Opinion | Eric Adams inherits a city in trouble. Here’s how he can save New York.

In contrast to the Democratic candidates who vied to be tribunes of the activist left and misplaced, Adams positioned himself as a pro-business, pro-charter pragmatist who aimed to reform the NYPD, not defund it. Dismissed by critics as a machine politician devoid of creativity or conviction, he now has a possibility to show them mistaken. By embracing these reforms, Adams can revitalize a metropolis battered by crime and the pandemic — and, in so doing, chart a path ahead for different recovering cities throughout the nation.