{"id":192784,"date":"2026-04-10T22:27:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T22:27:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/192784\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T22:27:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T22:27:10","slug":"mayor-marks-day-100-with-bronx-illegal-dumping-cleanup-after-citywide-vote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/192784\/","title":{"rendered":"Mayor marks Day 100 with Bronx illegal-dumping cleanup after citywide vote"},"content":{"rendered":"

Friday, April 10, marks the 100th day of Zohran Mamdani\u2019s term as mayor. amNewYork followed Mamdani around his first 100 days in office<\/a>. We closely tracked 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 today.<\/p>\n

Mayor Zohran Mamdani<\/a> marked his 100th day in office by helping to clean up illegally dumped trash in the Bronx after asking New Yorkers to vote on which of 16 city fixes he should tackle himself as part of his administration\u2019s first-ever \u201cMunicipal Madness\u201d<\/a> contest.<\/p>\n

The winning cleanup, in Soundview, drew 18,761 votes and won the final matchup with 67.7% of the vote after more than 21,000 ballots were cast citywide, according to City Hall.<\/p>\n

At a press conference before the cleanup, Mamdani said the contest was meant to showcase what he called a governing style focused on both major policy goals and smaller quality-of-life problems.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the past 100 days, we have showcased a new kind of approach to governing in our city,\u201d he said. \u201cPothole politics. Delivering public goods coupled with public excellence. No problem too big, no task too small.\u201d He added that New Yorkers would not trust City Hall to deliver something as ambitious as universal child care unless they also saw the city addressing everyday frustrations in their neighborhoods.<\/p>\n

Sanitation Commissioner Gregory Anderson used the moment to underline the seriousness of illegal dumping, calling it \u201ca theft of public space\u201d often carried out by contractors trying to avoid legal disposal costs. He said the city has more than 300 cameras to catch dumpers and warned that violators face a $4,000 fine plus cleanup costs and possible vehicle impoundment.<\/p>\n

He said all of the projects on the bracket would be completed, not just the winning one, and later told reporters that agencies had put forward fixes that had seen the highest demand and reflected engagement from New Yorkers across multiple platforms.<\/p>\n

The bracket included fixes such as repainting playground benches in Dyker Heights, installing trail markers in Forest Hills, fixing a public water fountain on the Lower East Side, replacing missing litter baskets in Bushwick, and resurfacing a basketball court in Morrisania, the runner-up to the winning Soundview cleanup.<\/p>\n

City Hall said sanitation crews launched a daylong cleanup across Bronx Community District 9, while the runner-up project \u2014 resurfacing a basketball court in Morrisania \u2014 began the same day and was expected to wrap over the weekend.<\/p>\n

\"\"Mamdani congratulates Sanitation Commissioner Gregory Anderson after DSNY won the city\u2019s first \u201cMunicipal Madness\u201d bracketPhoto by Michael Appleton\/Mayoral Photography Office
\nSpeaker Menin comes for the mayor\u2019s racial equity plan\u00a0<\/p>\n

Already at loggerheads with Mayor Mamdani over how to plug the city\u2019s multibillion-dollar deficit, Council Speaker Julie Menin opened another front Friday, warning that \u201cdiminishing or erasing equity-centered frameworks is not the path forward\u201d after reports surfaced that references to diversity, equity, and inclusion had been removed from the city\u2019s preliminary racial equity plan.<\/a><\/p>\n

City & State first reported<\/a> that internal documents showed the city Law Department pushed to scrub references to DEI from the plan and soften other language as officials weighed possible legal exposure from the Trump administration. The outlet said earlier drafts included explicit references to DEI and to hiring more people of color, which were later removed.<\/p>\n

Asked about Menin\u2019s response at a Bronx event marking the 100th day of his administration, Mamdani did not directly address the allegation that DEI language had been removed. Instead, he defended his administration\u2019s handling of the report, saying, \u201cI\u2019m proud of the work that our team did in inheriting a report that had been significantly diluted by the prior administration, strengthening it, and following through on our promise to release it before the end of the first hundred days.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

He added that City Hall was looking ahead to the public comment period now underway.\n<\/p>\n

It was largely the same argument Mamdani made when he unveiled the preliminary plan on April 6<\/a>. At that event, he said the administration had inherited work already underway, expanded it into a broader report spanning 45 agencies, more than 200 goals, and more than 600 indicators, and put it out for public comment so New Yorkers could help shape the final version. \u201cIn this, we inherited work that was underway, we strengthened it, and then we made a decision to put it in front of New Yorkers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"\"Mamdani took part in the Soundview cleanup and kept the gloves on when responding to Speaker Julie Menin\u2019s criticism of his preliminary racial equity plan.Photo by Michael Appleton\/Mayoral Photography Office<\/p>\n

Mamdani also tied the racial equity plan to the administration\u2019s broader affordability agenda, saying it should be read alongside a new \u201ctrue cost of living\u201d report. He called the preliminary racial equity plan \u201cthe first step in developing a whole-of-government approach to tackling that reality.\u201d Chief Equity Officer Afua Atta-Mensah struck a similar note, saying the city\u2019s responsibility was to move \u201cfrom planning to action.\u201d<\/p>\n

Menin, in her statement, framed the issue more broadly, saying the Council remains committed to confronting longstanding racial and economic disparities and urging New Yorkers to participate in the review process.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Council stands firm in our responsibility to confront and correct the systemic injustices created by longstanding racial and economic disparities, and to ensure that equity remains a guiding principle in how we govern, legislate, and serve,\u201d said Menin.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mamdani keeps distance as rent board fight sharpens<\/p>\n

After the second meeting of the Mamdani-era Rent Guidelines Board<\/a> on Thursday, the mayor declined to weigh in directly on the data on Friday, sidestepping a question about rising insurance costs for small landlords as the fight over a possible rent freeze intensifies.<\/p>\n

Asked about new board findings showing rising costs for owners of rent-stabilized buildings, including higher insurance costs for older properties, Mamdani emphasized that the RGB is \u201can independent entity\u201d and urged both tenants and landlords to participate in the public process.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we think about rising costs, we think about them for every New Yorker,\u201d he said. \u201cThat includes tenants. That includes landlords.\u201d He added that City Hall trusts the board to weigh those factors in its decisions.<\/p>\n

After taking office, Mamdani appointed and reappointed six of the nine members of the board.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

His answer came a day after board staff presented reports that handed both sides new arguments ahead of this year\u2019s rent-setting votes. The board\u2019s 2026 Price Index of Operating Costs found that owner costs for buildings with rent-stabilized apartments rose 5.3% this year, driven in part by an 11.0% jump in fuel costs and a 10.5% rise in insurance costs. But the board\u2019s 2026 Mortgage Survey also found stronger citywide sales and price data, complicating landlords\u2019 claims of broad distress.<\/p>\n

The picture was more mixed in the portions of the housing stock most often cited by small-landlord groups. Net operating income growth was weaker in more heavily stabilized buildings, and among properties with at least 50% stabilized units, the average price per unit fell 8.7% after inflation. For buildings with at least 80% stabilized units, it fell 9.5%, while pre-1974 buildings sold for an average of $228,437 per unit, down 5.8%.<\/p>\n

Those competing readings have sharpened the political battle over whether the board should approve another rent increase or freeze rents for the city\u2019s nearly 1 million stabilized apartments. Legal Aid argued the latest numbers show no basis for another increase and urged a freeze, while Small Property Owners of New York pointed to rising operating costs and distress in majority-stabilized buildings as evidence that a freeze would be misguided.<\/p>\n

The RGB is scheduled to meet again on April 16 for its annual income and affordability study. Its preliminary vote on rent adjustments is set for May 7, with a final decision expected in late June.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Friday, April 10, marks the 100th day of Zohran Mamdani\u2019s term as mayor. amNewYork followed Mamdani around his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":192785,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,19077,22925,77131,9,24,63,77132,15021,129,131,130],"class_list":{"0":"post-192784","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-the-bronx","8":"tag-bronx","9":"tag-julie-menin","10":"tag-mayor-zohran-mamdani","11":"tag-municipal-madness-contest","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-city","14":"tag-nyc","15":"tag-quality-of-life-issues-in-nyc","16":"tag-rent-guidelines-board","17":"tag-the-bronx","18":"tag-the-bronx-headlines","19":"tag-the-bronx-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192784","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=192784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192784\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/192785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=192784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=192784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=192784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}