Inside Zohran Mamdani’s first big test of his mayoral term

Four days before one of the biggest winter storms in years hit New York, Mayor Zohran Mamdani met with top officials and shook up his schedule for the rest of the week. His first big test of management was approaching, and the next few days were going to be devoted to snow.

Mamdani knew his response would be intensely scrutinized. During his meeting with top officials on Wednesday, the mayor specifically mentioned to his team that his three immediate predecessors – Mayors Michael Bloomberg, Bill de Blasio and Eric Adams – had all botched their response to the snowstorm because they were caught off guard and seemed distant, a senior aide detailed. Mamdani’s press secretary, Joe Calvello, printed out old newspaper headlines detailing these failures and his colleagues hung them above their desks. Bulletin board material for “motivation,” he said.

“Old-fashioned locker room stuff,” Calvello said, adding, “Take notes from history. Simple as that. Lots of mayors have tripped in their first big snow. And he made it clear that this wouldn’t be a test, but an opportunity. And then it was up to us and workers across the city to pick up the slack as he did.”

A self-described democratic socialist seeking to implement a sprawling agenda, Mamdani is acutely aware that voters won’t believe him capable of delivering on bigger promises if he fails to manage the inner workings of city government. The storm was a first test and gave him the opportunity to prove himself.

On the eve of the storm, Mamdani tasked Deputy Mayor Julia Kerson with taking the lead in interagency coordination, a senior official detailed. Since last week, City Hall has held daily weather briefings across the administration and developed a snow removal action plan with the Ministry of Sanitation. At the same time, Mamdani stepped up his public communications surrounding the storm, making appearances on television and radio and with a number of local content creators on social media, in addition to holding multiple press conferences.

As the snow piled up Sunday, Mamdani left a news conference and, wearing a tailored jacket embroidered with “New York City” on the chest and “Mayor” on the sleeve, picked up a shovel himself, stopping in Brooklyn and Queens to shovel snow — and flush out a motorist. Most of his aides were unaware he was doing this until they saw videos circulating on social media, two aides said.

An administration official said the mayor’s team was “extraordinarily aware” that any problems with the snow response could pose serious challenges to the mayor’s ability to govern.

“It was never about putting change or big, ambitious agenda items ahead of excellence in implementing the nuts and bolts of government,” the official said. “It was always both.”

Now, days after about a foot of snow blanketed the city, Mamdani has received strong reviews for his administration’s response to the storm, largely because city workers were able to salt and plow streets efficiently and clear snow from roads and sidewalks to keep the city from grinding to a halt. Meanwhile, municipalities in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., struggled.

A headline in City & State New York read: “OK Zohran, So You’ve Weathered the Storm.” » Benny Polatseck, who served in Adams’ administration and was critical of Mamdani’s, tweeted Sunday afternoon: “Credit where it’s due, looks like @NYCMayor is handling this storm very well so far.” And at a news conference on the storm response Monday, Zach Iscol, an Adams appointee who went on to serve as commissioner of the city’s emergency management agency, praised Mamdani for the team he built, saying, “I know this city is in very, very good hands.” »

For Mamdani, dealing with the snow is just the first step as his first winter in office continues to pose new challenges. Days of bitter cold – expected to be one of the longest periods with subzero temperatures in New York City’s recorded history – followed the snowstorm. So far, at least 10 people, many of whom were known to the city’s Department of Homeless Services, have died from the cold.

Meanwhile, persistent freezing temperatures prevented snow from melting naturally, further draining the city’s resources.

“We are in the middle of what could be the harshest winter period New York has ever experienced,” Mamdani said in a video posted to social media Thursday evening. “While sunshine and rising temperatures typically help the city respond after a snowfall, this cold is persistent, this snow is stubborn and this danger is real. That means this work takes longer and takes all of us.”

Mamdani faced some criticism over his response, including from some parents of hundreds of thousands of public school students who did not receive a snow day Monday and instead participated in remote learning. Others claimed that Mamdani’s abandonment of Adams’ policy of using the NYPD to clear homeless encampments contributed to the storm’s death toll.

“What about the ten homeless people who died? Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, a frequent critic of Mamdani, tweeted at the mayor on Thursday.

The city remains steadfast in its “Code Blue” protocol, an emergency weather declaration that removes barriers for homeless residents to enter shelters in freezing temperatures. But Mamdani said protocol alone is not enough.

Mamdani said Thursday the city was deploying hundreds of additional sanitation workers — and expanding crews — to clear crosswalks and bus stops. His team also put out a call on social media for New York City residents to serve as paid emergency snow shovelers. A spokesperson said the effort has resulted in about 500 New Yorkers picking up their own shovels each day and participating in the effort since Tuesday.

The mayor’s staff said outreach teams have so far made more than 600 homeless shelter placements since last week, in addition to opening 20 warming buses and 18 enhanced warming centers across the city for residents.

“As the city does its part, I ask you, New York, to do yours,” Mamdani said Thursday. “If you see someone out in the cold, call 311 so we can get them help.”

Bradley Tusk, who served in Bloomberg’s administration, said he thought Mamdani had handled the crisis “pretty well.” He suggested Mamdani keep Acting Department of Sanitation Commissioner Javier Logan in that role permanently, saying the department has come together for the moment under his leadership.

“His youth and energy served him well publicly,” Tusk said of Mamdani, adding: “Obviously the deaths were tragic, but in a city with a huge population of homeless and drug addicts and a mayor in office for a few weeks, [it’s] It’s hard to blame him.

New York’s mayoral history is littered with blizzards, including those of Bloomberg, de Blasio and Mayor John Lindsay, who was pilloried for his response to a blizzard that left more than 40 people dead in its wake.

With that in mind, Mamdani wanted to overcommunicate and be “everywhere,” as one senior administration official put it, noting that the mayor prioritized working with content creators online and through his own megaphone on social media to spread his message — just as he did during his successful campaign last fall. One of Mamdani’s main goals was to generate signups for Notify NYC, the city’s free emergency alert program. An administration official said the platform received about 70,000 registrations last week. The system recorded 35,000 new subscribers on Tuesday alone, the largest number of signups in a single day in the program’s history.

Overall, Mamdani’s team is pleased with the reception his efforts have received so far, with one example of negative media coverage showing them how his opposition has had relatively little material to work with. An article in the New York Post on Monday mocked the mayor for his “poor snow shoveling form” as he sought to join recovery efforts on Sunday.

But Mamdani and his team know they are not out of the woods yet. A risk of northeast falls on the city this weekend.

“We know there is still work to do,” Calvello said.