Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 17-18, marked the seventeenth and 18th days of Zohran Mamdani’s time period as mayor. New York News is following Mamdani round his first 100 days in workplace as we intently observe 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 on nowadays.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani stayed busy over the weekend, appointing a brand new Parks Commissioner, overseeing his first snowstorm from the town’s highest workplace and reaffirming the town’s sanctuary insurance policies amid an ongoing federal immigration crackdown.
The most recent member of Mamdani’s administration, New York Metropolis Parks Commissioner Tricia Shimamura, involves the put up with a protracted observe document in authorities and politics, most lately serving as Manhattan Borough Commissioner of the Division of Parks and Recreation.
“These parks are more than simple green spaces in a city that is typically full of concrete,” Mamdani stated on the Saturday announcement. “They are what makes our home feel like home. They are what add order to lives of chaos. They are where we can take a deep breath and exhale. And I’m grateful to Tricia for assuming this incredible responsibility, and I’m eager to see our parks only improve in the years to come.”
Throughout her time as Manhattan Borough Commissioner of Parks and Recreation, Shimamura helped lead the response to the devastating 2024 Inwood Hill Park fires and oversaw the reopening of Part 1 of East River Park. She beforehand labored at Columbia College because the Director of Authorities Relations, the place she spearheaded a vote-by-mail program for over 20,000 college students in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Shimamura went on to work for then-Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, overseeing the workplace’s Group Affairs Unit.
“We have a responsibility as a city to do more,” Shimamura stated on the press convention. “Mayor Mamdani has rightfully outlined a vision for a more affordable city where every New Yorker, not just the few, can grow and thrive, and where government works for the people. I deeply appreciate and understand that Parks has a mandate to uphold and a critical role to play in the future of our city.”
Mamdani has framed entry to public parks as an affordability difficulty, describing parks because the “rare corner of our city that are truly accessible and affordable to each and every person who calls the city home.” The mayor, a democratic socialist from Queens, ran on an formidable affordability agenda.
He pledged throughout his marketing campaign to spice up funding for the Parks Division, promising throughout a debate to allocate upwards of 1% of the town’s total price range to the company. NYC Parks’ price range at present accounts for roughly .6% of the town’s $117 billion price range.
“Tricia knows that stewarding our parks means more than cutting the grass and tending to the trees,” Mamdani stated. “It is a daily endeavor where parks leaders must work with local stakeholders to ensure that their needs are heard, to expand access to more New Yorkers, and to make these public resources truly belong to the public.”
Mamdani responds to ongoing immigration crackdown, reaffirms sanctuary insurance policies
Mamdani sat for an interview with ABC7’s Invoice Ritter, which aired Sunday morning, through which he mentioned the progress he’s made on his affordability agenda to this point, the crises he’s shouldered in a busy first two weeks, and issues over the federal authorities’s ongoing Immigration and Customs Enforcement crackdown.
New York Metropolis has seen heightening ICE enforcement since spring 2025, with President Donald Trump’s administration setting every day quotas for detentions. Masked ICE officers have been forcefully detaining immigrants for months at 26 Federal Plaza, the place noncitizen New Yorkers come for routine appointments.
“Look, our values, and our laws are not bargaining chips. We are proud of them. We are New Yorkers who believe that everyone in the city should be safe,” Mamdani stated.
Ritter had famous the Jan. 7 killing of Renee Good, a Minneapolis resident shot 4 instances by an ICE agent whereas making an attempt to drive her automobile away. The killing kicked off protests throughout the nation, together with in New York Metropolis.
Mamdani cited New York Metropolis’s sanctuary metropolis insurance policies, which be sure that ICE can not enter colleges or metropolis property with out a judicial warrant.
“What they do is they inform New Yorkers of their own rights, and these used to be defended by Republicans and Democrats alike for decades, because they created safety,” Mamdani stated of the sanctuary insurance policies. “I’m going to continue to defend them.”
He stated he’ll “always be direct and honest with the president” and to proceed to be “clear that ICE raids are cruel and inhumane and they do nothing to actually serve the interest of public safety” — a sentiment he stated he expressed to Trump on the pair’s November assembly.
First snowstorm response, Africa Cup of Nations watch celebration
Mamdani spent a lot of Saturday overseeing his first snowstorm response as mayor — the town declared a Code Blue, which triggers widespread homeless outreach throughout the 5 boroughs to make sure weak New Yorkers have entry to shelter.
“Please check on your neighbors and stay safe, New York,” Mamdani wrote Saturday in a put up on X.
He additionally echoed New York Metropolis Emergency Administration’s snow advisory, urging New Yorkers to remain off the roads if attainable and afford further time for journey. Snow continued into Sunday.
Mamdani spent Sunday afternoon internet hosting an Africa Cup of Nations last watch celebration. Donning an Arsenal jersey — his English Premier League crew of alternative — he quipped that he was “rooting for Africa today,” not a selected crew, “as a classic politician.” The ultimate noticed a face-off towards Senegal and Morocco, and was tied at halftime.
Mamdani was born in Kampala, Uganda, and hosted varied soccer-related public occasions throughout his run for mayor. Manhattan Borough President Brad Holyman-Sigal and varied Metropolis Council members have been additionally current, along with the Consul Generals of Morocco, South Africa Nigeria, Mexico, the United Arab Emirates, and Liberia.
