The city’s coffers are facing some serious trouble.
“We cannot have it such that a New Yorker will go to sleep on a Friday and wonder if on a Saturday their basic services will be in doubt,” Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Friday.
What You Need To Know
According to a report from new City Comptroller Mark Levine, the city is facing an over $12 billion budget gap over the next two fiscal years starting in July
The comptroller and the mayor laid the blame on mismanagement by former administrations
Also on Friday, a judge approved the sale of thousands of rent-stabilized apartments over the objections of the Mamdani administration
According to a report from new City Comptroller Mark Levine, the city is facing an over $12 billion budget gap over the next two fiscal years starting in July.
The comptroller and the mayor laid the blame on mismanagement by former administrations.
“It is a reflection of the budget practices of the previous administration, who just underestimated expenses and pushed them into the future, and now we’re really paying the price,” Levine said.
“What we are inheriting is not just an administration that exhibited incredible fiscal mismanagement but also a decades-long effort from former Governor [Andrew] Cuomo to pilfer from city coffers on each and every turn,” Mamdani said.
The city’s rocky fiscal future only added another headache for the mayor.
On Friday afternoon, a judge approved the sale of thousands of rent-stabilized apartments over the objections of the Mamdani administration.
Lawyers for the city had argued that the buyer, Summit Properties, had an “egregious track record as an NYC landlord” with thousands of open violations for things like mold, leaks and infestations.
Despite the pushback, Summit Properties was able to purchase the units as part of a 93-building portfolio for $451 million.
The ruling handed Mamdani and his administration a blow to one of their top campaigns.
In a statement, Cea Weaver, the director of the Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants, said: “This decision does not mark the end of scrutiny on the Pinnacle Group or Summit Properties. The City of New York is going to continue to hold both landlords accountable to the law, support the Union of Pinnacle Tenants, and work to protect all of New York’s tenants in their fight for dignified, safe, and affordable housing.”
A lawyer for Pinnacle, which sold the building in a bankruptcy auction, said: “The company, its independent chief restructuring officers and advisors appreciate the court’s recognition that this outcome, achieved in challenging circumstances, is the best available for all constituencies, and hopes the City does too.
The ruling came down just as the mayor was announcing a win for a different group of tenants.
“We, today, are announcing a multi-million-dollar settlement with this landlord to actually rectify these violations,” Mamdani said.
As part of the over $2 million settlement, A&E Real Estate will need to address the hazardous conditions across 14 buildings.
“If a landlord cannot get to that settlement and continues to operate outside of the law, then we will continue to hold them to account,” the mayor said.
“We will be very clear: safe, liveable housing is not a luxury. It is not a favor. It is an absolute right,” Dina Levy, the commissioner of the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, said.