Zohran Mamdani, the name buzzing around New York City after the democratic socialist won against Andrew Cuomo in the mayoral primary, and election day approaches. Mamdani currently represents Assembly District 36 in Queens and is making history as the first Muslim nominee. As a long-time New Yorker, Mamdani’s goals prioritize uplifting working class communities and embracing the diversity of the city. To achieve this, Mamdani has made campaign ads in Urdu, Hindi, and Spanish to extend his reach to the variety of people that call the city home. Moreover, his ads showcase local restaurants and neighborhoods as he discusses how he will address the needs of everyday New Yorkers. Mamdani’s primary goal is to make New York affordable:Â
Addressing the housing crisisÂ
According to the Community Service Society of New York, the 2023 Housing Vacancy Survey (HVS) revealed 37% of low income households live in rent regulated apartments, or 434,300 households. The same survey found 43% of these households are native born New Yorkers, while 41% are immigrants from the Dominican Republic, Mexico, and China. The 2024 Annual Survey of Housing and Economic Security found that 22 % of rent-stabilized tenants were struggling to pay rent, and 17 % had suffered financial ruin by the end of the month at least once in the past year. New Yorkers are being priced out of their homes while landlords discuss the next rent increases. Mamdani cites his discontent with the Rent Guidelines Board, responsible for the 3 % rent increase back in April. To ensure economic and housing security, Mamdani will freeze the rent for all rent stabilized tenants, saving them up to 6.8 billion dollars. Â Moreover, landlords will be held accountable for maintaining health and safety in their buildings as neglected properties will be seized according to a revamped Protect Tenants Will, seeking to solidify safe, liveable, and affordable housing. Currently, housing is out of reach for the working class, as discriminatory zoning laws have prioritized private development. However, Mamdani plans to expedite the construction of affordable housing while addressing the history of racially discriminatory zoning laws, and increase accessibility to transit hubs.Â
Free, reliable, and safe transportation
New Yorker’s know the trains and buses can be unreliable, dirty, and unsafe, making it unreasonable to expect to pay almost $3 to ride. In 2023, Senator Michael Gianaris and Mamdani successfully pushed for a year-long fare-free bus pilot program, studying the effects of equity, accessibility, and ridership. Seeing the financial ease this brought upon commuters, Mamdani seeks to remove all bus fares across the city. Moreover, the Mamdani administration will initiate the construction of priority lanes and dedicated loading zones to improve efficiency and timeliness of public transportation. In terms of safety, Mamdani plans to create the Department of Community Safety to proactively prevent violence by investing in citywide mental health programs and crisis response, and deploying outreach workers instead of police officers for mental health crises and developing gun violence prevention programs. This plan will address the shortage of mental health providers that are people of color and multilingual, while prioritizing evidence based treatments. This will not only create a safer New York City, but will improve the quality of outreach programs that will support struggling people.Â
City-owned grocery stores
One of Mamdani’s most controversial proposals is the establishment of city-owned grocery stores. According to this year’s report by State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, food prices in the NYC metropolitan areas have increased by 25.2 % since 2019. Low income households have been paying disproportionately more for groceries since before the pandemic. In 2023, New York’s yearly average food expenditure was $11,288, a 56.2 % increase from 2012 and 10 % higher than the U.S total increase of 46.4 %. As mayor, Mamdani will establish city-owned grocery stores where prices are capped and rent and property tax are eliminated, prioritizing the affordability of fresh, healthy products. A community centered approach is crucial to maintaining these stores, as Mamdani plans to partner with local neighborhoods to source products that will be bought and sold at wholesale prices. To fund these stores, Mamdani will reallocate subsidies from corporate grocery stores to these local establishments. While this idea has been dismissed by Mamdani’s opponents, six public grocery stores already exist and thrive as staples in their communities, while paying below-average retail rent and providing affordable prices.Â
Level the playing field
Mamdani’s opposition questions how he plans to pay for all of these initiatives. But, Mamdani has campaigned vocally on his plan to raise the corporate tax rate to 11.5 %. The top 1% of New Yorkers who earn above 1 million dollars annually, will be taxed an additional 2% of their income. In response, the wealthiest business owners have threatened to leave the city and New York developers have partnered to fund Mamdani’s opponents for the election in November, according to CNBC.Â
November is rapidly approaching and Zohran Mamdani might be the advocate the city needs. With homegrown, working class New Yorkers in mind, the Mamdani administration seeks to make the city benefit its people once again.Â