What NYC's Most Powerful CEOs Think About Zohran Mamdani

Summary

Odd Lots Podcast Summary: "What NYC's Most Powerful CEOs Think About Zohran Mamdani"

Release Date: July 11, 2025

In this compelling episode of Bloomberg's Odd Lots, hosts Joe Weisenthal and Tracy Alloway delve into the dynamic intersection of New York City's political landscape and its influential business community. The focal point of the discussion is Zohran Mamdani, a rising star poised to become NYC's next mayor, and the perspectives of the city's powerful CEOs regarding his candidacy.

---

Introduction to Zohran Mamdani's Mayoral Surge

The episode opens with Tracy Alloway highlighting Mamdani's unexpected surge in the polls following a prior interview on Odd Lots.

Tracy Alloway [01:25]: "Former Odd Lots guest is very likely to be the next mayor of New York City."

Zohran Mamdani credits the timing of his surge post-interview as coincidental, while Alloway reflects on listeners' impressions, noting that many appreciate Mamdani's intelligence and policy understanding despite disagreements with his ideas.

Tracy Alloway [01:48]: "I heard from a lot of people who were like, I don't like any of his ideas at all, but I still like the guy and find him impressive and intelligent."

This bipartisan appeal, Alloway suggests, may have contributed to Mamdani's significant victory.

---

Tension Between Capitalism and Democratic Socialism in NYC

Mamdani elaborates on the inherent tensions within New York City—a hub of capitalism and home to numerous billionaires—faced with the rise of a Democratic socialist candidate.

Zohran Mamdani [02:29]: "You have a lot of money here, a lot of billionaires... and now you have this Democratic socialist candidate proposing something new."

He draws parallels to historical periods in the 1950s and 1960s, suggesting that such ideological conflicts are not unprecedented but remain "fascinating."

---

The Business Community's Reaction and Partnership for New York City

The hosts introduce Kathy Wild, President and CEO of the Partnership for New York City, characterized as a key power broker among NYC's business elites. Wild's organization acts as a bridge between businesses and government, advocating for the city's economic interests.

Kathy Wild [04:02]: "The Partnership brings disciplined risk management expertise that spans 30 market cycles."

During the discussion, Wild explains the Partnership's role in advising and supporting the city, emphasizing collaboration over opposition with local government bodies.

Kathy Wild [05:09]: "The Partnership's relationship to government is really as an intermediary between business and government."

---

Primary Night Shock and Reassurance Efforts

The episode recounts the shock experienced by the business community on primary night when Mamdani surged ahead. Wild describes the immediate reactions and the subsequent efforts to reassure business leaders.

Joe Weisenthal [06:11]: "The mood on primary night was one of hysteria. Shock was first, and people were questioning, 'Who is this person?'"

Wild addresses misconceptions about Mamdani's capabilities, clarifying that certain policies attributed to him, such as raising corporate taxes or implementing free buses, are beyond the mayor's authority.

Joe Weisenthel [08:53]: "Reassuring them that many of the things they were most worried about from a Democratic socialist candidate were things that he has absolutely no capacity to execute on."

This reassurance extends to affirming that Mamdani would operate within the system's checks and balances, mitigating fears of abrupt policy overhauls.

---

Relationship with the Jewish Community and Foreign Policy Concerns

A significant portion of the conversation centers around the business community's concerns regarding Mamdani's stance on Israel and his engagement with the Jewish community in NYC.

Tracy Alloway [12:36]: "Why does the mayor of New York have to have a foreign policy?"

Wild elaborates on the historical and cultural ties between NYC and Israel, emphasizing the importance of maintaining strong relations.

Joe Weisenthel [13:11]: "The mayor of New York City has been involved in issues that impact the Jewish community about Israel, which they're very concerned about."

This concern stems from the city's longstanding support for diversity and its deep-rooted connections with Jewish philanthropists and institutions.

---

Campaign Financing and Business Community Engagement

The discussion shifts to the implications of Mamdani's grassroots campaign on traditional campaign financing, noting a potential shift in donations from established figures like Cuomo to Mamdani or other candidates like Eric Adams.

Tracy Alloway [17:33]: "Are any of the people you're speaking to perhaps thinking differently about campaign donations going forward?"

Wild explains that while the financial industry faces federal donation limits, business leaders are adapting by redirecting their support to candidates they find more business-friendly, such as Adams.

---

Public Safety and Affordability: Key Business Concerns

Joe emphasizes that the primary concerns of NYC's business elite revolve around public safety and affordable housing, which are crucial for attracting and retaining talent.

Joe Weisenthel [27:15]: "Number one is public safety. Because the whole basis of business being here is the talent pool."

Wild and Mamdani discuss strategies to enhance public safety and reduce housing costs, highlighting bureaucratic hurdles and litigation costs as major barriers.

Joe Weisenthel [31:46]: "Reducing government bureaucracy... is key to increasing the pace of housing production."

---

Philanthropy and the Role of Billionaires in NYC

A social dimension is explored regarding the philanthropic engagements of NYC's billionaires, contrasting historical figures like Rockefeller with modern perceptions.

Joe Weisenthel [34:51]: "The generosity of New Yorkers is huge. The label 'billionaire' is often attached to self-promoters... none of the people I'm talking about want to be known as billionaires."

This underscores the traditional philanthropic spirit ingrained in NYC's business community, challenging notions that modern billionaires are less engaged in societal contributions.

---

Generational Divide and Future Outlook

The hosts address the generational divide within NYC's business elite, noting that younger leaders may be more attuned to grassroots movements and progressive policies, potentially bridging gaps between traditional business interests and new political realities.

Joe Weisenthel [37:10]: "Most of the mature business world is not living on social media. That's a great contributor to the generational divide."

This divide highlights the evolving landscape where global business leaders are increasingly engaging with local politics to align business interests with city governance.

---

Conclusion and Looking Ahead

As the episode concludes, the hosts reflect on the multifaceted concerns of NYC's business community and the unique position Mamdani holds as a generational politician poised to navigate these challenges. Upcoming episodes promise follow-ups on the evolving relationship between Mamdani and the business elite, as well as insights into Mayor Eric Adams' strategies for sustaining NYC's economic vitality.

---

Notable Quotes:

• Tracy Alloway [01:48]: "A lot of people... didn't find him to be threatening or repellent in some way."

• Zohran Mamdani [02:29]: "This tension is what I find really fascinating right now."

• Joe Weisenthel [06:11]: "Hysteria would be a good word for it. Shock was first."

• Tracy Alloway [16:32]: "What do you see as the main constraints to affordability?"

---

This episode of Odd Lots offers an in-depth exploration of how changing political winds in New York City are influencing its business landscape, providing listeners with valuable insights into the interplay between politics, economics, and community relations.

Transcript

[Kathy Wild]

At pgm, we actively manage risk today while targeting outperformance tomorrow. So no matter what investment risks concern you most, from geopolitics to inflation to liquidity, PGM brings disciplined risk management expertise that spans 30 market cycles. Our active approach finds opportunities and volatility, helping our clients to navigate risk and achieve their long term goals. Pull PJUM our investments shape tomorrow. Today join us in Seattle July 14th and 15th for Bloomberg Green two days of powerful conversations and meaningful connections. We'll explore what's next in the climate, economy, clean tech policy and greener living. Featured speakers include Jane Fonda, Brian Gellert and Vinod Khosla. The title sponsor is Amazon. Official airlines are Alaska and Hawaiian Airlines. Learn more at BloombergLive.com GreenSeattle that's BloombergLive.com.

[Joe Weisenthal]

Bloomberg Audio Studios Podcasts Radio News.

[Tracy Alloway]

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Odd Lots Podcast. I'm Joe Weisenthal.

[Zoran Mamdani]

And I'm Tracy Alloway.

[Tracy Alloway]

Former Odd Lots guest is very likely to be the next mayor of New York City.

[Zoran Mamdani]

That's right. So we interviewed Zoran Mamdani. I think it was in early May and right after that, I'm not saying I'm not going to take credit for this, but right after that he really started to surge in the polls and he went on to win the Democratic nomination.

[Tracy Alloway]

I think we take very, very minor credit.

[Zoran Mamdani]

I'm sure it was a coincidence.

[Tracy Alloway]

The thing actually that struck me after that episode was hearing from a lot of people who were basically like, I don't like any of his ideas at all, but I still like the guy and I still found him impressive and intelligent and very strong understanding of policy. And look, I don't think his victory is attributable to us, but I did think that was telling in the sense that a lot of people who maybe on paper shouldn't or wouldn't really like some of his views didn't seem particularly threatened by him, which I thought was like really interesting and may have contributed to his sort of extraordinary margin, his extraordinary victory.

[Zoran Mamdani]

I do think what's interesting about this whole story is the tension between New York City as this hub of capitalism, this hub of business. You have a lot of money here, a lot of billionaires obviously with their own interests. And now you have this Democratic socialist candidate who's proposing something a little bit new, although some people would say we had something more similar to that in say, the 1950s, 1960s New York. But that tension is what I find really fascinating right now.

[Tracy Alloway]

Yeah, so we have to we have to learn more. I mean, again, in the run up to the election, like what are New York City's business financial elites thinking right now? What do they think of a possible Mamdani Merilty or what do they think about New York City in general? All of this stuff. There's a lot to. There's a lot to learn. This is going to be a rich vein of interesting stuff for us for a while.

[Zoran Mamdani]

We're going all New York local politics, I guess, but I do think it has national consequences International. So we should talk about it.

[Tracy Alloway]

We should definitely talk about it. Anyway, I'm really excited. We do have indeed the perfect guest to talk about how the city's business elite, billionaires, et cetera, are thinking about the city. Think about the election, the possibility of mom Donnie being the mayor. We are going to be speaking with Kathy Wild. She is the president and CEO of the Partnership for New York City, which is an organization, a business leadership organization here, all kinds of major employers. If you read any article about Kathy in the media, described as sort of one of the ultimate power brokers of New York City.

[Zoran Mamdani]

Yeah, words like power brokers, power player.

[Tracy Alloway]

Comes up in every single one. And so truly the perfect guest. So, Kathy, thank you so much for coming on odd lots.

[Joe Weisenthal]

Thank you for having me, Joe and Theresa.

[Tracy Alloway]

Absolutely. We're really excited. Why don't you just, before we move on, describe what the Partnership for New York City is and what you basically do there.

[Joe Weisenthal]

The Partnership is business working in the interests of the city. It's not a chamber of commerce. It was organized after the city's 1975 fiscal crisis by David Rockefeller, who was then the chair of Chase bank and other cities, CEOs of the major corporations that were not just businesses headquartered in New York, but were real citizens of New York and trustees of its hospitals and museums and real contributors to the city as philanthropists. So it is very much a business organization that is designed to tap the expertise and the influence of the business community to support New York City and to maintain it as the city city of great economic opportunity.

[Zoran Mamdani]

What's the Partnership's relationship like typically with the mayoral administration? And are there examples where you've worked together to effectively do something or maybe change the path of policy?

[Joe Weisenthal]

Well, absolutely. The Partnership's relationship to government is really as an intermediary between business and government. As I said, to provide expertise, to provide advice, to give feedback, really to be a resource more than an adversary with the local government. In particular local state government and some extent the federal government. When there are overriding issues that make a big impact on New York that are being considered in Washington.

[Tracy Alloway]

When did Zoran come on the radar of the people that you talk to, of the CEOs, et cetera? Like in the run up? Like, was it a month before? Were they thinking about him at all the three months before the election? I'm sort of curious, like, when it may have flickered in their minds that the Democratic Party could nominate a socialist.

[Joe Weisenthal]

I would have to say that it was primary night, about 10 o'. Clock.

[Tracy Alloway]

Really? Yeah. That's incredible.

[Kathy Wild]

A little bit late.

[Tracy Alloway]

It's incredible to me.

[Joe Weisenthal]

Well, I had forewarned them that it was a possibility, but I think Cuomo had been a figure in their lives as Mario's son, as Attorney general, as governor for 20 some years. And it was kind of a foregone conclusion is the guy we know who's now running for mayor is going to be mayor. And especially after Mayor Adams announced he was not going to be in the Democratic primary. And so they had kind of zeroed in on accepting that it was going to be Cuomo. And really no one had met Zoran.

[Zoran Mamdani]

What was the mood like on primary night? Did everyone immediately go home and start looking up socialism on the Internet, on ChatGPT?

[Joe Weisenthal]

Well, I would say hysteria would be a good word for it. Shock was first. Shock first. And what happened? And who is this person? And so I tried to provide some reassurance. We had, for the past 20 years, led efforts to bring congestion pricing to New York City, to both manage traffic, but to really make the city a more efficient place. Excess traffic congestion was costing the city $20 billion a year with lost time, lost productivity. And what makes New York a great place to work is the productive workforce. So we'd been an advocate of congestion pricing, and I had actually met Zoran in that context at the Riders alliance, which is a group of subway riders advocates, and had found him to be a very smart, interesting young man. So I had known him, and then he reached out to me last September and said, I'd like to talk to you about my mayoral prospects when he was polling at 1%. And so I met him for coffee at the LPQ at 85 broad, and we had a conversation, and I found him to be smart and I took him seriously from then on.

[Tracy Alloway]

I'm impressed from his perspective that that early on he wanted to sort of build that connection or make that connection with you before you talk more about him. A friend of mine described you as a therapist to the New York City Billionaires, they're hysterical on or they're experiencing hysteria on primary night. Did you feel like that was your role in that night? Did you feel like a therapist to the members of the partnership to provide.

[Joe Weisenthal]

Reassurance to the business community? I mean, number one, to remind them that many of the things they were most worried about from a Democratic socialist candidate were things that he has absolutely no capacity to execute on. So, for example, raising corporate and income taxes is not something that the city or the mayor can do. Free buses is not something the mayor can do. And figuring out where you make up that 800 million in revenues. So that was, number one, reassuring them that we have a moderate governor who's watching out for business interests, who says she's not going to further raise taxes in New York, which is the highest tax city in the country, and in most cases the world, for both individual income tax and corporate tax. So that was, number one, providing reassurance that as mayor, he would have an agenda. But there are a lot of checks and balances to work through in New York, and it's not a unilateral post. Now, that was more difficult with the real estate community because their concerns having to do with land use proceedings and approvals and construction permits, et cetera, that the mayor does control, basically a huge amount of control over that process. That is the one thing that's local and real estate taxes, where the mayor has significant influence. So it was more difficult with members of the real estate community who, after the primary, quickly pivoted to remembering what a good friend Mayor Adams was.

[Zoran Mamdani]

So I want to talk more about the concerns of the business community, obviously. But before we do, I can't resist asking, when you first met Zoran over coffee, what advice did you give him? What did you actually say to him about a mayoral run?

[Joe Weisenthal]

Number one, I said that you can't lead New York City unless you have a constructive relationship with the Jewish community, because that was the most obvious source of concern that he seemed not able to address. That worried me a lot. Number two, that the solution to affordability is not for government, local government, to spend more money, that the money that local government spends has to be accounted for, that you need to raise taxes to support it. And ultimately, that just ups the cost of living and the cost of doing business in New York, and that all ends up getting passed along to consumers. So the affordability question, which he was absolutely right to emphasize and emphasize from the beginning that we've got to make New York more affordable to not just poor people, to the Middle class to those people who rent an apartment. And now the average rent's almost $4,000 a month. This is the big concern of employers. And I said this is their number one concern. How do we keep and retain young Tal if they can't afford to rent an apartment in New York City? Big frustration. So that was kind of the conversation that we had. And he was open to that conversation and interested in learning. I mean he impressed me right away as somebody who is interested in learning more but who has very strong opinions and is very committed and I mean he's 33 years old and the world is his oyster.

[Tracy Alloway]

Yeah. You mentioned the importance of relations with the Jewish community. And I saw, I watched that. I didn't watch the whole debate, but I did watch the last debate and there was that question about which country are you going to visit? First and every candidate Blood Zorin said they were going to visit Israel. He said he wasn't thinking about, he was going to visit. Can you explain from the perspective of the business leaders, New York City, why did they perceive that good relations with Israel is such an important aspect of the job of.

[Zoran Mamdani]

Yeah. Why does the mayor of New York have to have a foreign policy?

[Joe Weisenthal]

Well, their fear is that he has a foreign policy. I don't think anybody thinks the mayor of New York has to have a foreign policy, but he has a record of speaking out on issues that impact the Jewish community about Israel that they're very concerned about. And so their concern is not having New York City has a long history of values that are very strong on supporting a diversity of people, are very tolerant of various religious beliefs and a long history with Israel. I mean when Cornell Technion partnered on Technion's the Israel that really led the startup nation movement in Israel and did so much to propel their economy. And they were selected under the Bloomberg administration to establish a first class engineering school in New York on Roosevelt island which has been very successful and is producing a great number of PhDs and so at the time that they came in, Technion came in, they told me how they had been funded. Originally it was New York Jewish philanthropists that funded that effort. So there's this long term relationship and obviously we have many people in New York who are family of Holocaust victims and survivors for whom the fact of a Jewish homeland, a safe space for Jews around the world is of top area of importance. I think that they are very concerned that the mayor of New York City respect and understand the importance of Israel and our long term relationship and that worries them a lot. And that's an issue that I think he has yet to resolve. I think it's difficult because he has strong support in the young Jewish community. And so I'm sure he feels that he's got a lot of people who are with him on the issues of protecting the rights of the Palestinians and concerns about that. So this is an area again, where the fact that he ran a campaign and had built relationships that are a piece of New York City. He expanded the electorate to folks who have not participated, but he really did not develop much of a relationship with the historic electorate. He was running against the Democratic establishment, not with it. And so the communities where much of the Jewish population is concentrated were not communities he was necessarily reaching out to, except for the young people and the social media crowd. And that's not the people who are most concerned.

[Kathy Wild]

The latest PGYM Real Estate outlook is out now.

[Joe Weisenthal]

So 2025 to be an attractive vintage year. So based on history, based on historical cycles.

[Tracy Alloway]

In fact, the opportunity for capital value.

[Joe Weisenthal]

Growth to be stronger is obviously a key theme we're going to be focusing on over the next 12 months from a research perspective.

[Tracy Alloway]

But also investors need to adapt to changing market conditions.

[Zoran Mamdani]

Explore the report at www.pgim.

[Kathy Wild]

Realestate.Com globaloutlook Join us in Seattle July 14th and 15th for Bloomberg Green, two days of powerful conversations and meaningful connections. We'll explore what's next in the climate, economy, clean tech policy and greener living. Featured speakers include Jane Fonda, Ryan Gellert and Vinod Khosla. The title sponsor is Amazon. Official airlines are Alaska and Hawaiian Airlines. Learn more at BloombergLive.com Greensley Seattle that's BloombergLive.com GreenSeattle so on the topic of.

[Zoran Mamdani]

The campaign, I mean, this was one of the really surprising things of him winning. He had this sort of grassroots campaign which was very much focused on social media. Lots of merchandise with really interesting designs. I've seen the hot girls for Zorin T shirts, people wearing those around town, usually young women, as you mentioned. And I'm curious, are any of the people you're speaking to perhaps thinking differently about campaign donations going forward? If they donated billions of dollars for Cuomo and Zoran won?

[Joe Weisenthal]

Well, not billions, but millions. Okay, sure. Yes, yes. I would say that for the most part what I'm hearing is that people feel that they contributed to Cuomo and that they don't feel they got a very good campaign out of it. They want to meet Zoran and I think they're making there are many, particularly in the real estate community, that are stepping up to transfer whatever donations they were making to Cuomo to Eric Adams, if you will, somebody that they know they can do business with and who has been supportive of tremendously positive growth in the city from the nadir of the pandemic and where our economy was, where our real estate situation. Eric Adams, it should not be ignored that he has. His administration has led rezoning efforts and really changed the zoning code for the first time since 1961. So he's made a tremendous investment in trying to begin the process of making it easier and less expensive to develop housing in the city and supported economic growth overall. So there was concern. I mean, obviously, he's the first mayor that's been indicted. And when he dropped out of the Democratic primary, I think that solidified most of the money going to Cuomo. But Eric is back in the general and in good form.

[Tracy Alloway]

I noticed you said something, and I think your first answer, that the business elite had accepted Cuomo as who was going to be the nominee. Accepted. It does not sound the same as enthusiastically support. I hear that as sort of resigned. Yeah. Okay.

[Zoran Mamdani]

Status Cuomo. Yeah.

[Tracy Alloway]

And so I'm curious.

[Zoran Mamdani]

Like, come on, you have to laugh at that.

[Joe Weisenthal]

Good line. Thank you.

[Tracy Alloway]

You're right. Status quo. That's a good one, actually.

[Zoran Mamdani]

Thank you. Thank you.

[Tracy Alloway]

That was good. But how did they feel actually, about Cuomo? And also, like, I know there's some questions. It's still unclear whether he's gonna run actively in November. But if they do coalesce around someone, does it definitely seem like it's going to be Adams?

[Joe Weisenthal]

So far, I think, yes. I think it's gonna be Adams. And again, it is the real estate community that's most concerned. You understand that the financial industry in New York basically is prohibited by federal regulation, SEC and FINRA and other regulation from contributing to state and local candidates beyond a nominal amount of a few hundred dollars. So they are not, for the most part, money players in state and local elections, which has really disadvantaged New York's business community, which represents like 40% of our tax bas who can't participate in supporting candidates of their choice.

[Tracy Alloway]

Well, they can knock on doors like the Zoran volunteers did. They just can't donate gobs of money.

[Joe Weisenthal]

And that would be great, but not happening.

[Tracy Alloway]

Okay.

[Joe Weisenthal]

Yeah, most of them are beyond the door knocking age. But your question about Cuomo. Cuomo was Attorney General during the financial crisis and was not very friendly toward the financial industry and did not develop relationships that were very positive during his 10 as Attorney General with the business community. So that was his job to be an enforcer. And during his term as governor, he came in with a very strong agenda to try and get state spending under control and get taxes under control. But having made some real progress there on Medicaid reform and pension reform, as the political winds changed, there wasn't that same relationship with the business case community. So with the exception of real estate, where he was very pro growth, investing in infrastructure, supporting real estate development. So I would say that he had relative enthusiasm in the real estate community, but not broadly based in the business community.

[Zoran Mamdani]

So on this note, you've emphasized a number of times that a lot of business leaders obviously want to talk to Zoran. They want to get in the room with him. And you are organizing, I believe, discussions between the business community and the mayoral candidate. I think next week we're recording this on, let's see, July 9th. How do you decide who gets to be in the room with Zoran?

[Joe Weisenthal]

Well, the first meeting we're doing and I set this up with Zoran, he called me right after the election and said he wanted to establish those relationships. And I said, well, let's. So we set up a meeting with the CEOs of the partnership that's on Tuesday. And so there'll be some will join virtually, but it's going to be mostly an in person 150 maybe CEOs of major companies, major employers in the city who have never met him and will be for the first time getting an opportunity. And that's going to be a conversation with our co chairs, Rob Speyer of Tishman Speyer and Dr. Albert Bourla of Pfizer. And so they'll be having a conversation with with Zoran and then we'll have some Q and A with our members. And so that's number one.

[Tracy Alloway]

And then you'll come back next week. Right. We'll do a follow up to this episode and you just tell us about it.

[Joe Weisenthal]

It'll be interesting. Yes, I'm looking forward to that conversation. But I think again, it's an introduction and I have full confidence. As you know, having met him, Zoran is pretty good at presenting himself and very fast in terms of his thoughtful responses on issues. So I'm looking forward to that because it'll save me a lot of time reassuring him that he's not the devil, he's okay. And then on Wednesday, Kevin Ryan, who is kind of the father of Silicon Alley, Alicorp is the name of his corporation, has a prolific history of creating tech companies in New York. Kevin is going to moderate a conversation with him which will be heavily tech focused, more entrepreneurs than corporate finance types. So that'll be on Wednesday. And then I should add that on Thursday, we'll be doing breakfast with Mayor Eric Adams and speaking to him about his path forward. And as I said, there's been a lot of support for the policies that Eric Adams has. He started out as mayor. I had the same conversation with Eric. I'm a Brooklyn person, so I've known Eric for many years, and most recently in his capacity as Brooklyn Borough president. But when we started out, he didn't know anybody in the New York business community either. But he introduced himself as saying, my number one priority is public safety, and my number two priority is a thriving economy. And I'm with you. And having lived through eight years of Bill de Blasio as mayor, who had nothing to do or to say to them except your awful people. And as Jamie Dimon famously said, for eight years, I never got a call from Bill de Blasio when he was mayor and have never had a conversation with him. So Eric immediately reversed the de Blasio, big business is bad for New York. And Eric said, I want wealthy people in New York. I want big business in New York. So I don't expect that from Zoran next week. I think that he's not gonna have the same unbridled enthusiasm for billionaires. But I do expect that he will come across as a responsible person who's thinking seriously and is open to learning, which is most important to listening and learning. And I think that the number one concern is, is this a dogmatic, ideological person who is just gonna. Is gonna be not interested in what we can contribute to the city or what employers contribute.

[Tracy Alloway]

You mentioned Kevin Ryan. I used to work for Business Insider, which one of the Ali Corp. Companies. So I'm a beneficiary of his New York City investments. You know, when the night of the primary, I got some random messages online. They're like, are you going to leave New York City? I'm never going to leave New York City. Like, it's the best city in the world, obviously. But, you know, people do leave. And in 2021 and 2022, people pretended to think that Miami was a better option for them. I think a bunch of them came back or they spent just the, you know, minimum amount of time there so they could, you know, qualify for their local taxes, et cetera. In your view or in the view of the employers of New York City? What are the threats, the substantive threats that would say, okay, this would meaningfully change the desirability of doing business in this town?

[Joe Weisenthal]

Number one is public safety. And that's, again, they've appreciated, particularly under Commissioner Tisch and originally under Commissioner Kichhant Sewell, they have appreciated that the Adams administration has focused on public safety and that we're.

[Tracy Alloway]

And that's more important than things like taxes for them.

[Joe Weisenthal]

Yes, absolutely. Because the whole basis of business being here is the talent pool. And if talent doesn't want to be here, if they're scared to be in New York City, if they're worried to go on the subway because they might get mugged or pushed in front of a train, that's the worst thing that could happen to New York. And importantly, Zoran has acknowledged that keeping New York a destination for talent is a priority for him. So I think that message is very important. So public safety number one. And then, as I said before, affordable housing and affordability, that again, allows talent to be here. And it doesn't have a premium cost. I mean, already in most sectors, New York City salaries have a 20% premium, at least over if you're going to locate in Texas or Florida, whatever. When it gets higher than that, it becomes hard to explain to shareholders why you're here and why you're creating jobs here. So that's the other consideration. So it's really having a safe city and having an affordable city are the top criteria. And at least in terms of having an affordable city, they've got common cause with Zorin's campaign.

[Zoran Mamdani]

This is what I was going to ask you. Are there any areas of, I guess, overlap or agreement between Zorin's agenda and the concerns or the desires of the business community?

[Joe Weisenthal]

Yeah, absolutely. As I mentioned, one of the big questions that'll come up next week, probably the first question that'll come up is what is your commitment to public safety? You know, symbolically, would you keep Jesse Tisch as police commissioner? And she certainly won't stay if he's going to defund the police, because she's looking for more officers, more resources to really make sure that we stay the safest city in America and the world, hopefully. So that'll be public safety. And then on affordability, it'll be hoping that they can communicate that just having city government increase its budget does not improve affordability. We've got to be more creative than that.

[Tracy Alloway]

Join us in Atlanta or via livestream on Aug. 12 for Bloomberg's Business Value of AI event and networking reception. This event will gather business and technology executives to share their experiences and provide insight into how to best use data to optimize the customer experience. You'll also learn how companies have successfully implemented AI agents that have led to improved productivity and profitability. This program is proudly sponsored by IBM. [e-mail] AI Atlanta what do you see as the main constraints to affordability? Just from your perspective, how many years did they were they debating about putting up some houses at the Elizabeth Street Garden? Like these processes take forever, but like, I know it's like the most hot button topic in the world, but just broadly, what do you perceive as the main constraints towards making rent cheaper?

[Joe Weisenthal]

In New York City, 30% of rent is real estate taxes in regulated buildings. So government spending that depends on real estate taxes. That's where the majority of the city revenues come from, is driving high rents. It's not that developers in these older rent regulated buildings are making a huge profit. It's that their costs have gone up, their water bills, et cetera. All these are on water and sewer. These are under control of the city. So there are things government can do very quickly to reduce costs. As an example, what about just sheer.

[Tracy Alloway]

Volume of housing production? Because right in the end, like most people, okay, rent is very expensive. It's also scarce. And that contributes to the fact that rent prices go up and that landlords can collect a lot of rent. Do you think there are meaningful levers that could be pulled to rapidly increase the pace which we build, whether it's affordable housing or market rate housing, et cetera? What would you identify?

[Joe Weisenthal]

Absolutely. Again, it's reducing government bureaucracy. Right now I'm on the City Charter Revision Commission, which is going to put resolutions before the public, I believe, in November, to look at how we can cut down on the time and cost associated with development approvals, especially for smaller projects. The other thing I want to mention that affects the cost of construction very much, but also affects all other costs, is the cost of litigation passed along to consumers through the high insurance costs. We have the highest claims and settlements. We have the highest degree of litigation in the country. It's almost impossible to get anything through the legislature that doesn't include a private right of action. The trial lawyers are the strongest lobby in Albany, also have a lot of influence within the city, and we have to get down our litigation costs. Our insurance costs are substantially higher than anywhere else in the country. Our car insurance costs are 49% higher than the average in the country. Our health insurance costs are 12% higher. These are all Costs that we could absolutely contain and control. And the city, which is basically self insured, ends up paying this out of pocket. So they pay billions of dollars a year in medical malpractice in other governments.

[Tracy Alloway]

That would fund a lot of free buses.

[Joe Weisenthal]

That would fund a lot of free buses.

[Zoran Mamdani]

Aren't the higher litigation costs, aren't they just a reflection of, I guess, the higher cost of living and materials and things like that?

[Joe Weisenthal]

No, they're a reflection of a system where our jury awards are much higher than any place else. They call them nuclear awards. No, it's all because of laws. We have one law on the books in Albany. It's part of the labor law. It was passed 100 years ago and it was passed before we had workers compensation and other protections for construction workers. If you have a gravity related injury and many of these are staged, that one law can add 5 to 7% to the cost of construction. Just that one law. And so when we say, why does it cost a million dollars to produce a two bedroom rental apartment in New York to build it? When you look at it, you'll see that a big chunk of that is the result of the litigation insurance costs and the time that it takes to get anything done, the carrying costs for the time.

[Zoran Mamdani]

I want to ask a sort of social question, given your role as therapist to the wealthy, but I get a sense sometimes that there is feeling out there among maybe a lot of people that billionaires are less charitable than they once were. Certainly going back to earlier in the century perhaps, and I think back to like Rockefeller, who you know or knew and worked with, and him bailing out the city in the 1970s, like that was an act where he decided, I am going to spend money in order to save New York and contribute to New York's future. Is that an accurate portrayal of billionaires nowadays? Are they less engaged in overall society?

[Joe Weisenthal]

Well, in many cases the family wealth, like in the Rockefeller family, has diversified. So you don't have one person who is as wealthy. It's spread out. But the commitment to New York, to its hospitals, its museums, its universities, its institutions, we have by far, far the most philanthropic city in the world. I get visitors from all over the world, from Paris, from London, from la, from San Francisco, all of whom say, how does New York create a culture which is so giving, which is so generous? And the Rockefellers and the Astors and many of the families that, you know, the key families of New York did contribute to this. But then you saw the tributes to Leonard Lauder, who died a Few weeks ago, they were all they from every nonprofit institution. The generosity of New Yorkers is huge. The label billionaire is often attached to self promoters who are promoting themselves as billionaires. I would distinguish that none of the people that I'm talking about want to be known, want to or proclaim themselves or position themselves as billionaires.

[Tracy Alloway]

Yeah, that definitely resonates. I want to go back to something you mentioned. The generational divide among New York City's Jewish community and the idea that the under 40 crowd may have a very different perception of the relationship that New York City should have about the State of Israel, or State of Israel, period. And you also mentioned that for many of the people that you work with, it only dawned on them that socialist could be the Democratic nominee at 10pm on election night. Which makes me wonder like how plugged they are in. Because certainly in at least the month prior to the election, it became very obvious to me that this was like a very real possibility that he could win. Like, is there a persistent problem of sort of like generational awareness? And I'm thinking also about affordability and housing and some of these other issues where I don't want to say like out of touch, but I guess out of touch between the business elites, the CEOs, et cetera, and what's on the mind of younger voters, period, across a range of issues.

[Joe Weisenthal]

I think that's a very fair comment. Most of the mature business world is not living on social media. Well, they're not plugged into that world. And that's a great contributor to the generational divide. I mean, I still read a paper, a real paper, and that's a differentiator. And the other thing is that the globalization of the economy has meant, I mean, New York is a center of world industry leadership and they are focused and spending their life traveling all over the world. So the fact that we're a headquarters city in all these diverse sectors in fashion and media means that the focus is global rather than local. Politically especially, the focus is Washington, which is where most of the regulatory activity is coming from. Not local. City and state are sidelines compared. So it's just the nature of our changing economy over the last 50 years, which has gone from being a local 50 years ago industrial economy to being a service economy, to today being a global digital economy. And all of that means that the attention of business leadership has been largely externally focused on the world business, world markets and on Washington that just there's only so many hours in a day. What we try and do with the partnership is Synthesize for those global leaders what's happening locally and who's who and what's what. That's what we're doing with regard to the mayoral election now is trying to bring them into the conversation at a point where they're taking it seriously and they have to prioritize it. But these are people who are running global businesses, and that's what's changed. It's not anything else. But the focus of attention has to be global. And, well, I would just mention, because we sit here in Bloomberg podcast world, that Mike Bloomberg changed that when he was mayor. He brought the attention of our global leaders back to New York, which was extremely useful. I started as CEO of the partnership in 2000, right before 2001, before Mike was elected, and I took advantage of re engaging. If you went to a cocktail party in New York that Mike Bloomberg is going to be at, you had to talk New York. And he was a thought leader. He was the leading philanthropist. When people ask me who replaced David Rockefeller as the leading philanthropist, it was Mike Bloomberg. Simple.

[Zoran Mamdani]

I have to do the disclaimer here, which is, of course, Bloomberg News. Bloomberg Media is part of Bloomberg lp, which is owned by Mike Bloomberg.

[Tracy Alloway]

So you didn't tell our guest to describe our boss as the new David Rockefeller?

[Zoran Mamdani]

No, we did not. I just have one.

[Joe Weisenthal]

This isn't the first time I've said it.

[Tracy Alloway]

Okay, okay.

[Joe Weisenthal]

All right.

[Zoran Mamdani]

I just have one more question, which is have you noticed or seen at all, I guess, moments of introspection among the business community, this idea that, like, oh, maybe we missed something about Zoran? Maybe we missed why he's resonating so much in the city. Maybe we should start doing something different. Maybe we need to, you know, actually build more housing or lower rents or whatever. Or are they still committed very much to this? Not the status quomo, but the Eric Adams status quo, and they want him to win.

[Joe Weisenthal]

Again, distinguishing between the real estate community that sees the potential of an existential threat to private development, putting that aside, in terms of the general business community, I think your point that they're feeling a little out of touch with what's been happening on the ground, and they want to plug in. They are really interested. I mean, we've had tremendous interest in meeting Zoran, speaking with him. He's made calls to some businesses.

[Tracy Alloway]

Yeah. What do they say after, like the. After those phone calls? Because they've, you know, you mentioned the meetings that are coming up, but some have already. They've already chatted. Like, what is their response?

[Joe Weisenthal]

Their response is that he is the most. They said he's the politician of a generation. I mean, he's a generational figure. They're impressed after a 10 minute phone call with him because he is. He's a very effective communicator and he listens. And business leaders like to be listened to.

[Tracy Alloway]

Cathy Wilde, that was fantastic. So glad we made this happen. And like I said, maybe we'll have you back at some point or would love to have you back on at some point.

[Joe Weisenthal]

Thank you. Nice to be here.

[Tracy Alloway]

Tracy. I really like that conversation. There was a lot to pull from this idea. There are a number of things. This idea that the CEOs who are headquartered here in New York City, just by the nature of the changing economy, are less New York City focused themselves, to me is like something I hadn't really thought about, but makes a lot of sense to me.

[Zoran Mamdani]

Yeah, I thought that was really interesting. The other interesting point that Kathy brought up was, I guess, the divergence between, you know, Wall Street CEOs and perhaps other businesses versus real estate, which really seems to be freaking out about the prospects of a Mumdani mayorship.

[Tracy Alloway]

Yeah, no, that's really interesting, this idea that it's not monolithic. I said it in the intro or I said it early on. You know, I think a lot of people who are on paper, they're like, well, you look down the list of his policies, maybe not something that they're too into, but the fact that they don't, like, find him to be threatening or they don't find him to be repellent in some way. And so it's striking that already he's having these conversations. Also. It is just striking to me that people see him as potentially this extremely ideological person. And yet from the very beginning of his campaign in September was reaching out to Kathy and making these connections. I mean, it was a really savvy campaign.

[Zoran Mamdani]

Well, the other thing on that note, first of all, I'm really fascinated to see whether or not this starts to change campaign finance and the way it works because, again, Cuomo had all the money.

[Tracy Alloway]

Terrible roi.

[Zoran Mamdani]

Yeah, exactly. And the other thing I'm really interested in is, okay, the business. Kathy was saying one of their primary concerns is attracting talent into the city. Well, you know, that talent, presumably a lot of it is young. There's probably a large portion in there that is, you know, of a progressive bent. And so a candidate like Zorin might appeal to them and actually bring more people into the city.

[Tracy Alloway]

So it's also interesting, I mean, the safety and crime thing is the number one thing, right. That would cause people to leave because and again, there's a lot more talk about leaving New York City than there is actually leaving New York City. And it is true that I think a lot of those people who thought they were gonna decamp to Miami during the post pandemic period have come back for obvious reasons. But it's interesting that it's not even like any of the economic stuff. It's not the socialism stuff. It's just the basic safety stuff. And there is, I know there's a lot of the question about whether Mamdani, if he wins, will keep the police commissioner. The crime stats have improved quite a bit in recent years. The idea that this is like the really big thing more than, you know, the rent freeze, taxes or anything else, I think is just going to be an interesting executive question for Mumtani.

[Zoran Mamdani]

Lots of interesting questions thrown up by this whole election. Shall we leave it there for now?

[Tracy Alloway]

Sure, let's leave it there.

[Zoran Mamdani]

This has been another episode of the Odd Lots Podcast. I'm Tracy Alloway. You can follow me, Tracy Alloway and I'm Joe Weisenthal.

[Tracy Alloway]

You can follow me at the Stalwart. Follow our producers Carmen Rodriguez at carmenarmondashell, Bennett at dashbot, and Kalebrooks at Kalebrooks. For more Odd Lots content, go to bloomberg.com oddlots where we have a daily newsletter and all of our episodes and you can chat about all of these topics 24. 7 in our Discord, Discord, GG Oddlots.

[Zoran Mamdani]

And if you enjoy Odd Lots, if you like it when we do local New York politics that has national relevance, then please leave us a positive review on your favorite podcast platform. And remember, if you are a Bloomberg subscriber, you can listen to all of our episodes absolutely ad free. All you need to do is find the Bloomberg Channel on Apple Podcasts and follow the instructions there. Thanks for listening.

[Kathy Wild]

Join us in Seattle July 14th and 15th for Bloomberg Green, two days of powerful conversations and meaningful connections. We'll explore what's next in the climate, economy, clean tech policy, and greener living. Featured speakers include Jane Fonda, Brian Gellert and Vinod Khosla. The title sponsor is Amazon. Official airlines are Alaska and Hawaiian Airlines. Learn more at BloombergLive.com GreenSeattle that's BloombergLive.com GreenSeattle.