As he navigated a snowstorm that barreled down on New York City over the weekend and provided an early test of his management chops, Mayor Zohran Mamdani employed the same communication skills he used to defeat a dynasty and win the mayoralty last year.
Before snow accumulated and sleet pelted the five boroughs on Sunday, Mr. Mamdani was blanketing local and national airwaves — aware of the importance of providing routine updates to New Yorkers.
By Sunday evening, other than disappointing public school students with his determination to hold classes virtually on Monday, the mayor had seemed for the moment to satisfy skeptics — though snow cleanup was a work in progress, and it remained to be seen how virtual school would go Monday.
“If you do see me, feel free to throw a snowball at me,” the mayor joked to students during a news conference Sunday afternoon.
The storm was not without major challenges — seven people were found dead outside over the weekend, including one homeless person on a park bench in Queens. The local state senator, Jessica Ramos, said that the man had frozen to death. It was not clear if the other deaths were weather-related.
But the city largely appeared to be prepared for the weather. According to the Department of Sanitation spokesman, Joshua Goodman, streets were salted and plowed and bike lanes were cleared for delivery workers throughout the day on Sunday.
Crews headed out to begin clearing roads at 8:30 a.m., when precipitation had reached the requisite two inches; shortly after 7 p.m., Mr. Goodman said every single street under city control had been plowed at least twice; tens of millions of pounds of salt had been spread across the five boroughs; and 2,500 sanitation workers were rotating on 12-hour shifts to continue the cleanup. Snow exceeded nine inches in most parts of the city as of Sunday night.
Some detractors complained on social media that their streets were not plowed quickly enough. But even some of Mr. Mamdani’s critics and those keeping close watch on his administration voiced overall approval of his management of the city’s storm response.
“Credit where due, looks like @NYCMayor is handling this storm very well so far,” Benny Polatseck, an aide to former Mayor Eric Adams and a vocal critic of Mr. Mamdani, posted on X on Sunday afternoon.
The City Council speaker, Julie Menin, spent Sunday acting a bit more like a deputy mayor than a legislative leader — visiting a sanitation garage before 6 a.m., observing road conditions and distributing hot meals to public housing residents. Positioned to be a check on Mr. Mamdani, Ms. Menin gave a mixed review of his administration’s cleanup work.
“There are areas where emergency response has been stretched and needs to improve, and the Council will be closely engaged in addressing those gaps,” she said in a statement. “But the scale of the effort today reflects how seriously our essential workers take public safety, and the crews on the ground deserve real credit and gratitude from the millions of New Yorkers who rely on them.”
Ms. Menin later issued a statement with Councilwoman Pierina Ana Sanchez after visiting the scene of a fatal fire that killed a woman on Grand Avenue in the Bronx on Sunday.
“While we recognize that the severe winter storm strained emergency response efforts citywide, we were concerned by the lack of clarity and coordination we observed upon arrival — particularly around how information was communicated to us and to residents, many of whom were unsure whether their apartments were safe to occupy,” they said.
Many eyes were on the new mayor as he contended with the practical side of governing — aware that storms have hobbled mayors before him and that he, a 34-year-old democratic socialist with little executive experience, would be judged harshly if he underperformed.
Like his predecessors facing similar storms, Mr. Mamdani greeted sanitation workers in the early hours for a photo op. Unlike them, he was omnipresent on social media in short-form, informational videos. He appeared on a local TV station and three national ones; and, wearing a black jacket emblazoned with “Mayor” on the sleeve, he hosted a news conference at New York’s emergency management headquarters in Brooklyn, alongside a phalanx of senior government officials in government-issued outerwear.
“I know that for many New Yorkers, what we cannot have happen is that they have not been told of what to expect,” Mr. Mamdani said on Saturday. “And so we are looking to utilize every medium, whether it’s speaking to New Yorkers who are watching their TVs, turning on their radios, who are looking at social media.”
There is a long history of mayors haunted by failure during snowstorms.
John V. Lindsay so mismanaged a 1969 blizzard that it threatened his re-election. Michael R. Bloomberg won notoriety for having to fly back from his Bermuda vacation home to manage a 2010 blizzard. In 2014, the Sanitation Department underplowed the Upper East Side, a neighborhood that was home to strong anti-Bill de Blasio sentiment. He was forced to apologize.
Sensitive to concerns about his youth, Mr. Mamdani ran for office vowing to surround himself with practiced technocrats.
His press secretary, Joe Calvello, was also well aware of the risks that snowstorms present. In the days preceding the blizzard, Mr. Calvello distributed to staff members copies of bad snowstorm headlines from administrations past: “Bloomberg takes blame for response to snowstorm”; “Facing Outcry on East Side, Mayor Admits Snow Removal Efforts Fell Short.”
And in stark contrast to Mr. de Blasio, whose first blizzard response shortchanged the constituents who most distrusted him, Mr. Mamdani was at least twice filmed in a Hasidic stronghold of Brooklyn helping shovel out a car.
“Wow — that’s hand on leadership!” said the United Jewish Organizations of Williamsburg and North Brooklyn on social media. “Thank you @NYCMayor for being out on the streets ensuring that the city is moving.”
Political observers noted that the politician-to-the-rescue, roadside appearances were reminiscent of former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who could sometimes be found rescuing drivers on camera, with the video then circulated on social media. Mr. Mamdani defeated him in the Democratic primary, and then again in the general election.
Sally Goldenberg is a Times reporter covering New York City politics and government.
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