Marty bids Brooklyn Borough Hall a fond adieu at his final tree lighting
Remembers Nelson Mandela, thanks supporters
In below-freezing temperatures Tuesday night, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz presided over his last Borough Hall Christmas tree lighting in a ceremony filled with steel pan music, kids and warm memories. The lighting was dedicated to Nelson Mandela.
Markowitz thanked his staff and supporters for standing by his side throughout his tenure, and pointed to the borough’s incoming officials as proof of the multicultural future of Brooklyn.
“We are blessed to live in Nelson Mandela’s time,” Markowitz told the crowd assembled in the whipping wind outside Borough Hall. The fact that the incoming Brooklyn Borough President, Brooklyn District Attorney and NYC Public Advocate are African-American, and that Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio belongs to a famously mixed-race family, “indicates all that Nelson Mandela gave his life for,” Markowitz said.