Soccer superfan Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s emergency order blocking events at city parks during the FIFA World Cup threatens to ruin summer for everyday New Yorkers, desperate lawmakers warned.
City Councilwoman Virginia Maloney urged Mamdani to reverse the order in a Thursday letter exclusively obtained by The Post, warning it’ll wipe out a season’s worth of free neighborhood programming across the Big Apple.
“City parks host thousands of free events each summer, and this order threatens to cancel all of it,” she warned in the letter, joined by fellow Council members Gale Brewer, Ty Hankerson, Oswald Feliz and Justin Sanchez.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani pictured on Monday to announce a free slate of NYNJ FIFA World Cup 2026 fan events across all five boroughs. Luiz C. Ribeiro for NY Post The order signed by Mamdani in April denied new permits for special events on park property during the World Cup tournament from June 11 to July 19.
Hizzoner’s move came at the behest of NYPD officials, who worried about effectively deploying manpower and resources as roughly 1.2 million visitors are expected to descent on the New York metro region for the eight World Cup games at MetLife Stadium.
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But the Council members’ letters argues that the order blocking permits for any gathering of 20 or more people would choke off other popular summer events, ranging from free outdoor concerts to kids’ festivals to movie nights to cultural heritage celebrations.
The directive would also affect end-of-year celebrations and other activities for students, families and schools in June, the letter contends.
“BIDs serve everyday New Yorkers, not only tourists or soccer fans,” Maloney wrote, referring to Business Improvement Districts, the public-private partnerships that keep streets clean and lively by funding free events like concerts, movie nights and festivals.
Maloney urged the administration, in a letter sent Thursday to Mamdani, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch and “World Cup Czar” Maya Handa, to scrap an emergency order that freezes new permits for gatherings of 20 or more people in 100 parks from June 11 to July 19, the span of the tournament.
Desperate lawmakers warned that Mamdani’s emergency order blocking events at city parks during the FIFA World Cup threatens to ruin summer for every day New Yorker. Getty Images Maloney, joined by Council members Gale Brewer, Ty Hankerson, Oswald Feliz and Justin Sanchez, said the soccer fanatic mayor’s permit freeze is causing “serious and disproportionate harm” to communities that rely on summer events.
“BIDs serve everyday New Yorkers, not only tourists or soccer fans,” Maloney wrote, referring to Business Improvement Districts, the public-private partnerships that keep streets clean and lively by funding free events like concerts, movie nights and festivals.
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Maloney’s letter argued regular New Yorkers are being sidelined while official FIFA fan zones that Mamdani announced last week can proceed.
“While we are excited that the official FIFA Free World Cup fan zones are moving forward, ourneighborhood-level, community-run, often free programming that serves the people who live here has been shut out in the process,” the letter states.
“We are calling on the Administration to end this emergency order and restore the permit process so that New Yorkers can have their summer back.”
