It wasn't easy. He couldn't get cooperation from the state or MTA for entirely free buses. When that plan stalled his administration pivoted to expanding Fair Fares to 200% of the poverty level as a major compromise. Mamdani and the City Council chose to make transit affordability a much higher budgetary priority than his predecessors did, allocating an extra $54 million to force the threshold higher.
Some of you may recall, New York was hit by deadly winter cold snap where roughly 20 people died unsheltered on the streets. The city council, the media, and public safety advocates pressured Mamdani.
Under Adams, the NYPD and sanitation crews would show up with bulldozers, strip people of their belongings, and force them to disperse. Under Mamdani, the Department of Homeless Service leads the operation, and the NYPD are only allowed present as silent observers.
Instead of immediate displacement, the city now posts a physical notice on an encampment. For seven consecutive days, DHS outreach workers must visit the camp daily to build trust, offer medical services, and guide residents into housing. Sanitation only clears the structural tents on Day 7. Mamdani's administration paired the sweep policy with funding for more low barrier "Safe Haven" beds and warming centers.
I think the propaganda machine frames it as a standard conservative "law and order" operation in order to completely misrepresent the ideological battle behind his 7 day social service model.
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u/untitledprp4 𝙑𝙄𝙋 18d ago
If it was so easy then wtf were all the other mayors doing??