{"id":5239,"date":"2026-07-24T10:08:55","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T10:08:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=5239"},"modified":"2026-07-24T10:08:55","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T10:08:55","slug":"comptroller-mark-levines-truth-telling-could-make-him-the-real-anti-mamdani","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=5239","title":{"rendered":"Comptroller Mark Levine’s truth telling could make him the real anti-Mamdani"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Someone must\u2019ve slipped truth serum into the Municipal Building\u2019s water, because city Comptroller Mark Levine\u2019s rash of honesty is starting to make him seem like city government\u2019s true anti-Mamdani.<\/p>\n

Read more Illinois worker trapped inside 130-foot-tall gas station sign for nearly 7 hours \u2014 but still manages to give thumbs up<\/a><\/p>\n

Levine, a Democrat who endorsed<\/em> Zohran Mamdani for mayor, committed a brazen act of candor Sunday when he blasted New York rent laws for fueling the housing crisis.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just have a shortage of supply of homes,\u201d argued the comptroller. Yet \u201cin rent-stabilized buildings, we have tens of thousands of apartments\u201d sitting vacant because the laws make it too difficult for landlords to rent these units.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen an apartment becomes vacant\u201d and needs \u201cexpensive renovations,\u201d owners aren\u2019t allowed \u201cto raise their rent enough to cover the cost\u201d \u2014 so they have to let them sit idle.<\/p>\n

Bingo. It\u2019s an utter no-brainer (we\u2019ve often made that same point), yet city and state lawmakers insist on ignoring it.<\/p>\n

Good for Levine for demanding landlords get greater \u201cflexibilities\u201d to recover renovation costs.<\/p>\n

Kudos, too, for stating another housing truth: It \u201ccosts too damn much\u201d to build new apartments in the city, thanks to local policies.<\/p>\n

Government \u201chas so many rules and regulations,\u201d grumbles Levine. <\/p>\n

He might\u2019ve also noted that Mamdani\u2019s rent freeze is driving vacancy rates ever lower, and market-rate rents ever higher \u2014 making it nearly impossible to find an affordable apartment.<\/p>\n

Read more Sorry, haters, Christopher Nolan\u2019s Odysseus is no wimp \u2014 but a hero for our times<\/a><\/p>\n

But this isn\u2019t the first time Levine has displayed anti-Zo frankness.<\/p>\n

In contrast to the mayor\u2019s boasts that he closed a $12 billion budget gap, Levine warns the city is still spending more than it takes in and this year\u2019s budget is \u201cbalanced\u201d only with Band-Aid solutions, like one-time cash infusions and borrowing, that\u2019ll create ever-bigger shortfalls later on.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Levine also spoke plainly about the logic of investing the city\u2019s pension funds in Israel bonds, a position Mamdani \u2014 who supports the Boycott, Divest, Sanctions movement \u2014 opposes.<\/p>\n

The comptroller\u2019s \u201cNo. 1 responsibility,\u201d Levine notes, is to \u201cmaintain a healthy pension fund\u201d that \u201cprotects the finances of our retirees,\u201d and \u201cIsrael bonds have been an extremely solid investment.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also points to the lack of any gripes over city investments in countries with truly<\/em> dubious human-rights records: China, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia. . . .<\/p>\n

No, we\u2019re not expecting Levine to launch all-out political war against the mayor any time soon (not before the next election cycle, anyway).<\/p>\n

But if New York\u2019s Zocialists start targeting Levine for defeat, you\u2019ll know his truth telling has hit home.<\/p>\n

Read more Hundreds of Howard University freshmen unenrolled over unpaid bills weeks before fall semester<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

City Comptroller Mark Levine, a Democrat who endorsed Zohran Mamdani for mayor, committed a brazen act of candor Sunday when he blasted New York rent laws for fueling the housing crisis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5238,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion"],"yoast_head":"\nComptroller Mark Levine's truth telling could make him the real anti-Mamdani - Metro Transit Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=5239\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Comptroller Mark Levine's truth telling could make him the real anti-Mamdani - 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