Bill de Blasio Inaugurated As Mayor Of New York City Today Calls For Dramatic New Approach To Rebuild Communities From Neighborhoods Up - Sworn In By President Bill Clinton Who Endorses de Blasio Campaign Commitments

New York City has a new Mayor.

 Image from NYC Mayor's Office

Bill deBlasio was sworn in as Mayor earlier today by former President Bill Clinton. Prior to administering the oath of office to Mayor de Blasio, President Clinton said:

... I strongly endorse Bill de Blasio's core campaign commitment that we have to have a city of shared opportunities, shared prosperity, shared responsibilities, we are interdependent...

and:

... this inequality problem bedevils the entire county... it is not just a moral outrage, it is a horrible constraint on economic growth... we cannot go forward if we don't do it together...

Here's President Clinton's full remarks:



Mayor de Blasio said during his inaugural address:

... We recognize a city government’s first responsibilities: to keep our neighborhoods safe; to keep our streets clean; to ensure that those who live here – and those who visit – can get where they need to go in every boroughs. But we know that our mission reaches deeper. We are called to put an end to economic and social inequalities that threaten to unravel the city we love. And so today, we commit to a new progressive direction in New York. And that same progressive impulse has written our city’s history. It’s in our DNA....

... So let me be clear. When I said we would take dead aim at the Tale of Two Cities, I meant it. And we will do it. I will honor the faith and trust you have placed in me. And we will give life to the hope of so many in our city. We will succeed as One City. We know this won’t be easy; It will require all that we can muster. And it won’t be accomplished only by me; It will be accomplished by all of us — those of us here today, and millions of everyday New Yorkers in every corner of our city.

You must continue to make your voices heard. You must be at the center of this debate. And our work begins now.

We will expand the Paid Sick Leave law — because no one should be forced to lose a day’s pay, or even a week’s pay, simply because illness strikes. And by this time next year, fully 300,000 additional New Yorkers will be protected by that law. We won’t wait.

We’ll do it now. We will require big developers to build more affordable housing. We’ll fight to stem the tide of hospital closures. And we’ll expand community health centers into neighborhoods in need, so that New Yorkers see our city not as the exclusive domain of the One Percent, but a place where everyday people can afford to live, work, and raise a family. We won’t wait. We’ll do it now.

We will reform a broken stop-and-frisk policy, both to protect the dignity and rights of young men of color, and to give our brave police officers the partnership they need to continue their success in driving down crime. We won’t wait. We’ll do it now.

We will ask the very wealthy to pay a little more in taxes so that we can offer full-day universal pre-K and after-school programs for every middle school student. And when we say “a little more,” we can rightly emphasize the “little.”...

... we need a dramatic new approach — rebuilding our communities from the bottom-up, from the neighborhoods up. And just like before, the world will watch as we succeed. All along the way, we will remember what makes New York, New York.

A city that fights injustice and inequality — not just because it honors our values, but because it strengthens our people. A city of five boroughs — all created equal. Black, white, Latino, Asian, gay, straight, old, young, rich, middle class, and poor. A city that remembers our responsibility to each other — our common cause — is to leave no New Yorker behind....

Here's full video of Mayor de Blasio's oath of office and Inaugural address



and the text of his remarks.

Mayor de Blasio has been to Roosevelt Island several times speaking with residents including a fundraising event earlier this year prior to the Democratic Party primary and also in 2009

Bill deBlasio together with Jessica Lappin and Micah Kellner at 2009 Roosevelt Island gathering

when he was running for and winning the Office of Public Advocate.

Mayor de Blasio's first test is coming very soon. Let's see how he handles the snowstorm expected for later this week.

Good Luck Mr. Mayor