Tuesday marks the final day of voting in a contentious election season. City Limits spoke to residents about what they want the city’s next mayor to prioritize when taking office on Jan. 1. Submit yours, and we’ll share these with whoever takes office at City Hall next year.
Some of the New Yorkers City Limits has spoken to so far say they want the next mayor to lower the cost of rent and housing, provide more resources for youth, improve city shelters and more. (Adi Talwar/City Limits)
Tuesday marks the final day of voting in a contentious New York City election season. After a crowded Democratic primary in June, voters this week can choose between three leading candidates to be the city’s next mayor: former Gov. Andrew Cuomo (running as an independent), Democratic nominee and State Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani, and Republican Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa.
More than 735,000 residents have already cast their ballots via early voting—a record high for a non-presidential election year, according to the New York Times.
RELATED READING: The Candidates for Mayor On Housing, Zoning and NYCHA
For the last several weeks, City Limits has been talking to New York City residents about what they want the next mayor to prioritize when taking office on Jan. 1. We spoke to renters, NYCHA tenants, people who’ve experienced homelessness and others about their top issues on their minds. We heard an array of answers, among them public safety, resources for seniors and youth, and the high cost of living in one of the most expensive cities in the world.
Want to submit your own? Upload a video here, or send us a written answer here. We may include them in our future reporting. Either way, we’ll share the responses we receive with whichever candidate ends up taking over at City Hall come Jan. 1.
I Want My Next Mayor To…
“I would like to see a rent freeze, for one thing,” said Kurt Hill, a rent stabilized tenant in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, at a rally outside Gracie Mansion on Sept. 30—a day before rent increases for tenants in the city’s roughly 1 million stabilized apartments were set to take effect.
RELATED READING: Can Eric Adams Really Block a Mamdani Rent Freeze?
The politics of a rent freeze for regulated units, a key Mamdani campaign pledge, has been a hotly debated issue throughout the election. Under outgoing Mayor Eric Adams, the Rent Guidelines Board that sets those annual rates has increased rents for stabilized apartments by 12 percent over the last four years, what Hill called “simply unacceptable.”
Jeremy Santana, a 40-year-old resident in the Williamsbridge neighborhood of the Bronx and a chef at a Chipotle in Manhattan, said he wants to see lower costs for housing and public transportation, and more police on the subways—especially overnight. “You guys should focus on the real crime, not worrying about little tickets and little like, somebody hopped the train—that’s not something they should be focusing on. They should be focusing on protecting the city.”
In general, though, he said he wants the next mayor to do one key thing: deliver what they promised. “A lot of people who have been elected into the mayoral race give you a lot of false dreams, and they tell you they’re going to do all this stuff, and it just never happens,” Santana said.
“Do what you say you’re going to do,” he said. “That’s what I would like. Make a better New York.”
To reach the reporter behind this story, contact Adi@citylimits.org. To reach the editor, contact Jeanmarie@citylimits.org. Want to republish this story? Find City Limits’ reprint policy here.
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