{"id":70717,"date":"2026-05-14T09:21:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T09:21:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/70717\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T09:21:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T09:21:20","slug":"mamdani-blasted-for-planned-cuts-to-veterans-services-axing-events-including-parade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/70717\/","title":{"rendered":"Mamdani blasted for planned cuts to veterans services, axing events including parade"},"content":{"rendered":"

Critics pushed back on Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s proposed city budget Wednesday<\/a> as it emerged he planned to cut $1 million from veterans services and events including a ticker-tape parade for former service men and women.<\/p>\n

The Department of Veterans Services\u2019 budget would drop from about $7.6 million in the fiscal year 2026 adopted budget to $6.6 million in Mamdani\u2019s proposal for 2027 that he unveiled Tuesday \u2014 a reduction of more than 13%, according to city records.<\/p>\n

Service-disabled Marine Corps veteran Osbert Orduna called the move \u201ca slap in the face\u201d to veterans, especially those living with visible and invisible wounds of war.<\/p>\n

Service-disabled Marine Corps veteran Osbert Orduna called the move \u201ca slap in the face\u201d to veterans, especially those living with visible and invisible wounds of war. Michael Nagle<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a slap in the face to veterans, to New Yorkers and more specifically to service-disabled veterans \u2014 people who have sacrificed their minds and their bodies in service to our nation and live in the city,\u201d Orduna said.<\/p>\n

City Council Member Frank Morano, who chairs the council\u2019s Committee on Veterans, vowed to seek clarity on \u201cexactly what\u2019s being reduced, what\u2019s being preserved and where any savings are ultimately going.\u201d<\/p>\n

The mayor\u2019s savings plan<\/a> also called for cutting $60,000 a year for veterans\u2019 events from fiscal 2026 through 2030, with City Hall saying it will instead try to rely on private fundraising to pay for ceremonies.<\/p>\n

\u201cVeterans from across every generation \u2014 from World War II to the present \u2014 the one time that we can all come together, build our community and support one another is at these functions,\u201d Orduna said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany lives have been saved by veterans just coming together and finding comfort in one another, and connecting so that we don\u2019t lose another veteran life \u2014 so another veteran does not add the word \u2018homeless\u2019 to the title of veteran,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

One of the event changes includes scrapping a planned \u201cHomecoming of Heroes\u201d ticker-tape parade around the Sept. 11 anniversary and replacing it with a cheaper \u201cRemembrance Ruck\u201d march that was developed in consultation with veterans\u2019 groups, according to a mayoral spokesperson.<\/p>\n

City Council Member Frank Morano, who currently chairs the Council\u2019s Committee on Veterans, vowed to seek clarity on \u201cexactly what\u2019s being reduced, what\u2019s being preserved and where any savings are ultimately going.\u201d Michael McWeeney<\/p>\n

Ryan Graham served in the US Air Force and now chairs the New York City Veterans Advisory Board. The ally of Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he think veterans parades are \u201cfluff\u201d anyways.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvents are fluff. That\u2019s it, plain and simple,\u201d Graham said, adding that he would rather see city money be put towards the Department of Veterans Services to help veterans with housing, mental health and food insecurity needs. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to see another Kyle or any other veterans take their lives because those services were not there,\u201d Graham said referring to his high school buddy who served in the military and later committed suicide. <\/p>\n

Orduna said veterans events create camaraderie, which helps veterans with their mental health. Stephen Yang for NY Post<\/p>\n

But within the Department of Veterans Services budget, the Mamdani administration proposed zeroing out a $585,000 \u201cOther Expenses \u2013 General\u201d line, cutting \u201cTemporary Services\u201d from $441,000 to $15,000, and trimming about $57,000 for supplies and materials.<\/p>\n

Former Queens Council Member Bob Holden, who used to lead the City Council\u2019s Committee on Veterans, told The Post on Wednesday that the city was insulting<\/a> veterans.<\/p>\n

\u201cReplacing a ticker-tape parade with a cheaper event and then planning these so-called \u2018savings\u2019 for years ahead is insulting to the men and women who served this country and sacrificed for New York City,\u201d Holden said. \u201cThe city has no problem wasting billions of dollars, but suddenly when it comes to honoring our veterans and 9\/11 heroes, they want to pinch pennies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Veterans march in the New York City Veterans Day parade. Stephen Yang for NY Post<\/p>\n

A mayoral spokesperson argued the changes will not affect essential services for veterans.<\/p>\n

The City Council ultimately has to approve Mamdani\u2019s budget plan. <\/p>\n

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Morano said funding for veterans in the city budget is still \u201cwoefully inadequate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d love to see veterans become a much bigger priority for lawmakers at every level of government, not just during commemorative moments, but year round,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Critics pushed back on Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s proposed city budget Wednesday as it emerged he planned to cut…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":70718,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[148],"tags":[1062,40800,2871,2872,543,51,48,6523,40801,553],"class_list":{"0":"post-70717","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-zohran-mamdani","8":"tag-budget","9":"tag-budget-cuts","10":"tag-city-budget","11":"tag-city-council","12":"tag-metro","13":"tag-politics","14":"tag-us-news","15":"tag-veterans","16":"tag-veterans-day-parade","17":"tag-zohran-mamdani"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@people\/116572198574381373","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70717"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70717\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}