Opinion: The time for progressive governance is now

With the primary victories of Working Families Party-backed candidates Zohran Mamdani, Sean Ryan, Dorcey Applyrs, and Sharon Owens, a new progressive moment may be cresting in New York state politics. Emerging from different corners of our state, these leaders represent more than personal electoral success. They may signal a deeper realignment underway, one that challenges the false binaries between upstate and downstate, urban and rural, reformist and pragmatist.

If our Democratic nominees secure victory in November, the next essential question becomes this: Can we translate this momentum into lasting results? Not just for our own cities, but for a statewide coalition focused on fixing the deep systemic challenges that New Yorkers face every day: affordability, housing, transit and the financial health of our municipalities.

The case for action could not be more urgent.

New York is in the midst of an affordability crisis. In too many parts of the state, people are being priced out of their neighborhoods. I am not just talking about Manhattan and Brooklyn, but Ithaca, Buffalo and Hudson. Working families are spending 40%, 50%, even 60% of their income on rent. Homeownership is out of reach for entire generations. At the same time, our population continues to shrink. We lost a congressional seat in the last census. According to the Regional Economic Development Councils, most of our economic development regions are either stagnant or declining in population, hurting our competitiveness and fiscal base.

This is not just about affordability. This is about whether New York remains a place that people choose to live, raise their families and build their futures. 

New York’s cities are contending with critically aged infrastructure that cannot support the needs or industries of the 21st century. From roads and bridges to broadband and wastewater, our capital stock is strained. And as the climate crisis accelerates, New York must prepare itself to serve not just its current residents, but a future influx of people fleeing less resilient parts of the country. The Northeast is projected to become a climate refuge, especially upstate communities with ample fresh water, higher elevation and livable summers. To adapt to this future, we must build toward it now. The federal government has largely failed to meet the moment. That leaves our state, and our cities, to lead.

A unified progressive coalition in New York can and must deliver a new blueprint for shared prosperity. But it will require moving beyond slogans and toward the hard work of reform. Together, we can pursue a focused statewide agenda that includes:

State-level housing reform that empowers local governments to build – bolder, faster, and more affordable.

Local governments across New York need greater authority, resources and flexibility to meet real housing demand – especially for deeply affordable and mixed-income housing. That requires unlocking underutilized state-owned land, overriding exclusionary zoning and streamlining the approval process. But it also demands bolder solutions. To reverse population loss and attract the workforce of the future, we must invest in public innovation: from zoning reform and rent stabilization to state-led construction and ambitious models of social housing. The time to build is now.

Real municipal finance reform – not just one-off grants.

New York’s system of municipal finance is broken. The promise of Aid and Incentives for Municipalities has failed to keep pace with inflation, and the property tax cap has squeezed local budgets while the state withholds critical revenue-sharing tools. Cities like mine are forced to rely on short-term grants, fragmented programs and lose-lose operational trade-offs to fund essential services. We need a new compact: one that provides predictable, adequate and equitable resources to local governments and allows us to invest in the people and infrastructure that keep our cities running.

Infrastructure and climate resilience investment.

Our state should lead in retrofitting public buildings, expanding mass transit, upgrading water and energy systems and greening our housing stock. These are not just climate policies. They are jobs programs, public health strategies and future-proofing investments. We should not have to choose between affordability and resilience. With the right policies, we can achieve both.

A strategy to address municipal distress and reimagine public services.

Too many of New York’s cities and towns are teetering on the edge of insolvency, unable to cover long-term obligations while their tax base erodes. Rather than allow slow decline to continue, let’s reimagine how we deliver essential services across jurisdictions, with support from the state to modernize service delivery and avoid austerity.

These reforms are not optional. They are essential to ensuring that New York remains a place where people want to live and can afford to stay.

These recent progressive victories are not just about ideology; they are a referendum on the future. In community after community, voters are asking their leaders to do more than manage decline. They are demanding a politics of investment, inclusion and action. They are voting for housing they can afford, transit they can rely on and neighborhoods they can raise their children in. They are calling for us to fix the institutions that have failed to adapt to modern needs.

This progressive moment offers us the only durable path forward. Because it is only when we combine principle with governing skill that we can win lasting change.

As mayor of Ithaca, I know firsthand the limits of what we can accomplish within our own city’s borders. I also know what becomes possible when we collaborate across municipalities, across regions and across the artificial divides that have long plagued Albany. This is why I believe we have an opportunity and a responsibility to build a real partnership among New York’s progressive leaders – from the Hudson Valley to Harlem, from the Finger Lakes to Flatbush.

This is a call not just to govern, but to unify. Let’s forge a cross-state coalition that demands real reform. Let’s present Albany not with complaints, but with coordinated demands and a vision for what New York can become.

We will not always agree on every detail. But we can agree that the status quo is failing too many people. And that the time to act is now.

If we succeed, New York can become a beacon for the country: a model of how progressives, when organized and serious, can not only win elections, but transform how government serves the public.

The moment is here. Let’s meet it together.