Jamie Stelter: Mayor Mamdani's first month in office is a snowy one and he's been preparing the city as best [as] he can. Thousands of sanitation workers are ready to roll as early as tomorrow morning, getting the roads in good shape as the brunt of the storm gets going on Sunday morning. And the mayor is with me now. Good morning.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani: Good morning.
Stelter: So this is really your first big test. A lot of pressure. How are you feeling?
Mayor Mamdani: I'm feeling good and frankly I have to say it's because of the incredible men and women we have working for our city. We've already seen just starting at 6 a.m. today sanitation workers brining the highways and major roads of our city all preemptively to prepare for what we're going to see this weekend.
Stelter: And do you feel good about the work that they're doing? We have an interim commissioner on sanitation. We haven't had a lot of snow or big storms in the last few years. Are they out of practice? Are you confident?
Mayor Mamdani: I think they're completely in shape and ready for this and I think we're seeing it not only for today's activities but you know tomorrow we're gonna see 2,000 sanitation workers start on their 12-hour shifts and we're gonna be transforming what is our typical DSNY operation into the nation's largest snow fighting operation.
And that's going to be something we'll see with plows and chains. As soon as we hit about two inches of snow we're going to start to see salt being put across the city. We have 700 salt spreaders ready to do this work and we're prepared.
Stelter: If I was the mayor, this is the thing that would keep me up at night, is calling the snow day or not calling the snow day. We dug into the archives to get a tally of some recent mayors and how many snow days there have been under them. We should say that the Mayor Adams one has a bit of an asterisk because it wasn't an actual snow day. Those are remote learning days but you know apples, tomatoes, tomatoes. What is going to help you make that call and when will you make that call?
Mayor Mamdani: So what I can tell you is, I know to the disappointment of any student that's watching this right now, Monday's either going to be a remote learning day or it's going to be an in-person school day. It's not going to be a traditional snow day and that is a determination we've made.
We're going to clarify for parents by noon on Sunday as to which of these two things it is and we want to make sure that we give them as much time as possible to plan because while students love them, parents actually [have] a major impact on their schedules and so that's the determination we're gonna come to on Sunday.
Stelter: I have two little kids. It's impossible. You're trying to teach them. Maybe I mean, I don't work from home but if you're a parent that works from home you're trying to do all these things. So let's say that one more time for all the students that are watching. It is either going to be [a] regular school day or–
Mayor Mamdani: A remote learning day.
Stelter: A remote learning day.
Mayor Mamdani: And by 12 p.m. on Sunday we're gonna let parents, students and teachers know which of the two it's going to be and the reason that we're waiting until then is to see what is the extent of the snowfall we're talking about because you know as well as I do, the range is a pretty big range.
We could be talking about 8 inches of snow. We could be talking about 18 inches of snow and if it's on the lower end then we have full confidence that we can clean our streets such that students can get into school.
But we want to give our Sanitation Department these next few days to see what we are actually looking at and I do have to say this is not for a lack of trying from students. There's a student that somehow found my wife's email and made a case for why it should be a snow day. They apparently made some great points.
Stelter: Honestly, brilliant. Go for the wife because if anyone is gonna get to you it'll be your wife.
Mayor Mamdani: She's the best at it.
Stelter: And Rama didn't move on that at all.
Mayor Mamdani: She thought it was a very very good argument but this is where we've ended.
Stelter: Oh I love that for her. We have Alyssa Paolicelli this morning out at a hardware store in Astoria talking to people about getting shovels and all this. There is a salt shortage. What have you heard from your Sanitation Department about that?
Mayor Mamdani: Well we've already seen that we're starting to emergency procure additional salt to start to reckon with this mismatch and I think that's the part of this is that we want New Yorkers to be prepared. We want the City government to take every step to actually be stepping up to the plate and this is the other part that for any New Yorker that's looking to get anything this weekend, today's the day.
If you want to get your groceries, if you want to get that new winter coat, whatever it might be, I recommend you do it today because we're not just talking about snow, we're also talking about a cold front and that's why the city has activated Code Blue from yesterday and we're going to be intensifying our outreach to homeless New Yorkers across the city to connect them with shelter so that no one's sleeping outside.
Stelter: Yeah it's actually quite frightening, whatever falls on Sunday it's not going above freezing next week so it's all just gonna stay.
Mayor Mamdani: Yeah.
Stelter: Have you been in touch with Janno Lieber about the subways and buses?
Mayor Mamdani: We've been in touch. Whether it's with the MTA or all of our city departments, everyone is preparing for this and I think that's what gives me a real sense of confidence is we're not just putting this on one department. You know, we're talking about snow plowing, that's DSNY, but the Parks Department is actually also going to help them with that because everybody understands, like you heard from the New Yorkers on your own show, these are the moments that New Yorkers remember and this is the measure of an administration we're confident that we're going to be able to deliver.
Stelter: All right, well we will be waiting for that [at] noon on Sunday. In the meantime, while I have you here, three weeks in, what's been harder than expected?
Mayor Mamdani: Wow, you know I have to be honest with you, it's been incredible to be the mayor and I mean as a New Yorker growing up to have the privilege of leading this city and also the team that we have around us, it's amazing and so often in politics every idea is ascribed to the person who's leading it, but I can tell you that so much of what we've been able to accomplish, it comes from the work of the people around me and that's what gives me such confidence. We have 300,000 municipal workers in the city, they work every day in and out giving it their best and that's what we're gonna see this weekend, that's what we've been seeing for three weeks.
Stelter: Let's talk about the people that are working for you. You're making news every day. Our political director, Bob Hardt, used the phrase energizer bunny to describe you. What appointments of yours do you think should be getting more attention?
Mayor Mamdani: Well I'll tell you for this weekend, our Deputy Mayor Julia Kerson for Operations. She is someone who's in charge of an operations portfolio. That includes DSNY, that includes so much of what we're talking about with our snow fighting work and what I so appreciate is that it is very easy to only start to prepare for a crisis when you're in the middle of a crisis, but what the hallmark is of a great leader, someone like Julia and someone like everyone we see within the world of operations, is they're preparing for it in advance.
So it's not just that the salt spreaders are gonna start when two inches of snow hit, it's that they're out this morning at 6 a.m. putting the brine on the highways so that we can respond to the snow and that we actually have a way out of this crisis.
Stelter: Have you had a chance to try the new fare gates?
Mayor Mamdani: The new fare gates? No, well yes, I actually have tried the new fare gates.
Stelter: Oh yeah? What do you think of them?
Mayor Mamdani: Well you know so far I've been able to make the trains, I've been able to get through in and out pretty quick, but there's always that you know tension of whether my OMNY card will swipe, but it has so far.
Stelter: Yeah and then before I let you go, is there an update on the cat at Gracie Mansion?
Mayor Mamdani: I just got my shot again yesterday, I'm getting my shots once a week. [For] seven months, one [on] each side.
Stelter: And then is it after the seven months that you'll then be able to get a cat?
Mayor Mamdani: Yes.
Stelter: Are you already eyeing what kind?
Mayor Mamdani: Not as yet. Okay. I can tell you what I'm eyeing is a Zyrtec, which I take before each of the shots just to keep going.
Stelter: It is dedication to the cause. We look forward to the update on that and more importantly we look forward to the work that you and your administration will be doing this weekend for the snow.
Mayor Mamdani: Thank you so much.
Stelter: Thanks for joining me.
Mayor Mamdani: Such a pleasure. Thank you.
###