Photo: AFP
Snowstorms have been the make-or-break point of every New York City mayor’s existence since the Great Blizzard of 1888. Mayors like William O’Dwyer, John Lindsay, Mike Bloomberg and Bill DeBlasio have all felt the ire of New Yorkers who have been stuck inside three days after a snowstorm that left their street unplowed. Now, Zohran Mamdani is facing the first real test of his leadership capabilities as a massive snowstorm churns across the country, threatening to dump as much as 15 inches of snow on the five boroughs and bring the city to a standstill. Mamdani says the Department of Sanitation is up to the challenge, but is Mamdani ready for the finger pointing that will start if people are whining about unplowed streets on Wednesday afternoon? J.C. Polanco is a political analyst and assistant professor at Mount Saint Vincent University in the Bronx. He appeared on 710 WOR’S Mendte in the Morning program to assess the first city-wide situation on Mayor Mamdani’s plate.
Polanco told host Larry Mendte that the snow will be Mamdani’s first chance to show his leadership chops: “His first big test is going to be the snowstorm. That’s what we’re waiting on; I mean, does the city go through this with the streets plowed, are we going to be safe, are there going to be back-ups? How he handles this logistically with his team is what a lot of New Yorkers are going to watch. Does Staten Island get plowed, right- that’s the question. Are neighborhoods that didn’t support him going to get plowed, because, if you remember with DeBlasio, there were places that didn’t support him that all of a sudden didn’t see shovels for days after snowstorms, so I hope that that’s not the case with this mayor.”
If anything, though, Polanco says we should not be shocked by what Mamdani does because he’s made the essence of his style clear from day one: “The big surprises shouldn’t be surprises, you know. He campaigned as someone that was radical and campaigned on a message that was clearly socialist and he said that he would rule as such as govern as such. It was very interesting to see some of these appointments be controversial. It’s as if, was anyone doing any background checks on social media posts, on prior statements, on things that they have said on video.”
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