The anniversary of 9/11 is just about upon us, and it’s a day for us to reflect on the lives that were lost in that horrific event in New York City. The first responders, the officers, the innocent people…there were so many lives needlessly lost.

As expected, a special memorial service will take place later this week, with family members, first responders and elected officials coming together to pay tribute to those who died. But apparently there is one figure who isn’t welcome – Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

Now, ever since he was sworn into office, Mamdani has tried to image himself as a Mayor for the people, releasing videos explaining what he’s doing to make right for the city. But the problem is a lot of folks see right through his charade – especially police officers, who currently serve as a target for the brunt of his actions.

In the past, Mamdani made it clear that he wanted to “defund the police,” taking part in that horrendous campaign that affected thousands of our officers years ago. And even when he returned to office and swore he’d take care of the NYPD, he has failed to do so, creating burden after burden for him. Like with his recent stunt where he stated he wanted to have Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrested during his visit to New York for the U.N. General Assembly later this month.

And even when that failed, he urged his fellow citizens to protest when Netanyahu does come to visit, creating a workload for his police officers that they’re barely prepared for.

So it shouldn’t be a surprise, then, that a coalition with many of these 9/11 family members and first responders have made it clear that Mamdani should not come to the memorial service, even with his current status of Mayor of New York City. Why? Well, they made it very clear in a statement.

“The Mayor is not serving us,” Charles Wolf, who lost his wife during the horrible tragedy, noted. “He’s serving himself. We are asking respectfully that he not show up, even though there is going to be other politicians there.

“These are the politicians that helped us push beneficial laws through and literally held our hand during that time. Mayor Mamdani has not shown any of that, none of it. He just wants to be there because he wants to be there.

“So we are asking him to respect the fact that that trauma is revived during the ceremony. It is a private ceremony. It is not a public ceremony. Please do not come.”

I mean, all you need to do is take a glance at his X account and you can see what kind of attention hog he is. I mean, just hours after this statement, he made an announcement on 9/11, even dragging The Daily Show host Jon Stewart on to speak about it.

I can totally see where this coalition is coming from.

While Mamdani feels that he is important enough to attend and be “the face” of New York City (not my words, but very likely his), I think he needs to stay away. Do his own thing from his own office, make his statement and share it on social media, whatever he normally does. But to show up would be a tremendous insult to the families and first responders that had to live through all of this.

Maybe this should serve as a wake-up call for Mamdani. Maybe instead of simply shouting how good a Mayor you are, put in the work. Actually make an effort to show these first responders and officers that you do care, instead of making terrible hires or putting together groups that you feel will do better for the city. You have all these great resources and yet you still keep them at bay because you still think “defunding” is the answer.

Here’s some news for you, Mayor. It isn’t.

My heart goes out to the families, first responders and police officers that lost their lives from 9/11, and for those that have to deal with the fallout from it. The fact they even had to make a statement insisting that Mamdani doesn’t come to the ceremony shows just how disconnected he is with his city. No matter how many social media posts he makes.