“It always seems impossible until it is done.”
That’s how Zohran Mamdani opened his victory speech after winning the Democratic primary for mayor of New York City. He cast his win as a moral triumph — a new dawn for working families, the immigrant poor, and the forgotten boroughs of New York.
But here’s the truth: elections are not outcomes, and rhetoric is not governance.
Mamdani’s platform — built on promises of free public transit, rent freezes, guaranteed childcare, and universal dignity — might stir the heart. But New York doesn’t run on sentiment. It runs on budgets, infrastructure, and hard economic realities. And that’s where the cracks begin to show, especially for Black New Yorkers.
Let’s be clear: Mamdani didn’t just beat Andrew Cuomo. He beat a culture of political realism with the seductive promise of ideological purity. But if his ideas fail — and history gives us reason to worry they might — it’s Black communities that will feel the fallout first.
Free Transit Isn’t Free
New York’s MTA faces a $1.5 billion deficit. Fares account for 35 percent of its operating revenue. Eliminating them sounds progressive, but the economics don’t hold. Kansas City tried this. Within three years, service cuts hit working neighborhoods hardest — longer wait times, fewer routes, and more frustration. Who suffers most when transit fails? The home health aide in the Bronx. The fast food worker in Flatbush. The night shift nurse in Harlem. That’s the cost of feel-good policy without a funding plan.
Rent Control Without Housing
Black New Yorkers are already squeezed by rising rents and stagnant wages. The city’s rent-stabilized vacancy rate is under 1 percent — a symptom of tight supply, not just landlord greed. The 2019 Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act was supposed to protect tenants, but it discouraged new development and building upkeep. Now Mamdani wants to go even further.
But here’s the fundamental problem: How does he expect developers to build new units if they can’t raise rents to match the rising costs of materials, labor, maintenance, and insurance? That’s a lose-lose situation — for builders, for investors, and ultimately for the families who need housing. It punishes the very activity the city needs: construction.
You can’t freeze your way into affordability if there’s nothing new being built. Without incentives, you get decay, not development. And when properties aren’t maintained or expanded, it’s Black and brown communities — already living in aging buildings with limited mobility — who suffer the most.
Tax the Rich — But Then What?
New York’s top 1 percent of earners pay nearly half the city’s income tax. Since 2020, more than 250,000 high-income residents have left, taking $18 billion in taxable income with them. If they keep leaving, guess who picks up the slack? Not the corporations — but the middle class. That means higher taxes on Black-owned small businesses already struggling under city regulations. It means fewer city contracts, slower services, and more cuts to the very programs Black families rely on.
Progressive Chaos Hurts the People It Claims to Help
Mamdani’s vision mirrors the same experiment cities like San Francisco and Portland already tried — and failed. Services were slashed, public safety declined, and business districts collapsed. Meanwhile, families of color were pushed further to the margins. We’ve seen what happens when ideology overrides outcomes. It’s not theoretical. It’s lived.
Despite spending over $38,000 per public school student — the highest in the nation — New York City schools continue to underperform in math and reading, especially in Black and Latino neighborhoods. Throwing more money at broken systems isn’t bold reform. It’s institutional malpractice.
Sanctuary City Promises Come with a Price Tag
Mamdani has promised to defy federal immigration enforcement. But that already costs the city over $200 million annually in lost federal aid. While the symbolism plays well on social media, the consequences are real. Budget holes will be filled with cuts to services and programs. History tells us where those cuts usually land: education, transit, housing — and in communities of color.
What Does This Mean for Black New Yorkers?
It means beware of political poetry that comes with no economic plan. Beware of promises of free everything when there’s no clear path to pay for it. And beware of leadership that confuses moral declarations with measurable results. We don’t need another movement that sounds good but produces nothing. We need policy that works — that creates jobs, lowers costs, strengthens families, and protects the dignity of labor.
Because here’s what politicians rarely say:
Dignity is not government handouts.
Dignity is access to a quality education.
Dignity is learning a trade or skill.
Dignity is starting a business and hiring others.
Dignity is ownership — not dependency.
Between 2010 and 2020, New York City lost over 110,000 Black residents — many relocating to the South or suburbs in search of better schools, safer neighborhoods, and lower costs of living. If Mamdani’s ideas chase away more working- and middle-class families with higher taxes and fewer services, that number will only grow.
We’ve seen symbolic victories before. David Dinkins was New York’s first Black mayor, but even he couldn’t escape the weight of fiscal mismanagement and rising crime. Symbolism is not a substitute for results.
And to the young voters who powered Mamdani’s rise: be careful. Passion is powerful — but policy is permanent. If you want a future in this city, you should demand ideas that build, not just inspire. Good intentions don’t pay rent. They don’t create jobs. They don’t educate children.
Mamdani’s win may energize a new generation of activists. But if his administration leads to fewer services, higher costs, and greater instability, the impact will fall hardest on the people progressives claim to protect. That includes Black New Yorkers — the essential workers, the caretakers, the small business owners, the families still trying to recover from the last crisis.
Leadership isn’t about slogans. It’s about consequences.
And this time, we better pay attention to the price tag.
