Current Events
With great pomp and circumstance, former President Bill Clinton administered the oath of office to New York City’s 109th mayor, Bill de Blasio, as Hillary Clinton and a host of dignitaries looked on. Soon after, the new mayor hit the ground running with a laundry list of new plans and radical changes.
Mayor de Blasio’s first major decision was to select William Bratton to return to his former post as police commissioner. Bratton, who is well known and widely respected, previously served as New York City police commissioner from 1994-1996. He has vowed to maintain a war against crime in the city, but to also reform the controversial “Stop and Frisk” racial profiling policy which became a staple during the administration of former Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
“We will reform a broken stop-and-frisk policy, both to protect the dignity and rights of young men of color, and to give our brave police officers the partnership they need to continue their success in driving down crime,” de Blasio said.
In his 2nd order of business, Mayor de Blasio selected Carmen Farina to serve as chancellor of the New York City public school system. Farina is a former teacher who taught in a Brooklyn elementary school for more than 20 years, before becoming a principal. She is also a long-time adviser to de Blasio and shares the mayor’s desire for a “progressive agenda” within NYC schools, including supplemental after-school programs and universal pre-K.
Mayor de Blasio also vowed to end the long tradition of horse drawn carriages parading through the streets of Manhattan. “We are going to get rid of horse carriages, period,” de Blasio said of the outdated and “inhumane” tourist attraction, promising to replace horses with motorized vehicles.
“No tourist comes to New York City just to ride on a horse carriage,” Allie Feldman, executive director of NYCLASS, an animal rights group, added in support. “Horses do not belong in a congested, urban setting. They constantly breathe exhaust while dodging dangerous traffic… confined to the shafts of their carriage and their tiny stable stalls, with no access to green pastures.”
Shortly after the new year, New York City was hit with a massive snow storm, providing an early test to de Blasio’s emergency management skills. However, the mayor proved he was up for the challenge, ordering sanitation crews into 12-hour shifts to clear the city’s 6,200 miles of roadways with 2,500 plows from various departments. Within hours, 100% of primary roads and 92% of secondary roads were plowed, while 93% of tertiary roads were cleared with the help of private contractors. This was a major test for the new mayor, as former Mayor Bloomberg was heavily criticized in 2010 for his handling of a blizzard that shut down several subway lines for days.
Current Events
With the snow cleared via help from city workers and warmer temperatures, Mayor de Blasio hosted ordinary New Yorkers at his new residence at Gracie Mansion. Traditionally the home of the NYC mayor, Gracie Mansion has been predominantly vacant for the past 12 years, as former Mayor Bloomberg chose to live elsewhere. However, de Blasio opened the doors of the lavish east side mansion for an hours long meet-and-greet.
“We’re excited to give New Yorkers a chance to see that which is theirs,” Mayor de Blasio said inside the home’s first-floor library, where he played host to a five-hour marathon of hugs, handshakes and back pats. However, he made it clear that his move to the Upper East Side did not mean he would ever lose touch with his Brooklyn roots. “This is just a sojourn,” he said to a couple from Brooklyn, vowing that New York’s first family would spend plenty of time back in their home borough.
It’s been a busy week for the liberal leaning new Mayor of New York City, but de Blasio says he is just getting started.
