Mamdani's first 100 days: How he's doing on campaign promises

Friday marks 100 days since Zohran Kwame Mamdani took office, reaching a benchmark of progress set by the president he considers to be one of his heroes, Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Following in FDR’s footsteps to pull government to the left, Mamdani, 34, has signed executive orders, enacted policies, held "rental rip-off hearings" and reshuffled the New York City bureaucracy overseeing nearly 300,000 employees and a $127 billion budget. 

Mamdani arrives early at City Hall, leaves late, and has held public events almost every day of the week. 

He has begun to meet some of the promises of his insurgent democratic socialist campaign, such as setting the stage for free, government-funded child care for 2-year-olds, with funding from Gov. Kathy Hochul. He’s acknowledged free buses, another plank of his campaign, won’t happen this year.

And he’s frustrated some civil rights advocates and critics of the NYPD by delaying his promise to disband the controversial Strategic Response Group, which helps combat terrorism but also polices protests, as well as the dismantling of the department's gang database and other changes.

A Marist University poll released this week found about half of city residents approve of the job he’s doing, with 30% disapproving and 23% unsure. The poll found most city residents believe New York is moving in the right direction, in contrast to poll results last fall under predecessor Eric Adams. 

Laura Tamman, a clinical assistant professor of political science at Pace University who studies political persuasion, said Mamdani has achieved some progress in his first 100 days from matters big (child care for 2-year-olds) to small (potholes, the 100,000th of which was filled on Monday, the fastest pace in 11 years, the administration said.)

"Before he took office, a lot of older New Yorkers were concerned that he was so young and had such minimal management experience," she said. "But his appointments have been well received, and he has demonstrated that he is capable of managing unexpected events like the blizzard."

The blizzard, one of the deadliest in recent New York City history, proved an early crucible for the nascent administration, with at least 19 people dying in the elements.

To be sure, Mamdani never promised to deliver on all of his campaign pledges in his first 100 days. But here's a look at what, and how, he's done so far.

Taxes

Mamdani ran on a campaign pledge to expand social programs — free buses, free child care, city-owned groceries, a $1.1-billion, police-supplementing community safety department. He promised to pay for that pledge by raising taxes on the biggest city businesses and by increasing taxes by 2% on those making above $1 million.

But, he says now, he needs that tax increase just to balance the budget, which he has proposed at $127 billion for the upcoming fiscal year. Unless he gets it, he said, he’ll have no choice but to raise the city’s property taxes, the only tax the city can raise on its own. (Hochul, who is up for reelection this year, has ruled out income tax increases.)

That threat has been greeted as a non-starter by Julie Menin, the City Council speaker, which must approve any tax increase. Mamdani said he’s instructed city agencies to help find savings. So far, he said, he’s identified more than $1.7 billion in savings. But the gap is $12 billion over two years, and those savings aren’t enough to balance the budget, a legal requirement since the city’s fiscal crisis of the 1970s.

Andrew Rein, president of the Citizens Budget Commission, said Mamdani needs to look deeper. "Our revenues are strong," Rein said of the city’s financial coffers. "We have a spending problem."

Policing

Mamdani, who ran on a platform to change policing to be less heavy-handed, opted last fall to retain his predecessor’s police commissioner, Jessica Tisch, thrilling centrists and business interests but disappointing his base.

Last month, as promised in the campaign, Mamdani abandoned his predecessor’s policy to criminally charge bicyclists for conduct for which a motor vehicle driver would be issued an ordinary traffic ticket, such as speeding or running a stop sign. The policy was important to immigrant rights advocates, who said that, in particular, criminally charging delivery cyclists makes them vulnerable to President Donald Trump’s deportation crackdown.

But Mamdani has not kept other key promises, including the dismantling of the Strategic Response Group, the NYPD unit that has been accused of brutality toward protesters, or the ending of the gang database, which he has said sometimes unfairly ensnares youths, particularly minority youths, for social media hyperbole.

Mamdani said in January the administration is "hard at work" figuring out how to dismantle the Strategic Response Group by splitting two of its key responsibilities — policing protests and responding to unrest.

Regarding the gang database, the mayor this week said the NYPD implemented "a number of reforms" that are part of "the active discussion that we're having" about the database's future. 

"Some on the left feel he is not pushing hard enough for the reforms to the NYPD that he talked about on the campaign trail," said Tamman, the Pace political scientist. "But it’s a tricky issue area to assess because there is less transparency around the decision-making in and around that department."

Universal child care

Mamdani has begun planting the seeds for offering child care to the families of all New York City 2-year-olds, with a focus on certain neighborhoods. Mamdani’s program is boosted with funding authorized by Hochul, who has made helping families access services like pre-K statewide a pillar of her reelection bid this fall.

Tamman said the 2-year-old pre-K program "he and [Hochul] announced is very small but it’s a respectable start for a very ambitious and expensive item."

Mamdani has also announced a pilot child care program for municipal workers who are based at the David N. Dinkins Municipal Building across from New York City Hall.

Doing an 'OK job'

Doug Muzzio, a retired professor at Baruch College who’s studied mayors dating back to Robert F. Wagner Jr., who served as mayor of New York City from 1954 to 1965, says it’s too early to evaluate a mayoralty 100 days in.

Speaking of Mamdani, Muzzio said: "He’s not doing a great job. He’s not doing a poor job. He’s doing an OK job. He’s keeping out of big trouble, and he hasn’t had an outstanding win, if you will. So, we’re still looking."

By Matthew Chayes

matthew.chayes@newsday.comchayesmatthew

Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.