Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani will be free to sidestep tough decisions when he presents his first budget a month after taking office on Jan. 1, 2026.
That’s mostly because Wall Street is booming, on pace to see record profits of more than $60 billion this year. Lavish year-end bonuses paid out starting early next week will provide a boost to the city’s economy and to tax revenue.
But he will soon face a worsening economic picture. While the administration of departing Mayor Eric Adams has relentlessly portrayed the city’s economy as a great success story, job growth in the last two years has been concentrated in low-paying health care jobs. Poverty has increased, and wages for most have not kept up with the cost of living — major themes in Mamdani’s winning message…