Bill de Blasio: “President Weinstein was my first serious elected office”

Former New York City mayor and NYU alumnus Bill de Blasio spoke to WSN about his career and time at the university, then spoke at a health equity event at the Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.

On Thursday, February 9, former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, dressed in a navy blue suit and bright yellow tie, addressed a crowd of about 50 people about health equity in the city and beyond. de Blasio, who recently started teaching at the Higher School of Public Administration. Wagner at New York University spoke about improving access to healthcare among historically low-income communities and increasing investment in education and health care.

De Blasio also spoke about access to mental health care at an event hosted by the Wagner School. He said he believes different communities should have access to mental health providers who share their life experiences.

“We will not achieve health equity in any form, form or form for immigrant communities and communities of color unless [a universal health care system] is being built proactively and with grassroots participation,” de Blasio said at the event. “The way to solve these problems is not to say, ‘Hey, can we flip the switch on fundamental inequality in America?’ Not as much as we would like, but we must continue in the same spirit.

He also spoke about expanding national access to early childhood education and improving working conditions for educators across the country. Throughout his term as mayor, de Blasio has been at the forefront of New York’s universal pre-K program and helped make childcare free for 100,000 children in the city.

Prior to the event, de Blasio spoke to WSN about his experience as mayor, his time at NYU and how he became a professor at Wagner. He said that although he was accepted to other universities, he chose New York University to graduate because of the university’s relationship with New York.

“I spent four years in the Weinstein dorm, which makes me a very rare person because a lot of people want to get the hell out of there,” he said. “I was also the president of the Weinstein dorm for one year – it was probably my first serious elected position.”

This semester he is teaching Public Policy Topics at the Wagner School and will be giving other lectures at the university. He has said that he enjoys dialogue with his students rather than lecturing, and encourages his students to ask tough questions.

“Another hopefully secret sauce here is that I hear doubt in the voices of many of the students I talk to about what the future holds for them, how they can succeed, how they can make an impact.” de, said Blasio. “Some things seem very overwhelming and I love being able to demystify and kind of say everything will be fine.”

De Blasio added that the transition from mayor of New York City – a position he held from 2014 to 2021 – to a political break and a professorship at New York University was unexpected but welcome nonetheless.

He said that while he originally planned to take another elective office at the end of his tenure as mayor, friends and family urged him to take a break and he does not regret the decision. De Blasio added that his experience as mayor has taught him to learn from his mistakes, and he hopes to apply that skill to his professorship.

“You learn things along the way and then make adjustments,” de Blasio said. “If something works really well, you do more. If something doesn’t work very well, you try not to do it again.”

Contact Clara Spray at [email protected]