New York’s newest mayor has promised to bring change. Will it be good?
As the newly-elected Mayor of New York City, Zohran Mamdani has had a busy January, creating new departments and signing a flurry of executive orders. However, many of his political choices have been unsuccessful so far and appear to be motivated by populist rhetoric and politics rather than practical considerations.
One of Mayor Mamdani’s primary goals on the campaign trail was to increase New Yorkers’ involvement in government decisions. After winning the election, he started “The Mayor is Listening” series, videos in which he spoke to ordinary New Yorkers and highlighted their struggles with healthcare, housing, and education. Upon taking office on January 1, he also created the Office of Mass Engagement (OME) to fulfill his promise. This brand new department will work to engage everyday New Yorkers and create policies that are felt and seen by the masses. Additionally, it will try to proactively include communities who have been historically excluded from policy decisions. Other city leaders, however, quickly questioned whether the department’s intention is to give New Yorkers a bigger say in decisions or make decisions more visible to New Yorkers for positive political perception.
There is indeed some truth to these accusations. OME is led by Mamdani’s campaign field director, Tascha Van Auken, who worked on President Obama’s campaign during the 2008 presidential elections. While political affiliations influencing appointments is far from a new concept, Van Auken has spent her career helping politicians get elected rather than actually leading government agencies. She will now direct a city-funded department to ensure that mayoral decisions are seen by the most possible voters, perhaps not necessarily for their benefit.
Mamdani is considered by many as a far-left counter to the far-right leadership of President Trump. However, similarly to Trump, major governmental offices are blatantly politicized. President Trump’s decision to appoint his close friends and political allies to critical federal positions strays far away from the nonpartisan, public-service-oriented leadership Americans deserve. Many appointees lack significant governing experience and are highly politically skewed figures. These decisions are a gross violation of his office and the trust voters have given him. However, Mamdani is doing a similar thing, simply on the opposite end of the political spectrum.
Mamdani has also promised to resolve New York’s massive housing crisis. In recent years, New York’s homeless population has reached levels not seen since the Great Depression in the 1930s. Studies indicate that homeless individuals are more likely to suffer mental health issues and addiction struggles. Homeless New Yorkers pose a larger public safety risk while suffering tremendously. Mamdani plans to bring these people out of poverty with affordable housing and a larger social welfare net with money he doesn’t have. He intends to increase taxes to pay for them, up by 2% for wealthy individuals and 4% for corporations, something critics argue will drive away individuals who accounted for more than a third of the city’s revenue in 2022. Governor Kathy Hochul—whose support is legally required for Mamdani to increase taxes—has acknowledged this by publicly stating that she is opposed to such a tax raise.
While waiting for taxes to rise, Mamdani has ended homeless encampment removals by police officers. NYC policy has historically directed unhoused New Yorkers from the streets to a well-resourced temporary shelter system and then towards long-term, city-subsidized housing. However, in the past, homeless individuals have often refused help, typically due to mental illness. With increased mental health help by the city available in shelters, the status quo necessitates the occasional use of force to remove these people from the street.
Encampment removals enforced by Mayor Adams faced criticism for their ineffectiveness, as few individuals moved into shelters and even fewer transferred to permanent housing. However, Mamdani’s policies overall hinder his ultimate goals, as they explicitly encourage homeless individuals to live on the street. His administration has provided struggling people with mattresses and folded clothes instead of moving them towards indoor housing with necessary medical help. By encouraging homeless people to stay on the street, Mamdani risks exacerbating the homelessness crisis, endangering unhoused people during the cold winter months and congesting the streets.
Mayor Mamdani’s election represents a major shift for the city, but it is unclear whether or not the changes he has made are helpful. He promises to bring massive changes to a sprawling bureaucracy suffering from numerous crises and bring a fresh perspective to the issues through the lens of democratic socialist leadership. However, his first month in office has been a lot of political grandstanding with minimal results. New Yorkers continue to suffer from affordability crises, over-congestion, and a lack of housing, while Mamdani makes speeches and acronymized departments supposedly increasing their say in government decisions.
The mayor has a long time to prove himself to the millions that voted for him, but massive issues still remain on his agenda. The world waits with bated breath to see whether Mamdani will be able to generate enough money to pay for his plans and execute them in an effective manner that will engage New Yorkers and alleviate their struggles. Until then, New Yorkers wonder if Mamdani, the popular campaigner, will be an equally successful mayor?
