This was strange, even for a mayor who once declared – seven years after his term – that New York should be saved while standing under a model blue whale.
For one thing, Bill de Blasio’s eighth and final State of the City speech wasn’t even a speech.
No part of the presentation was live.
And during the entire 28-minute pre-recorded online affair, Hizzoner never once turned to the camera to address the audience directly.
Instead, New Yorkers (if more than journalists were paid to make sure they were paid) were treated to often generic images from all over the city – sometimes scenes from pre-pandemic life were shockingly mixed with the images that were evident created after the coronavirus struck – while de Blasio played the narrator.
Generic stock music playing in the background. Occasionally text flashed on the screen as de Blasio set out his 2021 agenda under the banner of ‘A Recovery for All of Us’.
“The future starts here in New York City. It’s the place people should come, it’s the place people should invest, ”Hizzoner said towards the end of the 30-minute commercial. “We will show the world every day.”
An hour after the video was posted online, it had only been viewed 423 times.