HARLEM — With the Rev. Al Sharpton standing between them, Mayor Bill de Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo marched down Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard in Harlem on Monday in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
The two men, engaged in a long-running public battle that has even affected public policy, both spoke about achieving a higher minimum wage, and then shook hands and hugged at the end of the one-mile trot from 145th Street to 125th Street.
Before the march, Cuomo downplayed his feud with the mayor.
"Historically, governors and mayors do clash," Cuomo told reporters after his speech, "because institutionally you have a different agenda, you have a different portfolio."
But, as Cuomo said at the start of the feud, he and de Blasio have a long history.
"Because the mayor and I know each other so well for so long, maybe there is more personality to it," Cuomo said of their public disputes.
"But I've said this since day one, at the end of the day, we know each other 30 years. We've worked together in the federal government. We know each other's families. There are no two people better equipped to work through tough issues than the mayor and myself, and that's what you'll see," Cuomo added.
The dispute between the two has affected how the city deals with everything from homelessness and affordable housing to both the Ebola and Legionnaire's Disease health crises.
It reached a high point when de Blasio said last year that Cuomo was a vindictive politician who was blocking his and the city's agenda in Albany.
The pair have rarely appeared together even during moments of celebration such as the U.S. women's national soccer team's World Cup victory parade down the "Canyon of Heroes" in July.
Opinion polls show the public believes the feud is damaging to New Yorkers.
But the two men have been coming together more of late.
On Friday, Cuomo and de Blasio shared a byline on an op-ed in The Daily News attacking Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz for his comment about "New York values" during a Jan. 14 GOP debate.
"Ted Cruz is bringing people together," de Blasio said Monday in Brooklyn.
The mayor admitted the joint editorial wasn't his or the governor's idea but that it was an important step.
"I actually am proud as a New Yorker that everyone put down their partisan differences — Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani, Hillary Clinton — you know, the governor, me – everyone put down any difference they had to defend our people," the mayor added.
Last week, after Cuomo introduced a budget with cuts to state funding for Medicaid and the City University of New York that de Blasio said would be "debilitating" for the city's finances, the governor walked back his proposals and said the plan was to look for efficiencies in both systems.
De Blasio, who in a measured tone vowed to fight the cuts, said he took the governor at his word.
"When there’s something I think is going to hurt New York City, like the original proposed cuts on CUNY or Medicaid, I’m going to say I will fight it, and I will help galvanize this city," de Blasio said.
"I’m happy to hear we got a clarification on that front, that there’s a way to avoid those cuts. But that’s the right way for, I think, any mayor to approach the governor," the mayor added.
After the event, Cuomo said both he and the media like the "drama" between the mayor and himself. But at the end of the day, he and de Blasio have the same goals.
"I'm elected, I represent the city. The mayor represents the city. We want to do the best for the city," Cuomo said. "It's his job, it's my job and it's his legacy and my legacy."
