New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani released his “Preliminary Citywide Racial Equity Plan” on Monday, which quickly prompted pushback from conservatives online and skepticism from President Donald Trump’s Justice Department, with one top official saying she will “review” the move. 

Mamdani’s office explained in a press release that the preliminary report, which the mayor had promised to release within 100 days in office, shows racial disparities in areas like housing, education, and income, and the new plan aims to “establish a new framework for how New York City measures affordability, understands inequity and plans for a more equitable future.”

“The True Cost of Living Measure offers an honest account of what it actually costs to live in this city — and who is being left behind. It shows that this is not a crisis affecting a small minority of New Yorkers. It is a crisis touching the vast majority of our city, in every borough and every neighborhood,” Mamdani said in the press release.

“But we know this crisis is not felt equally. Black and Latino New Yorkers — who have been pushed out of this city for decades — are bearing the brunt. The Preliminary Racial Equity Plan is where we begin to reverse that pattern. These reports make one thing clear: we cannot tackle systemic racial inequity without confronting the affordability crisis head-on, and we cannot solve the cost-of-living crisis without dismantling systemic racial inequity.”

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New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani stands silently during a press conference on the Air Canada Express crash at Terminal B in LaGuardia Airport on March 23, 2026. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

Mamdani’s announcement quickly sparked pushback from conservatives, as well as from the Trump administration, expressing concerns about race-based initiatives and spending which the administration has been working to undo since taking power last year.

“Sounds fishy/illegal,” DOJ Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon posted on X. “Will review!”

“Straight-up racism against White people,” conservative influencer account Libs of TikTok posted on X. 

“The reality is Mamdani is implementing blatantly racist policies that reward and punish people based on their skin color,” conservative commentator Paul A. Szypula posted on X.

The city billed the racial equity plan as the “first time any New York City administration has required major city agencies to examine their work through a racial equity lens and identify and eliminate disparities” and said the plan sets goals across seven domains that include: “Children, Youth, Older Adults and Families; Economy; Housing and Preservation; Infrastructure and Environment; Health and Wellbeing; Community Safety, Rights and Accountability; and Good Governance and Inclusive Decision-Making.”

The report cites a sizable gap in the median net worth of white households compared to Black households while reporting that Black New Yorkers also have a lower life expectancy and suggests the way to address those gaps is an expansive framework featuring more than 200 agency-level goals, over 800 proposed strategies, and roughly 600 performance indicators intended to track progress over time.

“Inequity has been embedded in the foundation of our city and nation since their inception; dismantling it requires a collective effort,” NYC Chief Equity Officer and NYC Mayor’s Office of Equity & Racial Justice Commissioner Afua Atta-Mensah said in Monday’s press release.

NYC LANDLORDS FIRE BACK AT ‘RACIST’ MAMDANI AIDE’S CLAIM THAT TIES HOMEOWNERSHIP TO ‘WHITE SUPREMACY’

“The NYC Preliminary Citywide Racial Equity Plan reflects the city’s commitment to systemic transformation—turning our values into actions. From housing and healthcare to education and infrastructure, every agency plays a pivotal role in reshaping how government serves New Yorkers. This plan outlines measurable goals and actionable strategies to advance racial equity, promote justice and create lasting change.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Mamdani’s office and the DOJ for comment.

Dating back to his mayoral campaign, Mamdani has faced intense criticism for his focus on race and “equity, including a policy proposal, “Stop the Squeeze on NYC Homeowners,” that outlined his plans to “shift the tax burden from overtaxed homeowners in the outer boroughs to more expensive homes in richer and Whiter neighborhoods.” 

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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks at a Ramadan Iftar hosted by his team at the New York Taxi Workers Association, Wednesday, March 18, 2026, in New York. (Angelina Katsanis/AP)

In February, Mamdani faced criticism over his budget plan that stated the Office of Racial Equity would receive $5.6 million annually, while the Commission on Racial Equity would be allocated $4.6 million, a combined total of $10.2 million. The new figure represents roughly a $3 million increase — or about a 42% jump — from the approximately $7.2 million allocated last year.

Fox News Digital’s Amanda Macias contributed to this report.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani enlisted the help of Cardi B on Friday in another cringy push to promote City Hall’s plan to provide free 2-K in some Big Apple neighborhoods this fall.

The rapper, a Bronx native, appeared with Mamdani in another one of his signature curated social media videos, in which the democratic socialist asks the “WAP” rapper to help him judge a jingle contest meant to drum up attention for the child care program.

“I feel like free child care is very important,” Cardi B replied when Mamdani asked her about the topic. 

“Sometimes, us women, we can’t really go forward sometimes because we don’t have nobody to help us take care of our kids,” the mother of four added.

Cardi B, whose real name is Belcalis Marlenis Almanzar, also gushed over Mamdani’s age – 34 – and replied “wow” when the mayor said 2,000 2-K seats would be available to parents in certain parts of the Big Apple.

The pilot program will have a footprint in every borough but Staten Island and enrollment for the limited seats will begin in June.

The program is expected to expand in subsequent years.

Mamdani asked New Yorkers to submit their best jingle tied to child care effort by April 17 – and the rap superstar will help select the best tune.

“Cardi’s gonna help you by judging this competition,” Mamdani said with a laugh while the celeb cut in, “The mayor’s gonna help you and I’m gonna judge and he’s gonna give cause he’s the one with the funds.”  

The 2-K pilot is expected to cost $73 million with the state solely footing the massive bill. The cost per child is more than $36,000.

Furious protesters blocked off construction trucks and swarmed the site of a proposed homeless shelter in Brooklyn on Sunday evening — after rumors swirled that workers would break ground at the new facility as early as Monday morning.

Several hundred protesters lined multiple blocks in Bensonhurst, calling upon Mayor Zohran Mamdani to shut down the city’s long-standing plans to erect a 150-capacity men’s shelter at 86th Street and 25th Avenue.

Roughly 100 NYPD officers, some dressed in riot gear, attempted to quell the crowd of residents who pushed down barricades and surrounded a moving container truck near the planned shelter site after unconfirmed rumors swirled that construction would begin bright and early on Monday morning.

One protester even stood behind the tires of a container truck as it attempted to back up into the site, where several construction vehicles, including dump trucks, gathered.

“We’re here to protest this homeless shelter, which is going to bring danger to the neighborhood. We’ll stay here all night and come back tomorrow night and the night after that and keep coming back until the mayor shuts down construction of this shelter,” protester Kevin Zhang, 40, told The Post.

“This is a major thoroughfare that mothers and children and elderly people take every day. The subway is right here. Homeless shelters that house dangerous people need to be in isolated areas, not in the middle of major transportation hubs,” Zhang said.

Locals said they fear the men’s shelter, which is near several senior housing complexes, could become a magnet for drugs, crime and other trouble.

Protests against the planned facility in the predominantly Asian District 43 have been ongoing since the city first notified the community about plans for the homeless shelter in November 2023.

During one heated protest in July 2024, Councilwoman Susan Zhuang (D-43) was arrested for allegedly biting a deputy NYPD chief during a scream-filled clash with cops. The charges were later dropped.

The Department of Social Services told New12 earlier this month that the department had sent a message stating that Mamdani’s administration intends to restart the proposed project, but that construction had not yet begun and the project was a long way from completion.

The shelter is still planned to open in late 2027, the agency added.

The Department of Social Services did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment on the construction timeline.

“Mamdani thinks he can put homeless shelters in any neighborhood he wants because he wants the homeless to feel like they are at home, because maybe being around families will rehabilitate them,” said protestor Alex Lin.

“He could put shelters anywhere in the city, but he chooses to put them right in the middle of our neighborhood,” Lin, 35, added.

“He doesn’t care about the danger that poses to us. Look at all the cops that showed up tonight. Will the cops show up when some homeless drug addict lays his hands on a child?”

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul made a surprising admission two weeks ago. Speaking at Politico’s “New York Agenda: Albany Summit” on March 11, the governor said her state now lacks the “high-net-worth” residents needed to pay for “the generous social programs we want to have.” Hochul said some “patriotic” rich people have stepped up to help fill the state’s budget gap, and that, sure, it’s OK to write her a check. But if you really want to help, Hochul implored her wealthy supporters, “visit Palm Beach and see who you can bring back home, because our tax base has been eroded.”

Hochul sounded annoyed as she delivered that last line, as if it is the fault of her supporters — who are writing her checks to sustain her struggling state — that their wealthy friends have left for sunnier pastures.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said recently, “There were people who could only work in an office in Manhattan, and they were captives to our state.” They are captives no more. (Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket )

Her comments were surprising because, well, Hochul played a large role in forcing those Palm Beachers out in the first place. In 2022, Hochul said, “Just jump on a bus and head down to Florida, where you belong, okay? Get out of town because you don’t represent our values.”

STEVE FORBES: DRIVE OUT WEALTH, THEN BEG — HOCHUL’S NEW YORK IN A NUTSHELL

She was talking to Republicans, and they heard her loud and clear. And she wasn’t alone in making comments like these. In 2014, her predecessor, Andrew Cuomo, struck a similar note. “Extreme conservatives,” he said, citing policy positions like abortion and gun rights, “have no place in the state of New York, because that’s not who New Yorkers are.”

And these are the “moderate” Democrats in the state!

Those who could leave did. The deluge began under Cuomo and continued apace under Hochul.

I AM LEAVING NEW YORK CITY FOR FLORIDA. I NEVER THOUGHT I WOULD

Did they really not consider that they were cratering their own tax base? Who did they imagine was paying for the wonderful, exorbitantly expensive social services? The blue-haired protesters who elected Mayor Mamdani?

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s rhetoric played a large role in forcing New Yorkers to flee to Palm Beach, Fla. in the first place over the last several years. (Julia Nikhinson/AP Photo)

Cuomo could be forgiven for not realizing, back in 2014, that he needed the tax base far more than they needed him. But Hochul’s comments came two years into the pandemic, after people like me were already long gone, and it was clear that remote work had already altered the jobs landscape. Hochul said as much in the recent clip: “There were people who could only work in an office in Manhattan, and they were captives to our state.” They are captives no more.

MAMDANI’S ‘PAINFUL’ TAX HIKE THREAT MOCKED BY WASHINGTON POST FOR PROVING ‘SOCIALIST UTOPIA IS EXPENSIVE’

My family left New York City because Hochul catered to the teachers’ unions and refused to open public schools that had been needlessly closed while private schools were open. When schools finally did open full-time — a year after states like Florida — the kids were kept masked well into 2022, even outdoors, sitting on the ground for lunch and masking between bites, despite being at extremely low risk for COVID. Meanwhile, Hochul, in her 60s and therefore at a much higher risk from COVID, could be seen traipsing around the state maskless.

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Other New Yorkers left because the disarray on city streets was getting worse, and we were discouraged from talking about it. The migrant problem had spiraled, and New Yorkers were told they had to keep paying for hotel rooms or debit cards for people who had come in illegally, lest they be seen as aligned with Donald Trump. Homelessness had also worsened, with children begging in the street — a feature of third-world countries — appearing in what was once America’s jewel of a city. We left because everything was fraying, and the New York state government just didn’t care.

It wasn’t the taxes — or not just the taxes, anyway. It’s not exactly like the Onion headline from 2010: “8.4 Million New Yorkers Suddenly Realize New York City Is a Horrible Place to Live.” New York was always a tough place to live, and it was always expensive. What changed in the last decade is that it became impossible to trust that the people in charge were working to make it better.

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Did Hochul mean it when she said Republicans should leave New York? Did she mean it when she endorsed socialist mayor Zohran Mamdani? Who knows? It became impossible to have faith that the governor was working for anyone other than the special interest groups who support her.

It wasn’t just extremely wealthy New Yorkers who took a look around and realized their taxes weren’t being used properly. Plenty of non-billionaires and multimillionaires left, too. The fabric of the city changed. No, Gov. Hochul can no longer keep New Yorkers “captive.” It’s too late now to bring them “home.” They are home — it’s just not New York anymore.

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Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s wife, Rama Duwaji, celebrated Palestinian terrorists in a flurry of resurfaced social media posts she made as a teenager and in her early 20s, a shocking new report said.

The Big Apple’s first lady — already under fire for her problematic past social media activity — used her Tumblr account to boost Palestinian plane hijacker Leila Khaled and other members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, according to posts reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon.

Duwaji, 28, used the now-inactive account while she was living in the Middle East, according to the Beacon, which linked the posts to her, in part, using facial recognition technology.

The Post was unable to independently verify the account or posts.

The discovery comes a week after reports revealed that Duwaji once liked a celebratory Instagram post on the day of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack that shared images of the murderous assault on Israel.

She also liked a social media post claiming Hamas’ rapes of Israelis during the terror rampage were a “mass hoax.”

Mamdani, a staunch critic of Israel, claimed his wife “has held no formal position on my campaign or in my City Hall” and that she shouldn’t face scrutiny over her social media activity.

City Hall did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.

Big Apple lawmakers are refusing to roll back any restrictions on the home-sharing rentals as Airbnb pushes the new admin to loosen the laws ahead of the World Cup, The Post has learned.

Airbnb has recently made another massive attempt to break back into the New York City market, after burning millions of dollars previously, pushing new legislation to allow home rentals without the owner present, the paper exclusively revealed last week.

But a coalition of council committee chairs has already shut the door on any changes.

Follow live updates on Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s socialist agenda and the latest in NYC politics

“We want to make it clear: this is not a proposal that we will entertain,” reads a letter to City Hall, which was obtained by The Post.

“These rules are in place for a reason. Suspending short-term rental regulations, even temporarily, would undermine housing stability at the exact moment when renters are the most vulnerable.”

Freshman Mayor Zohran Mamdani sided with the council, shutting down the proposal.

“The Mamdani Administration is excited to welcome visitors from all over the world to enjoy our city and the World Cup. But we will not do so at the expense of working-class families,” said City Hall spokesperson Cassio Mendoza when asked about the proposal.

“The Mayor is not considering any changes to the short-term rental laws that could raise housing costs for New Yorkers.”

Airbnb has been trying to overturn  Local Law 18 since it was passed three years ago, which essentially shut down the home-rental market in the city by strictly regulating any rentals under 30 days.

Rob Solano, Cofounder and Executive Director of Churches United For Fair Housing, railed that Airbnb was “pushing a fantasy” to overturn the 2023 law.

That’s weak.

Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson is getting a Bronx cheer for abruptly canceling the 54th annual “Bronx Week,” citing budget woes.

In a press release Wednesday, Gibson said her office was shifting its focus away from the long-running annual festival “in response to a significant budget deficit and the broader fiscal challenges facing New York City.”

“This is not the end of Bronx Week; it is a pause,” Gibson insisted, as she apparently referenced the multi-billion-dollar deficit that Mayor Zohran Mamdani has said the city is facing.

But outraged Bronxites slammed Gibson for scraping the festivities — which run through the month of May and promote the borough’s institutions and residents.

Events usually include neighborhood walks, jazz and gospel concerts, food festivals, block parties, health and job fairs, and breakfasts and lunches honoring military veterans and other residents, as well as the Bronx Ball honoring borough hall of fame inductees.

“She canceled Bronx Week? This shows poor leadership,” said the Rev. Ruben Diaz, a former Bronx state senator and city councilman, who heads the Bronx-based Hispanic Clergy Organization.

“This is catastrophic.” Bronx Week is the big activity in the borough,” he said.

Diaz’s son, former Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., promoted Bronx Week when he was in office.

The anticipated event is so popular that the Bronx Tourism Council has a “Countdown to Bronx Week” ticker on its website, ilovethebronx.com

Last year, dozens of sponsors — including Chick-fil-A, Chase, Bally’s, AT&T, Optimum, and DoorDash—participated.

“The sudden and unexpected suspension of Bronx Week hurts deeply for me personally, and it reverberates from block to block throughout our borough for the generations of families who have grown up celebrating this tradition together each year,” local City Council Member Justin Sanchez said in a statement.

One Bronx source familiar with the planning and history of the festival said it was stunning that Gibson canceled it because private funds, not taxpayer dollars, bankrolled the events.

The borough president’s office and the borough economic development corporation solicit funds from the private sector to showcase the events, and therefore it was not a drain on the budget, the insider said.

“It’s shocking,” the source, who requested anonymity, said. “The borough president is supposed to be the cheerleader for the borough and she canceled the largest program showcasing The Bronx.”

“Disappointed people all over the Bronx are texting each other about it.”

The source speculated that Gibson may have staffing issues.

Gibson’s release provided a statement from business leaders that sought to provide her cover for the cancelation, critics said.

“I applaud our Borough President for keeping Bronxites front and center during these challenging times. Her difficult decision reflects a commitment to responsible leadership and being a good steward of the public trust. While Bronx Week is a cherished tradition that celebrates the pride and culture of our borough, we understand the incredible importance of making fiscally responsible decisions,” said Bronx Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Lisa Sorin.

Trey Jenkins, executive director of the 161st Street Business Improvement District, said, “Bronx Week has always been an important moment for our borough to come together and celebrate the culture, businesses, and community spirit that make the Bronx so special. While we will certainly miss the celebration this year, I support Borough President Vanessa L. Gibson’s decision to pause the event in light of the current fiscal climate.”

Gibson, in her statement, said she planned on bringing back Bronx Week in the future.

“During the start of our next chapter, this moment gives us the opportunity to reimagine what Bronx Week can and should look like for the future. We want it to return stronger, more inclusive, more impactful, and reflective of the full spirit and pride of our Borough.”

Every week, The Post will bring you our picks of the best one-liners and stories from satirical site the Babylon Bee to take the edge off Hump Day. Want more of a chuckle? Be sure to click the links.

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