Rent hikes up to 4.5% passes + the real estate industry mobilizes against Zohran
No. 434 | Monday, July 7, 2025
The Thorn is published weekly by the Electoral Working Group of the NYC Democratic Socialists of America.
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Local News
The Rent Guidelines Board voted for a rent hike up to 4.5% on two-year leases that will take effect on October 1. Under the Adams administration, the board has raised rents by a total of 9% over the past three years.
The largely ceremonial role of Borough Presidents may change. A 13-member commission appointed by Mayor Adams has proposed a ballot question that would empower Borough Presidents as members of an “appeals board” with the authority to overrule the City Council on land-use decisions.
In 2019, Allan Feliz, a 31-year-old Washington Heights resident, was killed by Lt. Jonathan Rivera during a routine traffic stop. Last week, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch overruled a departmental judge’s recommendation to fire Rivera, who since the shooting, was promoted to lieutenant.
Congress has passed Trump’s “one big beautiful bill” which cuts Medicaid by nearly $1 trillion dollars, along with other cuts to public assistance programs. An estimated 1.5 million New Yorkers could lose their Medicaid coverage and become uninsured.
Congestion pricing is on track to raise $500 million in revenue, which will ensure the MTA can move forward with necessary capital improvements to subways, buses, and the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North Railroad systems.
A New York judge strikes down Governor Hochul’s suspension of the Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary Confinement Act, or HALT Act, which was a key concession during a 3-week wildcat strike by corrections officers across the state earlier this year.
New York City is allocating $14 million towards gender-affirming care and services in the newly approved city budget, which is the largest budget investment targeting transgender and gender nonconforming people according to advocates.
Immigrant New Yorkers are now being held in federal jails, such as the Metropolitan Detention Center in Sunset Park, as the Trump administration contends with overcrowded immigrant detention facilities.
Election News
Zohran Mamdani’s surprising upset in last month’s Democratic mayoral primary has the real estate industry anxious about his pro-tenant messaging. As Cea Weaver, director of the newly formed New York State Tenant Bloc and longtime tenant advocate, points out “While Cuomo was every landlord’s favorite candidate, Zohran ran aggressively for the tenant majority, putting rental costs front and center in his campaign’s message.” NYS Focus produced data visualizations of how renter-majority districts favored Mamdani in the democratic primary.
Wealthy donors are abandoning former Governor Cuomo’s mayoral campaign and coalescing around Eric Adams as the favored challenger to Zohran Mamdani. Bill Ackman, the hedge fund billionaire who donated $500k to Cuomo, is backing Adams in the general election.
Tascha Van Auken, Zohran Mamdani’s field director, explains how a 50k volunteer operation was instrumental to the campaign’s success.
In an election postmortem, the NYT attributes Mamdani’s successful upset to an alliance among the progressive mayoral candidates and Cuomo’s halfhearted campaign.
A new exit poll shows voters embracing Mamdani’s approach to public safety, which prioritizes investment in social services and rejects a “tough on crime” approach.
Ritchie Torres is not running for governor, a decision that may have been influenced by Mamdani’s victory.
Trump declared support for Adams’ bid for reelection while threatening to arrest and deport Zohran Mamdani, calling him a “communist” and questioning Mamdani’s legal status.
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