NYC NOW - Midday News: Voters to Weigh In on Housing Crisis as Ballot Questions Advance, World Cup Ticket Lottery Opens, and Poll Shows Mamdani Leading Mayor’s Race

Episode Date: September 10, 2025

New York City voters will weigh in on housing this fall after the Board of Elections approved three ballot questions aimed at speeding up development. Meanwhile, FIFA has opened its ticket lottery for the 2026 World Cup, which includes eight matches at MetLife Stadium and the final. Plus, a new Siena poll shows Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani leading the mayor’s race, and Fordham professor Christina Greer joins us to discuss the opposition he faces.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. It's Wednesday, September 10th. Here's the midday news from Michael Hill. Soccer fans, it is go time. The lottery has just opened for a chance to buy tickets for the 2026 World Cup. The application window will stay open until September 19th. That's next Friday. The sports governing body FIFA will then begin.

selecting applicants and notifying them of the opportunity to buy tickets for the tournament. New Jersey's MetLife Stadium will host eight matches next summer, including the World Cup Final. New York City voters will get a chance to weigh in on the housing crisis this November. The city's Board of Elections approved three ballot questions to make it easier and faster to build new housing. Amit Singh Bogga leads a political action committee backing the ballot questions. He says the city has to change his current review process to speak. of construction.

There is an unknown they that stops things from happening. So we need to educate New Yorkers about the fact that this system is in fact that unknown day. But city council leaders say the measures, if to prove, could erode their authority and limit community input on development projects. The National Weather Service is issuing a coastal flood advisory for Staten Island and New Jersey's eastern monument and coastal ocean counties through this afternoon. Up to a half foot of flooding is possible in low-lying areas near the shore.

They're also reminding drivers not to park anywhere prone to tidal flooding or try to drive through any flooded streets. 65 with some showers out in air, cloudy and a cool day in the upper 60s winds up to 15 miles an hour. Then tomorrow's sunny and warming up near 80 degrees. Stay tuned for more after the break. Election Day for New York. New York City's next mayor is two months away, and opposition toward the current frontrunner is escalating. The latest Sienna polls shows Democratic candidate, Zeran Mamdani, with a sizable lead at 46%.

Former Governor Andrew Cuomo is running second as an independent, polling second at 24%. Behind him is Republican Curtis Sliwa, and in last place, the incumbent Mayor Adams. Let's talk about this race with Dr. Christina Greer, a political science professor at 4.4.5. Board of the FAUSEM University and co-hosts of the FAQ podcast. Dr. Breyer, always good to talk to you. Yesterday, some of the city's biggest landlords and business executives held a hastily convened meeting. It was a kind of last-minute emergency gathering in support of Andrew Cuomo and against Mamdani. What does this gathering tell us about Mamdani's opposition? Well, firstly, it solidifies that Mamdani has a lot of the big communities scared.

So I always remind people that there's sort of four main groups in New York City that are accustomed to putting a mayor in Gracie Mansion, and that's business, say Wall Street, real estate, labor, and the Hasidic community. And those four groups essentially make or break a mayor's chances. Mamdani right now only really has labor as far as those big groups. Business community is coming around slowly but surely, but real estate is not there. And thus far, we haven't seen the Hasidic community come out in. in full force for Mom Johnny. But what's interesting here is that he doesn't necessarily need those groups. He had close to 100,000 volunteers on various events.

He's capping out on money. If you look at his money and his donations, they're small dollar donations, not just from around the country, but from around all five boroughs. He's getting a groundswell of support of New Yorkers. And this may be one of the first times in modern history, where the real estate community and the business community don't have a strong hand in cherry picking who will be the next mayor. At the same time, the Wall Street Journal reports that a growing number of real estate executives

are starting to look for ways they could work with a Mundani administration. Do you see a softening there at all? Absolutely. I mean, don't forget, four years ago when Eric Adams, we had a brand new system where we used ranked choice voting in the Democratic primary. Eric Adams was victorious that threw some people for loop and it left quite a few communities scrambling, business and real estate communities. So this is about the second time in a row where there could possibly be a mayor of New York City that the real estate and the business

community didn't help select. So what we're seeing on both ends is a willingness for the business community and the economic community, the real estate community, to Think of ways where they can meet Mom Dani in the middle. We're also seeing the candidate you see in a primary race is not necessarily who you see in a general election because we know a lot more people turn out and a lot of different types of voters turn out. They're not the diehards of the party. So we're already seeing some movement of Mamdani, him being willing to talk across the aisle about policing or about business. You know, he does identify as a Democratic socialist, but that is a very important. very small population of New York City. The progressive population in New York is very diverse.

I always say we're many, many shades of blue in New York City. So Mamdani has campaign consistently about issues that will affect all New Yorkers, not just progressive New Yorkers, not just members of the DSA. And in doing so, he's going to have to come to the table and make some concessions and compromises. And I think the bigger conversation will be, what will his relationship be with the DSA and not necessarily with the business and the real estate communities. It's clear despite his lead in the polls, the opposition to Mamdani remains sizable, and his opponents are looking for a plan to stop him. What do you think will be the effect of this widespread pushback against Mondani come

election day? Well, there's a lot of misinformation and disinformation that has been floating around and we'll obviously see it ramp up as we get closer to November 4th. What's been so hard for his opponents is that they are using negative campaigning. He's young. We don't know him. He's a socialist.

You know, dot, dot, dot. The difference is, Mamdani has been consistent in saying, this is an additive politic that I'm trying to bring to New York. There are New Yorkers who make $40,000. They're New Yorkers who make $400,000 who are feeling the squeeze.

There are people who are going to the grocery store, myself included, where $60 barely gets you a bag of groceries. So if I'm gainfully employed and feeling the, the weight of the pressures of the economic circumstances of New York, I can only imagine what a family of five or six is feeling. I can only imagine what people who aren't gainfully employed are feeling. That's been the consistent message of Mamdani. He's talking about affordable

housing. He's talking about transportation. So many New Yorkers use public transportation to get to and from work or other places just to move freely about the city. It's really a civil rights issue if you are able to move freely about your own city and afford to do so. So these are questions that are actually being raised by so many different types of New Yorkers, and it transcends race and class and religion and borough. And he's not just doing well in the same six neighborhoods in Brooklyn and the Upper West Side, where we've seen certain types of progressive Democrats do very well. He's doing well.

You know, you've got massive endorsements in the Bronx. He's not afraid to go to parts of Staten Island where people might not be so reticent to hear his message, but he'll stay there and explain the messaging. He's obviously from Queens. He's making inroads in Brooklyn. And there's a real groundswell of people who didn't know who he was, but he's getting out there and hitting the pavement literally Bloomberg style, walking the city, what like Michael Bloomberg did in 2001, and really getting to know people and answering as many questions as they have. Dr. Greer, just 30 seconds left here. I get the impression, and more reading about this race, that somebody behind the scene, almost like a puppeteer,

somebody's pulling strings, trying to tug, trying to direct this race a certain place. Is that Governor Cuomo doing this with so many people criticizing him, Adams and others are criticizing him, for what's taking place out in public? Well, I think we've got a few people trying to pull strings. We've got Washington, D.C. trying to pull strings. We've got, you know, Andrew Cuomo has very long tentacles

in New York City and New York State. Don't forget, his father was elected when he was 19 years old. And we also have Eric Adams, who is an incumbent. He is the sitting mayor. And we have a newcomer who just is bringing hope and energy

and change into the city. So there are a lot of behind-the-scenes machinations that are happening. The difference is the negative campaigning thus far is not sticking. And so as we get closer to November 4th, the question will be, you know, are New Yorker is going to be

comfortable letting a 33-year-old with very little experience, lead the largest city in the nation. And thus far, many New Yorkers are saying, well, we've got so much incompetence at the top of our nation right now, and we've had so much corruption when Andrew Quarman was governor and Eric Adams is mayor, so why not take a chance? Our guest has been Dr. Christina Greer, political science professor and co-hosts of the FAQ podcast.

Dr. Greer, always a pleasure talking to you. Thank you. Always a pleasure. Thanks for listening. NYC now from WNYC. Check us out for updates every weekday, three times a day, for the latest news headlines and occasional deep dives, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. We'll be back this evening.