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Bill de Blasio: ‘a mayor for our neighborhoods’ – Metro US

Bill de Blasio: ‘a mayor for our neighborhoods’

Bill de Blasio officially announced his candidacy for mayor of New York City today in front of his home in Park Slope, Brooklyn, with his wife Chirlane and his son Dante at his side.

De Blasio took aim at current three-term mayor Michael Bloomberg, decrying that “after nearly 12 years of Mayor Bloomberg’s policies, our City isn’t living up to its potential,” and accusing the mayor of “cater[ing] to the interests of the elite.”

He made more veiled jabs at his competition, insinuating that they are either content to perpetuate a Bloombergian New York with “just a few tweaks,” or fair-weather candidates who “are heroic in election years but are not engaged in the day to day fight to save our neighborhoods.”

For his part, de Blasio pledged to increase business opportunities in all five boroughs, rather than solely in Manhattan, expand early education and after school programs, and tackle the NYPD’s stop-and-frisk policy.

De Blasio will be campaigning in all five boroughs on Monday.

Public Advocate Bill de Blasio

De Blasio recently used his position as Public Advocate to pressure the city’s pension funds to divest from holdings in gun manufacturing companies.

Last week, New York City Employees’ Retirement System, the fund for which he serves as a trustee, passed a unanimous resolution to “reconsider its investments in the makers of assault weapons,” including the “option” of divestment, according to the Public Advocate’s office.