Mamdanis child-care disaster is par for the course for his Potemkin govt

It’s hard to square any of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s socialist dreams with reality, but when it comes to free, universal child care, even he should’ve seen the technical problems looming long ago — and made sure they were fixed by now.Never mind that City Hall isn’t likely ever to have the money — $6 billion, by his count — for a fully scaled-up version of the child care he promised (and that an independent study put the cost at 50% more than that).It turns out the Department of Education staff can’t even process contracts and distribute funding in time for the opening, leaving city child-care providers in a lurch. And even Mamdani’s small expansion of the child-care program, for 2,000 2-K kids, only makes the problems worse.Some providers actually had to dip into their own pockets to pay for staffing and other essentials; one said she had to tap her own personal 401(k).City Comptroller Mark Levine says his office hadn’t received any 2-K contracts for registration as of last Friday.Although City Hall hasn’t given exact numbers, scores of child-care centers are likely at risk.Adrienne Bond, director of the Quick Start Daycare Center in Queens, feared that if she opened on the first day of school, she “won’t have staff” because she was awaiting roughly $400,000 from the city.City Hall on Monday belatedly announced an emergency all-hands-on-deck response to fix the child-care payment backlogs, using contracting officers from across city government, plus an added $43 million in funds.

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Never miss a story.The plan also includes “expediting interest-free bridge loans, accelerating contract registration and delivering critical supplies directly to providers.”Yet if City Hall does manage to pick up the pace of contract reviews, it will likely sw...