Former de Blasio appointee Maya Wiley officially announced her bid for mayor on Thursday drawing a clear line between the leadership of her old boss and how she hopes to govern the city.
Wiley, who once served as chair of the Civilian Complaint Review Board, promised New Yorkers decisive leadership and aggressive policies toward police reform as well as funding mass transit before onlookers at the Brooklyn Museum.
“I don’t have experience accepting bad deals, I don’t have experience campaigning across all boroughs of this city but only showing up when it’s convenient. I don’t have experience in being so afraid to make a wrong decision that I make no decision at all,” Wiley said.
Also unlike Mayor Bill de Blasio, Wiley says her campaign will not be accepting any contributions from the real estate industry or other lobbyists. On the matter of the SoHo rezoning, however, Wiley did not give an affirmative whether or not she supported lifting the manufacturing and artist studio zoning on the affluent neighborhood which the de Blasio administration believes could create more affordable housing in Lower Manhattan.
Yet another departure from de Blasio, Wiley said an administration led by her would fund would pitch in keeping the city’s mass transit systems delivering. The current administration has often taken a cautionary role in contributing to the MTA and while the mayor has implemented extensive changes to roadways through Vision Zero, many safe streets advocates have been cynical of de Blasio’s commitment to areas of interest such as the Queens Boulevard bike lane and the bike space on the Queensboro Bridge.
“We need are a city that needs to put our folks back to work and one of the ways we need to do that is by funding public transportation that gets our people where they need to go and gets them there on time,” Wiley said. “That means saving our subways but it also means more bus routes and really thinking seriously about what a 20-second transportation system looks like in this city. And, yes, it does include bike lanes.”
According to Wiley, disgraced NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo who killed Eric Garner in 2014 after placing him in an illegal chokehold would have been fired sooner and not been allowed to remain on the force – and collecting a raise – for over five years.
“As someone who worked in City Hall, I know what could have exactly happened if I was mayor. Daniel Pantaleo would have been off the force much sooner,” Wiley continued.
Wiley, at this time, will face off against city Comptroller Scott Stringer who made his own announcement in September.
