Billionaire Barry Sternlicht, chairman and CEO of Starwood Capital Group, said that newly elected New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani will “turn New York City into Mumbai.” He claimed that Mamdani’s proposal to freeze rents, citing stagnating tenant incomes, could trigger widespread non-payment.
Sternlicht, who has major residential and commercial holdings in the city, argued that if one tenant sees their neighbour not paying rent, they too may stop paying, eventually “turning the city into Mumbai.”
According to The Times of India, Sternlicht told CNBC: “Over $100 million, every project in New York has to go union and it’s super expensive. It leads to extremely expensive housing. And other developers have tried to cut deals with the unions, but they rule New York, and that’s one of the key reasons the blue states are so expensive and they’re so difficult to add supply of housing to.”
On November 6, US President Donald Trump mocked the historic New York mayoral victory of Indian-origin Zohran Mamdani, whom he has repeatedly called a “communist”.
Addressing the America Business Forum in Miami, Trump recalled his own election win for a second term last year on November 5, saying people had “restored” their sovereignty. He then targeted Mamdani, claiming voters “lost a little bit” of that sovereignty in Tuesday’s mayoral election.
“But we will take care of it. Don’t worry about it,” he said, adding a warning, “you watch what happens in New York, terrible… I hope it doesn’t happen, but you’re going to see it.”
Trump also ridiculed Mamdani’s position on sports, saying, “and Mandami, whatever the hell his name is in New York… thinks it’s wonderful to have men playing in women’s sports.”
Self-proclaimed Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani swept a historic victory as people gave their mandate in the The Big Apple, colouring it in the Democratic Blue, as the 34-year-old becomes New York’s first Muslim mayor and the youngest leader in over a century.
Despite the looming “intimidation” from US President Donald Trump, the Assemblyman from Queens took the helm of the city, defeating former Governor Andrew Cuomo’s independent bid and Republican Curtis Sliwa in a race that galvanised young voters and progressives.
