With streets reopening, NYC residents share blunt opinions on the mayor’s handling of the storm

ABC7NY anchor Bill Ritter framed it the way New Yorkers have for decades: a mayor can lose popularity fast if the city doesn’t get cleaned up after a big snow, and the politics can get ugly even when the real priority is simply getting streets safe and services running again.

Ritter’s point was that this storm landed early in Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s tenure, and the old rule still applies – people don’t want speeches, they want plows, salt, and buses that can actually reach a stop.

From Long Island City, reporter N.J. Burkett picked up the story right where the public mood lives, out on the sidewalks and at the corners where the snow piles up and the day-to-day hassles show up first.

Burkett noted the neighborhood had been hit hard, with what he said was about 10 and a half inches of snow, and he made the comparison that every New York City mayor eventually faces: a storm like this becomes a real-world report card, whether anyone likes it or not.

“How Am I Doing?” Gets A Real Answer

Burkett even nodded to the old Ed Koch habit of asking “How am I doing?” because in this moment, that question isn’t rhetorical – it’s what every resident is muttering when they step off a curb and see what’s been cleared and what hasn’t.

Burkett’s big takeaway was clear and intentionally upbeat: Mamdani appears to be getting high marks, especially given how early this is in his time in office and how citywide the impact was.

He described New Yorkers “reclaiming their snowbound neighborhoods one shovel full at a time,” while reminding viewers that plows and sanders were still moving through the streets 36 hours after the storm swept in.

Burkett’s wording matters here, because he didn’t paint a picture of chaos or failure; he painted a picture of a city in recovery mode, where the machine is still working and the clean-up is still active.

He also highlighted the scale – Burkett said it hit “every bridge, every avenue, every side street,” which is exactly why the public usually expects something to go wrong, somewhere, fast.

Against that backdrop, Mamdani’s public messaging came through as focused and practical, the kind of tone a new mayor probably wants during his first major weather crisis.

In a clip Burkett used from a press conference, Mayor Mamdani said the city’s goal was to have services fully restored by the next day, with streets cleared, students back in school in person, and the city back to normal – even if “normal” still includes massive snow piles.

Burkett then added a key detail that supports a more positive read of the response: Mamdani told reporters there were no surprises because the forecasts were “pinpoint accurate,” and the city over-prepared.

That word – over-prepared – can sound like bragging in some contexts, but in a snowstorm, it’s exactly what people want to hear, because “under-prepared” is how you get stranded buses and streets that turn into rutted ice tracks for days.

Mamdani also emphasized a collective approach, saying, “We prepared for this storm together and we rode the storm out together,” and then pointed forward to the remaining work of clearing snow and restoring the city.

It’s a simple line, but it fits what New Yorkers respond to in a crisis: don’t pretend it’s perfect, don’t minimize the mess, and don’t talk like the problem is over when people are still climbing over snowbanks to reach the corner.

The Corners And Bus Stops Tell The Truth

Burkett didn’t sugarcoat the fact that getting around was still difficult in some places, because even a well-run response can leave rough edges – especially at intersections, bus stops, and the tight spaces that plows don’t always prioritize first.

He described a scene along Sixth Avenue where “every bus stop we saw was plowed under,” and that’s the kind of detail that sticks, because for a lot of residents, a bus stop buried in snow isn’t just annoying—it’s the difference between getting to work safely or risking a slip into the street.

Burkett included a man on-camera who voiced that frustration in a straightforward way, saying the bus stops should have been addressed first thing after the snow stopped, because people start heading to work immediately and need those access points cleared.

That complaint didn’t come off as a condemnation of the whole city response, though; it sounded like what it usually is after a storm – residents pointing out the spots where the system can tighten up next time.

In fact, the way Burkett structured the report made it feel like a fair balancing act: yes, there are remaining problems, but the city is functioning, the clean-up is active, and many residents appear to believe the basics were handled.

That’s also where the story turned into a genuinely good moment for a new mayor, because Burkett explained that when Mamdani was asked how he would grade himself, the mayor didn’t try to crown himself.

Mamdani said he would leave it to New Yorkers, and in a city that hates self-congratulation, that’s probably the smartest stance possible.

So Burkett and ABC7NY did what good local reporting does: they went out and asked the people.

New Yorkers Hand Out Grades, And The Tone Is Mostly Warm

Burkett’s interviews painted a picture of a city that is critical by nature but willing to give credit when things work.

One man told Burkett that the buses ran and the trains ran the day before, and that if you wanted to get out and around, you could, because he did.

Then Burkett pressed him: what grade?

The man gave an A, saying Mamdani is “all right” and “trying to do something good,” which is about as close as you get to heartfelt praise in New York without someone accusing you of being in the mayor’s campaign.

Burkett included another man who gave the mayor a strong B, and another who said B minus, which Burkett noted as the exception in a stretch where the grades were otherwise fairly generous.

Even that B-minus, in context, doesn’t read as panic or anger; it reads like New York’s baseline personality, where people rarely give an A unless the streets are spotless and their particular block got plowed twice.

Burkett also said Mamdani got some of his best grades in his old neighborhood, which suggests a few things at once.

It suggests residents there were watching closely, it suggests they felt seen, and it suggests the city’s operations in that area were good enough that people didn’t feel abandoned in the usual “we’re last on the list” way.

A man told Burkett he’d put the performance somewhere between a low A and a high B, saying it wasn’t perfect but he wasn’t sure what more people could have asked the city to do.

That’s an important kind of compliment, because it acknowledges reality: storms are messy, and even a strong response still leaves some digging and inconvenience for residents to handle.

Another man told Burkett that Mamdani did “pretty good” in his first storm, which sounds simple but carries weight given the old “snowstorm mayor curse” Ritter mentioned at the top of the segment.

A woman also told Burkett she thought the city did pretty well, pointing out that streets were cleared and bike lanes looked good, and then she pivoted to the personal side of it—now residents have the hard job of digging out the piles left behind.

When Burkett asked for a letter grade, even a family of three turned it into a little moment, with the mom saying B plus while the kids pushed for A plus, and then everyone agreed in the way families do when they’re standing outside in the cold and just want to get moving again.

Why This Looks Like A Solid First-Month Showing

Burkett ended with a detail that quietly matters: he said Mamdani hasn’t made any changes to the sanitation department leadership team, at least not yet.

That may sound like inside baseball, but it’s part of why the response looked steady – big operational systems usually perform better when they aren’t being reorganized mid-crisis, and a brand-new mayor making leadership changes right before a major storm can create confusion even if the intentions are good.

Burkett also pointed to the forecasting factor, saying consistent forecasts were important, because it allowed planning to happen without last-minute scrambling.

And he described the response as involving “so much planning,” while also acknowledging a little luck – because in weather, even the best preparation can get humbled by a storm that shifts 30 miles at the wrong time.

The overall shape of the reporting was positive without being glossy: Burkett showed real trouble spots, like buried bus stops, but still came away with a clear sense that the city moved quickly, services largely ran, and most residents he spoke to were willing to give the new mayor solid marks.

There’s also something refreshing about Mamdani’s posture here, at least as Burkett presented it.

Instead of treating the storm like a photo-op, he talked in practical terms – streets, schools, services – and then pushed the grading power back to the public, which is exactly where it belongs in a city that takes pride in its ability to judge leadership harshly.

If anything, this is the kind of early test that can help a new mayor build trust, not through grand promises, but through basic competence when the city needs it most.

And Burkett’s closing note captured that mix of realism and optimism: planning mattered, forecasting mattered, the operation mattered, and yes, a little luck mattered too – because in New York, sometimes the difference between a “strong B” and an “A” is whether your block got plowed before you had to get to work.