Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Delivers Remarks At New York City Bike Expo To Launch Fourth Annual Campagnolo Gran Fondo New York

May 16, 2014

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Well thank you everyone. This is a special treat to be a part of this wonderful event today. I say benvenuti a tutti.

[Applause]

And I want to thank everyone. I want to thank Campagnolo for their sponsorship of this wonderful event. Obviously to Lidia and Uli, who have created something wonderful for everyone, but especially for New York. Let’s give them a round of applause to thank them for all they have done.

[Applause]

And Lidia is very smart because anyone who tells me my grandfather’s hometown is beautiful has already won my heart. So thank you. And to Natalia, who is a great friend, and everyone at the consulate who does great work on behalf of the Italian community in New York and with the Italian-American community as well. This is a great day. I have the honor today of not only being here for this expo, but also I’m seeing later in the day the Italian foreign minister and the ambassador to the United States, which is a special honor for me as an Italian-American. So this is a day when I get to celebrate my roots, but a lot of people are celebrating not just this wonderful Italian contribution to New York City, but everything that the Gran Fondo is as a celebration of cycling, as a celebration of New York, as an extraordinary international event. And something that is literally attracting thousands of people from around the world, for something that’s really only been created in the last few years and already has caught fire. And that is a classic example of the creativity and the entrepreneurship and the spark that comes with New York City, people being able to create something brand new that suddenly becomes something that thousands and thousands of people make a part of their lives. So this is a wonderful New York story.

As you heard, I am very, very proud of my heritage. It’s something that is important to me every single day of my life. And it’s important to my family and I always say that in a past life, Chirlane must have been Italian because she readily agreed to name our children Dante and Chiara.

[Applause]

But this event is obviously for everyone. People coming from nations all over the world, New Yorkers of every background joining together in one of the great cycling events. The reason it is catching so much energy is it’s something people love to do. And the Gran Fondo style is something that is energizing the people it’s  involving. And the fact that it’s here in the greatest city in the world makes it even more special. So people are coming from all over. They’re giving even more energy and momentum to our growing tourism industry, which we’re very, very appreciative of. And everyone who comes here – I think we can admit when people come to New York City, they keep coming back after. So you’ve also given a great gift to New York City. And to everyone who is a part of this, we want to say thank you because you’re drawing people to New York and then we know they’ll be hooked and they’ll keep coming back.

Now I know a lot of people are preparing for Sunday. You’re conserving your energy. But I hope in the meantime you’ll get all over the five boroughs, see the extraordinary things we have to offer, realize that New York City is a great cycling town. In the last ten years, cycling in New York City has quadrupled – 900 miles of bike lanes and growing. Cycling is safer than ever and we are going further to ensure the safety of cyclists, the safety of pedestrians, the safety of all New Yorkers with our Vision Zero strategy, which we borrowed from our friends in Sweden. And we’re using it to enforce the laws better, to change our traffic patterns, to educate our people, to protect all New Yorkers in a way that is working already and making the city safer.

I will finally say that we are gathered together not only for this great expo, but it happens to be – we’ll see how many people in the room knew this – today happens to be National  Bike to Work day. Let’s hear a round of applause for National Bike to Work day.

[Applause]

And this is a great city to bike to work in, and I will state the obvious. It’s our job to make that a safe and positive experience. But everyone who bikes to work is doing something good for the earth, for the environment, and we commend you and thank you. And it’s our job to make it work well for you.

With that, I say to everyone who’s participating in Gran Fondo, I feel a great – I wish I could cycle with you. I’m going to be having vicarious pleasure from all the cyclists. The Gran Fondo is going to be amazing. I’m thrilled you’re here enjoying it with us. And I wish everyone buona fortuna. And I give you the instruction vanno velocissime.

[Applause]

That means go fast.