Ashley Elizabeth Miller

Seven days before Christmas last year, I took three subway lines to see New York City Mayor Eric Adams host a town hall about sex work on Roosevelt Avenue in Corona, Queens.

The issue was a hot topic at the time, and it remains a problem left unresolved: sex workers stand outside storefronts on shaded sidewalks under the 7-line. Men from Manhattan wear baseball caps as they walk down the line of women on Roosevelt.

While the working-class neighborhood had looked the other way for some time, residents said there were more women outside than ever before. And they wanted the mayor to do something about it.

Held at Elm Tree Elementary, nearly 200 Queens community members gathered for the event, co-hosted by Council member Francisco Moya, a longtime Adams ally. Attendees waited in the school’s vestibule to enter.

After a few Gaza protesters were escorted out, the rest of us walked in and city officials passed out random numbers assigning us to tables.

I ended up at table №1, giving me a front-row seat to the mayor’s administration. There were about nine others at my table — a teacher, mother, grandmother, and more of the sort. A member of the mayor’s office helped us come up with a question. (Each table had one turn.)

The second-floor gymnasium scene was a mixed bag. But most people who come to these things have a reason to be there. One mother next to me came because she was tired of her son passing sex workers on his way to school. Another woman beside me brought news clippings blaming immigrants for the rise in sex work.

Queens Senator Jessica Ramos made a surprise appearance at our table, sitting close enough to fact-check the mayor during his speech.

Finally, Adams arrived, strutting into the gym to Jay Z’s “Empire State Of Mind.” Our table’s question — though I was an observer — asked how he planned to stop sex workers from canvassing Roosevelt.

In his former-NYPD-officer fashion, Adams thanked us for the “very important” question, then promised to put more police on the streets. And next he took shots at the workers: “Those women selling their bodies are deplorable.”

Ramos scoffed.

Ironically, Ramos is now running for mayor, aiming to replace Adams, who was indicted Friday for bribery, illegal campaign financing, and conspiracy — news you’d only miss if you lived under a rock.

“The Adams Administration has failed communities like mine,” Ramos said during a recent Fox News interview about City Hall’s corruption.

When Adams was first elected in 2021, he tried to nominate Moya for City Council Speaker but received pushback. He was the first mayor in history to attempt this, which would have given him immense power.

As Adams’s back-door dealings make national news, his relationship with Moya deserves a closer look. More on that soon.