{"id":335329,"date":"2026-09-01T22:46:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T22:46:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/335329\/"},"modified":"2026-09-01T22:46:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T22:46:09","slug":"city-councilmembers-grill-mayor-mamdanis-controversial-choice-for-city-zoning-board","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/335329\/","title":{"rendered":"City councilmembers grill Mayor Mamdani’s controversial choice for city zoning board"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mayor Mamdani\u2019s controversial pick to lead a city zoning board<\/a> was grilled at a hearing on Tuesday by city councilmembers concerned he would limit their power over housing and land-use issues.<\/p>\n

During the two-and-a-half-hour hearing, councilmembers questioned John Mangin\u2019s prior statements about homeownership and his role in pushing ballot initiatives forward<\/a> that would have taken away some of Council\u2019s power.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe feel like some of them were a little hostile to us, and how we see our powers,\u201d Deputy Speaker Nantasha Williams said of last year\u2019s ballot questions Mangin oversaw as policy director for the Charter Revision Commission, adding that she felt the Council\u2019s role in housing production wasn\u2019t \u201creally appreciated.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe that the Council absolutely retains its central role in housing and planning and land use in the city with a couple minor adjustments in order to make projects happen that could not happen under the previous system,\u201d Mangin told Williams.<\/p>\n

\"CouncilCouncil Member Nantasha Williams is pictured in 2024. (Emil Cohen \/ NYC Council Media Unit)<\/p>\n

In June, the mayor selected Mangin, the director of the Department of City Planning\u2019s<\/a> housing division, to chair the Board of Standards and Appeals, an independent city agency that handles zoning, land use and building code disputes. Mangin needs at least half of the council\u2019s 51 members to approve the appointment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I\u2019m confirmed, I believe I can make that system fairer, more responsive, more transparent, all while supporting affordable housing across the city,\u201d Mangin said in his testimony.<\/p>\n

Chief among councilmembers\u2019 concerns was Mangin\u2019s leading role on a Charter Revision Commission<\/a> convened by ex-Mayor Adams last year. That commission advanced measures to the ballot aimed at speeding up housing production, including one that gave the BSA more authority to approve housing projects.<\/p>\n

The Council stood firmly against those ballot proposals, arguing they took away the Council\u2019s power over land use decisions and reduced neighborhood input.<\/p>\n

In the weeks leading up to the hearing, Mangin has met privately with several councilmembers and Speaker Julie Menin. Critics have also pointed to a piece of Mangin\u2019s writing where he addressed what he called \u201cwealthy homeowner cartels\u201d that fight new housing development in their area.<\/p>\n

\"SpeakerSpeaker Julie Menin is pictured during a press conference at City Hall on June 30, 2026. (Emil Cohen \/ NYC Council Media Unitt)<\/p>\n

Pressed on this article, published in 2014 in the Stanford Law and Policy Review, by Councilmember Chris Banks, Mangin clarified that he\u2019s a \u201chuge supporter\u201d of home ownership and that the reference to cartels is a \u201cdescriptive term from fair housing literature,\u201d not something he himself came up with.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe brings deep experience in housing policy and law, along with nearly two decades of working alongside communities and stakeholders across New York City,\u201d Casey Berkovitz, a spokesperson for City Hall, said in a statement. \u201cWe look forward to continuing our conversations with the City Council about our shared goals for building more housing ahead of its vote on his nomination.\u201d<\/p>\n

Housing advocates pushed for Mangin\u2019s confirmation during the hearing, including with a sign-on letter<\/a> from the New York State Association for Affordable Housing, New York Housing Conference and the Citizens Housing and Planning Council.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur government must use every tool to build more affordable housing, quickly,\u201d\u00a0Annemarie Gray, Executive Director at Open New York, said in testimony. \u201cWith his deep technical expertise and exceptional experience working with communities across the city to plan for fairer and more affordable housing, John Mangin has the qualifications to do just that at BSA.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mayor Mamdani\u2019s controversial pick to lead a city zoning board was grilled at a hearing on Tuesday by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":335330,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[126047,1445,75,84,83,9,24,63],"class_list":["post-335329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manhattan","tag-john-mangin","tag-mamdani","tag-manhattan","tag-manhattan-headlines","tag-manhattan-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=335329"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335329\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/335330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=335329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=335329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=335329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}