{"id":7134,"date":"2025-10-18T00:21:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-18T00:21:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/7134\/"},"modified":"2025-10-18T00:21:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-18T00:21:09","slug":"mamdani-criticizes-trumps-nyc-transit-interference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/7134\/","title":{"rendered":"Mamdani criticizes Trump’s NYC transit interference"},"content":{"rendered":"

New York City mayoral front-runner Zohran Mamdani (D) ripped the Trump administration\u2019s order to halt work on the city\u2019s bus system, the latest in a series of orders<\/a> targeting city infrastructure projects.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Trump administration is once again seeking to meddle with our streets to make buses slower, worsen congestion and pollute our air,\u201d Mamdani wrote<\/a> on the social platform X.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), a division within the U.S. Department of Transportation, sent a letter to the city\u2019s transportation agency Friday with a \u201cdemand\u201d that it \u201ccease and desist all activities\u201d to implement its 34th Street busway project.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sean McMaster, the FHWA\u2019s administrator, cited concern with a \u201clack of coordination\u201d between city and state agencies behind the request to halt the project. He criticized the city for moving forward with the project despite the FHWA\u2019s concerns.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is unacceptable and puts at risk decisions regarding pending and future Federal-aid projects,\u201d he wrote in the letter.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mamdani, who swept the city\u2019s<\/a> June Democratic primary, has run a campaign centered on affordability, with free buses being one of the centerpiece promises of his mayoral run.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMaking buses free doesn\u2019t just provide economic relief but also public safety,\u201dMamdani said<\/a> during a Thursday New York City mayoral debate<\/a> against former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (I) and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He added that New Yorkers deserved more \u201cthan the slowest buses in the country,\u201d referencing one city bus line\u2019s average speed of 4.5 miles per hour.<\/p>\n

The federal government\u2019s demand to halt the project is the latest in a series of attacks by the Trump administration against city funding and projects.<\/p>\n

Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russell Vought wrote on X<\/a> in early October that the administration had paused $18 billion in federal funds from New York City due to \u201cunconstitutional DEI principles.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The administration has also cut funding<\/a> to the city\u2019s education system for not adhering to anti-transgender bathroom and locker room policies, prompting a lawsuit<\/a> from New York City\u2019s public schools. Previously, the administration cut<\/a> \u2014 then restored \u2014 $187 million in Homeland Security and counterterrorism funding for the city and New York state.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Trump has threatened to withhold money<\/a> from New York City if Mamdani wins the mayoral seat in November.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is going to have problems with Washington like no Mayor in the history of our once great city,\u201d Trump wrote on Truth Social.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York City mayoral front-runner Zohran Mamdani (D) ripped the Trump administration\u2019s order to halt work on the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7135,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[6156,6370,9,24,56,63,65,64,655,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-7134","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-34th-street-busway","9":"tag-federal-highway-administration","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-new-york-city","12":"tag-ny","13":"tag-nyc","14":"tag-nyc-headlines","15":"tag-nyc-news","16":"tag-trump-administration","17":"tag-zohran-mamdani"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7134","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=7134"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7134\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}