly abusing his authority in an incident first reported by THE CITY. They also dig into the emergency order the mayor issued this weekend suspending parts of a new law intended to end solitary confinement in Rikers Island and other city lockups, the cold shoulder City Hall has turned toward reporters — and City Hall’s new ballot proposals New Yorkers will vote on in November that would, among other things, limit the power of the City Council, and that knocked a Council proposal to have advice and consent of top mayoral appointees off of the ballot.

Hosts Chrissy, Katie and Harry discuss the national news, what the Democratic Party's shakeup — and a second Trump term — could mean for New York City, and much more from this unprecedented presidential moment.

The 2025 campaign just unofficially kicked off with new fundraising numbers, and NYC could be in for a wild game of musical chairs. Hosts Christina Greer and Harry Siegel discuss that and a national political moment that makes it hard for most New Yorkers to think about a primary that's just 11 months away and seems likely to be a rare competitive race against a sitting Democratic mayor.

Hosts Christina Greer, Katie Honan and Harry Siegel discuss The Rev. Al Sharpton’s op-ed making the case for a second term for the city’s second Black mayor and much more.

“They all disappear. That's the thing. It's extremely ephemeral” — Jill Gill, the 91-year-old author of Site Lines: Lost New York 1954-2022, talks with host Harry Siegel about her paintings and capturing a changing city in the latest episode of FAQ NYC Off Cycle.

Hosts Chrissy, Katie and Harry talk about NYC's $112 billion budget, changes in the summer swimming season, "gentrification in the ocean" and much more.

Ben Max, the executive editor of New York Law School’s Center for New York City Law and host of the Max Politics podcast, joins FAQ NYC to talk with Christina Greer and Harry Siegel about the results of a big primary night.

For two decades, Stan Mack published a weekly cartoon strip in the Village Voice in which he listened to New Yorkers and documented their sayings and subcultures, assuring readers: “all dialogue guaranteed verbatim.” Now Mack and Fantagraphics have compiled hundreds of highlights from his archives into a book called “Stan Mack’s Real Life Funnies: The Collected Conceits, Delusions and Hijinks of New Yorkers from 1974 to 1995,” a document of late-20th century New York City — a time before cellphones when life was lived out loud. He talks with guest host Alyssa Katz, THE CITY’s Executive Editor who worked at the Voice early in her career, in the latest episode of FAQ NYC Off Cycle.

Hosts Katie and Chrissy talk with Elisa Crespo, executive director of New Pride Agenda, about the biggest issues for LGBTQAI+ New Yorkers.