Mayoral Candidate Maya Wiley kicked off her campaign on Brooklyn territory in what’s bound to be an amazingly packed race to take the city’s reins and lead it out of the ‘crisis’ age next year.
From the artistic steps of the famed Brooklyn Museum, located on 200 Eastern Parkway, Thursday October 8, Wiley gathered family, friends, and city officials, such as Councilmember Stephen T. Levin (D-Boerum Hill, Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn Navy Yard, Downtown Brooklyn, Dumbo, Fulton Ferry, Greenpoint, Vinegar Hill, Williamsburg) from across the boroughs to support her run to replace current Mayor Bill De Blasio.
“If I’m Mayor, I may make mistakes but I promise you this, I will give this job all of me. Because the person standing here before you today,” said Wiley in her speech, “ is the same as that little girl on that Amtrak train, holding a hot dog, sitting next to her big brother, thinking this city with all its grit and in all its glory is the most magical place I have ever seen. I believe in New York, because I believe in New Yorkers, and because I know we will show this world what we can do just how committed we are to each other and to our city.”
Wiley was Counsel to the Mayor and former Chair of the Civilian Complaint Review Board, presenting herself as a fierce racial justice and equity advocate.
In her speech, Wiley took a few softball shots at De Blasio, saying that she didn’t have experience “being so afraid to make a wrong decision that [she] made no decision at all.” She said she won’t only show up when it’s convenient, and people won’t have to wonder who is in charge or if they matter.
Wiley, as a non-native New Yorker, also spoke of falling in love with the city as a child and embracing it’s beauty and grit over the years. She spoke to surviving hardship and loss with her brother, Dan, after her father’s death and likened that to the current situation the city is struggling through.
“As I stand here today, we are a city in pain. We are mourning 24,000 of our neighbors, our friends are loved ones. 24,000 that is more people that we can fit in Madison Square Garden,” said Wiley. “I know what it feels like to lose someone close. Someone irreplaceable. Someone who means the whole world. That whole remains in our hearts long after the world has moved on. Watching a loved one die and knowing you can’t help. I’ve lived that pain. I live it still.”
The rest of the speakers neatly represented the boroughs of Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx, and Manhattan, symbolic of a unity among them coming together to promote Wiley.
Levin said that he is close with Wiley’s brother and feels like she is the candidate that most aligns with his ideals since Speaker Corey Johnson dropped out of the race. “Senator Harris said that last line in the debate. The people deserved to hear the truth. And everything in Maya’s career and everything in her life demonstrates that she has that principled [core]. That she’s willing to stand up and speak truth to power, she’s willing to take on unpopular positions. She’s willing to take on the tough jobs, you can see by leading the [Civilian Complaint Review Board] CCRB,” said Levin.
“Couldn’t get a more politically fraught position in the City of New York. She took that on. With real principle. And that’s the kind of leadership that we can expect in Maya and that’s the kind of leadership we need in our next mayor,” said Levin.
“When we’re talking about doing something different Maya’s experience and career makes clear that she knows the policy but she also personifies that change. We’re sitting here in New York City, New York City of all places. We pride ourselves in our diversity and yet in history we have had one mayor of color, for one term, and zero female leaders of our city. That ain’t right and Maya Wiley is going to change that once and for all in 2021,” said Deputy Majority Leader and Senator Michael Gianaris (D, WF, Queens).
“At this moment in time. We need transformational leadership,” said Assemblymember Michael Blake (D-Bronx). “We don’t need easy. We need to do what’s right. We don’t need traditional, we need transformation. To my fellow men, it’s time to say that you’re a man and a feminist at the same time. To my fellow Democrats, we can’t keep saying that Black women are the backbone of our party, but you won’t support them to be mayor of New York City. To my fellow people we know when we have a woman who is empowered and supported and selected we all succeed and we understand that it’s our time to end the injustice and the racism and sexism and exist in New York City.”
Councilmember Helen Rosenthal (D-Manhattan) referenced the controversial De Blasio decision to unexpectedly move over 200 homeless men, who had been sheltering in hotels during the COVID-19 crisis.
“She said if Randy Mastro were to call when I’m Mayor,” said Rosenthal describing what Wiley would have done differently in that situation. “I would tell my staff to take a message. Which is the right answer. And some may be reading the post and think that the Upper West Side wants somebody who’s gonna take Randy Mastro’s call, but I can tell you with my lived experience, when I had the opportunity to stand up on a principle position and there were loud people who did not like what I was saying or doing the voters turned out. And upper west side voters voted for the person who stood for what’s right.”
