{"id":155767,"date":"2026-03-06T22:50:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T22:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/155767\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T22:50:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T22:50:11","slug":"mamdani-goes-after-sidewalk-sheds-tow-truck-operator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/155767\/","title":{"rendered":"Mamdani goes after sidewalk sheds, tow truck operator"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"FULL: <\/p>\n

NEW YORK – Another step was taken in the mayor’s plan to introduce universal childcare to the city.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – MARCH 03: New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks during a press conference on Universal Childcare at the Sugar Hill Children’s Museum of Art & Storytelling on March 03, 2026 in New York City. Mamdani was joined by Gov. <\/p>\n

What has Mamdani done this week? <\/p>\n

Timeline:<\/p>\n

Sidewalk sheds and a Bronx-based tow truck operator garnered attention from New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani this week.<\/p>\n

JUMP TO: Monday<\/a> | Tuesday<\/a> | Wednesday<\/a> | Thursday<\/a> | Friday<\/a><\/p>\n

Monday, March 2<\/a> <\/p>\n

The mayor started the week by appointing Kenny Minaya<\/a> as Commissioner of the city’s Department of Small Business Services.<\/a><\/p>\n

Minaya was previously with the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection<\/a> (DCWP), where he served as first deputy commissioner.<\/p>\n

He also recognized OnPoint NYC<\/a>, a nonprofit that runs two safe injection sites, for providing New Yorkers a reprieve from the cold.<\/p>\n

Tuesday, March 3<\/a> <\/p>\n

The mayor was joined by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels to announce that 2,000 free 2-K seats<\/a> are set to launch in four communities this fall<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"FULL: <\/p>\n

Mamdani posted a list of the neighborhoods that will benefit from the seats on X:<\/p>\n

The program is expected to become fully universal within four years.<\/p>\n

During the question-and-answer portion of the press conference, the mayor told FOX 5 NY’s political reporter Morgan McKay that President Donald Trump was the one who requested the pair’s meeting be kept a surprise from the public.<\/p>\n

Mamdani also addressed some remarks that were recently made by radio host Sid Rosenberg.<\/p>\n

\"Mamdani Wednesday, March 4<\/a> <\/p>\n

Standing with the DCWP, the mayor announced a lawsuit<\/a> against a Bronx-based tow truck operator: Instant Recovery Corp.<\/p>\n

Mamdani and the department allege that the operator has engaged in predatory practices, including reportedly charging New Yorkers illegal fees, overbilling customers and utilizing other unlawful tactics.<\/p>\n

He later posted that he went to visit workers from the city’s Department of Sanitation<\/a> to express his gratitude to them for keeping the streets clear of snow.<\/p>\n

Thursday, March 5<\/a> <\/p>\n

The mayor’s administration announced that the 30th Street Shelter, also known as Bellevue, will close by the end of April<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

UNITED STATES – October 12: MANHATTAN, NY 10\/12\/2022 – Around 60 recently arrived migrants from Venezuela are seen being dropped off by an MTA Bus at a shelter at Bellevue early Wednesday morning. (Photo by Luiz C. Ribeiro for NY Daily News via Getty <\/p>\n

City officials said the building is in severe disrepair<\/a> but poses no immediate danger. They described the closure as a proactive step based on safety concerns and engineering guidance.<\/p>\n

Current inhabitants will be relocated to other shelters.<\/p>\n

Mamdani, along with the city’s Parks Commissioner, promised to invest $50 million in 10 parks<\/a> through the Community Parks Initiative<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The initiative focuses on reconstructing parks in neighborhoods that have been “historically neglected.”<\/p>\n

Hochul later joined the mayor to share new data supporting the pair’s universal childcare investment<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Zohran Mamdani, mayor of New York, left, and Kathy Hochul, governor of New York, during a news conference at the WIN NYC family shelter in New York, US, on Thursday, March 5, 2026. The universal child care program, which will be paid for with state f <\/p>\n

Later that evening, the second pair of “rental rip-off<\/a>” hearings that the mayor created took place in Long Island City. The previous pair, held in Brooklyn, occurred one week prior.<\/p>\n

Friday, March 6<\/a> <\/p>\n

To close out the week, the mayor held a press conference regarding his effort to take longstanding sidewalk sheds<\/a> down<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“In the greatest city in the world, we should not accept darkened sidewalks and covered walkways as a fact of life,” Mamdani said about the issue.<\/p>\n

The Source: This article includes previous FOX 5 NY reporting.<\/p>\n

Zohran Mamdani<\/a>New York City<\/a>Politics<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK – Another step was taken in the mayor’s plan to introduce universal childcare to the city.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":155768,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[9,12,56,63,65,64,1232,87,618,82],"class_list":["post-155767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-new-york","tag-news","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-people","tag-politics","tag-us","tag-zohran-mamdani"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155767","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=155767"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155767\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/155768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}