Mamdani Lies About Libraries, Hospitals

Plus, New York Times in public fight with transgender former editor who likened A.G. Sulzberger to Bari Weiss

Zohran Mamdani speaking at a May 11, 2021, rally to boycott, divest, and sanction Israel.

Mayor Mamdani’s inaugural address was so full of deceitful language that even in New York, the media capital of the world, the press hasn’t noticed or called out all the lies. The Editors are based in Boston, but given that the New York City press corps seem overmatched by Mamdani, we will try our best to pitch in.

From the fourth paragraph of Mamdani’s inauguration speech: “I stand alongside countless more New Yorkers watching from cramped kitchens in Flushing and barbershops in East New York, from cell phones propped against the dashboards of parked taxi cabs at LaGuardia, from hospitals in Mott Haven and libraries in El Barrio that have too long known only neglect.”

What in the world is Mamdani talking about when he says “hospitals in Mott Haven and libraries in El Barrio that have too long known only neglect”?

Here’s the reality. The main hospital in Mott Haven, which is a neighborhood of the Bronx, is Lincoln Hospital, whose current building was built in 1976 for $220 million. When it opened, the New York Times said “the new Lincoln is bright with one‐bed and two‐bed rooms, large picture windows and the latest in medical equipment.” In 2010 the hospital won a $5.5 million state grant “to almost double psychiatric inpatient capacity.” Also in 2010 it “spent $600,000 updating the Breast Imaging Center, which now offers the newest technologies in breast cancer treatment and detection and provides a one-stop place where a patient can have a mammogram, ultra-sound and biopsies done without having to leave the protective environment.” In 2014 it opened a $24 million “state of the art” emergency department. In 2020 it won a grant of $884,000 for “state-of-the-art digital X-ray rooms.” In 2023 it won $3 million in federal funds “for improvements to critical care units, including 200 new beds in its Intensive Care Unit.” In May 2025 the city approved a new $12 million substance abuse treatment center there. In July 2025 it announced the completion of a $37 million energy retrofit “focused on upgrading the hospital’s infrastructure with extensive enhancements to the lighting, heating, cooling, ventilation and related control systems.” In August 2025 it completed renovations of its employee lounge, including renovated bathrooms with additional stalls. In November 2025 it completed the renovation of its pathology grossing room. How does $80 million in spending on renovations to a $220 million 50-year-old facility count as “only neglect,” especially when many patients in New York prefer to avoid public hospitals and travel a bit farther to flagship facilities of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, of NYU Langone, Mount Sinai Hospital, or other academic medical centers?

“Libraries in El Barrio” seems to be a reference to East Harlem, the neighborhood in Manhattan “from East 96th street to East 125th street, from Fifth Avenue to the East River.” Public libraries there include the 125th St. Library, the Aguilar Library, and the 96th Street Library. Recent projects to improve those sites include a $34.4 million renovation, completed in October 2024, of the 125th St. Library and a $15 million renovation of the Aguilar Library, which is underway. When the 125th St. Library reopened, Harlem World magazine wrote, “The third floor’s transformation is nothing short of miraculous. A former custodian’s apartment, long abandoned, now houses a state-of-the-art teen center complete with 3D printers and cozy reading nooks.” How do $50 million in recent renovations qualify as “only neglect”?

There are entire architectural firms, subcontractors, and construction project managers putting their kids through college on the basis of New York City hospital and library capital projects. It seems like you can’t pick up the New York Times arts section without reading some glowingly positive review of some elaborate renovation of some previously obscure branch library, which is somewhat ironic, because book circulation has declined and people now use the libraries for heat and air conditioning, bathrooms, and wi-fi access. You start to wonder whether Mamdani actually is in touch with New York City or if he is just parroting the Soviet-era propaganda about class divisions and entrenched poverty. The New York Times has an entire reporter, Linda Qiu, “who fact-checks statements made by politicians and public figures.” She writes story after story about Trump’s “misleading statements,” while Mamdani gets a free ride.