Mayor Zohran Mamdani marked a City Hall milestone Thursday, announcing that Department of Transportation crews had filled the 200,000th pothole of the year during a stop on Bushwick’s Troutman Street.
Mamdani used the event to promote what he called his “pothole politics” approach to governing, framing basic infrastructure repairs as proof that his administration can deliver tangible results for residents.
“Fixing the broken water fountain at the playground our kids love, upgrading the catch basin on the corner that always floods and, of course, making a bumpy road smooth again,” Mamdani said in a statement. “That is what public service should look like.”
Thursday’s appearance echoed a similar event in April, when Mamdani highlighted the city’s 100,000th pothole repair of the year.
Not everyone was impressed. Alfonse D’Amato, the former Republican senator known as “Senator Pothole” for his focus on constituent services, dismissed the April event as “all BS,” according to remarks he made to The Post at the time.
Former city comptroller Scott Stringer, who ran against Mamdani in last year’s Democratic mayoral primary, was similarly unimpressed with the latest photo opportunity.
“Mamdani wouldn’t know how to fill a pothole if he fell in one,” Stringer said. “Everywhere I go in this city people are bemoaning the dirty streets, the tragedy of homelessness. He’s got to figure out to do the work and not do this performative stuff. They didn’t believe under de Blasio, they won’t under Mamdani.”
How the numbers compare
Mamdani has cited former Mayor Bill de Blasio as his favorite living occupant of City Hall. But by the numbers, his pothole-filling pace falls short of de Blasio’s record.
According to a March 2016 report by the New York Daily News, de Blasio’s administration filled 1 million potholes during his first two years in office, a rate of 1,268 repairs per day.
Mamdani’s current pace works out to 769 potholes filled per day.
