{"id":8460,"date":"2026-09-09T10:12:22","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T10:12:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=8460"},"modified":"2026-09-09T10:12:22","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T10:12:22","slug":"mamdani-is-twisting-the-law-to-socialist-limits-and-youre-his-next-target","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=8460","title":{"rendered":"Mamdani is twisting the law to socialist limits \u2014 and you’re his next target"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Mayor Zohran Mamdani is abusing the apparatus of city government to crush landlords and seize their property, violating state law, the US Constitution and fundamental fairness.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more Exclusive | Homeschooling explodes 200% in NYC as frustrated families reject Big Apple\u2019s failing public school system<\/a><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re not a landlord, you may think this doesn\u2019t affect you \u2014 but think again.<\/p>\n

Landlords are just the first: Anyone who owns anything is in this socialist mayor\u2019s crosshairs.<\/p>\n

He ignores the limits of government power and his duty to govern for all the people.<\/p>\n

As evidence of the danger ahead, see\u00a0Mamdani\u2019s\u00a0new Office of Worker Power, announced on Labor Day.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a first-in-the-nation municipal initiative to push unionization on private-sector workers \u2014 and to launch labor-law investigations of nonunionized workplaces, whether there have been complaints or not.<\/p>\n

Businesses large and small should take a close look at the mayor\u2019s anti-landlord agenda, because a similar playbook is being prepped for them.<\/p>\n

Mamdani unveiled his Block by Block housing initiative on May 26, calling it a \u201csweeping blueprint to tackle New York City\u2019s deepening housing crisis.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n

But most of the \u201cplan\u201d called for hyper-aggressive code enforcement against \u201cnegligent\u201d property owners.<\/p>\n

Weeks later, Hizzoner and his newly created Office of Mass Engagement \u2014 his taxpayer-funded $53 million staff of information ministers \u2014 launched his\u00a0\u201cTalk to Tenants\u201d campaign,\u00a0sending armies of Democratic Socialists of America volunteers door to door, mobilizing tenants to organize against their landlords.<\/p>\n

Says Office of Mass Engagement head Tascha Van Auken,\u00a0\u201cBy knocking on doors and connecting tenants with organizing resources, we\u2019re helping New Yorkers build the collective power to hold negligent landlords accountable.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

And elect more Democratic Socialists, of course.<\/p>\n

This is the DSA version of Tammany Hall, the political machine that saw Boss Tweed turn the city\u2019s police and fire departments into political armies.<\/p>\n

It was illegal then, and it\u2019s still wrong today: Tweed was convicted of stealing taxpayers\u2019 money and died in jail.<\/p>\n

In Mamdani\u2019s version, his Office of Mass Engagement is masterminding a torrent of tenant complaints to trigger court action against landlords.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In April, Hizzoner\u00a0dressed up as a Housing and Preservation Department inspector\u00a0(no kidding) to create a social-media post pushing tenants to call 311 with complaints \u2014 legitimate or not.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cNo issue is too small,\u201d he boasted, suggesting renters could alert the city to issues as minor as a tiny crack in the plaster or a flowerpot in the corner of another tenant\u2019s fire escape.<\/p>\n

Read more I\u2019m a Muslim doctor who treats 9\/11 victims \u2014 why I\u2019m outraged by Hasan Piker\u2019s venom<\/a><\/p>\n

(Somebody should tell the mayor it\u2019s illegal to call in false complaints, or to encourage others to do so.)<\/p>\n

Mamdani\u2019s dirty tricks are working, legal or not: Complaints are surging compared to last year.<\/p>\n

Clogged toilets are up 500% \u2014 and not because of\u00a0contaminated lettuce.<\/p>\n

When a tenant calls 311, HPD contacts the owner; if it isn\u2019t remedied promptly \u2014 and a flood of complaints will make that harder \u2014 the city sends an inspector who can issue a violation.<\/p>\n

Violations trigger court action. That\u2019s the goal.<\/p>\n

Hizzoner\u2019s Block by Block housing blueprint states, \u201cWe will take aggressive legal action\u00a0to remove negligent owners and property managers\u201d and transfer ownership to \u201cresponsible stewards.\u201d `<\/p>\n

In other words, outright confiscation, violating the Takings Clause of the Constitution\u2019s Fifth Amendment.<\/p>\n

On Aug. 30 Mamdani\u00a0announced\u00a0his new Housing Court Fast Track, expediting court access for tenants only, not for landlords.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This one-sided access violates landlords\u2019 due-process rights, as well as their constitutional right to equal protection under the law.<\/p>\n

About 80% of housing-court cases relate to unpaid rent, and landlords must wait up to\u00a050\u00a0days for a court date to try to collect.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mamdani offers them no relief.<\/p>\n

But tenants in buildings with city-defined \u201chazardous conditions\u201d are guaranteed immediate access.<\/p>\n

Courts have repeatedly ruled that landlords and tenants should have equal access to justice.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When New Jersey\u2019s Gloucester Township tried to give tenants but not landlords access to appeals courts in the late 1980s, a state court struck the arrangement down as a violation of the building owners\u2019 rights.<\/p>\n

The US Supreme Court ruled in 2021 that New York City could not adopt a COVID-era eviction moratorium without giving landlords a chance to challenge tenants\u2019 claims of financial hardship.<\/p>\n

Under the Constitution, justice must be even-handed.<\/p>\n

But Mamdani has no interest in governing evenhandedly.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s brushed off questions about property owners who struggle to afford the cost of fixing endless violations:\u00a0\u201cIf a landlord is not able to follow the law,\u201d he sniffed, \u201cthen they should not be a landlord of that property.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

He plainly doesn\u2019t want to be a mayor for all<\/em> the people \u2014\u00a0tenants and landlords, workers and employers.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t just stand by as Mamdani twists the law to pummel landlords:\u00a0You\u2019re next.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s time to demand legal action, starting with a call for a Justice Department investigation into these unconstitutional tactics.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more Drunk Florida driver crashes into parked car, punches owner \u2014 tells cops \u2018I thought we were friends\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

Bring in the feds.<\/p>\n

Betsy McCaughey is a former lieutenant governor of New York.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Betsy McCaughey warns that Zohran Mamdani is using aggressive programs like Block by Block to target NYC landlords and seize private property.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8459,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-betsy-mccaughey","category-opinion"],"yoast_head":"\nMamdani is twisting the law to socialist limits \u2014 and you're his next target - 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=8460\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mamdani is twisting the law to socialist limits \u2014 and you're his next target - 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