Mayor To Push Gun Control

During the first day of 2006, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg delivered his second Inaugural address declaring that New York City is stronger today then it was four years ago, but there is still a long way to go and many opportunities to improve.
“Our population is at an all-time high,” Bloomberg said. “Crime is going down; student achievement is going up; jobs are being created; new homes and parks are strengthening and revitalizing our neighborhoods.”
The most urgent issue that Bloomberg spoke about during his address centered on ending the threat of gun violence throughout city specifically in response to the two NYPD officers who were shot and killed in December.
Bloomberg stressed that he will take this issue to Albany, Washington and state capitals that allow guns to “flow freely across its borders” to prevent future incidents.
“And to those who distort our laws to aid and abet hardened criminals, know this: We will not rest until we secure all of the tools we need to protect New Yorkers from the scourge of illegal guns,” he said. “Public safety is the foundation of our city’s prosperity. Without it, our quality of life, our economy, our efforts to reform the schools would surely falter.”
When Bloomberg took office, only a few months after September 11, 2001, improving the city’s economy was one of his biggest challenges and top priorities.
“Because we’ve stimulated growth in all five boroughs, today, by contrast, our economy is once again moving forward,” Bloomberg said. “Over the next four years, we will aggressively foster small business start-ups and expansion, and promote our growth industries - from tourism, to the arts, to the life sciences.”
Although Bloomberg praised the progress the city has made regarding public education, he wants NYC public schools to serve as a model for schools throughout the country.
“Our mission over the next four years will be: To create - from pre-school through high school - a public education system second to none,” Bloomberg said. “We will strengthen the three pillars of our school reform: Leadership, accountability, and empowerment, putting resources and authority where they belong: in the schools of our city.
Bloomberg believes that possibility, opportunity and ambitions are what make New York City unique.
“Our job, yours and mine, is to give every single New Yorker the chance to realize… ambitions and pursue … dreams.”