Editorial: Changing of the guard

On January 1, Borough President Marty Markowitz – who has personified “Mr. Brooklyn” for the past 12 years – will be handing the keys of Borough Hall over to a new borough president, as State Senator Eric Adams forgoes his commute to Albany for the quicker trip to Downtown Brooklyn.

In taking office, Adams – who served as a captain in the NYPD and was a founder of 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care prior to seeking elective office — has large shoes to fill. Markowitz, for a dozen years, has presided over a renaissance in the borough that has brought new energy in its wake.

We are confident that Eric Adams is well suited to such a task.

While running for office, and since being elected, Adams has made the rounds discussing his vision for the borough, and his plans to accelerate Brooklyn’s growth and promise, that he hopes will bring progress to neighborhoods that haven’t shared as fully in the borough’s rebirth.

In an interview with this paper earlier this year, Adams indicated that he hopes to build off of everything that Markowitz has accomplished, while forging a new direction as well, noting, “My goal is not to fill his shoes, but bring my own pair.”

As part of that, Adams has brought together some of the borough’s most dynamic individuals, to serve on his transition committee and advise him on a wide range of subject areas, with the goal of broadening both his perspective and his reach.

As he settles down in his new post, Adams plans a wide range of initiatives targeted at such causes as financial literacy, promoting healthy eating habits, bringing more recreational opportunities to neighborhoods across the borough and bringing 21^st century technologies to small businesses from Canarsie to Bay Ridge, Coney Island to Bedford-Stuyvesant, as he strives to bring in new manufacturing jobs to neighborhoods where such employment would be a huge asset.

These seem like worthy goals to us, that could help bring increased prosperity to a borough that is already on a roll. We can’t wait to see what the future will hold.