Dr. Annie Polland, President, Tenement Museum: It is such a joy to be here today for a very important announcement. What we do here at the Tenement Museum is we tell the stories of everyday people who never ever expected to be the subject of a museum exhibition. We tell the stories of German, Irish, Black, Jewish, Italian, Puerto Rican, Chinese families that lived in these tenements, and they lived in these tenements in a time period that stretched from the 1860s to the 1980s. So, we invite you all to come on a tour.
I know you're not here for a tour today but were I to give you a tour related to housing - which is the topic of the day - I would take you halfway down the block to our other building, our first building, a National Historic Landmark at 97 Orchard Street, and I would take you into the hallway. And it's in that hallway where every day, visitors and school children learn about not just the history of immigration and migration, and the history of refugees in this country and in the city, but they also learn about housing laws. Because in that hallway, what we do is we explain how for the first 40 years of that tenement's existence - of that building's existence - there was no running water, there were no toilets inside the building, the toilets and the running water were outside. So, what that meant is that all 110 people who lived in that building would be carrying buckets of water; they'd be going back and forth. And then what the educator will do is turn off the light to explain that they would be doing that in the dark, because there was no law requiring that landlords light the hallways.
So that is an amazing aha moment that people have. I know all of you are very intimately connected to housing laws and you think it's very, very exciting. But most people don't really think about housing laws. So, to be in that hallway and to feel the light go off and to feel what it would be like to be in that place, they understand then - viscerally - the importance of housing laws. So, I know today we're going to have another aha moment; the light switch is going to go on for many of us as we learn the next chapter of housing law in New York City. And I'm so pleased to introduce Mayor Mamdani.
Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani: Good morning, everyone. It is a pleasure to be here at the Tenement Museum alongside tenants, advocates and partners in government to announce the release of New York City's first-ever "Rental Ripoff Report." I want to - I want to thank Annie and the Tenement Museum for welcoming us today. Thank you for the work that you do to highlight the history of tenant organizing in our city, and the importance of it and the long-lasting impacts of it. It is a pleasure to be joined by leaders from across my administration, including Deputy Mayor Leila Bozorg; Cea Weaver, director of the Mayor's Office to Protect Tenants; HPD Commissioner Dina Levy; and DOB Commissioner Ahmed Tigani. We also have staff from HPD, DOB, DCWP and the Office to Protect Tenants, who helped make the Rental Ripoff Hearings a reality. And I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the leaders that we have here from tenant organizations across our city - let's have a round of applause for those who've been on the front lines.
December of 1907 was not a happy time to be a tenant in New York City. Two out of every three New Yorkers were living in crammed tenement housing, like those brought to life here at the Tenement Museum. It was brutally cold. Nearly 100,000 New Yorkers had just lost their jobs in an economic crisis. And in response, many landlords had decided to raise the rent by 33 percent. What New Yorkers needed in 1907 was a City government that worked for them; one that prioritized their struggles, one that took material action to hold bad landlords accountable. They did not have such leadership in City Hall. But in its absence, New Yorkers did what New Yorkers do best: they organized. More than 10,000 families came together to protest these conditions - one of the largest tenant movements in our city's history. That movement ushered in a century of tenant organizing and of progress. Today, New York City is home to the strongest tenant protections anywhere in the United States of America. And yet we know this work remains unfinished. Too many still pay soaring rents, only to live with kitchens full of cockroaches and bathroom pipes that leak and rust.
Yet today, New Yorkers have a City government that is quite different from the one in 1907. Throughout our first four months in office, City Hall held New York City's first-ever Rental Ripoff Hearings, attended by more than 2,300 New Yorkers across the five boroughs. Forums where tenants could share their struggles and ideas directly with those who have the power to deliver change. I spoke with New Yorkers who told me about vents filled with mold; nights spent shivering in the dead of winter; elevators that sat out of order for months on end; and landlords who, amidst all of this, refused to do anything about it. These New Yorkers did not share these stories only for them to be promptly forgotten. They shared them so they would serve as the foundation of the policies City Hall would pursue, the change we would deliver. Today, City Hall delivers on that promise. This Rental Ripoff Report, also known as RRR - not to be confused with the 2022 Tollywood smash hit - is based on thousands of testimonies shared at Rental Ripoff Hearings across our five boroughs. It outlines the actions our administration will take to improve the lives of tenants who call this city home.
These actions fall under four major categories. First, we will improve housing quality by strengthening our enforcement of common housing code violations and complaints. For the first time ever, inspectors will investigate every single heat complaint the city receives. Also, for the first time ever, if HPD inspectors come at a time when you're not available, you will be able to reschedule a visit at a time that works for you. New Yorkers have been able to schedule food deliveries and the time they pick up their clothes at the dry cleaner for years; they should be able to do the same when it comes to an inspection of their home. We will also tackle pests, eradicate mold, and fix broken elevators - three of the largest concerns voiced by New Yorkers during the Rental Ripoff Hearings. We will address the underlying causes of mold for the first time. No longer will landlords be allowed to slap a new coat of paint over a wall of black mold and pretend that the issue is fixed. And we will keep New Yorkers safe by confronting the causes and devastating consequences of residential fires.
Second, we will continue to hold bad landlords accountable. We will take on the worst landlords in the city with our "Fix the City" campaign. And we will reform our systems for cataloging, building registrations and penalties. Right now, everything is still done on paper. That not only slows things down; it makes it harder to hold those who violate the law accountable. Digitizing this process will not only help us crack down on repeat violators, [but] it will also allow us to support the many landlords who operate with integrity.
Third, we will empower tenants across New York City. The best-protected tenant is an organized tenant. That is why we will legally recognize tenant unions, protecting New Yorkers from harassment or threat of eviction for seeking solidarity with their neighbors. And we will partner with organized tenants across the city to deliver the accountability they deserve from their landlords and, in certain cases, to support the successful transfer of their buildings to more responsible owners.
Fourth, we will make the housing market fairer and more transparent. This includes requiring the disclosure of AI or digitally altered images and video on misleading rental listings that waste New Yorkers' time and money. You shouldn't have to worry whether or not the apartment you are viewing online is real. After all, it's called StreetEasy, not "StreetHard." All of these actions and improvements come as a direct result of every tenant who attended a Rental Ripoff Hearing. Every tenant who chose to speak up; every tenant who refused to tolerate another year of negligence and disrepair; every tenant who demanded more from their city government. This work is just beginning. We will build on the success of the Rental Ripoff Hearings as we hold five "NYCHA in Your Neighborhood" events - one in each borough beginning this September. These, too, are forums where NYCHA tenants' ideas and concerns will be translated into material change across public housing. In the words of Mayor John Lindsay, "Cities are for people and for living." Every New Yorker deserves to live a dignified life in a dignified home in the city they love. That is a responsibility that government can, must and will fulfill. Thank you very much.
Cea Weaver, Executive Director, Mayor's Office to Protect Tenants: Thanks everybody. My name is Cea, I'm the director of the Mayor's Office to Protect Tenants. And thank you so much to Mayor Mamdani for the opportunity to hold these hearings across the five boroughs and to the many New Yorkers who - well, welcome to the governing table here with us. And thank you to the Tenement Museum. I love this museum. I really am grateful to be here. I am going to pass it over to the HPD commissioner, Dina Levy. Thank you.
Commissioner Dina Levy, Department of Housing Preservation and Development: Morning everybody. Thank you, Mayor Mamdani. And I also want to thank Executive Director Weaver, Deputy Mayor Bozorg and Commissioner Tigani for their partnership in getting us to this point. But most of all, I want to thank the thousands of New Yorkers who came out to these hearings to tell us what they need and what they expect from us, to share their experiences about what it is like and what is hard about living in New York.
HPD is one of several agencies that has an awesome responsibility: we ensure that New Yorkers are safe and secure once inside their homes. Through these hearings, we have heard loudly and clearly where we need to step up our efforts. As the mayor said, the report outlines a series of changes in the way we will be doing business. Over the last two weeks, I went out and visited four of our local offices throughout the boroughs, where all of our code inspectors and all of lead inspectors work, and we had an all-hands-on-deck meeting to talk about these changes. Changes to how we inspect heat complaints; how we deal with lead complaints; how we help tenants stay safe and prevent very serious and very dangerous fires. I am very happy to report that folks were not only happy to hear this news, they were excited to get out and do this work.
I also want to say that the report lays out new initiatives that we think are necessary in terms of upscaling our special enforcement programs, including our new "Fix the City" initiative, which will target chronically and willfully negligent landlords to finally put an end to these predatory practices. It also lays out our plans for a new initiative called "Enforcement Days," which will take referrals from organized resident associations so that we can do roof to cellar inspections across housing portfolios, enabling both HPD and DOB to address systemic noncompliance more quickly and more aggressively.
These reforms are a direct product of what tenants came [and] told us from every borough from every neighborhood that they need. And that feedback will now serve as our call-to-action. I want to thank the staff at HPD who joined me at these hearings and to the dedicated teams in our code enforcement and housing litigation units for their ongoing commitment to making sure that New York City is a safe and secure place to live. Thank you so much.
Executive Director Weaver: Thank you so much. And I'd now like to pass it to DOB Commissioner Ahmed Tigani.
Commissioner Ahmed Tigani, Department of Buildings: First, I want to thank the mayor and the deputy mayor. Your leadership and example has set the tone not only at DOB but clearly across the agency. That when we're thinking about how we're forming policy, we're working to get out of our own way and make sure that the tenants and the people of New York have the clear path to setting the direction and setting the focus on how we deliver city services. So, we are grateful as commissioners having this opportunity to be leaders in this administration.
I'll also say that I've been in government for some time and I am amazed at how easy and incredibly core it is to our work that I get to have partners like Cea and Dina and Sam at DCWP and the people who have been picked in this administration. Because not only have we been given this charge to focus on solving root causes and no longer putting Band-Aids, but we genuinely talk and work and collaborate actively together every day. Because we know together and working in partnership and breaking down silos and barriers, we will achieve the greatest success. So, not only do we have this opportunity to deliver for you, we're actually rewriting the DNA and nucleus of your government to make sure that is responsive today and in the future to the kind of policies that will make this city better.
Earlier this year, I had the privilege of being part of these Rental Ripoff Hearings along with the incredible members of the DOB Office of the Tenant Advocate and our Community Engagement and External Affairs team, some of whom are here today. So, thank you for the work that you've done. Thousands of our fellow New Yorkers took time out of our busy days to join us in gymnasiums and community centers in neighborhoods across the five boroughs to attend these hearings in order to get just a few minutes to share their stories with government representatives. For the first time ever, New Yorkers saw that their government wanted to hear their voices, wanted to know about their experiences, wanted to help. And they jumped at the chance to participate at these hearings. And the result is a groundbreaking document that changes how we will ensure that not only the housing stock, but the people in that housing stock, are made better.
In these conversations, I couldn't help but think of my own story here in New York, growing up in a household, a single mom trying to provide for her kids in an apartment building that wasn't that great. And very often as I tell this story to inspectors who are graduating or in the program at different places I've worked, it was the housing inspector or the DOB inspector that was the most prevalent representation of government in my life. And I saw that you can depend on someone; I saw the results of making that phone call and seeing someone push our landlord to make sure that the place was correct, that it was clean and it was livable. That little help helps someone like my mom, who was already trying to figure ten other things for us. It makes her life just that much easier to be able to focus on other things that are important to the family.
So, in these conversations, we heard about inconsistent elevator service, disruptive construction activity, delayed building maintenance and government enforcement that wasn't getting compliance results from landlords who weren't meeting their legal obligations. This administration is focused on doing more than any other to better understand these experiences. And now with the release of this report, we have a blueprint to repair what's broken in our enforcement protocols and close the gap in our city laws.
We are excited to work with our partners at our fellow agencies in the City Council, in Albany. We will go wherever we have to go to deliver for tenants in this city. We are here to make sure that the majority has their voice in the places it needs to be. And that means better elevator service in our vertical city; enforcement actions against bad actors; and actually having teeth and creating a regulatory environment that incentivizes property owners to properly take care of their buildings. Thank you. So, thank you, Mr. Mayor, DM, to my fellow commissioners. We're excited to have the blueprint, and now, we're excited get to work.
Executive Director Weaver: So, many years ago, Commissioner Levy hired me into my very first tenant organizing job - not that many years ago, but many years ago. And that tenant organization still exists. And I'm really proud to invite up a tenant leader from HOPE Tenants Union, Toni Marrero.
Antonia Marrero, Member, HOPE Tenant Union: Good morning, everybody. My name is Antonia Marrero. And I am thrilled to be a member of the HOPE Tenant Union -Housing Organizers for People's Empowerment. HOPE facilitates tenant unity; HOPE offers civic education; and HOPE insists on the high road, the path of justice and housing for all. I was honored to participate in this year's Rental Ripoff Hearings. And I want to thank Michael Tiger, general counsel of the NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, who listened to my testimony and welcomed my questions with kindness. Mayor Mamdani's Rental Ripoff Hearings will echo for generations the way the lessons of this, our Tenement Museum, have increasingly resonated for generations.
When I think about hope, I think about Shakespeare. In the comedy Measure for Measure - set in Vienna, a city famous for its social housing - the character Isabella talks about the political machine. She says, "Authority, though it err like others, hath yet a kind of medicine in itself that skins the vice or the top." Isabella, the novice nuns and this, is saying that kings, landlords, bishops, judges and inspectors - all of these powerful figures are subject to mistakes. But because they have power, their mistakes have very little in the way of consequences, at least little consequences to them. But Sister Isabella also says, "Go to your bosom, knock there, and ask your heart what it doth know." What my heart knows is that we are living in an epic chapter of history. An epic is not a romance; it's not a melodrama. An epic the story of a new order. Our city is turning the corner on tenant power. When we organize, we win results. The Mamdani administration is emboldening us so that we no longer tolerate the violence of evictions as a matter of business as usual.
My landlord owns dozens of buildings, but he is not a steward of the public trust. In fact, it is the opposite. Since 2005, I survived three faulty eviction cases. I've lost three friends to eviction, two of whom lived on my floor. And for the past year - year and a half - our supportive housing neighbors have been dissuaded from joining our fledgling tenant union. But today's report shows there is a path forward. I am grateful for Mayor Mamdani's leadership; his commitment to improving our housing quality and holding low road landlords accountable; and the commitment to having tenant leaders - not just real estate leaders and bankers - but tenant leaders at the decision-making table.
Mayor Mamdani's Rental Ripoff Hearings will be remembered in the book of Lady Liberty, whose torch beacons the homeless the tempest tossed to our shores. So, the greatest cosmopolis of interdependent neighborhoods that the world has ever known will set a new standard of what humanity can achieve when we prioritize collaboration over dominion; when we prioritize love over profit. And to me, this man will always be Mayor Cardamom. Thank you, everyone.
Mayor Mamdani: Thank you very much. Yes, so just before we start any questions I do want to talk about the air quality. As New Yorkers can see, and in some neighborhoods as New Yorkers can smell, smoke from the Canadian wildfires is over our city. What the experts say is that today is expected to be the worst day of this event. The state has forecast air quality in the unhealthy range for the New York City region, and I want to be clear about what that word means in this instance. At unhealthy levels, everyone, not just people with asthma and heart conditions, not just older adults, everyone may feel health effects. So today, every New Yorker should take precautions. Limit your time outdoors, especially strenuous activity.
We have made free KN95 masks available at hundreds of locations city-wide, including libraries, police precincts and a number of firehouses. Go to on.nyc.gov/freemask, and you'll find a map of where to pick one up. Or call 311. You can also text NOTIFYNYC to 692-692 so we can reach you if conditions change. And do try and check on your neighbors through it all. We will keep you updated through the day. These are conditions that we know are also coming at the same time as a heat emergency for New Yorkers. So, it is very important to stay up to date, to stay prepared and to respond with your safety as the most important thing, because that is what it is for City government as well. Thank you.
Question: I wanted to ask a little bit about the phases in which the reports, findings and results are going to roll out. There's a good legend in it that said some of these are administrative, some of this are legal, some of these were gonna require City Council buy in. What's the method from MOPT to get buy in from the City Council on the myriad things that you're hoping to get done with this, and when does that process start? Has it already started before the report was released? Is this a bringing them in situation, how does that work?
Mayor Mamdani: So, one thing we are fortunate to have in this city is that there is a broad coalition that understands the urgency of this work and the necessity of it. And so, when we are speaking to our partners, whether it be those who serve in the City Council or beyond that, about the importance of tackling the root causes of mold, of ensuring that we are finally bringing the kinds of tenant protections that the city should have brought years ago, we are also oftentimes speaking to an audience that knows exactly what that means. I mean, you heard it just now that - from our DOB commissioner, it's not as if he had to sit there and listen to understand that these were issues; he grew up facing a lot of these issues himself. And I think the same is true for many others. So, I know that we've already started conversations with City Council members around the aspects of this report that require legislative action. What I will also say is there are other aspects of this report that can begin immediately. And we are going to look to take as fast of an approach as we can with every single recommendation that is here. I'm gonna pass it over to our executive director of the Mayor's Office to Protect Tenants to add any additional details.
Executive Director Weaver: Thank you, mayor. Thank you. So, we've begun productive conversations with Council Member Sanchez, who is, of course, the chair of the Housing and Buildings Committee. She's very excited to work with us [on this], and I'm grateful for her partnership and her leadership. And we expect that we'll be able to start meeting soon with the Council to be able to get some of these things drafted and then move through the legislative process.
Question: Is additional headcount for DOB or HPD inspectors something that was already a part of budget negotiations this previous cycle, or is that something that's built in? Like, is the money there to increase headcount for what you need to do after this report?
Mayor Mamdani: Yes.
Question: I have two questions; one is about the air quality and then one is about the World Cup. On the air quality, picking up on what you just said, how concerned are you that this is becoming sort of the new normal and do we need to move to some kind of stronger response than N95s are available at libraries and firehouses? How concerned are you that this becomes a much more emergent situation?
Mayor Mamdani: I'll be honest with you, whether we're speaking about the heat, whether we are speaking about the air quality, or whether we even speaking about the levels of rainwater and flooding in our city, I am concerned. And I'm concerned because what we see is that the climate crisis exacerbates so much of what our city is facing. And what we want to do is take every single short-term measure that we can. But as you also say, looking to medium- and long-term measures to ensure that we can continue to provide safety to New Yorkers, even amidst these kinds of challenging conditions.
One thing that I would underline is in our city, we pride ourselves on being resilient. Today is not a day to say, "In spite of the air quality, I'm gonna do everything I was gonna do yesterday." This is very serious; we are reaching into a level of air quality that is dangerous for every single New Yorker. And so yes, it is masks, but also it is to stay indoors, whereas otherwise you might have been outdoors. If you were thinking that today would be the day that you would finally take that run, let it be tomorrow. This is a day where this is a serious impact, and it's coming alongside temperatures in the mid-90 degrees, which also is something that needs to be treated with seriousness given that we know that our city loses about 500 New Yorkers a year to the effects of heat.
Question: On the World Cup, Spain versus Argentina - who are you rooting for and why?
Mayor Mamdani: Man, everyone I root for has lost, so I feel like whoever I say is going to lose at this point. What I will say is it's been an incredible World Cup, and as someone who likes to think of myself as technologically fluent and able to spot AI versus a real image, I thought that the image of Lionel Messi and Lamine Yamal was AI. I don't know if you've seen this image, but Lamine Yamal was picked out of a number of different children for a photo to be bathed by Lionel Messi when he was a child. There's a photo of Lionel Messi and Lamine Yamal as a baby being bathed in a bathtub, and now those two are going to face off this Sunday in New York City and New Jersey, and it's pretty incredible. So, I'm excited, I'm gonna say the classic politician answer: [I'm] excited for a good game.
Question: It's sort of an on- and off-topic question. I wanted to get an update on the building that had the two columns that almost collapsed, if the DOB commissioner is still here.
[Crosstalk.]
And then I kind of had related sort of to the Rental Ripoff [report], you know, many smaller landlords are having issues keeping up with their buildings. You have proposed some ideas to help them with that. I wonder where are those proposals at as of today? Because I know that there are good landlords in the city and they want to do well. So yes, those are my two questions.
Mayor Mamdani: There are many good landlords, and in fact, my former landlord was one of them before I moved into where I currently live, at Gracie Mansion. I knew their name first as an LLC, and then I met them after I became the mayor. They came up to me on the street. They said, "Oh, it's great to meet you." So, one of the things that we have heard from landlords, especially landlords of affordable housing, is that the skyrocketing cost of insurance has been a real burden for them to be able to keep up with. I think we've seen estimates that go beyond even 100 percent increase for the cost of insurance. And so, I really want to credit our deputy mayor for housing and planning for spearheading the creation of a first of its kind city-backed insurance fund that will invest $100 million over three years to provide landlords with a far more affordable option to insurance costs that then make it much easier for them maintain their buildings and actually move forward on the maintenance of these buildings and being stewards of these buildings. And this comes back to the fact that when we talk about an affordability agenda, we're not picking and choosing as to who it's for. We're looking to address costs for every New Yorker, and that also includes insurance costs for landlords. I'm gonna pass it over to Deputy Mayor Bozorg to add details on the updates to the Pfizer Building.
Deputy Mayor Bozorg: Yeah, I'll just add in addition to the city-backed insurance program, the housing plan that we released block by block does have another of a series of other initiatives that are really aimed at helping to bring the operating costs for buildings down initiatives like tools and happy to share more details on that. Um, but a lot of it is in the housing plan, um, on the Pfizer building, uh, we are working in a DOB, um. And the contractors are working, um to finalize and complete the enclosure and the netting that is necessary. To protect the northern side of the building as work continues and is underway. We are working with them to monitor that enclosure. Once that is done, DOB inspectors will go back and inspect that work, make sure it complied with the designs and plans for that enclosure, and that's when we will then reassess whether it's safe enough to reopen the street and lift the vacates on surrounding buildings.
Question: So, I have two questions. The first, I want to know are you willing to veto council legislation that's expected to come up for a vote today that would give public school teaching assistants one-time lump sum payments? I know you've expressed concerns about that bill. And then my second question [is] on air quality. You recently signed an executive order protecting workers amidst extreme heat. Do you think those same workers should have protections when the air is unhealthy?
Mayor Mamdani: We believe that workers should have protections at all times. And we have sent out guidance across the city for the actions that employers as well as city agencies should be taking at this time, because again, we're talking about an air quality index that is now [unhealthy] for everyone. And we know that there are some New Yorkers who have the luxury of making a choice as to where they want to spend their time. There are others for whom their work site is outside. And so, we are making sure that that is something that is being clearly communicated across city agencies, across our city as well.
To your first question, I want to first just underline the importance of paraprofessionals in our city, in our education system. The work that they do is critical. I've also said that I believe that this is a matter that is best treated at the bargaining table and we will see what the City Council does, but those are my thoughts on the matter.
[Crosstalk.]
Question: Got a campaign question. I know you made it clear, you're only gonna weigh into the city races that you've already gotten involved in, but I have one about New York-17 and your old friend from the New York Assembly, Mike Lawler. You know him pretty well, perhaps better than a lot of democratic operatives. I'm curious: What do you think is the key for Democrats to winning that race this cycle?
Mayor Mamdani: You know, I think that Mike Lawler's record speaks for itself, and I think the more focus there is on that record, the easier the choice it is for voters in that district.
Question: What kind of poker player was he?
Mayor Mamdani: He was all right.
Question: Okay, two questions. One of them is about soccer, but we'll start with the other one.
[Crosstalk.]
So, what's the city doing about the homeless encampment on Manhattan's West Side? There's been no removals for two and a half weeks, so what's going on there?
Mayor Mamdani: Yeah, so I want to be very clear the site has been noticed and it will be cleared, and as with any site, once we notice there is seven days, until the point of clearing, each of those seven days is characterized by outreach from city workers looking to connect those who are present with services, whether it be services at a shelter, medical services or supportive services beyond that.
Question: Which day will be the seventh day?
Mayor Mamdani: We can get back to you on that.
Question: But you don't know? It's a 13-block homeless encampment.
Mayor Mamdani: I don't know which day is the seventh day.
Question: And then soccer question. So, we thought you were holding a pick-up soccer game, but now you're saying that "[the] air quality and heat is too bad, don't go outside, don't stress yourself." So, is that a bad example?
Mayor Mamdani: Of the pickup soccer game this evening? That's going to be indoors. Not the - the game is not going to be played indoors, but we'll just be gathering.
Question: Oh, so there's not a pickup soccer game?
Mayor Mamdani: We're going to be having people indoors at Gracie Mansion to celebrate the end of this event.
Question: So, City and State reported, I believe, this morning that you're not going to be participating in the Matching Funds Program. I'm wondering: Are you likewise going to reject super PAC support? I know you've spoken negatively about super PACs, but you did accept support from them in the, this past election. So ,would you do that in 2029?
Mayor Mamdani: I'll be honest with you, the only decisions I've made when it comes to 2029 have been the ones that we have to declare with the Campaign Finance Board at this early stage. One of those, as you said, is whether or not to participate in the matching funds program. The matching funds program was critical in my race to becoming the mayor of our city. What we also saw in that same race was the amount of money that was spent in opposition to our campaign far dwarf what we were able to raise and spend through the program. And so, this is a decision we've made to look to narrow the gap between the resources that we would be able to raise and spend and those that we know will be marshaled in opposition.
Question: So, you don't think you'll have rich people on your side in 2029?
Mayor Mamdani: I don't know who I'll have on my side in 2029. I just hope that the work that we do between now and then speaks for itself.
Question: And then I had a second question if the City Council passes this pay raise bill. I know you've said you won't accept.
Mayor Mamdani: I will not accept a pay raise.
Question: Can you just elaborate on why?
Mayor Mamdani: I just - I haven't knocked on anyone's door in New York City, and they've said their concern is that the mayor makes too little. So, that's not my concern either.
Question: [Inaudible.]
Mayor Mamdani: Like, it won't be mine. If it was mine, then that would mean I would be excited.
Question: Where would you like to see that money go, if it's not going to your pockets?
Mayor Mamdani: To go to the pockets of those who are struggling in this city. Thank you all so much.
