Monday, Feb. 24, marked the fifty 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 intently 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.
As New York Metropolis continued digging out from the historic blizzard, public faculties reopened on Tuesday with 12,000 lecturers absent and about 63.3% of scholars returning — a call that Mayor Zohran Mamdani defended as essential, however one which raised issues amongst Metropolis Council leaders.
Talking at a snowstorm replace briefing on Feb. 24, Mamdani mentioned town was not ready to pivot to distant instruction after midwinter break, noting that it couldn’t guarantee college students had entry to units, making a last-minute swap to distant studying unworkable.
He argued that faculties play a essential function past teachers, offering meals, psychological well being help, and childcare for working households, companies he mentioned had been particularly essential as soon as circumstances had been deemed secure after college students had their first conventional snow day since 2019 on Monday.
The mayor credited greater than 8,000 Division of Training employees who labored by means of the weekend clearing snow, restoring warmth and energy, and getting ready faculty buildings for reopening. Colleges Chancellor Kamar Samuels mentioned greater than 5,000 substitute lecturers had been introduced in to cowl absences after the call-outs of 15.38% of the workforce.
Transportation disruptions appeared restricted regardless of lingering storm impacts. Metropolis Corridor mentioned about 150,000 college students sometimes depend on faculty buses, however solely 78 complaints had been reported Tuesday, with 15 of roughly 8,000 routes experiencing delays.
Nonetheless, the choice to reopen drew concern from lawmakers representing districts hit hardest by the storm.
Council Speaker Julie Menin mentioned at a separate press briefing on Tuesday that she heard from quite a few council members whose constituents had been uneasy about sending youngsters again to high school so quickly.
“I heard from many council members, including Kamillah Hanks in Staten Island and Kayla Santosuosso of Brooklyn, who were hearing from parents concerned about getting their children to school and who really wanted the flexibility of a remote option,” Menin mentioned. She added that flexibility must be thought-about throughout future main storms.
Lately-elected Council Member Santosuosso on Tuesday mentioned that regardless of the Division of Sanitation “moving mountains” in a single day, it nonetheless wasn’t sufficient.
“I’ve got teachers telling me the staff absences outweigh the sub headcount, and no shortage of hellish commutes for parents, kids, and teachers,” she posted on X.
Photograph by Lloyd Mitchell
The college reopening got here as town continued an all-hands response to what Mamdani referred to as the “snowstorm of the decade.” Some neighborhoods, significantly on Staten Island, recorded 28 to 30 inches of snow, with excessive winds creating deep drifts that slowed cleanup efforts.
Metropolis officers mentioned 2,600 sanitation employees operated in successive 12-hour shifts, deploying greater than 3,000 items of apparatus and spreading over 143 million kilos of salt to plow each road throughout the 5 boroughs no less than as soon as. Sanitation crews additionally cleared 1000’s of crosswalks, fireplace hydrants, and bus stops, with extra work persevering with attributable to blowing snow.
An enhanced Code Blue remained in impact by means of Wednesday morning, with outreach groups making greater than 250 placements for homeless New Yorkers for the reason that weekend. Trash assortment was suspended on Tuesday and set to renew on Wednesday night, whereas alternate facet parking was suspended by means of the tip of the week.
As temperatures rise later this week, metropolis officers warned of falling snow and ice from rooftops and urged property house owners to clear roofs safely.
Training: CUNY professor’s hot-mic second was reprehensible, says mayor
Mayor Mamdani and Chancellor Samuels additionally confronted questions Tuesday a couple of controversy involving a Hunter School professor, after a video surfaced displaying the school member inadvertently reducing off a Black eighth-grade scholar who was elevating issues in regards to the potential closure of her Higher West Aspect faculty throughout a Neighborhood Training Council assembly on Feb. 10.
“They’re too dumb to know they’re in a bad school,” Allyson Friedman, an affiliate biology professor at Hunter School, reportedly mentioned on Zoom whereas her mic was dwell.
Friedman later informed the New York Instances that her full remarks “make clear these abhorrent views are not my own, nor were they directed at any student or group.”
Photograph by Lloyd Mitchell
When requested in regards to the acceptable punishment for the comment and what it says about tensions surrounding the Higher West Aspect faculty relocation, Mamdani referred to as the remark “reprehensible” and mentioned it mirrored “the exact kind of language that makes students feel as if they don’t belong within our public school system.” He added that town is “looking to build a public school system that is home for each and every person that calls this city home.”
Chancellor Samuels echoed Mamdani, calling the comment “abhorrent” and saying college students “deserve so much better.” Samuels mentioned the administration will work with the superintendent and college communities to restore any hurt and strengthen lecturers’ skill to deal with underlying points in metropolis faculties.
Pressed on whether or not Friedman must be fired, Mamdani mentioned it will be a part of the investigation into subsequent steps, as Samuels had outlined.
Appointments: Mamdani names Sideya Sherman Metropolis Planning Director, retains key housing leaders
Earlier Tuesday, Mamdani introduced that he had appointed Sideya Sherman to steer the Division of Metropolis Planning and the Metropolis Planning Fee, whereas reappointing Eric Enderlin as President of the Housing Growth Company and Edith Hsu-Chen as DCP Government Director.
Sherman, previously town’s Chief Fairness Officer, has a protracted historical past in city planning and inexpensive housing, together with management roles at NYCHA and the Taskforce on Racial Inclusion and Fairness.
Hsu-Chen has been DCP’s govt director since 2022 and performed a job within the “City of Yes” zoning reforms aimed toward selling housing, sustainability, and financial growth. Enderlin, in the meantime, has led HDC since 2016, overseeing billions in municipal housing bonds and the financing of 1000’s of inexpensive houses.
Then Government Director of the Taskforce on Racial Inclusion & Fairness Sideya Sherman pictured in 2021.NYC Mayoral Pictures Unit
The appointments come as town implements new initiatives to hurry up inexpensive housing development, together with the Land Stock Quick Monitor (LIFT) and the Streamlining Procedures to Expedite Equitable Growth (SPEED) process forces. Final week, DCP launched the primary public assessment underneath the Expedited Land Use Overview Process (ELURP) for an inexpensive housing challenge in Mott Haven, Bronx.
Mayor Mamdani framed the adjustments as central to his administration’s affordability agenda, whereas Deputy Mayor for Housing and Planning Leila Bozorg referred to as the management crew “critical to shaping the lived reality of our city.”
“Sideya Sherman understands that planning is not an abstract exercise – it is about whether working people can afford to live in the city they call home. Her record in community engagement and equitable development makes her exactly the leader we need at City Planning,” mentioned Mamdani.
“I’m confident that she and Edith Hsu-Chen will move with urgency to deliver affordability, advance fair housing and build a city that works for everyday New Yorkers — not just the wealthy and well-connected,” Mamdani continued. “Eric Enderlin will continue to lead HDC’s groundbreaking work as the nation’s largest municipal Housing Finance Agency, bringing innovative financing tools to bear to build a more affordable city, starting with the homes that dot the five boroughs.”
Annemarie Grey, Government Director of Open New York, mentioned Sherman’s appointment comes at a pivotal second for town’s housing coverage. “New York City’s housing shortage is inextricably linked with its history of exclusionary zoning, and solving one means confronting the other,” Grey mentioned. She added that Sherman “brings a deep understanding of the connection between racial equity and fair housing,” and that latest voter-approved constitution adjustments give town new instruments to approve extra houses sooner.
