Zohran Mamdani has become a polarizing figure in New York City politics; it seems you either love the mayor’s style and videos, or you brand him a Communist and a one-trick pony, with seemingly little gray area between the two camps. Mamdani’s first proposed budget as mayor is little different, as he declared he has found the money from New York State to close the city’s $5.4 billion budget gap. His critics are quick to point out, however, that New York State still doesn’t officially have its budget in place yet. WOR street reporter Natalie Migliore hit the Upper West Side in her latest installment of Beat on the Street for 710 WOR’s Curtis Sliwa and Larry Mendte in the Morning program to find out what New Yorkers think of the mayor’s budgetary proposal.
Migliore found one pedestrian who believes Mamdani’s budget plan is a benefit to the city: “Oh, I love him, I mean, he’s a great asset to the city, so we’ve matched London, another Muslim mayor. Yeah, I think he’s great; he looks honest, vulnerable, and likes everybody.” Another man echoed that sentiment by saying, “I think so far, so good. I have a good feeling about him. I think he’s working hard.”
But one man suggested the mayor might want to do the math again, even while giving him the benefit of the doubt: “I don’t see how he managed it. I mean, there’s money coming from everywhere. There’s congestion pricing that people are paying. They’re getting billions from a lot of places, and I say give him his chance and see what he can do. We have no choice; he’s going to be mayor for four years.”
One woman couldn’t help but laugh, though, as she politely tried to dismiss the mayor’s math: “He is thoughtful, but some of that thinking is magical thinking, because money does not grow in the ether, you know, and rich people have their limits.”
And whereas six months ago, when a lot of people seemed intrigued by Mamdani’s promise of free buses, Migliore found a few skeptics this time around, like this woman: “Is anyone surprised? I mean, you can’t make a claim like that and expect to be able to follow through just because you said it could happen. I mean, they all lie.”
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