PARK SLOPE — Police officers protested Mayor Bill de Blasio on Tuesday morning, calling him a "one-term mayor" as he walked from a local café to his Brooklyn gym for a morning workout.
The Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, the union that represents NYPD officers, is planning to stage protests this week outside the Park Slope YMCA and the mayor's Gracie Mansion residence on the Upper East Side to show their frustration with de Blasio and his administration, the group said.
A state arbitrator ruled last year that the police union would not receive a higher pay raise. Tuesday’s protest was organized to mark the mayor's "refusal to work with police officers to reach a market rate of pay."
The union, which is seeking more pay and benefits from the city, has said it would oppose de Blasio during re-election, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The protest began at the mayor's home on the Upper East Side as he made his way to Brooklyn.
— Addy Baird (@addysue) August 2, 2016
Social media posts from reporters at the scene show police officers standing outside Park Slope's Colson Patisserie, at Ninth Street and Sixth Avenue, while the mayor sat inside.
As he walked across the street to his gym on Ninth Street between Fifth and Sixth avenues, the union officers shouted "one-term mayor" and held up signs reading "'Workout' a contract with cops!" and "Put some sweat into working on our PBA contract."
video: @BilldeBlasio's loud walk to the gym. #brooklyn #labor #police pic.twitter.com/61kHTfhtgJ
— Azi (@Azi) August 2, 2016
De Blasio has been criticized for the timing of his Park Slope Y workouts. Last year, he said exercise helps him perform his "seven-day-a-week job" better.
By the time the mayor completed his workout and left the gym around 9:45 a.m., most protesters had departed.
Bill de Blasio exits Park Slope Y without incident. PBA protesters mostly gone. One says "same time same place tomorrow."
— Ross Barkan (@RossBarkan) August 2, 2016
