He sure is surrounded by them.
Mamdani’s endorsement of ballot questions 2-2-4, which were an attack on democracy in NYC and a city-obliterating giveaway to the developers, started his mayoralty on a disabled foot before it had even begun. He’d better find a way to course correct FAST. NYC is not going to tolerate another hustle like De Blasio’s “affordable housing” shell game, on which Adams doubled down. Now the lifting of all zoning limits and height and density restrictions comes without even the premise of a possibility that developers will have to produce anything resembling affordable housing in their luxury behemoths—which are built at the actual expense of actual more-affordable housing–lower-rise, lower-rent buildings which are now razed even when they contain rent-regulatied units.
The up zoning blitz was begun by Bloomberg, yet as indifferent was he was to neighborhood preservation or affordability, his mandate didn’t include the destruction of the Landmarks Preservation Commission, which was subsequently implemented by De Blasio and Adams. The LPC now reflexively denies virtually every request for designation, then it lies furiously when facts are presented that contradict its rubber-stamp denials. It routinely allows already-designed landmarks to be demolished.
Mamdani needs to get it: you cannot be a developers’ pawn and enact a truly progressive agenda.