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Elizabeth Shwe: Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani meets with President Trump. New Jersey holds a special election for Governor-elect Mikie Sherrill's empty congressional seat. Plans for redesigning Penn Station continue, and the artist behind Mamdani's famous font. From WNYC, this is NYC NOW. I'm Elizabeth Shwe, filling in for Janae Pierre. President Trump says he has more in common with New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani than he thought, like a desire to lower crime, create more housing, and bring down rents. The two met for the first time at the White House Friday afternoon. The pair had insulted each other throughout the campaign season. Mamdani says despite their different worldviews, he looks forward to working with the president.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani: I am someone who is a democratic socialist. I've been very open about that, and I know there might be differences about ideology, but the place of agreement is the work that needs to be done to make New York City affordable. That's what I look forward to.

Elizabeth Shwe: President Trump says he believes Mamdani can do a lot of good for the city.

President Trump: I met with a man who's a very rational person. I met with a man who really wants to see New York be great again, and I can say again, because New York was great.

Elizabeth Shwe: The two also talked about their shared love of New York City.

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New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy has announced the dates for a special election to fill the congressional seat vacated by Governor-elect Mikie Sherrill. The primary to fill her seat will be February 5th and the general election will be two months later on April 16th. The House District includes mostly suburban areas of Morris, Essex and Passaic counties. One Republican and at least a dozen Democrats have thrown their hats in the ring so far, with possibly more in the coming weeks. There will be six days of in-person early voting for the primary and nine days for the general election.

New York City's acting health commissioner is pushing back against the Trump administration's claims linking autism to vaccines. Dr. Michelle Morse calls the claims reckless in a statement posted on social media, and says undermining vaccines puts everyone's health at risk. She says the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is no longer a trustworthy source of information. The CDC's website was updated this week to say that a connection between autism and vaccines can't be ruled out, even though the theory has been debunked by research.

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The question of what to do with Penn Station is back in the spotlight. Former MTA chief Andy Byford, aka Train Daddy, who's been tasked with the federal government to lead the reconstruction of the station was in town this week to talk about next steps.

Andy Byford: Not only is it sort of the ugly duckling in the middle of the corridor, but also, it impedes us because it's so congested.

Elizabeth Shwe: In the latest edition of On The Way, WNYC's Transportation segment, editor Clayton Guse explains the purpose of the meeting.

Clayton Guse: He's addressing this room full of bigwigs right next to Penn Station. This event hosted by a group called the Association for a Better New York .

Elizabeth Shwe: Clayton says the plan is still very vague, but the meeting served as a reach out to the private sector as Byford looks for a concrete way forward.

Clayton Guse: It's still really unclear what that's going to look like, but this was him really getting the city's power brokers in line and on his side as he moves this vision forward.

Elizabeth Shwe: WNYC's Transportation reporter Stephen Nessen says that while there's a lot of possibilities for Penn Station, it's what's above the station that's less flexible.

Stephen Nessen: It's there. You're not going to change it dramatically unless you address the elephant on top of the station—Madison Square Garden. Amtrak moves it. That does open up a lot of different possibilities than what folks have considered before.

Elizabeth Shwe: Madison Square Garden's permit to operate above Penn Station expires in 2028.

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Up next, we hear from the artist who designed Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani's famous font. That's after the break.

As Inauguration Day approaches, the aesthetics of the mayor-elect's campaign are still fresh in people's minds. Those golden capital letters that spell out Zohran, outlined with a bright red shadow, are part of the mayor's political branding. WNYC's Elizabeth Kim reports on how the mayor-elect developed his winning font.

Elizabeth Kim: When Zohran Mamdani began putting together his mayoral campaign last year, he knew it would be focused on affordability. He also knew who he wanted to help him communicate his identity and agenda.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani: The first thing I was thinking was that I wanted to work with Aneesh.

Elizabeth Kim: Aneesh Bhoopathy is a graphic designer who used to live in Astoria. When I call him, he tells me Mamdani was "a dream client."

Aneesh Bhoopathy: He's a very talented visual communicator, and he has a very good instinct for it.

Elizabeth Kim: The two met in 2020. Like Mamdani, Bhoopathy was also a member of the Democratic Socialists of America. When Mamdani decided to run for state Assembly, Bhoopathy took a month off to volunteer as a designer.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani: What I always appreciated about him was his inventiveness, his creativity, and the way in which he was looking at the work that we were doing as an opportunity to expand the palette of political design.

Elizabeth Kim: Mamdani is surrounded by visual artists. His mom is Oscar-nominated filmmaker Mira Nair. His wife Rama Duwaji is an illustrator whose work has been featured in Vogue, New York Magazine, and The New Yorker.

I'm standing in front of a laundromat in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, staring at one of Mamdani's more popular posters. I'm here to meet graphic designer Matthew Hinders-Anderson. He created the digital font for the campaign, based on Bhoopathy's original logo.

Matthew Hinders-Anderson: "How you doing today?

Elizabeth Kim: "Good. Thanks so much for doing this thing."

The campaign poster shows the mayor-elect in a white tunic with his arms crossed. The backdrop is triangles of yellow and blue. Across the top reads, "Democrat for Mayor Zohran. For a New York you can afford."

"Describe, like, what makes this more visually interesting as opposed to like that." I point to two other political posters.

Matthew Hinders-Anderson: "The color jumps out. Absolutely. I think that speaks a lot to it that a lot of these other branding are so subdued and professional that they sort of disappear, that this catches your eye immediately. It's so unique, so recognizable, and communicates like a freshness that the other ones don't have."

Elizabeth Kim: All of the posters are based on a template of graphics designed by Bhoopathy. Mamdani says the two spent weeks on Zoom calls, coming up with a design palette that would evoke New York City.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani: We wanted it more to be speaking to taxicabs and bodegas and hot dog stands and boardwalks.

Elizabeth Kim: They chose three primary colors—red, blue, and what Bhoopathy calls taxicab yellow.

Aneesh Bhoopathy: I think the energy of those kind of colors just seemed to fit well with him and they looked good next to him.

Elizabeth Kim: To evoke the look of old storefront signs, Bhoopathy hand painted the original logo. In one widely used version, he combined the taxicab yellow with a dramatic red drop shadow. The saturated colors and drop shadow are reminiscent of Bollywood posters. Bhoopathy tells me Mamdani had sent him photos of two Bollywood posters.

Aneesh Bhoopathy: It was just like, let's push the envelope. Here's some font styles that are a bit more expressive, really.

Elizabeth Kim: Mamdani's wife also pitched in.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani: It was her feedback, for example, that led to the bottom right of the R having a flourish as opposed to being a duplicative style letter that you could find elsewhere in the logo.

Elizabeth Kim: Mamdani is still thinking about how to communicate his agenda in unique ways. Last week, his transition team announced his two top administration officials on social media in the style of baseball cards.

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Elizabeth Shwe: If you've been wondering if it's too early to put up holiday lights, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden says it's not. The garden's fifth annual Lightscape starts Friday evening with more than a million lights along the mile long trail. You can walk through the illuminated trail after dark and see colorful tree displays, installations by local artists and curated holiday music. Lightscape will run through January 4th.

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Thanks for listening to NYC NOW from WNYC. I'm Elizabeth Shwe. Have a great weekend. We'll be back Monday.

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