ALBANY, N.Y. — With two days left to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s fourth State of the State address, a number of prominent members of the good government community are nervous that the governor is unwilling to expend the political capital needed to pressure the Legislature into meaningful and comprehensive reform of the state’s campaign finance system.

A number of sources who have discussed possible initiatives with the Cuomo administration over the past few weeks say multiple approaches have been floated — none of which struck them as comprehensive or daring. “It is fair to say we haven’t heard the kind of detailed proposal that would accomplish the reforms we are seeking,” said one source.

“They have been all over the place,” said another.

Good government groups held a news conference on Monday calling on Cuomo to take action on the findings of his anti-corruption commission that called for public financing of campaigns and lay out a plan to tackle the lack of enforcement of campaign finance laws at the State Board of Elections.

Unfortunately, the event was overshadowed by Cuomo’s own simultaneous news conference, where he touted headline-grabbing tax initiatives that will be further detailed in his address on Wednesday.

Only a few months ago it seemed unlikely — if not unthinkable — that addressing Albany corruption would not be a major feature of Cuomo’s address but the governor’s election-year speech so far seems to be focused on election year bread-and-butter issues like taxes and education.

Cuomo’s Moreland Commission released its preliminary report in December, finding that Albany’s campaign finance system has made it easy for big spenders to influence policy, while the state’s bi-partisan Board of Elections has done little to enforce the state’s meager elections rules. The Moreland Commission hosted a hearing where members savaged BOE chairs with reports of their incompetence or a lack of will on their part to enforce the law. The commission cited the stories of one BOE investigator who pleaded for work but instead of doing any spent his days playing solitaire on his computer; and of another who was told she was too enthusiastic about her job and let go.

Despite all the evidence the Cuomo-enacted Commission found, a number of Albany observers say that the political realities of an election year mean that it won’t be easy for Cuomo to lash into the Legislature, or the BOE the Legislature wants to protect, in his State of the State if he wants their cooperation on his other major policy pieces.

The commission and members of team Cuomo have publicly clashed with the Legislature over the Moreland Commission’s subpoenas. Both houses of the Legislature are also involved in lawsuits seeking to quash Moreland’s inquiries. Creating more ill will could make cutting deals with the Legislature harder than it already is.

However, a number of good government advocates note that Cuomo is known for keeping major surprises up his sleeve for the State of the State.

After pushing their news conference back a number of times, Barbara Bartoletti of the League of Women Voters and Blair Horner and Bill Mahoney of The New York Public Interest Research Group went ahead and spoke to the few reporters who weren’t at the Cuomo presser. Their report found that the State Board of Election has failed to regulate the spending of candidates who use businesses they own to provide services to their campaigns. “The Board of Elections is simply not up to the task of enforcing the law,” said Horner.

What would advocates be happy hearing in the State of the State? Horner said he isn’t exactly picky on the details — what he is looking for is commitment from Cuomo to get major reform through this year.

 “A win for us would be the governor using a kind of rhetoric we haven’t heard from him before where he says this legislative session won’t be a success unless we implement major reforms in Albany instead of just saying, as he has, ‘I continue to support public financing of campaigns,’ said Horner. “Secondly, come budget time, we want to see him use appropriations and spend political capital to get concessions from lawmakers on reform. If he doesn’t do this we can pretty much see that he wasn’t serious.”

Meanwhile, good government advocates have taken notice of the departure of long-time Cuomo advisor Jeremy Creelan, a noted government expert and one-time reform advocate. Creeland was Cuomo’s go-to-guy on good government and reform issues. His relationship with the good government community was unmatched. His departure had been rumored for months but that doesn’t mean it had any less impact.

“Creelan commanded the governor’s attention like no plain old counsel could,” said a source familiar with Creelan’s work. “This could be a canary in the coal mine [as far as Cuomo’s commitment to reform]. We will see on Wednesday.”

NEW YORK — Mayor Bill de Blasio celebrated the six newest members of his administration on Monday, including those responsible for promoting his administration's policy agenda in Albany and Washington D.C.

Flanked by his newest staffers at City Hall, de Blasio announced he was naming the six additions as the latest to join his “effective, progressive and diverse” administration. The new mayor emphasized the need to work with both federal and state authorities to come through with his campaign promises on a number of issues, including education, housing and transportation.

“Everyone knows in this room,” de Blasio said,” so much of what we’re trying to achieve involves Albany.”

De Blasio will turn to Sherif Soliman as his new state legislative affairs director to help do that. Most recently employed by the New York City Employees’ Retirement System pension fund, Soliman also worked with former Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s legislative affairs office as an assistant legislative representative.

Hours after de Blasio recommitted to his campaign’s plan to push for universal pre-kindergarten paid for by a tax hike on the city’s wealthiest, Soliman repeated the plan as one of his own top priorities.

Soliman also promised to look into the issue of home rule, which allows municipalities some self-governance of policy in areas typically handled by the state.

“Whether it’s the impact of the state budget on city services or legislation affecting vital programs, the state’s imprint is felt across the city,” Soliman said, adding that the relationship between the city and state should be strong but also allow New York City to make its decisions on issues such as rent laws and speed cameras.

While Soliman tackles Albany, de Blasio picked former Congressional staffer Max Sevilla as his chief of federal legislative affairs. De Blasio joked that the only thing tougher than dealing with Albany is dealing with D.C., which he said was caught in an “extremely complicated” situation.

“The federal government should be supporting our city and many others,” de Blasio said, calling cities the economic engines for the nation. “We need help when it comes to mass transit. We need help when it comes to education. We need help when it comes to public housing and affordable housing, and we’ve gotten used to our plea for help being ignored.”

Taking a page from his predecessor, de Blasio also said that he would continue Bloomberg’s work on Superstorm Sandy recovery and gun control with Sevilla playing a key role on the issues.

De Blasio also appointed longtime ally Peter Ragone as a senior adviser. Ragone, like the mayor, previously worked at the Department of Housing and Urban Development under then-Secretary Andrew Cuomo; he most recently served as press secretary to San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom.

Bill Chong, formerly the deputy commissioner of the Department for the Aging under Bloomberg, will be in charge of the de Blasio administration’s Department of Youth and Community Development, where he has also worked as deputy commissioner in the last administration.

De Blasio towered over Mindy Tarlow, who he named as director of operations and will oversee the mayor’s day-to-day performance of the city’s various agencies. Tarlow comes to the administration after heading up the Center for Employment Opportunities.

The administration’s Community Affairs Unit will be headed up by Marco Carrión. A former staffer under Gov. David Paterson and aide to state Sen. Gustavo Rivera, Carrión also served as political director for the Central Labor Council.

Surrounded by business leaders, Gov. Andrew Cuomo touted on Monday what he referred to as a $2 billion tax relief plan that includes a property tax freeze, the elimination of corporate taxes for upstate New York manufacturers and a renter's credit. At the same time, Mayor Bill de Blasio was holding his own news conference down in New York City calling on Albany to raise taxes on the wealthy in order to fund his plan for universal pre-kindergarten.

Strategic leaks from the Cuomo administration over the weekend revealed that Cuomo is set to reveal a plan in his fourth State of the State address that could head off de Blasio's push by providing state funding for universal pre-k across the state.

De Blasio told reporters that he had not spoken to Cuomo about the plan that is likely to be revealed as part of Cuomo's speech on Wednesday.

What had been leaked so far of Cuomo's plans seems to indicate the governor is attempting an election-year balancing act where he touts his conservative bonafides to upstate New York while heading off the growing city-based progressive movement with changes to his stance on medical marijuana and his pre-k plan.

Cuomo will also have to find a way to address legislative corruption in his State of the State address while maintaining relationships with the Legislature and convincing voters that corruption in Albany has improved under his watch.

NEW YORK — Mayor Bill de Blasio and his family are moving into Gracie Mansion, and they’re inviting a lucky group of ticket-holding New Yorkers into their new home to meet them on Sunday. The de Blasios will be the first family in at least 12 years to live there; the new mayor’s  billionaire predecessor famously chose to forego living there, deciding to stay at his similarly luxurious mansion in the same neighborhood on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.  

So how will the de Blasios — wife Chirlane, college-age daughter Chiara and teenage son Dante — balance their public and private lives at Gracie?

When he heard back in December that the de Blasios would be living at Gracie (after weighing “logistical and security concerns”), Steve Levine sought to answer that question by looking at what it was like for previous occupants.

Levine is a researcher and educator at the LaGuardia and Wagner Archives, housed at the LaGuardia Community College, and which serves as a repository for historical documents relating to the city’s mayoral administrations. Among the artifacts that have been collected there are an oversized gold boxing gloved signed by Muhammad Ali to Mayor Abe Beame; a World War I rifle possibly owned by Fiorello LaGuardia; and thousands of documents and photographs from the Koch administration.

Levine was particularly interested in how Mayor Robert Wagner and his family —his wife and two young sons Duncan and Bobby — had experienced living at “the people’s house” from 1954 to 1965. “Wagner portrayed it like a hallmark card,” said Richard K. Lieberman, the director of the archives.  The family even posed for Christmas portraits at the mansion.

But there were challenges, from the trifling to the more serious.

In a speech delivered to a dinner of the Committee for Gracie Mansion, Inc., in 1965, Mayor Wagner described visitors “walking in on our sitting room and even our bedroom” and that his son, Bobby, had put a “do not touch” sign on his electric train. The train survived, “but Bobby’s silver baby cup disappeared from a bathroom shelf, along with numberless ash trays, place mats, photographs and mementos of every kind, including, of course, the bathroom soap.”

“We can only hope that Dante’s and Chiara’s personal possessions will remain safe and no one will ever have to dress in their closet as Susan Wagner, the mayor’s wife, had to do on a number of occasions when tourists arrived in her bedroom,” quipped  Levine, in an email message.

If all that wasn’t enough, well-known New Yorker writer Philip Hamburger was living in an apartment on East End Avenue nearby, leading Wagner’s wife Susan to fear that their lifestyle would be scrutinized unfairly. Instead, according to Mayor Wagner’s son Bobby, interviewed by Lieberman in 1991, his parents invited Hamburger inside their home. Hamburger’s book, “Mayor Watching And Other Pleasures” includes a profile of the mayor and his family. “Really it’s sort of a lovely account of what was going on,” Bobby Wagner said of it.

“It was a terrific way to grow up,” he recalled in the interview when asked what it was like to live at Gracie from the age of 9 to adulthood. “At the time, living behind a fence, somehow being separated from the rest of the world, with the house often — because of my mother’s belief that it was the public’s property — filled with people … it was sort of a strange way to grow up.”

He continued, “I think daddy and mommy were very good at making up for it, but it also was a chance to meet a variety of very exciting people, from Grace Kelly to President Kennedy… Lyndon Johnson took a bath in my bathtub.”

More seriously, the Wagners also had to deal with their share of security concerns unique to that era — most strikingly after a group of Puerto Rican nationalists opened fire in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1954, wounding several people. The mayor was said to be a possible next target, leading the police to station detectives protectively on the front lawn of the mansion, Bobby Wagner told Lieberman in 1991.

“Duncan and I each had two detectives assigned to us to take us to school,” he said. “In my case, the detectives sat in the classroom, which thrilled my classmates. It didn’t particularly thrill me.”

The mansion was expanded with the addition of the Susan E. Wagner Wing for official receptions in 1966

The previous year, Mayor Wagner spoke about the wing — and his wife’s role in its construction — in glowing terms.

“Recently there was some talk of abandoning Gracie Mansion, or rather, of returning it to its previous use as a museum,” he said. But with the new wing, he seemed to imply that the mansion had gained new vitality as an icon of the people of New York City.

“The future of Gracie Mansion stretches long and far ahead of us,” he said.

NEW YORK — Bill Bratton was sworn in as commissioner of the country’s largest municipal police force on Thursday, returning with a mandate for reform to the job he held in the 1990s.

“Welcome home,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said as he swore in Bratton in front of hundreds of people gathered at One Police Plaza.

As he praised Bratton’s record, de Blasio emphasized that he expected the new commissioner to carry out his campaign trail promise to reset the New York Police Department’s strained relationships with communities of color and to reform stop-and-frisk — all without sacrificing public safety.

“We have entrusted this department to someone who loves this city deeply, who loves this department deeply and loves his profession with all his heart,” de Blasio said, calling Bratton a “progressive crime fighter” and referring to his “groundbreaking work in progressive policing.”

Before Bratton’s inauguration, more than 400 attendees filtered into the One Police Plaza auditorium while the New York Police Department's jazz ensemble played. The music was interrupted by a massive procession led by a 112-member bagpipe and drum band that ushered in the mayor, commissioner, their respective wives as well as high-ranking members of the police community.

Among those officers were First Deputy Commissioner Rafael Piñeiro and Chief of Department Philip Banks, both floated for the job that eventually went to Bratton. The newly inaugurated Public Advocate Letitia James and Comptroller Scott Stringer sat close to the stage, as did the district attorneys from the five boroughs.

Bratton’s immediate predecessor, Raymond Kelly, did not attend.

But Bratton made sure to highlight Kelly’s achievements and his longtime service to the city. “I do applaud and understand the shoes that I’m stepping into and the extraordinary department that I am privileged to once again be given the opportunity to lead by this mayor,” Bratton said.

Bratton has been credited with introducing policing innovations while leading the NYPD during a historic drop in crime under Mayor Rudy Guiliani.

Since his departure, crime has dropped even further — reaching an all-time low in 2013 with only 333 murder cases recorded compared to 641 in 2001 when Kelly took over the department.

Bratton also thanked Kelly for personal attention during the transition, calling the process “as smooth as possible,” with no hiccups. As he settled into his new office, Bratton found a bottle of champagne with a note addressed to him and his wife Rikki.

Bratton said Kelly had signed the note with the message, “Happy New Year. Good luck.”

Despite historic lows in crime, the NYPD and Kelly have been constant targets for critics of the city’s controversial stop-and-frisk program that many reform advocates argue disproportionately targets young men of color. The department has also faced scrutiny for ongoing surveillance of the city’s Muslim community that critics argue unconstitutionally targets a growing community on the basis of religion alone.

Bratton said that he would work not only to improve the police department’s relationship with all communities, regardless of class, race or background, but also to figure out why so many New Yorkers feel alienated from the police force.

“It is unfortunate,” Bratton said, ”that even as this department can celebrate its tremendous record of keeping the city safe against terrorism, reducing crime to historic lows, removing so much of the disorder and chaos that this city exemplified in the 1980s, that we have not really achieved the collaboration that all that success could have brought about.”

A bevy of local elected and community leaders were among the thousands of bundled up New Yorkers at City Hall on Wednesday celebrating the new city vanguard. Many noted the work that still lies ahead of them, while others took to the stage to jab at the outgoing mayor.

A new mayor, comptroller and public advocate join a refreshed City Council with 21 new members. Many of the new leaders, including those in offices designed to be checks on the mayor, are largely committed to the progressive priorities of the Bill de Blasio administration.

“This is a paradigm shift in city government,” said Councilman Donovan Richards at City Hall today. “Listen, we’re heading into a progressive new year, and just to know that the changes that are going to happen across New York City are starting with Bill de Blasio is amazing.”

The Queens Council member emphasized the importance of de Blasio’s campaign promise to bring universal pre-kindergarten to New York City, calling it a critical priority for all elected leaders.

“We’ve had a long time of more of the professional, kind of Wall Street feeling. Everything was about corporate, corporate, corporate,” said Councilwoman Julissa Ferreras minutes before de Blasio’s inauguration. “I think this is an opportunity to really bring this back to the grassroots and give this house back to the people.”

The four years to come are predicted to be a stark difference in tone and governance to the last 12 years under now former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, to whom many critics link to the city’s ballooning social and income inequality.

Bloomberg — seated in front of City Hall alongside former President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Sen. Chuck Schumer, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and former Mayor David Dinkins — was rarely invoked during today’s inauguration ceremony. His policies over the last 12 years, however, were often the target of criticism by Wednesday's speakers.

Musician and activist Harry Belafonte, long a critic of the New York Police Department’s stop and frisk tactic, revived those criticisms with Bloomberg seated a few feet behind him.

“The change of the law is only the tip of the iceberg in fixing our deeply Dickensian justice system,” Belafonte said.

The Rev. Fred Lucas Jr., of the Brooklyn Community Church and chaplain with the Department of Sanitation, made reference to the city as a “plantation” during his invocation, praying for the city to become “the city of God, a city set upon the hill, a light shining in darkness.”

Public Advocate Letitia James’ inauguration speech drew applause multiple times for lambasting stop-and-frisk, hospital closures, and the prioritization of luxury condos (which she referred to three times).

Only President Bill Clinton and de Blasio directly thanked Bloomberg for his 12 years as mayor. Clinton’s praise of the mayor drew eventual applause, with the former president saying that Bloomberg left New York “stronger and healthier than he found it.”

“More people are coming here than leaving,” Clinton said. “With all of our challenges, people know somehow deep down inside there’s something special about New York. So I’m grateful to both men — Mayor Bloomberg for his years of service and for the legacy he leaves, and to Mayor de Blasio for his good and caring hands.”

In an interview after the inauguration, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. admitted that he and Bloomberg disagreed on a number of policy issues, most notably education and stop-and-frisk but were still able to cooperate on others including housing and general crime reduction.

“He deserves credit for all the good things he did. In terms of where we disagree, we need to put that behind us and move forward to support Bill de Blasio,” Diaz said. “I think Bloomberg has had 12 years. Today was for de Blasio.”

Mayor Bill de Blasio’s message of eliminating New York City’s rising economic inequality carried him to the city’s highest post. He also has some national leaders convinced.

“This income inequality problem bedevils the entire country,” said former President Bill Clinton in front of City Hall today. “But it is not just a moral outrage, it’s a horrible constraint on economic growth … we cannot go forward if we don't do it together.”

Clinton swore in de Blasio in front of the 5,000 New Yorkers who braved the afternoon’s windy chill today — the temperature was in the low 30s and some crowd members were offered blankets. Among the attendees were former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean.

Former Mayor David Dinkins and de Blasio’s immediate predecessor, Michael Bloomberg, were also on hand, as were members of the City Council, both the incoming and previous class. Some of New York’s Congressional delegation were also in attendance, including Sen. Chuck Schumer and Reps. Carolyn Maloney and Jerrold Nadler.

See highlights from the 2014 Inauguration here

It was noted musician and activist Harry Belafonte who kicked off the day’s events.

An early de Blasio supporter, Belafonte invoked the names of past leaders on progressive issues such as Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Martin Luther King Jr, Cesar Chavez and others as the template for the new mayor.

"Today begins a new era, a transformative journey of hope on the road to promise. We’ve seen America wrestle with her conscience. We’ve seen her struggle to become her better self. I think the solution to what most people want America to become resides here in New York. We can become America's DNA for the future,” Belafonte said before praising de Blasio’s victory last fall.

“We must not let him fail,” he added.

Sworn in on a Bible once owned by Roosevelt and held by wife Chirlane McCray, de Blasio committed to keeping his word, repeating his promises on a litany of issues with a mantra of “we won't wait; we'll do it now.”

“Now I know there are those who think that what I said during the campaign was just rhetoric, just ‘political talk’ in the interest of getting elected.  There are some who think now, as we turn to governing – well, things will continue pretty much like they always have,” de Blasio said while joined on stage by daughter Chiara, 19, and son Dante, 16. The family trekked to City Hall from their Park Slope, Brooklyn, home by subway.

“So let me be clear: when I said we would take dead aim at the ‘Tale of Two Cities,’ I meant it. And we will do it. I will honor the faith and trust you have placed in me. And we will give life to the hope of so many in our city. We will succeed as ‘One City.’ We know this won’t be easy. It will require all that we can muster, and it won’t be accomplished only by me. It will be accomplished by all of us — those of us here today, and millions of everyday New Yorkers in every corner of our city.”

De Blasio’s fellow citywide counterparts echoed his progressive priorities. Letitia James, who replaces him as the city’s newest public advocate and is the first woman of color elected to serve a citywide post, called the status quo “a gilded age of inequality” but one with hope.

James said she saw that hope through the eyes of 11-year-old Dasani Coats, the central figure in The New York Times’ widely read investigation into the plight of the city’s homeless children. Coates, who resides in the Council district most recently represented by James, joined the new public advocate on stage as she was sworn in.

“If working people aren’t getting their fair share, if our government isn’t securing the reforms New Yorkers were promised, you better believe that Dasani and I will stand up – that all of us will stand up – and call out anyone and anything that stands in the way of progress,” James said.

New Comptroller Scott Stringer made vows of his own, renewing his promise to turn his office into a think tank for innovation while protecting the city’s fiscal solvency.

“I will audit every city agency to root out waste and abuse. I will work every day to build our pension fund so that we can invest more resources in priorities that matter,” Stringer said in his prepared remarks.

The new comptroller added that he would work with other “institutional investors around the country” to keep companies in line with workplace safety and diversity, as well as environmental standards.

“Because companies that respect their workers and our planet are companies that will help to grow our pension fund for years to come,” he added.

Even as New York City’s government still transitions from one to the next, the New Yorkers who were there to celebrate the new government leaders left City Hall grounds cold but optimistic.

Roberta Reid, a teacher in the Bronx for 21 years, said she had faith in de Blasio’s promise that his administration will work to be receptive towards all New Yorkers.

“It sets for me a more promising tone in that there will be inclusion for people to really make their voices known,” she said. “But it won’t be without the input of the constituents — people who voted for him and people who didn’t vote for him. He can’t do it alone.”

I AM DEEPLY honored and humbled to take this oath for the Office of New York City Public Advocate. Words cannot express my gratitude to all of those who gave their time and prayed for this day to happen. Individuals dedicated their preciousmoments to make a dream come alive. They represent the bridge that carried me over.

Like so many New Yorkers, mine is an unlikely story. A road traveled incrementally by many before me, which made it possible for me to be here before you today. To them I dedicate this day.

I never expected to be a city-wide elected official or to make history as the first woman of color to hold city-wide office.

As I stand here in this space filled with anticipation, anchored by the strength, and will of parents smilingdown from heaven; parents without credentials; humbled individuals more accustomed to backbreaking work than dinner parties. They taughtme to set an example and serve as an inspiration to others; to fight for something greater than one’s self.That sense of purpose was sharpened throughout my public school and later at Howard University School of Law which set in motion a public service career.

I joined public service because I felt it was the single most effective way to change the outlook of exclusion and marginalization that has left a mark onso many New Yorkers at one time or another.

The wave of progressive victories our city has recently enjoyed was, in some ways, inevitable - The fabric of our city, of our nation is made strong by the untold sacrifices of so many  who are left defenseless, unrepresented, unspoken for, -- but at some point in history the tide must turn - the policies that made them voiceless must give way to a government that works for them - that speaks for them - that cares more about a child going hungry than a new stadium or a new tax credit for a luxurydevelopment that a majority of New Yorkers can’t afford. To live up to that challenge and to be centered in our decisions is the task before those of us who think of ourselves as the progressive wing of our city.

Even as the tide turns towards progress, we do not have the luxury to rest our oars.

The growing gap between the haves and the havenot’s undermine our city and tears the fabric of our democracy.

We live in a gilded age of inequality where decrepithomeless shelters and housing developments stand in the neglected shadow of gleaming multi-million dollar condos; where long-time residents are priced out of their own neighborhoods by rising rents and stagnant incomes; where stop and frisk abuses and warrantless surveillance have been touted as “success stories” as if crime can only be reduced by infringing on the civil liberties of people of color; where what should be the race to the top for high quality education has turned into a race to the bottom for standardized test scores; and where hospital closures serve as an existential threat to the health of our communities and library privatization moves are little more than land grabs for more luxury condos.

Most disturbingly, we live in an age where a New York City worker can work full-time and still need food stamps to feed her family; where more and more jobs pay lower and lower wages until we find ourselves in a place where half of all New Yorkers are living at or near the poverty line.

I’ve heard the stories from fast food workers who are working two or three jobs and helplessly sinking into the poverty abyss. Over the past year of campaigning and organizing, I have met with individuals who have made a science out of stretching a paltry $7.25 an hour – an act of magic, I call it – while trying to survive in one of the most expensive cities in the world. I have joined them at walk outs and pickets and seen in their eyes the constant fear of losing their last economic lifelines.

But in those eyes, I have also seen hope; enduring hope; the eternal optimism that keeps aflame the light in their eyes.  Like the spark in Dasani's eyes this morning.

In the face of a seemingly endless recession and an unsparing economic system, working people in our city don’t give up. Their spirits have not been broken. New Yorkers get up each day and fight and when they’re knocked down they get up again and fight some more.

This is the spirit of our city.

This is the tenacity it will take for our government to strike a blow against inequality and injustice and make our city work for working people again. It’s why those of us taking the oath of office today were elected to serve because with each ending comes a new beginning.

Though we must recognize the challenges I laid out, we must also capitalize on the unique opportunities only a city as amazing as New York can offer. We still have one of the most diverse and talented work forces in the world; new industries continue to arrive and thrive in New York; and our city remains the unquestioned hub of creativity, commerce, and human advancement in our region, and maybe the world.
These challenges and opportunities can only be met effectively if we work together. Let this be our lasting resolution on this new day.

I congratulate Mayor Bill de Blasio and Comptroller Scott Stringer as we come together to celebrate this historic day and launch a journey that will move our entire city forward. All of us share a progressive vision for this city’s future.

I pledge to work cooperatively with all of my colleagues and build real consensus. Indeed, moving New York forward will take hard work and a joint determination.

Of course, if working people aren’t getting their fair share, if our government isn’t securing the reformsNew Yorkers were promised, you better believe that Dasani and I will stand up – that all of us will stand up – and call out anyone and anything that stands in the way of progress.

Elections are never the culmination of creating change, but simply a first step. New Yorkers should judge their government by whether we make improvements in the education system our children rely on, whether we improve healthcare access for our patients, whether we help create jobs that pay more than the minimum wage, whether we make our city one that is safer even as we respect the civil rights of all New Yorkers, and whether we focus more on building sports arenas or affordablehousing.

Above all, our government must maintain an unflinching focus on the  spirit of these benchmarks.

So today we celebrate and get to work to fulfill the promises we have made to New Yorkers; motivatedby the challenges before us and inspired by the greatness of our cause.

I thank you for your trust and I am more determined than ever to roll up my sleeves and seize the opportunities presented by the dawn of a new day.

One city, together.

God bless you all and God bless our great city.

"Twelve years ago, when New York gathered on these steps to swear in a new government, it was a deeply uncertain time for our City -- and our Nation.

The dust from ground zero still hung in the air. Our economy was battered. Our confidence shaken.

But the people of New York rose to that epic challenge as they always do, with grit, compassion, and eternal belief that there is nothing that our City cannot overcome when we join together as one.

Today, we have arrived at a different moment of transition for our City -- and once again New Yorkers have come together with a new sense of resolve to tackle the great challenges of this time.

Mayor deBlasio, thank you for giving voice to those who for too long have had none and for demanding that we must again be a City where working people can afford to pursue their dreams, and where aspiration and opportunity must walk hand in hand.

There will be those who say that we as a city cannot afford to tackle poverty and inequality. As Comptroller, I say we can't afford not to.

I believe that pursing a progressive agenda and being fiscally responsible is not mutually exclusive. We can and we must do both.

We can double-down on solving homelessness, on improving our infrastructure, on growing jobs -- while also protecting our double-A bond rating.  

We can lift up every New Yorker, by ensuring that all communities are treated equally before the law.

We can educate every child with the skills needed to compete in the 21st Century economy.  

And yes, we can shelter every family in safe, affordable homes, not squalid shelters where 22,000 of our children will go to sleep tonight.

As the City's chief fiscal officer, it is my duty -- my promise -- that I will do everything in my power to maintain our fiscal health.  

I will audit every city agency to root out waste and abuse.

I will work everyday to build our pension fund so that we can invest more resources in priorities that matter and I will join with other institutional investors around the country to hold corporations to the highest standards of workplace safety, environmental sustainability and corporate diversity.

Because companies that respect their workers and our planet are companies that will help to grow our pension fund for years to come.

I intend to remake the office of Comptroller into a think-tank for innovation and ideas.

Because with new faces must come new approaches to our most stubborn challenges, from educating our kids, to diversifying our economy, to improving retirement security for all.

Now, none of this will be easy.

But there's a reason E.B. White once called New York "A visible symbol of aspiration."

You see, it was aspiration that led millions of families to leave their homelands, drawn by the promise of Liberty's eternal flame.

It was aspiration that brought workers into our streets to fight for a 40-hour work week, transforming New York into a beacon of fairness and opportunity.

And it was aspiration that drove our parents -- and my grandparents -- to lay down roots and build our neighborhoods, knowing that hard work would be repaid with success.  

Today, millions of New Yorkers continue to benefit from this legacy.

And just as America has historically looked to New York for inspiration, so the country once again turns its eyes toward us today, to this city, to our people, for a blueprint of a thriving hopeful future, to a city that puts people above politics, and shared prosperity above individual success.

A city that demands performance from its government, and holds its leaders to the highest standards of transparency and efficiency, and a city that understands that for all its great wealth, New York is only as strong as its most vulnerable citizens.  

We can and we will uphold and strengthen New York's eternal promise, that in these five boroughs, it does not matter who you are or where you come from, all people will find opportunity and a fair shot at success in our City of aspiration.

That is my solemn pledge. Thank you very much."

Thank you, President Clinton, for your kind words. It was an honor to serve in your administration, and we’re all honored by your presence. I have to note that, over 20 years ago, when a conservative philosophy seemed dominant, you broke through – and told us to still believe in a place called Hope.

Thank you, Secretary Clinton. I was inspired by the time I spent on your first campaign. Your groundbreaking commitment to nurturing our children and families manifested itself in a phrase that is now a part of our American culture – and something we believe in deeply in this city. It Takes A Village.

Thank you, Reverend Fred Lucas Jr., Rabbi Joseph Potasnik, Monsignor Robert Romano, and Imam Askia Muhammad for your words of prayer.

Thank you, Governor Cuomo.  Working with you at HUD, I saw how big ideas can overcome big obstacles.  And it will be my honor to serve shoulder-to-shoulder with you again.

Thank you, Mayor Bloomberg.  To say the least, you led our city through some extremely difficult times.  And for that, we are all grateful. Your passion on issues such as environmental protection and public health has built a noble legacy. We pledge today to continue the great progress you made in these critically important areas.

Thank you, Mayor Dinkins, for starting us on the road to a safer city, and for always uplifting our youth – and I must say personally, for giving me my start in New York City government. You also had the wisdom to hire a strong and beautiful young woman who walked up to me one day in City Hall and changed my life forever.

Chirlane, you are my soulmate -- and my best friend. My partner in all I do.  My love for you grows with each passing year. Chiara and Dante, I cannot put into words the joy and the pride that you bring your mother and me. You are the best thing that’s ever happened to us, and we love you very much.

And finally, thank you to my brothers Steve and Don, and all my family assembled today -- from all around this country, and from Italy.  You have always guided and sustained me.

Thank you, my fellow New Yorkers  - my brothers and sisters -- for joining Chirlane, Chiara, Dante and me on this chilly winter day.

De parte de Chirlane, Chiara, Dante y yo, les extiendo las gracias a ustedes, mis hermanas y hermanos niuyorquinos, por acompañarnos en este dia tan especial.

Like it is for so many of you, my family is my rock. Their wisdom, their compassion, and their sense of humor make each day a gift to cherish.  

But, what makes today so special isn’t just my family, but our larger New York family. We see what binds all New Yorkers together: an understanding that big dreams are not a luxury reserved for a privileged few, but the animating force behind every community, in every borough.

The spark that ignites our unwavering resolve to do everything possible to ensure that every girl and boy, no matter what language they speak, what subway line they ride, what neighborhood they call home — that every child has the chance to succeed.

We recognize a city government’s first duties: to keep our neighborhoods safe; to keep our streets clean; to ensure that those who live here – and those who visit – can get where they need to go in all five boroughs. But we know that our mission reaches deeper. We are called to put an end to economic and social inequalities that threaten to unravel the city we love. And so today, we commit to a new progressive direction in New York. And that same progressive impulse has written our city’s history. It’s in our DNA.

Nearly a century ago, it was Al Smith who waged war on unsafe working conditions and child labor. It was Franklin Roosevelt and Frances Perkins who led the charge for the basic bargain of unemployment insurance and the minimum wage.  It was Fiorello La Guardia who enacted the New Deal on the city level, battled the excesses of Wall Street, and championed a progressive income tax.  

From Jacob Riis to Eleanor Roosevelt to Harry Belafonte — who we are honored to have with us here today — it was New Yorkers who challenged the status quo, who blazed a trail of progressive reform and political action, who took on the elite, who stood up to say that social and economic justice will start here and will start now.

It’s that tradition that inspires the work we now begin. A movement that sees the inequality crisis we face today, and resolves that it will not define our future. Now I know there are those who think that what I said during the campaign was just rhetoric, just “political talk” in the interest of getting elected.  There are some who think now, as we turn to governing – well, things will continue pretty much like they always have.

So let me be clear. When I said we would take dead aim at the Tale of Two Cities, I meant it. And we will do it. I will honor the faith and trust you have placed in me.   And we will give life to the hope of so many in our city. We will succeed as One City. We know this won’t be easy; It will require all that we can muster. And it won’t be accomplished only by me; It will be accomplished by all of us — those of us here today, and millions of everyday New Yorkers in every corner of our city.  

You must continue to make your voices heard.  You must be at the center of this debate. And our work begins now. We will expand the Paid Sick Leave law -- because no one should be forced to lose a day’s pay, or even a week’s pay, simply because illness strikes. And by this time next year, fully 300,000 additional New Yorkers will be protected by that law. We won’t wait.  

We’ll do it now. We will require big developers to build more affordable housing.  We’ll fight to stem the tide of hospital closures.   And we’ll expand community health centers into neighborhoods in need, so that New Yorkers see our city not as the exclusive domain of the One Percent, but a place where everyday people can afford to live, work, and raise a family. We won’t wait. We’ll do it now.

We will reform a broken stop-and-frisk policy, both to protect the dignity and rights of young men of color, and to give our brave police officers the partnership they need to continue their success in driving down crime. We won’t wait. We’ll do it now.

We will ask the very wealthy to pay a little more in taxes so that we can offer full-day universal pre-K and after-school programs for every middle school student. And when we say “a little more,” we can rightly emphasize the “little.”  

Those earning between $500,000 and one million dollars a year, for instance, would see their taxes increase by an average of $973 a year. That’s less than three bucks a day – about the cost of a small soy latte at your local Starbucks.  

Think about it. A 5-year tax on the wealthiest among us – with every dollar dedicated to pre-K and after-school. Asking those at the top to help our kids get on the right path and stay there. That’s our mission. And on that, we will not wait. We will do it now.

Of course, I know that our progressive vision isn’t universally shared. Some on the far right continue to preach the virtue of trickle-down economics. They believe that the way to move forward is to give more to the most fortunate, and that somehow the benefits will work their way down to everyone else.  They sell their approach as the path of “rugged individualism.”

But Fiorello La Guardia — the man I consider to be the greatest Mayor this city has ever known — put it best.  He said: “I, too, admire the 'rugged individual,’ but no ‘rugged individual' can survive in the midst of collective starvation.”

So please remember: we do not ask more of the wealthy to punish success. We do it to create more success stories. And we do it to honor a basic truth: that a strong economy is dependent on a thriving school system. We do it to give every kid a chance to get their education off on the right foot, from the earliest age, which study after study has shown leads to greater economic success, healthier lives, and a better chance of breaking the cycle of poverty.  

We do it to give peace of mind to working parents, who suffer the anxiety of not knowing whether their child is safe and supervised during those critical hours after the school day ends, but before the workday is done. And we do it because we know that we must invest in our city, in the future inventors and CEOs and teachers and scientists, so that our generation – like every generation before us – can leave this city even stronger than we found it.

Our city is no stranger to big struggles -- and no stranger to overcoming them.  

New York has faced fiscal collapse, a crime epidemic, terrorist attacks, and natural disasters. But now, in our time, we face a different crisis – an inequality crisis.  It’s not often the stuff of banner headlines in our daily newspapers.  It’s a quiet crisis, but one no less pernicious than those that have come before.  

Its urgency is read on the faces of our neighbors and their children, as families struggle to make it against increasingly long odds. To tackle a challenge this daunting, we need a dramatic new approach — rebuilding our communities from the bottom-up, from the neighborhoods up. And just like before, the world will watch as we succeed. All along the way, we will remember what makes New York, New York.

A city that fights injustice and inequality — not just because it honors our values, but because it strengthens our people. A city of five boroughs — all created equal. Black, white, Latino, Asian, gay, straight, old, young, rich, middle class, and poor. A city that remembers our responsibility to each other — our common cause — is to leave no New Yorker behind.

That’s the city that you and I believe in. It’s the city to which my grandparents were welcomed from the hills of Southern Italy, the city in which I was born, where I met the love of my life, where Chiara and Dante were raised.  

It’s a place that celebrates a very simple notion:  that no matter what your story is – this is your city. Our strength is derived from you.  Working together, we will make this One City. And that mission — our march toward a fairer, more just, more progressive place, our march to keep the promise of New York alive for the next generation. It begins today.

Thank you, and God bless the people of New York City!