New York was built on a simple idea. That anyone can arrive here and become more of who they are or who they dream of becoming. It’s never been easy or gentle, but it has always been possible.
I came here for that reason. For possibility. For the belief that you could land in this city with a dream, a bit of courage, and the will to work, and somehow carve out a life that felt like your own.
But over the years, holding on to that ideal has grown harder. Rents have risen. Balance has shifted. The intimate spaces that gave the city its humanity (bodegas, jazz clubs, diners, boutiques) became more fragile. We lost our balance.
There was a period under Michael Bloomberg when our city regained its footing. And whether you agreed with every policy or not, the overwhelming majority of people I speak to say the same thing. “He was the best mayor the city has ever had”. Mayor Bloomberg understood that New York was the largest corporation in the world, and he ran it with the skill of someone who knew how to attract talent, encourage collaboration, and bring everyone to the table. He also had the luxury (and balls) to follow his own agenda. To build this city for everyone.
He didn’t need everyone to agree.
He just needed everyone to work.
And work together.
That sense of balance seems to be what many residents feel we have since lost.
So when New Yorkers voted for Zohran Mamdani, it wasn’t just about politics. It was about their survival. He spoke to something urgent and human: that housing is not just shelter. It’s belonging.
But here is where his dream gets challenging.
With Mamdani, the city is more polarized than I’ve seen in decades. People either love him or hate him. His challenge is the same one Bloomberg understood instinctively: to bring people to the center. To turn division into collaboration.
And here’s the irony. To build the homes he has promised, he will need the very people his platform opposed: developers, investors, and builders—the people who actually know how to turn ideas into buildings, and buildings into neighborhoods.
Hopefully, he will understand that progress here has never come from idealism. It has never come from one side winning. It has always come from the friction and collaboration between those who dream of the city and those who build it.
If Mamdani can find that balance, as Bloomberg did, if he can get the dreamers and builders back to the same table, we have the chance to create a New York that once again realizes its potential.
But four years here go by in a flash, and New York does not wait for anyone. If he doesn’t deliver, he will be gone. Because this city doesn’t rise from disagreement, it rises from working together.
Let's do this!
Shaun