In yesterday's elections New York City crowned a new mayor in Bill de Blasio. De Blasio is the first Democratic mayor in more than a generation.
While campaigning de Blasio pushed for fighting against economic inequality in his “Tale of Two Cities” campaign.
“I’ve spoken throughout this campaign of a Tale of Two Cities.” De Blasio said in his Park Slope victory speech Tuesday. “That inequality, that feeling of a few doing very well while so many have slipped further behind, that is the defining challenge of our times,”
Those who voted for de Blasio saw this as an opportunity to escape from Michael Bloomberg’s policies which made the city prosperous but also widened the gap between the rich and working class. The mayor elect plans on raising taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers to fund a universal pre-kindergarten. In order to do so he’ll need political capital from Albany.
De Blasio plans on adding a new schools chancellor, and new police commissioner. He has not revealed the choice to replace Commissioner Ray Kelly but the change will be made soon. The new mayor will also continue to improve relations between the community and police by reforming the stop-and-frisk program. De Blasio believes the program unfairly targets minorities while his critics say it has lowered crime.
“The stakes are so high for every New Yorker and making sure no son or daughter of New York falls behind defines the very promise of our city,” de Blasio said in his speech. “To maintain that greatness and to ensure that our brightest days are ahead of us, we must commit ourselves to progressive ideas that will lift us all.”
His term as New York City mayor starts on January 1st. De Blasio, 52, will be 109th mayor of New York City.
[Source: CBS]