It’s the start of a new year for many, but for New Yorkers, it’s also an end to the Bloomberg era.
After serving three consecutive terms as Mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg stepped down and Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio was formally inaugurated as the city’s 109th mayor on Wednesday.
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton administered the oath of office on a Bible used by Franklin Delano Roosevelt while de Blasio’s wife Chirlane McCray, daughter Chiara and son Dante looked on.
De Blasio will have some big shoes to fill. Bloomberg led the city in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks and his policies have arguably been credited with making the city safer and more livable.
But in his speech, de Blasio, who captured more than 70 percent of the vote last November, promised to take “dead aim” at closing the affordability gap he has decried as New York’s tale of two cities, harping on his initial introduction as the anti-Bloomberg candidate, decrying the economic inequality that he said has emerged.
“When I said we would take dead aim at the tale of two cities, I meant it. And we will do it,” de Blasio said. “That mission – our march towards a fairer, more just, more progressive place, our march to keep the promise of New York alive for the next generation – it begins today.”
“We won’t wait. We’ll do it now,” de Blasio said as he ticked off his priorities: expanding the city’s paid sick leave law, forcing large developers to build more affordable housing, reforming the controversial police tactic of stop-and-frisk that critics say leads to racial profiling, and offering universal access to pre-kindergarten and after-school programs.
Over the past ten years, apartment rents in NYC have rose about 40 percent and the cost of public transportation has jumped 60 percent. Gentrification, as it is called, has made much of the city’s residents financially incapable of keeping an apartment.
And while de Blasio works hard to close that gap in his first few days in office, Bloomberg will be doing quite the opposite.
According to reports, Bloomberg said he plans to take a two-week vacation in Hawaii and New Zealand with his longtime girlfriend, Diana Taylor.
What a way to end a 12-year reign.
SOURCE: HuffPost | PHOTO CREDIT: Getty
