‘Hannity’ has the latest news on the results of the New York mayoral elections.
There’s a new mayor in town.
New Yorkers voted 34-year-old democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani Tuesday night to lead the nation’s largest city.
Mamdani, a progressive newcomer from Queens, has made affordability the cornerstone of his agenda.
Zohran Mamdani is the next mayor of New York City. (Adam Gray/Bloomberg/Getty Images/Getty Images)
Still, proposals like free buses, city supermarkets and rent freezes have roiled Wall Street, bringing out some of its fiercest critics. The clash underlines a widening divide between progressive visions for the city and the financial sector that has long powered it. Many companies, including JPMorgan, have already assigned staff to states including Texas.
Here is an overview of Mamdani’s economic agenda.
City-owned supermarkets
Mamdani has committed to creating a “network of city-owned supermarkets focused on keeping prices low, not making profits.”
“Without having to pay rent or property taxes, they will reduce overhead and pass the savings on to shoppers. They will buy and sell at wholesale prices, centralize warehousing and distribution, and collaborate with local neighborhoods on produce and purchasing,” Mamdani has promised.
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People shop at a supermarket in Brooklyn, July 11, 2024, in New York City. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images/Getty Images)
The mayor of New York City has control over the programs administered by the city, so he can achieve this goal by obtaining the approval of the New York City Council.
Billionaire John Catsimatidis, owner of Gristedes and D’Agostino’s, the largest independent supermarket chain in New York City, has previously said he would consider moving his headquarters out of New York after a Mamdani victory.
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, who won re-election on Tuesday night, has already started a similar pilot programwho opened a city grocery store in a neighborhood long considered a food desert.
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Atlanta’s Azalea Fresh Market opened on August 28 in an area where… Ministry of Agriculture classified as both low-income and low-access, meaning many residents live far from full-service grocery stores.
Free bus rides
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is a state agency, so the mayor of New York City has no direct control over it. (Erik McGregor/LightRocket via Getty Images/Getty Images)
Mamdani has vowed to “permanently eliminate the fare on every city bus and make it faster by quickly building priority lanes, expanding queue jump signals for buses and creating special loading zones to keep double parkers out of the way.”
This proposal would require coordination with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). MTA is a state agency over which the mayor of New York City has no direct control.
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According to New York City and StateMamdani’s promise of free bus fares would come at an additional cost, possibly more than $700 million. It is unclear how Mamdani plans to pay the additional compensation.
Increase the minimum wage to $30 by 2030
Commuters at the 72nd Street subway station in New York, June 27, 2024. (Yuki Iwamura/Bloomberg/Getty Images/Getty Images)
In addition, Mamdani has said he wants to raise the minimum wage to $30 per hour by 2030. “After that, the minimum wage will automatically increase based on the cost of living and productivity increases,” Mamdani claims on his campaign website.
By allowing the City Council to create its own minimum wage law, Mamdani has proposed a way to raise the minimum wage in New York City without state approval. But a state-level increase is unlikely.
Free childcare
Mamdani has also campaigned to provide free child care to every family in New York with a child under the age of five. It is unclear how he will finance this proposal, which experts say will cost billions of dollars annually. He previously proposed a tax increase on the wealthiest New Yorkers and businesses to pay for the increased services, which would require approval at the state level.
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However, New York Governor Kathy Hochul has done just that expressed her opposition tax increases, which could create hurdles for Mamdani. However, Hochul pushed for an increase in the state’s child tax credit earlier this year, and she nearly doubled funding for state-subsidized child care programs to about $2 million. according to The New York Times.
Tax corporations and NYCs 1%
Mamdani has taxed the wealthiest New Yorkers to help finance part of his economic agenda. (Michael Nagle/Bloomberg/Getty Images/Getty Images)
Mamdani said he would fund his programs through a “revenue plan” that would “raise the corporate tax rate to 11.5% in New Jersey, raising $5 billion.” And he will tax the wealthiest 1% of New Yorkers, those making more than $1 million annually, with a flat 2% tax.”
While Mamdani has done that definitely did the mathA plan like this requires approval from the state legislature and the governor’s signature.
While Hochul doubles down on her opposition to tax increases, Mamdani could face some obstacles in delivering on this big campaign promise, as reported in The New York Times.
Freeze the rent
Brownstone apartments in Manhattan, NY, July 6, 2024. (Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto/Getty Images/Getty Images)
Mamdani has pledged to freeze rents for tenants in rent-stabilized apartments and use all available resources to expand affordable housing.
On paper, a rent freeze seems like a simple solution to New York City’s affordability crisis. But experts warn this could backfire over time by discouraging investment and driving up costs for tenants in non-rent-stabilized apartments.
Kenny Burgos, CEO of the New York Apartment Association, warned that the policy could make developers wary of investing in New York.
“I don’t know of any investor or builder who would want to build in a city where the mayor is threatening to limit revenues and the ability to repay the development of these projects,” Burgos told Fox Business. “So you’re just going to attract a lot less people to build the housing that we need, and Zohran recognizes that we need it so badly.”
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Ed Elson, a business analyst and co-host of the “Prof G Markets” podcast, noted that rental prices are determined by the forces of supply and demand.
“The solution to high rents is therefore to increase supply and encourage more construction. Paradoxically, freezing rents discourages construction, causing rents elsewhere to go even higher,” Elson said.
