Mayor Mamdani signs five executive orders on first day in office

Mayor Zohran Mamdani marked his first day in office with a flurry of activity, signing five executive orders that set the tone for his new administration.

The first order repealed all executive orders issued by former Mayor Eric Adams following the day Adams was federally indicted. Mamdani said the move reflected a moment when “many New Yorkers decided that politics had nothing for them but more of the same.”

His second order formally appointed his five deputy mayors and outlined the structure of his administration. The remaining three focused heavily on one of Mamdani’s central campaign themes: housing.

“We will also stand up for tenants, build new housing, and get New Yorkers into housing faster,” Mamdani said.

As part of that housing agenda, the mayor announced two new task forces, LIFT (Land Inventory Fast Track) and SPEED (Streamlining Procedures to Expedite Equitable Development), aimed at speeding up home construction, including development on city-owned land by July 1. He also appointed housing advocate Cea Weaver to lead the restored Office to Protect Tenants.

“We will make sure that 311 violations are resolved, and we will hold slumlords to account for hazardous and dangerous threats to your well-being,” Mamdani added.

The executive orders were signed in the lobby of a Pinnacle-owned building in Crown Heights, part of a portfolio of properties with conditions so severe that Mamdani announced his administration is now intervening in their bankruptcy sale to protect tenants.

According to Mamdani, those buildings alone have more than 5,000 open hazardous violations and 14,000 complaints, including those previously covered by News 12.

The mayor toured the troubled units, including apartments previously covered by News 12. He did not say whether the city has the authority to block the sale, but tenants expressed hope for change.

“I need the next landlord to not be a slumlord,” said Tamar Gressel, a Pinnacle tenant.