HOUSING
We are very thankful for Speaker Adams’ hard work in getting the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity passed. Although her housing plan mentions supply positively, she doesn’t propose anything transformative to alleviate the housing crisis. Her call to freeze rents would lead to delayed maintenance on already deteriorating housing.
As governor of NYS for over a decade his record on housing was disastrously marked by not pushing for thorough pro-supply reforms and making the bad situation worse by passing HSTPA in 2019. His allusions to supply in his current platform are likely to stay theoretical as shown by his opposition to rezoning low-density neighborhoods and opposition to affordable senior housing at Elizabeth Street Garden.
Lander’s platform correctly focuses on supply. He includes specifics like streamlining ULURP. He has demonstrated leadership in supporting the rezoning of Gowanus as a Councilmember. His call for developing housing on city-owned golf courses is creative but infeasible. His call to freeze rents would lead to worse conditions in rent stabilized buildings.
Mamdani’s belief in a government-led effort to build ourselves out of the severe housing shortage, utilizing stricter mandates for labor and affordability with costs not grounded near reality, will be deeply harmful to ameliorating the housing crisis. He has made some tepid but positive moves toward supporting housing supply, including supporting City of Yes, acknowledging the role of the private market, and removing parking mandates.
Myrie’s housing platform directly addresses the root cause of NYC’s housing crisis- lack of supply at all income levels. He is strongly in favor of building more housing, and names specific neighborhoods he’d like to upzone. Unfortunately, his call to freeze rents for a year would lead to worsening conditions in rent stabilized buildings across the city.
Stringer has a poor history of leadership on housing including very incorrectly stating 50,000 people may be displaced if East New York was rezoned and calling for an end to 421-a. His current plan is limited to public land and subsidized housing would not make a significant dent in our housing shortage. His refusal to speed up the lengthy ULURP (except for subsidized housing) demonstrates a lack of willingness to implement change.
Tilson’s platform is strongly focused on increasing housing supply and proposes several policies to make it happen: simplifying our zoning laws, streamlining ULURP, allowing ADUs, amend HSTPA, and legalize housing construction in manufacturing districts. Furthermore, he is one of the only candidates who has not called for a rent freeze.
ECONOMY
Adrienne Adams has shown openness to abundance-oriented economic goals, but her overall campaign lacks the level of policy specificity and clarity we would like to see in a mayoral candidate. Her leadership in the City Council has delivered both positive reforms (e.g., City of Yes) but also overly restrictive regulations (e.g., the so-called Airbnb law and the 2021 Citywide Hotels Text Amendment)
Andrew Cuomo has a mixed but largely pro-growth record, including successes like major infrastructure investments and support for business development. His approach to regulation and innovation mostly aligns with our principles, and he has the executive experience to implement large-scale initiatives. However, his top-down management style and ethical controversies may limit his ability to build broad trust for a new economic agenda in the city.
Brad Lander demonstrates strong alignment with a modern, abundance-oriented economic agenda, particularly around streamlining permitting, modernizing procurement, and responsible budgeting — all areas where he has shown tangible competence in his role as Comptroller. He is a credible and capable public finance manager who understands how to use city levers to promote inclusive growth. However, we strongly disagree with his support for continuing restrictions on STRs and the 2021 Citywide Hotels Text Amendment.
Zohran Mamdani advances a redistribution-focused agenda that departs from sound economic policy. His proposals, which include creating government-run grocery stores, instituting a $30 minimum wage, and raising a variety of taxes, would hurt small businesses, lack feasible funding plans, and reflect limited thinking on economic trade-offs and consequences. While ideologically consistent, his platform is misaligned with a pro-growth approach and unlikely to deliver real opportunity for New Yorkers.
Zellnor Myrie presents a progressive but open-minded approach to inclusive economic growth. While he has not laid out a detailed plan for the city budget, he shows a constructive orientation toward growth, and we believe he would be receptive to building a broader, abundance-oriented agenda.
Scott Stringer brings a track record of responsible fiscal management and an early embrace of equitable innovation. As former Comptroller, he led efforts to increase transparency in budgeting and procurement, and he’s expressed strong support for New York City becoming a hub for artificial intelligence companies and future-facing industries. While we have concerns about his past history of leftist economic instincts, his current instincts and priorities are increasingly well aligned with our values.
Whitney Tilson aligns well with an abundance-driven agenda, particularly on regulatory reform, fiscal responsibility, and the need to attract and retain innovative industries in NYC. His private-sector orientation and strong focus on efficiency and modern governance are welcome additions to the race. While we generally agree with his vision, we disagree with his support for continuing restrictions on short-term rentals.
PUBLIC SAFETY
Adams has a positive record of pushing through police accountability, rejecting progressive Councilmembers’ calls for reducing NYPD staffing, and suing to stop ICE presence at Rikers. On the other hand, she proposes only dealing with retail theft as it connects to organized crime rings and does not support police on trains to tackle subway safety.
As Governor, Cuomo passed an array of good legislation which mandated background checks on gun purchases, banned assault-style weapons, required state police to wear body cameras, and shifted some cop prosecutions to a special state prosecutor to avoid conflict of interest at the local level. He also has good proposals in his plan for mayor like strengthening involuntary commitment criteria in cases with serious mental illness. While this scorecard is about candidates’ policies, we cannot ignore Cuomo’s history of sexual harassment and corruption allegations, and disbanding of the Moreland Commission tasked with investigating his (and his associates) misconduct.
Lander has a mostly positive record, and has rethought some of his previous statements around “defunding the police”. He is willing to back the change with actions like adding more cops, and would simultaneously work to get NYPD overtime spending under control. He also understands that the 2019 Discovery Reform Law isn’t working as intended.
Mamdani is the only candidate who opposes hiring more police officers to fill current vacancies. Incredibly, and despite all of the evidence to the contrary, he’s also stated that policing and incarceration do little to prevent harm.
Myrie has a wide range of issue positions and proposals that greatly align with New Liberal values, including hiring more police to tackle crime while keeping police officers accountable. His plan includes increasing NYPD headcount, including hiring 2,000 more detectives. He has supported ending qualified immunity.
A very long record of good policies, including arguing against the death penalty in NYS back in the 90’s to more recently pushing for stop-and-frisk reform. As Comptroller, he was vocal about defunding the police and against policing fare evasion, but more recently reversed course and now wants to hire and retain more cops through incentives, including pay and mental health support. His plan calls for getting more cops back in the street with administrative streamlining and Auxiliary police expansion for roles like event support and traffic management.
Tilson actively wants to hire more cops, allow judges to weigh “dangerousness” in determining bail, and reform the discovery process. Unfortunately, he also wants to reopen the ICE office at Rikers, which would be a disaster under the Trump administration.
TRANSIT
Adams has not used her time in city council to make notable improvements. Rather than expanding bus lanes, she has been attacking micro-mobility methods like E-bikes.
As Governor, Cuomo supported large transit projects like the Second Avenue Subway. However, his support for construction was not followed by efforts to maintain quality operations. Under his leadership as governor, New Yorkers went through the 2017 subway disruptions, aka ‘summer of hell’ and his egotistical attacks on NYCTA President Andy Byford seem to foreshadow his transit leadership as Mayor. His support for congestion pricing seemingly changes with the weather.
Lander supports improving transit across mediums like increased bus lanes and expanding Citi Bike. He has taken the redevelopment of McGuinness Boulevard as a top priority if elected. Beyond promises, he backed the lawsuit against Governor Hochul to start congestion pricing.
Mamdani has supported e-bike rebates in the state legislature and has promised support for expanding bus lanes and the QueensLink. His signature transit policy of free buses is misguided and would be better pushing for faster, safer, more reliable bus service, all of which are more preferred over fare changes among the lowest income commuters.
Myrie supports transit through expanding bus lanes and improving cyclist safety. He co-sponsored a bill in the state legislature to improve access to e-bikes and e-scooters.
Stringer was an early supporter of the Interborough Express and has long championed bus lanes. His support for e-bikes also highlights his support for micro-transit options.
Tilson has supported congestion pricing and has first-hand experience on the state of city bike lanes. As mayor he would improve street safety and add bus lanes. However, his support for a free subway fare pilot is an expensive gimmick that would be difficult to fund.
EDUCATION
As Speaker, Adrienne Adams championed many positive education programs, such as the CUNY Reconnect program which has helped 47,000 students re-enroll and finish their degrees. However, her mayoral campaign has been very light on education policy proposals. Unfortunately, she stands out as one of only two candidates that would abandon the use of the specialized high school admissions test (SHSAT) as the sole criterion for admissions to the nationally acclaimed 7 existing specialty public high schools.
Cuomo combines a solid education governing record and a solid 25-point educational plan for the future. His record includes establishing the first in the Excelsior college scholarship for all NY families making under $125,000 a year, student loan reform, and funding universal pre-k in NYC. In addition to fully funding 3-K, he proposes methods to increase access with outreach and eliminating 3-K deserts. He also seeks to improve school quality by expanding evidence-based models and focusing on high-quality modern curricula.
As Comptroller, Lander fought against Mayor Adams’ education budget cuts. His robust and detailed educational plan would fully fund 3-K and focus on CUNY, STEAM, technical education, mental health, arts, and civics.
Mamdani’s most noteworthy policy proposal is to pay for free CUNY by taxing Columbia and NYU, tax-exempt universities which are two of the most integral and socially beneficial institutions in New York CIty. The State Senator, who attended Bronx Science, one of the specialty public high schools, is one of only two candidates that would abandon the SHSAT as the sole admissions criterion.
Myrie would fund expanding universal after-school from 3-K through 12th grade until 6pm. He also co-sponsored a New Deal for City University of New York (CUNY) bill in the State Senate which re-establishes CUNY as an engine for social and economic mobility by not only waiving all tuition, but also by hiring more teachers, mental health professionals, and academic advisors. This would decrease teacher-to-student ratios and increase student success.
Stringer would expand after school programs at all public schools to at least 4:30. Unsurprisingly for a former comptroller, Stringer’s proposals address how policy goals can be realistically funded. His Tri-Share Childcare Fund would split childcare costs between the city, employers, and families to ensure no parent is priced out of care. However, his plan is focused on extending child care rather than improving the quality of education provided
Tilson’s policy proposals stand above the rest in attempting to improve educational outcomes by enacting structural changes. He would increase pay for high performing teachers, systematize rigorous, proven curricula, hire high-impact tutors, embrace innovation, and expand charter schools. Accountability would be increased by evaluating all schools every 5 years, and by evaluating students every year.