Bill
de
BLASIO

• 1. Early life
• 2. Politician career
• 2.1. Work in the New York City Council
• 2.2.  New York. Public Advocate of New
• 2.3. Mayoral elections
• 2.4. Appointment of radicals to his administration
• 2.5. New policy on student discipline
• 2.6. The failed Presidential campaign
• 2.7. De Blasio on the riots in the United States 2020-2021
• 3. Personal life

Bill de Blasio is an American politician serving as the 109th mayor of New York City since 2014. A member of the Democratic Party, he held the office of New York City Public Advocate from 2010 to 2013.

Early life

Bill de Blasio was born Warren Wilhelm Jr. on May 8, 1961. He is the third son in the family.There were also two boys in the family - Stephen and Donald. His mother is Maria Angela, and his father is Warren Wilhem. His mother, Maria, worked with the 'United States Office of War Information' during World War II. Her book 'The Other Italy: The Italian Resistance in World War II' was published in 1988. His father, Warren, worked as an editor of 'Time’ magazine. Warren then enlisted in the 'U.S. Army' during World War II and served in the Pacific War. He lost his left foot in the war. In 1945, Maria Angela and Warren Wilhem were married.In the 1950s, they were accused of having a "sympathetic interest in communism" and the couple was forced to move to Connecticut, where Warren took up the position of the chief international economist of Texas.Unfortunately, the father and mother separated in the early childhood of Bill de Blasio.Of his early childhood, de Blasio said, "my mother and father broke up very early on in the time I came along, and I was brought up by my mother's family—that's the bottom line—the de Blasio family." Bill respected his mother all his life and she was his role model.The politician changed his name in 1983 in honor of his family on the Matrin line in 2001. Warren Wilhem committed suicide due to incurable lung cancer when Bill was 18 years old. Bill de Blasio attended the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School. The students called him "Senator Provolne".In 1981, De Blasio received a Harry Truman Scholarship, received a bachelor's degree from New York University, and a master's degree in International Relations from the School of International Relations at Columbia University.In 1983, as a student at New York University, he traveled to the USSR.

"my mother and father broke up very early on in the time I came along, and I was brought up by my mother's family—that's the bottom line—the de Blasio family."

Bill de Blasio in his youth

Politician career

He began his career in 1984, becoming an employee of the city scholarship program of the New York Department of Juvenile Affairs. de Blasio was at one time the organizer of the anti-nuclear, anti-American organization "Doctors for Social Responsibility".After 3 years he graduated from the ‘SIPA,’ he started working as a political organizer with the 'Quixote Center' in Maryland, U.S.A. In 1988 de Blasio, an ardent supporter of Nicaragua’s Marxist Sandinista government—which ruled Nicaragua from 1979-1990 and was backed by the Soviet Union, Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, and Yasser Arafat‘s Palestine Liberation Organization He spent 10 days in Nicaragua as a representative of the Quixote Center, helping to distribute food and medicine to people who had been affected by the violent revolution that was raging there. At that time, De Blasio was a supporter of the Sandinistas, who were opposed by the Reagan administration.

Then Bill de Blasio moved to New York, became interested in improving health care in Central America and began working for a non-profit organization that solved such issues. He continued to support the Sandinistas in his spare time and joined a group called the Nicaragua Solidarity Network of Greater New York, which held meetings and fundraisers for the Sandinista political party. De Blasio worked as a coordinator of do-gooders in the campaign of David Dinkins in 1989, thus his entry into politics began. In 1990, he described himself as a supporter of democratic socialism when asked about his goals for society. Bill de Blasio counted himself among the supporters of democratic socialism. In 1991, de Blasio, along with other Sandinistas, vowed to "protect the achievements of the last ten years - education, health care, land reform-from attacks " and stated that " we at the Network have taken inspiration from the Sandinistas.”

Bill de Blasio's speech in the center of New York

Thanks to de Blasio's work, US Representative Charles Rangel was re-elected, as a sign of gratitude, Charles appointed de Blasio as the head of his election campaign. In 1997, he was appointed Regional Director of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in New York and New Jersey during the administration of President Bill Clinton. As a high-ranking HUD official in the tri-state region, de De Blasio fought for improving the living conditions of ordinary citizens, for which people appreciated and respected him.In 1999, he was elected a member of the school board of the 15th School District of Brooklyn. The following year, he was the company manager for Hillary Clinton's successful bid for the United States Senate.

" we at the Network have taken inspiration from the Sandinistas.”

Work in the New York City Council

From 2001 to 2009, de Blasio served on the New York City Council, representing District 39 in Brooklyn, which includes Borough Park, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Gowanus, Kensington, Park Slope and Windsor Terres. The idea to run for the city council came to him in 2001, he was determined and confident to win. In September 2001, he won the first election(he received 5,161 votes, which was 32.12% of the voting), ahead of 5 rivals. The next election was held in November 2001, in which Bill de Blasio won 18,131 votes (71.04 %). People began to trust de Blasio, so in November 2003 he was re-elected for a second term, 9461 people voted for him(72.05% of the total number of voters). But this was not the limit, on November 8, 2005, Bill de Blasio was elected for a third term, gaining 17,554 votes(83.44%!)

Election campaign

In the city council, Bill de Blasio dealt with issues on general welfare, education, finance and management technologies. de Blasio was an active fighter for justice and the abolition of the infringement of the rights of certain segments of the population, in connection with which he managed to pass the law on preventing discrimination against tenants using federal housing subsidy vouchers, and also helped pass the law on improving housing and communal services for low-income New Yorkers who have HIV/However, he actively supported the LGBT community and thanks to his active work, laws were passed to protect transgender New Yorkers and to recognize the equality of same-sex partnerships, which equalized the rights of same-sex and heterosexual couples. In 2018, the Mayor of New York, Bill De Blasio, signed a provision according to which it is allowed to indicate the "third gender" on the birth certificate, it will be called "X". "The LGBTQ rights movement was born in New York. Today we are making history again in the struggle for dignity and respect, " Mayor de Blasio wrote on Twitter. Bill also supported immigrants and organized free language assistance for immigrants who do not speak English in order to facilitate their access to government services and programs.

"The LGBTQ rights movement was born in New York. Today we are making history again in the struggle for dignity and respect "

 New York. Public Advocate of New

 Bill de Blasio together with representatives of the LGBT community

In 2008, De Blasio decided to fight for the post of public advocate of New York.His candidacy was supported by the New York Times, the 2nd Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum, former New York Mayor Ed Koch, former New York Governor Mario Cuomo and the Reverend Al Sharpton. As a result of the election, Bill de Blasio was able to take this position in 2010. During his inaugural speech, de Blasio criticized the administration of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, for its education policy and for its attitude to the homeless. He also criticized Katie Black. He was outraged that her children did not study in ordinary schools.

De Blasio tried his best to improve the situation of schoolchildren: to leave their travel to school free of charge and to increase the cost of education, the arrangement of schools (a project was proposed to co-locate schools) He was outraged when the administration proposed to dismiss about 4,600 teachers to increase budget spending. In 2013, de Blasio spoke out against charter schools, but people staged a protest against Bill de Blasio's proposal, which was attended by about 20 thousand democrats. de Blasio has compiled a sensational list of the worst tenants in New York, which was actively discussed in the media.

Mayoral elections

On January 27, 2013, de Blasio put forward his candidacy for the post of mayor of New York City from the Democratic Party. Along with de Blasio, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, former member of the US House of Representatives Anthony Wiener and former New York City treasurer and participant in the 2009 mayoral elections put forward their candidacies .At the beginning, Bill had a low chance of winning, but he was supported by a number of influential organizations and individuals, such as the Barack Obama Democratic Club in Upper Manhattan, the New York Labor Union, the Association of Healthcare Workers of the East,Yvette Clark, Sarah Jessica Parker, Harry Befonte and others.

During the first election on September 10, Bill de Blasio received 40.12% of the vote, which helped to avoid a second round, since there were more than 40% of the votes. On September 12, de Blasio was announced as the candidate of the Working Families Party.

 Bill de Blasio with his wife at a rally during the mayoral election

De Blasio's liberal program included such plans:

1. Raise taxes on residents whose earnings are more than $ 500,000 a year in order to finance pre-school education programs and expand after-school education programs in secondary schools
2. Improve technical equipment in schools and institutes
3. Organize new jobs(a record number of 4 million people working)
4. Freeze rents in New York
5. Improve urban infrastructure: create more bike paths, green the city, protect against inflated taxi fares.
6. Paid sick leave Employers are now obliged to pay for five missed sick days annually to employees. This is the first piece of legislation that De Blasio has signed. Previously, such duties applied only to enterprises with 20 or more employees, and now employees of firms with a team of five people can count on paid sick leave.” With our actions today, and literally with this signature, we will help five hundred thousand working New Yorkers, " De Blasio said, signing the document.
7. Free kindergartens for 4-year-olds
8. Municipal identity card for immigrants (including illegal immigrants) New Yorkers over the age of 14 can apply for the document, regardless of their immigration status.
9. Deferred payment of fines for businesses. Now it is possible to repay fines, primarily those issued by the Environmental Control Council, within 90 days. The total number of violations that fall under the amnesty reaches 700,000.
10. Increasing the number of tourists, an interactive map of the city and limiting the activities of street artists
11. New anti-terrorist program “You are now on the front line of the fight against terrorism in our city, " Bill de Blasio said. – I hope that you feel like your families, and we are proud of you. You have volunteered to protect us, and from today a lot will depend on you.” These words were said to an elite unit of 500 people who must respond to terrorist threats.
12. Active environmental protection: investment in "green energy", waste recycling, reduce energy consumption.
13. Support for LGBT communities, provide them with a decent life, equal rights
14. Fight for the prevention of harassment and discrimination against women, in particular, ensure equal pay for equal work, facilitate access to housing for women who are victims of domestic violence and single mothers.

"You are now on the front line of the fight against terrorism in our city "

On November 5, 2013, Bill de Blasio was elected the 109th mayor of New York. 70% of the votes were given to him by the voters.The swearing-in ceremony took place on January 1, 2014 just after midnight at De Blasio's house. At 12:00 local time, the mayor's inauguration ceremony took place. It was held by former US President Bill Clinton;.

Bill de Blasio and his children, after he was appointed to the post of mayor

One of his first decisions as mayor de Blasio was the appointment of Zachary W. Carter as a corporate consultant for the City of New York. Carter previously represented Al Sharpton in his tax fraud case and once moderated a group called "Closing Guantanamo: Terrorism and Civil Liberties in the Obama Era" for the Sharpton National Action Network.

Denouncing the "Inequality Crisis" On January 23, 2014,the US Conference of Mayors was held, at which de Blasio said that the US is"in the midst of an inequality crisis". He understood that Americans turned to mayors with requests to eliminate the root causes of inequality.

On February 10, 2014, de Blasio spoke strongly on behalf of the rights of illegal immigrants: “We will protect almost half a million undocumented New Yorkers, whose voices too often go unheard. We will contact all New Yorkers, regardless of immigration status — we will issue municipal identity cards available to all New Yorkers this year-so that no daughter or son of our city will be left without bank accounts, rent, library cards ... just because they don't have an identity card. To all my colleagues-New Yorkers who do not have documents, I say: New York is also your home, and we will not force ANY of our residents to live in the shadows."

On February 18, 2014, de Blasio announced the "Vision Zero" plan aimed at eliminating deaths as a result of road accidents in New York,the essence of which was to reduce the speed from 30 miles per hour to 25 miles per hour. de Blasio made such conclusions based on the statistics of deaths in car accidents. However, just two days later, a CBS news crew shot de Blasio's car (in which the mayor was riding in the front passenger seat) speeding through the streets of Queens, speeding through two stop signs without even pressing the brake. The car was moving at a speed of 40-45 miles per hour, because of which the mayor was issued a fine.

Appointment of radicals to his administration

One of the tasks of the administration

In January 2014, de Blasio began appointing radicals to various positions in the city administration and thus Bill Chong was appointed to the post of commissioner of the Department of Youth and Community Development of New York. In the spring, Kiki Motley became the new assistant mayor, and she was also an activist against racism and the unfair attitude of the police towards blacks.

On April 15, 2014, the de Blasio administration announced the dissolution of the Demographic Division of the New York City Police, which was tasked with monitoring the daily life of Muslims and the content of sermons delivered in mosques in order to identify emerging terrorist threats .Officers infiltrated Muslim student groups, monitored sermons and compiled a catalog of Muslims in New York who had adopted new, Americanized surnames.

"De Blasio described the termination of the demographic units as “a critical step forward in easing tensions between the police and the communities they serve, so that our police officers and our citizens can help each other in the fight against the real bad guys.”  

“a critical step forward in easing tensions between the police and the communities they serve, so that our police officers and our citizens can help each other in the fight against the real bad guys.”  

New policy on student discipline

Photo of Bill de Blasio taken by paparazzi

On February 13, 2015, the de Blasio administration announced that starting in the spring, changes will be made to the disciplinary code governing New York City public schools.It was recorded that many children-disproportionately black and Hispanic-were unreasonably suspended for a long time after committing relatively minor offenses. de Blasio demanded that school principals receive the approval of the central office of the Department of Education before any student could be suspended from classes. The new rules also required the NYPD to track and report any cases where a student was handcuffed.

On February 17, 2015, Mayor de Blasio's office published a 2015 report by the New York City Climate Change Group, which predicted that by the 2050s, the annual temperature would rise by 4.1-5.7 degrees. To eliminate these threats, the mayor promised to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the city by 80 percent.

 In April 2015, de Blasio, who paid a tax rate of 20.3% of his income for 2014, told an audience at the University of Nebraska that “millionaires” should be required to pay more income taxes. "Whenever the rich don't pay their fair share of taxes, there are consequences,” he said. ”This means that we underestimate something else."

Bill de Blasio participates in environmental protection programs

In March 2016, Mayor de Blasio signed an order allowing people at city facilities (playgrounds, swimming pools, offices, recreation centers) to use toilets or changing rooms that correspond to their gender identity, without having to show identification documents or any other proof of gender. "Access to bathrooms and other facilities for same-sex relationships is a fundamental human right that should not be restricted or denied to any person," the mayor said. “Every New Yorker should feel safe in our city, and this begins with the buildings of our city."

"Whenever the rich don't pay their fair share of taxes, there are consequences"

The failed Presidential campaign

On May 16, 2019, de Blasio announced that he would seek the Democratic presidential nomination. During his election campaign, he tried to position himself as a progressive.However, due to low ratings, De Blasio was unable to pass the threshold and participate in the primary debates . After failing to qualify for the third round of debates, de Blasio ended his campaign on September 20, 2019.

Discussion of racial differences in coronavirus mortality

In April 2020, de Blasio reacted with outrage to a report that blacks and Latinos in New York were dying from COVID-19 at a rate that was disproportionately higher than that of whites.To remedy the situation, de Blasio announced a plan aimed at reducing racial and ethnic differences in deaths from COVID-19. It included a massive awareness-raising initiative, the expansion of telemedicine services and a multimillion-dollar advertising campaign in 14 languages. “I think one thing is clear ... people who received less medical care are more vulnerable” " the mayor said. “If, throughout your life, you have not received the help you deserved, or if you had pre-existing conditions that were not resolved as they could have been if you had more resources. Because, again, health care in this country still depends on how much money you have.”

De Blasio on the riots in the United States 2020-2021

Bill de Blasio and other famous people wrote the inscription Black lives matter

After the death of George Floyd on May 25, 2020 — a black man who died after being physically assaulted by a white police officer in Minneapolis — a number of US cities were gripped by violent riots led by Black Lives Matter and Antifa. De Blasio joined this movement when, at a press conference on June 7, he announced a plan to " direct funding to the NYPD for youth initiatives and social services." "The details will be worked out as part of the budget process in the coming weeks,” he added. “But I want people to understand that we are trying to reallocate resources to ensure that attention is focused on our young people." “This is just the beginning” " the mayor continued.

Bill de Blasio himself helped draw words on the street near Trump Tower, as did his wife, Chirlane McCray, and other actors.

But I want people to understand that we are trying to reallocate resources to ensure that attention is focused on our young people." “This is just the beginning”

Personal life

De Blasio is married to Chirlane McCray (born in 1954). She is a writer, poet, editor, professional publicist and public figure. In 1979, she made a coming out by publishing a loud essay in the Essence edition entitled "I am a lesbian" Today, answering questions about her sexual orientation, McCray says that she "hates labels" and refuses to use the phrase "bisexual".. They met in 1991, when they both worked in the administration of Mayor David Dinkins. At that time, Bill was an assistant to the deputy mayor, and Chirlane was the mayor's speechwriter. They were married in 1994 in Brooklyn's Prospect Park. Bill and Chirlane have two children, a son Dante and a daughter Chiara. De Blasio permanently resides in Brooklyn, in the Park Slope area.

Bill de Blasio with his wife and children