Mayor de Nero: All’s well
Plays happy tune as he’s slammed by staff and NYPD
Hundreds of staffers are practically in a state of open revolt, a high-profile aide has quit in disgust and anger is boiling within the NYPD — but all is well, according to Mayor de Blasio.
“I respect the heartfelt views of the members of this team,” the mayor said at a Tuesday press conference. “I respect everyone’s choice if people don’t want to work in this administration.”
The comments came amid ongoing tumult within City Hall. On Monday, hundreds of current and former de Blasio staffers took the stunning step of publicly rallying to decry the mayor’s defense of aggressive policing during recent protests, among other grievances. Gathering at City Hall, the group accused de Blasio of failing to live up to the promises of reform that drew them to work for him.
“Do you know how crazy it is to work for this city and then explain to your community how you can work for a man who pimps out his family … to then have us vote for you?” said Ifeoma Ike, former executive director of the mayor’s Young Men’s Initiative.
One of the mayor’s senior aides, Alison Hirsh, quit out of anger with the mayor, Politico reported Tuesday. She left City Hall for the Education Department. It was the first exit of a high-ranking staffer since the demonstrations began, the report noted.
During the press conference, Hizzoner dismissed the suggestion that his administration is imploding as an “attempt at drama.”
“It’s just inaccurate,” he said, going on to praise Hirsh for caring “deeply about issues in education.”
On yet another front, there appears to be growing outrage within police ranks over the mayor’s move to reallocate funding from the NYPD to youth and social services, along with state lawmakers’ police reform bills.
“There’s been a message not only from our City Hall but from the statehouse that says there will be a soft touch, and the criminals know it,” Patrick Lynch, president of the Police Benevolent Association, said Tuesday at a press conference.
“For our legislators … to then demonize police officers as if we’re the problem, as if we broke the window, as if we cause the violence — that is absolutely outrageous,” he added.
De Blasio spent much of Monday trying to bat down rumors that Police Commissioner Dermot Shea was on his way out amid the tumult.
“We’re going to relentlessly change the city and this Police Department over the next 18 months and anyone who wants to be part of that mission, that’s where we’re going,” the mayor said.