Hi everyone-
New York City is a place known for hustle. New Yorkers routinely have two or more jobs, and in many cases they have these gigs to support their dreams and ambitions. Artists work as bookkeepers or bartenders while they dream of making it big on Broadway. The city has a reputation of being a hard one in which to make a living, but an easy one in which to make a life.
There's a reason the city's anthem is New York, New York, and why its meaning changes depending on who is singing it. Frank Sinatra's is an anthem, Liza Minelli's is a wish, and Cat Power's is a long drag on a cigarette outside an after-hours club. It's not easy to live there, but it can be remarkably fulfilling. I lived there for over 20 years and I love the city like it's part of me. My son was born there, my mother and grandparents were born there, and it's the place where I first felt my soul breathe free.
That's why it's so devastating to watch the new Mamdani administration change the city to the point of being unrecognizable, and he's doing it by reducing everything to the lowest common denominator. During his campaign, Mamdani launched a plan to tax the white. He proposed that the city "shift the tax burden from overtaxed homeowners in the outer boroughs to more expensive homes in richer and whiter neighborhoods."
Mamdani's new tenant rights advocate believes homeownership is white supremacy. She believes that there should be no individually owned property, but that it should be collectively owned. Her idea basically is that since it's not easy to buy a home, everyone should be renters and the government should own the housing stock to ensure affordability—because if there's anything the government does well it's keep things cheap. And she believes private property should be seized.
"I think the reality is, is that for centuries we've really treated property as an individualist good and not a collectivist good," Cea Weaver said, "and transitioning to treating it as a collective good and towards a model of shared equity will require that we think about it differently and it will mean that families, especially white families, but some POC families who are home owners as well, are gonna have a different relationship to property than the one that we currently have."
Speaking with NY1 over the weekend, Weaver said her office will be one that "runs and works alongside tenants collectively raising their voices and taking part in city government together." She's a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, like her new boss, and also like her new boss, she opposes private property ownership. Mamdani plans to build more housing across the city. The city's Department of Housing and Preservation (HPD) has not yet released any requests for proposals, so we don't know yet what that will entail or who will be tasked with those projects, but you can be sure we'll keep a close eye on it.
I think what I'm trying to say here is that New York City is not just a home but a place of dreams, dreams for those born and raised there and for those who come in search of everything they ever wanted. You don't always get it, that's for sure. I had to leave to buy a home. But it sounds as if Mamdani and Weaver have their way, no one will be able to buy a home in New York. Everyone will be permanent renters. As private property is phased out, landlords who are not affiliated with the city or under the thumb of restrictive regulations will be limited and phased out as well.
That sounds like a city where no matter how hard you work, you will never achieve more than bureaucrats permit you to. A socialist New York will no longer be a city where dreams can be achieved, it will just be a place where people can get what they are given and nothing else.
Libby