Zohran Mamdani spent years telling New York City he understood homelessness because he lived among it in Astoria.
Now a couple has taken over the sidewalk on his old block, and the families he left behind are watching things no one should have to see on the way to school.
What Mamdani's city says it can do about it will make your blood boil.
NYC Homeless Encampment Takes Over Astoria Block Near Schools
For the past month, a man and woman who identify themselves only as Michael and Marabel have commandeered the sidewalk in front of a Duane Reade and a New York Sports Club on 30th Avenue near Steinway Street – the heart of Mamdani's old neighborhood.
Neighbor Chris Shingler, 46, with nearly two decades on that block, told the New York Post what he saw on his way to the gym one morning.
"I'm on the way to the gym, 8:30 a.m., the guy is squatting over a camp chair and the other woman is holding a pizza box under him to defecate in," Shingler said.
That was a workday.
Children were walking to school.
His wife witnessed something different at 5:30 in the morning – graphic enough that the Post described it in full.
"Tough way to start your day," Shingler said.
At least four schools, including a preschool, sit within a five-minute walk.
When a maintenance crew showed up to clear the area, Michael threatened the workers, screamed obscenities, and told a Post reporter, "I shoot people" – claiming to be a former Marine.
The crew left without clearing a thing.
The Homeless Encampment Sweep Rule That Lets Them Stay
Mamdani entered office in January 2026 promising to end encampment sweeps for good.
After 19 people died outside during a brutal cold snap, he reversed course in February – shifting enforcement from the NYPD to the Department of Homeless Services and requiring outreach workers to spend seven straight days at a site before any clearance could proceed.
But the couple on 30th Avenue found a gap in those rules without even trying.
The encampment doesn't qualify for removal because it has no "built structures" – no tent, no tarp, nothing permanent.
Just trash, a camp chair, vodka, and two people who decided the sidewalk was theirs.
The NYPD confirmed to the Post it had fielded multiple calls about the pair.
It had no proof of illegal activity, officers said.
Nothing has happened.
Mamdani's Homeless Policy Leaves Families With Nowhere to Turn
What Mamdani built when he paused the encampment sweeps wasn't a more humane city.
It was a permission structure.
The Adams administration ran more than 4,100 encampment sweeps over an 18-month stretch ending in mid-2025 – and for all the liberal howling, those operations at least sent a signal.
Mamdani wiped that out on day one.
When the deaths piled up and the politics got uncomfortable, he reversed himself – but the new rules came loaded with enough bureaucratic cushion that a couple openly defecating in front of a preschool still doesn't qualify for removal.
That's not a policy. That's a failure dressed up as a process.
Even Marabel seems to grasp what's been lost.
"You just don't see this kind of thing in Astoria," she told the Post – from a mountain of trash on the sidewalk where Mamdani used to walk to get his chai.
The families still on that block didn't get to move to Gracie Mansion.
They're the ones who need a mayor who shows up – and right now, they're still waiting.
Sources:
- Lowell Cauffiel, "NY Homeless Couple Living on 'Mountain of Trash' Have Hijacked Block in Mayor Mamdani's Old Neighborhood," Breitbart, April 4, 2026.
- "Mamdani Reboots Homeless Encampment Sweeps in NYC," Washington Times, February 19, 2026.
- "Mamdani Administration Restarts Homeless Encampment Sweeps at 11 NYC Sites," Gothamist, March 2026.
- "Queens Resident Moves to Upper East Side," Queens Daily Eagle, January 14, 2026.
