Transcript: Mayor Mamdani Launches Organize NYC to Mobilize New Yorkers to Testify Ahead of Rent Guidelines Board Hearings
Zohran Mamdani on NYC Mayor's Office transcripts.
Passages
Good morning, everyone. It is always a great day to be back in the BX. And it is an honor to gather with so many advocates, activists, canvassers and organizers who made today possible. I want to begin with a few acknowledgments of leaders that we have here from our administration. We have our Commissioner Tascha Van Auken [from] the [Mayor’s] Office of Mass Engagement. We have our director of the Mayor's Office to Protect Tenants Cea Weaver. We have our Corporations Counsel Steven Banks. And we also have the borough president of the Bronx here with us, Vanessa Gibson. And then we also have Council Member Althea Stevens, in whose district we are in today. And last but not least, we have Carmen Gruillion and the tenant organizers with CASA. Now, almost exactly a year and a half ago, on October 23, 2024, we launched a campaign that conventional wisdom suggested would not work. And yet, 104,000 people showed up. One hundred and four thousand people knocked on more than 3 million doors. One hundred and four thousand people chose to view politics not as something that is done to them but something they do. One hundred and four thousand people went to work to win a more affordable city. And they did it in New York City, where you will always hear from everyone all the time. Now on our second day in office, we kept up this momentum with the creation of New York City's first-ever Office of Mass Engagement, because the political process does not, cannot and must not end just on Election Day. We want the voices of working-class New Yorkers to be the driving forces behind the decisions that shape their lives. That is why we are here to announce that the Office of Mass Engagement is launching a powerful initiative called Organize NYC to keep New Yorkers involved in the work of shaping the future of our city. Organize NYC will begin its work with a push to make sure that New Yorkers' voices are heard at the Rent Guidelines Board hearings this June. The timing of this launch, frankly, could not be more important. This is a consequential decision that is coming up. In June, the Rent Guidelines Board will decide whether or not the rent will go up for more than 2 million New Yorkers who live in rent-stabilized homes. The board has heard from experts. Now, there are a number of hearings across many of our boroughs where they will need to hear from you. Over the coming months, the board will be holding public hearings across the city for tenants and owners to testify directly about how a rent adjustment would affect them. To put it into context, this is a decision that will impact more than 2 million New Yorkers. Last year, only 400 New Yorkers testified at these hearings. That is 0.02 percent at best. If we want New Yorkers to believe in these processes, we must make it as easy as possible for them to be a part of these processes. And that is why we need to get the word out to as many New Yorkers as we can. And that is why, just a few minutes ago, I was walking the halls right here of 760 Grand Concourse and knocking on doors to myself. And the reason that we were knocking on those doors in this very building is because we know that behind every closed door is a New Yorker who has a story to tell. I spoke to a tenant who had lived here for decades. I spoke to another tenant who only spoke Spanish and through an interpreter, we were able to gauge that, yes, this was a rent-stabilized unit. Yes, this decision would impact her life. Yes, it has done so in the past. This is not about telling New Yorkers what they should say. This is about ensuring that everyday New Yorkers are as involved in the processes as the impact that these processes will have on their day-to-day lives. To all the season canvassers who have been with us from day one, the work is far from over. There are more New Yorkers to talk to in this city. And for everyone who wants to get involved but doesn't know where to start, we will teach you how. You can join one of our upcoming civic education events to learn more about the ins and outs of organizing, or you can dive straight in by going to organize.nyc.gov to sign up for a canvassing shift yourself. Our administration did not get to City Hall alone, and we do not intend to govern alone. So let us get out there and knock on some doors. Now with that being said, I want to pass it over to the commissioner of the Office of Mass Engagement herself, Tascha Van Auken.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceNow we're going to hear from the director of the Mayor's Office to Protect Tenants, Cea Weaver.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceAnd we know there are more repairs to be won. We got to get the button of the sixth floor working on that elevator. I'm going to pass it over now to our Borough President Vanessa Gibson.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceThank you, borough president. And now, our Council member, Althea Stephens.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceThank you so much. And now for our final speaker. Please come up.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceThis is a program that is funded by the money that was already allocated within the city budget. The Office of Mass Engagement is a cohering of existing city programs into one. These used to be called as you know, [the] Public Engagement Unit or Community Affairs, things of that nature, now bringing into one place. In the preliminary budget, it had the same amount of money as it did in the prior budgets.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceI think first and foremost to say that the Rent Guidelines Board is an independent board. We value their independence. We trust them to make their own decisions. However, as they have stated out in their own processes, part of that decision making is also a testimony process where New Yorkers can come and share what these decisions — the impact that they would have on their lives. And as we shared earlier, the decision of whether or not to raise the rent impacts more than 2 million New Yorkers. To have only 400 of those New Yorkers testify, it shows that so many people are divorced from the very processes that determine their own lives. There are frankly a lot of rent-stabilized tenants who don't even know that they are rent-stabilized. The first question I asked when we knocked on doors in this building was: “Do you know if your apartment is rent-stabilized"? One tenant said “yes.” The other said, “I think so, but I'm not sure.” We had to inform that tenant that in fact it was rent-stabilized. So, part of this comes from informing tenants of their own rights, but also this is outreach that will not be limited to tenants. It will also extend to landlords. OME members as well as volunteers will knock on doors of landlords as well as reach out to landlord advocacy groups and build a database of landlords to ensure that everyone's voice is being heard as a part of this process so that people can actually see themselves in the decisions that are governing their own lives.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceI think we have a board that will make their own independent decision. We have tenants who have faced rent hike after rent hike after rent hike, and what we want to ensure is that everyone whose life is impacted by this decision has the opportunity to testify, because the decision is supposed to be informed by the testimony of all those it impacts — landlords, tenants. And yet, for so many that you speak to, they don't even know that there is a process where their voice would actually be welcomed. I mean you heard just now from the borough president, the things that we that we treat as if they are a fact of life, those are things that had to be organized in one. For there to even be a hearing in the Bronx was a function of an organizing effort by CASA. That shows the power of organizing. And now what we want is for more New Yorkers to be a part of that same process.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceWhat we have here is a commitment from our City government to ensure that New Yorkers are actually a part of the governing that we do, and I've made very clear that the [Rent Guidelines] Board is an independent board. They have to make an independent decision, and we will also be making very clear to anyone who canvases as a part of this initiative that there is no tolerance for the encouraging of any kind of specific testimony. We are knocking on doors. We are asking, "Do you know if you're rent stabilized? Will you come and testify"? When you knock on the door of a landlord, you don't presume what it is that they may say, though we have also heard from landlords of their perspective. We have also heard from tenants of their perspective. We want to ensure, however, that it isn't just the same 0.02 percent who are the ones who see themselves as part of this process. It has to be far more than that. And I'll say this even specifically to landlords — there are landlord advocacy groups that testify at these hearings. There are far more landlords who are not part of any kind of formalized group. Part of the work of OME is also going to be to build a database to knock on the doors of landlords, to reach out directly — starting today, actually — to ensure that they too know that they can testify themselves independently. And I don’t know, Steve, if you want to add anything specific?
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceSo, I'll just bring back our [Corporation] Council. What I will say is that we consulted closely with our Corporations Council with a view to ensuring that all of this was above board and we have their full confidence, but Steve, if you'd like to add anything.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceI’ll say one last thing before we go to off [topics], which is just to just to say it once more. The rent guidelines board has laid out in their process that a critical part is hearing from those their decision would impact. For us to be complacent and accepting of a process where 0.02 percent of those impacted are testifying is to me a failure of civic engagement. And what this office and our partners here — alongside multiple levels of City government, as well as those who have been organizing for so many years — are dedicated towards, is ensuring that far more New Yorkers understand not only the responsibility that government has, but also the role that they have in informing the decisions of government as well as of independent boards like the Rent Guidelines Board.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceSo, to your question, our goal in this redesign is to put the park back into Park Avenue. And we want to transform Midtown Manhattan by providing residents and visitors alike with more usable public space. And we're frankly excited about unveiling the design concepts for the redesign of Park Avenue. And a lot of this is guided by a belief that our city's public spaces must better serve the public. And our administration has made that a priority through both infrastructure investments as well as street redesigns, and working with partners at the city level, at the state level, as well as at the c ivic s ociety level, [which] will ensure that our streets truly do become the envy of the world. This is one part of that.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceWe've been very clear that we want our streets to be the envy of the world. And as you've made clear, there are many parts of our streetscape across the five boroughs where we cannot accurately describe them as such. And so, I've told DOT that we want them to put forward any proposals that they have that would make for a streetscape to be more livable, to be more usable — also to be safer, because that is an immense concern for so many New Yorkers, especially parents of young children, the safety of our streetscape. And when it comes to the impacts of this redesign, we're confident about the fact that it would not only draw more people to Park Avenue but also would be a better experience for those who are already there on Park Avenue. We're confident about the impacts that this will have.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceLet me answer this one. I'm just trying to organize my brain. On the on-topic, you know, I will invite our commissioner. I can say broadly, and then I'll pass it over to Tascha. Broadly, I would say the critical questions here are: “Are you rent-stabilized? Will you testify”? We've made it very clear that there's no tolerance for the encouragement of any kind of specific testimony. It's rather an ascertaining of their status as whether or not they're rent-stabilized tenant or a landlord of rent-stabilized building and then informing them of when that hearing will actually be. I don't know, Tascha, if you want to add anything to that. The question is, is there a specific script to this?
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceWell, I think first and foremost what I would say is congratulations to Carl Wilson for a hard-fought victory yesterday evening. And I look forward to working with Council Member Wilson for the West Side, whether it means affordable housing, universal childcare or delivering a budget that works for so many across the five boroughs. And I also do want to recognize Lindsey Boylan for the campaign that she ran. Her and many of her volunteers knocked on thousands of doors. And I really do believe that that's exactly the kinds of effort that strengthens our democracy. My focus is on the special.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceI'll be saying that today I'll be attending a wreath-laying alongside a number of other elected officials, including Governor Hochul [and] Governor Sherrill. And the focus of that wreath-laying is to honor the more than 3,000 New Yorkers who were killed in the horrific terror attacks of September 11. And that's what I'm really looking to do at that event.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceIf I [were] to speak to the king separately from that, I would probably encourage him to return the Koh-i-Noor Diamond.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceI think the governor has been a partner in the work that we are looking to do in delivering a balanced budget. We inherited a fiscal deficit the likes of which the city has not seen in generations, and the governor has been a partner along that many-month process where we have not only secured additional state commitments but also seen proposals coming forward of a pied-� -terre tax that would raise half a billion dollars for the city by taxing the secondary homes of non-resident New Yorkers that are worth more than $5 million. And we're looking forward to keeping working with the governor because we believe that savings are critical. We also believe that there is no amount of savings that would absolve Albany of the need to partner with the city given the scale of this crisis. And what we're looking at right now is the need, whether it be through additional revenue or through cost shifts, to ensure that we have structural solutions to a structural problem. And the reason I say structural problem is that this is not an amount of money that was created as a deficit because of the spending our administration did. This was a deficit we inherited due to long-standing spending that was not being accounted for or budgeted. And so, we're looking forward to working with the governor and with Majority Leader of the State Senate Andrea Stewart-Cousins and the Speaker of the Assembly Carl Heastie in resolving this.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceI will always look to work with anyone who wants to advance the affordability agenda. And the reason for my focus on that is that New Yorkers are being priced out of the most expensive city in the United States of America. And I'm excited to work with Council Member Wilson on delivering that affordability agenda to the West Side, on working together to build more housing, on universal childcare [and] on a balanced budget. And I'm also looking forward to doing so with our partners at every level of government. Thank you all. ###
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source
Every passage above is taken from this recording: NYC Mayor's Office transcripts, Transcript: Mayor Mamdani Launches Organize NYC to Mobilize New Yorkers to Testify Ahead of Rent Guidelines Board Hearings.