Transcript
Sally Goldenberg (0:00)
Foreign.
Ben Max (0:08)
Hello and welcome to Max Politics. This is Ben Max coming to you from New York Law School and its center for New York City and State Law. Thanks for tuning in. Speaking here on Monday, April 13, 2026, Mayor Zoran Mamdani's 103rd day in office. And we're discussing the start of Mamdani's tenure loosely, his first 100 days, which included a speech on day 102 on Sunday in Queens where he brought together many city workers and a whole lot of supporters for a rousing campaign style rally that included a cameo by Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who's Mamdani's democratic socialist idol, but also someone who was a mayor himself way back when and who Mamdani has looked to as a model on both municipal governance and movement politics. As such, Mamdani very much stressed in his 100 day speech that his administration has been focused on the nuts and bolts of governing, introducing the term pothole politics as his administration's modern version of the old sewer socialism, where far left leaders of local government put a premium on both the large and small of creating a more equal society, including things like modernizing sewer systems or filling potholes, expanding childcare and much, much more. So joining me today to discuss Mayor Mamdani's first 100 days and what comes next will be Sally Goldenberg of the New York Times and Bob Hart of Spectrum News. They are two veteran New York journalists with great perspect on the current mayor and past mayors. We've all covered the past several mayors and they go back even a little further than me in covering New York government and politics. During his celebratory event, which was both an early defense and touting of his leadership and also of democratic socialism more broadly, Mamdani highlighted many things from his first 100 days, including progress on some of his campaign promises, like advancing on the path toward universal childcare efforts to speed up city buses while promising much more to come soon on that and also advocating for help at the state level and with the MTA to make those buses free. As he pledged on the campaign trail, he also talked about plans to containerize more trash that would otherwise sit on sidewalks in leaky plastic bags, designs on opening city run grocery stores again, another campaign promise he's saying he will deliver in the coming years and taking a more holistic approach to public safety. That would be through his promised Department of Community Safety. And he started with an Office of Community Safety with the the mayor's office. Mamdani also gave a very big wink and nod during his speech to the Rent Guidelines Board, whose members he has mostly appointed at this point and is relying on to deliver the rent freeze he promises on rent stabilized apartments. That decision will come likely in June. Mandani also touted a lot of the administration's work, winning restitution for workers and small businesses and tenants who've been taken advantage of largely via his refreshed Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, but also using his law department and other parts of city government. He also touted the very active Department of Transportation that he's empowered to advance many bus lane street redesign and other public works projects. Now Mamdani must do a lot in the coming hundreds of days to run city government well and better to balance the city budget, which is perhaps the most pressing issue he's dealing with now. And a new city budget is due by July 1. He has to first see what he can advocate for in a new state budget that will include a lot of aid for New York City and other important decisions by state lawmakers and governor Kathy Hochul and is expected any day or week now as we speak here in the middle of April. He also has to win legislative and financial victories, not just at the state level, but also at the federal level and city levels. He's got to continue to deliver on his campaign promises and generally do one of the biggest things he set out to do, which is restore more faith in city government, especially after this corruption and cronyism filled years of the Adams administration. But also even going back prior to that, Bill de Blasio's administration received a lot of criticism for not focusing on the basics of city government and just generally, New Yorkers and Americans more broadly have lost a lot of faith in whether government can actually deliver for people and be run without corruption and efficiently. Now Mamdani has made some key strides so far in terms of what have been mostly praised appointments across many government positions where the inexperienced young mayor has brought in people with a lot of expertise, as many of his deputy mayors and agency commissioners. There have of course been some missteps or questionable moments along the way already, including how he's handled that city budget picture he inherited and his threats of a property tax increase that basically nobody agreed with or supported. And he said he didn't want to do and is even walked away further from already, he's had some controversial reactions to several incidents that have involved the police, including police being hit by snow and ice in Washington Square park, some police shootings of individuals in crisis and more. There have been a lot of questions raised about whether he has an economic growth agenda, which he again gave a bit of a nod to in some of his comments at his 100 day rally, but didn't get into a lot of specifics on. So those and much more. We'll get into many of the highs, lows, questions and interesting trends of Mamdani's early tenure here on the show today. Mamdani's first 100 days and what comes next with Sally Goldenberg and Bob Hart in just a moment. Very briefly, if you've missed any recent episodes of the show, I've had great conversations recently with guests including New York State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart. Cousins was my most recent guest. Before this episode. We had a really good conversation on the status of state budget negotiations about a lot of the policy conversations going on between Governor Hochul and the state legislature. Got into a lot there, including what the state Senate is looking to do to help New York City and Mayor Mamdani. Also recently on the show, a good conversation on the city budget picture with City Council Finance Chair Linda Lee of Queens. Also on the show recently, City Comptroller Mark Levine. We talk city budget and this issue of economic growth and how the city's economy is doing. What are some of the big question marks in the city economic picture. And then also recently, State Senator Gustavo Rivera of the Bronx talked state budget issues and help for New York City, but also a lot of health policy issues as he's the chair of the State Senate's health committee. So if you've missed any, there's those and more in your Max Politics feed for after you listen to this one. All right. I'm very pleased to welcome back to the show two great veteran New York journalists to join me in discussing Mayor Zoran Mamdani's first 100 days in office and what comes next. Sally Goldenberg is a metro reporter for the New York Times covering City Hall. She's been a reporter and editor covering New York politics and government for about two decades, including stints at the Staten Island Advance, New York Post, Politico, New York and now the Times. Bob Hart is the New York political director for Spectrum News, which of course includes the Great Spectrum News New York 1. He's been covering New York politics and government for even a little longer and including his own stint at the New York Post and one at the Associated Press. He's been at New York 1 a long time now over overseeing its political work and Spectrum's coverage across the state. Sally Bob, thanks for being here. Really happy you could take the time. Thanks for joining me.