City Council Speaker Julie Menin is sounding the alarm about Mayor Zohran Mamdani's decision not to boost the Police Department's ranks as planned.

"We are concerned about that," the Manhattan Democrat said during an interview on Fox 5 New York aired Friday, when asked what the council made of Mamdani's recent move to keep the NYPD's headcount as is.

“We’ve got the same number of officers basically that we had on 9/11 yet the city has grown substantially,” Menin said.

READ MORE

Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s proposed property tax hike will put the squeeze on small building owners — and could even be the “nail in the coffin” for the city’s rent-stabilized market, critics warned.

Small Property Owners of New York, a nonprofit advocacy group, expressed grave concern about Mamdani’s Tuesday warning that he’ll be “forced” to raise city property taxes a whopping 9.5% to balance the Big Apple budget.

“You’ve heard a lot about billionaires leaving New York City, but nobody talks about the fact that the administration is going to squeeze small property owners in neighborhoods of color out of the city altogether and out of the real estate market,” said SPONY member Jen Lee, a landlord who owns two rent-stabilized tenement buildings in Chinatown. 

READ MORE

He's making a return on his promise.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani is turning the page on his campaign promise to boost funding for libraries -- instead pushing to slash their budgets by nearly $30 million -- after calling similar cuts under his predecessor "cruel."

Under Mamdani's $127 billion preliminary budget plan, the Manhattan branch of the New York Public Library would see an $11.6 million slash to funds, while Brooklyn and Queens would shrink $8.7 and $9.2 million, respectively, compared to last year.

READ MORE

Mayor Mamdani announced a new expansion of for the city's protected time off laws on Friday.

The city's protected time off law will now cover reasons such as caring for family members or children, which according to the hastily copy-edited release will expand protections to "$4.3 million workers."

The new rules, which take effect this Sunday, also require employers to make an additional 32 hours of unpaid protected time off available upon hire and the first day of each calendar year.

"New Yorkers shouldn't have to choose between doing their job and caring for their family, protecting their safety, or keeping their housing secure," he said in a statement.

The Department of Consumer and Worker Protection also launched an enforcement blitz sending more than 56,000 "letter" to businesses across all five boroughs.

The department is also using a "data-driven" enforcement strategy comparing sick leave use rates with national figures to locate potential violations.

Violations of the law could result in penalties ranging from $250 to $2,500 per employee.

A bombshell lawsuit by a former interim NYPD commissioner accusing Mayor Eric Adams’ administration of running a sprawling corruption conspiracy inside the department has been tossed by a federal judge.

Tom Donlon filed the startling suit last spring, claiming that Adams and top police brass ran the department like a “criminal enterprise,” and accusing them of racketeering. 

But Manhattan federal Judge Denise Cote found the defendants had “different motivations” and not “a single desire to further their criminal enterprise,” as she dismissed the 243-page RICO lawsuit.

READ MORE

Mayor Mamdani's administration announced the first affordable housing building under the city's new land use law on Friday morning.

A former Department of Education parking lot in Mott Haven will be transformed into an 8-story building with over 80 units of affordable housing, according to the administration.

The project is going through the city's new Expedited Land Use Review Procedure, which cuts down the roughly seven-month-long review process to around 90 days for qualifying projects.

"We're here to mark the next step in turning this empty lot into 84 affordable homes. Once constructed, the Powers house apartments won't be just affordable housing," Deputy Mayor for Housing and Planning Leila Borzog said.

She noted that the project is also slated to bring a community theatre and workforce training facility to the Powers Avenue project.

Big Apple Voters voted for the new law as a ballot proposition this past November.

New York state will no longer give driver's licenses to non-citizen immigrants, following a tightening of restrictions and threats to withhold funding from the Trump administration.

"Upon specific order from the federal government, New York’s non-domiciled CDL program is indefinitely paused, including renewals," New York Department of Motor Vehicles spokesperson Walter McClure told Newsday, which first reported the development.

The feds, citing an audit of 200 New York Commercial Drivers Licenses by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration that found 107 were approved unlawfully, had threatened to pul $73 million in highway funding if the state didn't stop giving licenses to non-citizens.

The feds revoked U.S. DOT guidance allowing non-citizens with federal work authorization to obtain CDL's last year.

READ MORE

Gov. Kathy Hochul told reporters on the sidelines of the National Governors Association conference in D.C. Friday that President Trump reassured her that he wouldn't conduct a Minnesota-style ICE surge in the Big Apple like the feds did in Minnesota.

“I won’t come to NY unless Kathy calls and says ‘I want you to come to NY'," Hochul said Trump told a group of governors gathered at the White House Friday morning, per Bloomberg Government reporter Raga Justin.

Hochul has shifted significantly as public support of ICE and President Trump's immigration crackdown has soured since two high profile killings in Minnesota.

While she used to tout how the state was working with the feds to go after migrants who've committed crimes, the governor is now proposing legislation to restrict how local governments work with ICE and wants to give New Yorkers the ability to sue federal agents they feel have violated their constitutional rights.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s threat to raise property taxes by nearly 10% could end up alienating support from his own base, according to a new poll exclusively shared with The Post.

Ten in-depth interviews conducted with Mamdani voters by firm J.L. Partners found that higher taxes on the wealthy and corporations are the number one conditional policy that Mamdani needs to deliver on or else they will retract their support.

"I do think property tax is a real risk for Mamdani: both with his own base and other coalitions. Mamdani voters were clear eyed during the campaign that property taxes do pass through onto renters," J.L. partners co-founder James Johnson said.

The results found that Mamdani's "tax the rich" pledge was a higher priority than his freebie-filled agenda, noting that if he didn't fulfill the promise some supporters would feel that he was receiving "pressure from special interests."

While other policies such as free busses are wanted by voters, respondents said delivering on these pledges were not "make-or-break" for their continued support.

Poll respondents said that while there could be room for Mamdani to compromise with a lower tax hike on the wealthy, barriers to delivering at all on the policy would not be "good enough excuses" for the Democratic socialist mayor.

Gov. Kathy Hochul has repeatedly shot down Mamdani's calls to raise state income taxes on the wealthy.

City Hall did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul celebrated the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to roll back some of President Trump's tariffs Friday.

“The Supreme Court’s decision is clear. These tariffs were an unlawful backdoor tax on hardworking families, farmers and small businesses, raising prices on everything from groceries to building materials," Hochul wrote in a statement.

“We stood up to these reckless policies because New Yorkers were paying the price, and today the Court agreed. My administration will keep fighting to protect New Yorkers and make sure Washington helps — not hurts — the people we serve," she continued.

The 6-3 decision found that Trump could not unilaterally impose the tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

The decision will not end all of Trump's tariffs enacted under other statutes.

Zohran's sins have apparently not been forgiven.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan is still "ticked" that the young socialist mayor, Zohran Mamdani, for blowing off the installation of the new archbishop and snubbing him on inauguration — breaking with decades of tradition.

"I was ticked off that he didn't invite me to his inauguration," Dolan said in a new interview.

"I was ticked off the he had few few few Catholics on this transition team and then i was really ticked off that he did show up to the installation of my successor," the cardinal continued.

Hizzoner faced backlash from the Catholic community after he skipped the the ceremony at St. Patrick’s Cathedral for Ronald Hicks, 58, on Feb. 6 — saying later that he had scheduling conflict.

Gov. Kathy Hochul will pull another switcheroo and raise taxes after the November elections — like she did when imposing congestion pricing after the 2024 campaigns, Republican elected officials claim.

Democrat Hochul, who is seeking re-election to a second full, 4-year term this fall, insisted she won’t buckle to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s request for Albany to raise income taxes on the rich and hike corporate taxes to help close a Big Apple budget shortfall.

But Republicans said voters can’t trust her, citing the turnabout on congestion pricing.

“Once elected Hochul did a U Turn on congestion pricing and she will do the same by raising taxes on not just millionaires but all middle class families through higher utility bills, commuter costs and hidden fees,” said GOP gubernatorial nominee Bruce Blakeman.

READ MORE