Adams traveling to Israel; Mamdani says mayor is derailing his affordable housing agenda
MANHATTAN (WABC) -- It's a busy time for New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani as he prepares to take over the city's top job.
On Thursday, he met with Governor Kathy Hochul to discuss priorities.
This comes as the current mayor, Eric Adams, prepares to travel to Israel.
Mayor Adams is expected to return next week. He's set to meet with economic development leaders and discuss efforts to combat anti-Semitism in the city.
The Adams administration is counting down the days until he leaves office as Mayor-elect Mamdani transitions into City Hall.
Their transition teams have only met once, but Adams and Mamdani haven't had a face-to-face as of yet.
In the meantime, Mamdani didn't waste any time already announcing some of his first appointments, like his deputy mayor and chief of staff, who will work alongside him inside City Hall.
But the mayors may have already hit a rough patch in their transition as the mayor-elect accused Adams of using his final weeks in office to derail Mamdani's agenda, including turning the Elizabeth Street Garden into affordable housing.
Adams had agreed to build affordable housing in the garden's place, but he pivoted in June. Designating the garden as city parkland will make it much harder ever to develop housing in its place.
"I've made clear over the course of the campaign what my vision would be in meeting the urgent need for housing across especially for seniors across the city. And the actions that Mayor Adams has taken has made that nearly impossible to follow through with that," Mamdani said.
As the mayor plans to travel to Israel, Adams and Mayor-elect Mamdani could meet upon his return.
Another high-profile meeting we are anticipating is with Mamdani and Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, who the mayor-elect asked to stay on, although she hasn't committed.
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