Last week I stood outside City Hall with thousands of other New Yorkers as we ushered in a new era of governance for our city. The threats facing New York are myriad and well-documented: a federal government hellbent on tearing apart immigrant families, abducting our loved ones in the streets; an entire political class that is determined to starve our children, deny life saving health care to our elders, and bankrupt our schools in order to line the pockets of billionaire donors. New Yorkers are being priced out of our communities, working harder and harder for less and less.
These attacks are designed to divide us, to turn us towards cynicism and selfishness. But listening to Mayor Mamdani’s promise to govern “expansively and audaciously” I felt something else. Hope. Immigrants and working-class people are the lifeblood of our state, but our leaders have failed to heed our calls to enact necessary policies that ensure that everyone, regardless of immigration status, has the opportunity to flourish. As the Mamdani administration takes the reins and a new legislative session begins in Albany, we need lawmakers to take bold action, and we need it to happen quickly.
No. 1 on the agenda should be safeguarding New Yorkers’ civil liberties from federal attacks. For too long immigrants, trans folks, students, and working class people of color have been forced to stand alone, bravely battling these unrelenting attacks, without adequate protection from the city or state. That’s why we need lawmakers in Albany to immediately pass the New York for All Act, which will complement New York City’s detainer laws and prohibit state and local resources from being used to carry out the Trump administration’s inhumane deportation regime.
Gov. Hochul is in a unique position to lead on this; during her State of the State address next week she should give a full-throated endorsement of New York for All, and should include it in her Executive Budget.
And while New York City has for decades been a national leader in protecting its residents, Mamdani should prioritize passing an executive order directing all city agencies to submit plans for training and robust implementation of existing sanctuary laws.
Secondly, we need to protect essential services from politicians in Washington who are slashing the budget. Working class communities in New York power the wealthiest city in the world, and yet funding cuts threaten our basic necessities. On Monday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced it would rescind a series of Biden-era rules governing one of the largest federal funding sources for child care.
However, lawmakers in Albany have the opportunity this session to ensure that every New Yorker is able to lead a healthy life with a roof over their head. Bills on the table this session include ones that would protect immigrant health care, ensure food access for every New Yorker with the SNAP for All New York bill, and shield our neighbors from homelessness through the Housing Access Voucher Program.
Lastly, we must create an affordable and just New York. We know that “affordability” is the political buzzword of the moment, but until we see actual policies that decrease the crushing economic burden on working class New Yorkers, it will just remain empty lip service. That’s why we need New York’s millionaires, billionaires, and corporations to pay what they owe in taxes.
We must invest in a future in which everyone has what they need to thrive, from clean air to child care and a livable wage. And instead of funding the largest school police force in the country, we should redirect those funds to counselors, social workers, mental health workers, and restorative justice coordinators, so that our students have access to a world-class education without fear.
Accomplishing everything on this list may seem ambitious, but we should not be afraid to do big things. If the election of Zohran Mamdani proves anything, it’s that these policies are broadly popular, and that New Yorkers are clamoring for a new era of politics that works for everyone. We just need politicians with courage to follow our lead.
Aristizabal is deputy director of Make the Road New York.
