Revealed: Bloomberg’s Secret Plot To Crystallize His Legacy

And like the former mayor, the First Lady will forgo a salary:

New York City’s new First Lady, Chirlane McCray, will not receive a salary for her work at City Hall, the mayor’s office said this evening.

However, her new chief of staff, former Al Sharpton aide Rachel Noerdlinger, will make $170,000 a year. She will be based in the Office of the Mayor, and will be paid as a City Hall employee, the office said.

But as they say, sometimes doing the right thing is not always the popular thing:

Speaking with reporters on Monday, Mr. de Blasio was visibly irked when asked about a poll showing two-thirds of New Yorkers preferred that the mayor’s spouse play little or no policy-making role in City Hall.

I Have A Giant Dick, And I Intend To Swing It

Setting aside the idea of a election in which only 24 percent of eligible voters participated being somehow “consequential,” it’s never smart to gloat and yet here is Letitia James, continuing to gloat alongside a mayor whose term is starting to look like it will be four years of political rallies:

In stagecraft and in substance, the announcement amounted to a direct jab from the city’s ascendant liberal leaders at the business-friendly, centrist politicians they have supplanted, who blocked action on a sick-leave measure for years, arguing its requirements would be financially onerous.

“Politics matter, and elections have consequences,” said Letitia James, the city’s new public advocate, in a pointed declaration that earned a broad smile from Mr. de Blasio and loud cheers on a mobbed sidewalk outside a Brooklyn restaurant, where officials introduced the measure.

The event, organized by the mayor’s office, was more like a raucous political rally than a formal news conference. Mr. de Blasio stood before a campaign-style banner featuring the slogan “One New York,” a play on his ubiquitous “tale of two cities” theme. Through loudspeakers, union officials and liberal activists chanted “Si, se puede!” as the mayor, at the lectern, conducted with a wave of his index finger.

Public Advocate Mayors Have Priorities

Organize the grassroots and stage press conferences first, staff city agencies later:

Newly-minted Mayor Bill de Blasio this morning began the next phase of his push to raise taxes to fund universal pre-K, unleashing a “grassroots and online campaign” dubbed “UPKNYC” to build momentum for and pressure lawmakers in Albany to pass his signature campaign proposal.

“Hundreds of UPKNYC activists are at subway stops in all five boroughs this morning, handing out literature and signing up supporters, while dozens of organizations emailed hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers, urging them to join the campaign,” according to a press release sent out this morning. In addition, activists will be “talking to New Yorkers at their doors, at house parties and at town halls throughout the City.” Later they plan to lobby lawmakers directly.

The Man Who Would Be The Shining Lodestar For A New Progressive Era In This Country . . .

. . . if only he could get to his press conferences on time and avoid pissing off the reporters who cover him:

Some reporters say they are even wistful for chilly Michael Bloomberg, who, though openly contemptuous of the press, was more or less respectful of schedules and deadlines.

“There are no press conferences that start even 10 minutes late,” said one City Hall reporter, who, like most journalists interviewed for this story, would only speak on background. “The resentment is starting to show. This wouldn’t happen with Bloomberg in a hundred-million years.” [. . .]

Another political reporter said the mayor’s disregard for scheduling “affects deadlines and meetings. He’s up to an hour late, which makes it hard when you have to work within the constraints of a deadline.”

Though Mr. de Blasio rode into office as a man of the people, apparently, they do not include the (mostly) 99-percenters known as journalists.

Or, A Tremendous Cost-Saving Initiative

This despite the fact that most of the city has known since early September who the mayor would be:

Despite a flurry of hires in the days before he took office — which seemed to quell public criticism — Mr. de Blasio hasn’t named a single new appointment since last Tuesday, when he rolled out his press team, leaving a long list of agencies without permanent leaders, including the New York City Housing Authority, responsible for housing more than 400,000 residents, the Department of Buildings, which oversees building inspections at nearly 1 million properties, and the Department of Correction, which oversees the city’s jails — marking the slowest roll out in modern mayoral history.

Then again, perhaps there’s an operational disconnect in what constitutes a progressive Department of Buildings Commissioner, or the head of the Department of Citywide Administrative Services:

A transition committee for Mr. de Blasio recently considered candidates to run a meat-and-potatoes city agency, the sort to which most New Yorkers give little thought unless its services fail.

Which qualifications, the chairman asked, do we desire? “A progressive,” a committee member offered. A progressive, another chirped. Nods and assents. A progressive, definitely.