Mayor DeBlasio On His Vacation

Mayor DeBlasio with Fr. Pietro Parolin at the Vatican. Photo credit: L’Osservatore Romano, via Associated Press

Mayor DeBlasio had these remarks for reporters yesterday at the Fiumicino Airport in Italy, where he landed after cutting his vacation short by a day as a result of the tragic death of a Staten Island man at the hands of the NYPD.  He state he would be “in constant touch with the team at City Hall” but is also trying to get a little break:

Question: Mr. Mayor, you’ve been getting a lot of heat in New York because of the length of your vacation. On the other hand, in the Italian press, they seem to be laughing at the notion that the nine-day vacation is a long vacation.

Mayor: We have a lot to learn from the Italians.

Mayor: I think time with family is crucial and precious in life and for the last couple of years that’s been hard to come by. And this is also very personal for us because we’re going to be tonight, we’re having dinner with our family in Rome. Then we’re going to my grandfather’s hometown in a few days, we’re going to my grandmother’s hometown, so this is an amazing moment for our family to experience this together, and it’s been something we’ve waited for years to do so I think it’s quite normal. But the important thing is that we’ll be heavily monitoring whatever is happening in the city and we’ll be acting accordingly.