Mayor-Elect Mamdani's To-Do List for New York City

Bloomberg

Watch Mayor-Elect Mamdani's To-Do List for New York City - Bloomberg on Dailymotion

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00:00What did New York just vote for?

00:02Well, I think, number one, we have to look at the fact that more voters came out to vote for mayor than we've seen in the 56 years,

00:10since 1969, which was my first election in New York when John Lindsay was elected on the liberal line, actually.

00:19So this was a big turnout, and I think it reflects the frustration of the New York City voters

00:28with a couple of things.

00:30Number one, the high cost of living and doing business in New York City,

00:35which Zoram and Mamdani spoke very effectively to.

00:40And it reflects frustration with a series of politicians who have disappointed New Yorkers.

00:49Those high marks in terms of how many people came out to vote was fueled by support of Mamdani,

00:55but also those that were against him.

00:57There's a lot in the business community that have a lot of concerns.

00:59Has he assuaged those concerns yet?

01:01I cannot say that he has assuaged those concerns completely.

01:05After the primary election, when everybody was shocked that he beat Andrew Cuomo by 13 points in that primary in June,

01:13he reached out, actually called me right away and said,

01:17tell me which business leaders I should meet with to learn from them

01:22and to show them that I'm not going to socialize their businesses.

01:25Who did you advise he'd meet with?

01:27I gave him a number of, I gave him a long list of people.

01:30I mean, our co-chairs of the partnership, Rob Speyer and Albert Burla,

01:34and Jamie Dimon, obviously, Larry Fink.

01:37Leaders from across, come up from across the industry,

01:40as well as the small business representatives,

01:42the Borough Chambers of Commerce,

01:44the Restaurant Hospitality Association, so a mix.

01:47We have a lot of reporting that what business leaders wanted to see was to him to tap Jessica Tish

01:51to continue to lead the NYPD, be the commissioner there.

01:54Is it your understanding that she's going to stay?

01:57Well, I think she's going to stay, and I will say that that was the number one priority.

02:03It was an important signal both to the business community about the public safety.

02:08As employers, they want the city to be safe, and Jessie has done a great job.

02:12They just announced this week that crime is down again this month, another 6.5% on her watch.

02:18So that was a big ask.

02:19And the fact that her family is iconic in the city's Jewish community,

02:23I think, was also another important piece of that.

02:27Mamdani did say that he would retain her.

02:31I know they have spoken.

02:33And she was not going, during the campaign,

02:36she was not going to make a commitment one way or the other

02:39because she doesn't think it's professional in her job as police commissioner to participate in campaigns.

02:46But I'm hopeful and optimistic that she will stay.

02:50She loves her job.

02:52She says her mission is not finished.

02:54So I'm very hopeful.

02:56You've been in the city a long time, tracked its politics,

02:58and been a nexus between business and the political sphere.

03:01And I'm just wondering if you've seen real evidence of people leaving the city

03:06in fear of higher taxes or some sort of regime that makes it less desirable for them.

03:13Well, people are leaving the city because of high costs in general,

03:17and taxes are part of that.

03:18And for those who think, and a big concern about our incoming mayor,

03:24is that he may think that somehow spending more government money

03:28is going to make the city more affordable when, in fact, it's exactly the opposite.

03:33City and state budget spending has gone up over 50 percent in the past decade,

03:37and that's driving our affordability crisis.

03:40So hopefully we will be successful in finding other ways to fund some of the new mayor's priorities.

03:48Is there any evidence that that's on his docket?

03:51Because he talked about raising taxes on the wealthiest individuals.

03:54He talked about paying for it that way.

03:55Is there any sense that there is some sort of awareness of the debt

03:59and sort of the debt cycle that cities can get into that can make things less affordable?

04:04Well, New York City has a legal debt limit.

04:07And we also, since the financial crisis of the 1970s,

04:11if the mayor gets too aggressive about his spending,

04:14a financial control board comes into place and the state takes over the city finances.

04:18So we don't have to worry about New York City going bankrupt again.

04:21So that's a check on that.

04:23In the conversations with him about the danger of raising taxes in terms of New York's competitiveness,

04:30I mean, right now, those of us professionals in New York are paying 55 percent of their income in taxes

04:36to federal, state, and city government.

04:38If you move to Florida or Texas, you're paying 38 percent.

04:41So that's a pretty big number that we have to take into consideration.

04:45So I think that he's going to become more practical as he sees the implications.

04:49He has said, I have my goals, I want to achieve them, but I'm wide open on how to do that.

04:56And that's an opening, I think, for business expertise to help him figure this out.

05:00Well, to achieve them, he says he's going to raise taxes.

05:02But Governor Hochul says, I can't lose any more people to Palm Beach, to your point, looking at the tax differentials.

05:07So can he even attempt to raise taxes without the governor on board?

05:10He cannot raise corporate or personal income taxes without, well, that's not a city prerogative.

05:18That is a state prerogative.

05:19He can raise real estate taxes, but he has said, as he's thought about the implications of freezing the rent,

05:26he has said he will actually do property tax reform and try and reduce taxes on rent-regulated commercial buildings,

05:33multifamily buildings.

05:34So I think that as we see who his appointments are and how he takes input on his appointments,

05:44last night I was very pleased that the tax word was not mentioned in his acceptance speech as mayor.

05:50So that was a good sign.

05:53And he also started out how he's going to achieve his goals is we're going to reduce the cost of government

05:59and reduce bureaucracy.

06:00So he's sounding more and more like Mike Bloomberg.

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