Attention, Zohran Mamdani voters: Don’t say you weren’t warned. For like, a century and a half.
In the latest example of how socialism fails at even the smallest of matters, fans of the newly minted New York City mayor are apparently unhappy that Mamdani’s inaugural “block party” on Monday looked a bit more like a Soviet bloc party, at least in how well it was executed.
“Around 10,000 supporters stood outside City Hall during the event — billed as an ‘Inauguration for a New Era Block Party’ by Mamdani’s staff — crammed into several barricaded pens without access to bathrooms or any food concession stands,” reported the New York Post.
“’It’s definitely not a block party,’ said Danny Mahabir, 30, an Astoria resident who told The Post he’d been expecting a mix of food and music at the New Year’s Day festivities.
“Instead, Mahabir, who wore three layers of clothes to stay warm, said he and others are ‘just stuck behind the barricades watching it on TV.’”
And there weren’t a whole lot of happy looks on the faces of the people attending the Mamdani party, either:
Mamdani supporters are awaiting the start of the inaugural block party. While most are all smiles, some are complaining of the miscommunication.
“We’ve been standing out here for over an hour and half. We’re not happy. The police officers have not been informed about anything.” pic.twitter.com/gfZyGGhdPv
— Desh Andrews (@deshedrews_) January 1, 2026
And yet, like most places with free stuff being promised by politicians who can’t deliver, there were apparently quite a lot of people there:
Crowds for Mamdani inauguration block party. Split because it’s an emergency route. I estimate 9 full blocks set up for the crowd, with 6 full. People are still arriving. pic.twitter.com/mDrgyyvpsB
— Talia Jane ❤️🔥 (@taliaotg) January 1, 2026
Including, I might add, a man who might have run it better:
Curtis Sliwa is in line for the Mamdani inauguration, constantly getting stopped for selfies. (Like most people in line, there’s no way he’ll get into the block party before the inauguration. The line stretches over 10 blocks.) pic.twitter.com/TG7kXNxvvx
— Peter Sterne (@petersterne) January 1, 2026
Now, to be perfectly fair to Mayor Mamdani, there are certain aspects of this that could not be avoided. A native of the New York City area, I have attended both the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and the New Year’s Eve ball drop in Times Square. I will avouch under oath that they are exponentially — very exponentially — better experienced on television than in person.
You stand in place for a few hours freezing off parts of your body you didn’t even know you had, all to see an inflatable Snoopy balloon or a lighted ball drop, depending on the occasion. Does this sound like fun to you? Because it’s not. It very much is not.
My happiest memory of any of these events, aside from the family togetherness, was having the flying characteristics of an AH-64 Apache explained to me by a former Air Force pilot who happened to be standing next to my dad and I one Thanksgiving. Before Wikipedia, this made the whole thing worth it. Now you can do this without your toes going numb on ChatGPT. (Although if you want the full experience I had, stand outside for two hours in one place with your phone while you do it. If you can pay a friend to mug you in order to make it even more realistic, that’d make it even more of a proper NYC parade experience.)
That all being said, either Zohran Mamdani is unfamiliar with just how fun these shindigs tend to be or simply realized that overpromising and underdelivering is a feature, not a bug, of socialism.
From the Post:
Mamdani’s camp billed the event as a public block party along the historic Canyon of Heroes that would have designated viewing areas for “tens of thousands to gather and participate in the ceremony, ensuring the day belongs to all New Yorkers.”
But his team also warned on their website there would not be portable restrooms “due to safety concerns” and “no food for sale within the block party.”
While Mamdani officials advised attendees there were nearby markets and eateries for grub, attendees needed to leave the barricaded pens and go through security again to re-enter.
Bread lines and state security apparatus! I’m not saying it’s low-level Ceaușescu stuff, but I’m not not saying it, either.
And, as always, the faithful seemed to think that this unpleasant augury of expectations vs. reality wasn’t going to keep repeating itself for the next few years.
“I’m not disappointed,” said 30-year-old Shane Turner of Brooklyn, who still admitted the block party was “not exactly what I was expecting.”
“I came here to witness history. The past four years felt like hell under the previous mayor,” Turner said.
If Monday was any indication, you ain’t seen nothing yet. But you will witness history — just probably not the kind you voted for, comrade.
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