Protecting All NYC Neighborhoods
While every New Yorker is concerned about public safety and affordability and how it affects them daily, they are also deeply connected to the places that they live. My opponents are 100% onboard with the corrupt Eric Adams philosophy of what neighborhoods are: blank canvases ripe for the picking, places for his developer friends to make money at any and all cost to the people who live there.
In their minds, the more development that happens, the better chance that long-time small property owners will sell their homes, paving the way for gentrification and new housing at an exponentially greater amount of density. And then there are all of the new agendas that are supposed to be for making our city “green” and environmentally friendly but end up costing a lot of “green” for homeowners and renters and are lining the pockets of billionaires and big multi-national corporations. This “greenwashing” and “astroturfing” – including the City of Yes and Charter Ballot Questions – will actually have a negative environmental impact to our city, not the other way around.
This is why I am the only candidate who will commit to protecting and preserving all 350 unique neighborhoods of New York City from overdevelopment while keeping them affordable. Here are some of my positions and how I’ll do it:
The City of Yes:
I am the only candidate for Mayor against the City of Yes, which is just a massive giveaway to developers at the expense of our neighborhoods by the corrupt Mayor Adams. Cuomo and Mamdani have both stated that they are ALL IN. If the City of Yes is allowed to continue, large parts of our city will be unrecognizable in a decade particularly in low-density communities where apartment buildings are now allowed as-of-right.
As Mayor, on DAY ONE I will immediately halt and end the City of Yes through Mayoral Executive Orders and other governmental controls.
Charter Ballot Questions 2, 3 & 4:
I am the only candidate for Mayor against Charter Ballot Questions 2, 3 & 4, which is the City of Yes on Steroids. Cuomo is ALL IN and Mamdani REFUSES TO ANSWER. These ballot questions will open the floodgates for developers everywhere across the city. They are misleading in their language, destructive in their intent and will erode democracy by permanently taking away the Council’s vote on land use and zoning issues. That’s taking away your vote – you hired your Councilmember to work for your interests, and they will no longer have a role in that process whatsoever.
Vote NO on ALL BALLOT QUESTIONS – BUT ESPECIALLY ON 2, 3 & 4, as they are meant to take away your voice in government and concentrate the power of development in the hands of whomever will be the Mayor forever, with no checks and balances.
Landmarking and Historic Districts:
I am the only candidate who supports the creation of more individual landmarks and historic districts across New York City. CUOMO AND MAMDANI DID NOT RESPOND OR FILL OUT THIS QUESTIONNAIRE, WHICH WAS SENT TO EACH CAMPAIGN BY A COALITION OF MAJOR CITYWIDE AND MANHATTAN-BASED PRESERVATION ORGANIZATIONS. They have no interest in preserving worthy buildings and neighborhoods across the city. Corrupt ERIC ADAMS HAS THE WORST RECORD ON LANDMARKS since the Landmarks Preservation Commission was created 60 years ago, with the fewest designations and the most demolished landmarked buildings – no surprise, as his DEVELOPER FRIENDS HATE LANDMARKING as it gets in the way of building luxury towers.
On DAY ONE, I will reverse this trend and create 5 separate borough-based advisory Commissions to ensure that architecturally, historically and culturally important buildings and neighborhoods that deserve protection based on merit – not politics, ideology or developer-driven money – are not ignored and receive landmark designation.
BESS/Battery Farms:
I am the only candidate who opposes BESS/Battery Farms, which puts the entire population of New York City at risk, particularly lower-density neighborhoods where they are being built as-of-right. Cuomo CREATED Battery Farms in 2019 as Governor; just two weeks ago, Mamdani signaled that he wants to DOUBLE THE NUMBER OF SITES. Battery Farms are sites with scores, hundreds or thousands of lithium-ion battery arrays supposedly to store “green” energy; in fact, they store any and all energy, and the companies that control the sites will make untold millions from Con Edison selling it, with the taxpayers footing the bill. If these batteries catch fire, they burn for days and cannot be put out by conventional firefighting techniques, spewing out hydrofluoric acid and PFAS (forever chemicals), contaminating entire neighborhoods. Between 2019 and 2024, there were 735 electric scooter fires resulting in 447 injuries and 29 deaths – not to mention the destruction of hundreds of buildings with families being left homeless and losing all of their possessions. Because of the corrupt Eric Adams’ City of Yes, these Battery Farms can now be built in residential areas, literally right next to people’s homes.
On DAY ONE, I will put an immediate halt to all Battery Farms, both under construction and planned, due to their inherent and uncontrollable danger to the people of our city.
Local Law 97
I am the only candidate who opposes Local Law 97, which will put working and middle-class coop and condo communities at risk of financial ruin. Cuomo SUPPORTS Local Law 97, and Mamdani is ALL IN. Another “greenwashing” effort by the City Council, this bill forces all large apartment buildings and complexes to “electrify” their heating systems by 2030 or face increasingly draconian fines. The problem is that many of these complexes have recently spent millions of dollars on oil to gas conversions as required under previous law. Now they must spend tens of millions of dollars to convert to fully electric systems under Local Law 97 – and even if they can, many will still not be compliant with the new law due to increasingly strict emissions requirements, resulting in massive yearly fines. Today, these units are some of the most affordable pathways to homeownership in the city; under Local Law 97, they will soon become completely unaffordable, with some complexes projected to go bankrupt with impossible maintenance charges – and continuous fines.
On DAY ONE, I will refuse to enforce Local Law 97 as the crisis that this is already beginning to create must be stopped before it destabilizes entire communities across the city.
Intro. 1107
I am opposed to Intro. 1107, which will put the city’s one and two-family neighborhoods at immediate risk if it becomes law. What is Intro. 1107? It is a bill that has been introduced by the City Council to overturn Local Law 18, which prohibits short term AirBnB rentals. However, the bill only targets one and two-family homes; it would allow each unit to rent out up to four rooms to four different entities every night. The owner doesn’t have to be there, which will encourage hedge funds, investors and real estate companies to buy up homes and turn them into permanent short-term stay hotels smack in the middle of our low-density neighborhoods. Also, the ultimate goal of Intro. 1107 is to overturn ALL PROHBITIONS on AirBnB, including in rental units across New York City. Cuomo’s SuperPAC has received $2 million from Joe Gebbia, the founder of AIrBnB; Mamdani’s compound in Uganda is constantly posted on AirBnB for short term rental and stays.
On DAY ONE, I promise to never sign Intro. 1107 (or other bill like it) and will ensure that Local Law 18 remains in its current form. Our housing must remain as affordable as possible, and allowing AirBnB to run wild will recklessly reduce the limited amount of affordable housing we have available today while commercializing our residential communities.
Neighborhood Empowerment
Communities deciding their own future is critical to the health of our city. Under Mayors De Blasio and Adams, the rights of the 350 neighborhoods of New York City have been steadily chipped away in favor of centralized decision-making and power. Cuomo and Mamdani have both made it crystal clear that they will continue this terrible trend, through their support of the City of Yes, Charter Ballot Questions 2, 3 & 4, BESS/Battery Farms, Local Law 97, Intro. 1107 and their strenuous opposition to landmarking and historic districts. THIS IS THE BEHAVIOR OF WOULD-BE DICTATORS, NOT THE PEOPLE’S MAYOR.
As Mayor, on DAY ONE I will hand back power to the PEOPLE of the City of New York to determine what they want for their own communities. I will work with Community Boards, Councilmembers and – most importantly – the residents of our neighborhoods to come up with the policies and solutions that best work for them, not the developers and special interests that would cannibalize and overdevelop them solely for their own profit.
