Opinion: New Yorkers want equitable economic reform

Zohran Mamdani’s meteoric rise to Election Day victory on Tuesday may have surprised some, but for those who have long pushed for a fairer, more inclusive New York, it was both foreseeable and long overdue – the natural expression of a city ready to reimagine what democracy can look like, particularly with the right leadership. For months, New Yorkers signaled that they were ready for more than reform – they were ready for transformation.

Voters demanded a new political and economic paradigm – one that rejects a governing model built to subsidize private interests under the banner of modern supply-side economics while merely managing people’s deprivation. Instead, they chose an approach that centers human dignity, capability and shared prosperity as the true purpose of public investment.

Day after day, New Yorkers face mounting economic pressure – wages that trail soaring costs and productivity, unstable work, and shrinking pathways to long-term security. These conditions are not accidental; they are a direct result of policies that concentrated power and capital. They prioritized speculation and profit over productive investment, while treating people as costs to contain, rather than innovative and ingenious assets with which to invest. Our government is managing deprivation rather than investing in New York and building shared prosperity.

The numbers bear out the urgency: wealthy households now capture 44% of all income in this city, while the bottom 40% take home only 8% of total income. Without public investment, this architecture of advantage is unmistakable – not accidental, but designed. 

The task before the new administration is not to operate this system more efficiently – it is to replace it with a new one. The guiding framework should be public investments and inclusive economic rights: the principle that every person deserves government-invested essential goods and conditions for a self-determining life – access to quality education, income, housing, health and a safe environment.  

It also means no stop-and-frisk – free mobility without the fear or threat of detention and bodily harm because somebody's personhood is linked to a stigmatized identity. 

The mayor-elect’s campaign promises begin that work. His plan to freeze rents on 1 million stabilized apartments and build 200,000 new affordable units recognizes housing as a public good, not a speculative commodity. His fare-free bus proposal addresses mobility barriers that disproportionately burden working-class families. These are meaningful steps toward shared security.

Still, affordability alone is not enough. New Yorkers demand not only relief from rising costs and economic insecurity, but a commitment to building long-term economic agency and the capability of doing things. That means ensuring that every child is cared for and enters adulthood with a real stake in their future and that households have the stability and agency to plan their lives. A city thrives when we invest in people’s capacity to be self-determining; true freedom flows from our collective ability to secure the conditions of human dignity. 

This vision is not new; it is the unfinished work of those who came before us. In his final years, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called for a “revolution of values” grounded in rights, not charity. A. Philip Randolph and the architects of the 1966 Freedom Budget imagined a federal guarantee of jobs, housing and income. Former President Franklin Roosevelt’s proposed Economic Bill of Rights made clear that government investment in people is both possible and powerful. And of course, Eleanor Roosevelt led the landmark UN Declaration of Human Rights, which emphasized economic rights as a critical component. Mamdani’s election signals that New Yorkers are ready to carry forward this lineage – to complete the unfinished work of justice.

Other cities and states are already experimenting with bold approaches to deliver such security – providing long-term assets, guaranteeing basic stability and expanding meaningful work. New York should not just follow; it should lead. This moment calls for a governing philosophy that treats human potential as the engine of shared progress.

New Yorkers have been signaling this direction for years. Since 2022, an overwhelming majority – more than 70% – have voted their values, choosing, for instance, ballot measures aligned with a vision for a more inclusive, just and dignified city. This election did not emerge from sentiment alone; it reflects a sustained democratic mandate to move beyond managing crises and toward building capacity and belonging.

To be clear: realizing this vision will require courage. Every administration faces pressure to reassure capital markets and dial back bold promises for the sake of narrow politics. But this election was not won by caution; it was won by clarity. New Yorkers chose a governing philosophy that recognizes people – not profits – as the true infrastructure of a thriving society by investing in human capacity, democratic institutions and the shared well-being of our communities. We now have the mandate to finish the unfinished work of building an inclusive economy and multiracial democracy.

New York has always been where the future arrives first. If this administration governs with the same conviction that animated its campaign, it can make this city a model for 21st-century democracy, the place that manages inequality most efficiently.

New Yorkers have spoken. They chose rights over rhetoric, transformation over timidity and solidarity over fear. Now comes the work to turn that mandate into measurable and lasting change.