14 The Courier sun • FEBRUARY 13, 2014 for breaking news visit www.couriersun.com politics de Blasio vows to end ‘Tale of Two Cities’ BY CRISTABELLE TUMOLA [email protected] In his first State of the City address, Mayor Bill de Blasio vowed to battle the inequality gap, with plans to raise the city’s minimum wage, provide more affordable Mayor’s appointments continue Mayor Bill de Blasio made the following appointments within the past week: Shola Olatoye: Chair, New York City Housing Authority Cecil House: General Manager, New York City Housing Authority Vicki Been: Commissioner, Department of Housing Preservation and Development Gary D. Rodney: President, Housing Development Corporation THE COURIER/Photo by Liam LaGuerre Carl Weisbrod: Chair, City Planning Commission, First Lady Chirlane McCray: Chair, The Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City Gabrielle Fialkoff: Senior Advisor to the Mayor; Director, Office of Strategic Partnerships Richard Briffault and Fernando Bohorquez, Jr. (nominees): Conflicts of Interest Board housing and further educational opportunities. Just a month after taking office, de Blasio laid out his ambitious agenda on Monday, February 10, during the speech at LaGuardia Community College in Long Island City. “The state of our city, as we find it today, is a Tale of Two Cities – with an inequality gap that fundamentally threatens our future,” he said, referencing his campaign slogan. The mayor said the school’s namesake, former Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, and the college in many ways, represented his own vision for the city. “LaGuardia Community College is a place where New Yorkers from all walks of life can find a path to a future, with a good job and a shot at a better life,” de Blasio said. Before detailing his plans to help close the income gap, he warned of the budgetary challenges the city is facing, with more than 150 unsettled municipal contracts. But he promised to “navigate towards a future that is progressive and fiscally responsible.” He also vowed, through a series of measures, to “lift the floor for all New Yorkers.” “New York will only work when it works as one city,” he said. After de Blasio announced legislation to extend paid sick leave last month, he said he would continue to help the middle class and poor by working with the City Council to increase the number of living wage jobs offered by employers that the city subsidizes. The city will also ask Albany to give it the power to raise its minimum wage, he said. In his address, de Blasio pledged to preserve or construct nearly 200,000 units of affordable housing, and said that a newly appointed team of leaders at the city’s housing agencies would release a plan to do so by May 1. He additionally offered a plan to “protect the city’s almost half-million undocumented New Yorkers,” that would entail issuing municipal ID cards to all New Yorkers this year, regardless of immigration status. The mayor also said his administration would focus on Sandy recovery efforts “with a comprehensive review and updated plan.” De Blasio’s speech, however, did not waiver much from his message of closing the income gap. He said education was a key to ending the “Tale of Two Cities,” from pre-kindergarten to higher learning. The mayor vowed to expand STEM and health care-oriented training programs in high schools and at CUNY, and set other goals to make sure more high-quality jobs in the five boroughs are filled by those educated in the city’s schools. He also made his case for his plan for universal, fullday pre-kindergarten that would tax the rich to pay for it. “We’re simply asking Albany to allow New York City to tax itself – its wealthiest residents ... those making a half-million or more a year,” de Blasio said.
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