De Blasio Renews Progressive Pledge at Second Inauguration

New York City’s top elected officials kicked off their second terms — and the New Year — with a bitter cold inaugural ceremony on the steps of City Hall on Monday.

Despite temperatures that hovered in the teens, 950 people, including several hundred members of the public,  attended the scaled-down ceremony. Nearly five times that number attended the event four years ago as the city ushered in Mayor Bill de Blasio for his first term.

De Blasio is the first Democrat to be re-elected to City Hall since Mayor Ed Koch in 1985.

This second inauguration featured the standard-bearer for the left-wing of the Democratic party: United States Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. The Brooklyn native was there to administer the oath of office to the mayor, but first weighed in on the weather.

"By Vermont standards, this is a warm and pleasant afternoon," quipped Sanders, an independent who made an unsuccessful bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016.

He also praised de Blasio's work on providing pre-kindergarten and addressing the crises of affordable housing and opioid abuse.

"In this city, the largest city in our country, the people of New York under Bill de Blasio have chosen to move government in a very different direction than what we're seeing in Washington," Sanders said. "Instead of pandering to billionaires, we have a government here which has chosen to listen to the needs of working families."

Other high-profile guests in attendance included U.S. Senator Charles Schumer, Congressman Jerry Nadler, State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli and former Mayor David Dinkins.

Neither President Bill Clinton, who administered the oath four years ago, nor former Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton attended the event. Governor Andrew Cuomo, whose tense relationship with the mayor is often the subject of scrutiny, was on Long Island for the inauguration of the new Nassau County Executive, Laura Curran.

In remarks he compressed for the cold, de Blasio cited the city’s record-low crime statistics, including the lowest number of annual homicides since the early 1950s. The city was on pace in mid-December to record fewer than 300 homicides, a 14 percent drop from the year before.

"We have brought police and community together like never before," de Blasio said. "We have dedicated ourselves to a vision of true neighborhood policing and it works."

De Blasio also reaffirmed his progressive pledge to ensure the city serves more than the elite and Wall Street titans. He vowed to continue fighting for affordability, for more good paying jobs and to keep the city a place that belonged to everyone.

"The deepest, truest stakeholders of this town are the people who do the work, who every day make this city come to life but have too often not reaped the rewards," he said. "We have a responsibility, every one of us, to ensure that New York remains a beacon to our nation and to our world."

Also sworn-in for second terms were fellow Democrats, Public Advocate Letitia James and Comptroller Scott Stringer.

Rohan Moncrieffe, 51, from Cambria Heights in Queens was among the several hundred members of the public who attended the ceremony. He said he wanted to hear directly from the officials he helped elect — and he said he was pleased with the optimism in their remarks.

"Regardless of the situation that's going on in the country, and the world right now, I'm pretty much optimistic," Moncrieffe said after the ceremony.

Newly-elected City Council member Justin Brannan of Brooklyn said he thought the message from all the speakers was clear.

"We gotta take care of our own in New York City, while the rest of the world is going crazy," said Brannan, "we gotta take care of our neighborhoods and boroughs and make sure we’re leading the way."

With reporting from The Associated Press