Sen. Chuck Schumer Awarded Key To The City By Mayor De Blasio

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN — Park Slope's own Chuck Schumer was given a parting gift from Mayor Bill de Blasio this week — a key to the city.

The mayor awarded the senate majority leader a ceremonial key to New York City on Wednesday during one of his last press conferences as the city's top elected official. The key is the second de Blasio awarded this week as he wraps up his tenure.

"There’s no finer public servant that this city has produced literally in our entire history," an emotional de Blasio said of Schumer. "...He has dealt with a crisis beyond any of our imagination and if he weren’t there this country would not be able to get through what we got through already — that is a guarantee. This city was saved in so many ways by his action."

De Blasio, a fellow Park Sloper, pointed specifically to Schumer's work securing federal funds for New York City during the worst days of the coronavirus crisis.

Schumer grew up in Brooklyn and represented parts of the borough as a New York state assembly member and U.S. representative before becoming one of the state's two U.S. senators in 1998. He has served as minority leader, and now majority leader in the legislative body.

"It is truly an honor to receive this key to the city I love so dearly and have lived in my whole life," Schumer said Wednesday. "...I will never ever stop fighting for New York as long as I have air in my lungs. That’s what I love to do, that’s what gives me joy and satisfaction — the love of the greatest city in the world."

The senator is the second Brooklynite to be given a key to the city by the mayor this week, who awarded the honor to legendary director Spike Lee on Tuesday. De Blasio also awarded music mogul and Brooklynite Clive Davis a key to the city in November.

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