Just a few days ago, the situation in New York City had become rather alarming, with roads unusable due to the excessive snow and ice pileup. Now, however, it appears Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s initiative to offer $30-$45 per hour to emergency snow shovelers has paid off, because the New York streets are starting to be clear and safe. Still, Mamdani’s critics were quick to point out some complaints in how the New York Mayor handled the snow, leading to opening up new debates and socialism accusations.
For the record, around 1,400 New Yorkers have signed up for the job. Previously, the emergency snow shoveling program had somewhat trouble finding workers in certain sites, which was partly the reason why the Mayor raised the wage from $19 to $30. Now, with an additional raise to $45 per hour (for overtime), plenty of New Yorkers not only obliged but also had a clear message to the Mayor, “$45/HR to shovel in NYC. Thanks Mamdani.”
Certain New Yorkers were also quick to praise the program, with one of them from Facebook, such as media woman Christina Lorey, claiming, “For years, NYC utility crews took several days to clear streets after snowstorms. Enter Mayor Mamdani. He rationed there’s no reason a city of 8 million people couldn’t have enough people to promptly clear streets, so he paid $30/hour to anyone who wanted to come out and help. Within 24 hours, every single street in every borough was cleared!”
Lorey then went on to liken Mamdani’s efforts to socialism, along with a clever wordplay, “He took taxpayer money, and gave it to tax payers to provide a public service. It’s almost like socialism… works?!… CALL IT ‘SNOW-CIALISM'” Such sentiments, however, became ground zero for further political debate.
Mamdani Critics Call Out the ID Requirement and Use of Taxpayer Dollars
Sure enough, plenty of cynics and conservatives reiterated that while the job worked, the argument regarding the two-ID-requirement for a shoveling job became a main talking point once more. Mamdani’s emergency snow-shoveling job notably attracted mockery from certain groups for what they consider strict requirements, contrasting it with Mamdani’s Democrat party wanting to be lenient with voters who don’t have an ID.
“IDs to shovel, no IDs to vote. That is the issue here,” as one Facebook commenter puts it. Meanwhile, some of the stingier critics were accusing some of the emergency shovelers of idling or taking advantage of the $45/hour payout. One X user alleged that, “There are 16 people standing around poking at this little pile of snow. This alone is costing taxpayers $720/hour.”
Still, others have defended Mamdani’s decision to delegate the snow-clearing to willing civilians, countering similar arguments above with firsthand experience and explanations, “You do the job done and move on to the next. For 8 hours. And yeah, sometimes you just stand there and catch your breath. (Also it was $30/hour) You got a better plan?” In any case, it appears New Yorkers continue to be hard at work in clearing the snow.
