Bill de Blasio

Dante works conscientiously on his hair. VERY conscientiously. He does not leave the house in the morning without carefully using his pick to strike a perfect geometric balance. I witnessed with my own eyes the President of the United States evaluating Dante’s Afro up close, and even the president admitted that the Afro of his youth was not as full and perfectly proportioned. So Dante has achieved something spectacular.

Di Fara Pizzeria in Midwood, Brooklyn. And to all the Manhattan foodies out there: it's not even close. This is clearly the best. And yes I'm from Brooklyn. PS: They use buffalo milk mozzarella, which is beloved in my grandfather's provence in Italy.

Although my mother was raised a Catholic, she did not bring me up in the Church. I considered myself a spiritual person but unaffiliated, and I was definitely vey influenced by the liberation theology movement in Latin America. And BOY am I a fan of Pope Francis!

I am working in my secret laboratory on a new land creation machine! Just kidding. My focus is on greatly increasing the amount of affordable housing — 200,000 units over the next 10 years. I want to see much more aggressive policies in terms of how the city works with the real estate industry. We don't have a methodology for lowering rents, but we can focus on creating more affordability, and strengthening our current rent regulation laws to protect the affordable housing we now have.

you betcha.

I have been shocked by how negative many Bloomberg policies have been towards small business. Some people think of him as a businessman mayor, but they need to understand he never owned a small business and doesn't have that perspective. From my point of view, small businesses are the ultimate grassroots job creation engine and also incredibly important to the character and strength of our neighborhoods. I considered years ago the concept of commercial rent control, and don't believe it's workable, but what we can do is end policies that hurt mom and pop stores like the constant and arbitrary fines the city government has levied and we can use zoning laws and tax policy over time to support family owned businesses. Very good example on upper west side over the last few years where changes in zoning made it harder for certain chain stores to develop and easier for mom and pop shops to survive, so that's a model I want to follow.

Look, I have some serious disagreements with Joe, but I do think he is a smart and affable guy. I also appreciate his wry sense of humor.

I really believe in the tech community, and think its growth potential in this city is huge. I've met with a number of folks in the community over the last few weeks and think we've found a lot of common ground. I think the City can do a lot more to facilitate the tech sector, starting with making sure we get fully wired for high-speed internet citywide as quickly as possible. So I can feel already that there's going to be a good and close working relationship between my administration and tech community if the people choose me.

First of all, Occupy was and is an important movement focused on the inequalities we must address in our society. I spent time at the protests and came to appreciate what an impact it made. I think the Mayor could have worked with members of Occupy to find an appropriate alternate location even when it was clear that Zuccoti Park couldn't continue to be a livable space for the protesters and the community. I also think that media access in situations like this must be constant and unquestioned, and i think it was a mistake by this administration to exclude the media when the protesters were removed.

I am a public school parent myself and have been for the last 14 years. That is one of the reasons I made early child hood education and after school a centerpiece of my campaign. I think these investments will encourage many talented people to choose the teaching profession and stick with it. The question of teacher retention is getting far too little attention in the public debate. I think a strategy of greater investment plus more overt respect for teachers from public officials plus increasing promotional opportunities within the school system plus more pathways for teacher training is the pathway to greater retention.