New York City, NY – In the wake of a brutal late-January blizzard that blanketed the five boroughs with up to a foot of snow and plunged temperatures into subfreezing depths, Mayor Zohran Mamdani is grappling with mounting criticism over the city’s sluggish cleanup efforts. The storm, which struck just weeks ago, has been linked to at least 16 deaths, including 13 from hypothermia, disproportionately affecting the city’s estimated 4,000 unhoused residents. Mamdani, the 33-year-old Democratic Socialist who made history as the youngest mayor in NYC’s modern era after his 2025 election, initially received widespread acclaim for his hands-on approach.