De Blasio's First 100 Days: 3 Successes, 3 Failures

In 2002, 100 days into what would eventually be three terms in office, former mayor Michael Bloomberg gave a speech, much like the one that Mayor Bill de Blasio will deliver today—a recap of his first three months in office, and a blueprint for his political agenda.  

 “What did I do in the first 100 days?” Bloomberg asked during the speech. “I think the answer is, I got ready for the next 1,000.”

In some ways, de Blasio has done the same, especially in pushing his vaunted universal pre-K program—an initiative where the benefits likely will not be seen for many years. In fact, many argue that de Blasio has focused too much on big picture items at the expense of more immediately urgent matters.

But consider the first 100 days in office a crash course of sorts for de Blasio. He received a lesson in managerial minutiae in dealing with snow cleanup; he experienced his fair share of “gotcha” moments with the media; and he was schooled in the rules of Machiavellian politics by his “dear friend” Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

There were a fair share of early successes to go with these missteps, however, a number of which we took the opportunity to recap below.

Successes

1. Receiving $300 million from the state to fund his universal pre-K program.

From day one, Mayor de Blasio went to work pursuing his signature campaign promise to establish a full-day universal pre-K program for all 4-year olds, coupled with an afterschool program for middle school students. He did so through campaign style crowdsourcing, establishing, along with consulting firm Berlin Rosen, the UPKNYC nonprofit to drum up support from business and labor leaders, as well as elected officials. De Blasio also staunchly advocated for a proposed tax hike on high-income earners to pay for the $500 million program, a severe political miscalculation given Gov. Cuomo’s intransigence on raising taxes during an election year. In the end, the mayor got a chunk of the money he requested—enough to establish the pre-K component starting in September, but received no funding for afterschool and vague promises that the pre-K money would be recurring over the next five years. It was a victory of sorts, but one that expended much-needed political capital and juice in Albany.

2. Expanding paid sick leave legislation.

To be sure, de Blasio received a big assist from the newly progressive City Council on this one. New Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito made expanding paid sick leave her first legislative priority, pushing it across the finish line after the previous Council, led by former Council member Gale Brewer, laid the foundation for the current law by passing a more watered down version in 2013. Still, de Blasio has to share in the credit, in part because he played a huge behind-the-scenes role in making Mark-Viverito speaker, giving him a solid ally in moving progressive legislation. The question for paid sick now becomes, to the extent that employers will ignore the law, what are the consequences that the government will enforce?

3. Ending stop-and-frisk lawsuit; naming an Inspector General for the NYPD.

One of the successes of the Bloomberg administration was that New York City had never been safer under his watch. An unfortunate byproduct of that safety was the disproportionate number of minorities who were stopped and frisked by the New York Police Department, sparking an outcry that led to the Community Safety Act, which, among other things, established an inspector general for the NYPD. On this particular issue, Mayor de Blasio backed up his campaign promise to curb the unconstitutional use of stop-and-frisk, by ending a lawsuit filed by Bloomberg that challenged a federal court ruling against the controversial practice. De Blasio also made, by all accounts, a solid hire for the inspector general, tapping Philip Eure, who led the Office of Police Complaints in Washington D.C. Whether Eure’s looming presence over the NYPD leads to tangible results in the conduct of police officers remains to be seen, but public safety advocates believe this is a step in the right direction.

Failures

1. Underestimating the charter school lobby.

Mayor de Blasio campaigned on a moratorium for charter school co-locations and charging rent for charter schools in public spaces, as well as not letting Success Academy (and staunch Bloomberg ally) CEO Eva Moskowitz “have the run of City Hall”—words that came back to bite him. De Blasio denied Success three co-locations (he approved five other Success charters), forcing Moskowitz to run to her buddy Andrew Cuomo in Albany—a recipient of many charter-affiliated campaign donations—who undercut de Blasio by pledging to “save charter schools,” and enacting legislation that stripped the mayor of the power to deny co-locations. Meanwhile Moskowitz and her charter cohorts ran $5 million worth of ads attacking de Blasio for his charter school position, forcing de Blasio to strike a more conciliatory tone on charters, effectively conceding defeat on the issue. Between losing the charter battle and receiving only a chunk of the pre-K money he requested, de Blasio’s education agenda took a hit in the early months.

2. A lack of urgency on Sandy recovery.

The lackluster Sandy recovery effort has been perhaps the most egregious failure, in terms of governance, that the de Blasio administration has had thus far, if only because the mayor was well aware of the slow pace of rebuilding and recovery before he even took office. Sandy hit in October of 2012, and de Blasio has toured areas that were destroyed by the storm numerous times, even before taking office. So why then did it take three months for his administration to name its own Sandy recovery team? Why has the Build it Back program yielded construction of a mere six new homes despite having 20,000-plus applicants? Where is the resiliency plan to prevent the destruction from another “100 year” storm? The mayor is reportedly planning to release a more comprehensive Sandy recovery plan on April 11^th, but for the thousands of displaced homeowners in the city, he is about 101 days late.

3. Media mishaps.

In fairness to de Blasio, nearly every new mayor has experienced their fair share of growing pains in navigating the media gauntlet that is the New York City press corps. However, the mayor has been less than transparent on several seemingly minor issues, giving relatively meaningless stories extra legs, when simply being forthright in answering questions would serve him best. Specifically, de Blasio took a beating when, days after announcing his Vision Zero plan for traffic safety, the mayor was caught speeding in his police escort. De Blasio exacerbated the issue by initially dodging answering questions about the incident. The administration has also been seemingly stonewalling efforts by the media to find out what exactly happened when de Blasio placed a call to a police precinct inquiring about the arrest of Orlando Findlayter, a member of the clergy, and a member of the mayor’s transition team. By not responding swiftly to media FOIL requests, and giving vague information about the call, de Blasio has fed the appearance of impropriety. The mayor has also taken to doing media pools for some of his public events, a move that irks many in the press. De Blasio has also, at times, taken something of a condescending tone with reporters—something Bloomberg turned into an art form—though that is a more forgivable offense.