On Thursday, the day Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s rent freeze took full effect, the property owners suing to overturn it revealed some startling evidence.<\/p>\n
Their attorneys released hundreds of texts and emails that top Mamdani aides exchanged with members of the Rent Guidelines Board, which the court forced the city to produce.<\/p>\n
Mamdani ran explicitly on delivering 0% rent adjustments<\/a> on rent-stabilized apartments for four consecutive years.<\/p>\n The power to set stabilized rents rests wholly with the RGB \u2014 not the mayor.<\/p>\n Yet Mamdani promoted his signature promise with various social-media stunts, including a New Year\u2019s Day polar plunge off Coney Island.<\/p>\n He vowed to appoint only RGB members who understood landlords are \u201cdoing just fine.\u201d<\/p>\n After taking office, he named six of the board\u2019s nine members, including Chair Chantella Mitchell.<\/p>\n Mamdani then started repeatedly referring to the RGB<\/a> as an \u201cindependent board\u201d \u2014 a tacit admission that City Hall has no business meddling in its deliberations.<\/p>\n Even as he touted the board\u2019s independence, however, at least eight top administration officials were communicating with RGB members and staff, according to the evidence produced in court.<\/p>\n Chief among them was Arvind Sindhwani, deputy chief of staff to Deputy Mayor Leila Bozorg, who was in touch with the RGB more than 100 times \u2014 with Mitchell as his main contact.<\/p>\n On Feb. 28, Sindhwani asked the RGB chair to move the date of the board\u2019s preliminary vote from April 30 to May 7.<\/p>\n Days later, Mitchell reported that \u201call members are good for 5\/7,\u201d and the vote occurred on that date.<\/p>\n On March 9, Sindhwani asked to review the list of speakers and groups invited to testify before the board.<\/p>\n He asked Mitchell to discuss it with him before she finalized the list, and she kept him updated.<\/p>\n Why would an independent board run its speaker list past City Hall?<\/p>\n Then on June 16, the public\u2019s last day to submit testimony and hours before the final public hearing, Mitchell emailed Sindhwani a draft of the board\u2019s explanatory statement \u2014 which wound up being essentially the same as its final statement.<\/p>\n In other words, the board\u2019s findings were written before all the testimony was received.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Mitchell offered special treatment to the Mayor\u2019s Office of Equity and Racial Justice, allowing it to submit additional evidence beyond the June 16 written-testimony deadline.<\/p>\n She asked to receive the office\u2019s written testimony by June 19, but it didn\u2019t even submit its materials on the \u201cTrue Cost of Living\u201d until June 24 \u2014 the day before the vote.<\/p>\n A truly independent RGB wouldn\u2019t need such extensive collaboration with the mayor\u2019s team.<\/p>\n After all, the board has its own budget and its own staff, including an executive director and two full-time researchers.<\/p>\n Its legal structure is designed to shield it from political pressure, to ensure its decisions balance the interests of owners, tenants and the public at large.<\/p>\n The mayor may appoint the members, but he can only remove them for cause (except the chair, whom he can fire at will).<\/p>\n The city\u2019s administrative code requires the RGB to weigh operating costs, property taxes, financing, vacancy rates and other economic factors.<\/p>\n The idea is to set increases that give owners enough capital to keep buildings in good repair and assure tenants they won\u2019t face dramatic rent hikes, while accounting for broader economic conditions.<\/p>\n Mamdani ran on a promise to turn that careful balance into a sham process that he controlled.<\/p>\n Christina Smyth, an Eric Adams appointee who resigned from the RGB<\/a> in protest the morning of the vote, called this year\u2019s deliberations \u201ctheater.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tGet opinions and commentary from our columnists\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSubscribe to our daily Post Opinion newsletter!\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n The record, she wrote, was \u201cbeing built to fit a decision that was made before the first hearing was held.\u201d<\/p>\n These court documents back her up.<\/p>\n In the end, the RGB never explained why a freeze was justified.<\/p>\n Its explanatory statement lists data, studies and testimony \u2014 but doesn\u2019t offer a rationale for setting a 0% increase<\/a> despite mounting owner costs.<\/p>\n A biased, prejudged and unreasoned decision shouldn\u2019t receive the deference that courts usually give administrative bodies.<\/p>\n If the court allows the freeze to stand, mayors will control future rent adjustments.<\/p>\n