Welcome back to the Bigger Apple newsletter. A quick update: we’re expanding our coverage and will now deliver commentary and analysis more frequently. Earlier this week, we sent two standalone stories — Eric Kober’s piece on the City Council’s effort to alarm voters about proposed Charter revisions that would promote more housing, and my debate preview. Going forward, you’ll see more short dispatches like these, along with regular essays and election coverage. This newsletter will continue to get published on Fridays.
And if you like this newsletter, I’m thrilled to share that we’ll be launching a Bigger Apple podcast, hosted by MI’s Nicole Gelinas and me, and available wherever you get your podcasts. We’ll let you know when the first episode is live!
Sliwa Without The Hat
I went into last night’s mayoral debate waiting to see if Andrew Cuomo could use his experience, gravitas, and expertise to dent the young socialist Zohran Mamdani’s lead. I was expecting the Republican, Curtis Sliwa, to stay in the lane he’s occupied for most of his career — engaging and at times thoughtful, but unable to cut through beyond a slice of New York’s Republican minority.
But Thursday’s debate was, in the end, all about Curtis Sliwa, who showed up in a suit and without his trademark red beret, delivering a series of commonsense prescriptions on issues from crime to immigration, and making everyone — including Zohran Mamdani — laugh at his jokes. Mamdani sailed through the contest, delivering familiar lines; Cuomo couldn’t even handle Curtis.
Sliwa offered a glimpse of what a successful New York Republican Party could look like: he specialized in stating the obvious about crime and education, while Mamdani and Cuomo twisted themselves into pretzels explaining their past left-wing positions and votes.
But just as I was warming to Sliwa, he made clear that this kind of urban Republicanism also takes a populist stand against a free market for housing.
This would be a Republican Party that campaigns for smart, center-right administrative measures but against growth — and turns against the most appealing trend in the Democratic Party: the turn toward pro-market “abundance” economics that even Mamdani has offered lukewarm support for. Political parties have switched sides in the past, but it will be a bitter pill if New York’s Republicans wind up out-socialisting Zohran Mamdani.
Here’s what Politico, the NYT, the NYP, THE CITY and Gothamist wrote about the debate.
Eric Adams is considering endorsing Cuomo (NYT).
A new poll from FOX shows Mamdani breaking 52 percent among likely voters, with Cuomo is at 28 percent, Sliwa at 14 percent, and Eric Adams at two.
Mamdani finally apologized to police officers during an interview with FOX News’s Martha MacCallum on Wednesday.
As New York braces for a Mayor Mamdani, the city’s future may depend on the socialist front-runner not doing much of what he says he’ll do (City Journal)
Big City Progressives Keep Flailing. Michelle Wu is Different.
Boston’s mayor has been able to sustain a highly progressive policy agenda by focusing on service. (City Journal)
Are Higher Taxes Unavoidable?
Governor Kathy Hochul faces a difficult fiscal landscape just as she prepares to run for reelection, Gothamist reports.
Despite Gov. Hochul being adamant she will not raise taxes, several lawmakers warn that higher taxes are unavoidable as New York braces for steep federal funding cuts to health and nutrition programs under President Donald Trump’s new budget law, according to Crain’s New York Business.
The looming reductions could complicate Zohran Mamdani’s efforts to persuade state legislators to finance his expensive progressive priorities.
The 485-x Tax Credit Is Not Working
At a Crain’s New York Business event on October 15, 2025, NYC Economic Development Corp. president and CEO Andrew Kimball said the next mayor’s top priority should be creating a new housing construction tax incentive to replace the 485-x program, the outlet reported.
Introduced under Mayor Eric Adams to succeed 421-a, 485-x has seen little private-sector participation, largely due to wage rules requiring at least $40 an hour on projects with more than 100 units. Developers, Kimball noted, have responded by downsizing projects to avoid the mandate. Calling the program the single most important thing the next administration can take on, Kimball said there is broad recognition that Albany will need to revise it to restart housing production.
Kimball’s remarks, though technical, land squarely in the political debate over how to spur affordable housing. Andrew Cuomo has also criticized 485-x as ineffective, while front-runner Zohran Mamdani argues it fails because it doesn’t demand enough affordability.
Kimball pointed to the $3.5 billion Brooklyn Marine Terminal redevelopment—downsized from 12,000 to 6,000 units after local negotiations—as an example of both opportunity and constraint. Despite slowing job growth, he said the city remains attractive to young workers, but warned that families aged 30–39 are the most likely to leave. With StreetEasy data showing one in five homes selling above asking price and Brooklyn’s median rents nearing $3,800, without a functioning incentive, the next mayor will have to choose between enabling private-sector production or doubling down on deeper subsidies to close the city’s widening affordability gap.
Related: What can the next mayor learn from the Greenpoint rezoning? Unrestricted development will deliver more units than expected, but there are costs to it. (Gothamist)
In City Journal:
Behind Enemy Lines is a small radical “anti-imperialist” organization active in New York and Chicago that co-organized disruptive protests at the 2024 Democratic National Convention and again on October 7, 2025. At its recent New York demonstration, Manhattan Institute reporter Ryan Thorpe witnessed American flags burned, graffiti defacing buildings, and calls to “globalize the Intifada,” with one organizer urging Americans to “defect from their loyalty” to the United States. His story.
Extra! Extra!
Who is Mamdani’s most trusted adviser, Elle Bisgaard-Church (City&State)
During a push for new development, will the next mayor change course on landmarking? (City&State)
Interborough Express (IBX) is moving ahead with the environmental review. (Crain’s)
City’s 15-mile-per-hour speed limit for e-bikes goes into effect next week, but no one seems to be clear how it is going to be enforced. ( Streetsblog, The City)
NYC Childcare Navigator, a platform the United Federation of Teachers created about a year ago to help their members find affordable, nearby child care centers, is now available to all.
One thing Mamdani can scratch off his list is his promise of baby baskets — Adams is launching NYC Baby Boxes, a box of postpartum and newborn supplies for people giving birth at four of the city’s hospitals later this month.
Could spending $12,000 a year on training a prospective teacher, covering tuition for teaching degrees, money cards, certification exams and mentorship, in exchange for teaching at city schools for three years, work to keep them? Mamdani plans to find out.