NYC Council to hold hearings evaluating Mamdani admin

The New York City Council is holding two oversight hearings Tuesday: one examining how the Mamdani administration has responded to the extreme cold and another on the system that gives the mayor control over public schools.

The hearings, which will take place Tuesday morning, will be an opportunity for council members to question top leaders in Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration about pressing city issues. Officials from the Department of Social Services, the New York City Police Department, Emergency Management and Fire Department EMS are slated to testify at the joint Public Safety and General Welfare committee hearing. There, they'll likely face tough questioning about city efforts to keep New Yorkers safe during the ongoing Code Blue emergency. At least 18 people had been found dead outside as of Monday. And while Mamdani initially garnered praise for how he handled the storm late last month, criticism has grown alongside the mounting death toll. DSS Commissioner Molly Wasow Park will testify, Gothamist reported, though she notified Mamdani in a letter Monday that she will resign. She told Gothamist, “This limbo has been really taxing on the agency, on me and my family.” Speaker Julie Menin will also participate in the hearing.

The oversight hearing held by the council’s Education Committee on mayoral control will likely be less heated. Mamdani criticized mayoral control during his campaign, but has since voiced support for it. Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels and several of his deputies are slated to testify. 

Eric Dinowitz, the newly appointed chair of the council’s Education Committee, said that while he’s had only positive interactions with city education leaders so far, Mamdani has yet to lay out a clear vision on what he wants school governance to look like. The hope for the hearing is to get a better idea of that – especially with state lawmakers poised to consider whether or not to renew the governance model in June. 

“We all want the same thing - schools that run well and the best for our kids,” Dinowitz said.