Tuesday, April 7, marks the 97th day of Zohran Mamdani’s time period as mayor. New York News is following Mamdani round his first 100 days in workplace. We’re carefully monitoring 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 yesterday and right this moment.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani unveiled on Tuesday morning a long-delayed, 104-bed medical unit at Manhattan’s Bellevue Hospital for individuals in custody with critical well being wants, casting the ability as an early step towards closing Rikers Island whilst the town stays removed from assembly its authorized deadline to close the troubled jail advanced.
Standing within the lobby of NYC Well being + Hospitals/Bellevue, Mamdani framed the brand new outposted therapeutic housing unit as a break from the circumstances on Rikers, the place he mentioned detainees with critical well being and psychological well being wants have too typically gone with out well timed care.
“Rikers, as we know, is broken,” Mamdani mentioned. “Today, we are charting a different course, one that diverts from the path of neglect and begins the process of closing Rikers Island once and for all.”
Mamdani mentioned the Bellevue facility has 104 beds and can serve “people in custody with acute medical conditions and serious mental illness.” He mentioned sufferers would start shifting in on Wednesday and argued that the brand new setup would sharply reduce the delays in getting care off the island.
“Patients will begin moving in tomorrow,” he mentioned. “Rather than wait critical hours and travel off-site to get the treatment they need, specialty services will be just an elevator ride away.”
The mayor mentioned roughly 100 incarcerated individuals would start shifting into the Bellevue unit on Wednesday, a shift he mentioned would permit the town to shut the North Infirmary Command on Rikers and switch it to the Division of Citywide Administrative Companies in June. He later informed reporters that about two-thirds of the individuals beforehand held in NIC had been housed there for overflow, not as a result of they wanted that degree of care.
Mamdani says sufferers will start shifting into the town’s new outposted therapeutic housing unit on WednesdayPhoto by Lloyd Mitchell
THE CITY beforehand reported that the long-delayed unit’s projected value had ballooned from $130 million to $241 million and that the venture, first unveiled in 2019, was initially slated to open in 2022.
Requested about staffing considerations that had reportedly held up the opening, Mamdani mentioned the town had confronted considerations about filling roughly 130 to 140 positions on the Bellevue website, however that officers had obtained greater than 400 purposes from correction officers. He pointed to that curiosity as additional proof that the brand new unit would enhance circumstances not just for detainees but additionally for officers working within the jail system.
Mamdani says Rikers closure deadline ‘practically impossible’ to satisfy
The opening comes as Rikers stays beneath intense scrutiny over jail circumstances and deaths in custody. A complete of 6,716 individuals are incarcerated there as of April 6, in response to the Information Collaborative for Justice at John Jay School of Legal Justice. Two individuals in custody have died on Rikers since Mamdani took workplace. Below former Mayor Eric Adams, 48 individuals died in New York Metropolis jails or instantly upon launch from Division of Correction custody, per the Vera Institute.
Mamdani mentioned decreasing the jail inhabitants would require each bodily modifications and coverage modifications, together with sooner case processing, diversion packages and different measures. He famous that “the vast majority of New Yorkers who are held on Rikers Island are being held pre-trial” and mentioned some have been caught there “not just for months, but sometimes for years.”
The announcement additionally got here as Rikers stays beneath federal courtroom oversight. In January, Chief U.S. District Decide Laura Swain appointed Nicholas Deml, the previous commissioner of the Vermont Division of Correction, as remediation supervisor. Deml appeared at Tuesday’s occasion however declined to touch upon the receivership, saying, “under the court order, we’re not permitted to communicate with the press,” earlier than calling the Bellevue unit “really an impressive facility upstairs.”
Mamdani additionally acknowledged how far the town stays from the unique timetable for shutting Rikers. He mentioned the earlier administration’s inaction has made the 2027 deadline “practically impossible” to satisfy. “It is going to take us quite a bit of time to ensure that we can put our city back on the path that the city council voted for in 2019,” he mentioned, including that the hassle would require “a whole of government approach.”
Councilmembers Yusef Salaam and Selvena Brooks-Powers tour the town’s new outposted therapeutic housing unit at Bellevue Hospital.Picture by Lloyd Mitchell 
Picture by Lloyd Mitchell
Public Advocate Jumaane Williams referred to as the opening “a long overdue step toward aligning our justice system with basic human dignity.” He mentioned individuals on Rikers with critical well being circumstances have needed to endure “hours-long transfers just to access routine care” and mentioned shifting care immediately right into a hospital setting would scale back hurt and enhance outcomes.
“By bringing care directly to New York City Health and Hospitals like Bellevue, we are reducing harm, improving health outcomes, and treating people as patients first, not just as people in custody,” Williams mentioned.
Correction Commissioner Stanley Richards likewise introduced the ability as half of a bigger effort to maneuver past Rikers.
“Today, we cut this ribbon and open these doors,” Richards mentioned. “We are not just unveiling a new facility, we are offering a glimpse into the future, a future beyond Rikers Island, a future shaped by dignity, care and support.”
Dr. Patsy Yang, the senior vp for Correctional Well being Companies, mentioned the venture grew out of an issue that turned clear after Correctional Well being Companies moved beneath Well being + Hospitals in 2016.
“Many of our most medically involved patients were actually declining what, in some cases, was potentially life-saving treatment solely because that round-trip journey between Rikers and Bellevue was just so arduous that it could not be endured,” Yang mentioned. “We knew we had to find a way to increase access to the high-quality care that health and hospitals, such as CHS with Bellevue, provide and offer to our patients.”
She mentioned the outposted models have been meant to deliver individuals nearer to care in a extra respectful setting and steered their novelty was a part of why they took so lengthy to open. “These outposted units. They are a first. They are unique, which is maybe why they partially took so long to do,” Yang mentioned.
Dr. Patsy Yang speaks at Bellevue Hospital about the necessity to deliver incarcerated sufferers nearer to specialty care throughout a press convention asserting the town’s first outposted therapeutic housing unit. Picture by Lloyd Mitchell
Advocates with the Marketing campaign to Shut Rikers welcomed the opening as a step ahead whereas urgent the administration to go additional. In a press release, the group mentioned, “This long-overdue step marks real progress after years of inaction,” and referred to as for continued efforts to cut back incarceration, shut and transition amenities on Rikers Island, and “fully uphold the human rights of people in DOC custody.”
Appointment: Mamdani faucets Biden alum to guide metropolis’s baby welfare company
On the similar press convention Tuesday, Mayor Mamdani praised his choose to guide the town’s Administration for Youngsters’s Companies, calling Rebecca Jones Gaston “a very exciting appointment” as she prepares to take over an company dealing with stress on baby care entry, foster care and juvenile detention, in response to preliminary price range testimony delivered final month by interim Commissioner Melissa Hester.
Requested what his baby welfare philosophy could be now that he had chosen a brand new ACS commissioner, whether or not he deliberate to restructure the company and the place his administration would draw the road between eradicating youngsters from their properties and preserving households collectively, Mamdani largely emphasised Jones Gaston’s background and expertise slightly than laying out an in depth coverage overhaul.
“So I’ll begin with the appointment, which frankly, is a very exciting appointment in Rebecca Jones Gaston, who will be the new commissioner of ACS,” Mamdani mentioned. “She is someone who brings with her local experience, state experience and national experience. She has dedicated her career, frankly, to building smarter and stronger systems that keep children safe and families together.”
In a press release launched earlier Tuesday, Metropolis Corridor mentioned Jones Gaston most not too long ago served as commissioner of the Administration for Youngsters and Households on the U.S. Division of Well being and Human Companies from 2022 to 2025, beneath President Joe Biden. Earlier than that, she led baby welfare methods in Maryland and Oregon. The administration mentioned she brings almost three many years of expertise in baby welfare and household assist methods.
The company she is ready to inherit is dealing with a number of main operational and budgetary pressures. In her March 16 preliminary price range testimony to the Metropolis Council, Hester mentioned present funding would permit ACS to proceed its current baby care coverage for many low-income households already receiving vouchers, however “wouldn’t immediately allow” the company to start providing care to youngsters on the voucher waitlist.
Hester’s testimony additionally mentioned the town’s FY27 preliminary price range consists of $1.1 million for 10 new employees to assist safeguard the greater than $1 billion in federal and state support flowing via the kid care help program.
Hester additionally informed the Council that the variety of youngsters in foster care continued to fall. On the finish of 2025, she mentioned, there have been 6,292 youngsters in foster care, down from almost 6,400 on the finish of 2024 and greater than 7,500 5 years earlier. Her testimony mentioned almost half of all foster youngsters are at the moment dwelling with relations or shut household pals, and that the town plans to spend $263 million in FY27 and $313 million yearly beginning in FY28 to cowl state-mandated foster care, adoption and KinGAP charges that the state didn’t absolutely fund.
On juvenile justice, Hester mentioned ACS is at the moment caring for greater than 340 younger individuals in its two safe detention amenities, Crossroads and Horizon, and that over 73% of these youths are in detention on a homicide or murder-related cost. The testimony mentioned the FY27 preliminary plan consists of $8.1 million in metropolis funds and 40 further employees to handle the wants of younger individuals in detention.
Jones Gaston, in a press release, mentioned she sees the job as an opportunity to maneuver “beyond managing crisis” and as a substitute spend money on prevention, belief, and household stability.
Jones Gaston seems to be Mamdani’s third alternative for the job. NBC New York reported that Metropolis Corridor had beforehand handed over two finalists, Michelle Burrell and Angela Burton, earlier than naming Hester interim commissioner in February.
