EFE News Agency
New York
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a Democrat, made his debut in office on Thursday after taking office by signing a series of executive orders to address the housing crisis, as well as revoking some of his predecessor's work.
Mamdani signed three orders: one to revitalize the Tenant Protection Bureau, and two others to establish task forces focused on assessing public properties suitable for housing construction and to streamline bureaucracy and expedite projects.
She also appointed Cea Weaver, an affordable housing activist, as director of the aforementioned office, which will defend tenants against landlords and ensure the swift action of city agencies in locations with unsafe or illegal conditions, according to a statement.
Mamdani, along with Weaver, announced his first major action: to intervene in the bankruptcy process of a leasing company, Pinnacle Realty, with thousands of violations and complaints in a total of 83 buildings, and which owes money to the Mayor's Office, in order to protect its tenants.
To exemplify this action, which he has entrusted to the nominee for chief legal officer of the Mayor's Office, Steve Banks, Mamdani called a press conference in one of the Pinnacle Realty buildings and showed the conditions of neglect that its inhabitants face.
The mayor also signed an order to appoint five deputy mayors who will structure his administration, including the Deputy Mayor for Housing and Planning, Leila Bozorg, who will oversee the two work teams mentioned.
One team, abbreviated LIFT, must review local public properties and identify those that can be built upon by July 1, and the other team, called SPEED, must find and eliminate bureaucratic barriers that increase costs and slow down housing construction.
The first order signed by Mamdani today was a revocation of the orders of his predecessor, the moderate Democrat Eric Adams, issued from September 26, 2024, the date on which he was charged with corruption, although the case was closed after the intervention of the Donald Trump administration.
According to a statement, the revocation seeks a new beginning for the Mamdani Administration, although it will reissue some measures from that period that it considers relevant to its agenda.
Mamdani, who became mayor after a meteoric campaign that mobilized young and working people, has as one of his great promises to make the city more affordable and, among other things, has proposed freezing the price of rent for some housing.
EFE News Agency
