Black homeowners in Queens are fuming. Brooklyn 20-somethings are suddenly very invested in potholes. And one young Republican admitted that his fears New York would turn into \u201cGotham City\u201d now feel overblown.<\/p>\n
As Zohran Mamdani nears the 100th day of his history-making mayoral term,<\/a> New Yorkers are still getting to know their 34-year-old democratic socialist mayor. They have early reviews anyway.<\/p>\n The New York Times recently visited four very different neighborhoods to capture a cross section: a gentrifying area where Mr. Mamdani dominated on Election Day, a beachfront enclave that soundly rejected him, and working-class immigrant districts in Queens and the Bronx often overlooked by City Hall.<\/p>\n Dozens of New Yorkers shared their views as they hustled to work, sunned in parks and did their evening shopping. Here are 13 of the most representative and the most novel.<\/p>\n Fordham Road, the Bronx<\/p>\n Running through the heart of the Bronx, Fordham Road is one of the city\u2019s most crowded thoroughfares, a meeting point for Latino, Black and South Asian New Yorkers, including many undocumented immigrants. Mr. Mamdani made his first viral campaign video<\/a> there, querying disaffected voters about their complaints, and later won the area<\/a> by modest margins on Election Day.<\/p>\n \u2018Isn\u2019t it time we have someone kind?\u2019Jim Coughlin, 61<\/p>\n Jim Coughlin, a Jesuit priest who teaches math at Fordham Preparatory School, said he had been pleased to see Mr. Mamdani trying to trim waste from city spending. But he singled out another memorable image from Mr. Mamdani\u2019s first months in office: the mayor singing<\/a> along with schoolchildren.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s intelligent, he\u2019s affable, and he comes across as kind,\u201d Father Coughlin said. \u201cAnd isn\u2019t it time we have someone kind?\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018There\u2019s a difference between politics and activism. He\u2019s growing into that.\u2019Emmanuel Oladejo, 26<\/p>\n Emmanuel Oladejo, an accountant and nursing student, did not vote last year, but he\u2019s been pleasantly surprised by what he sees as Mr. Mamdani\u2019s pragmatic turn.<\/p>\n Candidate Mamdani may have thrown flames at President Trump, Mr. Oladejo pointed out, but Mayor Mamdani appears to be charting a fruitful relationship<\/a> for the city. He thought the city\u2019s response to the second big snowstorm<\/a> on Mr. Mamdani\u2019s watch was better than the first.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a difference between politics and activism,\u201d he said. \u201cHe\u2019s growing into that.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Oladejo, a Nigerian immigrant, said he was no great fan of socialism or Mr. Mamdani\u2019s past support for defunding<\/a> the police. But, he added, \u201cI feel like he was the right choice for New York.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018I\u2019m not into free.\u2019Jacqueline Smith, over 50<\/p>\n Jacqueline Smith, who would not give her exact age, said she was still hopeful about Mr. Mamdani\u2019s mayoralty, but she\u2019s seen enough of New York City\u2019s deep-seated woes to be too optimistic.<\/p>\n Ms. Smith, who spent years in prison before becoming a city social worker, works on the front lines of drug abuse and gun violence in the Bronx.<\/p>\n She said she was worried that Mr. Mamdani and his \u201cfar left\u201d aides were taking the wrong approach as they focus on expanding free government services. (The concern prompted her to vote for former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo last year.)<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not into free. It didn\u2019t work very well for my people in the \u201960s and \u201970s. It takes away people\u2019s ambition,\u201d she said. \u201cThey want opportunities. They want jobs. And that\u2019s much harder to do.\u201d<\/p>\n Her clients, she said, \u201care not really thinking on the level of \u2018Did he remove the snow?\u2019 That\u2019s just an easy thing,\u201d she said. \u201cThe heavy thing is, why do these kids all have these guns?\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018Everything else, I can give him time for.\u2019Barbara Dandridge, 62<\/p>\n Barbara Dandridge, who works in the health care industry, sees Mr. Mamdani as \u201ca breath of fresh air.\u201d With time, she said, she expects he will be able to enact much of his agenda, including a rent freeze she strongly supports.<\/p>\n But she was less understanding of the mayor\u2019s early decision to direct city agencies to temporarily stop dismantling homeless encampments. (Mr. Mamdani has since revived the sweeps<\/a>, but shifted leadership responsibility from the Police Department to the Department of Homeless Services.)<\/p>\n \u201cEverything else, I can give him time for,\u201d she said. \u201cI can give him grace.\u201d<\/p>\n Ms. Dandridge said she had watched for years as police officers did nothing about open drug use in an encampment across the street from her apartment. <\/p>\n \u201cPlease understand there is a difference between homeless people who are hanging around and have no place to go,\u201d she said, and drug addicts \u201cgoing crazy because they had a bad trip in the street.\u201d<\/p>\n No neighborhood voted for Mr. Mamdani more overwhelmingly<\/a> than Bushwick, in the heart of the so-called Commie Corridor that made up much of his base. Historically home to a large, working-class Latino population, it has rapidly gentrified in recent years as young new college-educated residents have moved in.<\/p>\n \u2018He\u2019s going to do great things for the people without a lot of resources.\u2019Alejandro Lopez, 50<\/p>\n Alejandro Lopez, a carpenter, said Mr. Mamdani won his vote as soon as he heard his plan to freeze rents for rent-stabilized apartments like his.<\/p>\n Mr. Lopez and his wife, Simona Ruiz, have lived in Bushwick for 26 years as the neighborhood has changed. He said he is fortunate to have steady work, but the construction industry can be unpredictable.<\/p>\n \u201cIt would help me so much if the rent didn\u2019t increase while he\u2019s running the city,\u201d he said. \u201cI have hope that he can do it.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Lopez was also attracted to Mr. Mamdani\u2019s proposal to make bus fares free, but doubts it will come to fruition. Still, after the opening stretch of the mayor\u2019s term, he said he was overwhelmingly optimistic.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s going to do great things for the people without a lot of resources,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u2018He\u2019s shown a lot of composure and professionalism.\u2019Justin Olsen, 26<\/p>\n Justin Olsen, a public relations specialist who moved to the city two years ago, said his generation \u201chas a big problem with, like, deifying politicians.\u201d<\/p>\n But he had not yet been able to find fault with Mr. Mamdani, who he said \u201cshown a lot of composure and professionalism.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Olsen, who was recently priced out of Astoria, Queens, said he appreciated Mr. Mamdani\u2019s attempts to lower costs and the abilities as a \u201cTrump whisperer\u201d he showed when he visited the Oval Office<\/a>. Yet like other young progressives in the area, he responded with similar enthusiasm about the mayor\u2019s attempts to spotlight more workaday business, like snow removal and pothole repairs, through clever social media content.<\/p>\n \u201cCollectivizing the city to come together and getting a lot of people involved,\u201d Mr. Olsen said. \u201cI thought that was pretty sick.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018What came out about his wife recently really jolted me.\u2019Deborah Weissner, 38<\/p>\n Deborah Weissner, a pricing strategist for a consulting firm, believes the concentration of wealth is a major problem in New York City, and voted for Mr. Mamdani in part because of his focus on taxing the rich to expand the social safety net.<\/p>\n Ms. Weissner, who is Israeli-American and Jewish, said she had also admired his willingness to sharply criticize Israel and discounted charges that he was antisemitic as \u201cnoise.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m someone who\u2019s very pro-Palestine,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Yet since Mr. Mamdani took office, Ms. Weissner said she has found herself deeply troubled by news reports that Rama Duwaji, Mr. Mamdani\u2019s wife, had liked posts<\/a> appearing to celebrate Hamas\u2019s deadly attack on Israel, right after Oct. 7, 2023. She said she was also troubled that Ms. Duwaji provided illustrations<\/a> for an essay in a collection compiled by an editor who elsewhere has used terms like \u201ccockroach,\u201d \u201cghoul\u201d and \u201cvampires\u201d to describe Jews.<\/p>\n Mr. Mamdani called the statements \u201cabhorrent\u201d and said Ms. Duwaji had been unaware of them when she agreed to illustrate the essay.<\/p>\n Ms. Weissner, though, took note that the first lady has not commented publicly on positions that \u201cseem to veer toward anti-Jewishness.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt wasn\u2019t that she did it,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was that she never came out at any point and clarified it.\u201d<\/p>\n At New York\u2019s suburban edge, near John F. Kennedy Airport, Laurelton is a middle-class haven with among the highest rates of Black homeownership<\/a>. The neighborhood initially voted for Mr. Cuomo in last year\u2019s Democratic primary but flipped to Mr. Mamdani<\/a> in November.<\/p>\n \u2018The little person is always asked to suffer.\u2019L. Van Duyne, 56<\/p>\n L. Van Duyne is not ready to say his vote for Mr. Mamdani was a mistake, but the mayor\u2019s proposal for a nearly 10 percent property tax hike<\/a> has him thinking about it.<\/p>\n