NYC Celebrates Mayor Quitting Race With Bubbly Outside City Hall

NEW YORK, NY —The pranksters who tried to stop Mayor Bill de Blasio from running for president at his gym in Park Slope celebrated the New York City mayor's long-shot candidacy for the Oval Office ending on Friday with a bottle of champagne.

Which appeared, of course, outside City Hall.

The celebratory set-up — adorned with a "Mission Accomplished" sign by the group that called themselves "de Blasio for Resident" — echoed the thoughts of most New Yorkers who took to Twitter or spoke with Patch about the end of the Mayor Bill de Blasio’s presidential bid, which he announced Friday morning.

"Its about time," longtime Park Slope resident Claire Dougherty said outside the Prospect Park YMCA, where the mayor famously works out a few times a week. "I like his politics, (but) I think he had his own agenda."

The Park Slope gym has been the sight of much of the mocking de Blasio has endured during his four-month stint in the race. Before he announced, flyers warning gym members not to run for president were posted on the gym doors and, just recently, a concession speech podium with a sign saying "I'm Dropping Out" were set up.

But other New Yorkers also got in on the jabs, like residents from Billionaires Row who trolled the mayor with billboards against a homeless shelter the administration plans to locate on West 58th Street. Just Thursday, dozens of community gardeners accosted him, chanting "shame on you" when he walked by their rally against new city rules for the green oases.

Dougherty, like many Park Slopers Patch spoke with, said the "agenda" she thought the mayor was chasing was raising his own profile, rather than an actual goal to become president.

The sentiment was not unlike New Yorkers' reaction back when de Blasio first entered the crowded slate of Democratic primary candidates in May. Some New Yorkers then told Patch it seemed like an "ego-driven" move.

"It's hard to understand," Phil Yockey, another Park Sloper, said Friday. "I think he's lost a lost of credibility."

When asked if he supported de Blasio becoming president, Yockey said "I don't think anyone in this neighborhood does."

De Blasio struggled to make a dent in poll numbers even before he officially entered the race. He first acknowledged that he may drop out after he missed the cut for the third round of debates last month.

"I feel like I've contributed all I can to this primary election, and it's clearly not my time," he said on the morning talk show. "So I'm going to end my presidential campaign — continue my work as mayor of New York City."

The mayor vowed to continue "fighting for working people" with policies like guaranteed paid leave and universal health care.

But some New Yorkers — who were irked by him leaving New York City to campaign in the first place — were skeptical if de Blasio would make a difference on at-home issues they cared about like mass transit problems, spikes in cyclist deaths or a housing and homelessness crisis.

"I don't think he's been very attentive to the needs of the city," Park Sloper Mary Morris said, noting that she felt he didn't seem focused even before the presidential bid.

One Twitter user, Loren S., wrote on Twitter now that the mayor has dropped out, "can he also resign as Mayor?"