In recent weeks we have been exploring several examples of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s penchant for governing by progressive ideology rather than pragmatism – and the consequences.
Thus, among other things, we discussed his refusal, in the name of their rights as individuals, to sweep tent camps for the homeless despite looming frigid, deadly weather.
We also spoke about his plan to substitute social workers for police as first responders to domestic violence calls in order to minimize interaction of civilians with people with guns.
And we also pursued his going to Albany to get higher N.Y.C. tax rates for individuals and corporations and special funding to pay for his novel, pie-in-the-sky progressive wish list of new entitlements despite the almost $7 billion deficit the city already faced.
Further, we noted that his much-ballyhooed campaign to protect tenants, featuring extensive public hearings to allow disgruntled renters to air their grievances against their landlords, with heavy fines and serious jail time ultimately a possibility, was specifically limited to private sector tenancies. Tenants in N.Y.C. public housing were not even permitted to testify! Nor has Mamdani shown any inclination to move legally against his own administration.
This is so, although, as we have said, the New York City Housing Authority, which runs the city-owned housing stock, has a notorious reputation for mistreating its tenants and has a reported $80 billion backlog in needed repairs. Indeed, it is widely known that NYCHA tenants are even now suffering through chronic heat outages, elevator breakdowns, and mold infestations over which private landlords will soon feel Mamdani’s legal wrath.
Plainly, for this mayor, private enterprise is inherently exploitative and the enemy, while public ownership is inherently virtuous and must be cut all possible slack.
In the past few days, the mayor’s preference for ideology was on full display and underscored the need for other government officials to restrain him.
In anticipation of this week’s epic snowstorm, Mamdani put out a call for emergency snow shovelers to help clear the city’s bus stops and crosswalks. The pay was to be generous – starting at over $19 an hour. To those answering the call, the bureaucratic maze was surprisingly steep.
Thus, in order to get a shovel and city paycheck, aspirants cannot simply show up. According to the Department of Sanitation’s strictly enforced protocols, temporary workers must present two small passport-style photos, two original forms of identification, copies of these IDs, and a physical Social Security card.
According to the Sanitation Department, the rationale for this procedure is entirely sound. The city needs to verify identity to prevent payroll fraud, ensure that workers are legally eligible to work, and manage municipal liability.
Of course, this is the very same administration, driven by the very same progressive political movement, that fiercely opposes requiring even a single piece of photo ID to vote.
However, progressive politicians have consistently argued that requiring a standard government ID at the polling place is a draconian measure, an insurmountable burden that inherently suppresses minority and low-income participation. Apparently, Mayor Mamdani believes that a working-class New Yorker is perfectly capable of gathering two forms of ID, sitting for passport photos, and producing a Social Security card just to earn hourly wages clearing slush from a fire hydrant, but is somehow rendered unable to do so if it is required to vote and the requirement is a tool of voter suppression.
Talk about cognitive dissonance!
And then there was the matter of cutting red tape for building projects. It seems Mayor Mamdani plans to build our way out of the housing crisis and signaled as much when he signed executive orders to establish the SPEED and LIFT Task Forces designed to slash the red tape that has historically delayed many business projects. But the relief extended only to city-owned and city-backed projects.
Once again, the mayor’s approach reflects a fundamental tenet of his democratic socialist ideology. He does not merely want more housing; he wants to control who builds it and who profits from it. And as he sees it, private capital is an inherent evil that must be heavily taxed, heavily regulated, or driven out of the market entirely. By streamlining the rules for the government while keeping the private sector tied up in regulatory knots, the mayor is using the city bureaucracy not as a shield for the environment, but as a sword against capitalism.
The problem with this ideological crusade is that there is a huge housing shortage in N.Y.C. such that there is a need for both private and public sectors to contribute. So, it makes no practical sense for city government to unduly burden the private one.
Much of the Mamdani socialist agenda requires the cooperation of the N.Y.C. Council and the governor. So, one would think that Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul and her Republican challenger, Bruce Blakeman, would loom large in this regard, as would N.Y.C. Council Speaker Julie Menin, and that all could be looked to keep Mamdani from giving full vent to his democratic socialism – especially since all three have been critical of at least some of Mamdani’s more outrageous plans.
Unfortunately, given her flip-flop on congestion pricing right after the 2024 elections, she lacks credibility whatever she says now. And Bruce Blakeman is heard from very rarely and, even then, doesn’t seem to have his heart in the battle.
Menin seems to be the one bright light, except there are 50 other members of the City Council with whom she has to contend, with most of them lefties.
Hopefully Blakeman will wake up and at least push Hochul seriously to the center/right. As for Menin, we should look for ways to strengthen her hand in city government vis-à-vis the mayor and her colleagues on the City Council. It is not hyperbole to suggest that the future of the city depends on it.