Zohran Mamdani said on Tuesday that he voted “yes” on three ballot proposals intended to make it easier to build housing projects, finally revealing his position after spending months declining to weigh in and after more than 700,000 people had cast ballots during the early voting period.
Proposals 2, 3 and 4 would diminish the power of individual members of the City Council to reject housing development in their districts, which supporters say would help the city quickly address its dire housing shortage. The proposals were written by a Charter Revision Commission created by Mayor Eric Adams, and they give the mayor more power, the political battle over the measures pitting City Hall against the City Council.
Mr. Mamdani was asked repeatedly during the campaign where he stood on the measures, and he declined to answer. His evasiveness opened him up to attacks from his opponents, who had taken clear positions earlier in the race. Former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, running as a independent, supports the measures, while the Republican candidate, Curtis Sliwa, opposes them.
Mr. Mamdani’s evasiveness, though, seemed to reflect a political shrewdness. By declining to reveal his position, he avoided upsetting City Council members and powerful labor unions who use the current process to extract gains for unionized workers. He may need the support of the two groups to enact his ambitious agenda.
Mr. Mamdani did not explain on Tuesday why he waited to reveal his position, saying that he took seriously “the responsibility that I have to share my thoughts with New Yorkers” and that he needed time to consider the consequences. He acknowledged that the measures may give the mayor more power if they pass.
“That is a power, like all mayoral power, that must be used to deliver for New Yorkers,” he said. “And I am looking forward to working alongside the City Council in delivering the kind of investments that so often communities have been denied.”
Benjamin Fang-Estrada, a spokesman for the City Council, said in response to Mr. Mamdani’s vote that the “misleading ballot proposals permanently change the City’s Constitution to weaken democracy, lasting beyond the next mayor when we inevitably have a mayor who is bad on housing, equity and justice for communities.”
Mihir Zaveri covers housing in the New York City region for The Times.
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