New York City's next mayor ran on freezing rent, free buses, and policies that are popular yet unrealistic (or illegal) setting the stage for years of lawsuits and funding fights.
Zohran Mamdani, New York City’s mayor elect, built his campaign on simple ideas. Freeze the rent. Free buses. City-run grocery stores. You know, free stuff. It was a powerful message for the 1,036,051 voters who handed him his victory on Tuesday, buoyed by the insane price of life in the Big Apple.
But can Mamdani actually do what he’s promised? Time and again, he’s been asked about the practical challenges inherent in his proposals — and time and again, he’s brushed them off. A closer look at his proposals makes it clear: they are sometimes illegal, sometimes unlikely, and almost all a bad idea.
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Charles Fain Lehman is a fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor of City Journal. John Ketcham is a fellow at the Manhattan Institute.
Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images