Standing with his family in front of their Brooklyn home, Democrat Bill de Blasio announced today that he will run for Mayor of the City of New York, vowing to bring new leadership to City Hall that focuses on every neighborhood and community. De Blasio’s announcement will be followed on Monday by campaign events in all five boroughs.

“After nearly twelve years of Mayor Bloomberg’s policies, our City isn’t living up to its potential – not by a long shot. This mayor’s policies have been very good for some in our city. But so many middle-class New Yorkers have been ignored and priced out. They just yearn for a city of good schools and good jobs – and a leader in City Hall who knows that we only succeed if we leave no New Yorker behind,” said de Blasio.

“Let’s be honest about where we are today – a city that in too many ways has become a tale of two cities – a place where City Hall too often has catered to the interests of the elite rather than the needs of everyday New Yorkers. There are some who believe that Mayor Bloomberg’s policies from the past twelve years just need a few tweaks here and there, that his vision should continue more or less uninterrupted for the next four years. There are others who practice a politics of the moment, who are heroic in election years but are not engaged in the day to day fight to save our neighborhoods when their names aren’t on the ballot.”

“But I come to you today with a different point of view, a different set of guiding principles,” de Blasio continued. “I stand before you today as someone seeking to be a mayor for our neighborhoods – good, clean, strong, safe neighborhoods in which New Yorkers from all five boroughs can start businesses, raise their kids, and find homes they can afford.”

In announcing his candidacy, de Blasio called for:
• Making sure all New York City students receive a great public education
• Asking the wealthiest to help finance an expansion of early childhood education and after-school programs
• Leadership that focuses on creating jobs all five boroughs, not just Manhattan
• Cutting the bureaucracy and red-tape that hurts small businesses
• Fixing the NYPD’s broken stop-and-frisk policy

Elected New York City’s Public Advocate in 2009, Bill de Blasio helped stop thousands of teacher layoffs and save good neighborhood schools that Mayor Bloomberg tried to close. De Blasio helped protect firehouses that were on the budget chopping block, and fought for just compensation for brave First Responders who fell ill as a result of their heroic work in the days following 9/11. During his eight years on the City Council, de Blasio won new investments in early childhood education, and wrote landmark tenants’ rights legislation to protect affordable housing and end housing discrimination for everyday New Yorkers. De Blasio lives in Park Slope, Brooklyn, with his wife Chirlane McCray. De Blasio and Chirlane have two children, Chiara and Dante, both of whom have attended New York City public schools.

“Bill understands community from the perspective of a young boy growing up without a father,” McCray said of her husband. “He understands it from the perspective of a young professional, a new parent and now, the father of teenagers. He understands it as someone who has lived in and worked for neighborhoods large and small all across New York City.”

(YWN Desk – NYC)