NEW YORK—On the morning after his historic landslide victory, Mayor-Elect Bill de Blasio wasted no time preparing to take office.
De Blasio rolled out his transition team after meeting with the current mayor, Michael Bloomberg.
“Today is the first day of an eight week sprint,” de Blasio said at the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies on Wednesday morning. “We are hitting the ground running.”
De Blasio launched a transition website as well as a Twitter handle, @nyctransition. The site offers a place for citizens to apply for jobs in the administration as well as give input to how they want to see things run.
For his first order of business, de Blasio appointed two co-chairs and two senior staff members to his transition team. Jennifer Jones Austin, chief executive officer of the Federeation of Protestant Welfare Agencies, and Carl Weisbrod, who was in charge of reviving Times Square in the early 1990’s, will chair the team.
Laura Santucci, who recently served as acting executive director of the Democratic National Party, and Ursulina Ramirez, who works with de Blasio in his pubic advocate’s office, will serve as senior staff.
With police and school reform at the top of de Blasio’s agenda, filling the role of police commissioner and a schools chancellor will be top priorities, but no timeline has been set.
“We are not yet at the point of defining exact timelines for each, but we know we need to move on them quickly,” de Basio said.
De Blasio said finding a First Deputy Mayor would be critical, but gave no names of who he was considering.
De Blasio started his day by meeting with Bloomberg in the City Hall bullpen. The two met for a little over an hour with de Blasio calling the conversation cordial and collegial.
“It is obvious this is going to be a smooth and productive transition,” de Blasio said. “I want to thank him for the spirit in which he is approaching this. And for the helpful advice he gave this morning.”
The mayor-elect will head to Puerto Rico for the Somos el Futero conference beginning Thursday. The annual conference will feature a bevy of state lawmakers and de Blasio is expected to speak.
While his transition team is hard at work, de Blasio said he will take a few extra days in Puerto Rico for a short vacation with his wife, Chirlane McCray.
