Mayor Bill de Blasio’s visits for the nightly 7 p.m. applause for healthcare workers included an April 16th visit to Coney Island Hospital. Accompanied by his wife Chirlane McCray, de Blasio’s visit also marked the kickoff of a citywide program to provide healthcare workers with shelf-stable food, home cleaning products and personal care products. Sponsored by Debra and Leon Black, Aramark, the Robin Hood Foundation and the Red Cross, the program is intended to provide some personal support and ease shopping burdens on overwhelmed healthcare workers.
In a daily yet still remarkable scene several dozen FDNY firefighters and EMS staff, whose profession is also focused on lifesaving and aiding those in distress, applauded departing hospital staff.
The 21st St. Pat’s For All parade marched up Skillman Avenue, drawing thousands of participants and spectators on a sunny March Sunday. The St. Pat’s For All parade was founded by Brendan Fay in response to the long exclusion of LGBTQ groups from the large Manhattan parade. That exclusion ended in 2016 but the St. Pat’s For All parade continues as a vibrant Irish celebration drawing enthusiastic involvement from the LGBTQ community and the Jackson Heights and Woodside neighborhoods that host the parade.
Mayor Bill de Blasio enlisted rock star Billy Idol in the City’s effort at reducing motor vehicle idling, with Idol joining the mayor for a City Hall Plaza rally and press conference featuring the tag line “Billy Never Idles.”
Our focus is on New York politics, both city and state, but the gallery includes other shots of New York. Among the campaigns we’ve covered are the 2013 and 2017 mayoral races, the 2014 and 2018 gubernatorial races, congressional primaries in 2014, 2016 and 2018, the 2016 New Hampshire Republican presidential primary and the 2019 public advocate special election. NYTrue.com began in late 2012, with mostly video and little photography in 2012 and 2013, so this is a somewhat truncated decade retrospective that covers 2014-2019.
Special Bonus – Unabridged Gallery:
For those of you who really love New York politics we have an expanded decade retrospective gallery with lots of great shots that didn’t make it into the decade highlight gallery. Take a look, and a walk down memory lane, here.
We’ve included a few 2013 iPhone shots in a brief addendum at the end of the expanded gallery.
Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a new plan to “end long-term street homelessness in New York City over the next five years” with a presentation and press conference at Judson Memorial Church in Greenwich Village. de Blasio was joined by more than a dozen religious and civic leaders, including Archbishop of New York Timothy Cardinal Dolan, the Rev. Al Sharpton, pastor of the Christian Cultural Center Rev. A.R. Bernard, Rabbi Joseph Potasnik, Imam Dr. Tahir Kukaj of the Albanian Islamic Cultural Center, Jewish Community Relations Council executive director Michael Miller, Catholic Charities executive director Monsignor Kevin Sullivan and the Rev. Que English.
Mayor de Blasio was also joined by Deputy Mayor Raul Perea-Henze and Department of Social Services Commissioner Steven Banks. After a presentation which included remarks by Rev. Sharpton, Rabbi Potasnik, Rev. Bernard and Cardinal Dolan, the Mayor held a lengthy press conference.
The annual commemoration of the crash of American Airlines Flight #587 was held Tuesday in Rockaway, with mourners gathering for a ceremony centered around a bell ringing and minute of silence marking the exact moment of the crash followed by a reading of the names of the 265 victims. The flight was headed from JFK to the Dominican Republic and the passengers were predominantly Dominican and Dominican-American. Five of the victims were Rockaway residents killed by the falling aircraft.
The cold wet windswept morning brought an added dose of misery to the attendees remembering the lost, with the temperature falling through the 40’s as a light rain fell. There were fewer attendees than recent years, due perhaps to both the weather and the gradual fading that passing years brings, but the memorial remains a deeply sad annual moment in the City’s civic life, resurfacing the attendees’ grief as they gather to focus on their lost family and friends and recall the shock of tragedy as the City struggled to recover from the September 11th attacks that had just occurred.
Like countless previous New York parades the 2019 Veterans Day Parade featured many New York elected officials, including Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio. In a first, however, it also included an adjacent appearance by the U.S. president, as President Donald Trump spoke at the pre-parade ceremony in Madison Square Park. Trump departed immediately after the pre-parade ceremony, however, and did not attend or march in the parade. Mayor de Blasio attended the pre-parade ceremony, but Gov. Cuomo did not.
The 2019 Columbus Day Parade featured plenty of marching politicians, including Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio. Cuomo and de Blasio proudly display their Italian heritage and are regulars at the parade celebrating that heritage, but they continued their parade practice of studiously avoiding one another.
Tens of thousands of marchers filled lower Broadway Friday, demanding action to fight climate change. The marchers were predominantly young, with students taking advantage of the City’s grant of permission to skip school for the march.
No elected officials were at the head of the march. Mayor Bill de Blasio, fresh off his morning announcement that he’s ended his presidential campaign, marched with his wife Chirlane McCray about 5 minutes behind the lead marchers. It appeared to be a welcome transition for the mayor, making a local appearance after months of criticism for his campaign related absences, but like his campaign focused on a national issue. At the end of the route de Blasio and McCray headed off to the subway, joined by a group of staffers for part of the ride. After passing City Hall it was just the mayor, his wife, one staffer and one press photographer for a relaxed mid-afternoon ride to the Upper East Side.
Mayor Bill de Blasio marked the first day of school with a five stop round of school visits Thursday, with his final stop at East Harlem’s PS 146. He was joined for part of his 45 minute visit by Chancellor Richard Carranza. Student reactions ranged from complete excitement to indifference but parents and faculty/staff/administrators reactions appeared quite positive, with many wanting photos with the mayor. There were not any discernible negative reactions from the assemble parents or faculty/staff/administrators.
New York City celebrated the U.S. Women’s National Team World Cup victory with a ticker tape parade up Broadway and a ceremony in front of City Hall. Mayor Bill de Blasio and his wife Chirlane McCray hosted the ceremony, with TV personality Robin Roberts joining them as the MC. Several thousand adoring fans welcomed the team for the hour long ceremony, varying between roaring their approval and chanting “equal pay.”
Many city and state legislators were in the audience, but Mayor Bill de Blasio, Council Speaker Corey Johnson and NYS Senate Temporary President/Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins were the only elected officials on stage. Governor Andrew Cuomo rode on a float in the preceding ticker tape parade but did not attend the City Hall ceremony.
Photo Gallery:
Our full photo gallery from the City Hall ceremony is available here.
Council Member Joe Borelli held a City Hall press conference Tuesday calling for Mayor Bill de Blasio to resign. Borelli, a Staten Island Republican, was joined by Nick Langworthy, the incoming chairman of the NYS Republican Party. They framed their resignation demand as primarily driven by de Blasio’s presidential campaign distracting him from fully discharging his mayoral duties, but also referenced a variety of what they view as policy failures during de Blasio’s term.