Meeting of the mayors: Eric Adams and Zohran Mamdani finally meet as transition of power continues

Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani met Tuesday with outgoing Mayor Eric Adams, their first sit-down since the democratic socialist’s decisive victory in last month’s race for Gracie Mansion.

In a one-hour session, the mayor-elect, his Chief of Staff Elle Bisgaard Church, and First Deputy Mayor-designate Dean Fuleihan met with Mayor Adams to discuss the transition between the administrations.

“The Mayor-elect met with the sitting Mayor to continue the work of the transition, and ensure all city services are provided without disruption through the change in leadership on Jan. 1,” Monica Klein, spokesperson for the Mamdani Transition, said in a statement.

Mamdani said the meeting at Gracie Mansion “went well” while speaking to reporters afterwards, stating that the initiatives of the Adams administration he intends to continue are trash containerization and his championing of the City of Yes.

“I appreciated the conversation that I had with Mayor Adams and his team, and we focused on how to make this as smooth a transition as possible,” Mamdani said.

Regarding trash containerization and City of Yes, the mayor-elect added, “These are things that New Yorkers deserve to have be built on, as opposed to being discarded.”

Adams, who did not immediately comment on his meeting with Mamdani, had been a persistent critic of the mayor-elect throughout the campaign, at times falsely labelling him a communist and ultimately endorsing former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s campaign after ending his own re-election bid.

Mamdani ran on a platform focused on lowering costs for New Yorkers struggling with the city’s rising expenses. His key proposals include making public buses free and freezing rents for tenants in stabilized apartments.

Since the Nov. 4 election, outgoing Mayor Adams has made several moves to seemingly limit that agenda. He has sought to influence the Rent Guidelines Board ahead of Mamdani’s tenure and moved to halt the incoming mayor’s plan to demolish the Elizabeth Street Garden on the Lower East Side to build affordable housing by designating the site as permanent parkland.

A lawsuit challenging that designation has been temporarily paused. Pennrose, RiseBoro Community Partnership, and Habitat for Humanity New York City and Westchester filed a stipulation Nov. 22 in Manhattan Supreme Court agreeing to suspend the case until January while the parties work toward “an amicable resolution.”

Crain’s New York Business reported that the developers are in talks with City Hall about relocating the affordable-housing project to a nearby city-owned site at 22 Suffolk St.