By: Key Jones-Ford
Recently inaugurated New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has been in office for 45 days, and he has made several significant changes, announcements, and moves since his first day on the job.
Even before his first official day, Mayor Mamdani moved to start filling his transition team with an open application. 400 members were announced, including five Brooklyn College faculty members.
One of the first things he did upon inauguration was introduce the start of universal childcare to the city in a joint effort with New York Governor Kathy Hochul. They have joined forces to deliver free childcare for two-year-olds, a strengthened 3K program, and an expanse of childcare services across the city to diversify its reach and open its accessibility.
“Over the past 14 months, a movement was born to fight for a city where every New Yorker could afford a life of dignity, and every family could afford to raise their kids,” Mamdani said during the press conference where their plan was announced. “Today, Governor Hochul and I meet that movement as we celebrate our joint commitment to universal child care.”
During his budget announcement at City Hall on Jan. 28, Mamdani made claims that New York City’s budget had been mismanaged by former Mayor Eric Adams. Upon his entry into office, the city faced a $12 billion budget deficit. Beyond blaming Adams and former Governor Andrew Cuomo, he also blames the weakening and disappearance of public services.
“That imbalance has real-world consequences: families forced to leave a city they can no longer afford and diminished investments in schools, libraries, parks—our essential services.”
In response to the debt, Mayor Mamdani has called for a 2% tax increase on the richest residents of the boroughs, something Governor Hochul has rejected.
“I have said, and the news flash may be to you if you haven’t heard me, we are not raising taxes in the state of New York, we are not raising taxes for the sake of raising taxes, so he will continue to say what he needs to say,” Hochul said, according to ABC News.
Outside of the city, citizens and voters have been alarmed at the actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Minnesota. Minnesota’s plight has resulted in nationwide movements and reactions, including rallies, protests, and boycotts, as previously reported by The Vanguard.
Mayor Mamdani has made calls for ICE’s abolishment and affirmed his dedication to protecting New Yorkers.
“As ICE fosters a culture of suspicion and fear, let this city of strangers set an example for how to make the sorrows of others our own,” he said at the first annual Interfaith Breakfast of his administration. “Let us offer a new path – one of defiance through compassion.”
The Mamdani administration has launched a “Know Your Rights” program, distributing flyers on what to do if someone is detained, and signed Executive Order 13 into effect, which is made to protect New Yorkers from abusive immigration enforcement. The order defines what city property is, and determines that federal authorities may not enter it without a proper judicial warrant.
Mamdani’s activism has not stopped with his remarks against ICE. He was vocal in his criticism of park services removing the rainbow pride flag from its pole at the Stonewall monument.
The removal was in accordance with a memo, released by the Department of the Interior on Jan. 21, which states no other pennants or flags can be flown on the same pole as the flag of the United States of America.
“I am outraged by the removal of the Rainbow Pride Flag from Stonewall National Monument,” Mamdani said in a statement. “New York is the birthplace of the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement, and no act of erasure will ever change, or silence, that history. […] I will always fight for a New York City that invests in our LGBTQ+ community, defends their dignity, and protects every one of our neighbors—without exception.”
Most recently, Mayor Mamdani has moved his priorities to transportation and public works projects, restarting four halted street redesign projects in the Bronx and Brooklyn. The projects are due to be implemented in the spring and will introduce new bike lanes in Brooklyn to reduce pedestrian accidents, and an overhaul of the Fordham Road bus lane to increase public transit efficiency for Bronx residents.
A poll conducted by the Research Institute at Siena University found that Mamdani has “48-32% favorability rating, from 46-31% in December.”
This poll was conducted with a sample size of 802 and conducted between Jan. 26 and 28, with a 4.3% margin of error. He is viewed favorably by most democrats (64%) and under half of independent voters (43-31%).
Based on the poll’s findings and his actions overall, Robert Y. Shapiro, political science professor at Columbia University, sees this as a net positive for Mayor Mamdani thus far.
“This could be at least a brief ‘honeymoon’ effect for a newly elected mayor,” he said via email to Newsweek. “He has not done anything disruptive so far, has worked with Governor Hochul on free child care possibilities, and he has done ok in handling the snowstorm and current cold weather.”
He later added that, while this is a positive, it is not permanent, and “things can change quickly.”
Mamdani’s 100th day in office will be April 10, with AMNY providing daily updates to the date.