The fix is in\u2026 someplace else.<\/p>\n
Mayor Zohran Mamdani flaked out early from his marquee event marking his 100th day in office Friday \u2013 leaving a sanitation crew to clean up illegal dumping in The Bronx after claiming he\u2019d \u201cfix\u201d it himself.<\/p>\n
Hizzoner held a flashy photo op, complete with kids from the Bronx GEMS dance and cheer group, at a trash-strewn Soundview vacant lot to showcase it as the winner of a March Madness-style \u201cMunicipal Madness\u201d bracket of 16 \u201cfixes\u201d across the city.<\/p>\n
The contest, which drew nearly 22,000 votes from New Yorkers, came with promise that \u201conly one will be fixed by the Mayor\u201d \u2014 but Mamdani bounced 15 minutes after the presser.<\/p>\n
\u201cI guess when all you have is a smile\u00a0all you can do is flash it and leave,\u201d one veteran Democratic strategist quipped.<\/p>\n
Mayor Zohran Mamdani skipped out on a Bronx cleanup early. James Keivom for NY Post<\/p>\n
The somewhat anti-climatic event came amid a weeklong bout of self-congratulations from Mamdani and his City Hall comrades over a mixed-bag of accomplishments<\/a> in his first 100 days as New York City mayor.<\/p>\n The avid TikTokker mayor promoted the \u201cMunicipal Madness\u201d bracket in one of his many flashy social media clips aimed at supporters. He billed it as the first competition of city fixes, with tasks ranging from replacing missing litter baskets in Bushwick to resurfacing a basketball court in Morrisania.<\/p>\n Cleaning up illegal dumping in Soundview won the contest, but Mamdani promised all 16 would eventually be fixed by city workers.<\/p>\n In a nod to public services-focused \u201csewer socialism<\/a>,\u201d Mamdani deemed the approach \u201cpothole politics.\u201d<\/p>\n The mayor\u2019s appearance at the cleanup was part of a March Madness-style bracket competition of city fixes. Derek French\/ZUMA \/ SplashNews.com<\/p>\n \u201cDelivering public goods, coupled with public excellence. No problem too big, no task too small,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause New Yorkers cannot trust City Hall to deliver on something as transformative as universal child care if they don\u2019t see City Hall delivering on the smallest problems in their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n After making the remarks, Mamdani donned a yellow vest and got to work with city Department of Sanitation workers cleaning up the cans, bottles and construction material dumped near Seward and Bolton avenues.<\/p>\n At one point, the mayor picked up a Rhode Island license plate that had been dumped and said, \u201cYou can\u2019t come here from Rhode Island and illegally dump your license plate.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Mamdani then abruptly left \u2014 while sanitation workers stuck around to finish the job.\u00a0<\/p>\n Scrappy, the sanitation department\u2019s composting mascot, was part of the event. James Keivom for NY Post<\/p>\n He had said he could only stay \u201cfor the first quarter,\u201d but didn\u2019t have an event on his public schedule until roughly four hours later.<\/p>\n But many New Yorkers weren\u2019t buying Mamdani\u2019s dog-and-pony show, which included Scrappy, the cutesy composting mascot for the sanitation department.<\/p>\n \u201cSo running NYC has become a gameshow to you?\u201d one X user posted<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s always just a photo op with this dude,\u201d one griped. \u201c(Always) with the weird a\u2013 mascots and s\u2013t.\u201d<\/p>\n At least one prominent Bronx pol, however, did appreciate the cleanup.<\/p>\n \u201cI agree, illegal dumping and dirty streets makes me mad,\u201d Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson, who wasn\u2019t invited to the event, posted on X<\/a>. <\/p>\n \u201cYou can\u2019t come here from Rhode Island and illegally dump your license plate,\u201d Mamdani said. James Keivom for NY Post<\/p>\n \u201cWe deserve clean streets in Soundview, across the Bronx and in our City! Clean Streets are Safe Streets! Let\u2019s keep going.\u201d<\/p>\n