Without trust, civilization itself would be impossible.

Every morning, millions of Americans place enormous faith in complete strangers. We drink water from faucets without wondering whether it’s poisoned. We deposit our paychecks into banks we’ve never visited. We climb into Ubers driven by people we’ve never met. We buy food produced in factories we’ll never see. We cross bridges built by engineers whose names we’ll never know.

We do all of this because we assume someone is playing by the rules.

Researchers have tracked what they call “social trust” for decades, and it is quietly eroding.

Happy Friday in NYC, where one of the major concerns when Zohran Mamdani came into office was how he would perform on the details of city management. How was this then-33-year-old, Democratic Socialist, former rapper with minimal administrative experience going to handle the day-to-day operation of the nation’s largest city?

Eight months later, the Mamdani administration released its first Mayor’s Management Report, an annual summary of city agency performance that acts as an unofficial report card on how well the city government is delivering on basic services. (This year’s report also includes the last 6 months of Eric Adams’s tenure, so it’s hardly a referendum on Mamdani alone). The results overall are mixed.

For example, the Department of Transportation is fixing more potholes than last year — the namesake issue of Mamdani’s “pothole politics,” a philosophy of delivering on the small stuff — but the average time to close out a complaint is up. 

NYPD response times for crimes in progress were up 26 seconds, to 12 minutes and 30 seconds in total. Emergency dispatch to life-threatening medical emergencies was also up one minute and 28 seconds, for a total of 9 minutes and 13 seconds. Major felonies are down, but felonious assaults are at a 5-year high. Quality of life tickets — summonses for things like noise complaints, public drinking and fare evasion — have also continued to rise, despite the mayor’s initial promise to shift resources away from low-level offenses.

The average length of stay on Rikers Island dropped from 121 days to 116 days, but remains higher than pre-pandemic averages. The average daily population in NYC jails increased slightly over last year’s numbers. Fewer New Yorkers are seeking government cash assistance, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits and Medicaid, but nearly twice as many have turned to the city’s WeCARE program, which helps applicants find employment and secure benefits.

“Every number in this report represents a New Yorker we have a responsibility to serve,” the mayor said in a statement. “Our job is to serve them better and better every day.” You can read through all 544 pages of the Management Report for yourself here.

One of the most striking numbers from the report: 45.5 inches. That’s the total volume of snowfall that the city absorbed during this past winter’s storms, more than the previous four winters combined. The city deployed 504,811 tons of salt to manage all that snow — more than the weight of the Empire State Building and Brooklyn Bridge combined.

I haven’t seen that much salt since the last time I went over to my dad’s house for dinner (sorry, Dad).

New York City has one of the world’s highest costs of living, meaning the sticker price for a cultural evening can be hard to swallow.

Organizations in Brooklyn have been stepping up over the last decade to meet the rising demand for free events across the borough.

The Brooklyn Public Library, the Center for Brooklyn History, Pioneer Works, and the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research have set a high bar for free programming, challenging the assumption that only money buys quality, and opened their doors for all New Yorkers. In the process, they’ve created a landscape of arts and culture that is more equitable — and a lot more fun.

The Brooklyn Eagle spoke to leaders from each organization to learn more.

Read on to learn more.

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