Hizzoner slows down Stats show he’s working significantly less as years roll by
Bill de Blasio makes short work of his job running the biggest city in America.
The mayor is working significantly less than he once did — logging nearly a third fewer hours in the first eight months of last year compared with the same time period his first year in office.
De Blasio worked the equivalent of just 121 traditional eighthour shifts during the 243 days between January and August last year, according to a Daily News analysis of his schedules.
That’s a 32% decrease from the 178 eight-hour days he clocked between January and August 2014.
At the same time, the typical length of de Blasio’s workday also dipped by about 32%, The News found.
During his first eight months in office, the mayor worked just under 5.9 hours on average a day. De Blasio’s worked an average of about four hours a day between January and August of last year.
The mayor’s average workday was even less during the first 3½ months of his ill-fated presidential campaign. He worked on city business for an average of just 2 hours and 20 minutes a day last year between mid-May and the end of August.
“The numbers reveal the declining productivity of a lame duck,” said City Councilman Ritchie Torres (D-Bronx), chairman of the Oversight and Investigations Committee. “The mayor’s extracurricular activities in Iowa derailed what could have been a productive second term.”
De Blasio’s laid-back approach to his job is no secret — he’s been known to nap in his office and devotes mornings to leisurely gym trips — but The News’ analysis is the first accounting of how the mayor’s work schedule has changed since he first took office in January 2014.
The data also confirm what some de Blasio critics have feared since the mayor became increasingly interested in bolstering his image as a national progressive figure by traveling across the country and eventually setting his wandering eye on the White House: that he’s less focused than he used to be on the five boroughs.
“You can’t govern like this and act surprised by the state Legislature not treating you as a tour de force,” Councilman Joseph Borelli (R-S.I.) said. “How does an average joe have confidence that their government is working for them after hearing these stats?”
Leaving the city more often, the mayor now favors phone calls over sitdown meetings.
He had about 337 calls on the books between January and August 2014, compared with roughly 650 during the corresponding months last year, when de Blasio (inset) had to work remotely while on the road before and after entering the 2020 presidential race.
De Blasio scheduled some 923 inperson meetings his first eight months in office — and just 350 during the corresponding period last year. These days, the mayor usually begins work by making phone calls from his car, typically starting after 10 a.m. He also frequently works from home at Gracie Mansion, and when he does come into the office, he often arrives at City Hall about 11 a.m.
Back in 2014, de Blasio would hold regular meetings with senior staff about 8:30 a.m. at City Hall. But his last early-morning senior staff meeting was on May 27, 2014.
The News analyzed 2,714 pages of the mayor’s schedules between January 2014 and August 2019, the most recent available.
They show de Blasio also worked 7% less in 2018 than he did his first year in office. He was on the job the equivalent of 235 eight-hour workdays in 2014 and about 219 in 2018, The News found.
“New Yorkers care about what you’re doing for them, and last year we did a lot,” de Blasio spokeswoman Freddi Goldstein said.
“From implementing guaranteed health care to taking major steps to close Rikers Island, we accomplished things people never thought possible, and we look forward to doing even more for New Yorkers this year.”