New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani made multiple appearances across the city on Monday to celebrate Martin Luther King Day, and emphasized that his administration will uplift the lives of Black New Yorkers despite little representation in his administration so far.
The federal holiday reached its 40th anniversary since its first observance, with Dr. King's words still resonating in the current political climate.
“So many of us turn to [King’s] words. We think about his legacy in terms of the language that he left us… understanding that the importance of legacy comes from the service that was left behind and the service that we must do,” Mamdani said at the National Action Network’s service forum.
The mayor, who has been in office for 20 days, was recently criticized by many Black New Yorkers in an article in the New York Times that pointed to the lack of Black representation within his administration.
Mamdani told BK Reader in an exclusive interview on Monday that the work his administration is doing stands for Black New Yorkers regardless of the ethnicity of City Hall leaders. "The days of having one person be a liaison for an entire community, that's not indicative of the kind of admin we're trying to build. We want to build an administration where each and every person understands their responsibilities to New York as a whole, and that obviously includes Black New Yorkers,” the mayor said.
In a recent appointment, Mamdani added Afua Atta-Mensah as Chief Equity Officer and Commissioner of the Mayor's Office of Equity & Racial Justice. The position is intended to ensure that Black and brown New Yorkers are considered in legislation and future administration appointments.
The goal for his administration comes down to which agency can assist New Yorkers in the affordability crisis, he said.
"It's a team that includes not only our deputy mayors, but also all of the different commissioners, the chancellors, so many whose guiding focus in this city is, how do we make it one that each and every New Yorker can afford," Mamdani said.
A central part of the mayor’s affordability agenda focuses on housing, including a pledge to freeze rents and expand supply. He issued executive orders aimed at protecting tenants, and went as far as to say the city would will help tenants living in homes that were owned by the Pinnacle Group, a firm that recently sold its vast rent-stabilized housing portfolio to a new buyer via a bankruptcy sale.
When asked by BK Reader if he was disappointed over a judge’s recent ruling approving the sale to a new owner, Mamdani said, “I consider the result of that intervention to be a success.”
Many of the apartments owned by the Pinnacle Group were in bad condition, with tenants flustered over cracked tiles, broken ceilings, mold and more, a situation Mamdani took to see firsthand in a Prospect Lefferts Gardens building earlier this month.
During the sale proceedings in court, the new owner, Summit Properties USA, said it would commit $30 million over five years to address capital expenses and violations in the near 5,000 rent-stabilized apartments in the 90-building portfolio, according to Crain's Business New York.
“By taking a firmer stand in support of those tenants, we were able to secure $30 million in repairs that otherwise would never have occurred from the new owner… just by the city becoming involved in that lawsuit, the kinds of repairs and the scale of those repairs that have been committed to will mean a tangible impact on those tenants' lives," Mamdani said about the outcome.
Meanwhile, as Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have a continued presence across the country and the city, Mamdani noted his desire for immigrants and asylum seekers to educate themselves of their rights as individuals living in a sanctuary city.
“One of the key things that we can do and must do is inform each and every New Yorker of their rights,” said Mamdani.
Many Brooklyn residents have been detained by federal immigration agents, including multiple residents in Sunset Park, as well as Deacon Sebastian Renoj Barreno, who was detained in front of his home in Bensonhurst last week.
Mamdani said he has not talked to President Donald Trump to negotiate an end to ICE raids. In the meantime, he is urging New Yorkers to know and assert their rights.
“We are now going to be sharing these rights with hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers across the five boroughs over the next few weeks, so that they know exactly what it is that they're entitled to. Because, as Dr. King would remind us, a right is only as good as your knowledge of it and your ability to exercise it.”
