With five days left before his inauguration as New York’s 109th mayor, Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio has appointed just three of the nearly 50 agency heads he’ll need to help run America’s biggest city, Newsday reports.

So far, de Blasio has announced picks to head three agencies: the Police Department, William J. Bratton; the Administration for Children’s Services, Gladys Carrión; and the Office of Management and Budget, Dean A. Fuleihan.

The Mayor-elect has also named three deputy mayors, a top lobbyist for the city and his chief of staff. His pace of pre-inauguration appointments matches John V. Lindsay in 1966. By the time they took the oath of office, Ed Koch had made about 17 major appointments; David Dinkins, about 20; Rudy Giuliani, about 29; and Bloomberg, about two dozen. News articles from the 1960s and 1970s say Abe Beame and Lindsay each had made dozens of appointments before their inaugurations.

The remaining vacancies include commissioners for fire, sanitation, law, housing, buildings, parks, transportation, jails and cultural affairs. Also, agency heads for health and mental hygiene, the Health and Hospitals Corp., the housing authority, housing preservation, homeless service, taxis and limousines, and emergency management.

“We expect more announcements in the days ahead. Regardless of the timing of individual appointments, we will ensure a smooth transition at all City agencies that delivers on Mayor-elect de Blasio’s promise of a diverse, competent and progressive government,” Mr. de Blasio’s transition spokesman Phil Walzak told Newsday.

Waking up to a new tomorrow may just be as late as Mayor-Elect de Blasio’s morning wake-up time.

(Jacob Kornbluh – YWN)