Political Whisperer
By Robert Hornak
Robert Hornak is a veteran political consultant who has previously worked for the NYC office of the Republican Assembly Leader and served as Executive Director of the Queens Republican Party. He can be reached at rahornak@gmail.com and @roberthornak on X.
When a new chief executive is elected – whether city, state or nationally – it’s very common to take a measure of the success of the new administration by looking at the first 100 days to see what’s been achieved, what promises have been kept, and what’s on track that the voters have to look forward to.
By that measure, Zohran Mamdani is off to a very bad start.
The centerpiece of his candidacy was making NYC more affordable. On this measure, Mamdani gets a solid F. People are looking for relief, and they are looking for it now. And even while his proposals were mostly nickel and dime savings or limited in scope, he has still failed to have any of his ideas on the fast track.
An often touted proposal was free and fast buses. After 100 days it appears his proposal for free buses is going nowhere. The 2026 legislative session in Albany is steaming along to its conclusion and free buses does not appear to have any support. And buses are certainly no faster than before.
Another was to build “a lot more affordable housing.” According to his website, “As Mayor, Zohran will put our public dollars to work and triple the
City’s production of permanently affordable, union-built, rent-stabilized homes – constructing 200,000 new units over the next 10 years.”
Sounds ambitious, and there’s no dispute that NYC needs a lot more apartments. But there has been no announcement on this, what would have been possibly the most impactful plan Mamdani could have announced. Housing is the #1 issue confronting most city residents that makes city living so financially difficult.
He promised to “fix the property tax system so the city’s wealthiest neighborhoods pay their fair share.” It appears the wealthy are never paying their fair share, no matter how much they actually pay, but in this case there are aspects of the property tax code screaming for reform. Of course, Mamdani is now proposing an across the board increase on everyone, making housing more expensive, not less. On this Zohran gets another F.
On the low hanging fruit branches, Zohran promised to crack down on “bad landlords” and to create an Office of Deed Theft Prevention. No announcements have been made on either of these issues, either of which would see quick effects.
Mamdani also proposed to provide “free childcare for every New Yorker aged 6 weeks to 5 years” and on this he’s has some success. By partnering with Gov. Hochul and getting the state to foot the $73 million tab, has was able to get a limited program that will serve 2,000 two-year-olds across the city starting in the fall. It’s a far cry from the universal childcare
plan for every child starting at 6 weeks, but I guess it’s a start.
There was also that famous promise to create city-owned grocery stores that would sell deeply discounted food. That was scaled back during the
campaign to just one in each borough for a total cost of $70 million. Mamdani just announced plans for the first store in East Harlem – coming in 2027. And at a cost of $30 million.
So, we have a full year to wait for just the first store and already way over budget. And if you don’t live in East Harlem then forget it, travel will likely negate any savings. No soup for you. On this Mamdani gets a D-.
And, of course, his plan to pay for it all was to tax the rich. The phrase that is more pleasing to liberal’s ears than their favorite anti-war indie protest anthems. That plan has been declared dead on arrival by Kathy Hochul, as has his backup property tax increase proposal by the City Council.
Mamdani submitted a $127 billion budget for FY 2027. A whopping increase of over $7 billion from 2026 (which he still hasn’t paid for). And there is nothing in there for all that extra money to claim as a big achievement for the people of NYC. All those people who were warning that this inexperienced 34-year old may be in over his head are so far being proven right.
