New York City has seen a troubling number of deaths during the current cold spell. Mayor Zohran Mamdani says he’ll fix what some see as poor communication with city workers who assist the homeless.
JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
In New York City, at least 17 people have died outside since the start of dangerously cold weather. The rising death toll is prompting questions about whether new Mayor Zohran Mamdani is doing enough to protect the city’s homeless population. From member station WNYC, Elizabeth Kim joined volunteer outreach workers to see what is happening on the ground.
ELIZABETH KIM, BYLINE: Less than one month into office, Mayor Zohran Mamdani put out a social media video to talk about an intensifying emergency in the city.
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ZOHRAN MAMDANI: Our city is in the midst of what may be the longest stretch of below-freezing temperatures in recorded history.
KIM: New York City is under Code Blue. That’s a traditional emergency protocol that’s designed to help city workers bring homeless people inside when the temperatures fall below 32 degrees. Despite that Code Blue declaration, many of the deaths are tied to hypothermia. Mamdani has homeless services and sanitation workers doing street outreach that would previously have been done by police. But Mamdani says police are still involved.
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MAMDANI: So I want to be very clear that NYPD has been a part of the outreach efforts throughout Code Blue. They have been a part of it. DSS workers have been a part of it. It’s been a whole-of-government approach. And I think…
KIM: But that whole-of-government approach wasn’t on view on a recent frigid night at the Staten Island Ferry terminal in Lower Manhattan. It’s a well-known resting place for the homeless. Inside the sprawling waiting room, commuters raced to make the ferry. But there were people not in any hurry, slumped over benches with bags of clothing or cans. I’m here to meet Norman Siegel. He runs a volunteer group that helps homeless people. Siegel is a civil rights attorney who’s been a fixture of civic and political life.
You’re the eyes and ears. You use your accountability.
NORMAN SIEGEL: What I like to think is that I’m the mouth, but I’ll take the eyes and ears.
KIM: You’re the mouth, too.
SIEGEL: (Laughter).
KIM: The 82-year-old is on a mission. He wants to improve the way the city does outreach with homeless New Yorkers. At the ferry terminal, there were signs of a communications breakdown. No one Siegel talked to seemed to know anything about the city’s warming buses. These are buses that offer people a place to rest with heat and sandwiches. Two were idling by the curb only steps away. But an NYPD officer, a transportation employee and security officials had no clue.
SIEGEL: I said, all right. The left hand don’t know what the right hand’s doing. We should let you know…
KIM: Days earlier, Siegel asked the city to put signs on the warming buses because he and other volunteers had trouble finding them. We climbed onto one of the buses to speak with the driver. The sign was barely visible behind tinted windows.
Hi. This is a warming bus.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Yes.
KIM: Is there anyone here? No one here.
The bus can fit about 40 people. Thirty-one-year-old Bala Ambamigoye stood outside the ferry terminal looking cold.
BALA AMBAMIGOYE: I’ve been outside for about 10 years. I grew up in Staten Island, and…
SIEGEL: What high school did you go to?
AMBAMIGOYE: Port Richmond High School.
KIM: Siegel then told him about the bus.
AMBAMIGOYE: It’s really a big lightning bolt that you’re coming over here. Like, wow. I can’t believe this. Like…
KIM: He climbed onto the warm bus. By the end of their shift, Siegel had persuaded five other men to go into the bus. Asked during an interview on New York Public Radio about the mix-up over the warming buses, Mayor Mamdani accepted responsibility.
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MAMDANI: I think, at the end of the day, that is a responsibility that I have as the mayor of the city. It’s never a moment to pass the buck to anyone else.
KIM: Mamdani said the city would be providing additional signage about the buses. The temperatures are expected to stay below freezing through the weekend. For NPR News, I’m Elizabeth Kim in New York.
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