Mayor Zohran Mamdani has signed only one bill into law during his first 10 months in office, leaving roughly 100 council-passed measures to take effect without his signature.
Mamdani, 35, who celebrated his birthday Sunday, put his name on a single piece of legislation: an August measure allowing year-round outdoor dining on city sidewalks. Every other bill that has become law during his administration has done so through a procedural mechanism called “returned unsigned,” which automatically enacts legislation if it sits on the mayor’s desk for four weeks without a veto.
The socialist mayor’s predecessors moved far faster. Eric Adams had signed 30 laws at the same point in his term, Bill de Blasio had signed 47, and Mike Bloomberg had signed 28, according to figures reported by insiders tracking the pace of governance.
The procedural route dominating Mamdani’s term is typically reserved for mayors protesting legislation they oppose or avoiding association with measures they cannot defeat by veto. Yet many of the unsigned bills align squarely with his progressive platform, including a February measure requiring sanctuary-city rules barring ICE cooperation be posted at schools and city-owned buildings. That bill, introduced by socialist ally Alexa Aviles, languished unsigned for four weeks before automatically taking effect in June.
“The mayor and his team are obsessed with becoming a content farm, often delaying or can-kicking boring governmental meetings so the mayor and his staff can hold pitch sessions for social media videos,” one source who frequently works with City Hall told The Post.
“The mayor gets pitched comedy sketches more than Lorne Michaels,” the source added. “There are lots of laughs, and there is very little work.”
Mamdani personally appears in multiple TikTok videos daily, including two sketches posted Monday, two on Saturday and two on Thursday, according to tracking of his social media output. The carefully crafted clips have generated significant attention even as substantive legislation awaited his signature.
In July, while bills sat on his desk, Mamdani released a video calling Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu a “war criminal” and stating he had explored every avenue for New York City police to arrest him. Measures awaiting his signature at that time included legislation requiring wellness checks on elderly residents when temperatures exceed 95 degrees, a key initiative expanding free childcare programs, and a rent-assistance program.
“It is a little bit weird. It gives the impression that enough attention is being paid or they disagree, but they don’t. I haven’t seen anything he’s disagreed,” former City Council member Diana Ayala said. “Those are his initiatives.”
“It would be nice to elevate their initiatives,” she continued, referring to council members whose bills Mamdani has neglected. “It shows goodwill and that they are in alignment on specific issues.”
Speculation about Mamdani’s motives has divided observers. Some suggested he favors executive orders and visual announcements that perform well online over the procedural work of bill signings.
“It’s easier to govern by TikTok than to actually perform the duties of the job,” a former City Hall staffer said.
“They haven’t found a way to make this into compelling social media content,” added a former Bloomberg staffer.
Another City Hall insider offered a harsher assessment. “It’s lazy in two ways — one is you are not taking a stand, easier to do nothing than figure out where you stand on something,” they said. “And lazy from a practical perspective — you can’t focus City Hall staff to hold the hearings, write the briefings and execute the bill signings.”
City Hall did not respond to a request for comment on the criticism.