In his first year in office, Bill de Blasio created a universal prekindergarten program, curtailed stop-and-frisk policing, pushed the Rent Guidelines Board to approve its lowest-ever hikes, began a $41 billion affordable-housing program, and signed an executive order raising wages for retail and fast-food workers. Mike Bloomberg, in his first year, put city schools under mayoral control for the first time, banned smoking in bars and restaurants, began the rebuilding of lower Manhattan after 9/11, raised property taxes to plug an enormous budget gap, and opened a shelter for homeless families in a converted jail.

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