Mayor Bloomberg pledged to immediately start “finishing our unfinished
work” on schools and economic development while vowing to tackle what
he called the city’s “most urgent challenge,” illegal guns, as he was
sworn in this afternoon for his second term.
Four years ago, when Mr. Bloomberg stood outside City Hall for his
first inaugural address, the World Trade Center site was still
smoldering. Today, Mr. Bloomberg declared that the city has rebounded
from the devastating attack of September 2001, as well as weathering
blizzards, a blackout, and a transit strike. He said, however, that
his work is far from complete at the helm of New York City government.
“We’ve come a long way, and now we have a choice to make,” Mr.
Bloomberg said, standing without an overcoat on an unseasonably warm
January afternoon. “We could be content with what we have
accomplished, and preserve our gains, or we can take our beloved city
even further forward, and make the promise of opportunity real for
every person in every community.”
Mr. Bloomberg told the 5,000 guests who gathered to see the mayor, as
well as Comptroller William C. Thompson Jr. and Public Advocate Betsy
Gotbaum, be sworn in for second terms, that choice is not really much
of a choice at all, since, he said, “We are New Yorkers!” and the only
option is to keep making progress.
The first, and most aggressive plan the mayor detailed in his
inaugural address — which lasted less than 20 minutes in total — was
to end “the threat of guns and the violence they do” to police
officers and other New Yorkers.
“We will take our message to Albany, to Washington, and to every
capital of every state that permits guns to flow freely across its
border,” he vowed. “And to those who distort out laws to aid and abet
hardened criminals, know this: We will not rest until we secure all of
the tools we need to protect New Yorkers from the scourge of illegal
guns.”
After the ceremony, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly told The New
York Sun that the mayor’s impassioned words about guns signal that the
Bloomberg administration is “willing to take this fight head on.”
Mr. Kelly said about 90% of the guns used in crimes here were
purchased in other states with laxer gun control regulations, and said
that when it comes to guns, since New York cannot control other
states’ gun laws, “We’re not the masters of our own fate in that
regard. It’s a great challenge.”
He said New Yorkers should expect the city to take a “federal
approach” in the next four years to the problem of illegal guns, and
said the city would be trying to persuade the rest of the country to
adopt, or at least “look at” New York’s gun laws, which he called
“eminently reasonable.”
The remainder of the mayor’s inaugural address hit on the themes that
ran through his re-election campaign — creating economic opportunities
for all New Yorkers, building affordable housing, revitalizing the
waterfront, and improving the city’s public schools.
He also spoke of working together — also a theme he tried to keep
alive during the re-election campaign, even when his political
opponents were trying to highlight his connections to the national
Republican party and President Bush.
“On inauguration day in 2002, I pledged to govern our city without
partisanship or prejudice. I meant it then, and I’m renewing that
commitment today,” he said. “The door to this great building will
remain open to all New Yorkers, wherever they’re from, whatever they
believe, whomever they love.”
The inaugural ceremony began just after 1 p.m., with a saxophone
performance of “New York, New York” and welcoming remarks by Barbara
Walters, the veteran newswoman and a friend of Mr. Bloomberg.
Mr. Thompson was the first of the three elected officials to say the
oath of office. He was sworn in by his father, William C. Thompson,
who also administered the oath in 2002. The last time, the senior Mr.
Thompson said he looked forward to swearing in his son in 2010,
referring to his son’s mayoral ambitions. This year, the father kept
his son’s political future out of his remarks.
After the ceremony at the comptroller’s reception at the State Supreme
Court at 60 Centre Street, the senior Mr. Thompson joked: “He muzzled
me. I couldn’t say what I wanted to.”
Mr. Thompson, though, who is one of a handful of rising Democrats who
might be on the ticket in 2009, hinted at the future in his address.
He talked about his desire to be an “activist comptroller,” finding
creative ways to save money for New Yorkers and make New York a place
of opportunity for all. He also took a shot at the Democrat’s mayoral
candidate of 2005, Fernando Ferrer, when he said, “We are one city,
and we stand united no matter the challenge.” Mr. Ferrer spoke
repeatedly of “two New Yorks” in his failed 2001 and 2005 mayoral
campaigns.
Mayor Dinkins swore in the public advocate, Ms. Gotbaum. She said she
was proud of what she had accomplished in the last four years and said
she looked forward to working with the City Council and the mayor to
help the city more in her second term.
“Working together, we can create an even better New York,” she said.
An exuberant performance of “New York, New York” by Liza Minnelli, who
danced on stage wearing a hot red cape-like jacket, concluded the
ceremony. Mayor Giuliani, who sat a few rows behind Mr. Bloomberg and
his family, mouthed the words, as women draped in warm furs stood up
in the crowds to snap the legendary performer’s photograph.
After the ceremony, Mr. Bloomberg and Ms. Gotbaum’s supporters flooded
to the Emigrant Industrial Savings Bank for finger foods, tomato soup,
and drinks, while Mr. Thompson’s crew headed to the rotunda at Centre
Street.
As the mayor and the public advocate posed for thousands of pictures
with all the supporters and colleagues who attended their party, Mr.
Thompson mingled with the elected officials and supporters who came to
congratulate him at the courthouse.
Though the Bloomberg party was mobbed, with well wishers unable to
move through the crowded hall, people were in good spirits.
“I think it was a great speech, particularly when he spoke about the
fundamental meaning of coming together,” an outgoing City Council
member, Margarita Lopez, said. Ms. Lopez, who supported Mr. Bloomberg,
said she doesn’t know what she’ll be doing next, but said “You always
will see me next to Mike Bloomberg because I think he’s a great
mayor…He’s awesome.”
The new Manhattan borough president, Scott Stringer, said he was
pleased with the mayor’s theme of “uniting,” and said he is excited to
set to work right away with an 8 a.m. staff meeting on Tuesday to
start reforming and re-empowering community boards.
“I want very much to hit the ground running,” he said.
The former parks commissioner, Henry Stern, called the mayor’s speech
“wonderful,” and said he expects the mayor’s “passion” on the guns
issue to permeate his second term.
“He chose an issue which really is non partisan and a culture of
civilization against a criminal culture. He chose an issue which has
enormous resonance.”