A landslide of votes for Bill de Blasio has got him elected mayor of New York, the first Democrat in two decades. Largely, the overwhelming support came from citizens hungry for a shift away from policies that benefited the rich more than people with middle or low incomes.<br /><br />He and spouse Chirlane McCray, a poet and social activist who used to only date women, have a son and daughter together, Chiara, 18, and Dante, 16. They also helped their dad’s campaign, which pointedly criticised outgoing mayor Michael Bloomberg.<br /><br />De Blasio said: “I think the people in this city know that so many New Yorkers are struggling just to make ends-meet and we need to make very serious progressive change, and move away from Bloomberg-era policies, and I’m ready to do it, and I need the support of New Yorkers to get it done.”<br /><br />Twelve years under the Republican whom de Blasio is replacing saw New York develop economically, saw crime lower and tourism rise, but also saw inequality boom during that time – the wealth gap widen.<br /><br />The city’s 8.3 million population includes 400,000 dollar millionaires and one million, seven hundred thousand poor people.<br /><br />De Blasio has promised to fund pre-school from age four by raising taxes on annual incomes higher than the equivalent of 375,000 euros. <br /><br />He is also committed to evening special education programmes and investing in neighbourhood hospitals, building 200,000 subsidised housing units and replacing the chief of police, curbing police stop-and-frisk practices that many people feel are based on racial profiling in a very multi-racial, multi-cultural metropolis.<br /><br />Non-Hispanic whites make up one third of New York City, with Hispanics and African Americans and Asians far more numerous.<br /><br />Bill de Blasio’s father was American of German origins but he was raised by his Italian-heritage mother, and he eventually chose her name as his. He did his B.A. at New York University, and a Master of International Affairs from Columbia University, focusing on Latin America.
