New York City Mayor de Blasio begins second term with inaugural ceremony
NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- Mayor Bill de Blasio began his second term with a frigid swearing-in ceremony at New York City Hall on New Year's Day.
The ceremony was much smaller and much colder than his 2014 inauguration. De Blasio opened by asking the audience, bundled up with temperatures in the teens, if they wanted him to deliver a short speech. They did, and he promised to deliver.
FULL REMARKS OF MAYOR DE BLASIO
De Blasio hailed the record low murder rate in the city as we start the New Year.
"We are the safest big city in America," he said. "We are safer than any time since the 1950s."
The mayor touted neighborhood policing and changes made by his administration in delivering those low crime stats. He predicted those changes would be adopted by other big cities across the country.
As a national leader in progressive politics, de Blasio said he envisions a city that serves more than the elite and Wall Street titans.
"The deepest, truest stakeholders of this town are the people who do the work, who every day make this city come to life but have too often not reaped the rewards," he said. "We have a responsibility, every one of us, to ensure that New York remains a beacon to our nation and to our world."
De Blasio was easily re-elected in November, becoming the first Democrat to be re-elected in New York since Edward Koch in 1985.
He touted first-term successes in providing universal pre-kindergarten for 4-year-olds and cited investments in affordable housing and efforts to reduce crime and make the city affordable for all residents.
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, a Brooklyn native, officiated the swearing-in.
"By Vermont standards this is a warm and pleasant afternoon," Sanders, joked the crowd at City Hall Park.
Sanders, an independent who made an unsuccessful bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016, praised de Blasio's work on providing pre-kindergarten education and other progressive issues.
FULL REMARKS OF SENATOR SANDERS
Monday's event was ceremonial. De Blasio was officially sworn in New Year's Eve during a private ceremony. Hundreds of people attended the reception at Gracie Mansion where de Blasio paid the $9 filing fee in cash after taking the oath of office.
Public Advocate Letitia James and Comptroller Scott Stringer were also sworn in for second terms during the New Year's Day ceremony.
WATCH THE FULL CEREMONY BELOW:
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