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A group of New York City students rallied to have Eric Adams stop foreclosing on their future. "Hey hey, ho ho, these budget cuts have got to go," the dozens of students chanted as they arrived at Tweed Courthouse, where the City's Department of Education is based. Holding signs reading "Stop Cutting Student Futures" and "Protect the Families in This City," they and some of their teachers were there to protest years of inadequate funding for public schools, in conjunction with the group People's Plan NYC, which has been protesting Adams's austerity measures since his first term.

It wasn’t until Samira did some research and helped her mom obtain a voucher that subsidizes the cost of child care for low-income families that she could fully resume her extracurricular activities. That experience is part of what drove Samira to speak out, alongside dozens of her classmates and members of the People’s Plan, a progressive coalition pushing for additional investments in social services, at the Education Department’s downtown headquarters on Thursday. They demanded additional investments in early childhood education, support for immigrant students, arts education, mental health, and CUNY.

Scott Sommer spoke with Zara Nasir, Executive Director of The People's Plan NYC, about the People's Plan's work on a people's budget that can restore cuts made by Eric Adams and reverse the push for austerity and privatization, the blaming and possible persecution of migrants, and collusion with the federal govt.

Clawing budget funds back for education, housing and mental health services, and riding Eric Adams out of office on a rail? Are we even allowed to dream such lofty dreams in 2025? We can and we should, according to the progressive coalition behind The People’s Plan NYC, which, as they have for the past few years, went public yesterday with a series of proposals for the city budget’s next fiscal year, this time with a new demand attached: that Eric Adams either resign or be removed from office.

“Los neoyorquinos merecen una ciudad que invierta en su gente, no una que atienda a los multimillonarios y la corrupción política. El alcalde Adams ha recortado fondos a nuestras escuelas, nuestros servicios sociales y nuestra red de seguridad, todo mientras protege los intereses corporativos y se hace amigo de Trump”, aseguró Zara Nasir, de la organización People’s Plan NYC y la campaña People’s Budget. Council Member Shahana Hanif, co-chair of the City Council’s Progressive Caucus, criticized the Mayor’s plans to continue defunding programs vital to New York’s communities, joining protests calling for him to step down and for better funding for public education, affordability, and public safety.

Mayor Eric Adams got an informal no-confidence vote from City Comptroller Brad Lander and scores of other New Yorkers during a Lower Manhattan rally on Wednesday, calling for the embattled mayor’s resignation or removal from office. Lander, who is challenging Adams in the 2025 mayoral primary, led the Feb. 19 rally on the steps of the Tweed Courthouse while rolling out “The People’s Plan,” a campaign designed to shape New York City’s 2026 fiscal budget. The initiative comes amidst a growing crisis of confidence in Adams’ leadership as the federal government moves to dismiss his criminal indictment and a feared “quid pro quo” of cooperation between City Hall and the Trump Administration on an immigration crackdown.