Winter storms have historically been a landmine for New York City's mayors, with every inch of snow bringing the potential for public criticism over unglamorous issues such as plow deployment and salt distribution. There's a long history of experienced mayors getting it wrong. But Zohran Mamdani, the newly elected New York City leader, appears to have passed his first test with flying colors. During the two-day storm that dumped nearly a foot of snow on New York, Mamdani was everywhere, shovelling snow, appearing in children's
Though he was better known before running for his charitable leadership as founder of the poverty-fighting nonprofit Tipping Point, Lurie immediately after getting elected began focusing on crime, homelessness, housing bottlenecks and quality-of-life issues like cleaning the streets. Lurie streamlined housing approvals, re-organized and sped up city safety responses, launched an anti-homelessness campaign and won a 73% approval rating at Thanksgiving among local voters.