Errol Louis: Hey there. Welcome to my boat. How are you? Good to see you. Thanks for joining me. We're gonna head out to Staten Island.
So, Staten Island is the only borough that you lost on Election Day last year. Pete Davidson, the comedian, owns one of these things, which I can't even imagine, but he says - this is a quote - "I don't know if he has Staten Island's heart," talking about you. How do you try to win over a borough where they feel like you don't quite connect with them?
Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani: Results. It has to be on what you actually deliver. And look, when we're talking about Staten Island, we're talking about so many New Yorkers who are looking to build their lives. One of the highest rates of homeownership of any borough in New York City. People are looking to set roots down, and we have to make it easier for them to do so. We have to make it easier for them to raise their kids there.
And one of the times that I visited Staten Island as the mayor was to announce an increase in the number of 3-K seats, especially on the island, decreasing the amount of miles you have to travel from your house to the site where you drop off your kids significantly, which makes it easier.
The other thing is the results of delivering when it comes to pothole politics. One other time I was on Staten Island was to fill in the 100,000 potholes that we had actually put in.
Louis: So, one of the things we looked at-we were, you know, like, what's going on in Staten Island? There was a $2.3 billion flood prevention seawall project that was supposed to run five miles on the East Shore. Another delay. I can't believe that. I feel like we've been covering this for over a decade. The Army Corps of Engineers terminated the construction contract, which means a lot of people's lives are, frankly, going to be in danger should there be another 100-year storm of that kind. There were homeowners in places like Midland Beach who were very, very concerned about this. Is there something the city can do?
Mayor Mamdani: We're looking to use every tool at our disposal. And as you said, some of these are delays that are coming down due to decisions being made at the federal level, but we're always going to advocate for Staten Island, for the city as a whole.
One of the things that we can do and that we have done now is increase funding for the Bureau of Coastal Resilience. This is a bureau that wasn't staffed at the level that it could have been, which meant that it wasn't operating at the capacity that it could have. And that means that we can actually operationalize a lot of whether we're talking about seawalls or even we're talking about flood walls, like in Lower Manhattan.
The other thing is, if we're talking about a 100-year storm, we're talking about Superstorm Sandy. We know that Staten Island saw a significant amount of damage. Not only did a number of Staten Islanders lose their lives, but also, when we're talking about more than $10 billion of damage, that was damage that Staten Islanders have to contend with to this day.
And so one thing that we've been focused on is the park, the recreation center that was severely damaged by Superstorm Sandy. We're finally going to be opening a new recreation center at that very park next year. And to me, obviously, there's not just one place, but it's an example of how do you actually remedy what people are having to deal with?
Louis: So, you recently met with President Trump. He came to Gracie Mansion. You've been to the White House, so you've gone to each other's homes. When you talk with him, does something like a seawall for Staten Island make it into the conversation? It seems like the kind of thing that he could probably unlock and accelerate for you.
Mayor Mamdani: These are a number of the kinds of things that we would talk about, is any way that the federal government can help the city. And, as you know, one of the focuses of those conversations has been about Sunnyside Yard, the more than $20 billion that would unlock the largest housing development the city has seen since the early 1970s.
But it expands beyond that. And that's also why I think it's important that I meet with whomever has the power to change the lives of New Yorkers for the better, because that's what New Yorkers depend on me to do.
Louis: What's your impression of him? It's just in dealing with him. I mean, you know, he's at your place for like an hour or something like that.
Mayor Mamdani: I think, you know, many people know him as the president. We also, as New Yorkers, know him as a New Yorker. And so, when you're sitting down and having that conversation, sometimes you're talking about things that you might talk about with any president. Other times, you're talking about things that only a New Yorker would know.
The first time that I sat down with President Trump, he brought up ULURP in Midtown Manhattan. And that was not what I expected to be speaking about in the White House for my first visit to meet the president of the United States.
Louis: Right. Well, he's right. He's had 40 or 50 years of experience of ULURP.
Mayor Mamdani: When I talk to him about Sunnyside Yard, I also talk to him as the most famous developer this city has ever seen. The prospect of building something that has been spoken about for 50, 60 years, but never been able to get across the finish line - now it might be exactly the right time to do so.
Louis: We're a month away from a major election, less than a month now - major for New York, major for the nation. The Republican Party is using you as kind of a Democratic bogeyman, right? Even outside of New York. What's your reaction when you see your image and your life, your career, your persona being used that way?
Mayor Mamdani: Well, you know, I think it is hard for them to portray as scary filling in 200,000 potholes, delivering universal childcare for 2-year-olds, winning more than $130 million in money for delivery workers. These are the kinds of things that we're doing in our city.
And as much as they might want to hold this up as something that Americans should be fearful of, I know that Americans are facing the same cost-of-living crisis outside of the city. And so, to Republicans, I would say that they're welcome to use this however they may want to, but what we've seen so far is that actually there are far more people interested in this kind of politics than scared of it.
Louis: Are there Democrats in districts where it might be harmful to be associated with whatever image of Mamdani they're putting out there? Do you ever hear from any of those candidates?
Mayor Mamdani: I haven't.
Louis: The endorsement from you of Governor Hochul, a huge plus in neighborhoods in New York City that we can call off. What about outside of New York? Do you plan a campaign for her outside the city?
Mayor Mamdani: Right now, my focus is inside New York City. You know, the governor has been a real partner, not just to me, but, frankly, to the city of New York as a whole. On Day 8, she delivered $1.2 billion to realize universal childcare. She's been there time and again when we've needed someone, especially when we were facing a generational fiscal deficit. She was there.
And she's running against someone who responded to the news of universal childcare by calling parents lazy and by saying that people who needed to have a place where their children could be taken care of were just at home watching The View. That's Bruce Blakeman. That's somebody who looks at what ICE is doing and says, "You know what? I would like to have a private militia in Nassau County." That is not what New York State needs, not what New York City needs, and I'm excited, frankly, to be supporting the governor, especially with less than a month to go.
Louis: Are you going to be campaigning for any congressional candidates?
Mayor Mamdani: Right now, my focus is on the governor's race. The congressional candidates that I had endorsed, they all have quite straightforward paths to election. That's Darializa, Brad, Claire. Very excited for them to become congresspeople.
Louis: There's this national question that will be partly answered on Election Day, of whether or not candidates of the kind that you endorse can win in swing districts, in swing states. What's your sense of that?
Mayor Mamdani: I think that, when we're talking about what our agenda is, it's about ensuring that working people can afford a dignified life. As much as I believe that we are the greatest city in the world, I also know that our problems are the same problems that other Americans are facing.
And I think that candidates running on a clear agenda of lifting up working people will be successful, whether they're in New York City or whether they are in swing districts. And I'm hopeful for Democrats across the board come Election Day, but hope doesn't actually get it done. We gotta do everything we can between now and then.
Louis: Okay. This is going to air on Oct. 7, the anniversary of the worst massacre of Jews since the Second World War. Are you planning to attend any commemoration ceremonies?
Mayor Mamdani: Yes, I'll be at an Israelis for Peace event that I was at last year as well, where they read out the names of people who were killed on that day and since.
Louis: What do you think are the lessons from that day?
Mayor Mamdani: I think when we're talking about the third anniversary of Oct. 7, we're talking about the third anniversary of a horrific war crime, where Hamas killed more than a thousand people, kidnapped hundreds more. We're also talking about the anniversary of when the Israeli government responded to that by initiating a genocide of Palestinians in Gaza that has continued to this day. It has killed tens of thousands of people, and we know that throughout its time, it has been one that has been financed by our tax dollars.
Louis: And the lesson of that is - I mean, that's a description of what happened.
Mayor Mamdani: I think the lesson for all of us is that humanity has to be something that we believe in in its fullest sense. We have to protect it. And we have to be able to call an atrocity what it is and fight for a future where everyone is protected, no matter who they are, where they come from.
And as the mayor of our city, my job on Oct. 7, my job every day, is to ensure that we're keeping people safe. And when it comes to Oct. 7 specifically, we are going to be increasing security at vulnerable sites across the city.
Louis: I spoke with the head of your office on fighting antisemitism, read through your report - a range of programs to provide education resources, also security resources for houses of worship that might want it. What metrics are you going to use to determine whether the strategy is working?
Mayor Mamdani: I think, ultimately, this is a strategy to root out antisemitism from our city. And we know that Jewish New Yorkers make up anywhere from 10 percent to 12 percent of our city's population, yet they continue to constitute a majority of victims of all hate crimes. And that's unacceptable.
And so, to me, a metric of that is how do we start to drive those numbers down and never be satisfied until the number of hate crimes across the city is zero. And so, you know, the work that Phylisa is leading - it is work of also ensuring that our response to hate crimes, it's not only a response where you condemn it after the fact, it's that you're doing the work to prevent that kind of a hate crime.
And we know a lot of that has to do with education, a lot that has to do with funding the kind of work that has been critical in ensuring that our youngest New Yorkers grow up in the city with an awareness of not only Jewish history in this city, but also the history of the Holocaust, which is something that we've seen lower and lower amounts of awareness of in recent years.
Louis: There's this kind of devilish dilemma embedded in that task, right? When Israel is criticized - I read this in your report - I mean, I think we all understand this - whenever Israel is criticized, some people think it gives them license to start lashing out against Jewish New Yorkers. It's not nearly the same thing, and it shouldn't be, but it then, for anyone like you who says criticism of the actions of the Israeli government, you do so knowing that there are going to be those who sort of twist or use it as an opportunity to bring sort of unrighteous hatred and even violence to the conversation.
Mayor Mamdani: Well, I think, to be very clear, I do not believe that any criticism of the Israeli government or of any prime minister is antisemitism. What I believe is unacceptable in this city is acts of antisemitism that we have seen continue across the five boroughs. And we're talking about a hatred of a people by virtue of them being a people. And that is something we will never have tolerance for here in the city.
It's a city that is the most Jewish city in the United States of America. That is something that I'm proud of and something that we're going to continue to do everything we can to ensure that Jewish life flourishes in the city.
Louis: You released this week some crime statistics showing that by many metrics, shootings and the murder rate in particular, crime is going down. There's still that perception question out there and the reality that felony assaults are still above pre-pandemic levels. We're seeing murders in the subway that used to be a super-rare occurrence when I was growing up, when you were growing up. It might be one every other year, but we're way past that now. What's your sense of what's going on?
Mayor Mamdani: Well, my sense is that, overall, we are driving down crime. We're talking about the lowest number of murders in recorded history, the same when it comes to shooting incidents as well as shooting victims. That is work to be celebrated. That is work that has brought our city to a very different place than where it was about 30, 35 years ago.
And also, as long as there is any crime in the city, there is more work to be done. We can never let this be an excuse to pat ourselves on the back. Because, as you know, it is not just about ensuring that we're fighting crime. We also want every New Yorker to feel that they can walk around the city no matter where they are, what time they're doing so. And that's why the work has to continue. We're proud that we are driving down crime in our subways as well. But again, any incident of crime is one too many.
Louis: The successes come at a cost. Of course, civil liberties groups and the federal monitor say that the NYPD had 10,000 stops last year. Now, this was before you took office, but it's the same police commissioner, it's the same department. They said 27% of the total stops went unrecorded. There are still statistics like 90-plus percent of the stops by some of the specialized units are Black and Latino youth, so that not everyone is being treated equally, and that that is an unacceptable price to pay for those communities to get those statistics that you're talking about. What's the plan for that? For bringing the city into compliance with what the federal monitor and the court has asked for, as well as making sure that all communities feel like they're being treated fairly?
Mayor Mamdani: I want to be very clear that I do not believe that we can or must choose between safety and justice in our city. And there is no amount of driving down crime that will make making some certain people the exception to that an acceptable cost.
And so, yes, as you mentioned, we're talking about things that predate our administration, and also this is work that has to continue. And that's why, alongside driving down murders and shootings and shooting victims to record lows, what we have also done is end the disparity that we were seeing in the issuing of criminal violations to cyclists across the city. We're finally bringing parity with the way that cyclists and drivers are treated, at the same time.
And in actually having the first head of the CCRB since 2020, as well as ensuring that we're releasing bodycam footage within 30 days of any of these incidents - this is also how we ensure that safety and justice are being delivered in tandem. That work has to continue. It will continue. And that, to me, is part of what it means to live up to this job.
Louis: So, the monitor has said that there's been noncompliance even with requests for information. I was wondering if you've talked about that with the correction commissioner and to what extent you feel like you're still in charge of the agency, given that we have this new monitor in place.
Mayor Mamdani: I still feel that we have all the power that is necessary to deliver on our vision. Again, you know, when it comes to our commissioner, he's someone who I have full faith in. He's also the first formerly incarcerated New Yorker to now be leading that work.
And when it comes to the monitor, when it comes to all the different aspects of what it means to deliver on this vision, I think that there's a lot of work to be done. I think we're heading in the right direction. We as an administration want to close Rikers Island. We will close Rikers Island.
We also know we're inheriting a level of work that was not done about that over the last four years, where that actually wasn't an intent of what they were doing.
Louis: Is the closure deadline gonna get shifted?
Mayor Mamdani: I said this over the course of the campaign. It's practically impossible to hit the deadline of 2027, given that the prior administration slow-walked so much. I mean, when we came into office, we were able to open an outpatient set of beds at Bellevue Hospital that had been waiting to be opened for months, if not even more than a year. That's the kind of work that they were not doing.
And so I think that date is going to have to shift. What we actually want to do, though, is close Rikers Island, not just push it off.
Louis: So, your parents - your dad is a Columbia professor, still is. The requirement, or the request, demand maybe, to reopen 116th Street - they call it College Walk, but it's, I think, still technically a public street. You probably went through there a million times growing up, right?
Mayor Mamdani: You've got to remember, Columbia University in the City of New York is the full title of the institution that we're talking about. And so it's not just for college students. It's for anybody who lives on 160th and Amsterdam; they're trying to get to the 1 train, they walk through it.
And as a kid growing up right there, you know, I went to middle school on 112th. There were so many times I walked through, and it wasn't just to go to something at Columbia. It was also sometimes to get to Morningside Park, to get to the other side of Harlem.
And so we made clear to the courts, as well as to the institution, that we're taking a very different position than the last administration. We believe that this is a public walkway. We believe that that's what the agreement was made between the City and Columbia decades ago. And that also, you know, that is a belief that we are willing to back up if necessary, and that we're hopeful for immediate compliance with what that vision looks like.
Louis: And look, I mean, if they have - they can turn the question around to you, too, right? If they have security concerns, they could say, okay, it's a public street. You're in charge of the public police, right? I mean, you can help them with that.
Mayor Mamdani: I mean, we run the NYPD, which keeps people of the city safe everywhere across the five boroughs. We're confident we'd be able to do so as well on an additional public walkway.
Louis: And then finally, you've got a birthday coming up in a couple of weeks. What's the plan for as you turn, what, 36?
Mayor Mamdani: 35. One day 36. I'll tell you, I am still trying to figure that out. I don't have a clear plan as yet, but it's going to be more gray hairs, whatever I do.
Louis: Good enough. Thanks a lot.
Mayor Mamdani: Real pleasure. Thank you, guys.
