To See Mamdani Sworn In, Some Out-of-Towners Confront N.Y.C. Prices

Zohran Mamdani campaigned for mayor on a platform of taming the high cost of living for New Yorkers. Visitors will get a crash course in the affordability crisis.

Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is expecting a crowd of tens of thousands at his inauguration on Jan. 1, including some die-hard supporters who don’t live or vote in New York but want to celebrate anyway.

When they arrive, they will get a crash course in the city’s affordability crisis, the issue that Mr. Mamdani put at the center of his campaign.

Mr. Mamdani’s team is planning two swearing-in events. Around midnight, Letitia James, the New York attorney general, will administer the oath of office in a largely private ceremony.

In the afternoon, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont will lead Mr. Mamdani’s second swearing-in, this time at a public ceremony on the steps of City Hall for about 4,000 viewers. A simultaneous block party stretching seven blocks down Broadway will accommodate another 40,000 or so people.

New York is already notoriously expensive, but the inauguration festivities will coincide with one of the priciest periods of the year.

Alan Faz, an engineer who lives about 1,600 miles away in Fort Worth, Texas, is planning to be there anyway — despite the cost.

Mr. Faz, 29, has planned his inauguration trip with a close eye on his budget. He is flying in two days before Mr. Mamdani will be sworn in, and will spend the first night on a friend’s couch in New Jersey, followed by a night at an Airbnb in Brooklyn.

But he wants to wake up in Manhattan on inauguration day, in case there are street closures or crowds that would make it difficult for him to get to the event. So he splurged, spending a trove of saved hotel points on a room in Times Square on New Year’s Eve, so he can make his way down to City Hall easily on Jan. 1.

He is hoping to connect with other young Mamdani fans from across the country.

“I want to be a part of this shift, I want to be present for this,” he said. “I think this moment is important enough for me to make that effort.”

He does not plan to spend much money on New Year’s Eve; he will probably just walk around Times Square and check out the scene. He’ll avoid the parties that advertise a view of the ball drop. After all, a single, standing-room-only ticket to watch the festivities from the Hyatt Centric Times Square is $1,599, and a table for two at the Times Square Applebee’s costs $999.

Mr. Mamdani, a democratic socialist, built his successful mayoral campaign around a handful of proposals to make living in New York City more affordable: universal child care, free buses and a rent freeze for tenants in rent-stabilized apartments.

But the city is pricey for visitors, too, and tourism helps fuel New York’s economy. Mamdani fans looking to stay overnight near City Hall may struggle to find affordable options.

The Beekman Hotel, around the corner from City Hall, is charging about $700 a night for its smallest rooms, which are about 285 square feet, between Dec. 31 and Jan. 2, and rooms at the nearby Four Seasons run about $1,200 a night. There are some less expensive options, like a Holiday Inn near Wall Street, but very few under $350 a night.

Attendees hoping to keep the party going on a budget might head to Paragon, a dance club in Brooklyn, which is hosting an unofficial inauguration party on the night of Jan. 1, with proceeds going to the local chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America. Early bird tickets, which cost $20, sold out within a day. (The club has warned its Instagram followers that Mr. Mamdani himself is not expected to attend.)

Michael McGarry, 32, a Mamdani supporter who recently moved to Jersey City from Harlem, might make it to an inauguration party after the public swearing-in ceremony.

But he’s most looking forward to the morning of Jan. 1, when he and his wife will take the PATH train into Manhattan and watch the inauguration together, likely at the Broadway block party near City Hall.

Mr. McGarry first started following Mr. Mamdani’s campaign this spring, around the time that he and his wife, who are both lawyers, decided to leave the city for more affordable housing just across the Hudson River.

The couple would have loved to stay in New York, but their rent was rising every year and they no longer felt they could justify the cost for a tiny apartment with no natural light in their living room.

Mr. McGarry hopes that Mr. Mamdani will be able to make New York more affordable for his friends who still live in the city. And he wants to be part of a large crowd on inauguration day, one that he believes will send a message to the Democratic Party that voters want more candidates like Mr. Mamdani.

“I wasn’t able to vote for him, but I was rooting for him the whole time,” Mr. McGarry said. “So in exchange for me voting for him, I’ll show up to do this.”

The inauguration, he said, “is just something I’d like to be a part of.”

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