De Blasio used NYPD to help staff run errands and for ‘political purposes’: city probe

The Bobster

Senior News Editor since 2004

De Blasio used NYPD to help staff run errands and for ‘political purposes’: city probe​



By
Nolan Hicks,

Craig McCarthy and

Sam Raskin


October 7, 2021 8:58am
Updated





Bill de Blasio.
Mayor Bill de Blasio used his security detail to help his daughter move into Gracie Mansion. Andrew Burt/Getty Images






Mayor Bill de Blasio’s security team was used for “political purposes” during his failed presidential campaign, as well as to run “errands” for Hizzoner, including helping his daughter move and chauffeuring his son, throughout his mayoralty, city investigators concluded in a damning new report.
The 49-page Department of Investigation report released Thursday found the NYPD shelled out $319,794 on the NYPD security team accompanying the mayor as he traversed the country during his quixotic bid — including to a Red Sox game — and that his detail members “occasionally” transported his campaign staffers while driving the mayor.
“Both reflect a use of NYPD resources for political purposes,” probers determined, leading de Blasio’s handpicked DOI Commissioner, Margaret Garnett, to demand the city be refunded.
“This investigation substantiated that New York City expended more than $300,000 on travel costs alone for the Mayor’s security detail during his presidential run,” she said in a prepared statement. “Under existing COIB guidance, these expenses must be repaid by the Mayor, either personally or through his campaign.”
Those political trips, including having taxpayers pick up the tab for his detail to watch a Red Sox game in California, were a violation of the City Charter, the report says.
“The [Conflict of Interest] Board has not publicly articulated any exception that would allow the Mayor to use City resources in connection with purely political travel at a distance from the city.”
DOI’s blistering examination of the mayor’s security arrangements and how de Blasio used the agents assigned to him revealed the two-term executive used agents to ferry family and friends around the city, critical gaps in record keeping and a failure to document the security risks faced by de Blasio’s children, Chiara and Dante.
“It’s not security, it’s essentially a concierge service,” particularly for Dante, Garnett said at a subsequent press conference on the report.
“It’s no way to run a railroad,” she summed it up.
Additionally, DOI referred the head of de Blasio’s protection detail, Inspector Howard Redmond, to the Manhattan District Attorney’s office for possible prosecution, alleging he obstructed their investigation into the detail.
“Protecting the Mayor and his family is a serious and significant job that should be guided by best practices, formalized procedures, and an understanding that security details are not personal assistants in a dignitary’s daily life but provide essential protection,” Garnett said in her statement.
The probe concluded that de Blasio’s actions and the NYPD’s management of his security amounted to “potential violations of the New York City Conflicts of Interest Law, lapses in best practices, corruption vulnerabilities, and inefficient uses of public resources.”
Garnett’s investigation found that “multiple” detail members staffed the mayor’s daughter Chiara de Blasio’s move and that an NYPD van was used to bring some of her “belongings from her apartment to Gracie Mansion.”
However, DOI could not determine if de Blasio directly ordered the NYPD to help his daughter move from Brooklyn to Gracie Mansion. But they uncovered evidence that First Lady Chirlane McCray’s detail did transport personal items, which constituted a “misuse of NYPD resources for a personal benefit.”
The mayor came under scrutiny in 2019 for using public money to fund his security detail while traveling during his presidential bid, which ended in Sept. 2019.
De Blasio also was ripped after the Executive Protection Unit reportedly helped move daughter into Gracie Mansion in 2018. In addition, he has admitted that his son, Dante de Blasio, received rides from the NYPD while he studied at Yale University early in his father’s term.
The DOI investigation documented “multiple instances” when EPU staff drove Dante to or from Yale in New Haven, Connecticut, without his mother, Chirlane MccRay, or his father in the vehicle.
“The detectives interviewed by DOI asserted that the directives to drive Dante de Blasio came from their superiors, not directly from Mayor de Blasio,” reads the report.
But the NYPD’s chauffeuring did not end in college for the mayor’s son. Starting in December 2019 or January 2020, Dante “began receiving rides from NYPD personnel each weekday morning” from Gracie Mansion on the Upper East Side to his job in Brooklyn, according to the report. The lux commute stopped in spring 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The mayor denied knowledge of the arrangement, while the First Lady told the DOI she knew about it, city investigators said.
In addition, the investigation found NYPD security detail drove de Blasio’s brother around — one of at least eight “guests” the mayor directed members of it to shuttle around. In September 2019, the security detail drove the mayor’s brother to “pick up a Zipcar in Palmyra, New Jersey,” which is nearly two hours from the five boroughs, according to the report.
“It is unclear whether the Mayor was present for this excursion,” it reads. “Subsequently, the security detail drove the Mayor’s brother to an Alamo rental car location without the Mayor present.”
De Blasio told investigators that he regarded the taxpayer-funded private transport as “official business,” and an “appropriate courtesy.”
The report also details a series of record-keeping issues with the mayor’s police detail. Those included allegations that Inspector Redmond actively avoided oversight by ordering cops to use BBM — a Blackberry messenger app ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his aides used to evade public disclosure laws — and later encrypted apps, such as WhatsApp and Signal.
“One former NYPD detective told DOI that Inspector Redmond instructed EPU members assigned to the Mayor and his family to communicate with the City Hall resources to impede the NYPD from getting access to EPU communications when “dumping”25 NYPD phones and emails during investigations.”
 

Top investigator: De Blasio NYPD detail used as ‘concierge service’ for son​



By
Nolan Hicks,

Craig McCarthy and

Sam Raskin


October 7, 2021 11:18am
Updated





Mayor de Blasio.
Bill de Blasio Gregory P. Mango




The head of the city’s investigatory agency ripped Mayor Bill de Blasio on Thursday for allowing his NYPD security team to be turned into a “concierge service” for his son.
During a press conference following the release of a scathing Department of Investigation report, DOI Commissioner Margaret Garnett declared that the mayor’s security team members have in recent years chauffeured son Dante de Blasio around the five boroughs for personal needs rather than the unit’s intended purpose.
“In practice, what is happening is that, you know, it’s not security; it’s essentially a concierge service, primarily for Dante,” she said. “And that, I think, you know — based on the view of experts we spoke to, and our examination of the facts and this matter — it’s either not good security, or it’s not good government, or both.”
“It’s no way to run a railroad.”
Garnett explained that the mayor’s son used the security detail when convenient — not when cops protecting him are most needed.
“If Dante de Blasio has to pick up a prescription at CVS on the Upper East Side of Manhattan at 2 o’clock on a Sunday afternoon, and he doesn’t want to walk there because it’s raining, then he can be driven there by a trained NYPD detective,” she said.
Mayor Bill de Blasio's van.City investigators found that Mayor Bill de Blasio’s security team was used for “political purposes” during his failed presidential campaign.Gabriella Bass
“On the other hand, if he wants to go with his friends as young people do, I’m told to, you know, an underground dance party in Bushwick, at 1 a.m. a Saturday night, and be surrounded by hundreds of drunken strangers, and doesn’t want your will be a drag to have police officers take him there or be with them, he’s entirely unprotected.”
Her comments come after city investigators found that de Blasio’s security team was used for “political purposes” during his failed presidential campaign and to run “errands” for him — including helping his daughter move and shuttling his brother to New Jersey.
The 49-page probe, released Thursday morning, showed that the NYPD shelled out $319,794 on the NYPD security team accompanying the mayor as he traversed the country during his quixotic bid — including to a Red Sox game — and that his detail members “occasionally” transported his campaign staffers while driving the mayor.
Bill de Blasio, his wife Chirlane McCray and son Dante are pictured with Prince Harry, Meghan Markle Gov. Kathy Hochul on the 102nd floor of the World Trade Center.Bill de Blasio, his wife Chirlane McCray and son Dante are pictured with Prince Harry, Meghan Markle Gov. Kathy Hochul on the 102nd floor of the World Trade Center.Pacific Press/LightRocket via Ge Mayor de Blasio.The NYPD shelled out $319,794 on the security team accompanying Mayor Bill de Blasio.Paul Martinka
 

NYC to phase out Gifted and Talented program​



By
Selim Algar,

Lee Brown and

Carl Campanile


October 8, 2021 8:34am
Updated





Gifted and Talented programs
Critics say the programs unfairly favor white and Asian American youngsters, as well as families of means. Courtesy






Mayor Bill de Blasio is phasing out New York City’s Gifted and Talented program, he announced Friday — bowing to critics who complain that the coveted model is racist.
Current students in the program will be able to stay in accelerated-learning classes to completion. But new cohorts they will be completely eliminated by fall 2022, ending the current testing for 4-year-old city kids.
“The era of judging four-year-olds based on a single test is over,” de Blasio said Friday.
It is being replaced by Brilliant NYC, a program offering students aged 8 and up chances for accelerated learning — while staying in their regular classrooms with other pupils.
De Blasio announced the major overhaul despite being in the final months of his term in office.
The candidates to replace him, Democrat Eric Adams and Republican Curtis Sliwa, have both made clear they did not want to completely eliminate the program, which critics have attacked in part because of the higher number of white and Asian students that pass the tests.
“Brilliant NYC will deliver accelerated instruction for tens of thousands of children, as opposed to a select few,” de Blasio said.
“Every New York City child deserves to reach their full potential, and this new, equitable model gives them that chance.”
But critics quickly ripped Hizzoner for making the decision so late in his administration after earlier calls for him to leave it to his successor.
“Gifted and talented programs have been an integral option for generations of schoolkids,” tweeted Sen. John Liu (D-Queens), who chairs a panel on New York City schools.
“@BilldeBlasio promised intensive public engagement about it but now wants total elimination.
“This won’t help his abysmal record. If anything, his legacy will be revocation of mayoral control,” said Liu.
Supporters of G&T have long hailed it for giving academically advanced kids the opportunity to learn at an appropriate pace and serve as an educational springboard.
However, detractors counter that the admissions model favors families of means who are better able to prepare for the test and that the exam serves as a poor marker of talent in young children.
But the debate has also focused on claims that the racial makeup of the classes reflects an unfair bias. Asian students account for 43 percent of G&T students despite being just 16.2 percent in the school system.
White students make up 36 percent in G&T classes, with Hispanics at 8 percent and African-Americans at 6 percent.
The city’s education department claims its new model will offer accelerated learning opportunities to 26 times as many pupils, from 2,500 to all 65,000 city kindergartners.
All 4,000 Kindergarten teachers will need extra training in preparation, and the city will hire additional teachers trained in accelerated learning in areas with historically little to no gifted and talented programming.
Seven specialist teams of experts will also be on hand to help implement the sweeping new proposals.
All pupils going into third grade will now be screened in different subjects to see if they would benefit from tailored accelerated instruction — but they will remain in regular classrooms, according to the plan.
The accelerated model will also focus on real-world skills, with subjects such as coding, robotics and even community advocacy.
As a life-long educator, I know every child in New York City has talents that go far beyond what a single test can capture and the Brilliant NYC plan will uncover their strengths so they can succeed,” said Schools Chancellor Meisha Porter.
“I’m excited to get into neighborhoods across the city to hear directly from communities about the types of learning opportunities that pique students’ interests and lets their gifts shine.”
Sam Pirozzolo, former president of the Staten island Communication Education Council who put two children through G&T programs, called the move “disheartening.”
“Tens of thousands of families are leaving the public schools because the education being taught sucks,” he said.

“Eliminating the gifted and talented program is another brick in the wall insulting parents.
“It’s the political stuff going on. It’s critical race theory.”
 

De Blasio defends using NYPD to protect him during presidential bid​



By
Julia Marsh,

Craig McCarthy and

Sam Raskin


October 12, 2021 2:08pm
Updated





Bill de Blasio and security.
Mayor Bill de Blasio insisted that the political environment has become so "violent" that he needs to be protected by publicly funded NYPD cops even when outside the five boroughs. Erik Thomas






Mayor Bill de Blasio claimed Tuesday he needed taxpayers to foot the bill for the NYPD to accompany “high-profile” figures such as himself on the 2019 presidential primary trail — despite his non-entity status in the race.
Hizzoner insisted during a morning press briefing that since the political environment has become more “divided” and “violent” in recent years, any New York City mayor-turned-presidential hopeful needs to be protected by publicly funded NYPD cops even when outside the five boroughs.
That claim apparently includes doomed candidates such as himself who drew minuscule crowds on the Democratic primary trail.
“The work was going to happen any way you slice it, and the [NYPD mayoral] detail did what they’ve done with every mayor down through the ages,” de Blasio said.
“The whole notion of [a] security detail is to protect the mayor, protect their family. That has been true for generations in this city,” he said.
“The high-profile nature of this role has only intensified, and unfortunately, the political backdrop, the reality in our society has gotten more divided, sometimes more violent.
“There’s a reason why the NYPD provides that protection across the board. And if someone is out of the city or involved in political work, they still do, they always have.”
By comparison, Pete Buttigieg, the country’s current transportation secretary and former South Bend, Ind., mayor who ran for president at the same time as de Blasio — even winning the Iowa caucus — paid for his own security while campaigning.
Bill de Blasio getting in van.“The [NYPD mayoral] detail did what they’ve done with every mayor down through the ages,” Mayor Bill de Blasio defended.Gregory P. Mango
De Blasio’s claims come after a city Department of Investigation probe found that de Blasio’s security team was used for “political purposes” during his failed presidential campaign.
The NYPD spent at least $319,794 to accompany the Boston Red Sox-loving mayor on his quixotic presidential bid, which included funds that went toward a previously reported trip to a Sox game in California. Investigators also discovered that the police detail “occasionally” transported presidential campaign staffers in the same vehicle as de Blasio when driving him around, which is a no-no, the report said.
During a March campaign stop in New Hampshire before de Blasio officially announced his run, just 20 people showed up to hear him hold a roundtable on mental health. That number included the 14 people on the panel, leaving just six in the audience.
Bill de Blasio.The NYPD spent at least $319,794 to accompany Mayor Bill de Blasio on his failed presidential bid.Robert Miller
In September 2019, the mayor pulled the plug on his unsuccessful bid to be commander-in-chief, after he failed to gain more than 1 percent support in national polls.
Meanwhile, de Blasio said Tuesday that police Inspector Howard Redmond — the head of the NYPD team tasked with protecting him — has not been disciplined, despite the damning DOI findings that Redmond attempted to stymie investigators during the investigative process. The finding has been referred to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
“The NYPD has looked at information provided,” de Blasio said, referring to Redmond’s actions. “They don’t see a reason for further charges.
“We have not heard from the Manhattan DA, and so at this point, it’s simply an allegation. [Redmond] continues to do his work on behalf of the people. He’s spent almost 30 years in the service of people, he will continue.”
NYPD spokeswoman Detective Sophia Mason confirmed Tuesday that Redmond had not been disciplined by the Police Department.
“There is no change in duty status,” she said.
The DOI’s head announced the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office is mulling criminal charges against Redmond after the agency’s investigation found the NYPD inspector “actively obstructed and sought to thwart” the agency’s probe.
Redmond, who oversees the police department’s Executive Protection Unit, could be subject to obstruction-of-justice charges, said DOI Commissioner Margaret Garnett.
Howard Redmond.Howard Redmond, the head of the NYPD team tasked with protecting Mayor Bill de Blasio, has not been disciplined despite DOI findings that Redmond attempted to stymie investigators.
The report on de Blasio’s security detail said Redmond stonewalled DOI, including by refusing to turn over his phone for months until he was ordered to do so by his supervisor.
“DOI has concluded that the NYPD inspector in charge of the First Family’s security detail actively obstructed and sought to thwart this investigation, frustrating DOI’s efforts to learn the full facts regarding these allegations,” reads a portion of the 49-page report.
Redmond also allegedly attempted to scrub evidence by destroying his phone, investigators said.
“One former NYPD detective told DOI that Inspector Redmond instructed EPU members assigned to the Mayor and his family to communicate with the City Hall resources to impede the NYPD from getting access to EPU communications when ‘dumping’ NYPD phones and emails during investigations,” reads the report.
In addition, the investigation documented that the mayor’s security team members have in recent years chauffeured son Dante de Blasio around the five boroughs for personal needs.
“In practice, what is happening is that, you know, it’s not security; it’s essentially a concierge service, primarily for Dante,” Garnett said.
 

Movin’ on out: De Blasio booting Founding Father Jefferson from City Hall​



By
Julia Marsh


October 13, 2021 12:20pm
Updated









Movin’ on out: De Blasio booting Founding Father Jefferson from City Hall






This Founding Father will no longer be in “the room where it happens” — thanks to Bill de Blasio.
The mayor, who has just three months left in office, is quietly banishing a statue of Thomas Jefferson from City Hall’s Council chambers — where it has resided for the past 187 years, The Post has learned.
The city’s Public Design Commission — comprised of mayoral appointees — has listed “the long term loan” of the 1833 painted plaster statue of the Declaration of Independence author to the New-York Historical Society on its “consent” agenda for Monday.
The consent designation means the historic statue’s removal is not scheduled for public debate. The 11-member design commission will vote on de Blasio’s Jefferson exile after reviewing public comments, a City Hall spokesman said.
Thomas Jeferson City Hall sculptureMatthew McDermott
Meanwhile, a replica of the statue by sculptor Pierre-Jean David is still on display in the Capitol Rotunda in Washington, DC.
The terms of the loan to the historical society for the Jefferson, which was gifted to City Hall by naval officer and Jefferson admirer Uriah Phillips Levy in 1834, are still being negotiated. But Councilman I. Daneek Miller (D-Queens), who’s been pushing to boot Jefferson, said the loan is “indefinite.”
Miller said he expects the statue to be gone by Oct. 21, the City Council’s next body-wide meeting.
At least one council member wasn’t pleased with Jefferson’s banishment.
“The de Blasio administration will continue the progressive war on history as he, himself, fades away into a portrait on a City Hall wall,” Councilman Joe Borelli (R-Staten Island) told The Post.
Mayor Bill de BlasioDe Blasio will be out of office in just three months.Daniel William McKnight Thomas Jefferson City HallThe consent designation on the “long term loan” of the statue means the historic statue’s removal is not scheduled for public debate.Matthew McDermott
“I hope he is at least gone a couple hundred years before someone cancels him,” Borelli said.
Reps for the historical society didn’t immediately return requests for comment.
“The city would still own the plaster model, and the historical society would include it in educational exhibits and provide valuable historical context,” a mayoral spokesman said.
The planned move comes after the mayor charged his wife, first lady Chirlane McCray, with deciding the sculpture’s fate as head of the Commission on Racial Justice and Reconciliation.






Her appointment came in June 2020 — following George Floyd’s death at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer and a day after several City Council members asked the mayor to remove Jefferson’s likeness from the council chambers because the nation’s third president owned slaves.
“There’s so much about Thomas Jefferson and his own personal writings, memoirs about how he treated his slaves, his family members and things of that nature and how he perceived African Americans and slaves — that they lacked intelligence, that they were not to assimilate into society,” Miller told The Post.
“For us to really highlight such an individual is really not who we are as a council,” Miller said.
 
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De Blasio’s bid to rid NYC of Trump name could cost taxpayers over $30M​



By
Lois Weiss


October 24, 2021 10:34pm
Updated





Wollman Rink will close today at 4pm ahead of the City of New York taking over operations from Trump Organization in an effort to divest from Trump
The City of New York took over operations from the Trump Organization in an effort to divest from former President Donald Trump. Daniel William McKnight






New York City’s attempts to divorce itself from Donald Trump have turned into a comedy of errors — one that could end up sticking taxpayers with a not-so-funny $30 million bill.
After the Jan. 6 Capitol riots, Mayor de Blasio vowed to rid the city of Trump. Aiming to become a hero to progressives, on Jan. 13 the mayor said he would yank the Trump Organization’s longtime concession contracts to operate the historic Central Park carousel, Wollman and Lasker skating rinks in the park, and the Trump Ferry Point Golf Course in The Bronx.
“This president has committed an unlawful act, he has disgraced himself, he will no longer profit from his relationship with New York City,” de Blasio told reporters. The city then moved to strip the Central Park contracts from Trump even though they would have expired that spring anyway.
The campaign went south right from the start. The effort to boot Trump would have shuttered the two skating rinks six weeks early, creating an outcry from skaters about the premature end to the season. City Hall then reversed course and allowed the contract to run out instead.
The city picked new rink operators, a joint venture among Newark, NJ-based Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, which owns the New Jersey Devils NHL team, and developers Related Companies and Equinox, in July. They promptly raised the rates. A family of four now pays $109 to enter, rent skates and secure a locker rather than $95 under Trump.
Meanwhile, with no one to run the carousel, the ride remained at a standstill for all of summer 2021, with the city only tapping Central Amusement International, the company that operates Coney Island’s Luna Park, to run it for five years in late July. The attraction finally reopened Oct. 16.
The Wollman Skating Rink in Central ParkThe Wollman rink in Central Park is under construction and will re-open in November under new management.Helayne Seidman
Looming much larger than skating fees or lost merry-go-rounds is the state court battle over the debacle created by trying to evict Trump from the Bronx golf course.
The Trump Organization claims in its lawsuit opposing the termination that it is entitled to more than $30 million in reimbursements if ejected. And de Blasio is so focused on anti-Trump vengeance that the city might pay it, despite Comptroller Scott Stringer crying foul and requesting a pause in the rushed process.
“I’m just learning of this and have to look at that and find out exactly what this is about,” Eric Adams, the mayoral-race frontrunner, told The Post regarding the city possibly being on the hook for tens of millions.
Built on a former garbage dump that closed in the early 1960s, it took 14 years to develop Trump Ferry Point, which opened in 2015 as the city’s newest public golf course — but only because then-Mayor Mike Bloomberg asked Trump to take over construction and management. It cost a reported $269 million to build. Trump added a 20,000-foot clubhouse in 2018 he claims cost $10 million.
New York City Mayor Bill de BlasioNew York City Mayor Bill de Blasio vowed to rid New York City of Donald Trump.Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for New 42
The city’s February termination notice for Trump’s Ferry Point contract, which still had 13 years to run, stated it was “because the Trump brand is now synonymous with an insurrection against the federal government” and can no longer attract tournaments.
But legal papers note no tournament was ever promised in the contract, just a “tournament quality course.”
In recent state Supreme Court filings, the city doubled down and told the judge that if it can’t terminate “for cause” based on the Capitol insurrection, it would use the boilerplate “at will” clause.
That clause comes with a “highly unusual” termination payment, Trump’s attorney told the Post, roughly calculated in June at more than $30 million, based on a complicated formula in the contract. “They really have spared no expense and they take pride in those properties,” Trump lawyer Kenneth Caruso said of the Trump Organization’s care of the course.
skaters on the the ice at Wollman Rink in New York's Central ParkNew York City canceled contracts with the company of former president Donald Trump.AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File
The city, however, claims that amount is “contrary to Parks’ accounting thus far.”
“I invested many millions of dollars, all cash, in this project in order to get it done, which I did, starting from scratch, in record time,” Trump complained recently in his Save America PAC statement.
“Now under Mayor De Blasio, he wants to CONFISCATE the project from me for no reason whatsoever and terminate my long-term arrangement with the city.
His son Eric Trump, piled on: “New York is being overrun by crime and homelessness, and people are fleeing in record numbers, yet this mayor’s focus is using $30 million of taxpayer money to settle political scores.”
The clubhouse boosts revenue with public dining and events like weddings and private parties year round, even when the links are closed to “rest” the grass and plantings. That, they say, is to ensure it retains famed golfer and course designer Jack Nicklaus company’s stamp of approval, as required by his city contract. Yet the next operator plans to have golfers on the greens year round.
Maya Henning 18 years-old (along with Jacey Hootstein and Serena Sabet not shown in this photo) petition to keep the Central Park Wollman Rink openedThe city picked new rink operators, a joint venture among Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment.G.N.Miller/NYPost
The course is used by many in the community as well as Bronx organizations, some of whom spoke passionately at a city Franchise and Concession Review Committee hearing earlier this month, worried that the quality would drop under a new operator, and that more than 150 jobs would be lost.
The panel nevertheless moved ahead with plans to hand the course to a new Georgia-based operator, under a 13-year deal, starting in November. The 4-2 vote to approve the switch came despite the objections from residents, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr., and Stringer.
The Georgia company initially tapped to take over, Ferry Point Links LLC, had teamed up with the head of a local homeless-services provider. Then news website The City and the Post revealed in September he was in trouble for self-dealing.
De Blasio first defended Jack Brown, who made $869,000 in 2019 as the chief executive of CORE Services Group, the shelter provider, but the report showed he had a checkered record of toying with services for the homeless, halfway houses and other non-profits.
former President Donald TrumpNew York City’s attempts to divorce itself from Donald Trump could end up leaving taxpayers with a $30 million bill. AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File
Only then was he booted off both CORE and the golf contract, and a new entity, Affiniti Ferry Point LLC, was hastily replaced in the public notices.
In a blistering rebuke, Stringer deemed the process a “troubling pattern” by the Parks Department of a “rushed award of a concession agreement,” leaving his agency unable to determine “if the selection of the concessionaire is in the best interests of the city.”
Diaz Jr. said, “One of our greatest concerns remains the uncertain future of the current operator’s employees, many of whom are Bronxites.”






In a statement, Bobby Jones Links, the Georgia-based group that would actually operate the course under the new agreement, said it intends to continue with “the elevated service levels and playing conditions at Ferry Point.” It also stated it would “reduce prices up to 10%” and “employ citizens from every walk of life.” But its city pact requires a $4 surcharge for every round played.
It also appears that in ousting the former president, the city will leave lots of money on the table.
So far in 2021, the acclaimed Trump course has hosted 25,220 rounds of golf and far grossed more than $8.2 million — double what was made during the pandemic shutdowns in 2020 and $1 million more than in 2018 — and the course expected to reach $10 million by the end of the year.
Now in the seventh year of the agreement, Trump’s base rent rises each year and has percentage rent bumps higher than those in the Bobby Jones agreement. The Post roughly calculated that if revenue rose 5 percent each year, Trump would pay the city $16.2 million through 2035 while Bobby Jones would only fork over $13.9 million — a loss of approximately $2.35 million to the city. If Trump later wins in court, the city will pay Bobby Jones $900,000 for “improvements,” like stripping the words “Trump Links” from the grounds.
Another wrinkle in de Blasio’s battle to boot Trump is that Ferry Point boasts legendary golfer Nicklaus’ “Signature Design,” a feature that attracts players from all over the world.
What kind of financial hit would the city take from international golfers should both Trump and the Golden Bear’s names be stripped off the course?
The city has apparently ignored its agreement with Nicklaus’ company, which gives it a “veto” over who operates the course.
In another example of the de Blasio administration and Park Department’s head-in-the-sand-trap attitudes, Nicklaus Companies CEO John Reese said in an Oct. 12 letter to the committee, “We have no desire to become entangled in city politics; however, we are unhappy with the prospect of having The Trump Organization summarily removed,” adding that Park Commissioner Mitchell Silver never responded to a Feb. 16 letter.
 

Oh happy day when we vote to replace Bill de Blasio — the worst mayor ever!​



By
Kyle Smith


November 2, 2021 5:40pm
Updated





Mayor Bill de Blasio
Bill de Blasio is indeed the worst mayor of all time -- nobody in history comes close to his ineptitude. NY Post Illustration





So long, Bill de Blasio! New York may have been a tale of two cities when you arrived, but not anymore. Now it’s just one city, a city defined by our loathing of Bill de Blasio.
As New York City selects our next mayor, Billy Bolshevik is officially a lame duck. Farewell to the lumbering lummox of the loony left. Auf Wiedersehen, Warren Wilhelm. Das Vidaniya, Dingleberry.
It’s a fractious city that can’t even agree on simple things like which Ray’s Pizza to go to, or whether you should wear your mask for that first 15 seconds after you enter the restaurant. Yet Bill de Blasio united us in a way no one could have foreseen. Everyone hates the guy. Left, right, whatever: there is no easier way to get people chattering at a party than, “Bill de Blasio. Am I right?”
I’ve heard people engage in hour-long disquisitions about whether he’s more of a dirtbag, a dillweed, or a dingbat. If he has a defender who isn’t on his payroll, I’ve never met him. When he ran for president, he was the first candidate in the history of Gallup polling to register the same number as Juneau’s average temperature in January: negative four.
After 20 years of competent governance, de Blasio cast his gaze over the cityscape and said, “That’s gotta change.” Mission accomplished!
De Bozo began small but ramped up quickly; at first he was only murdering our groundhogs, but soon he moved up to insulting our cops. When police literally turned their back on him; they spoke for all of us.
Not since John “Fun City” Lindsay, the prototypical limousine liberal, has a mayor been as despised as Bill de Blasio, the lazy, corrupt, stupid, incompetent spendthrift who played Wreck-It-Ralph with what used to be America’s capital of aspiration, the center of it all. Bill is spending 34 percent more (in inflation-adjusted terms) than the city did before he got here. Does anything look 34 percent better? Maybe if you’re the rat I stepped on on Sixth Avenue while getting into a cab this summer. Fun City became Ratopolis.
Mayor Bill de Blasio leaves City Hall on October 7, 2021.Mayor Bill de Blasio is now out of his way from City Hall, to the relief of New Yorkers.Matthew McDermott
There’s a 1990s movie by Paul “Taxi Driver” Schrader called “Light Sleeper” that takes place during a garbage strike, and it’s quaint today because Schrader’s nightmare conception of the city at its worst is how it looks . . . every night in 2021.
After a massive infusion of federal money, the street sweepers are still operating at half the frequency they used to. Every garbage can in the city looks like it hasn’t been emptied since Eli Manning retired.
Every morning I exit the 50th Street stop on the downtown 1 train at 7:30 and pick my feet carefully through the results of what happens when you leave what amounts to an open-air toilet for the armies of the homeless to whom Daddy de Blasio has opened his arms. Last month I steered my daughter around a large pile of human poop there.
De Blasio famously ordered city work crews to waste time and money trolling Donald Trump painting and repainting the street in front of Trump Tower, where he hasn’t even lived for five years, but when it came to his own towers he didn’t know what to do with them. The city housing authority became such a disaster under De Blasio that a judge ordered it turned over to . . . the Trump Administration. Real Estate Mogul 1, Mr. “Affordable Housing” zero.
[IMG alt="Two men sleep at the park on 72nd street and Broadway on the Upper West Side on August 12, 2020.
"]https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/11/Homeless.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1024[/IMG]
Mayor Bill de Blasio littered the homeless onto parks and streets thanks to his liberal policies.Stephen Yang
On his way out of City Hall, like Joker walking away from the exploding hospital, Bill the Butcher sought to blow up one of the few things in the city that actually works, the gifted-and-talented program that is like an island in a sea of despair for thousands of public-school students whose parents are currently scanning the real-estate listings in Montclair and Ridgewood.
If Comrade Schmuck gets any bouquets on his way out, they’re probably going to come from the gangs that now run parts of Rikers Island.





Non New Yorkers often ask, “How did this guy everybody hates get to be mayor anyway?” The answer is so stupid no one believes it, but here it is: Because people liked de Blasio’s son. That’s all it is.
De Blasio was floundering in the polls like a T. Rex trying to reach for a high shelf when he cut a TV ad in which then-15-year-old Dante de Blasio sincerely explained what it was like to be black and young in this town. The actual black candidate in the race, a non-crazy Democrat named Bill Thompson, refused to denounce stop-and-frisk when the city was purring along so well that that was the only thing Democrats were worried about; de Blasio used his likable son to show why he was against it, and the tiny quotient of lefties who vote in Democratic primaries swooned. In a one-party town, de Blasio coasted to reelection even though nobody can stand him.
So how does Billy de Blundero spend his final hours before the next mayor is known? The same way he came into office: drafting behind his son’s star power and looking over all of our heads to whatever fantasy he is dreaming about on all those mornings when he oversleeps. Using taxpayer dollars, de Blasio hired Dante’s Yale pal James Nydam to make an online video celebrating his awesomeness in a pathetic bid to spend our money injecting life into his dead fish of a gubernatorial campaign.
Dante served as a volunteer on the project, and we can only hope the young man’s filmmaking career turns out better than de Blasio’s wife’s career blowing a billion dollars of public funds on a mental-health boondoggle meant to build her profile.
Mayor Bill de Blasio and First Lady Chirlane McCrayMayor Bill de Blasio helped his wife Chirlane McCray happily dump billions of dollars onto her failing ThriveNYC pet project.Paul Martinka
Unlike virtually every previous mayor, Bill d’Oblivious was never even interested in the mechanics of the city in the first place: as the city visibly reverted to the Snake Plissken standard before everyone’s eyes, Bill kept yammering on about abstractions that have zilch to do with municipal management — global warming, hate, inequality. Whenever he railed against capitalism — whose world capital this city was, is, and will remain — he sounded as silly as the Sandinista summer-camp doofus he has always been, a middle-aged man whose mental age is “sophomore.” Capitalism pays for the ginormous welfare state that has jacked up the city budget to a level comparable to what is spent by the entire state of Florida.
Our soon-to-be-ex mayor was as prepared for our real and growing problems as Barney the Big Purple Dinosaur minus the sweetness. If Gotham does rebound, as it has many times before, it’ll be no thanks to the smug simpleton who departs on New Year’s Day.
No higher office is clamoring for your leadership, Bill. You’re so useless even CNN won’t hire you. Get ready for what your communist buddies used to call for the dustbin of history. Adios, jackass.
 

Judge slaps hold on de Blasio’s bid to evict Trump from Bronx golf course​



By
Lois Weiss


November 13, 2021 8:39am
Updated





Trump golf course
After the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, de Blasio ended contracts for Trump's company to operate several facilities. AP Photo/John Minchillo







Former President Donald Trump got a reprieve from the city’s efforts to evict his company from the Ferry Point golf course.
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Debra James granted the Trump Organization a temporary stay from Mayor de Blasio’s effort to break the company’s contract to run the Bronx course by Nov. 14 – a move that could cost the city over $30 million.
After the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, de Blasio ended contracts for Trump’s company to operate the Central Park Carousel, the Wollman and Lasker ice rinks in the park, and the Bronx golf course.
The city’s Parks Department quickly picked new operators for the ice rinks and eventually found a new company to run the the carousel. It also awarded a new license for the golf course to a Georgia-based company, Bobby Jones Links.
The Trump Organization sued over the golf contract, maintaining in court papers that the deal was nixed over politics.
Judge James granted a stay soon after oral arguments were held Thursday. It orders the city not to interfere with Trump’s “use and/or possession” of the facilities until the case concludes.
The city argued that continuing the operations with Trump would make it “more difficult” for the new licensee and “create more inconvenience and disruption to the members” for those who want to use the course or the dining facilities, though as a public course, it has no members.
Trump LinksThe temporary stay on Trump’s contract could cost the city over $30 million.AP Photo/John Minchillo, File
That despite the fact that Trump would keep the facilities open through the winter, while Bobby Jones would shutter the facility until April – and toss 150 people out of work.
The Trump Organization did not respond to a request for comment. A city Law Department spokesperson said, “We respectfully disagree with the court’s decision allowing Trump Ferry to continue using the public parkland after termination. We strongly believe the court will ultimately uphold the termination of Trump Ferry.”
 

De Blasio joins NY’s left in raging over Kyle Rittenhouse — as NYPD on alert for potential unrest​



By
Nolan Hicks


November 19, 2021 5:45pm
Updated





Mayor Bill de Blasio, Rev. Al Sharpton, Kyle Rittenhouse
Mayor Bill de Blasio and Rev. Al Sharpton blasted the jury's decision in the Kyle Rittenhouse case. AFP via Getty Images/Bloomberg via Getty Images/Getty Images







New York Mayor Bill de Blasio slammed the acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse, exhorting his followers, “We can’t let this go” even as the NYPD was on alert for potential protests.
The lefty mayor was only one of a host of New York’s liberal pols piling on to decry the jury’s decision.
“This verdict is disgusting and it sends a horrible message to this country. Where is the justice in this,” de Blasio tweeted after the 18-year-old defendant was cleared of all charges in the deaths of two men and the wounding of a third during racially charged violence in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in 2020.
“We can’t let this go,” de Blasio added — as his Police Department was set to handle possible protests.
Mayor Bill de Blasio Mayor Bill de Blasio called the Kyle Rittenhouse verdict “disgusting” and said “we can’t let this go.”AFP via Getty Images
“We need stronger laws to stop violent extremism from within our own nation,” the mayor said. “Now is the time.”
The Rev. Al Sharpton seethed, “These continue to be dark days for black people killed at the hands of people that believe our lives do not matter.
“This verdict was not only outrageous and dangerous, it was also an obvious signal that encourages and notifies ‘vigilantes’ that they can continue to use violence to assert their power, and more importantly that they are above the criminal justice system when they do,” said Sharpton, head of the National Action Network.
Rev. Al SharptonRev. Al Sharpton says this verdict signals that this vigilantes are “above the criminal justice system.”AFP via Getty Images
Rittenhouse, who is white, was captured on video shooting two white Black Lives Matter activists during the melee.
He also shot and injured a third white man in the skirmish in Kenosha, a town that became the scene of a violent days-long showdown between left and right-wing activists who flocked there after a racially charged police shooting that made national headlines.
His lawyers argued that he fired in self-defense, while prosecutors tried to paint Rittenhouse as an out-of-control vigilante.
New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams.New York City public advocate Jumaane Williams blasted the verdict saying it celebrated Kyle Rittenhouse killing two people with a “weapon of war.”Getty Images
New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams — who is currently the Big Apple’s only black citywide official — expressed his outrage over the verdict clearing Rittenhouse in the case.
“A white seventeen year old killing protesters with a weapon of war is celebrated and acquitted,” Williams said.
“A black seventeen year old walking the community with a bag of Skittles is criminalized and murdered,” he added, an apparent reference to Trayvon Martin, the unarmed black teen who was shot dead by George Zimmerman while walking in a Florida neighborhood in 2012.
Kyle RittenhouseKyle Rittenhouse was found not guilty on all counts. Getty Images




Gov. Kathy Hochul tweeted, “Kyle Rittenhouse used an assault weapon to kill two people.
“This is not justice,” she wrote. “If there was any question about why we need strong gun safety laws, this is your answer. This should never have been allowed to happen in the first place. We have a lot of work to do.”
Even disgraced former Gov. Andrew Cuomo publicly weighed in.
“Today’s verdict is a stain on the soul of America, & sends a dangerous message about who & what values our justice system was designed to protect,” tweeted the accused serial sex harasser. “We must stand unified in rejecting supremacist vigilantism & with one voice say: this is not who we are.”
Governor Kathy Hochul.Governor Kathy Hochul said the verdict shows why we need strong gun safety laws. Bloomberg via Getty Images
Patrick Gaspard, a former ambassador to South Africa, former close adviser to de Blasio and the former head of the Open Society Foundation, added in a tweet, “I’m sick to my stomach right now.
“But I’m not shocked. We know what we know. We live this every day,” he said.
Disgraced former New York Governor Andrew CuomoDisgraced former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said the verdict was a “stain on the soul of America.”Getty Images
“We are killed while unarmed and innocent. If Kyle Rittenhouse looked like me, there wouldn’t have even been a trial. The whole world knows this about our country. Again and again.”
 
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‘Blindsided’: Fury in NYC as de Blasio gives firms just 3 weeks to get vaxxed​



By
Reuven Fenton,

Carl Campanile,

Nolan Hicks and

Sam Raskin


December 6, 2021 8:54am
Updated









All NYC employers must mandate COVID-19 vaccine proof, de Blasio announces






Mayor Bill de Blasio sprang a COVID-19 vaccine mandate on all private businesses in New York City on Monday — drawing immediate rebuke from trade groups, New York office workers and some fellow elected officials who said the backbone of the Big Apple was “blindsided” by the stunning move.
De Blasio, whose mayoralty ends at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve, labeled making vaccines compulsory for private businesses a “pre-emptive strike” against an expected surge in COVID infections this winter amid the emergence of the Omicron variant.
“We’re going to announce a first-in-the-nation measure,” de Blasio said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” pinning the move on getting “ahead of Omicron and all the other challenges we’re facing right now.” The city so far has just seven known cases of the new variant, according to state data released Saturday.
Adding to the shockwave, the policy is scheduled to go into effect in just 21 days, on Dec. 27. The announcement left New Yorkers and the city’s business community flabbergasted.
Kathryn Wylde, head of the business group Partnership for NYC, blasted the mayor’s announcement.
Mayor Bill de BlasioMayor Bill de Blasio holds a press conference to outline his private-business vaccine mandate.NYC Mayor
“There’s no forewarning, no discussion, no idea about whether it’s legal or who he expects to enforce it,” she said. “There’s been no consultation.
“We were blindsided,” a clearly enraged Wylde said.
She also questioned if de Blasio has the legal ability to implement the vaccine rule for private entities.
“It’s unclear by what authority the mayor is doing this,” said Wylde.
Some elected officials also trashed the broad mandate.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on December 6, 2021 that two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine are required to enter many indoor businesses in the five boroughs.New York Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on December 6, 2021, that two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine are required to enter many indoor businesses in the five boroughs.Christopher Sadowski
“Mayor de Blasio can’t leave fast enough. He has crushed small business, the economy and quality of life. How many more New Yorkers does he want to see move to the free state of Florida?” fumed Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY), who represents Staten Island and parts of Brooklyn.
“I’m hopeful the incoming mayor will roll back these arbitrary mandates,” said Long Island Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY), who is running for governor. He predicted the mandate would cost New York City jobs.
“When you dangerously combine a far-left, lame-duck politician, who is anti-business, one-dimensional, unaccountable, not bright and has a perpetual ‘I always know best’ attitude, you get Bill de Blasio, the worst mayor in America,” he said. “There is no way this job-killing, small business-suppressing mandate is legal!”
Councilman Robert Holden (D-Queens) also trashed the lame-duck’s mandate order. “Heading out the door, de Blasio is causing maximum damage in his vain pursuit to become governor of New York,” the conservative Democrat said through a spokesperson.
“The mandates will further burden the private sector at a time when the government should be doing everything possible to help businesses grow. Making it harder for families to go out to eat and harder for businesses to hire is the exact opposite of what we should be doing.”
Mayor Bill de Blasio called the policy a a pre-emptive strike against an expected surge in COVID cases this winter.Mayor Bill de Blasio called the policy a “pre-emptive strike” against an expected surge in COVID cases this winter.MSNBC / Morning Joe
Midtown office building custodian Miguel Munoz, who has been vaccinated, said de Blasio applying a vaccine mandate to non-government employees is a bridge too far.
“It’s too much to force private employees to get the vaccine — for city workers, you can technically say the mayor is your boss and if he says you must be vaccinated, then you must be vaccinated. But I don’t see how the mayor has the right to force private workers to get vaccinated,” Munoz, 52, told The Post.
“That’s not fair. I understand he wants to save lives, but feeding into the fear of COVID doesn’t help, either.”
Cynthia, who works in a Midtown marketing firm, said the City Hall-imposed vaccine requirement is “another reason” to leave the Big Apple.
“Just terrific. Bill de Blasio just gave me another reason I need to get the hell out of New York, or at least find a job that lets me work remotely,” said the 40-year-old, who declined to give her last name due to fear of blowback.
“I work in the private sector and had really hoped until just now that it would stay private, but that’s not the case. I can’t live like this. It’s really disappointing. I hope the new mayor has the compassion and good sense to overturn this.”
Democratic Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, who will return to her Upper West Side City Council seat in the new year, said she backed the requirement but blasted de Blasio for not consulting others before announcing it.
“When I do something, I usually talk to the people before I do what I do – I don’t think that happened here,” she told The Post.
“I support the mandate. I want people to live,” she added. “But, you’ve got to meet people halfway. This is very. ‘OK, we’re doing this right now.’”
Councilwoman Inna Vernikov (R- Brooklyn) accused the outgoing mayor of “trampling” on Big Apple residents’ freedom.
“Bill de Blasio has decided to spend his last few weeks as a lame duck by trampling all over New Yorkers’ bodily autonomy. It was private schools last week, and now it’s private businesses. Our mayor doesn’t seem to understand what the word private means,” the newly elected lawmaker told The Post.
“That is their right as Americans, and Mayor de Blasio has no business challenging people’s right to make their own health-care choices.”
The de Blasio mandate also does not apply to a big sector of workers who are in daily contact with millions of New Yorkers — state employees like MTA workers.
Longtime political strategist Hank Sheinkopf said de Blasio, who in recent months has taken steps toward a run for governor next year, imposed the new restrictions to further his standing with the state’s liberal voters.
The new policy is slated to take effect on December 27, 2021. The new policy is slated to take effect on December 27, 2021. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
“This an attempt by Bill de Blasio to appeal to the left and separate himself from [Public Advocate] Jumaane Wiliams in the Democratic primary for governor. There’s no better way to do that than taking on big business,” he told The Post.
“There’s nothing Bill de Blasio does that isn’t political.”
Still, Dr. Dave Chokshi, the city’s health commissioner, during a subsequent virtual press briefing, insisted about the mandate, “I know it will save lives and help prevent unnecessary suffering.”





“Everything that we can do to get everyone vaccinated will make a huge difference,” said Dr. Mitch Katz, head of the city’s hospital system. “We desperately want everybody vaccinated so that we do not have to have any more death in New York City. We have gone through enough.”
The vaccination rate in New York City is already higher than in the rest of the state, prompted by regulations implemented over the summer, as upstate and western New York area inoculation efforts have stalled in recent months, causing upticks in virus positivity rates there, The Post reported last week.
As of Monday afternoon, more than 89 percent of adults in the five boroughs have received at least one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine, according to city data.
Last week, the Big Apple registered a per-capita death rate about one-third the average in the United States, according to a Washington Post analysis.
Currently, only municipal employees are subject to a COVID-19 inoculation requirement, which took effect for most city workers in late October and prompted backlash from members of the FDNY, NYPD and the city Department of Education.
Also Monday, de Blasio announced that two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine will be required to enter many indoor businesses in the five boroughs — including bars, restaurants and fitness centers. The current iteration of the “Key to NYC” program requires just one vaccine dose.
 A group of protesters gather in Times Square in Manhattan to show their opposition to Covid-19 Vaccines on December 05, 2021.Protesters gather in Times Square in Manhattan to show their opposition to COVID-19 vaccines on December 5, 2021.Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Additionally, de Blasio revealed that children ages 5 to 11 will soon be required to receive at least one shot in a vaccine series to enter indoor establishments, now that shots are available to them. Previously, kids under 12 years old were able to accompany vaccinated adults in settings where proof of inoculation is mandatory to gain entry.
Those regulation adjustments will also take effect Dec. 27, the mayor said.
One city lawmaker was optimistic the new provision would prompt an increase in young New Yorkers getting inoculated against the virus.
“The kids, that’s the age group that’s lagging far behind in vaccination,” said Councilman Mark Levine (D-Morningside Heights) who chairs the Council’s health-care committee. “There was a burst in the first couple of weeks by early adopters, but the pace has slowed since then.
“This is an age group that we need to do more to protect, and I’m hopeful this new policy will do that.”
In response, a rep for Mayor-elect Eric Adams, who will take office Jan. 1, did not take a position on de Blasio’s controversial measure.
“The mayor-elect will evaluate this mandate and other COVID strategies when he is in office and make determinations based on science, efficacy and the advice of health professionals,” said spokesman Evan Thies.



see also​



Left: Mayor Bill de Blasio. Right: A healthcare worker fills up a syringe with a dose of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine for a booster shot at the vaccination reference center at the Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Prevention Institute (EBPI) in Zurich, Switzerland November 17, 2021.

De Blasio considers requiring booster shots for indoor eating, concerts




The new measures come after de Blasio on Friday hinted he is considering adding more restrictive provisions to the Big Apple’s indoor venue vaccine rules, which city workers began enforcing on Sept. 13.
Last month, a federal appeals court blocked President Biden’s nationwide version of the private-sector vaccine requirement. The decision was subsequently upheld by the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals.
In the five boroughs, several municipal unions, including the city’s largest representing police officers, filed lawsuits with the aim of reversing the city worker vaccine mandate. That came after a group of restaurants and businesses in August filed a suit against the mayor’s proof of vaccination policy rule for city eateries, gyms, movie theaters and other indoor establishments.
The court actions have resulted in some delays, but so far have not proved successful.
On MSNBC, de Blasio didn’t seem concerned about inevitable legal challenges to his new mandate for private-sector employers.
“We are confident, because it’s universal,” he said on the morning cable show. “I don’t know all the intricacies of what the Biden administration has been through, but I do know this: Our health commissioner has put a series of mandates in place. They have won in court, state court, federal court, every single time, and it’s because they’re universal and consistent, and they’re about protecting the public right now from a clear and present danger.”
“We’re confident that this will survive any challenge,” city Corporation Counsel Georgia Pestana during the mayoral press briefing, without elaborating.
But pressed on how he plans to enforce the new rules, de Blasio had no answer and instead kicked the can down the road a week.
“We’re going to work with the different business communities between now and Dec. 15 to put together those protocols,” he said. “We’ll publish them on Dec. 15, so still well before the mandate takes effect Dec. 27.”
Asked about potential penalties for non-compliant employers, the mayor again responded vaguely. “It’s part of life that there have to be some consequences,” he said. “We’ll figure out what makes sense by Dec. 15 when we put out the guidelines.”
De Blasio said he spoke to both Gov. Kathy Hochul and Adams, his successor, who is currently on a personal trip to Ghana, about the new policy before he revealed it.
 
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City Council set to approve de Blasio’s SoHo, NoHo ‘racial justice’ zoning​



By
Nolan Hicks and

Julia Marsh


December 8, 2021 5:20pm
Updated









De Blasio on NYC rezoning













Santanista is coming to town — again.
The City Council is set to overwhelmingly approve Mayor de Blasio’s push to use zoning as a “racial justice” tool in two of the Big Apple’s poshest neighborhoods — SoHo and NoHo.
The move would allow de Blasio to sign the measure into law before he and most of the Council members who will approve it leave office at the end of the month, allowing a slew of housing developments in a district that just voted in a new representative who is opposed to the plan.
Final approval is expected during the very last meeting of this City Council next week, as most of its members are set to depart under the city’s term-limits law.
It would mark the latest in a string of efforts by de Blasio to pack the city with controversial measures before he leaves office, for which The Post labeled him “Santanista Claus” on its front page Tuesday.
Mayor Bill de BlasioCity Council is set to approve Mayor de Blasio’s push to use zoning as a “racial justice” tool in SoHo and NoHo.James Keivom




Those efforts include a vaccine mandate for all private employers, legalized drug dens and getting rid of the city’s Gifted and Talented school program.
Outgoing Councilwoman Margaret Chin (D-Manhattan) represents the bulk of SoHo and NoHo covered by the upzoning and is broadly supportive of efforts to bring more housing to the area.
Her replacement, Chris Marte, is an outspoken opponent.
“This is what de Blasio has done time after time,” said Marte, the councilman-elect. “He doesn’t care about what the population of the district cares about.
Councilmember-elect Christopher MarteCouncilmember-elect Christopher Marte is opposed to de Blasio’s rezoning plan. Facebook/Christopher Marte
“We won every single election district overwhelmingly on [this] rezoning,” he added. “People actually know about this and care about this.”
The details of the hotly debated plan remain in flux even with the vote just a week away, as political savvy community activists have made inroads with a last-ditch campaign to cut back on the number of new apartments allowed in NoHo, documents show.
Instead, the changes outlined in a letter sent this week by the NoHo-Bowery Stakeholders — a group led by prominent anti-development activist Zella Jones — would dramatically boost the amount of new office space allowed. Much of that new development would be focused along Bowery on NoHo’s eastern edge.
In turn, housing activists have mounted their own counter-offensive, pressing Council Speaker Corey Johnson (D-Manhattan), who also leaves Dec. 31, to keep or boost the current proposed housing levels.
Graphic showing some general outlines of the proposed SoHo rezoning, from a City Planning meeting this week about Mayor de Blasio's controversial plan to add thousands of new apartments to Manhattan's posh SoHo and NoHo neighborhoods coming into his term-limited last year in office.The rezoning will allow for new development in the district.
“It would be a damn shame if one of the last acts of Corey Johnson’s speakership is cutting housing and affordable housing in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods, in the wealthiest country on planet earth,” said Aaron Carr, the executive director of the Housing Rights Initiative.
“If he goes through with this, he can take his claims of progressivism and flush them right down the toilet.”





Jones declined to comment.
De Blasio’s plan, as originally proposed, called for changes in zoning that would allow for potentially 3,200 new apartments in the pair of neighborhoods — including as many as 800 units set aside for middle and lower-income families.
City Hall’s planners argue the proposal would dramatically diversify the wealthy and white neighborhoods, where no new rent-stabilized housing has been built in decades.
There is a limited amount of space where new development is possible in SoHo/NoHo because much of the area is covered by the city’s historic preservation laws.
That means much of the future construction would likely take place on parking lots, including two owned a company once led by a now-dead top donor to de Blasio, a connection opponents frequently point out.
SoHo/NoHo Rezoning hearingNeighborhood activists say the plan will actually endanger the limited affordable housing that currently exists in SoHo and NoHo.William C. Lopez/NYPOST
Neighborhood activists — like Marte — have also offered a slew of other arguments against the upzoning, including claiming it would produce insufficient amounts of housing and, conversely, that it endangers the little affordable housing that still exists in SoHo/NoHo.
De Blasio made the plan a priority after the death of George Floyd when his deputy mayor for housing, Vicki Been, publicly pitched the proposal as one way to reduce segregation.
“The pandemic and the movement for racial justice make clear that all neighborhoods must pull their weight to provide safe, affordable housing options,” Been said.
 

Bill De Blasio leaves City Hall with broken promises and dashed dreams​



By
Julia Marsh,

Nolan Hicks,

Tina Moore and

Bruce Golding


December 30, 2021 2:14pm
Updated





Mayor Bill de Blasio's massive NYC Ferry operation benefits more wealthy, white residents than New Yorkers of color.
Mayor Bill de Blasio's massive NYC Ferry operation benefits more wealthy, white residents than New Yorkers of color. James Messerschmidt








Bill de Blasio’s come-from-behind victory in the 2013 mayoral race gave New York City its first progressive leader in generations — and unleashed eight years of controversy and turbulence that led voters to change course and choose successor Eric Adams, a former NYPD captain who ran on a pro-business, law-and-order platform.
De Blasio, who was prevented from running again due to term limits, was the Big Apple’s public advocate when he launched his bid for City Hall, joining what became a crowded Democratic field to succeed popular, three-term Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Portraying himself as a liberal counterweight to the billionaire media mogul, de Blasio — who flirted with Marxism into his 30s, including by honeymooning in Cuba — campaigned on the promise of ending the racial and income inequality that he said made New York a “tale of two cities.”
De Blasio was trailing badly in the polls when the surging comeback candidacy of former Congressman Anthony Weiner imploded amid a sexting scandal, and his fortunes soared with the help of a highly effective TV commercial featuring his teenage son, Dante.
During his first inauguration speech, de Blasio pledged a “dramatic new approach” to running the world’s greatest city, adding that “the world will watch as we succeed.”
But ever since, his administration was repeatedly rocked by the failures that mar his legacy as de Blasio, 60, prepares his next move — which he’s hinted might be a run for governor next year.
Among de Blasio’s multiple missteps, this dirty dozen stands out:

HOMELESSNESS​

One of the most vivid — and visible — declines in the city’s quality of life under de Blasio is its continuing homelessness crisis, which The Post laid bare in July 2015 with a stunning, front-page photo of a rag-clad vagrant urinating in broad daylight while standing in the middle of Broadway on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.
De Blasio initially denied the existence of the problem exploding before everyone’s eyes, leading even then-Police Commissioner Bill Bratton to call that strategy a “mistake,” leading the mayor to unveil a 128-page plan during his 2017 re-election campaign that called for opening 90 new shelters and expanding 30 others.
Homeless on the subway.Mayor Bill de Blasio called homelessness the “biggest disappointment” of his eight years in office.Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images
But the self-proclaimed “blood-and-guts war strategy” failed to produce results, as the outgoing mayor was forced to concede recently when he called homelessness the “biggest disappointment” of his eight years running the city — even while continuing to claim that “we’ve found some strategies that are working much better to get people off the streets.”
Meanwhile, Bratton last week tweeted a photo of a subway car overrun with vagrants sleeping on the benches, writing: “Why should working people & tourists be subjected to this? How’s it fair to those who need services?”

LAW ENFORCEMENT​

De Blasio spent much of his administration bragging that the Big Apple was the “safest big city in America” — even after alienating the NYPD’s rank and file by saying he and his wife, Chirlane McCray, “had to literally train” their biracial son “to take special care in any encounter he has with the police.”
Police.Cops turned their backs on Mayor Bill de Blasio when he visited Brooklyn’s Woodhull Hospital following the execution-style slayings of two uniformed officers.John Minchillo/AP


see also​



New York is on track to hit the grim milestone of 500 murders in 2021 as all aspects of crime continue to rise.

Grim Apple: NYC murders in 2021 to near 500 for first time in a decade​





Just weeks after the controversial remarks, cops turned their backs on de Blasio when he visited Brooklyn’s Woodhull Hospital following the execution-style slayings of two uniformed officers who were gunned down while eating lunch in a patrol car.
Cops repeated the insult at the funerals for Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu, then continued the protest in 2017 after another officer, Miosotis Familia, was gunned down inside a police van in the Bronx.
Meanwhile, shootings have nearly doubled from the 777 in 2019, with 1,531 last year and 1,546 this year as of Sunday.
Homicides are also up from 319 in 2019 to 462 last year — with another 479 this year as of Sunday.
Law enforcement officers turn their backs on a live video monitor showing New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio as he speaks at the funeral of slain New York Police Department (NYPD) officer Rafael Ramos near Christ Tabernacle Church in the Queens borough of New York December 27, 2014. Law enforcement officers turn their backs on a live video monitor showing New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio as he speaks at the funeral of slain New York Police Department Officer Rafael Ramos near Christ Tabernacle Church on Dec. 27, 2014. REUTERS
Policing expert Eugene O’Donnell, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said de Blasio’s “impact on public safety and the NYPD has been catastrophic.”
“There’s no other word for it,” said O’Donnell, a former NYPD cop-turned-lawyer.
“You have a police job now that is both unwantable and undoable. He took a safe city and he unraveled it. This was a near-impossible accomplishment.”

“RENEWAL” SCHOOLS​

Less than a year after taking office, de Blasio announced an ambitious plan to turn around nearly 100 poorly performing schools by spending $150 million a year on an extra hour of daily instruction, special training for teachers and targeted social services for students.
In 2017, an award-winning series of Post exposes revealed the “School Renewal Program” to be a boondoggle that produced few positive results, with enrollment down and the dropout rate up — and more than $12 million paid to a cadre of “directors,” “instructional coaches” and “leadership coaches,” some of whom raked in $1,400 a day.



see also​





City’s ‘Renewal Program’ costs big bucks but shows few results​





De Blasio finally owned up to the costly failure and pulled the plug in February 2019 after burning through $773 million in taxpayer funds, offering as his excuse: “We did not say everything would be perfect.”
At the time, education expert David Bloomfield, a professor at Brooklyn College and CUNY’s Graduate Center, said the mayor had been trying to “differentiate himself” from predecessor Bloomberg and his policy of closing failing schools and breaking them up into smaller “academies” under new leadership.
“This was done more for political reasons than for clear instructional benefit,” Bloomfield said.
“But I do give the mayor props for admitting defeat.”

CORRUPTION ALLEGATIONS​

De Blasio’s fundraising efforts involving the short-lived Campaign for One New York nonprofit — which he created to promote his initiatives, including the city’s pre-kindergarten program — sparked pay-to-play corruption probes by both federal and local prosecutors.
Cyrus Vance Jr.Cyrus Vance Jr. said de Blasio’s actions likely were against the “spirit” of the law.AP
And they came within a hair’s breadth of landing him in the dock.
In March 2017, then-acting Manhattan US Attorney Joon Kim and now-outgoing Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. said no charges would be filed even though Vance said de Blasio appeared to have violated the “intent and spirit” of applicable laws.



see also​





De Blasio slammed by ethics panel for ‘coercion and improper access’ over donations​





Kim also noted “the particular difficulty in proving criminal intent in corruption schemes where there is no evidence of personal profit.”
And although he came into office promising to run the most transparent administration in city history, de Blasio waged a protracted court battle to keep secret his emails with his political consultants — whose firms received nearly $2 million from the Campaign for One New York.
In 2016, The Post and NY1 had to sue the city for access to the communications, with Hizzoner claiming an exemption from the Freedom of Information Law on grounds that his advisers were “agents of the city.”
After losing in both state Supreme Court and on appeal, City Hall coughed up thousands of pages that showed de Blasio secretly discussing his national political ambitions and attempting to boost the public profile of his wife, saying at one point, “Let’s release the tiger.”

“THRIVENYC”​

In 2015, de Blasio put his wife, who was an English major in college, in charge of a “very bold plan” to revamp and expand the city’s mental health services — despite her lack of training in the complex fields of psychiatry, psychology and human behavior.
The program, dubbed “ThriveNYC,” burned through about $1.5 billion in taxpayer funds that critics said failed to produce measurable results for countless mentally ill people, including those roaming the city’s streets and subways.
“We’re spending $200 million a year on a mental health program, Thrive, with little accountability, with little data or outcomes to show progress,” outgoing Comptroller Scott Stringer said during a budget briefing in February.
NYC Resilient Kids Safer Schools announcement.ThriveNYC, headed by Mayor Bill de Blasio’s wife, burned through about $1.5 billion in taxpayer funds.Paul Martinka
The annual Mayor’s Management Report, which tracks the performance of various city agencies and programs, repeatedly found that ThriveNYC fell short of its own goals.
The most recent report, in September, also revealed that training programs were still suspended due to coronavirus safety precautions — even though city workers were back in their offices — and that the number of crime victims who were offered emotional support services had dropped 20 percent.
Nonetheless, de Blasio has claimed that ThriveNYC — which he rebranded in May as the Office of Community Mental Health — was among his top achievements. McCray, meanwhile, has called it a success simply “because we are talking about mental health.”

RIKERS ISLAND​

De Blasio made closing the infamous jail complex on Rikers Island a top priority and, in 2019, pushed the City Council to approve a sweeping, $8.7 billion plan to replace it with new, smaller jails in each of the boroughs except Staten Island.
But the timeline for the controversial project — initially set for completion in the fall of 2026 — was pushed back last year until at least August 2027 due to a budget crunch caused by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Mayor Bill de Blasio tours Rikers Island.Mayor Bill de Blasio’s plan to close Rikers Island was pushed toward the end of this decade.Chad Rachman
Meanwhile, conditions on Rikers have deteriorated so dramatically this year — with a record 16 inmate deaths and about 500 broken cell doors fueling violence amid staffing shortages — that Adams recently branded it “a national embarrassment” that city officials “have ignored.”
Adams also vowed to immediately reverse de Blasio’s policy against solitary confinement, warning inmates that on “Jan. 1, they’re going back into punitive segregation if they commit a violent act.”

TRAFFIC SAFETY​

In 2014, de Blasio launched his “Vision Zero” plan to completely eliminate all traffic fatalities by 2024 through measures that included reducing the speed limit on virtually all city streets from 30 to 25 mph.
Total deaths dropped from 293 in 2013 to just 201 in 2018, according to city stats — only to shoot up for the next three years in a row.
Bike crash.Bicyclists suffered 27 traffic deaths in 2019 and 19 this year, through Sunday.Seth Gottfried
As of Sunday, this year’s toll was 266, marking a three-year increase of 32 percent and reaching a record high since de Blasio took office.
One of the most worrisome trends involves bicyclists, who suffered just 12 deaths in 2013 but were killed in greater numbers every year since then but one — including 27 in 2019 and 19 this year through Sunday.
Bike New York spokesman Jon Orcutt — a former city transportation policy director who helped draft the Vision Zero plan — blamed lax enforcement of traffic laws, which he called “pretty thin prior to the de Blasio administration, and it got worse and has essentially vanished.”

GROUNDHOG KILLER​

Even de Blasio’s harshest detractors couldn’t have predicted his fumbling would actually take the life of the city’s most beloved weather forecaster: the Staten Island Zoo’s groundhog.
The freshly inaugurated mayor dropped the famous furball on its head during the zoo’s annual Groundhog Day celebration in 2014, and the critter was found dead a week later from “acute internal injuries” consistent with a fall, as The Post exclusively revealed.

The scoop — which also uncovered that the tragic rodent wasn’t actually Staten Island Chuck, but a female stand-in named Charlotte — made de Blasio the object of scorn. Late-night TV host Stephen Colbert even accused him of a “mob-style execution,” because Staten Island had voted against him.
Mayor de Blasio with groundhog.Mayor Bill de Blasio dropped the Staten Island Zoo’s groundhog in 2014.Staten Island Advance Mayor dropping groundhog.The groundhog died a week later from “acute internal injuries.”Staten Island Advance
When the mayor returned for Groundhog Day in 2015, the borough’s fuzzy forecaster was protected inside a Plexiglas box. De Blasio’s fatal flub also led the US Department of Agriculture to slap the zoo with a citation for letting an “untrained person” handle the doomed Charlotte.

LATE TO WORK​

De Blasio made a habit of being the boss who shows up late to work, starting just days after he was inaugurated, when his tardy arrival forced Department of Correction officials to delay a graduation ceremony by nearly an hour.
But the annual tolling of a bell to honor the 265 victims killed in the 2001 crash of American Airlines Flight 587 in Queens couldn’t wait for de Blasio, who blamed missing it on “a very rough night” that left him “really sluggish and off-kilter.”
Still-grieving attendees blasted his excuse as “complete BS” and said, “He treated us like garbage.”
In a bid to get the mayor moving on time, The Post gave de Blasio an old-fashioned alarm clock — without a snooze button — during a news conference the following day, but even that couldn’t rouse him.
Bill de Blasio with a clock.The Post gave Mayor Bill de Blasio an alarm clock in a bid to get him to events on time.Gregory P. Mango
After de Blasio showed up 41 minutes late for a live TV interview in 2019, PIX11 ‘Morning News’ co-host Dan Mannarino tweeted his excuse: “Says he set his alarm for the wrong time.”
Meanwhile, de Blasio somehow found the time for up to two hours of leisurely morning stretching and stationary bike-pedaling at the Prospect Park YMCA in Brooklyn, claiming he needed his security detail to drive him the 13 miles to get there so he can stay connected to the people in his old neighborhood.

FAILED PRESIDENTIAL BID​

NYPD cops and Black Lives Matter activists found they had one thing in common when they both showed up to oppose de Blasio’s quixotic presidential campaign during a live appearance by the mayor on ABC’s “Good Morning America” in May 2019.
“Can’t run the city! Can’t run the country!” the improbable allies chanted while standing shoulder to shoulder, as de Blasio promoted his ill-fated run inside the show’s Times Square studio.
And when the rest of America got to know him, de Blasio proved so unpopular that he wound up speaking to a half-empty hall of voters in New Hampshire, scored just 25 of 20,000 votes in the Iowa State Fair’s iconic “corn kernel poll” and took a break for a lonely stroll through the Nevada desert.
Bill de Blasio in Iowa.New Yorkers were not in favor of de Blasio’s presidential bid.Facebook
He also infuriated Cuban exiles in Florida when he traveled to Miami for a Democratic primary debate, committing a major political gaffe by using a Communist rallying cry made famous by Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara while he addressed striking airport workers.
And in the Big Apple, New Yorkers made clear that their favorite mayor was rival Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, who humiliated de Blasio in his own backyard by raising more money from more city residents — at rates greater than 2-to-1.
When de Blasio finally gave up following four months of fruitless efforts, The Post published a front-page obituary that declared his campaign “dead of ego-induced psychosis,” adding: “Neighbors said the body had been in rigor mortis for some time.”

NYCHA SCANDALS​

Then-Manhattan US Attorney Geoffrey Berman said his “blood was boiling” when he learned the results of a federal probe that found the New York City Housing Authority worked for years to hide squalid conditions in its buildings — including lead paint, vermin infestations and broken elevators — rather than actually fix the problems.
Decrepit kitchen.Mayor Bill de Blasio tried to tamp down the lead paint issues in NYCHA apartments.Brigitte Stelzer
The bombshell findings led to a 2018 deal with the de Blasio administration that called for at least $2.2 billion in repairs and came after de Blasio’s hand-picked NYCHA chief, Shola Olatoye, was forced to resign amid a scandal over her false certifications of inspections for lead paint hazards in about 55,000 apartments.
Last year, The Post revealed that de Blasio repeatedly tried to downplay the lead paint crisis — including by claiming that “there is less here than appears” — even as city inspectors were finding lead paint in hundreds of NYCHA apartments.
Little more than a month later, a court-appointed federal monitor said lead paint was likely present in 9,000 apartments where young children lived or spent lots of time — triple the number that NYCHA estimated in 2018.
Shola Olatoye resigned after the lead crisis in NYCHA homes.Shola Olatoye resigned after the lead crisis in NYCHA homes.Richard Harbus for the New York Post
“Mayor de Blasio and the de Blasio administration have failed the residents immensely in public housing,” said Danny Barber, chairman of the Citywide Council of Presidents of NYCHA tenants associations.
“This administration had no respect for the residents of public housing.”

FERRIES FOR THE RICH​

When it comes to the city’s costly ferry service, de Blasio’s massive investment really tells a tale of two cities.
Internal surveys have shown that ferry passengers are disproportionately white and wealthy, with 65 percent earning over $75,000 a year and the median rider raking in between $100,000 and $150,000 annually.
Meanwhile, taxpayers subsidize the NYC Ferry operation at a rate of more than $9 per trip.
The NYC Ferry was another massive project from de Blasio's tenure.The NYC Ferry was another massive project from de Blasio’s tenure.James Messerschmidt
Transit advocates question the $500 million-plus de Blasio has spent on NYC Ferry when many more people ride buses, which fall under the mayor’s purview because of his control over city streets and bus stops.
“The issue is one of comparison,” Riders Alliance spokesman Danny Pearlstein said.
“Millions of New Yorkers of color take buses every day. A tiny fraction of that number rides the ferries. The foremost issue of transportation equity in the city is the fact that for several decades our leaders have not taken the time of bus riders seriously.”
 

De Blasio arrived late to his own goodbye party​



By
Julia Marsh and

Nolan Hicks


December 30, 2021 8:08pm
Updated








That's what Chirlane and I tried, in our own way,
De Blasio commemorates his final day as NYC Mayor




The perennially tardy Mayor de Blasio was two hours late to his own farewell festivities.
The lame-duck leader was scheduled to commemorate his final day at City Hall Thursday with a “walkout ceremony” outside the building at 3:00 p.m. Thursday.
De Blasio had planned the ceremony a day before his official last day in office. Mayor-elect Eric Adams will take over at midnight on Dec. 31.
But first, the Staten Island funeral for FDNY lieutenant Joseph Maiello, who died on the job, ran late, forcing de Blasio who spoke at the event to push his ultimate press briefing back from 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. and his walkout from 3:00 p.m. to 3:45 p.m.
While the mayor arrived at City Hall at 2:30 p.m. — to the sound of hecklers shouting “Go home, don’t let the door hit you in the ass!” and “Hope you and your wife go to jail!”– he didn’t start the press briefing until 3:15 p.m.
The mayor played a video of his accomplishments at the top of the briefing then grew weepy as his wife Chirlane McCray and son Dante de Blasio joined him to screen a second short film of prominent New Yorkers like feminist Gloria Steinman and U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer thanking him for his public service.
PodiumWorkers move the podium inside after protesters cause commotion outside.Stephen Yang Hecklers in front of city hallHecklers shouting “Hope you and your wife go to jail!”Stephen Yang
“We just caught hell the whole way through,” de Blasio told reporters when asked about his infamously antagonistic relationship with former Gov. Cuomo.
Indeed, even with Cuomo gone de Blasio was still feeling the heat.
The briefing wrapped up by 4:30 p.m. Yet the walkout ceremony didn’t get underway until 5:00 p.m. as city workers scrambled to move a podium and other equipment indoors because over 50 protestors including Trump supporters and opponents of de Blasio’s COVID-19 vaccine mandates raged outside the City Hall gates.
Maga flagTrump supporters and opponents of de Blasio’s COVID-19 vaccine mandates raged outside the City Hall gates.Stephen Yang Mayor de Blasio protest singRing wing protestors gathered outside City Hall with goodbye signs. Stephen Yang
One duo carried a sign that read “Buy-Bye s–thead” and others yelled profanities through bullhorns including “a–hole.”
Another detractor drove up to the gates in an SUV blaring Ray Charles’ “Hit the road Jack!”
As about 100 de Blasio supporters crammed inside the City Hall rotunda for his goodbye speech, the city’s Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi stood nervously by the front door.
For the past several weeks as Omicron has surged, driving up COVID cases and hospitalizations to unprecedented levels, Chokshi has urged New Yorkers to avoid large indoor gatherings.
Mayor Bill De Blasio and his wife, First Lady Chirlane McCray.Mayor Bill De Blasio and his wife, First Lady Chirlane McCray celebrate.Erik Pendzich/Shutterstock Mayor Bill De Blasio and his wife, First Lady Chirlane McCray.Mayor Bill de Blasio thanked his wife McCray for her support throughout the years. Erik Pendzich/Shutterstock
By 5:30 p.m. de Blasio had finished his speech where he thanked his wife McCray and other longtime administration officials including First Deputy Mayor Dean Fuleihan and Chief of Staff Emma Wolfe, But instead of walking out the front door of City Hall as planned, he returned to his office.
The unexpected move left a phalanx of news cameras waiting in the dark.
“He is doing more work in his office,” mayoral press secretary Danielle Filson told The Post.
Meanwhile, a few dozen protestors remained outside the City Hall gates to say their own goodbyes.
 

De Blasio insists NYC is better off after his 8 years​



By
Emily Crane and

Sam Raskin


December 30, 2021 8:01pm
Updated





Mayor Bill de Blasio appears on the Today show on NBC
"Wages have gone up. We've been able to give things like pre-K and 3-K to all families for free, universally," Mayor de Blasio said. NBC







Mayor Bill de Blasio is insisting that New York City is better off now after his eight years at the helm — even though murder rates are up, street homelessness has surged and the Big Apple’s economic recovery lags amid the pandemic.
“I’m convinced this place is better than eight years ago,” de Blasio told NBC’s “Today” on Thursday as his mayoral tenure nears an end.
“New York is better because of New Yorkers.”
De Blasio, who will be replaced by Mayor-elect Eric Adams at midnight Friday, claimed the Big Apple is now “the safest big city in America” — and that he had successfully fought “inequality” during his time in the top job.
“Independent studies have shown we were able to put a lot more money back in the pockets of working people. Wages have gone up. We’ve been able to give things like pre-K and 3-K to all families for free, universally,” Hizzoner said.
“We have, after a really tough two years, we’re once again turning the corner – this is the safest big city in America. That is a fact.”
Mayor de Blasio touted his accomplishments during his appearance on Today.Mayor de Blasio touted his accomplishments during his appearance on “Today.”NBC
His cheery outlook comes despite crimes rates across the Big Apple surging over the past year.
There have been 1,546 shootings in 2021 amid a spike in Big Apple gun crime, a staggering 102 percent increase from pre-pandemic levels in 2019, the latest NYPD data shows.
Murders, which as of Sunday stood at 479, have doubled compared to two years ago prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Homicides are on track to reach nearly 500 — levels that have not been seen in a decade.
Though Department of Homeless Services data shows the homeless shelter population is down from its 2019 peak and when de Blasio took office, the number of people using eight of the busiest subway stations as living spaces spiked nearly 45 percent over the summer, according to the MTA.



Eight years into de Blasio’s tenure, about 30,000 New York City students spend time living in homeless shelters each year, according to Advocates for Children of New York.
Poverty has recently risen, as well.
The Center for New York City Affairs at The New School released a report in September finding a 14 percent increase in city residents seeking temporary government aid between February 2020 and June 2021, including larger jumps in New Yorkers applying for Medicaid and food stamp programs.
Additionally, the city has regained fewer than six out of every 10 jobs it lost since early 2020, according to Center for New York City Affairs economist James Parrott, and unemployment rate in the five boroughs is 9.4 percent — more than double the national average of 4.2 percent, state and federal data shows.
In February, about a year after the pandemic began in New York City, more than 47 percent of Big Apple small businesses remain shuttered, according to TrackTheRecovery.org.
 

Bill de Blasio announces he’s not running for governor of New York​



By
Sam Raskin


January 18, 2022 9:05am
Updated









Ex-Mayor Bill de Blasio announces he won't run governor







Former Mayor Bill de Blasio has decided not to launch a longshot bid for governor, he announced Tuesday.
In a video posted on Twitter, de Blasio touted his record on education and policing before declaring, “No, I’m not going to be running for governor of New York state.”
“But I am going to devote every fiber of my being to fight inequality in the state of New York,” he added in the 90-second clip, recorded outside one of his Park Slope homes.
De Blasio — who formed a state candidate committee in November fueling speculation that he was weighing a gubernatorial run — promised to announce “more news” in the coming days, hinting he will not exit the political arena.
“Let’s keep this fight going, ’cause we proved change can happen in New York,” he said.
De Blasio, who also briefly ran a quixotic, unsuccessful presidential campaign in 2019 as New Yorkers endured his second and final term at City Hall, was succeeded by Mayor Eric Adams.
The news comes as Gov. Kathy Hochul’s lead in the Democratic primary for governor of New York grew to over 30 points beyond de Blasio, her closest competitor, according to a new poll, indicating his previously expected gubernatorial bid would have been a steep climb. In the Siena College survey, Hochul earned the support of 46 percent of Democratic voters, while de Blasio netted just 12 percent.
Bill de BlasioBill de Blasio announced Tuesday he will not be running for NY governor.Bill de Blasio/Twitter
Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi of Long Island have also entered the June 2022 primary contest.
During his final years leading City Hall, de Blasio repeatedly hinted he would run for governor — despite his popularity tanking among voters.
Even before disgraced ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced his resignation in August, de Blasio had started talking to his inner circle and union allies about running to be the state’s chief executive, The Post reported in March.
In August, de Blasio didn’t rule out running for governor, and in recent months has said he wants to stay in “public service,” delivering several campaign-style speeches at Big Apple churches.
As he teased throwing his hat in the ring, the then-lame duck mayor in November proposed implementing year-round school statewide along with a series of other educational reforms that would apply to the Empire State, all funded via a wealth tax.
When State Attorney General Letitia James last month dropped out of the gubernatorial race, de Blasio was “on cloud nine” as he hoped to take advantage of a less crowded primary competition.
De Blasio’s political maneuvering came as his approval ratings were in the basement. One recent poll showed de Blasio was less popular in deep blue New York State than Republican ex-President Donald Trump.
 

De Blasio still gets NYPD security, despite refusal to pay for misuse​



By
Rich Calder and

Larry Celona


April 30, 2022 12:57pm
Updated









Iguana vs. stuffed animal!

Video Player is loading.






He’s still taking New Yorkers for a ride.
Former Mayor Bill de Blasio continues to be chauffeured around town by an NYPD security detail despite refusing to pay taxpayers back nearly $320,000 that city investigators say he owes for misusing the perk while in office, The Post has learned.
Since leaving City Hall four months ago, de Blasio and wife Chirlane McCray have had a team of six NYPD detectives and a sergeant assigned to be their personal limousine and security service, police sources said.
The cops rotate so that least two are always on call to service the former First Couple from early morning to late at night.
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They routinely drive them around town, including to restaurants, Prospect Park for long walks, and the Park Slope YMCA where de Blasio enjoys working out.

De Blasio spotted at a hotel in Brooklyn with his security detail on April 28.De Blasio spotted at a hotel in Brooklyn with his security detail on April 28.Helayne Seidman De Blasio seen with his security detail on April 22.De Blasio seen with his security detail on April 22.Paul Martinka
The security detail has also been a fixture for months at the swanky Marriott at Brooklyn Bridge, where de Blasio and McCray are temporary residing while their Brooklyn home undergoes renovations.


“He basically has armed chauffeurs taking him to the gym,” quipped a law enforcement source. “It is ironic since … he’s responsible for a lot of the anti-police rhetoric in the city today.”


Former Mayors Ed Koch and David Dinkins retained police security at taxpayers’ expense for six months after they left office while Rudy Giuliani and his family retained the perk for a year. After leaving office at the end of 2013, billionaire ex-Mayor Michael Bloomberg simply hired members of his NYPD security team who retired as his private bodyguards.

The cops rotate so that least two are always on call to service the former First Couple.The cops rotate so that least two are always on call to service the former first couple.J.C.Rice
But critics questioned whether de Blasio should get the same privilege following a scathing Department of Investigation report released last October.


The DOI determined de Blasio owes taxpayers $319,794 for wrongfully using “NYPD resources for political purposes” by having his security detail guard him out of state during his failed bid for president – including to see his beloved Red Sox play in California. DOI also scolded de Blasio for misusing the perk by having cops run errands, including helping his daughter move and chauffeuring his son.


“He’s using them as chauffeurs, and it’s a waste of money and wrong considering his history,” barked former Brooklyn Councilman Sal Albanese, who lost 2017 Democratic mayoral primary to de Blasio.

“He’s using them as chauffeurs, barked former Brooklyn Councilman Sal “He’s using them as chauffeurs,” barked former Brooklyn Councilman Sal Albanese.Paul Martinka
“Considering he still owes the city $320,000 for misusing his security detail, there’s no way he should still have security unless there is a serious threat.”


Councilman Robert Holden (D-Queens) said he believes the courtesy provided past mayors is over the top and is considering drafting legislation to limit costs to taxpayers. “These are cops that could be out there protecting the city,” he said.


A de Blasio spokesman didn’t return messages, but the ex-mayor has appealed a city Conflicts of Interest Board’s ruling that he should repay the city for the alleged misuse of police detail.
 

The suite life: Debt-ridden de Blasio spending thousands to live large at Brooklyn hotel​



By
Rich Calder and

Griffin Kelly


April 30, 2022 3:48pm
Updated





De Blasio checks into his comfy 4-star hotel.
Former Mayor Bill de Blasio and Chirlane McCray have been staying at the lavish New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge. Griffin Kelly






Former Mayor Bill de Blasio and his wife have racked up $2.5 million in debt, but that isn’t stopping them from living large at a pricey, four-star Brooklyn hotel.
After leaving office four months ago, de Blasio and Chirlane McCray made a beeline from Gracie Mansion to the swanky New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge — where suites run from about $600 to $5,000 a night — and have been staying there ever since while their home in Park Slope, Brooklyn, undergoes renovations, according to hotel staffers and other sources.
The 667-room hotel — which features an indoor pool, fitness center with Pelotons, two restaurants and spectacular waterfront views — is owned by Muss Development, a Queens-based real estate giant whose owners have been longtime supporters of de Blasio.
The company is also one of the Big Apple’s top landlords who rent city agencies office space, having racked up at least $239 million in city contracts since 2014, when de Blasio became mayor, records show.
Lobby of hotelThe 667-room hotel offers some impressive amenities, including two restaurants. Helayne Seidman
De Blasio and McCray have been staying in one of the hotel’s more modest suites, which offers both a living room and bedroom. With a $600 rate on a recent Saturday night, a four-month stay could cost upwards of $72,000.
De Blasio and McCray certainly haven’t blended in with typical tourists and other hotel guests as their taxpayer-funded NYPD security detail is by their side at all times whenever they leave their room.
Perhaps to throw off the scent of a Post reporter tailing him, the notorious Yankees-hating, Boston Red Sox-loving de Blasio was seen in the lobby Thursday sporting a Pittsburgh Pirates cap.
De Blasio typically prefers taking the stairs and speed-walking to get around the hotel. He and his wife remain sticklers for pandemic protocols and usually wear masks in the hotel’s public areas unless they’re eating or drinking.
De Blasio’s drink of choice at the hotel’s bar are drafts of Fat Tire — a $9 Colorado amber ale. He seems to have a good rapport with hotel staff, many of whom address him as “sir.”
De Blasio at the Marriott Hotel in BrooklynThe former mayor and his wife are still wears masks around the hotel unless eating or drinking. Helayne Seidman Former NYC first lady Chirlane McCray in the lobby of the swanky New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge.Former NYC first lady Chirlane McCray in the lobby of the swanky New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge. Griffin Kelly/New York Post
However, one staffer said, “He’s too frugal, and that’s a nice way of putting it.”
When asked if hotel fees were waived or dramatically reduced for the former mayor, a de Blasio spokesman declined comment, and a spokeswoman for Muss Development insisted the hotel’s ownership “is not involved with specific guests’ accommodations.” The hotel’s management declined comment.
While de Blasio is eligible to collect a six-figure pension for his two decades of public service and also receives rental income on two Brooklyn homes he and his wife own, the Post reported last October that de Blasio had dug himself into a deep financial hole after taking out a second mortgage totaling $615,342 on one of the homes.
His $2.5 million in debt also includes $300,000 in legal bills run up five years ago by lawyers who defended de Blasio in a probe of his fundraising activities, and another $200,000-plus from long-dormant campaign accounts that owe money.
New York Marriott Brooklyn Bridge hotelThe owner of the New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge has been a longtime supporter of de Blasio. Griffin Kelly
De Blasio has also yet to reimburse taxpayers nearly $320,000 that the city’s Department of Investigation determined he owes for misusing his NYPD security detail while mayor.
Critics said de Blasio’s suite life wreaks of hypocrisy — especially since the progressive pol was elected in November 2013 after promising voters he’d put an end to the “income inequality” that created a “Tale of two Cities.”
“He’s a hypocrite living like a 1-percenter, and it raises plenty of red flags,” Councilman Robert Holden (D-Queens) said. “Who’s paying for this? Like most people, when I renovated my house, I did it piecemeal and lived in one room at a time. I certainly wouldn’t stay at a top-of-the-line hotel like the Brooklyn Marriott, especially if I’m in debt.”
Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-Staten Island), who lost the 2017 mayoral election to de Blasio, said the former mayor’s living arrangements raises questions of a possible “quid pro quo” considering Muss Development’s lucrative city contracts.
Exterior of the New York Marriott Brooklyn Bridge hotelDe Blasio has over $2 million in debt that also includes $300,000 in legal bills. Helayne Seidman
“For Bill de Blasio, it was always about himself and his cronies — not average New Yorkers,” she added.
While many of the city’s payments to Muss since 2014 have been made through deals cut before de Blasio took office, much was also amassed through deals made during his administration.
This includes agreements that brought Police Department personnel to Forest Hills Tower in Queens and Taxi and Limousine Commission staffers to other Muss-owned offices on Staten Island.
De Blasio has been a longtime friend of the city’s hotel industry, with hotels benefitting from de Blasio’s battle against Airbnb and other services that offer tourists short-term apartment rentals in violation of state law. The 40,000-member New York Hotel Trades Council was the only labor organization to endorse de Blasio’s failed 2020 presidential campaign.
 

Bill de Blasio eyeing run at newly drawn NY seat Jerrold Nadler has left behind​



By
Bernadette Hogan and

Sam Raskin


May 17, 2022 3:59pm
Updated





Former Mayor Bill de Blasio is planning to run for the newly drawn NY-10 congressional seat, according to a state lawmaker.
Former Mayor Bill de Blasio is planning to run for the newly drawn NY-10 congressional seat, according to a state lawmaker. zz/SBN/STAR MAX/IPx






Just when you thought he was out …
Ex-New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio told a state lawmaker he plans to run for New York’s newly drawn 10th Congressional district — the seat entrenched Rep. Jerrold Nadler is vacating to fight it out with former longtime ally Rep. Carolyn Maloney in the rejigged 12th.
De Blasio told state Assemblyman Simcha Eichenstein (D-Borough Park) Tuesday afternoon that “he is committed to running in the race.”
“He’s in, he’s running – he’s calling people,” said Eichenstein, telling The Post de Blasio had a list of donors and other elected officials to inform.
“Based on the conversation that I had with him earlier today, he is running for Congress in the new NY-10 congressional district.”
“He called me earlier this afternoon. While I will keep our conversation private, I will confirm that we spoke for over 20 minutes about his decision to run for this district.”
 Assemblyman Simcha Eichenstein said de Blasio told him that “he is committed to running in the race.”Assemblyman Simcha Eichenstein said de Blasio told him that “he is committed to running in the race.”Paul Martinka
De Blasio considered a run for the NY-11 district – before the state’s redistricting maps were thrown out the first time – but then dropped his bid in February before it started.
“These neighborhoods are not foreign to him. He’s been representing some of these neighborhoods since 2001, and whether it’s been perfect or not at all times, these relationships are long standing and run deep,” Eichenstein added of the new district.





“I’m not endorsing anyone today, let’s see how this race shapes up and who will ultimately be on the ballot.”


De Blasio, who has been living with his wife, Chirlane McCray, in a Brooklyn hotel since leaving office while they renovate their Park Slope home, did not immediately return a request for comment.


But another source told The Post that Pinny Ringel, who worked as de Blasio’s City Hall liaison to the Orthodox Jewish community, on Monday called a community leader in Brooklyn to gauge support for his boss and present a case in favor of his candidacy.


“He’s not going to get Orthodox support,” said the source. “The average Joe on the street believes de Blasio is the worst mayor ever.”


A draft plan for the newly drawn 10th district stretches from Lower Manhattan — including Tribeca, Greenwich Village, the East Village and the Lower East Side — into Brooklyn, including parts of DUMBO, Brooklyn Heights, de Blasio’s own Park Slope neighborhood, along with Prospect Heights, Windsor Terrace and Borough Park.


Boundaries for the new districts will be finalized on Friday.


The proposed district notably includes a very small percentage of black voters, who were de Blasio’s strongest supporters during his mayoralty, according to polls. The new district’s voting-age population is 8% black, 20% Asian, 37% Hispanic and 31% White.


Others who have voiced interest in running for the new seat include state Sen. Brad Hoylman (D-Manhattan) and state Assemblyman Robert Carroll (D-Park Slope).

Rep. Jerrold Nadler will be leaving the seat the run for the newly drawn 12th Congressional district. Rep. Jerrold Nadler will be leaving the seat to run for the newly drawn 12th Congressional District. AP Photo/Evan Vucci
This is not the first time de Blasio has eyed a political office since being elected mayor.


In 2020, he ran a failed presidential campaign when he fell short of capturing even 1% of voters’ support in national polls. De Blasio played hooky from City Hall duties during his short-lived bid, couldn’t attract more than 15 voters to a campaign event in a primary state, and received thousands of donations from those with business before the city.


Before leaving office at the end of 2021, de Blasio took steps toward launching a gubernatorial run, before announcing in January he had abandoned that idea too.


The 61-year-old Democrat recently wrote an opinion piece in The Atlantic, where he gave unsolicited advice to President Joe Biden about how to more effectively connect with everyday Americans – a feat he admitted that he failed to accomplish with New Yorkers.
 
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Bill de Blasio talks up mayoral record as he hits congressional campaign trail​



By
Zach Williams


May 25, 2022 9:30pm
Updated





Former Mayor Bill de Blasio
Former Mayor Bill de Blasio gloated on bringing "gender neutral bathrooms in city buildings," during a forum. Robert Miller





Former Mayor Bill de Blasio talked up his two terms in office in a Wednesday night candidate forum for a rare open seat in Congress representing the five boroughs.
“We broke the back of the forces that were holding back fairness and inclusion and equality,” the lefty stalwart told an audience at the event hosted by the LGBT Center on West 13th Street.
The progressive champion – who announced his campaign days ago – oversaw record homelessness and questionable progress on his signature cause of battling economic inequality across his controversial tenure while securing big policy wins through social programs like universal pre-kindergarten.
“Remember together what we did just in these last eight years. Remember what we achieved for trans rights, what we achieved with gender neutral birth certificates, we did that together in New York City, with gender neutral bathrooms in city buildings,” he bragged at the forum.
Rep. Mondaire Jones, D-N.Y., conducts a news conference outside the Capitol to reintroduce the Universal Child Care and Early Learning Act, on Tuesday, April 27, 2021.Rep. Mondaire Jones is also going for the open congressional seat.Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via AP
De Blasio is running in the June 28 primary to represent the newly redrawn 10th Congressional District straddling left-leaning parts of lower Manhattan, his home turf in Brownstone Brooklyn, and relatively conservative areas in Borough Park.
Rep. Mondaire Jones, Assemblywoman Yuh-Line Niou, Councilwoman Carlina Rivera are among other candidates vying for the open seat.
Republicans are expected to make big gains in the US House based on polling and historic trends though Democrats are hoping to hold their slim majority.





“I feel like we are getting just had this endless stream of analysis quote, unquote, analysis telling us just get used to the fact that we’re going to lose in November because of these historical patterns and all and I don’t buy it,” de Blasio said Wednesday night.
Jones, Niou, and Rivera leveraged their records in elected office while making their own case at the six-person forum that also featured former Rep. Elizabeth Holtzman and political newcomer Elizabeth Kim.
“On the ride here, I saw Candace Owens and a bunch of other people on Twitter, blaming and using this attack of this murder of mass murder of children and blaming Trans kids. You can’t make this stuff up. Our communities are under attack,” Niou said, referring to comments by the right-wing firebrand about a recent shooting at a Texas.
Rivera leaned on her love of animals to stick out among the competition.
“I have passed historic animal legislation in the Council but what some people might not know is that … I have a 16 year-old pug and I have a 30 year-old turtle,” she said at one point.
Jones currently represents a district north of the city, but opted to run for the 10th Congressional District after fellow Democratic Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney set off an inter-party war by announcing a run in a newly drawn, left-leaning district representing much of Jones’ current district.
“[Republicans] cannot be allowed to take back control of the House of Representatives,” Jones – one of the first gay, Black men elected to Congress in New York — told the crowd Wednesday night.
Jones added that his experience on the Hill would help him deliver the bacon to constituents if his party does lose control of the lower chamber this November.
“In the minority, you can still do some things. You can elevate issues … you can even bring money back to your district, he said.
Democrats ought to get ready for a long fight considering Republicans’ success in moving the U.S. Supreme Court toward the right in recent decades, according to Holtzman, a former city comptroller and Kings County district attorney.
“We have a Supreme Court that wants to take us backwards, that is dismantling the 14th amendment that wants to dismantle women’s rights, gun rights, voting rights. It’s a dangerous situation. So, I want to say, I’m still optimistic, and we can’t give up,” she said.
 

Bill de Blasio seen in Brooklyn sporting newly-brown hair​



By
Nolan Hicks,

Kyle Schnitzer and

Natalie O'Neill


October 23, 2022 5:43pm
Updated















Bill de Blasio has apparently been testing out changes to his image after earning the title of New York City’s worst mayor.
De Blasio was spotted in Brooklyn last week with a head of what seemed to be dyed-brown locks, sparking speculation that he was trying to reinvent himself post-congressional campaign or appear younger for his Harvard teaching gig.
The 61-year-old pol — who previously wore a slightly longer gray ‘do when he was in office — was seen leaving his Park Slope home with the closer-cropped dye job Friday afternoon.
He was spotted at Bar Toto, one of his family’s favorite local Italian joints, along the way.
A former staffer quipped to The Post that while de Blasio was in office, ”When it came to his hair, it wasn’t the color that was the problem, it was the mullet length.”
The source suggested that his old boss may have recently opted for darker hair to seem more hip at Harvard University.
The political has-been, who notoriously failed both his bid for president and Congress, began teaching as a fellow at Harvard this fall.
His courses at the School of Public Health and Institute of Politics focus on his time at the helm of the city during the COVID-19 pandemic and implementing universal pre-K.
Mayor de BlasioFormer Mayor Bill de Blasio was spotted in Brooklyn last week with brown hair.Paul Martinka Former New York Mayor Bill de BlasioThe 61-year-old politician was known for gray hair during his days in office.Stefan Jeremiah for New York Post
The teaching stint comes several months after de Blasio finished nearly last in congressional polling and proved unpopular even among progressive Democrats in his race for a local seat.
“If you hang out on a college campus, you’ve got to blend in more?’’ the ex-staffer suggested when asked about de Blasio’s brown ‘do.
Either way, “It’s very strange,’’ the former mayoral worker added.
Other ex-staffers weren’t sure why the former mayor had apparently taken a lesson from the school of hairdressing of one of his predecessors, Rudy Guiliani.
Former city Mayor Giuliani was famously caught on camera with brown hair dye running down his face during a press conference in 2020 about alleged election fraud.
Mayor de BlasioA former staff member of de Blasio’s says the hair color was never an issue, it was the length. Gregory P. Mango Former New York Mayor Bill de BlasioSome people speculate the hair change could be to his teaching gig at Harvard.Paul Martinka
“L.O.L.,” a former de Blasio staffer told The Post of his old boss’s recent apparent dye job. “I feel like the salt and pepper wasn’t a bad look for him, But Bill de Blasio is gonna do [Bill de Blasio].’’
Then Sunday morning, de Blasio’s locks were back to being more mousy gray at a Brooklyn street-renaming ceremony in honor of a local former educator.
During the event, the 6-foot-5 former mayor ended up scaling the side of a street pole with the new signage to reach the rope that would unveil it as Sarita Rein Way.
Bill de BlasioHe did not have luck with his bid for president and Congress.AP/Brittainy Newman
De Blasio took the initiative himself to balance on a small box at the base of the street sign to reach the rope that was taped too high for other attendees.
He looked happy to play the hero, smiling the whole time while dressed in a blue suit and green quarter-zip sweater.



He was the one who pulled the rope for the new sign to be unveiled.


When approached by The Post afterward, de Blasio only said, “Brother, I’m just going now. Can’t help you now, brother. I’m talking to a council member.”
 
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