‘DOPES’ TO HOPES
Sliwa is off and running
Curtis Sliwa ripped Mayor de Blasio and Gov. Cuomo, calling them “two dopes” who have run the Big Apple into the ground, as he officially launched his bid for Gracie Mansion on Monday.
Wearing his signature red beret and a gray suit, the Guardian Angels founder, 66, who is seeking the Republican nomination, vowed to put more NYPD officers on the streets to quell what he called “out-of-control” crime, if he’s elected.
“I can no longer stand in the shadow of these two dopes who, together, have driven New York City down to the point that, as the largest city of America, it’s got the slowest recovery from the pandemic,” Sliwa told a group of supporters outside Madison Square Garden, with giant cutouts of the mayor and governor’s heads with lines through them.
“We need more police. We need the police to get the guns and the gangs off the street.”
He took swipes at de Blasio and Cuomo over the recent overhauls to criminal justice policies in the city — including bail reform that has cut a slew of suspects loose and a $1 billion cut to the NYPD’s budget.
“Crime is completely out of control, and on this, the Ides of March, we can blame de Blasio, who has single-handedly been the worst mayor that has ever existed in our lifetime,” Sliwa said. “When it’s come to the police, he’s rendered them impotent.
“And not to give him a pass, Cuomo, who’s obviously on the ropes — I’m calling on every mayoral candidate, Democrat, Republican, independent, whomever to join me in solidarity to demand that Cuomo resign now,” Sliwa added, blaming Cuomo for the “no-bail bill.”
Sliwa is focusing his platform on boosting police, ending so-called “kill” animal shelters and providing more options for the mentally ill and homeless.
“In a Sliwa administration, these men and women are going to be cared for,” he said. “They’re not going to be seen all over the streets, in the subways or in the parks. They are our fellow brothers and sisters and they deserve that care.”
The Brooklyn-born activist founded the red-jacketed Guardian Angels 40 years ago to combat the crime-plagued city.
His group is still known to canvass the streets in response to crime.
Others vying for the job on the GOP ticket are financier Sara Tirschwell and Fernando Mateo, an advocate for taxi drivers and bodega owners.
Former WABC talk-radio host Sliwa has earned the backing of the Staten Island Republican Party and Brooklyn GOP, though Mateo has the support of the Queens, Bronx and Manhattan GOP committees.