NYC Mayor Adams in Dominican Republic to mourn roof collapse victims, calls them "my family"
New York City Mayor Eric Adams is visiting the Dominican Republic to pledge his support after last week's deadly nightclub roof collapse.
Adams traveled to the Dominican Republic with New York City Department of Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez, who was born and raised there, along with Deputy Mayor for Strategic Initiatives Ana Almanzar, the first Dominican American to hold the role.
Adams offers support to Dominican Republic after roof collapse
More than 220 people were killed when the cement roof of the Jet Set nightclub collapsed last Tuesday during a concert. Crews rescued 189 people from the rubble, and 15 are still hospitalized. The cause of the collapse is not yet known.
"We can't bring back our brothers and sisters, our aunties, our uncles, our grandparents, unfortunately. I can't show you the life of those who were loved by us, the parents the children, the nephews, the friendships," Adams said. "But we can lift up their names. We can pray for the existing family members."
Adams presented a wreath at the site.
"We immediately reached out to governmental officials to offer our assistance in search and rescue and recovery," Adams said at a Monday news conference. "And on behalf of the police commissioner, whatever experience we can offer with our investigations from the Department of Buildings to the New York City Police Department or council advisors during this crisis, we are willing to help and offer."
New York City is home to the largest Dominican community in the world outside of the island. Roughly 8% of the city's population is Dominican.
"That Dominican made almost one million of the 8.7 that we have," Rodriguez said.
"New York City is a place of many communities, people come from all over the globe to live in New York City, and my role as mayor is to look over the entire city," Adams said, going on to say members of the Dominican community "are not merely my residents, I've considered them my family."
"Over 200 members of my family lost their lives last week... And what do family members do during a time of mourning? They mourn with you," he continued. "So I'm not here merely as the mayor, I'm here as a brother... As a son, as a nephew, as an uncle. I'm here to mourn with my family."
Vigil in New York City
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul joined leaders in the Bronx for a vigil Monday night at Lou Gehrig Plaza. Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson was also in attendance, along with Dominican elected officials and community leaders.
"Grief is the price you pay for love and tonight we gather with a sense of love knowing the grief our family members are feeling. We want to send that love from New York, from the Bronx, all the way to those families to say we understand, we're here in solidarity with every one of you," Hochul said.
