New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani didn’t back down from his campaign promises as he was inaugurated at City Hall on a blustery New Year’s Day: He said he would tax the rich, make buses free, and deliver “abundance.”
He will have to deal with state lawmakers to make some of those promises come true. And it remains to be seen if they’ll want to play ball.
But Mamdani, who was read an oath of office by Sen. Bernie Sanders, made it clear his administration intends to “govern expansively and audaciously.”
Here are some key quotes from Mamdani’s speech on his plan to reshape the city, which he said he would make affordable for all:
A call for ‘collectivism’
Those hoping Mamdani might moderate his views upon taking office may have received a wake-up call in his New Year’s Day speech.
The new mayor didn’t shirk from his socialist identity upon taking office, vowing to draw the city together by replacing “the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism.”
“We will govern without shame and insecurity, making no apology for what we believe. I was elected as a democratic socialist and I will govern as a democratic socialist. I will not abandon my principles for fear of being deemed radical.”
AP Photo/Heather Khalifa
No longer a ‘tale of two cities’
Chants of “tax the rich” rang out as Sanders spoke.
Mamandi said he planned to ensure the wealthiest would have to share the power under his administration.
“This will not be a tale of one city governed only by the 1%, nor will it be a tale of two cities, the rich versus the poor.”
Fixing crowded classrooms, broken elevators, potholes, and corporate rip-offs
Mamdani’s speech criticized corporations and the government alike, sometimes in the same breath.
“Who does New York belong to? For much of our history, the response from City Hall has been simple: It belongs only to the wealthy and well-connected those who never strained to capture the attention of those in power. Working people have reckoned with the consequences. Crowded classrooms and public housing developments where the elevators sit out of orders. Roads littered with potholes and buses that arrive half an hour late, if at all. Wages that do not rise in corporations that rip off consumers and employees alike.”
A pledge to deliver ‘abundance’
He pledged to deliver “abundance,” a lightning-rod word on the political left associated with the movement and book by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson, which critiques liberal policies that fail to yield results and promote growth.
“City Hall will deliver an agenda of safety, affordability, an abundance, where government looks and lives like the people it represents never flinches in the fight against corporate greed and refuses to cower before challenges that others have deemed too complicated.”
AP Photo/Heather Khalifa
Vowing to make good on campaign promises like free buses and a rent freeze
Mamdani vowed to “reform a long broken property tax system,” to crack down on “the bad landlords who mistreat their tenants,” and to “free small business owners from the shackles of bloated bureaucracy.”
He also reiterated the hallmarks of his campaign promises that enamored so many of his voters, reiterating his vows to deliver universal childcare, freeze the rent, and make “buses fast and free.”
“The cost of childcare will no longer discourage young adults from starting a family because we will deliver universal childcare for the many by taxing the wealthiest few. Those in rent stabilized homes will no longer dread the latest rent hike because we will freeze the rent. Getting on a bus without worrying about a fair hike or whether you’ll be able to get to your destination on time will no longer be deemed a small miracle because we will make those buses fast and free.”
“For too long in our city, freedom has belonged only to those who can afford to buy it,” Mamdani said. “Our City Hall will change that.”
