New York Metropolis Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani says he plans to give attention to affordability when he meets with President Trump Friday on the White Home.
Mamdani held a information convention Thursday morning at Metropolis Corridor Park, a day after Mr. Trump introduced the upcoming assembly between them.
The mayor-elect referred to as it “a chance to make the case for New Yorkers,” and stated he additionally plans to debate financial safety and public security.
Affordability prime of the agenda
ANGELA WEISS/AFP by way of Getty Photos
“I shall be heading to Washington, D.C. tomorrow to satisfy with President Trump on the White Home. It’s customary for the mayor of this metropolis to satisfy with the White Home, given their mutual reliance,” Mamdani stated Thursday morning. “It’s extra important than ever, given the nationwide disaster of affordability — one which New Yorkers know very effectively throughout these 5 boroughs — and the particular problem many cities are going through with balancing public security in opposition to steps taken by this administration.”
The mayor-elect stated his group reached out to arrange the assembly, “as a result of I’ll work with anybody to make life extra reasonably priced for the greater than 8.5 million individuals who name this metropolis house.”
As for potential disagreements?
“I’ve many disagreements with the president, and I consider that we ought to be relentless and pursue all avenues and all conferences that would make our metropolis reasonably priced for each single New Yorker,” he continued. “I intend to make it clear to President Trump that I’ll work with him on any agenda that advantages New Yorkers. If an agenda hurts New Yorkers, I can even be the primary to say so.”
Mamdani says he’ll search frequent floor
Mamdani stated New Yorkers might even see the assembly as one between “two very completely different candidates who they voted for for a similar causes.”
“They needed a frontrunner who would tackle the price of dwelling disaster that makes it inconceivable for working individuals to afford dwelling on this metropolis,” he added.
After Mr. Trump’s 2024 election victory, Mamdani stated he spoke with individuals in neighborhoods with the largest swings towards Republican candidates — Hillside Avenue in Queens and Fordham Highway within the Bronx.
“Once I requested these New Yorkers who they voted for and why, I met many who voted for President Trump, they usually instructed me it was the affordability disaster, it was price of dwelling, price of dwelling, price of dwelling,” he stated. “They stated that they remembered with the ability to afford their lease, their little one care, their Con Ed, their public transit extra 4 years in the past than they may in that second.”
Mamdani stated that is one thing he and the president have in frequent.
“We ran a marketing campaign centered on the identical factor: Price of dwelling. And what we discovered, truly, is that 1 in 10 New Yorkers who voted for Trump ended up voting for our marketing campaign, they usually did so as a result of they’re searching for leaders to truly ship on the price of dwelling disaster,” Mamdani stated.
“A possibility to make the case for New Yorkers”
CBS Information New York’s Marcia Kramer requested Mamdani how he feels heading into the White Home assembly. He instructed reporters he isn’t involved and views it as a chance.
“This is a chance to make the case for New Yorkers, and it is a case that displays what New Yorkers are having to stay by means of right now,” he instructed Kramer.
He pointed to 1 in 4 New Yorkers dwelling in poverty and 1 in 5 struggling to afford the $2.90 bus fare.
“New Yorkers for whom the day by day acts of stay have gotten more and more tougher to afford,” he continued. “And that is a chance I’ve to make the case to President Trump, to the White Home, as to what it means to should endure by means of this affordability disaster and what it means to make it much more troublesome to take action.”
Mamdani was requested whether or not he expects to face any negativity from the president or from different lawmakers on Capitol Hill. Mr. Trump has been a vocal critic of the democratic socialist, beforehand calling him a “communist” and threatening to withhold federal funding.
“Being a New Yorker implies that you are ready for all conditions, every kind of feedback, every kind of commentary,” Mamdani replied Thursday. “On the finish of it, the main focus needs to be, what is the case that you simply’re making, why are you there? And for me, it is not about myself, it is not a few relationship with a person, it is a few relationship between New York Metropolis and the White Home, the president, the federal administration.”
Mamdani on disagreements with Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch
The mayor-elect’s remarks adopted Wednesday’s announcement that NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch has agreed to remain on as chief of the police division.
“Each commissioner ought to be a fierce advocate for people who work for his or her division or their company, and I sit up for guaranteeing that that’s the case throughout the whole lot of my administration — the place, when I’ve a gathering with the commissioners, I do know that they’re bringing forth the considerations of people who they work with, these they characterize, so we will be sure that we are literally addressing them,” Mamdani instructed reporters Thursday.
He added any disagreements they might have “are literally indicators of a wholesome relationship.”
“Too typically mayors and leaders want to encompass themselves with people who find themselves characterised by the quickness with which they’ll say sure, versus the quickness with which they’ll let you know their trustworthy opinion,” he stated.
As Mamdani’s transition group continues to take form, he is asking his supporters to assist fundraise $4 million for transition-related bills.
