#It’s the dawn of a new chapter for New York City

Good news, New York: The new year is finally here — and with it, mercifully, a brand new day for the city and state.

Think about it: Mayor Bill de Blasio’s reign of error is at last at an end. The arrogant, dictatorial Gov. Andrew Cuomo is gone, let’s hope forever.

Incoming Mayor Eric Adams, who takes office Saturday, has offered encouraging signs of how he’ll turn things around and restore the city. Best of all: More than 90 percent of adults in the city have been vaxxed, and even more are naturally immune after exposure to the virus.

Finally, there’s reason for hope for New York — though cause for concern, too.

Let’s face it: Gotham declined dramatically during the de Blasio-Cuomo years and not, as de Blasio claims, just because of COVID. Violent crime is spinning out of control. The homeless, mentally ill and substance abusers have taken over the streets.

Failing public schools languished for years under de Blasio, even as he wasted millions on consultants and focused on bogus “racial” issues, and as Albany capped the number of successful public charter schools to please teachers unions. When COVID struck, schools went from lousy to near useless, as kids were expected to learn via computer screens.

Even the city’s budget is in worrisome shape: De Blasio bloated the municipal headcount and boosted spending at three times inflation — before COVID struck. Uncle Sam shipped billions to the city to deal in pandemic aid, pumping up spending to $103 billion this year. But those kind of outlays are unsustainable, especially if post-pandemic revenue is slow to return.

Adams appears to be on top of these issues. He’s put crime at the head of his agenda, and it’s clear why: Shootings in 2021 outpaced those in 2020, which was double the previous year’s number. Murders also outstripped 2020, which was up a frightening 44 percent over 2019.

Adams, an ex-cop, actually supports the police and knows what needs to be done: He’s defended the “smart” use of stopping, questioning and frisking suspects and plans to reinstate the undercover officers who focused on illegal-weapons removal. He opposes defunding cops and parts of the state’s no-bail-needed rules that block judges “from exercising necessary discretion to keep violent individuals in jail.” He’s slammed judges for being overly lenient. And as for homeless and mentally ill, Adams vows to get them the services they need.

All of this is enormously encouraging. Yet changing Blue York’s status quo is a monumental lift: Adams, for example, will need to persuade legislators in Albany, who now include many anti-police radicals, to fix the bail-reform laws.

A lawsuit and a federal monitor limit the city’s use of stop-and-frisk. By decriminalizing low-level crimes, the City Council essentially outlawed broken-windows policing, which proved critical in lowering the city’s crime rates.

Plus, some city prosecutors, like incoming Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, act more like defense attorneys, protecting perps rather than enforcing the law. If Bragg or some other DA refuses to help stop the mayhem, the new mayor can push the governor to remove him and/or use his bully pulpit to force changes.

To fix the schools, Adams has tapped an extremely promising chancellor, David Banks, who’s unafraid to admit the system’s abysmal failure.

“Any agency that has a $38 billion annual budget” but leaves 65 percent of minority kids lacking academic proficiency is “outrageous,” he says. “It’s a betrayal.” Banks and Adams are demanding accountability from educrats. They also want to expand Gifted & Talented programs, so kids of every race and background have a chance to benefit.

The new mayor also appears open to creating at least some additional charter schools in the city, an absolute must if students are to be given a chance to escape failing schools. Yet, again, it’s up to Albany to lift the cap on city charters, and the teachers union is dedicated to fighting accountability for its members.

More: Adams has shown good sense in reaching out to the business world and signaling an end to the progressive view that companies are there to be squeezed for tax dollars and otherwise despised, used as scapegoats and regulated.

“This is going to be a place where we welcome business,” Adams vows. “Government must do its job to create an environment for growth.”

If he can help businesses recover from the pandemic and lockdowns and perhaps even grow, it would not only help the economy and bring the city’s jobless rate (9 percent) more in line with the nation’s (4.2 percent); it would also bring in more tax revenue to shore up the budget.

Still, de Blasio’s spending plan leaves billions in future-year gaps, and any ratcheting up of COVID restrictions will only hurt businesses more. So Adams will need to put that new anti-waste office of his to good use trimming fat.

Gov. Kathy Hochul may also prove problematic, by trying to appease far-left progressives as she runs for governor. And progressives, unions and other special interests will be pressing their own agendas.

All these challenges would be formidable for any new mayor. Yet Adams represents the best hope the city’s seen in years. And even Hochul may yet prove a force for good. As the sun rises on a bright new chapter for Gotham, New Yorkers should root for both of them.