the city had filled 100,000 potholes<\/a>, a milestone reached Monday.<\/p>\n\u201cOne of the reasons we focus so much on filling 100,000 potholes across the city is that it\u2019s symptomatic of a city government that can actually take care of even the smallest tasks in New Yorkers\u2019 lives, to prove that we can be trusted to take on the biggest problems in their lives as well,\u201d Mamdani said.<\/p>\n
But the mayor has also faced scrutiny over the city\u2019s response to brutal snowstorms and the limited progress in ongoing state budget negotiations.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, I think every crisis is an opportunity to not only learn about the tools that the city has, but also learn about the tools the city should have,\u201d he said of the massive snowstorms that hit the city in January and then February. \u201cIn the first snowstorm, it became clear that the city did not have a preexisting plan of how to address, whether it be the lack of tagging geometrically, of bus stops, of sidewalks, of crosswalks.\u201d<\/p>\n
The city launched a new tool to measure the cost of living in New York, factoring in essentials like food, transportation, taxes and housing. It found that 62 percent of New Yorkers don\u2019t earn enough to cover these costs. On average, families fall nearly $40,000 short. The burden is highest for communities of colour \u2013 77 percent of Hispanic and 65 percent of Black New Yorkers cannot meet the cost of living.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s about five million New Yorkers. This is the most expensive city in the United States of America,\u201d he told Al Jazeera. \u201cAnd we have to take every single tool that we have to make it more affordable.\u201d<\/p>\n
But not everyone agrees that raising taxes is the way to cut costs.<\/p>\n
EJ Mahon, an adjunct fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank, pointed out that millionaires in New York already face the highest tax burden in decades.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf there\u2019s one slogan that has risen to the level of obsession among Mayor Mamdani and other New York progressives, it\u2019s \u2018tax the rich\u2019. But here\u2019s the thing: We already tax the rich,\u201d Mahon said in a video post on the conservative think tank\u2019s website last month. \u201cWe already impose the highest rates on millionaire earners in more than 40 years, as written in state and city law.\u201d<\/p>\n
New Yorker Aria Singer said he worries that billionaires will flee the city if taxes are too high.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe wants to tax the rich. He doesn\u2019t realize the rich people hire people. They employ people. They employ the masses. When you attack the rich, they move out of the state, they move out of the city, so this whole concept that we are going to help the masses is a little bit foolish,\u201d Singer told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n
Mamdani\u2019s rise was driven by sharply increasing rents \u2013 up roughly 25 percent on average since 2019 \u2013 and political turmoil under former Mayor Eric Adams, who was indicted in September 2024 on bribery and campaign finance charges.<\/p>\n
Many of Mamdani\u2019s other plans, however, depend on raising taxes, creating tension between the mayor and the governor. That strain extends beyond Mamdani\u2019s relationship with the governor, reflecting a long history of friction between the two offices.<\/p>\n
The city has limited control over setting its own tax rates. With the exception of property taxes, the mayor is at the governor\u2019s mercy, who would ultimately greenlight it.<\/p>\n
And using his political capital with the state assembly, which he was previously a member of, will drive much of his agenda, including his free bus proposal. The city\u2019s bus system falls under the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA), a state agency, not a city agency.<\/p>\n
But because of tax-driven decisions, his success or failure will depend on his ability to put political pressure on the governor, according to Adin Lenchner, a political strategist at Carroll Street Campaigns.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf he can continue to build that [grassroots support], there will be more and more public pressure to actually execute on those priorities,\u201d said Lenchner of the New York-based political consultancy. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be an uphill challenge, but I think he\u2019s uniquely positioned to be able to take off.\u201d<\/p>\n
He stressed, though, that it is not a given and requires consistent mobilisation of supporters. Lenchner said that does not always work. For example, Barack Obama was unable to maintain his grassroots support that would have otherwise put pressure on lawmakers standing in the way of his political priorities.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s possible this falls on its face,\u201d Lenchner said.<\/p>\n
Locally, Mamdani is focused on housing. The agency that would freeze rents, one of his signature campaign promises, is considering his proposal. His plan, however, would regulate rents for only about half of rental apartments. To alleviate pressure on the rest, his administration is aggressively building more housing across the city, arguing that this will create more competition and drive down prices.<\/p>\n
Mamdani\u2019s first 100 days come ahead of the midterms, with candidates like him running across the country on policy or approach. Some primaries are already underway, and a track record is already on the books in New York City. Over the next six to eight months, candidates will be in a position to point to the city as a solid example of what to do, or something they will actively avoid.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s made these issues accessible to New Yorkers and, frankly, to a larger audience across the country, which is why you are now seeing candidates and elected officials across the country use similar approaches,\u201d Democratic strategist Nomiki Konst said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat Mayor Mamdani has been able to do is use this platform and these strategies to elevate the everyday functions of the largest administration in the country and make it accessible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Republicans have pushed back on the affordability agenda that Mamdani ran on. In December, US President Donald Trump called affordability a \u201choax\u201d created by Democrats, and only a month later, he changed his tone, pushing his own affordability plan.<\/p>\n
Identity tests<\/h2>\n
A wave of xenophobic attacks disproportionately targeting the city\u2019s Jewish and Muslim communities took place shortly after he became mayor.<\/p>\n
In late January, a car rammed into a Jewish community centre in Brooklyn. In early March, Mamdani was the subject of brazen Islamophobic remarks from a talk radio host who called him a \u201cradical Islam cockroach\u201d.<\/p>\n
Only days later, a far-right activist led a rally for far-right, anti-Muslim demonstrators outside the mayor\u2019s residence, called Gracie Mansion.<\/p>\n
In response, the New York City Police Department (NYPD) said that counterprotesters identified as Emir Balat and Ibrahim Kayumi threw an \u201cimprovised explosive device\u201d. The Department of Justice referred to the incident as an \u201cISIS-inspired act of terrorism\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cViolence at a protest is never acceptable,\u201d Mamdani said in response to the chaos that unfolded outside his residence. \u201cThe attempt to use an explosive device and hurt others is not only criminal, but it is also reprehensible and the antithesis of who we are.\u201d<\/p>\n
As the city moves past the 100-day milestone, the blistering cold of his inauguration has been replaced by the heat of governing a city demanding results.<\/p>\n
Mamdani appears to know that his time as mayor will not be measured solely by the number of potholes filled, but by whether his vision for a more affordable New York can withstand the friction of its own politics.<\/p>\n
However, the mayor said, filling potholes is a good start.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think if you want someone to believe in the promise of a transformative vision of universal childcare, of fast and free buses, you have to first deliver on the thing that diminishes their faith on a daily basis,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt may not seem like much, but if you are driving your car or you\u2019re riding your bike and you hit the same pothole every single day, why would you trust city government in its ability to deliver something that you have never seen at that scale, when it can\u2019t even do this?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
New York \u2013 It has been almost 100 days since thousands of supporters braved the blistering cold at City Hall Park to witness the public inauguration of Zohran Mamdani. As the first Muslim mayor of the world\u2019s wealthiest city, the young Democratic socialist\u2019s win was historically significant. For many, it was a test of whether […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18441,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-us-canada-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18440"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18440\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}