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Mayor Eric Adams schooled his successor Zohran Mamdani for not attending the memorial service marking the 24th anniversary of the Flight 587 crash Wednesday — saying, “there’s also symbolism to this job.”
Adams told The Post “it would have sent a strong message” if Mamdani had shown face to honor the 265 people killed when the American Airlines plane spiraled into a Belle Harbor neighborhood in Queens more than two decades ago.
“It’s going to be important for the mayor-elect to understand that being mayor is substantive and symbolic. Substantive is bringing down crime, building housing. That’s important. But there’s also symbolism to this job. And these families are in pain,” Adams said.
“I believe it would have sent a strong message to come out here today as the incoming mayor and state that you’re going to continue what we have done for over 24 years,” argued Adams, though he skipped the memorial in 2022, during his first year in office, sending a City Hall representative instead.
“When families are hurting we want to always show them that we understand their pain and we are going to stand there with them,” he said.
Disaster struck on Nov. 12, 2001, as New Yorkers still healing from the 9-11 attacks witnessed the Airbus A300 that just took off from JFK Airport crash into the Queens residential area.
All 260 passengers and crew on board were killed, as well as five people on the ground.
Mamdani’s absence at Flight 587 Memorial Park was glaring to loved ones of the victims on hand, including Joe Fogarty, who was shocked the Queens assemblyman was missing.
“I thought I’d see him, the new mayor,” said Fogarty, 57, whose wife’s brother was killed in the wreckage, “We all thought he would be here.”
His wife was even blunter.
“He should have been here! Mamdani? He should have been here,” she said. “Of course, he should have been here. You got to start knowing the people.”
The memorial’s organizer Belkis Lora, who lost her brother Jose Francisco Lora in the crash, said she a “little concerned” whether Mamdani will attend once he starts his tenure next year.
“With every mayor, we feel like we don’t know if they are going to support us,” she said.
“We have a little concern. Mayor [Rudy] Giuliani was the first organizer of this event. For the last 23 years I’ve been the organizer and working with every mayor. I felt very grateful that mayor Adams was able to come here today.”
Mamdani’s transition camp did not immediately reply to a request seeking comment Wednesday.
Victims’ relatives over the years have been cognizant of what support they’ve received from City Hall leaders, and slammed then-Mayor Bill de Blasio after he was late for the memorial in 2014.
At the time, he blamed a bad night’s sleep for his 20-minute delay, as one mourner said he “treated us like garbage.”
Adams was the subject of scathing editorial by the local outlet The Wave in 2022 after he opted to attend the SOMOS conference, an annual gathering of Democratic leaders in Puerto Rico, instead of the memorial.
The mayor’s office did have a presence at the event with then chief of staff Frank Carone attending and delivering remarks.
It’s unclear if Adams was on hand as mayor-elect, but local reporting at the time doesn’t mention his attendance.
Still, loved ones said the former Brooklyn borough president and state senator has been supportive over the last quarter century.
“I think it was a great thing that Mayor Adams supported the victims from the beginning,” said Fogarty, an MTA track worker who lives in Smithtown.
“I met him at the Jacob Javits Center the year it happened … we were being directed to bring toothbrushes and stuff down to help with the DNA identification of the victims,” Fogarty recalled.
“He’s been directing us and helping us with this for the last 24 years in one way or another.”
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