Adios, Michael Bloomberg. There is a new Mayor in town and his name is Bill De Blasio.
In a victory that was inevitable to many New Yorkers, Public Advocate Bill De Blasio trounced his Republican opponent, former MTA chairman Joe Lhota, to become New York City`s 109th mayor.
Mr. De Blasio`s election marks the first time that a democrat will take control of City Hall since 1989.
The mayor-elect`s victory, according to many political commentators, will usher in a new era of liberalism in New York City; a major change from the more conservative route the city has taken in the last two decades.
Student Jasline Rodriguez says, “To be honest, I have not followed the race. However, from what I have been hearing, people have said good things about Bill De Blasio.”
“It doesn’t really matter that De Blasio won,” says senior Eliza Eckstein. College students are screwed anyways.”
Sophomore Joel Sati says, “I am new to New York, having only lived here for 5 months or thereabouts. What I will say is that I hope he fares well; New York is an incredibly difficult city to take in, I’m sure it’s even more difficult to run. I moved to New York because of the incomparable opportunity the city offers. I can only hope Bill De Blasio does his part to protect that.”
“I believe that Bill De Blasio will stand up for every New Yorker no matter their status and provide them with what they need the most, says student Alicia Lyons. “As a soon to be graduate, I only want a brighter future and voting for him made the most sense.”
When he is sworn in on January 1st, De Blasio will have a lot of issues to deal with. Among those will be managing 300,000 city government employees, negotiating labor contracts, managing a $70 billion budget, and overhauling many city agencies such as the NYPD.