Monday, Feb.9, marks the 40th day of Zohran Mamdani’s term as mayor. amNewYork is following Mamdani around his first 100 days in office as we closely track his progress on fulfilling campaign promises, appointing key leaders to government posts, and managing the city’s finances. Here’s a summary of what the mayor did yesterday and today.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani cut the ribbon Monday on the Shirley Chisholm Recreation Center in East Flatbush, a $141 million project more than a decade in the making.
The roughly 74,000-square-foot facility is the first new city-run recreation center built in 15 years and the first in central Brooklyn, according to the mayor’s office. It includes a competition-size pool, gymnasium, indoor walking track, classrooms, a teaching kitchen, and a media lab.
City leaders framed the project as both a long-sought neighborhood investment and a tribute to Shirley Chisholm, the Brooklyn congresswoman who in 1968 became the first Black woman elected to Congress and later the first to seek a major party’s presidential nomination.
“This center will remain low-cost to all New Yorkers and free to anyone under the age of 24,” Mamdani said. “Making New York more affordable also means government investing in spaces like this, where New Yorkers can learn, grow, and simply enjoy their time together.”
The center sits within a 15-minute walk or transit ride of about 41,000 residents. Mamdani called it a long-overdue investment in central Brooklyn and said it will be the first of six new recreation centers planned across the city.
The mayor also tied the project to concerns about population loss among Black families. From 2010 to 2019, he said, the city saw a 19% drop in its population of Black children and teenagers, calling the trend an “exodus” that officials must address by making New York easier to afford and live in.
East Flatbush residents have long sought a recreation center; the nearest Parks Department facilities are in Brownsville and Crown Heights, each about 3.5 miles away.
Plans for a Chisholm-named center in the neighborhood began in 2012 under then-Councilmember Jumaane Williams, now the public advocate. The project received official approval in 2017 but was later moved from its original site at Tilden Playground after community objections raised with Williams’ successor, Councilmember Farah Louis.
In 2020, then-Mayor Bill de Blasio and the City Council reallocated $141 million from the NYPD capital budget to fund the project, in partnership with Louis and Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn.
Local officials on Monday described the center as the result of years of organizing, particularly after the 2013 police shooting of Kimani Gray and a period of heightened gun violence in the neighborhood. Williams said organizers realized they were telling young people to stay off the streets without giving them anywhere else to go.
“We were telling them, ‘Don’t be out here at nighttime,’” Williams said. “And they said, ‘Well, where do you want us to go?’ … There was no new centers, no place we could actually say, ‘Hey, why don’t you go here?’”
Council Member Farah Louis called the opening “an answered prayer” and the culmination of years of advocacy.
“For every young person who cried, ‘Don’t shoot, I want to grow up,’ for every senior seeking a place for leisure instead of loneliness, for every resident seeking a place for wellness — this is yours,” she said. “The Shirley Chisholm recreation center stands as a testament to what happens when community members, advocates and public servants work together with purpose.”
The Shirley Chisholm Recreation Center will open fully on Tuesday, February 10. During its first week, residents can enjoy a free day at the facility, and Parks will host guided tours, registration events, and demonstrations to showcase the new amenities.
NYC Parks Commissioner Tricia Shimamura praised the center’s impact on the community, noting its affordability and wide range of amenities. “Central Brooklyn, cancel your gym subscription and join us at Shirley Chisholm, where we have state-of-the-art amenities at a fraction of the cost. This new center means that over 41,000 New Yorkers now have an affordable space to exercise, learn, and connect with their neighbors, a fitting tribute to Chisholm’s commitment to community investment,” she said, calling the facility “a space where all Brooklynites are welcome” and “the very best of city government.”
Code Blue: Cold snap claims another life
The city recorded another fatality over the weekend linked to the ongoing cold snap, Mayor Mamdani confirmed at Monday’s press conference. The individual was the 18th New Yorker to die in extreme winter conditions since Jan. 19, though the mayor provided no further details
“Each life lost is a tragedy, and we will continue to hold their families in our thoughts,” Mamdani said.
When asked whether any of the victims had recently interacted with city outreach workers, Mamdani deferred to Erin Kelly, Deputy Chief for the Department of Health & Human Services, who clarified: “To our knowledge, none of the deaths were immediately following an interaction. Those interactions had happened. Could be a couple of weeks, could be a couple years ago, but nothing immediately prior.”
Mamdani urged New Yorkers to remain vigilant. “Stay safe, stay indoors, and please, New York, let’s keep looking out for one another. We will get through this,” he said, noting that temperatures are not expected to rise above freezing until Tuesday.
Critics of the Mayor’s approach to protecting the city’s homeless population have been vocal since the implementation of Enhanced Code Blue. On Sunday, Republican Council Member Joann Ariola sent a letter to City Hall demanding immediate action in all caps. “GET THE HOMELESS PEOPLE OFF THE STREET AND OUT OF THE COLD,” the letter read.
Former Mayor Adams and Governor Hochul have also criticized Mamdani for ending street encampment sweeps.
City officials pointed to intensive outreach under the administration’s Enhanced Code Blue protocols, which have been in effect since Jan. 19. Mamdani has repeatedly emphasized that none of the outdoor deaths have been linked to encampments.
Since the cold snap began, agencies have made roughly 1,400 placements into shelters and safe havens, involuntarily transported 33 individuals deemed at risk, and operated nearly 65 warming centers, including emergency sites in Brooklyn for power outages. Nearly 300 New Yorkers used DHS warming vehicles, while more than 560 visited H+H warming centers over Friday and Saturday.
In anticipation of the weekend’s freezing temperatures, the city added 64 hotel rooms for self-isolation, partnered with organizations including ACE and CMS, and coordinated with DOE school nurses to expand outreach. “We saw at least 150 additional outreach workers hitting the streets, supplementing the over 400 DHS outreach workers who had already been working around the clock,” Mamdani said.
Advocates note that Mamdani’s approach — rejecting sweeps in favor of expanded services, hotel placements, warming centers, and outreach — prioritizes safety while respecting the autonomy of unsheltered New Yorkers.
“Each person knows best what is safest for themself, and has a right to make their own decisions about going into the shelter system,” said Deborah Berkman, director of New York Legal Assistance Group’s Shelter and Economic Stability Project, in a statement.
Forcibly clearing encampments can be dangerous and traumatic, often destroying essential belongings and failing to move people into long-term housing, while Mamdani’s strategy focuses on meeting people where they are and keeping them alive during extreme cold, said Berkman.
