Over 90 Attendees at a Wonderful Mayoral Panel

The Community Room was packed as mayoral candidates (in alphabetical order) 

• Council Speaker Adrienne Adams
• Former Chair of the NYS Assembly's Mitchell-Lama subcommittee and member of the Obama administration Michael Blake
• Comptroller (and former Council Member) Brad Lander
• NYS Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani and
• Former Comptroller, Manhattan Borough President , and Assemblymember Scott Stringer

answered questions about affordable housing, retiree Medicare, NY as a sanctuary city, and more.  There was a lot of camaraderie among them, and several echoed each other's policies with additional ideas of their own. 

All the candidates supported a rent freeze by the Rent Guidelines Board this June for rent stabilized apartments, given the 12% increase in landlord incomes reported on March 27, 2025 by the Rent Guidelines Board. (Scott Stringer, Brad Lander, and Adrienne Adams had an unspecified "caveat.")  All supported funding more lawyers to represent tenants in Housing Court. 

All were concerned about the $80 million that the Trump administration took back from NYC, and addressed how they would keep the city running despite such cuts. Brad Lander noted that the federal government had paid the $80 million and subsequently withdrew it (without notice).   Details below.

Adrienne Adams wants local districts to have more input into whether and what kind of housing is put there. Her housing proposal is set forth in City for All, a refinement of City of Yes.  She pointed out that the City Council cannot be a party negotiating the case of city retiree benefits. 

Michael Blake looks at everything as a whole: poverty, lack of housing, lack of health care, lack of opportunity. He spoke about changing how "affordability" is determined for housing. Right now it is through the federally-set Area Median Income (roughly $70,000 for a family of 4 in NYC), which is skewed higher than the average family makes in the city because the "Area" includes Westchester and other counties.  

Brad Lander spoke about experience developing permanently affordable housing, and - with anticipated funding shortages - focusing HPD enforcement on repeat offenders. He said 55,000 units of affordable housing could be built on 4 of the 12  public golf courses owned by NYC.  

Zohran Mamdani's proposals for more publicly-funded development on publicly-owned land are explained more fully on his website, and he has a very down-to-earth style. He also talked about free buses, and universal childcare. 

Scott Stringer talked about his experience and using non-profits to develop some 1000 plots of city land, and his experience in city and state government.  His very detailed housing plan is on his website. 

Brad Lander and Michael Blake stayed to the end as the other three left for prior engagements. So they got the most appreciation from the tenants there.

The event was co-hosted by the Park West Village Tenants' Association, the Westgate Tenant Association and the 50 West 93rd Street Tenant Association, and organized with Pat Loftman, Dean Heitner, and Joyce Bialik of Park West Village Tenants' Association, and Sharon Canns of 50 West 93rd Street Tenant Association.   Thanks to Jodi Brockington for the photos.