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Mayor Bill de Blasio wants to be in the vanguard of national Democratic opposition to GOP President-elect Donald Trump.

(AP photo)

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - Mayor Bill de Blasio has a new job, if you hadn't noticed: He's set himself up to be the top opponent of President-elect Donald Trump.

How about just being the mayor of the five boroughs? That's the job he was hired to do. And he still has at least another year of doing it. He's on our time.

De Blasio has formed a coalition with the mayors of some of the other big cities in America in a bid to stop any negative policies that might come out of the Trump White House.

Mostly the group is focused on immigration issues. De Blasio has tried to rally other municipal unions to urge President Barack Obama to take last minute action on immigration, according to the New York Times. And last month, the paper said, the group held a conference call with Obama officials to also press the administration on immigration.

De Blasio and the others are also concerned about a Trump presidency's effect on climate change policy, and also want to stave off the creation of any kind of Muslim registry. There are also public safety concerns with the incoming administration.

It's not that we don't believe de Blasio is genuine in his opposition to Trump. If anything, a Trump presidency is made for a liberal firebrand like de Blasio. You couldn't find two people more diametrically opposed on some core issues. And the two camps have already butted heads over reimbursement for security costs incurred by the city when Trump is in town.

So de Blasio can oppose Trump all he wants. After all, he doesn't give up his right to free speech just because he's the mayor. He must keep his eye on what's going on in Washington to ensure that New York City gets what it needs. But he has to take care of business first. Like plowing the streets after a snowstorm, one of the key responsibilities of the city administration.

The city dropped the ball on that one over the weekend in some neighborhoods on Staten Island and in Brooklyn and Queens. Democratic Queens City Councilman Rory Lancman said that the city's vaunted "PlowNYC" website falsely showed some streets in Queens as being plowed when they hadn't been touched. He called for a Council hearing to get to the bottom of it.

We'd rather see the mayor work up a head of steam on an issue like that rather than trying to go mano-a-mano with Trump. It reminds in a bad way of how de Blasio went around the country to spread his liberal gospel during the early stages of the 2016 presidential campaign. Here in the five boroughs is where he belongs and where he can have the most impact. He's our mayor first and foremost. Isn't that good enough? Isn't that honor enough?

And while New York City voted overwhelmingly for Democrat Hillary Clinton in the November general election, Staten Island voted for Trump. Should we start keeping watch to make sure that City Hall officials don't hold our Trump votes against us?

And to be fair, de Blasio isn't alone among New York Democrats in his zeal to oppose Trump.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who seems to think he has a shot to be president himself in 2020, has also pledged to keep New York safe from The Donald.

Perfect. Another thing that Cuomo and de Blasio can tussle over.

And Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who might be eyeing Cuomo's job, has also said he will be on the alert for anything that his office can do in terms of keeping a leash on Trump. City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and some of her members have also pledged to take to the barricades against the new president.

It sure beats working, we guess. Ranting in opposition to something and scoring some headlines and retweets is far easier than actually governing and materially improving people's lives.

But Boston Mayor Martin T. Walsh may have said it best. When speaking to the Times of the anti-Trump mayoral coalition, he cautioned, "There's only so much you can do on a nationwide level."

In other words, our real jobs are at home. Let's make sure we do them.

It's good advice.