"President Biden has taken office, and Donald Trump has left it. Given the events of the past four years and the past two weeks, we cannot underestimate or overstate the importance of our institutions holding well enough to remove a tyrant. With President Biden, Vice President Harris, and their administration taking office, we can minimally begin the long and difficult work of undoing the harm inflicted by the man who occupied that office for four years, and by his enablers. But we know, too, that we cannot simply go back - we can neither erase the pain and suffering of the last four years nor find ourselves content to return to the levels of pain and suffering that existed before it. We have to move forward with humanity and purpose, pushing for progress through established impediments and often against political winds.
"For New York City and for our nation, in the next one hundred days, the next four years, we must continue the pursuit of equity and justice, lifting up the vulnerable and victimized. We face a long recovery from compounding crises, but today the ongoing crisis, the existential threat, that was the Donald Trump presidency came to an end, and for that I am grateful and relieved. Now, we may allow ourselves a brief moment, a breath - and then we will continue the work."