An Urbanist NYC Voter Guide

And the pragmatic case for Zohran Mamdani over Andrew Cuomo

The upcoming NYC Democratic primary has taken up a disproportionate amount of discourse across the country, but for the 8.3 million of us who actually live here (and millions more who commute or visit), the election is less a referendum on national issues, rather, it is a critical inflection point that will determine the future of the city. How much housing will we build? Will we build safe bike infrastructure? How will we fight back against an out-of-control President who wants to rule NYC like a king? It’s important to be informed on these key issues, and so far, my favorite voter guide is from the good folks at Abundance New York which can be found here. However, I think there’s an opportunity to dive even deeper into the records of each candidate, evaluating the candidates from a pragmatic good governance urbanist lens. Thankfully, the Democratic Primary has ranked choice voting, meaning that you can simultaneously “vote your conscience” and vote strategically.

Mayor: 1. Zellnor Myrie 2. Brad Lander 3. Zohran Mamdani 4. Adrienne Adams

1: State Senator Zellnor Myrie is the best candidate here. His housing plan is the most ambitious of the bunch, correctly identifying the problem (NYC is building far less housing than we need), the solution (build 1 million homes), and the specific policy changes that will get us there (rezonings, permitting streamlining, legalizing more single stair buildings, etc.). On the transportation front, Myrie has an extremely strong record of supporting bus lanes, bike lanes, congestion pricing, and laws to limit speeding. The rest of Myrie’s policy agenda is similarly strong, with a focus on pragmatic solutions to the city’s toughest challenges. Myrie’s life story is also inspiring - raised by immigrants, he rose to political prominence by successfully primarying a turncoat Democrat in the State Senate who caucused with Republicans (but more on that later). Myrie is New York at its best: a young, exciting candidate who cares deeply about the city and the policies that would make lives better for all New Yorkers. While Zellnor’s currently polling in the middle-of-the pack, a stronger-than-expected performance on election night would signify that voters are supportive of his pro-housing vision even if he doesn’t win.

2: NYC Comptroller Brad Lander, who is close behind Zellnor Myrie in my eyes. As Comptroller, Lander organized the lawsuit to reinstate congestion pricing that played a significant role in ensuring the policy would be implemented (and it’s already working wonders). Lander’s housing policy is similarly strong, second only to Myrie’s, and Lander has recently embraced an all-of-the above housing approach that prioritizes building more housing at all price points and harnessing the power of private developers to build mixed-income housing across the city. Lander also deserves credit for his role in leading the massively successful Gowanus rezoning that has created a housing boom in an underdeveloped part of Brooklyn. Perhaps most importantly, while initially skeptical of Hudson Yards, Lander admitted the development was successful and brought in significant amount of tax revenue and benefits for the city. Being able to learn from your mistakes is one of the most important qualities for an elected official (see more below!)

I ran into Brad last weekend while walking with my wife and dog on the Upper West Side!

3: Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani (you may have heard of him). As much as I love Myrie and Lander, odds are that the race will come down to Zohran vs. Cuomo, a choice I know many are struggling with. I would wager that many of my readers are skeptical of Zohran, and understandably so—I am skeptical too! However, I have been heartened by the campaign he has run and some of the policies he has embraced. And by looking at the records and policy proposals of each candidate, I believe that despite some of Zohran’s shortcomings, he’s still a superior candidate to Andrew Cuomo.

My biggest source of skepticism regarding Zohran was his previous anti-housing stances when he first came into office, to the point where I was considering leaving both Zohran and Cuomo off the ballot due to their anti-housing policies. However, my personal turning point where I decided I would indeed rank Zohran was this recent interview with the New York Times, where Zohran responded to the question: “What’s one issue in politics that you’ve changed your mind about” with the below:

The role of the private market in housing construction. I clearly recognize now that there is a very important role to be played, and one that city government must facilitate through the increasing of density around mass transit hubs, the ending of the requirement to build parking lots, as well as the need to up-zone neighborhoods that have historically not contributed to affordable housing production — namely, wealthier neighborhoods.

I think all these things, in tandem with a muscular role for the public sector. But that is a changing opinion over time that I’ve been in office

Andrew Cuomo was asked the same question and responded “I can’t think of one [issue] right now.” Introspection is a key feature of a thoughtful and successful political leader, and the contrasting responses to that question are quite revealing. Other highlights from Zohran include:

• Sponsoring a bill to streamline permitting for MTA projects, a wonky technocratic fix that could help speed up and lower costs for major infrastructure projects. This directly ties to items #8 and #10 on my list of policies that could improve infrastructure project delivery in the US.

• Supporting building low-income senior housing and a public park at the site of the current Elizabeth Street Garden. I view this as an instructive litmus test, as Cuomo opposes the housing, which has been a controversial (but much-needed) project that has been held up for years due to NIMBY opposition (most recently from the Eric Adams administration).

• Supporting single-stair housing reform which makes it easier to build more housing on small lots. This is also an instructive litmus test because the number of staircases in a building is one of the least sexy policy debates out there but actually plays a pivotal role in unlocking mid-rise housing construction on small plots of land.

• Steadfastly advocating for congestion pricing, even when Hochul suspended the policy. This serves as yet another point of contrast to Andrew Cuomo, who recently published an op-ed opposing congestion pricing.

• Supporting bus lane expansion throughout the city and shepherding the legislative proposal to automate bus and bike lane enforcement.

• Proposing an expansion of bike lanes and pedestrianized space across the city. I have joked with my Zohran-skeptical friends that at the end of the day, the largest impact on my life that the mayor will have is that they will determine how likely I am to end up seriously injured by a car as a pedestrian or biker. That risk is much lower with Zohran than it is with Cuomo, who called bike lanes “crazy” and frequently drives his Dodge Charger recklessly, received four school zone speeding tickets in the past few months, and parks illegally.

• Supporting the City of Yes city-wide upzoning and proposing fully eliminating parking mandates across the city

At the same time, there are still many Zohran policies that I worry would backfire. For starters, I think that his free bus proposal is not the most beneficial use of MTA funds (this article from Transit Center presents a good analysis of the policy). Additionally, I worry that his proposed rent freeze for rent stabilized housing could have unintended side effects (such as buildings not being repaired) as landlords face rising operating expenses due to inflation. Moreover, his proposal to increase NYCHA funding by $70B simply is not feasible, especially as the Trump administration prepares to yank away even more funding from NYC and public housing more broadly.

As a result, it will simply be impossible for Zohran to accomplish some of his bolder policies due to the fiscal and legal guardrails that exist on the mayor. Raising taxes requires approval from both the city council and the governor who has already indicated she is unlikely to sign off on some of Zohran’s more maximalist policies. Additionally, implementing free buses would require sign-off from the MTA and potential state legislation. The mayoralty of Michelle Wu in Boston is instructive here: while she campaigned on free buses across the city, she ended up moving forward with a compromise of 3 fare-free bus routes. Governing presents a sobering reality—it’s easy to make lofty campaign promises but once you are responsible for managing a budget, you have to evaluate tradeoffs. On the other hand, some of Zohran’s best policies, like building bus and bike lanes, do not require any external approval and are much cheaper than free buses. The City Council already approved a bus + bike lane plan (which has been stalled by Mayor Eric Adams) and could be accelerated on Zohran’s first day in office. Moreover, Zohran’s co-endorsement with Brad Lander is an extremely pragmatic move that makes me optimistic he will govern similarly (also, in 2021, the lack of a similar alliance between Kathryn Garcia and Maya Wiley is part of the reason Eric Adams was able to win the primary).

Last but not least, you should rank Zohran because he’s not Andrew Cuomo. While Andrew Cuomo’s campaign is centered around this image of stability and competence that he is trying to build, that reputation is simply not aligned with reality. I know people who worked in Albany during Cuomo’s tenure who say he is the worst manager they have ever dealt with, as he had zero understanding of policy and simply sought the limelight at all times. Moreover, I have friends in City Hall who are expecting a mass exodus of talented bureaucrats if Cuomo wins, precisely due to his “intolerable” management style, as former MTA subway chief Andy Byford described it. Here are all of the specific reasons I am not ranking Andrew Cuomo:

• Attorney General Tish James conducted an independent investigation finding that Cuomo sexually harassed at least 11 women while Governor, including his own assistants, state troopers, and private citizens at various events. You should read the report linked above, it’s completely damning and absurd that Cuomo is trying to erase his actions as Governor and refusing to even admit wrongdoing. The below excerpt from AG James’ report was particularly disturbing:

Since approximately late 2019, the Governor engaged in a pattern of inappropriate conduct with an executive assistant (“Executive Assistant #1”), who is a woman. That pattern of conduct included: (1) close and intimate hugs; (2) kisses on the cheeks, forehead, and at least one kiss on the lips; (3) touching and grabbing of Executive Assistant #1’s butt during hugs and, on one occasion, while taking selfies with him; and (4) comments and jokes by the Governor about Executive Assistant #1’s personal life and relationships, including calling her and another assistant “mingle mamas,” inquiring multiple times about whether she had cheated or would cheat on her husband, and asking her to help find him a girlfriend. These offensive interactions, among others, culminated in an incident at the Executive Mansion in November 2020 when the Governor, during another close hug with Executive Assistant #1, reached under her blouse and grabbed her breast. For over three months, Executive Assistant #1 kept this groping incident to herself and planned to take it “to the grave,” but found herself becoming emotional (in a way that was visible to her colleagues in the Executive Chamber) while watching the Governor state, at a press conference on March 3, 2021, that he had never “touched anyone inappropriately.”

• Cuomo completely mismanaged the pandemic response, most notably the nursing home scandal where he ordered nursing homes readmit covid-positive patients, and then covered up the deaths stemming from this decision. Additionally, as part of Cuomo’s rivalry with then-Mayor Bill DeBlasio, Cuomo delayed vaccine distribution at Citi Field. To top it all off, Cuomo forced state employees to help write his book instead of doing their jobs during the pandemic.

• According to the state Comptroller, Andrew Cuomo’s legal fees for the above scandals have totaled around $60 million, and taxpayers are on the hook for it. This includes $18 million for private lawyers to defend Cuomo from the sexual harassment claims against him. Those lawyers even sued to get access to the gynecological records of one of Cuomo’s accusers.

• Cuomo created the Moreland Commission to investigate state corruption. When the commission started looking into Cuomo’s own questionable activities, Cuomo abruptly disbanded the commission and halted their work.

• Cuomo partnered with RFK Jr. to shut down the Indian Point Nuclear Plant, which was producing 25% of downstate electricity with zero carbon emissions. This resulted in the New York City grid’s carbon intensity increasing by over 50% as the nuclear power was replaced by fossil fuels, primarily natural gas. This caused electricity prices to spike in 2022, resulting in $300 million in additional electricity costs on New Yorkers’ utility bills.

• Despite his reputation of “getting stuff done”, most of Cuomo’s big projects have been boondoggles, specifically:

  • The Second Avenue Subway, which was the most expensive subway project in the world and took resources away from day-to-day maintenance, contributing to the subway Summer of Hell.

  • Cuomo pushed the “Worst Transit Project in the US”, a backwards Airtrain to LGA that was thankfully cancelled by Governor Hochul.

  • Cuomo forced the NY Power Authority to spend over $100 million on decorative bridge lights that were rarely used and auctioned off for pennies.

  • Cuomo forced the MTA to spend $30 million on re-tiling the East River tunnels because he thought blue and yellow stripes looked cool (I wish I was making this up).

• More broadly, Cuomo mismanaged the MTA. He secretly pulled millions in MTA funding to bail out upstate ski resorts, he asked Elon Musk for help fixing the system, and negotiated wasteful contracts with the unions, resulting in the MTA’s highest-in-the-world labor costs.

• Cuomo is an awful manager. He forced out the hugely successful MTA subways head, Andy Byford, because he was jealous that Byford was getting positive press. His micromanaging of Moynihan Train Hall was so intolerable that the project manager, Michael Evans, tragically committed suicide. Even his own campaign has been full of management struggles, including illegal coordination with his superPAC, paperwork errors, and using ChatGPT to write his housing policy.

• In his decade as Governor, NYC’s housing crisis spiraled out of control, and yet, Cuomo did not pass or even propose a single major zoning reform bill. This is in contrast with Governor Hochul proposed an ambitious pro-housing reform package and was able to pass significant elements of it such as eliminating the FAR cap, a state law that artificially limited the density of housing built in NYC. Furthermore, Cuomo has opposed building more housing in many rich, low-density parts of New York City.

• Despite claiming to be the “best candidate to take Trump on”, Cuomo’s history as governor is one of empowering Republicans. Cuomo supported the “Independent Democratic Conference”, a splinter group of conservative Democrats who handed control of the state Senate over to Republicans. Additionally, Cuomo appointed Republicans to New York’s highest court, where they issued rulings aligning with the conservative majority on the Supreme Court in D.C. Finally, one of Cuomo’s biggest backers is hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman, well known for his constant support of Donald Trump.

At the end of the day, I understand why many voters have serious concerns about Cuomo and Zohran. While I hope that Zohran compromises on some of his more unrealistic policies and appoints qualified agency heads (note: Zohran has said he will do this, noting Janette Sadik-Khan as a Bloomberg appointee he hopes to work with), I acknowledge that he may not be a successful mayor. However, I think there is a key difference between the candidates on this front: if Zohran fails as mayor, he will fail fast. If he refuses to compromise with the city council and governor on many of his policies, his popularity will plummet and he will quickly be forced to accept these trade-offs or have a failed mayoralty that will result in a landslide loss in four years. However, if you look at his decade as governor, Cuomo uses fear to stay in power and bend agencies to focus on serving his ego rather than his constituents. I worry that if Cuomo wins, we will have another decade of Cuomo locking down the support of unions and political machines who are too afraid to cross him, no matter how awful he is. We must stop Cuomo now before it is too late, and that means supporting an imperfect candidate like Zohran. Moreover, you can tell that Zohran truly loves New York City - it’s clear in everything he does from taking the subway everywhere to interacting with people on the street. In contrast, Cuomo looks at the city with disdain, living in Westchester before he ran for governor, and recklessly driving his Dodge Charger to get away from his potential future constituents.

4. Adrienne Adams, who has an impressive record as City Council Speaker, and deserves recognition for shepherding the passage of the City of Yes upzoning. She deserves a spot on your ballot.

Comptroller: Mark Levine

Mark Levine is currently the Borough President of Manhattan, where he he has been a steadfast supporter of housing (including a recent upzoning near my neighborhood) and congestion pricing, two of the most critical issues in the city. Levine has even taken on the traditionally-NIMBY community board system by appointing pro-housing advocates to the boards. This is a point of contrast from his primary opponent, Justin Brannan, who recently opposed congestion pricing and cut a side deal to exempt his own district from ADU legalization in the recently-passed City of Yes upzoning.

Manhattan Borough President: Keith Powers

Councilmember Keith Powers would follow in Mark Levine’s footsteps as a pro-housing, pro-transit borough president. The Borough President’s main role is to serve as a figurehead leading the borough and make key land-use decisions, two areas where Keith would excel. The Abundance NY Voter Guide perfectly sums up why he’s such a great candidate:

Powers has been a leading pro-housing voice, fought for needed shelters and resiliency infrastructure against loud local opposition, supported streetscape improvements in his district, and led the council in reforming scaffolding laws to bring down unsightly sidewalk sheds sooner (and make them look better in the meantime). He would use the office to continue the push to increase Manhattan’s housing options and people-first streets—crucial for driving affordability, quality of life, and resiliency. He would also ensure continued improvement of Community Boards’ representativeness of all residents.

Key City Council Races: Jess Coleman (District 1), Sarah Batchu (District 2), Erik Bottcher (District 3), Ben Wetzler (District 4)

See the one red part of lower Manhattan? That’s Chris Marte

All four of these candidates are running on strong pro-housing, pro-transit platforms.

Jess Coleman is an inspiring candidate who decided to run when his opponent, incumbent Chris Marte, cast the only NO vote on City of Yes in all of Manhattan. Marte is a hardcore NIMBY who opposes housing, opposes congestion pricing, and opposes outdoor dining, and unseating him would be a massive victory for the urbanist movement. Sarah Batchu is a strong pro-housing voice who was the fiercest supporter of congestion pricing in the wide-open District 2 primary. Erik Bottcher is my councilmember in District 3 and he’s doing a great job. While he doesn’t have a serious challenger, you can feel good voting for him given his pro-housing stances. I have even seen on the M23 bus and riding a Citibike, so I can personally confirm that he walks the walk on transit issues. Last but not least is Ben Wetzler running in District 4 with an extremely detailed housing plan. I have met Ben a few times and he is the real deal - passionate about making New York City more affordable and sustainable.

As a lower Manhattanite, I am only focusing on races in my geographic vicinity, but the Abundance NY voter guide is a great source of trustworthy information for races across the city that I can personally vouch for. And most importantly - make sure you vote! There’s a heat wave coming so I would recommend voting early in the next few days.