"Fuleihan got his start working for disgraced state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, and most recently served former Mayor Bill de Blasio as budget director and first deputy mayor. His name has never graced the hollowed (web)pages of Streetsblog, so we have little insight to offer here. Bisgaard-Church spoke to Dave Colon earlier this year about the "Fix the MTA" campaign that Mamdani waged early in his tenure as a state legislator. You can read more about Fuleihan in Gothamist, City & State and The City."
"The Daily News editorial board, which endorsed Andrew Cuomo in both the primary and general elections, inveighed against fare-free transit in today's paper. The paper commended Gov. Hochul for expressing skepticism about Mamdani's proposal, and amplified bus policy expert Eric Goldwyn's $1.4-billion high-end estimate of the proposal's cost (compared to Mamdani's $700-million figure). There's certainly reasons to be skeptical: The free bus pilot Mamdani pushed a few years back didn't yield much time savings for riders,"
"One point the Daily News cited that shouldn't apply, however, is Federal Transit Administrator Marc Molinaro's bizarre threat to cut federal operating aid to transit agencies that choose not to collect fares. For one, the MTA doesn't receive any operating subsidies from the feds. And plenty of other jurisdictions have implemented fare-free buses, including in red states where the Trump administration would be loathe to serve the same punishment."
Mayor-elect Mamdani appointed Dean Fuleihan as the city's next first deputy mayor and tapped longtime chief of staff Elle Bisgaard-Church for a role in City Hall. Fuleihan previously worked for disgraced state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and served as budget director and first deputy mayor under Bill de Blasio. The mayor-elect's proposal for fare-free buses sparked debate over costs, with estimates ranging from Mamdani's $700 million to an expert's $1.4 billion. A past free-bus pilot showed limited time savings for riders. Federal threats to cut operating aid for fare-free agencies drew skepticism, and the MTA chairman urged more study.
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