Good morning and welcome to our first Wake-Up Call of 2014! We wish you a Happy New Year, and we promise you wall-to-wall coverage of the inauguration of our new mayor, Bill de Blasio…
Our Daily News team kicked off
with the New Year’s Eve swearing in of the new CEO outside his Park Slope home, where state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman administered the oath of office just after midnight.
De Blasio’s wife, Chirlane McCray, held the Bible as he was sworn in, and their teenage children, Dante and Chiara — who wore a pointed party hat to ring in the new year — stood at their side.
As our Jennifer Fermino, Mark Morales and Alfred Ng reported
, to cheers from the crowd — which included U.S. Ambassador to South Africa Patrick Gaspard and actor Steve Buscemi — de Blasio said he was “grateful” to serve.
But the main event is still to come: The formal inauguration at noon on the City Hall steps, with former President Bill Clinton presiding.
Here’s your play-by-play guide to the dawn of a new era in NYC politics:
His old boss former Mayor David Dinkins called the city a “gorgeous mosaic,” and Bill de Blasio is aiming to prove it Wednesday with an inauguration that
embraces a diverse mix of New Yorkers
,
. Stars such as “Sex and the City” actress Cynthia Nixon and singer Harry Belafonte — both early de Blasio supporters — will sit on the dais outside City Hall alongside dozens of ordinary city residents from all five boroughs.
has
a beautiful gallery of images
of preparations for the big event.
Maybe it was meant to be:
De Blasio was born right across the street from Gracie Mansion in the now-defunct Doctors Hospital. Here are
24 more things you didn’t know
about your incoming mayor.
Liberals nationwide are watching closely to see
if de Blasio can bring his populist agenda to life
in big-city primetime,
: “The elevation of an assertive, tax-the-rich liberal to the nation’s most prominent municipal office has fanned hopes that hot-button causes like universal prekindergarten and low-wage worker benefits — versions of which have been passed in smaller cities — could be aided by the imprimatur of being proved workable in New York.”
But dropping the hammer on high-earners
isn’t necessarily the answer
to the city’s problems, warned outgoing Mayor Bloomberg,
: “In the absence of an easy political solution, wealthy people, in Bloomberg’s words, become the ‘logical target.’ ‘We drove the money lenders out of the temple in Jesus’ day,’ he said. ‘This is a tried and true ways to get votes.'”
Also trumpeting the message that
Democrats control City Hall again
after 20 years on the outs is the presence of both Bill AND Hillary Clinton,
: “The Clintons did not endorse Mr. de Blasio in the hotly contested Democratic primary, but both of them endorsed him after he clinched his party’s nomination in September. Mrs. Clinton, who has not publicly said whether she will run for president in 2016, appeared as the headline guest at a fundraiser for Mr. de Blasio in October that generated more than $1 million for his campaign.”
Just after 5 on Tuesday,
Bloomberg walked out of City Hall for the last time as mayor
, cheered by hundreds of staffers who lined the plaza to send him off, along with his daughter Georgina, who just gave birth to his first grandson.
: “If I wasn’t happy today, I don’t know when I would be happy,” Bloomberg said.
Our Lindsay Meeks produced a short video of
Bloomberg’s departure
.
.
And here’s Bloomberg’s
farewell address,
with mini-Wolfsons in the background…
Speaking of departures, here’s
the “out” list of 2014 NYC
politics,
, which also includes e-cigarettes and carriage horse on its roster.
(Also out — for now:
A key portion of Gov. Cuomo’s new gun law
that made it illegal to load more than seven bullets in a magazine.
a Buffalo district judge on Tuesday ruled the limit arbitrary and not “substantially related” to the state’s interest in protecting public safety.)
: Cuomo granted the
first pardons of his administration
to three men who completed their sentences but were still living life dogged by their criminal records.
Key members of the Bloomberg Administration also
in office, though some of his appointees will be sticking around, including EDC chief Kyle Kimball — and de Blasio
says that’s not out of line
with his all-out “I’m Not Bloomberg” campaign,
.
And not every commissioner’s departure was met with a sigh: At 1 Police Plaza,
, about 50 protesters wearing party beads, blowing noisemakers and holding balloons reading
“Good Riddance Ray Kelly”
showed up for a rally.
Within a day of taking office, de Blasio could face the first test of his administration — a fast-moving storm that
might dump 10 inches of snow on the city
starting Thursday night. In a city that still remembers wondering “Where’s Mike?” during a crippling 2010 storm, the new mayor insisted Tuesday that he’s ready to stare down the blizzard,
.
Besides a new controller (Scott Stringer) and public advocate (Letitia James), New York is also greeting a raft of
new City Council members
, and they’re featured in a special Inauguration Edition of
.
Oh — and
a million people showed up
to see the ball drop in Times Square…
Click the pic for more.
From our Glenn Blain in Albany:
Gov. Cuomo had to cancel the traditional New Year’s Day open house at the Executive Mansion so he could attend today’s inauguration of Mayor de Blasio, but at least he’s getting a good seat. Cuomo is
slated to sit next to former President Bill Clinton
, who the governor views as a mentor. Cuomo administration officials do not expect the governor to make any official comments during the ceremony and insist it’s not unusual for a governor to attend the inauguration of a new city mayor. The governor has also said that the Executive Mansion open houses will resume next year. The governor, however, must first win re-election this year.
From our Joseph Straw in Washington:
The White House
claimed a small Obamacare victory
Tuesday with signups surpassing 2 million at year’s end. The figure falls short of the program’s New Year’s goal of 3.3 million and is a long way from the goal of 7 million signups by the end of March. But after a disastrous October launch of healthcare.gov — the website for people in the 36 states without their own marketplaces — December’s 1.6 million enrollments were four times the previous two months’ total. All 2.1 million who signed up by Dec. 24 will be covered Wednesday, with most new policy holders’ first premiums due Jan. 10.
From our Bramhall’s World:
Leaders’ Lineup:
President Obama
is in Hawaii.
Gov. Cuomo and former Mayor Mike Bloomberg
12:00 PM: Attend Inauguration of Mayor de Blasio
Tuning In:
AM 970, 6 a.m.: Best of 2013.
WNYC 93.9 FM, 10 a.m.: “Three Questions About Michael Bloomberg” (Re-Air); live inauguration coverage.
NY1 News, 7 pm: Controller Scott Stringer and Public Advocate Letitia James.
It was a hell (sometimes literally) of a year, folks… Thanks for sticking with us in 2013. We promise to be bigger and better in 2014, but for now, one final rear-view mirror look at what we’ve been through together as a city, state, nation, and world…
News tips, schedules or suggestions? Email us — and follow @DNDailyPolitics, @CelesteKatzNYC and our NYDN political team on Twitter!
