VOTE 2025: Last day of early voting across New York City

NYC mayoral candidates make final pushes to secure votes ahead of Election Day

Judges order the Trump administration to use contingency funds for SNAP payments during gov't shutdown

Food pantry lines last hours as cuts to SNAP benefits sink in

Gov. Hochul declares state of emergency over cuts to SNAP

Surprising endorsement: United Bodegas of America endorses Zohran Mamdani for NYC mayor

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News 12 Staff

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Welcome back to this episode of Power and Politics as we continue our vote 2025 coverage and turn to the back of the ballot, because when you head to the polls, that's where you're going to find six yes or no questions. The first is a statewide question asking to use protected land to upgrade and expand the Olympic facility in Lake Placid. The next few have to do with housing here in the city, and these are the questions that have sparked debate. Question two aims to fast track the process to build more affordable housing by speeding up the time it takes to make zoning changes. Number 3 aims to simplify and speed up the review process for small housing projects, cutting it down from the current 7 months for public review to 90 days. Question 4 would establish an affordable housing appeals board made up of the mayor, borough president, and the City council speaker and they would have the power to make the final call on affordable housing projects if they're struck down by the city council. Those questions 23 and 4 have sparked a lot of conversation and debate. Housing advocates are encouraging voters to vote yes, and Amit Singh Baga, the campaign director for yes on Affordable housing, joined us in power in politics to explain why. We have been experiencing a housing crisis of unprecedented proportions. New Yorkers, simply put, cannot afford to live in their homes. 50% of renters and homeowners are housing cost burden, which means that they spend more than 30% of their incomes on rent. And both rents and home prices have risen by double digits in the last 10 to 20 years. So these questions, which came out of a very public process, uh, convened by a panel of experts, uh, would do a couple of things. Number one, it would make it easier and faster, uh, to build smaller buildings all over the city, 4 stories. Or less, right, so these are buildings that we actually haven't seen that many of in the last several years but are exactly the types of buildings that New York built over many decades in the 20th century to house our working people. So this cuts the amount of time that it would take to have an idea to build this building and actually put a shovel on the ground by half or or even more. Uh, another thing it would do is fast track, uh, the same type of approval process for, uh, developments that are 100% affordable, right? So these are exactly the type of units that we so desperately need to be able to house our working people and number 3, we would, uh, the proposals would allow us to. Fast track housing that is at least 25% affordable or more so a building or a development is 25% or more affordable in the 12 community districts across the city that have built the least amount of housing in the last 10 years, right? We need to make sure that we have a city-wide solution to the citywide problem. And so passing these proposals is gonna give us the opportunity to do that. One thing that we have seen, and this iteration of the council may have made progress, but many iterations of the council in the past have stymied progress, and we don't know what future iterations of the council will do, is that the current system can be very easily weaponized by small-mindedness and closed mindedness that prevents housing from being built in many different parts of the city. Uh, if the proposals pass and they go into place, community boards will still have an opportunity to weigh in on many different types of projects. It doesn't actually remove their opportunity to weigh in. Uh, it just shortens the timeline for the types of projects I was describing 4 stories or less or 100% affordable, etc. Uh, with respect to the appeals board, uh, the power that the council currently has for some of these larger rezonings or developments, the council actually retains that power. The local council members still has complete ability to negotiate the very best deal on behalf of their constituents, things like. Community improvements, infrastructure improvements, investments in parks, schools, etc. things that you see come before the council today. The appeals board really only comes into play if the council after going through that process, actually votes down the creation of new housing. At that point, an appeal can be brought before the appeals board which, as you said, consists of the mayor, the city council speaker, and the relevant borough president. And they can consider whether or not just the housing components of that proposal need to be revived. But not everyone is on board. Many members of the city council say answering yes to those three questions would remove their power in the process, and as a result, they argue New Yorkers aren't as represented. The council's majority leader Amanda Farias joined us to explain why they are urging voters to vote no. It's directly giving away the public's power to developers that really won't make our city more affordable or make housing more affordable for anyone in New York. What we're seeing is and how we feel in the council is the mayor's proposals are misleading. You know, we have proposals 23, and 4 that are failing to create any real affordable housing for people in our neighborhoods because it's directly taking away the power that they hold to the city, to developers, to landlords accountable. You know, we. The the main process that is, I think, a really cherishable process that comes into community is the community board, the borough president, the city council, uh, all have a say and have a negotiation power and have um input and accessibility to that input in every single project and every ULR. that comes to our neighborhoods. We know that there's always variations to how the proposals get completed at the end of the day, but what's really important in that process is the community's input, and these proposals are eliminating the only vote that New Yorkers democratically. Uh, elected representatives have to approve the development in their own neighborhoods leading that can lead really to less affordability, less investments for communities, infrastructure, parks, transit needs, etc. Proposals 2 and 3 directly eliminate the public's power in the land use process. Um, it helps, it's literally taking away their voices by. by by associating their elected representatives voice in the negotiation and decision making process, so you won't see the community board's recommendation anymore and you won't see the borough president's recommendation anymore. That process is being condensed to a shorter time period, which means the input from community is a shorter time period, and that means less people are engaged, less people get notified. And we really want to make sure that that is the crux that stays in how housing gets proposed and approved in our communities. As for the remaining proposals, number 5 wants to create a digital official city map, and the final question on your ballot, number 6 asks whether you want city-wide elections to happen on the same years as presidential elections. More power in politics in just a couple of minutes. Stay with us.

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Welcome back to Power and Politics, and there has been a lot of talk about endorsements during this mayoral race. So we're taking a minute to look at some of the most surprising and perhaps influential ones so far a friendly embrace between New York City Mayor Eric Adams and former governor Andrew Cuomo as Adams endorsed him just days. Before early voting started, it came the day after the pair was captured courtside at a Knicks game while standing with Cuomo, Mayor Adams, who ended his re-election bid just last month, said he's angry because he wanted to be the one to beat Democratic candidate Zoon Mamdani, but that the city means more to him than anything. That's why I'm here today to endorse Andrew Cuomo to be part of this fight, and I'm going to give it my all these next few days to make sure that black and brown communities specifically who have believed there's nothing at stake in this election for them. It is. The mayor put his own ambition aside because he cares more about New York City. And he believes Zoran is an existential threat to New York City. Cuomo also emphasized that he and Mayor Adams are Democrats and accused Democratic socialist Mamdani of creating division in the party. Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa got the approval of someone who was once in the position that he's seeking. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani endorsed Sliwa's run for mayor, and Sliwa says if elected, he'd be Giuliani 2.0. When the man most synonymous for Law and Order in New York City who saved this city at a time that we were in peril is saying Curtis Lee was the best person for the job, bar none, that will do a lot to level the playing field now with Zorhan Mandami Andrew Cuomo. Despite being the Republican, Sliwa has not gotten the endorsement from President Donald Trump. Less than a week before Election Day, a surprising endorsement for Democrat Zoran Mamdani. The United Bodegas of America one strongly opposed his plan for city-run grocery stores, saying it would threaten small businesses. But now they're backing him. Our Kelly Kennedy asked the president of the UBA about it. Why the change of heart now so close to the election after previously criticizing Mam Day's campaign, especially the city run grocery stores? Bree. The west the vito. He says their support comes after seeing Mamdani get attacked for being an immigrant, and because most bodega owners are immigrants, they believe they have more opportunities with him. Governor Kathy Hochle threw her support behind Mamdani, as well as House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, and live election night coverage starts Tuesday at 9 p.m. We'll see you then.

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See where the mayoral candidates stand on the issues before Tuesday's election. 

Power & Politics: Your guide to New York City’s 2025 elections

See where the mayoral candidates stand on the issues before Tuesday's election.

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