Photo: Getty Images Last June, amid protests against police brutality and a larger reckoning with systemic racism in American life, New York mayor Bill de Blasio made a promise to municipal workers and public-school students. “Starting next year, Juneteenth will be an official city holiday and official New York City schools holiday,” de Blasio said. Commemorating the end of slavery in the United States would be “an opportunity to reflect on the meaning of our history.
The de Blasio administration had a full year to figure out the particulars and make the vow a reality. But The City reported earlier this year that, as of January, the mayor’s office hadn’t contacted the city’s teachers union about the day off. The Times notes that “granting workers an extra day off required labor negotiations, in part because unions were expected to help pay for the expense.” Since those talks never happened, neither did the holiday.
And what about his promise to build a lot of (truly) affordable housing & those serious health-related city housing issues he promised to fix? What has he done outside the issue of preschool?
The mayor also reneged on his pledge to stop unlawful stop/frisk & stop the rampant abuse inside city jails.