FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM SEPTEMBER 26, 2019 • THE QUEENS COURIER 25
De Blasio pulls out of presidential race
BY BILL PARRY
bparry@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Saying “It’s clearly not my time,” Mayor
Bill de Blasio pulled the plug on his quixotic
Courtesy of Mayor’s offi ce
Four months after he announced his campaign for president on Liberty Island, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced he is dropping out of the race.
Jackson Heights’ Gorman Playground to receive $4.6 million for renovations
BY MAX PARROTT
and look forward to having a scope meeting
mparrott@schnepsmedia.com
this fall,” said Queens Borough Parks
@QNS
Commissioner Michael Dockett.
Th e Parks Department also announced
Th e Parks Department announced a
that it will host a scoping hearing on the
$4.6 million renovation to the play area at
evening of Oct. 3 at the Lexington School
Gorman Playground in Jackson Heights
for the Deaf, where offi cials will collect
on Wednesday.
ideas from the community on what to
“Gorman Playground, like so many
include in the overhaul.
parks in our district, is a lynchpin of
Th e park was renamed aft er Denis P.
the Jackson Heights community,” said
Gorman shortly aft er his death in August
Councilman Costa Constantinides. “Th is
1963. Gorman, a Democratic District
will be a state-of-the-art playground that
Leader of Jackson Heights, helped bring
will serve Jackson Heights for generations.”
city-subsidized bus service to Jackson
Constantinides worked with City
Heights. In addition to originally constructing
Council Speaker Corey Johnson to secure
this playground, he also built 20
funding for the play area from the Fiscal
Year 2020 budget. Over the summer,
Johnson dubbed 2020 the “year of the
parks” aft er he set aside more money for
public parks in the budget than it had
included in nearly 30 years.
“We’re thrilled to announce funding to
revitalize this treasured community space
Little League baseball fi elds throughout
the city when he served as Chairman of
the Youth Activities Committee.
Constantinides and Commissioner
Dockett were joined by Giovanna Reid,
district manager of Community Board 3,
and the grandson of Denis Gorman who
was named aft er him. Photo courtesy of Councilman Costa Constantinides’ offi ce
bid for the 2020 Democratic presidential
primary race aft er failing to qualify
for the last debate and never seeing his
national poll numbers climb higher than
1 percent.
Th e 58-year-old mayor of America’s
largest city kicked off his long-shot campaign
on Liberty Island four months ago
but it never gained traction in a crowded
fi eld of 20 candidates.
“I feel I’ve contributed all I can to
this primary election,” de Blasio said on
MSNBC Friday. “So I’m going to end my
presidential campaign, continue my work
as mayor of New York City, and I’m going
to keep speaking up for working people
and for a Democratic Party that stands for
working people.”
He did not endorse any of the remaining
candidates, but said he would support
the eventual Democratic nominee energetically.
“We have a chance to get it right in
2020,” de Blasio said. “Whoever our nominee
is, let’s make sure we’re talking to the
hearts of the working people.”
Soon aft er he announced he was dropping
out, de Blasio was ridiculed in a
tweet from President Donald Trump, who
has mocked de Blasio’s campaign and
mayoralty.
“Oh no, really big political news, perhaps
the biggest story in years! Part time
Mayor of New York City, @BilldeBlasio,
who was polling at a solid ZERO but had
tremendous room for growth, has shocking
sic dropped out of the Presidential
race,” Trump said on Twitter. “NYC is
devastated, he’s coming home!”
Hizzoner had run his campaign based
on his accomplishments in running New
York City for the last six years.
“Yeah, look, I feel very good about
off ering a vision of change to this country,
largely based on what we did here
in New York,” de Blasio told “Th e Brian
Lehrer Show.” “And I have to tell you,
out there in states around the country,
there was a lot of appreciation for things
like Pre-K for All and, you know, guaranteeing
health care for folks who do
not have insurance and paid sick days
— a lot of things we’ve done here really
resonated with people I’ve talked to and
focusing on the changes we need going
forward.”
During a press conference at City Hall,
de Blasio said he had no regrets about his
failed White House run.
“I feel very good about the message,”
he said. “I feel that people want progressive
change. Th ey want to focus on working
people. Th e message resonated really
well.”
But too few people across the nation
were listening.
“We were watching the polling to see if
anything was moving, and it just wasn’t
moving,” he said.
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