Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 17-18, marked the 17th and 18th days of Zohran Mamdani\u2019s term as mayor. amNewYork is following Mamdani around his first 100 days in office as we closely track his progress on fulfilling campaign promises, appointing key leaders to government posts, and managing the city\u2019s finances. Here\u2019s a summary of what the mayor did on these days.<\/p>\n
Mayor Zohran Mamdani stayed busy over the weekend, appointing a new Parks Commissioner, overseeing his first snowstorm from the city\u2019s highest office and reaffirming the city\u2019s sanctuary policies amid an ongoing federal immigration crackdown.<\/p>\n
The newest member of Mamdani\u2019s administration, New York City Parks Commissioner Tricia Shimamura, comes to the post with a long track record in government and politics, most recently serving as Manhattan Borough Commissioner of the Department of Parks and Recreation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese parks are more than simple green spaces in a city that is typically full of concrete,\u201d Mamdani said at the Saturday announcement. \u201cThey are what makes our home feel like home. They are what add order to lives of chaos. They are where we can take a deep breath and exhale. And I\u2019m grateful to Tricia for assuming this incredible responsibility, and I\u2019m eager to see our parks only improve in the years to come.\u201d<\/p>\n
During her time as Manhattan Borough Commissioner of Parks and Recreation, Shimamura helped lead the response to the devastating 2024 Inwood Hill Park fires<\/a> and oversaw the reopening of Phase 1 of East River Park<\/a>. She previously worked at Columbia University as the Director of Government Relations, where she spearheaded a vote-by-mail program<\/a> for over 20,000 students during the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n Shimamura went on to work for then-Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, overseeing the office\u2019s Community Affairs Unit.\n<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a responsibility as a city to do more,\u201d Shimamura said at the press conference. \u201cMayor Mamdani has rightfully outlined a vision for a more affordable city where every New Yorker, not just the few, can grow and thrive, and where government works for the people. I deeply appreciate and understand that Parks has a mandate to uphold and a critical role to play in the future of our city.\u201d<\/p>\n Mamdani has framed access to public parks as an affordability issue, describing parks as the \u201crare corner of our city that are truly accessible and affordable to each and every person who calls the city home.\u201d The mayor, a democratic socialist from Queens, ran on an ambitious affordability agenda.<\/p>\n He pledged during his campaign to boost funding for the Parks Department, promising during a debate to allocate upwards of 1% of the city\u2019s entire budget to the agency. NYC Parks\u2019 budget currently accounts for roughly .6% of the city\u2019s $117 billion budget.<\/p>\n \u201cTricia knows that stewarding our parks means more than cutting the grass and tending to the trees,\u201d Mamdani said. \u201cIt is a daily endeavor where parks leaders must work with local stakeholders to ensure that their needs are heard, to expand access to more New Yorkers, and to make these public resources truly belong to the public.\u201d<\/p>\n Mamdani responds to ongoing immigration crackdown, reaffirms sanctuary policies<\/p>\n Mamdani sat for an interview with ABC7\u2019s Bill Ritter, which aired Sunday morning, in which he discussed the progress he\u2019s made on his affordability agenda<\/a> so far, the crises he\u2019s shouldered in a busy first two weeks, and concerns over the federal government\u2019s ongoing Immigration and Customs Enforcement crackdown.<\/p>\n New York City has seen heightening ICE enforcement since spring 2025, with President Donald Trump\u2019s administration setting daily quotas<\/a> for detentions. Masked ICE officers have been forcefully detaining immigrants for months<\/a> at 26 Federal Plaza, where noncitizen New Yorkers come for routine appointments.<\/p>\n \u201cLook, our values, and our laws are not bargaining chips. We are proud of them. We are New Yorkers who believe that everyone in the city should be safe,\u201d Mamdani said.<\/p>\n Ritter had noted the Jan. 7 killing of Renee Good, a Minneapolis resident shot four times by an ICE agent while attempting to drive her car away. The killing kicked off protests across the nation, including in New York City.<\/p>\n Mamdani cited New York City\u2019s sanctuary city policies, which ensure that ICE cannot enter schools or city property without a judicial warrant.\n<\/p>\n \u201cWhat they do is they inform New Yorkers of their own rights, and these used to be defended by Republicans and Democrats alike for decades, because they created safety,\u201d Mamdani said of the sanctuary policies. \u201cI\u2019m going to continue to defend them.\u201d<\/p>\n He said he will \u201calways be direct and honest with the president\u201d and to continue to be \u201cclear that ICE raids are cruel and inhumane and they do nothing to actually serve the interest of public safety\u201d \u2014 a sentiment he said he expressed to Trump at the pair\u2019s November meeting.<\/p>\n First snowstorm response, Africa Cup of Nations watch party<\/p>\n Mamdani spent much of Saturday overseeing his first snowstorm response as mayor \u2014 the city declared a Code Blue, which triggers widespread homeless outreach across the five boroughs to ensure vulnerable New Yorkers have access to shelter.<\/p>\n \u201cPlease check on your neighbors and stay safe, New York,\u201d Mamdani wrote Saturday in a post on X.\u00a0<\/p>\n He also echoed New York City Emergency Management\u2019s snow advisory, urging New Yorkers to stay off the roads if possible and afford extra time for travel. Snow continued into Sunday.<\/p>\n Mamdani spent Sunday afternoon hosting an Africa Cup of Nations final watch party. Donning an Arsenal jersey \u2014 his English Premier League team of choice \u2014 he quipped that he was \u201crooting for Africa today,\u201d not a specific team, \u201cas a classic politician.\u201d The final saw a face-off against Senegal and Morocco, and was tied at halftime.<\/p>\n Mamdani was born in Kampala, Uganda, and hosted various soccer-related public events during his run for mayor. Manhattan Borough President Brad Holyman-Sigal and various City Council members were also present, in addition to the Consul Generals of Morocco, South Africa Nigeria, Mexico, the United Arab Emirates, and Liberia.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 17-18, marked the 17th and 18th days of Zohran Mamdani\u2019s term as mayor. amNewYork…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":104164,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[9,56,63,65,64,47401,87,10227,47402,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-104163","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-ny","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-nyc-headlines","12":"tag-nyc-news","13":"tag-parks-commissioner-tricia-shimamura","14":"tag-politics","15":"tag-sanctuary-cities","16":"tag-snow-storms-in-nyc","17":"tag-zohran-mamdani"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104163"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104163\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/104164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}