Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s first 100 days in office have brought early policy initiatives and significant challenges amid extensive media attention. His administration has focused on issues such as housing affordability, transit reform and public services, while grappling with the budget pressures facing the city.
Mamdani has pointed to early progress on affordability, particularly in expanding child care access. In partnership with the state of New York, the mayoral administration has begun to roll out programs for younger children as part of a broader push toward universal child care, supported in part by a $1.2 billion state investment in early childhood education. These efforts remain incomplete, with the administration continuing to seek additional funding and infrastructure to achieve universal coverage.
Mamdani said that fiscal constraints have slowed parts of his policy agenda, citing a budget shortfall inherited from former Mayor Eric Adams. In January, the mayor’s office said the city faced a projected $12 billion gap across fiscal years 2026 and 2027, which it attributed to prior financial management decisions. The administration has since been working to close a multi-billion dollar deficit while weighing options like spending adjustments and raising taxes for those with high incomes. Officials say those budget pressures have complicated efforts to quickly implement some campaign proposals.
Mamdani issued his first veto as mayor on April 25, rejecting a city council bill that would require the New York Police Department (NYPD) to establish “buffer zones” that would restrict protests from occurring near schools and educational institutions.
Mamdani issued his first veto as mayor on April 25, rejecting a city council bill that would require the New York Police Department (NYPD) to establish “buffer zones” that would restrict protests from occurring near schools and educational institutions. Mamdani explained in an interview that he rejected the bill due to its overly broad language, resulting in “constitutional concerns … regarding New Yorkers’ fundamental right to protest.”
“It includes museums, libraries, teaching hospitals, things of that nature. Which is part of the reason why more than a dozen unions raised the alarm,” Mamdani said.
Mamdani allowed a related buffer zone bill to pass on April 24 that would establish protections around houses of worship. Mamdani said he would “allow it to become law,” but did not say whether or not he would sign it. According to the NYC Charter Section 37, legislation passed by the City Council and sent to the mayor’s office can become law within 30 days, even if the mayor takes no action on it by signing or vetoing
“(The bill) is not a narrow public safety measure; it is a piece of legislation that has alarmed much of the labor movement, reproductive rights groups, and immigration advocates, among others, across this city,” Mamdani said.
Another of Mamdani’s campaign promises was the implementation of a Department of Community Safety that would have civilian mental health workers, rather than the police, respond to non-criminal mental health emergencies. The original idea for the agency would cost $1 billion a year.
His initial proposal as mayor is much smaller in scale, consisting of two staff members and plans to change New York City’s approach to 911 calls before later scaling up. Toward this end, the Mamdani administration is looking to expand B-HEARD, an existing dispatch program that connects mental health workers to 911 calls. An office dedicated to community safety unveiled in late March will work toward these goals.
Mamdani also promised further NYPD reform early in his campaign — when he stuck out amongst candidates for his refusal to expand the NYPD — and has since sparked critics on both sides for the way he has handled these promises, though major reforms have not yet been made.
Transportation has also emerged as a major point of discussion. Congestion pricing has been widely accepted as a success, while broader Metropolitan Transportation Authority policy changes like the January fare hike have been met with contention among commuters who have not experienced legitimate improvements to their subway experiences. Officials continue to weigh the need for infrastructure funding against the financial burden on commuters.
“I’m absolutely committed to making buses fast and free, and we’re encouraged by the conversations we’re having with the governor and legislative leaders to take action on that in 2026 as a first step.” Zohran Mamdani, Major of New York City
Mamdani’s campaign pushed hard for his vision for free buses across the city. The plan is unlikely to happen in 2026, especially following Governor Kathy Hochul’s unwillingness to include funding for it in state budget proposals in Albany. The two sides are working on rolling out smaller pilot programs.
“Both legislative houses included language within their one-house budget proposals in support of bringing back a free-bus pilot program,” Mamdani said in an interview with Politico. “I’m absolutely committed to making buses fast and free, and we’re encouraged by the conversations we’re having with the governor and legislative leaders to take action on that in 2026 as a first step.”
Tensions have also emerged between Mamdani and Gov. Kathy Hochul over how to address the city’s fiscal challenges, particularly on questions of taxation. Mamdani has called for raising income and corporate taxes to fund expanded social programs and close budget gaps. The mayor does not have the power to change taxes, but Mamdani has repeatedly expressed his intention to pressure Albany into doing so. In the three months he has held office, though, Mamdani has been cautious not to alienate Hochul, who has already promised state funding for other projects.
Hochul, whose approval is required for tax changes in New York City, has taken a more wary approach toward the possibility of raising income taxes, emphasizing the need to balance revenue generation with economic competitiveness and warning against policies that could accelerate relocation of high-income taxpayers.
Seventy-four percent of New York City residents believe Mamdani is hard-working, and 56% think the city is moving in the right direction (a significant increase from 2025 polls).
In a somewhat different tactic toward the same goal of closing the budget gap, Mamdani and Hochul announced the proposal of a pied-à-terre tax (the first of its kind in the state) on April 15. The tax would apply to luxury secondary properties valued over $5 million owned by people who have separate primary residences outside of New York City.
A recent Marist poll found that Mamdani currently has an approval rate of 48% among New Yorkers. This is lower than his predecessor Eric Adams’ 60% rating at the same early point in his office, though Adams’ later indictment scandals would cause his approval to tank to a historic low of 20% in March 2025. Seventy-four percent of New York City residents believe Mamdani is hard-working, and 56% think the city is moving in the right direction (a significant increase from 2025 polls).
Mamdani also focused on “sewer socialism,” which he described as placing government attention and money into public services. In recent months, Mamdani has balanced broader projects with on-the-ground, structural improvements to the city. His administration is filling over 100,000 potholes across the city, and, in January, Mamdani was at the center of a viral social media moment for personally spreading asphalt over “the bump” — a pit at the edge of the Williamsburg bridge that has frustrated cyclists for years. The gesture symbolized Mamdani’s promise to make street-level fixes.
He has also relaunched bike lane initiatives across the city and bus lane projects on 34th Street and Fordham Road in the Bronx that had stagnated, left over from the previous administration. Scaffolding was taken down at various public housing developments and a $4 million plan for new public bathrooms was announced.
At an April 12 rally for his first 100 days, Mamdani announced several new proposals, including increasing garbage containerization to address the city’s notorious issue of garbage bag piles on sidewalks, and the first city-owned grocery store in East Harlem. The larger plan is to have one in each borough, none of which would pay property or rent taxes, to bring down food costs. Skeptics of the plan worry that the city will not be able to effectively compete with chain grocery stores and negotiate with suppliers for low prices, though this remains to be seen.
Earlier this semester, New York City saw record winter storms with snowfall reaching a total of 43.4 inches, 13.6 inches over average. The first storm in January, and the following deep freeze, saw around 20 casualties across the city, many of whom were homeless. Despite the Mamdani administration opening drop-in “warming centers” and sending out outreach teams to bring people indoors, some said that not enough was done to encourage people to seek shelter. With a second major storm just a few weeks later, the mayor’s office responded more aggressively, focusing on placing people in shelters and hiring emergency snow shovelers to get roads cleared by morning. The mayor’s office reported no deaths.
Mamdani’s first months in office come against the backdrop of intensifying global conflict, friction within the federal government and continued change in New York City.
Mamdani met with President Donald Trump a couple times in February to propose a significant federal investment in affordable housing. Despite the president’s ardent criticism of Mamdani prior to the mayoral election — and Mamdani’s labeling of Trump as a fascist — the meeting appeared to go well, despite the details being kept private.
At the federal level, political dysfunction has further complicated the national landscape. Ongoing disputes over immigration policy and federal spending have brought the government close to partial shutdowns, creating uncertainty around funding and contributing to delays in public services. These disruptions have also had ripple effects on transportation systems, including increased airport wait times and administrative backlogs. Mamdani will continue to have to negotiate with the state and federal government throughout his time as mayor.
