Zohran Mamdani ditches campaign pledge on NYC intersections in latest flip-flop

Mayor Zohran Mamdani ditched one of his sound-bite campaign pledges as his administration apparently dealt with the reality of implementing a pro-pedestrian parking policy — leaving transit advocates in the crosshairs.Department of Transportation Mike Flynn admitted at a Tuesday City Council meeting that the administration was not following a “universal daylighting” approach at the Big Apple’s 40,000 intersections — in direct contradiction to the democratic socialist’s campaign promises.“Daylighting” is a pro-pedestrian initiative that bans parking near crosswalks, but Flynn said the city would look at intersections on a case-by-case basis.“Daylighting is definitely one important tool but as a few of us have mentioned earlier, we always take a holistic approach, and we really look at the unique conditions and context of each location,” he said.Mamdani had declared at a February mayoral forum that “we deserve to have all [intersections] daylighted.”Enacting universal daylighting could shed 300,000 parking spots across the Big Apple and cost the city up to $3 billion dollars.The about-face is the latest flip-flop from the mayor, who took office in January as he contends with the realities of running the massive operation of city government.Mamdani was dubbed a “class traitor” by some of his Democratic Socialists of America comrades after re-starting homeless encampment sweeps during the recent cold snap that claimed 29 New Yorkers’ lives, despite his pledge to stop the policy.Hizzoner also promised that his freebie-filled agenda would be paid for by raising income taxes on the rich but is now threatening to raise property taxes by nearly 10% to balance his first budget as mayor.Morning Report delivers the latest news, videos, photos and more.

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