He doubled down on divisiveness.
Mayor de Blasio said he takes no issue with the harsh critiques of his predecessor’s administration at Wednesday’s inauguration — including by a government worker who called the city a “plantation.”
Department of Sanitation Chaplain Fred Lucas Jr. made the derisive remark about the state of the city with ex-Mayor Michael Bloomberg seated just feet away on the dais at City Hall.
“The individuals, the clerics who gave remarks . . . I respect each and every one of them and their right to say that which they feel is appropriate,” de Blasio said Thursday when asked specifically about Lucas’ words. “I am very comfortable with everyone’s remarks yesterday.”
A top Bloomberg deputy took to the airwaves to push back against the attacks.
Requesting airtime on WNYC radio, former Deputy Mayor Howard Wolfson took issue with entertainer Harry Belafonte’s claims Bloomberg had contributed to the nation’s high lockup rates of minorities.
In fact, Wolfson said, the incarceration rate plummeted in the city — even as crime was dropping.
“We reduced incarceration by about a third. We did substantially better than the rest of the nation. We didn’t lock more people up. We substantially locked up fewer people,’’ Wolfson pointed out.
Meanwhile, the street outside de Blasio’s Park Slope home was closed for a few hours Thursday afternoon while an NYPD guardhouse was installed. Cops are expected to staff it 24 hours a day to protect the mayor.
But de Blasio’s next-door neighbor Lourdes Leong isn’t happy.
“This is the worst thing. It’s an eyesore!” she said. “I used to like living here but not today.”
“I know the mayor needs security,” Leong said, but added, “Tell him to sell the house! It just doesn’t fit in Park Slope. That’s one less parking spot.”