Monday, Jan. 5, marks the fifth day of Zohran Mamdani’s time period as mayor. New York News is following Mamdani round his first 100 days in workplace as we carefully monitor his progress on fulfilling marketing campaign guarantees, appointing key leaders to authorities posts, and managing town’s funds. Right here’s a abstract of what the mayor did at present.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Monday signed two govt orders directing metropolis companies to crack down on so-called junk charges, citing hidden prices that seem when New Yorkers purchase live performance tickets, be a part of gyms, or attempt to cancel subscriptions, framing the hassle as a key a part of addressing town’s affordability disaster.
Talking at a press convention in Lengthy Island Metropolis, Mamdani stated junk charges have develop into embedded in on a regular basis transactions — from gyms and live performance tickets to lease funds — quietly draining time and cash from New Yorkers.
“Five dollar fee here, a ten dollar fee there — what seems small adds up quickly,” Mamdani stated. “The aggregate of all of these fees only buries New Yorkers deeper in a cost-of-living crisis that defines too many of our daily existences.”
Mamdani stated the charges are usually not only a monetary burden however an indication of “disdain and disrespect” towards working individuals. “When your landlord adds fees to your rent payment at the last moment, that is disrespect,” he stated. “These fees are unfair to consumers, and they do a disservice to other businesses as well that operate honestly.”
Affordability: Mamdani’s orders goal to assist shoppers lower your expenses
The primary govt order, signed Jan. 5, establishes a citywide junk payment job drive co-chaired by Deputy Mayor for Financial Justice Julie Su and Division of Shopper and Employee Safety Commissioner Sam Levine. It directs DCWP to accentuate enforcement towards hidden charges and misleading enterprise practices and to pursue compliance actions when companies violate metropolis regulation.
The second govt order targets subscription “tricks and traps” — recurring prices which are tough to cancel — and directs DCWP to watch, examine, and implement violations whereas recommending potential laws to the Metropolis Council.
“We are shutting the door on the era of hidden junk fees and illegal subscription traps in the city of New York,” Levine stated.
Mamdani stated town’s strategy builds on federal motion taken by the Federal Commerce Fee, which he stated estimated its junk payment rule would save People 53 million hours a 12 months spent making an attempt to find out true costs. “We are going to deliver similar action on behalf of the eight and a half million New Yorkers who call our city home,” he stated.
Levine stated the orders clarify that hiding charges and trapping individuals in subscriptions are already unlawful underneath current regulation. “It is deceptive to hide fees. It is deceptive to trap people in subscriptions,” he stated. “The mayor has directed us to use all of our tools to enforce the law.”
Mamdani added that enforcement would depend on cooperation between the mayor’s workplace, the Metropolis Council, and state officers.
Picture by Lloyd Mitchell
State Legal professional Normal Letitia James joined the mayor on Monday and highlighted prior enforcement actions by her workplace, together with circumstances involving ride-sharing firms, gyms, and automotive dealerships, as her workplace joined the crackdown efforts.
“We’ve taken action against a number of companies — Uber in particular — for subscription costs that were hidden,” James stated. She stated her workplace secured greater than $600,000 for New York Metropolis shoppers who had issue canceling their health club memberships and returned thousands and thousands of {dollars} statewide to automotive patrons who have been charged junk charges.
James emphasised that subscription traps price shoppers not solely cash however time. “We heard from consumers all throughout the city and all throughout the state that it basically took hours for them to cancel these subscriptions,” she stated. “That’s hours away from families, hours away from children, hours off of work.”
Metropolis Council member Julie Menin, a former DCWP commissioner and incoming Metropolis Council speaker, stated junk charges disproportionately hurt seniors and folks with restricted English proficiency.
“You have to go through pages and pages of little type that you can’t read,” Menin stated. “What you’re doing today really makes a difference for so many New Yorkers.”
Menin additionally pointed to laws she launched final 12 months aimed toward limiting dynamic pricing in meals institutions. “This is the type of work, collectively in partnership, that we are going to be able to do to protect New Yorkers,” she stated.
Levine stated enforcement can be industry-neutral and warned firms to not assume they’re exempt. “There is no industry that is above the law,” he stated. “Should we find companies that are engaging in these practices, we’re going to take them to court.”
Throughout his mayoral marketing campaign, Mamdani launched a petition referred to as “Game Over Greed” calling on FIFA to desert plans to make use of dynamic pricing for 2026 World Cup tickets, arguing that the mannequin would make matches at close by MetLife Stadium much less inexpensive for working-class followers.
FIFA has defended utilizing dynamic pricing to promote tickets for the match, describing the coverage as a mirrored image of an “existing and developing market practice” in North America. MetLife Stadium in New Jersey is about to host eight matches in the course of the summer time match, together with the ultimate.
On Monday, responding to questions on dynamic pricing, together with rising ticket costs for concert events and the upcoming FIFA World Cup, Mamdani reiterated his opposition to the apply. “We have made what used to be a working-class game into a luxury experience,” Mamdani stated, including that conversations are ongoing about affordability.
This can be a creating story and will likely be up to date.
