With just two months into his term, New York City Mayor Zohran K. Mamdani has received strong reactions from New York City residents. 

From his controversial  campaign promises—such as free buses—to his handling of the winter storms that left 19 people dead from hypothermia, four NYC residents discuss whether the city’s new leader is actually living up to his expectations or simply good on paper.

Sean Allen, who is 21, is currently an enrolled student at John Jay College.

Allen voted in his first mayoral election this year, and he did not vote for Mayor Mamdani.

“It was the first mayoral election that I have been able to vote in due to age, and I wanted to make sure I completed my civic duty,” he said. “I follow and keep up with NYC politics to an almost expertise level. As a political science student, I’m extremely invested in how politicians and policy affect not only my day to day life but that of the people around me,” said Allen.

Allen also shared he usually leans to the left, but voted for former New York City Mayoral Candidate Curtis Sliwa instead.

“Being independent and considering my deep appreciation for capitalism, I could not bring myself to vote for a socialist candidate,” said Allen.

Allen shared that Mayor Mamdani’s performance have exceeded his expectations.

“While I think it is fairly early in his term to make a fair assessment, I believe Mayor Mamdani has done a great job,” said Allen.

Allen also commended the mayor’s handling of recent snowstorms.

“The way he managed a snowstorm and then a subsequent blizzard took me by surprise,” he said. “His initiative to clean the streets by utilizing New Yorkers and also providing pay truly made a positive difference,” said Allen.

Allen does not believe the mayor bears responsibility for the reported hypothermia deaths.

“People see cold-related deaths and blame it on the current mayoral administration as if Zohran has a weather machine,” he said. “There is only so much a government or mayor can do to protect constituents against matters of nature,” said Allen.

Iliana Rodrigues, who is 24, works for the New York City Department of Education and said that she did not vote in the most recent mayoral election.

“I’ve just never really followed politics, so it’s not something I’m super involved in,” said Rodrigues.

Her concerns were centered on school operations after snowstorms.

“I think that his decision on opening schools on February 24, the day after the snowstorm, wasn’t the best decision,” she said. “It was difficult for staff and students to get to school. Because of that there were a lot of absences,” said Rodrigues.

Rodrigues said that she feels that more attention should be given to New York’s vulnerable populations, such as the homeless, when storms happen.

Unlike Allen, Rodrigues also said that she believes some responsibility ultimately falls on Mayor Mamdani for the deaths that happened during the snow storm.

Cal Garber, who is 82, owns his own criminal law firm and said he voted in the most recent mayoral election.

Garber expressed dissatisfaction with Mayor Mamdani’s most early official actions since taking office, referring to his handling of the recent blizzard. 

“Very bad,” he said. “As of yesterday, not good,” said Garber.

Garber shared his discontent on a recent snowball incident involving police officers.

“Saying that the snowball fight was just fun play when it clearly was not is not a good sign,” he said. “They should have been arrested for an assault on a cop,” said Garber.

Garber continued to criticize Mayor Mamdani’s proposed policies.

“Free buses, free groceries, free housing?” he said. “The truth is he’s only been in office two months, so he hasn’t really had time to achieve those promises. But at the same time, he also hasn’t done anything so far,” said Garber.

Garber did acknowledge a positive action that was taken due to the extreme cold weather.

“He did send all of the heated buses to go out, if that was him then yes,” said Garber.

Baruch College employee Analucia Castillo, who is 30,  voted in the election and said she somewhat follows local politics. 

“I keep up with whatever is going on in the news,” she said. “I try to keep up with local, but I do not attend City Council meetings although I probably should,” said Castillo.

Castillo said her vote was influenced by the impact of local government.

“Local politics affects me and my community,” she said. “The federal government can pass something, but it may not take into effect locally,” said Castillo.

Castillo gave Mayor Mamdani’s performance a rate of three out of five.

“I think he’s done an okay job,” she said. “A lot of the things he’s talked about and posted on social media have been great, but locally it didn’t feel like a lot of cleanup during the snowstorm. I bring this up because while I was walking my dog, not a lot of cleaning was happening, especially coming from Queens,” said Castillo.

Castillo believes Mayor Mamdani has partially delivered on his promises.

“He’s only a little over 30 days in,” she said. “I think he’s kept his promises on childcare. In terms of free buses, that’s a whole different thing  but he is working on the new bus routes. So I would initially say yes,” said Castillo.

Castillo also shared that she feels represented by Mayor Mamdani.

“The latest commercial he spoke Spanish and tried,” she said. “The fact that even before he was mayor, he did a listening session at the Museum of the Moving Image says a lot,” said Castillo.

Castillo called transparency his biggest success so far.

Sentiments from a politically engaged college student, a Department of Education employee, a criminal attorney, and a Baruch staff member, reflect a city that is still deciding how to measure Mayor Mamdani’s leadership.

“The mayor has the same amount of power that the president has to fix problems, except Zohran is listening to his people and our president has not,” said Allen.