Zohran Mamdani made a lot of promises when he ran for office.
Well, now he is in the big chair, and he appears to be realizing that when you promise billions of dollars in freebies, you better have a plan first.
So, he is doing what all politicians do when they realize their boat is sinking… he is blaming everyone else.
The message that Mamdani offered New Yorkers in the election was that he was going to make everything affordable, but policies are already countering that promise.
For instance, a big change just went into effect in the city to pay delivery-app workers more money, but the back end of that is being passed on to people using apps like DoorDash. The mandated minimum wage for these workers now exceeds the wage that some emergency medical services (EMS) workers are making, which is utterly ridiculous.
When Mamdani’s office was asked for a comment on the rising costs of app delivery services, it answered, "Delivery Workers are important members of our city’s economy, and deserve to be paid fairly – anything less is unacceptable. As Mayor Mamdani continues to stand up for everyday New Yorkers and actualize his ambitious agenda to make New York City truly livable for families. Affordability has been, and will continue to be, a guiding light."
What you will start to see is people not using the apps, and all those delivery workers making less and less money because of it. To quote Mamdani, “Closed mouths don’t get fed.”
Mamdani is still hammering the need to raise taxes on the top 1%, and if New York is anything like California, we are going to see the big money start to leave a city that is already clobbering them on this front.
The new mayor also wants to disband the New York Police Department’s Strategic Response Group (SRG).
He stated, "Yes, I continue to believe that we need to disband the SRG, and I'm currently in conversations with the police commissioner about the ways in which we can do so that are operational, and I believe that we should do so not on the basis of any fiscal need, but frankly, on the need to decouple the counterterrorism responsibilities within the department from police response to First Amendment exercise.”
This is a tactical squad that takes many of the tough calls around the city, as well as taking the lead at larger events, such as protests and parades.
According to Mamdani, the city is now in a fiscal crisis, and he is blaming the alleged $12 billion deficit on former Mayor Eric Adams. But keep in mind, Mamdani has billions planned in freebies, so where is that money going to come from?
In blaming everyone else for the city’s problems, he stated, “There is a massive fiscal deficit in our city’s budget to the tune of at least $12 billon. We did not arrive at this place by accident. This crisis has a name, and a chief architect. In the words of The Jackson 5, it’s as easy as ABC. This is the ‘Adams Budget Crisis.'”
Then he really dropped the bombshell, stating, “We are speaking about a fiscal crisis at the scale greater than the Great Recession. And, so there will not be one single thing that can answer that crisis. It will require us to pursue every single avenue. That means looking inward into savings and efficiencies, that also means raising taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers, and the most profitable corporations.”
Best of luck to everyone who lives in New York City. You voted this hot mess in, and now he is your problem.
