Craig Gurian

Full transcript of Eric Adams campaign kickoff speech, annotated

Adams tried to claim the mantle of the candidate of the working class, identified first-term achievements, laid down a marker of vowing to protect all religions against hate crimes, and excoriated Mamdani, focusing most on the theme that New York "is not a city of socialism." What he didn't say was important, too.

How much meat is on the bones of Mamdani's K-12 platform?

Commentary | By Craig Gurian

As it appears on his website, it's 171 words in all, most of which don't have to do with what goes on in the classroom. And it's strikingly devoid of planks addressing deep-rooted problems. How will Mamdani fill in the blanks?

The City Council part of the mayoral equation

Commentary | By Craig Gurian

On Primary Day, you want to know "who is winning?" Leading up to the general election, "What will the candidate be able to accomplish or block" needs to be among the questions posed. That means taking the Council into account.

“Will the candidate have enough Council support to back his initiatives and to block measures he wants stopped?”

Hochul's "Pro-Housing Community" program so far falling flat

Original Reporting | By Craig Gurian

A large percentage of municipalities in Westchester and Nassau Counties — two of the beating hearts of exclusionary zoning in the New York City metropolitan area — are saying in effect, “No, thank you, we like our exclusion just the way we have it.” The lack of progress is especially apparent in municipalities with the lowest percentages of non-Hispanic Black residents.

Affordable housing Regional policy NYC Segregation

Mayoral debate on education: Fine question, largely depressing answers

Commentary | By Craig Gurian

What was striking last night was how many candidates didn't have the substance to fill even 30 seconds, or revealed in that time an under-appreciation of the problems that are going on. I remain convinced that candidates still treat a host of school-related issues as taboo.

Central paradoxes of the NYC mayoral primary

Commentary | By Craig Gurian

There's a lot that doesn't add up, at least if voters want to be able to make informed choices. Many substantive issues remain unexplored or underexplored, and the rhetoric often doesn't match what the winning candidate would be able to do as mayor.

Market-rate condos as an affordable housing tool?

Original Reporting | By Craig Gurian

Legislation recently enacted by New York State as part of its budget process directly offers the prospect of preserving several thousand affordable housing units at risk for losing their tenant protections, and indirectly raises the question of why an obvious set of tools aren’t being used to change the day-to-day reality of luxury condominium buildings being developed with zero percent affordable units included.

Affordable housing

Do they know it's truly an emergency?

Commentary | By Craig Gurian

Most of the candidates running for mayor of New York City have explicitly described the Trump administration as creating an emergency for the city, including in their assessments the prospect of reduced federal funding. But it is unclear how much they appreciate fully the impact of what is likely coming. They do, however, appear to be united in not admitting that emergencies require sacrifice.

“What is clear is that they do not want to tell the voting public that emergencies often have deeply unpleasant consequences, not all of which can be warded off.”

A few of the questions I'd love the NYC mayoral candidates to answer

Commentary | By Craig Gurian

Well, 50 actually (not including subparts). With a bunch of "why?" and "why nots?" Taboo breakers, too. Don't worry, though: I've thrown in some easy ones!

NYC mayoral primary

A few questions I'd love the NYC mayoral candidates to answer

Commentary | By Craig Gurian

Well, 50 actually (not including subparts). With a bunch of "why?" and "why nots?" Taboo breakers, too. Don't worry, though: I've thrown in some easy ones!

Craig Gurian

Get updates