They'll inaugurate in poetry, but he'll govern in prose.
Mayor Mamdani's ceremonial inauguration on Thursday — where Streetsblog provided part-team coverage — was a magnificent balance of soaring Socialist rhetoric from Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and straightforward talk of competency and sleeve-rolling from the 112th mayor.
"I know there are some who view this administration with distrust or disdain, or who see politics as permanently broken. And while only action can change minds, I promise you this: if you are a New Yorker, I am your mayor," Mamdani said in one of the main takeaways.
He only complained about the "wealthy" once, but peppered his speech with a call for good governance for everyone, from those living in the street to those 85 floors up in a penthouse. (The Times and Hell Gate had a similar take.)
"In writing this address, I have been told that this is the occasion to reset expectations, that I should use this opportunity to encourage the people of New York to ask for little and expect even less. I will do no such thing," he said. "The only expectation I seek to reset is that of small expectations."
But he also laid out a vision — one that referenced Sanders's speech, which called Mamdani's call for affordable housing, free childcare and transit that works anything but "radical."
"We will govern without shame and insecurity, making no apology for what we believe," Mamdani said. "I was elected as a Democratic socialist and I will govern as a Democratic socialist. I will not abandon my principles for fear of being deemed radical. As the great Senator from Vermont once said: 'What’s radical is a system which gives so much to so few and denies so many people the basic necessities of life.'"
It was an inspiring speech, albeit about four hours after reporters were admitted to the media pen, where we waited in the cold for the warm rhetoric to follow.
But it was worth the wait, because after the speeches, we buttonholed both the new Department of Transportation Commissioner Mike Flynn and his Department of Consumer and Worker Protection counterpart, Sam Levine, who graciously answered Streetsblog's questions (and made news that appears on our homepage today). Here's a photo of some of the action:
The successful inauguration, and the good answers from two commissioners, allows us to roll out our Mamdani count-up clock, which we beta-tested yesterday, but is now ready to go live:
Of course, no inauguration is complete without a shot ...
... and a chaser:
And Ross Barkan started the year by pissing us off by evoking the specter of Mamdani as a driver:
In other news:
- The one-year anniversary of New York's successful congestion toll is on Monday, but Gothamist got the jump on the year-in-review story (our look back will roll out next week).
- Road rage leads to a killing in the Bronx. (NYDN)
- Like Streetsblog, the Post covered the first hit-and-run fatality of the year.
- Though it's now 2026, you should still read some of our year-in-review coverage — if only because you still have a few hours to vote for the best Mamdani moment of 2025. And to recap other "Streetsie" Award winners: Congestion pricing was your "best project" of the year; two videos, one about the Williamsburg Bridge and the other featuring me smoking a doobie in a bike lane, tied for your favorite videos of the year; Baruch and Rafe Herzfeld were your advocates of the year; and your greatest "failure" of the year was DOT's flawed daylighting study.
- Our December donation drive was exceptionally successful thanks to two things: An enormously generous readership hungry to make sure that we can continue to provide great reporting all year long and one of the great donation drive merch offerings ever: A laminated (and fake!) Streetsblog parking placard with which you can mock the car-owning elite. If you regret not getting one, we'll keep the donation window open a bit longer. And now, let us honor the donors from the past few days:
- Thanks, Matthew!
- Thanks, Aaron!
- Thanks, Ryan!
- Thanks, Timothy!
- Thanks, Ayla!
- Thanks, Betty Lou!
- Thanks, Matt!
- Thanks, Brian!
- Thanks, John!
- Thanks, Mike L.!
- Thanks, Luis!
- Thanks, Sonny!
- Thanks, Stephen!
- Thanks, Fred!
- Thanks, Niles and Amie!
- Thanks, Ivan!
- Thanks, Juan!
- Thanks, Michael D.!
- Thanks, Steven!
- Thanks, Sheilah H.!
- Thanks, Bob!
- Thanks, Aaron D.!
- Thanks, Thomas L.!
- Thanks, Brandon!
- Thanks, Jennifer!
- Thanks, Lawrence!
- Thanks, Eric!
- Thanks, William!
- Thanks, Brian!
- Thanks, Peter L.!
- Thanks, Colin!
- Thanks, Joanna!
- Thanks, Michael G.!
- Thanks, Bruce!
- Thanks, Devon!
- Thanks, Michael H.!
- Thanks, Nathan!
- Thanks, Mary Beth!
- Thanks, Peter H.!
- Thanks, Jermaine!
And eight of you qualified for placards! Amazing and much-appreciated.
