Eric Adams ends term as NYC mayor with Times Square New Year’s Eve ball drop — as insiders look back on ‘mixed bag’

He’s having one last ball.

Eric Adams ended his tumultuous term as New York City’s mayor on Wednesday the same way he started it: celebrating the New Year’s Eve Ball Drop in Times Square.

The last minute of Adams’ tenure and of 2025 will show Hizzoner living up to his “party mayor” reputation by pressing the button to start the Times Square’s ball drop at 11:59 p.m., his final press schedule stated.

Hizzoner confirmed he will also attend the inauguration of his onetime rival and successor Zohran Mamdani, an unapologetic socialist who arguably has snatched the mantle of the Democratic Party’s standard bearer from moderates like the outgoing mayor.

The full-circle last hurrah for Adams — who was sworn in at the New Year’s Eve celebration moments after midnight on Jan. 1, 2022 — comes amid head-scratching hints about his post-mayoralty future, which he bafflingly vowed would entail using cryptocurrency to “really deal with antisemitism.”

The murky plans — and a poll finding 0% of voters said they’d remember Adams as one of the Big Apple’s best mayors — show how far he’s fallen in the four years since credibly proclaiming himself the new “face of the Democratic Party.”

Unfortunately for Adams, he will be remembered as a one-and-done mayor marred by scandal, said Lee Miringoff, the director of the Marist University Institute for Public Opinion.

“The scandals he had will define his legacy. That’s the first paragraph,” Miringoff said. “Accomplishments won’t be discussed until the second paragraph.”

Some insiders, including the Rev. Al Sharpton, argued accomplishments such as reducing crime and passing the sweeping “City of Yes” housing plan will make history look more kindly on Adams than his rock-bottom reputation.

“The scandals make it a mixed bag,” Sharpton said. “But Eric will get more credit over time for the things he did get done.”

The litany of scandals that plagued Adams’ tenure largely stemmed from his habit of packing his administration with shady cronies, many of whom ended up under investigation.

Adams himself faced a federal probe that resulted in a federal bribery and corruption indictment in part over luxury travel perks — the first for a New York City mayor.

The case was controversially dismissed by the Department of Justice after Adams conspicuously cozied up to President Trump, drawing accusations of a corrupt “quid pro quo” deal — which the mayor denied but the affair nonetheless killed his re-election bid.

Adams contended that his charges were retribution by former President Biden’s administration for speaking out on the migrant crisis, as well as insinuated racism was to blame.

State Democratic Party chairman Jay Jacobs said it would take time to fairly evaluate Adams’ legacy because of the scandals that made him a one-termer.

But it’s a more positive legacy when looking at the state of the city, particularly regarding public safety.

“The city overall did pretty well.  He worked with the governor to bring down crime and bring order to the subways,” said Jacobs, a moderate and also the neighboring Nassau County Democratic Party leader.

“For most people things got better. There are more things to be done.”