Former Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia promises to address NYC ‘s--t-show’ if elected mayor
Former Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia had a blunt message as she officially kicked off her mayoral campaign.
“The next mayor is going to inherit a s--t-show, a deficit that is in the multiple billions of dollars — worse than the 1970s,” she said in a video released Thursday.
Listing her recent accomplishments, she added, “I’ve been the go-to crisis manager. I know how to get it done.”
Garcia promised to use the same pragmatic approach that she brought to challenges from collecting the garbage to getting free meals to New Yorkers during the pandemic if elected mayor.
But there was no mention of her boss during those undertakings, Mayor de Blasio.
Garcia appears to be betting that voters in the June Democratic primary will be willing to separate her accomplishments from the politician for whom she worked for about seven years.
“The next mayor will either make or break this city,” she said during a speech delivered over Zoom. “We must have an experienced hand on the wheel, and you won’t find a candidate who has more experience with New York City government than me.”
Garcia joined de Blasio early in his administration, becoming sanitation commissioner in April 2014 and resigning in September. Along the way, she also served as acting commissioner of the city’s beleaguered public housing authority during an emergency effort to address widespread lead paint problems.
Most recently, Garcia was de Blasio’s “food czar,” overseeing the city’s efforts to get millions of meals to New Yorkers reeling from the economic effects of the coronavirus outbreak.
“Those who have worked with me over the years know me as someone who gets things done. I’ve been the go-to crisis manager and the woman who can’t say no to a tough gig, and then does it well,” Garcia said.
She outlined three priorities if elected mayor: “a strong recovery, excellent basic services and fighting climate change.” Her planks ranged from general goals like boosting economic opportunity and cutting government waste to specifics like universal broadband internet and free child care “for the most vulnerable families.”
Garcia, 50, who is white, made a passing reference to the fact every mayor in city history has been a man.
“The mayor of New York must do her job — by the way, how groundbreaking does that sound? — within the constraints of the city budget,” said Garcia, who was chief operating officer of the Department of Environmental Protection during the Bloomberg administration.
She was decidedly harsh on de Blasio at the first candidate forum of the Democratic contest.
“I saw first-hand a mayor who was unprepared to deal with this crisis, who responds to headlines and who made budget cuts that hurt our city, its people and its very foundations,” Garcia said in October.
She’s not the only candidate who will have to grapple with New Yorkers’ mixed feelings about the incumbent. De Blasio’s former legal adviser Maya Wiley and ex-Veterans Affairs Commissioner Loree Sutton are also in the race.
Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, ex-Citigroup exec Ray McGuire, City Councilman Carlos Menchaca, former nonprofit CEO Dianne Morales and Comptroller Scott Stringer are also running for the Democratic nomination. The winner of the primary is all but sure to win the general election in November.
