One of Mayor-elect Mamdani’s promises is that he will rout out the evil landlords from NYC, and that worries me.  By whose estimation are landlords deemed as such?  To what measure do we hold them?  And who decides which landlords deserve to be punished?

In my building in Harlem, for example, there is much discussion about how we are neglected. There have been some dire problems, and we are without a full-time superintendent, without a maintenance man, without real support.  As frustrating as that is for us tenants, it is too easy to blame the landlords, too facile to call them negligent.

Running a building is an expensive, difficult operation.  Especially in a building that tries to accommodate those of us who truly NEED to be paying rents that are realistically affordable. Affordability is a word that has no real meaning in most of the city these days — directly across the street from my building is one that the NYC lottery has offered as “affordable,” a word defined by starting prices of $4400/month for a studio apartment. For whom is such a sum affordable? Not for most of us in my building.

Ours is a rent-stabilized building that houses 130 units, some of whose tenants are living on Section-8 vouchers and some who are unable to meet their monthly obligations, for which the landlords are merciful.  We have had our share of sink and tub drainage problems, and it is absolutely clear that the plumbing and disposal systems, built in 1984, might need replacing; but, for the most part, even without the full-time help, things usually right themselves in due time.  People complain there is no heat, but the city regulates landlords, and while I would prefer there were NO HEAT at night and a little more heat by day, I am sure our landlord is meeting their obligations. Occasionally, we face other problems endemic to the city, but within a reasonable amount of time, they are usually dispatched. If we are not treated like guests in a 5-star hotel, well, we’re not guests in a 5-star hotel. We are working folk who come home to a stable building protected by a security guard and maintained with enough care that we certainly never suffer the slings and arrows of the sort Mr. Mamdani refers to as evil landlording.

I would never want the responsibility of providing housing to so a disparate group as the group housed in our building comprises.  We come from all walks of life, all kinds of culture, and we can be a demanding lot, who, overall, get whatever we need.  The landlords have an incessantly huge task.  One I do not envy.

On this Thanksgiving, I am grateful for the roof over my head.  And for the management that keeps my building functioning. 

Thank you, Park Management.