Lucas: Hate won’t work in the New York mayor’s office
The recent election of Zohran Mamdani as the new mayor of New York City has sparked significant discussion, particularly regarding his qualifications and the implications of his policies. At just 34 years old, Mamdani, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, will oversee a vast city workforce of over 306,000 employees, a stark contrast to his previous role as a three-term member of the New York Assembly, where he had a limited staff and a notable absentee record. Critics are quick to point out that while Mamdani is stepping into one of the most influential mayoral roles in the United States, he lacks the extensive experience that his counterpart, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, has accumulated over her four years in office. Wu, who has a solid working relationship with law enforcement in her city, stands in contrast to Mamdani’s critical stance on the NYPD, which he has labeled as “racist” and has expressed intentions to defund.
Mamdani’s election has also raised concerns about his relationships with various communities within New York, particularly the Jewish population, which numbers around one million. His past comments, including a controversial statement linking the NYPD to the Israeli Defense Forces, have led to speculation about how his administration will navigate these sensitive dynamics. The immediate fallout from his election was evident when New York Fire Commissioner Robert Tucker, who is Jewish, resigned the day after Mamdani’s victory. This resignation may be just the beginning, as there are fears that other high-profile officials, including Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, could follow suit, especially with a significant number of police officers expected to leave the department in the coming months.
As Mamdani prepares to take office in January, the challenges ahead are immense. New York City, with its complex socio-political landscape and diverse population, will require a mayor who can effectively manage not just the city’s operations but also the relationships between its various communities. While both Mamdani and Wu share a progressive agenda and a disdain for former President Donald Trump, their approaches to governance and community engagement differ significantly. The success of Mamdani’s administration will hinge on his ability to unify a divided city and navigate the intricacies of its diverse populace, a task that will demand more than just political rhetoric. As the city watches closely, it remains to be seen how Mamdani will address the pressing issues facing New Yorkers, from public safety to community relations, in a city that is as vibrant as it is complex.
No sooner was Muslim Socialist Zohran Mamdani elected mayor of New York than the city payroll dropped from 306,248 employees to 306,247.
That is the number of city workers Mamdani, 34, who has never run anything or had a real job, will oversee when he is sworn into office in January to run a city of eight million people.
Boston by contrast, a city of 672,318 people, has a city work force of some 25,530 employees and a mayor, Michelle Wu, 40, who already has four years as mayor under her belt.
Mamdani is new. He is just a three-term member of the New York Assembly where he did have a staff of a half dozen people and an absentee record of fifty percent.
Now the Democrat Socialist will be mayor of free-market New York City, headquarters and financial capital of the United States with a population that includes one million Jews.
He is also pro-Hamas, anti-Israel and a sharp critic of the “racist” New Your Police Department—which he wants to defund— and is unlike Wu who has a strong working relationship with the Boston cops.
“We have to make clear,” Mamdani said in a recently resurfaced video from 2023, “that when the boot of the NYPD has its boot on your neck it has been laced by the IDF”—the Israeli Defense Force.
So, good luck with that.
The first city employee to flee the new administration was New York Fire Commissioner Robert Tucker, who is Jewish. He handed in his resignation the day after Mamdani’s victory.
Next in line could be respected and effective, tough on crime New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, who is also Jewish.
That resignation could come when Mamdani, who has yet to condemn the Intifada—which calls for violence against the Jews– orders Tisch to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Natanyahu, as he promised, should Netanyahu come to New York.
Or it could come in January when some three to four thousand New York cops are scheduled to leave the department, reducing the number of cops to around 30,000, the lowest number in decades.
That is more cops leaving than the makeup of the entire Boston Police Department.
While it is natural to compare Mamdani with Wu in that they are both young, politically successful, anti- Trump progressives, there are differences as well.
While Boston is not New York, Wu knows how to run a major city and has done so for four years. Before that Wu was a veteran member of the Boston City Council. Mamdani has not run anything.
Another is that Wu is a Christian who was born in Chicago after her parents migrated to the U.S. from Taiwan. She has no hang-up with Jews or with anyone else.
Mamdani, a naturalized citizen, was born in Uganda to Muslim parents of Indian descent who migrated to the U.S. when he was seven years old. His relationship with the Jewish community in New York has been of major concern.
While Wu is Roman Catholic, she does not wear her religion on her sleeve, except when she testifies before Congress. Muslim Mamdani does.
What the two have in common, though, is their hatred of Donald Trump as witnessed by their Trump taunting election night victory speeches on Tuesday.
Both acted as though they had just defeated Trump. Wu did not even have an opponent.
Wu, objecting to ICE’s raids rounding up criminal illegal immigrants, called Trump “a criminal who acts like a king.”
But a funny thing happened. While Wu was slamming Trump, ICE agents swooped down on a car wash in Allston and scooped up eight individuals suspected, among other things, of being in the country illegally.
The “king” struck again.
Standing up to Trump is going to take a lot more than words.
Veteran political reporter Peter Lucas can be reached at: peter.lucas@bostonherald.com.
Mayor Michelle Wu (Staff Photo By Stuart Cahill/Boston Herald, File)
