Wednesday, Feb. 27, marked the 58th day of Zohran Mamdani’s time period as mayor. New York News is following Mamdani round his first 100 days in workplace as we intently monitor his progress on fulfilling marketing campaign guarantees, appointing key leaders to authorities posts, and managing the town’s funds. Right here’s a abstract of what the mayor did.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Friday defended his shock Oval Workplace pitch to President Donald Trump to revive the long-stalled growth of Sunnyside Yards, casting it as a needed step to confront the town’s affordability disaster — even because the native council member whose district would host the venture accused him of sidelining the neighborhood.
The remarks got here lower than 24 hours after Mamdani’s unannounced journey to Washington, the place he proposed partnering with the Trump administration on a roughly $21 billion plan to deck over Queens railyard and construct 12,000 new houses — half of them beneath the Mitchell-Lama program — alongside parks, youngster care facilities, and different infrastructure.
Talking on the Weeksville Heritage Heart in Brooklyn, the place he was marking the completion of restoration work on the historic Hunterfly Street Homes, Mamdani described the sit-down as “a productive meeting.”
He added: “I proposed working together to build more than 12,000 new homes in our city, which would the single largest housing development New York City has seen since 1973.”
Mamdani stated Trump signaled openness to the concept. “The president shared his interest in the proposal, and I am encouraged by the fact that we will continue to talk about this proposal,” he stated.
Later, when pressed on what assurances he acquired, Mamdani responded: “He said that he was interested and that the conversation would continue.”
The mayor framed the venture as a generational enterprise.
“This will take many, many years,” Mamdani stated. “However, we are not daunted by the length of the project.”
He additionally emphasised why he introduced the concept on to Washington.
“The city cannot build on these rail yards without the approval and direction of the federal government,” he stated, including that the venture would require the federal authorities to shift insurance policies associated to bond caps and risk-sharing, calling these modifications “impossible for the city to do on its own.”
Queens lawmaker to Mamdani: Not so quick
President Donald Trump holds a mock‑up Each day Information entrance web page studying “Trump to City: Let’s Build” after a gathering with Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who referred to as the sit-down productive and stated he seems to be ahead to increasing housing in New York Metropolis.Picture courtesy of NYC Mayor
Metropolis Council Member Julie Gained, who represents Sunnyside, sharply criticized the mayor’s transfer in a press release launched Thursday, saying that any proposal that reshapes Sunnyside Yards should start with the neighbors who dwell right here.
“One day after President Trump’s State of the Union, where he attacked and degraded our immigrants and trans communities, the mayor opted to meet with the president, re-proposing a failed housing project in my district,” Gained stated.
Gained famous that six years in the past, U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, State Sen. Michael Gianaris and her predecessor helped finish a previous model of the plan, and stated there are at present “no public approvals in place for this project.”
“City Hall should commit to a ULURP process with the Council and the community for such a significant change for a project of this scale,” Gained stated. Whereas she stated she welcomes “the opportunity to build more deeply affordable housing and other federal investments,” she added that “it cannot be done behind closed doors unilaterally.”
In 2015, then-Mayor Invoice de Blasio first urged constructing on the positioning. 5 years later, in 2020, the town and Amtrak, the federal company that owns the vast majority of the positioning, launched a long-awaited “Sunnyside Yard Master Plan.”
The grasp plan referred to as for the creation of 100% reasonably priced housing, together with 12,000 houses, 60 acres of latest open house, equitable home-ownership alternatives, the long-sought Sunnyside Station, and needed infrastructure and different public facilities.
Throughout Thursday’s press convention, Mamdani stated that there had been “a few conversations” with elected officers, labor teams, and native organizers, and pressured that extra outreach can be finished.
“Those conversations will continue, because this is a long-standing project that will also require a long-standing commitment, and we’re just at the very beginning of it,” he stated.
The mayor additionally acknowledged that his strategy to Trump has drawn scrutiny, given the sharp rhetoric through the marketing campaign, however defended the outreach.
“The President and I have many disagreements, which we share publicly and we share privately,” he stated. “And I also said on that same campaign trail that I would be willing to work with anyone, no matter disagreements, so long as it was to the benefit of the city that we love.”
The brand new mayor’s strategy to the Trump administration earned him reward from his predecessor, Eric Adams, a longtime critic.
“Rhetoric is easy. Governing is harder. Glad to see [Mayor] Mamdani move away from the ‘leading the resistance’ talk and follow in my footsteps by working with President [Trump] for the good of New York City,” Adams stated.
Earlier this month, Gained entered the congested congressional race to succeed U.S. Rep. Nydia Velázquez in New York’s seventh Congressional District. Among the many candidates she is dealing with off towards is the Mamdani-backed Meeting Member, Claire Valdez, who at present represents AD37, which encompasses the Sunnyside Yards.
After Mamdani’s Oval Workplace assembly, Valdez, on social media, praised the mayor for securing the discharge of the Columbia College pupil who was arrested by ICE brokers in her dorm constructing earlier that morning. However she didn’t point out the proposed growth in her district. New York News has reached out to Valdez for remark.
It is a creating story. Verify again for updates
