Latest / World Ablaze with George Fontes / Mamdani's NYC - Policies vs Realities and Cost of Living (Sara Alessandrini)
Transcript
- 0:00welcome back to another world of blaze everybody i got miss sarah elison drini here um she is back
- 0:14on the show and she will be well i wanted her here because i want to do a follow-up on how we
- 0:20thought about mom donnie because she was trying to move closer to new york and i know you're closer
- 0:25now. And we're going to dive into that. But first, I got to go ahead and do the whole
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- 1:23So without further ado, let's bring Sarah back on.
- 1:26And Sarah, tell us about your move, Sarah.
- 1:29You just moved from California to New Jersey not too long ago, right?
- 1:33Yeah, it's just a different world.
- 1:35It's from Los Angeles to New York.
- 1:39So I'm very close to New York.
- 1:43Every time I walk on the street, I can see New York far in the distance.
- 1:47It's very beautiful.
- 1:48so yeah it's just very different because like coming from california where
- 1:53like i walk a lot i took public transportation for 11 years in los angeles so it's a rarity
- 2:00over there obviously so but it's nice because there if you walk it's mainly you and crazy
- 2:06people very often so you always have to be careful like and the distances are like so big
- 2:11spaces are so big in los angeles so it's not that people are right next to you so it's for
- 2:17It's still fairly safe to walk, but you have to always pay attention who is the person that is walking on the street.
- 2:23While here, there might be some crazy people, but it's so much nicer.
- 2:28It's crazy to say it feels much safer, even like in Newark, in New York, where everybody complains about how dangerous it is.
- 2:34For me, having lived in Los Angeles, so nice.
- 2:38Yeah, I think I'll believe you.
- 2:40I live in California, so I think I'll believe you.
- 2:42um hey so for for those who are not familiar um you were on previously i think what was it been
- 2:49six to seven months ago already something like that it's very possible i mean could it be like
- 2:55even last year yeah oh no longer i know i think it was like november or december yeah it was it's
- 3:02almost been a year november is when there was the election in new york city did we meet that month
- 3:07I would think.
- 3:11But yeah, so it sounds like you're happier being close to New York.
- 3:17I wanted everybody to get a little more background on you because it's been nearly a year since you've been on the show.
- 3:21So tell everybody what you do.
- 3:25Well, first of all, I'm from Italy.
- 3:27So I'm a full-on immigrant still on temporary visas.
- 3:31So I'm very expert about that topic too, if we want to talk about that.
- 3:36But I've been here in the United States for 11 years.
- 3:39So 11 years I was in Los Angeles.
- 3:41And at the beginning of summer, I moved here to Newark.
- 3:45And I made, first, it was a feature documentary that I made about New York politics.
- 3:50So it was about Cuomo when he resigned with accusation of sexual harassment.
- 3:53So this was back in 2021.
- 3:56And I made a feature documentary.
- 3:58And then I expanded that into a miniseries that is now streaming platforms.
- 4:04And I released it last year.
- 4:05So that's why I've been following New York politics,
- 4:08even if I was working and living in Los Angeles for the past five, six years, I guess.
- 4:15So I've been following New York.
- 4:17And last year I was traveling here a lot.
- 4:20Also following through the Cuomo campaign,
- 4:23I was kind of like following what the Cuomo campaign was doing.
- 4:25So I got to see some of that process, how the election process works.
- 4:30So it was definitely very interesting.
- 4:32not amazing it's almost like the campaign it's kind of weird it's like yeah i wouldn't say like
- 4:40i don't know it's kind of kind of creepy i would say campaigns how they are run i don't know there
- 4:46is something that it's i don't know i like like real and authentic stuff so and i expected more
- 4:53so i said to everybody because people were saying oh it must be so amazing and inspiring to be in
- 4:59New York with the election, but you don't really feel that when you're there in person,
- 5:03because it's not just that everywhere you walk, you can see politics.
- 5:08It just feels like any day of the year, if there are posters about election, they are
- 5:13in very small places.
- 5:15The majority of people, especially in New York City, also, there are a lot of tourists,
- 5:19a lot of people that don't even vote in New York.
- 5:21So there is in that atmosphere.
- 5:23So I got to see how in the areas where people go and vote,
- 5:29but it's not that you see anything, obviously,
- 5:30because they're in closed spaces.
- 5:32You get to talk to a few people, but it's not something.
- 5:36It's funny because I got to leave New York politics
- 5:39much more from Los Angeles,
- 5:41because everything happens nowadays in the media,
- 5:45either social media, the news media.
- 5:48But the people in person, they don't talk as much about politics
- 5:52unless you really find those few people that want to.
- 5:55But again, when you're in New York,
- 5:57the majority of people are not experts in politics.
- 6:00Yeah, well, I would think that's also true
- 6:02of any city election, for example,
- 6:05unless it's a super small town
- 6:07where everyone's really connected,
- 6:08like a small community.
- 6:10Once you get to a certain size city,
- 6:12most people are disconnected
- 6:13from the actual political system
- 6:14and what's actually happening,
- 6:16who's actually governing the city they live in.
- 6:19Yeah, I mean, I think Los Angeles is much worse.
- 6:21like people still know but los angeles like it's just weird like even for me that i've been
- 6:27following politics even when i was living in los angeles and there was the re-election for
- 6:32gavin newson last time i didn't even realize that was happening because even in the media
- 6:36people were not even talking that much because i guess they just assumed that he would be re-elected
- 6:41so they didn't there wasn't a push more than likely yeah so but the politics like the the
- 6:48governor in new york's state like for the past two years people have been talking about this
- 6:54re-election that is going to happen like this year so it in new york the media talks much more
- 7:00about politics and people know like there are definitely many more events there are so many
- 7:06places you can go and that are like political related i'm sure compared to los angeles but
- 7:13still people it's not everybody is involved let's say yeah i think i think california is just going
- 7:19through the motions for the most part and this just i just think that they assume that however
- 7:25it is it's just always going to be that way so there's not really a lot of talk except for like
- 7:30in small circles as in maybe the opposing parties that are trying to get the other party out but
- 7:36outside of that i think people just go on with their day-to-day they just assume well this is
- 7:40what it is and you know this is we're just going to walk through and not really pay attention
- 7:44and i think that's a lot of it in california so i mean to me anyway sometimes yeah for sure and a
- 7:49lot of that with the homeless situation it just feels like it's been like that forever and nothing
- 7:54can change but even if you go to new york like it's not like the safest city on earth new york
- 8:00is like new jersey so we're still talking about a city that could be very dangerous there are not
- 8:06as many homeless even like during summer as los angeles so you go to places where there are not
- 8:13homeless even in new york city manhattan it's not that every second you turn and there is a homeless
- 8:18like there is in los angeles but you get when you live in los angeles it feels like it's impossible
- 8:22to imagine a city where not everybody is homeless i guess yeah i wonder if that i wonder if it has
- 8:29to do maybe with new york having actual more more shelters and programs because they were ahead of
- 8:35California for years on that. I mean, that's something
- 8:37they've invested in long ago.
- 8:39California is just barely realizing
- 8:41you need to do these things. And then they
- 8:43had them and then pulled funding.
- 8:45So a lot of them went away. So here we are
- 8:47stuck with people with nowhere to go on the streets.
- 8:49Yeah, like in New York, it's
- 8:51the law that they have to be in shelters, obviously,
- 8:53but especially because obviously we're talking
- 8:54about during winter, it's pretty
- 8:57crazy here. Right.
- 8:58I mean, it gets pretty cold to
- 9:01sleep during the night
- 9:02in Los Angeles.
- 9:04It's not great.
- 9:06But over there,
- 9:07they don't have that many shelters.
- 9:09And so there is a rule
- 9:10that say that people
- 9:11legally cannot sleep on the street,
- 9:13but they kind of,
- 9:14what do you say
- 9:15when you put that law on pause?
- 9:18Because I think it was some judge
- 9:21who said until you actually
- 9:22build more shelter,
- 9:23you cannot enforce that law.
- 9:25So that's the issue
- 9:26that's been going on
- 9:27in Los Angeles too.
- 9:29Of course.
- 9:30All right.
- 9:31So let's get on with the meat and potatoes, as they say.
- 9:36The last time you were on, there was speculation about New York because you love New York.
- 9:42You love New York as an immigrant.
- 9:43You were always, as you said, would follow New York politics from afar.
- 9:47Came to America, even from California, you were monitoring New York.
- 9:50Now you're closer, right?
- 9:51You're in New Jersey now or Newark.
- 9:52You're closer.
- 9:54And so I told you that we were going to do a follow-up on this Mamdani experiment because
- 10:00when you were on last was right when he was running to get elected and he did get elected.
- 10:04So I want to get your view, your perspective on this. I got a few things that I'll show you.
- 10:10We'll talk about and get your perspective for someone who's closer to New York.
- 10:15And you can maybe just like, I don't know, just let us know how you feel about it and see if I
- 10:20want to see if your assessment and your opinions have changed. Let's put it that way.
- 10:25No, nothing changed.
- 10:26All right. Well, we'll find out. So let's start here because what's interesting is the tension and the backlash that he has been getting about trying to attend the 9-11 memorial. Okay, that's coming up. And the victims and the families of 9-11 do not want him there for whatever reason, but he is not going to listen apparently.
- 10:50And so this just came out not too long ago, maybe a day or so ago, but Mayor Mamdani says
- 10:57he'll attend 9-11 ceremony.
- 10:58He's going to do it regardless of how the people feel.
- 11:01On Friday, New York City Mayor Zoran Mamdani will attend the annual 9-11 remembrance ceremony
- 11:06at Ground Zero despite mounting criticism from some victims, families, and prominent
- 11:11Republicans urging him to stay away.
- 11:13Petition signed by nearly 100,000 people urges Mamdani to skip the event, citing his appointment
- 11:18of Ramzi Qassem
- 11:20as chief legal counsel
- 11:22due to Qassem's past defense
- 11:24of a convicted al-Qaeda member.
- 11:27Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani
- 11:28and former New York Governor George Pataki
- 11:30have publicly pressured Mamdani
- 11:32to avoid the memorial
- 11:33while security preparations
- 11:35of Friday's ceremony
- 11:36begin this week
- 11:38with checkpoints installed
- 11:39at the World Trade Center.
- 11:40And we can keep going,
- 11:41but you get the idea.
- 11:43So here's what's interesting.
- 11:46The people don't want him there.
- 11:48They don't want him there because they don't feel he truly represents New Yorkers and what they went through on that day.
- 11:54And it's funny because September 11th, it's going to be 25th anniversary.
- 11:58And it seems so far removed, at least a generation removed already.
- 12:02So we have a generation of people that don't really have any real connection in terms of what it felt like and what the country went through.
- 12:09And so we're at that cusp of disconnection.
- 12:12And then we have a mayor who, and we'll show you some more clips and whatnot.
- 12:17where he really doesn't seem like he takes it serious
- 12:23unless he's forced to take it serious
- 12:25until he gets a little criticism or pushback.
- 12:28Do you have any opinion on this?
- 12:31You being close to New York,
- 12:32you probably have a little more insight.
- 12:33I'm just reading stuff from a foreign secret.
- 12:36Yeah, yeah.
- 12:37I mean, that's been going on from the beginning of his time,
- 12:41obviously, because it's not just this 9-11,
- 12:44a lot of issues related to the Jewish community.
- 12:46that's been the criticism of him
- 12:49from the beginning
- 12:50so that's why
- 12:53I don even know what would be the right answer because yes there are a lot of people that did the petition for sure and they don want it So obviously you would want to be respectful to people that suffer so much And he did like a statement
- 13:07was it?
- 13:09In the past month, I guess. I think
- 13:11he was already, I don't know, maybe he wasn't a
- 13:13politician yet. Like he was
- 13:15running, but maybe he didn't like
- 13:17start his time. But then
- 13:19he was talking about his aunt.
- 13:21Oh yeah, yeah. I didn't pull that up. But
- 13:23yeah, good call. I forgot about that.
- 13:25Yeah, because he was saying that he was thinking about how his aunt suffered after 9-11 because the people look at her because she was wearing the hijab, I guess.
- 13:37And so that obviously was very disrespectful because he kind of felt like he was saying that the real victims of 9-11 were like the Muslim community, that they got a few people to look at them in a weird way.
- 13:49So obviously, definitely there is no reason, like there are reasons obviously why people feel certain things and are scared of certain things.
- 13:58But obviously, whatever happens like this, the terrorists, you shouldn't harass a certain community just because of the religion they believe.
- 14:07I think that goes for anyone.
- 14:10Like there are like crazy situations in the world with every religion, every situation.
- 14:14So if someone is just a random person walking on the street, you should not harass that person because they're Muslim or because they're Jewish and all of that.
- 14:22And it's been going on, obviously, in New York.
- 14:24There is a lot of division because of that.
- 14:26And Mamdani is even more polarizing in that sense because there are a lot of attacks against the Jewish community that's been going on.
- 14:36And a lot of times he's not responding unless the journalists ask him specifically about that.
- 14:44So there has been a lot of that going on.
- 14:47So, yeah.
- 14:48Has it ramped up the attacks on the Jewish community since he's been elected?
- 14:54Yeah, I think the numbers they're showing that there has been a big part of hate crimes are against the Jewish community.
- 15:02So there has been that.
- 15:04But again, also like numbers, it's really hard to say exactly what they mean.
- 15:11So even this petition, I don't know exactly this petition.
- 15:14that went under a thousand
- 15:16because every time there is a petition,
- 15:18anyone can sign the petition.
- 15:19It doesn't mean that they are citizen
- 15:21or like, well, not citizen,
- 15:23but at least that they are New Yorkers.
- 15:25So I don't know who exactly did this petition
- 15:28because I think a month ago
- 15:29there was also another petition
- 15:30that was related to the Jewish community.
- 15:33I don't remember right now,
- 15:34but there was a lot of rabbis
- 15:37that criticized something that Mamdani did
- 15:40and asked him not to do something.
- 15:42and even there it sounded like the way the the media was talking about that petition as if it
- 15:48was everybody in new york because it was related to new york but it was actually people all around
- 15:53the united states so yes definitely like the family i don't want him to attend there are a
- 16:00lot of like people that are saying that uh but all this thing also become very political so
- 16:05also as a mayor you have a duty to be there for something this important and to support
- 16:11the community and if you don't show up
- 16:14I think it's not
- 16:15there is no win for him in any situation
- 16:17because if he shows up
- 16:19he's disrespectful to the family
- 16:21if he doesn't show up it's
- 16:23oh look at this politician who didn't show
- 16:26up for this important
- 16:27memorial so
- 16:29it's a very difficult situation to
- 16:32be on honestly
- 16:32it seems like he's probably
- 16:35being set up either way he can't
- 16:38win like you said but
- 16:39I mean I get your point about the petition
- 16:41But still, I mean, the sentiment of New Yorkers in general, at least from what we see on social media, like, you know, okay, we can believe social media for as far as we can probably throw it.
- 16:51I could throw it pretty far, though.
- 16:53But the problem with that is we don't know what we can really believe, right?
- 16:58Yeah.
- 16:59But at the same time, it seems like the sentiment is they don't want him there.
- 17:03And this didn't just start yesterday.
- 17:06Like, this has been going on for a while.
- 17:08Yeah.
- 17:08I mean, it's been going on with him all the time.
- 17:10But even for smaller things, people say that.
- 17:12That's where I'm saying at a certain point, okay, this is a very important topic.
- 17:16So I'm not saying that this is just another of many.
- 17:19But when we start putting politics in every little thing,
- 17:22then it's harder to know when the important ones happen,
- 17:26if it includes politics or if it's really...
- 17:29Because if it's like the families, obviously you want to honor the families.
- 17:32Those are really the people, like everybody that lost someone they loved.
- 17:36You really want to be respectful to those people.
- 17:38So if someone else who maybe might not be involved in this specific situation, but hates Mamdani, and now that person doesn't want him to show up, it's a little different.
- 17:52because these people...
- 17:54I'm just saying that there are some people
- 17:57that would say that no matter what he does,
- 18:01they would say that.
- 18:02And I don't want to defend Mamdani.
- 18:03I'm not in the business of defending Mamdani.
- 18:06But I also see how he has a responsibility there
- 18:10to show up for his role.
- 18:12And so there is no win there for him, I think.
- 18:16Right. Well, I get your point.
- 18:17But it seems like what you said earlier
- 18:19is most things he does is because he feels...
- 18:21feels like he has to like he's being forced he's reluctant to do these things yeah yeah yeah yeah
- 18:26for sure all the time all the time you know we'll go back to what he posted in 2023
- 18:32and a lot of people were upset about this and you can read into this like it's very small so i cannot
- 18:38really read it yeah i'll read it for you okay it says nearly 3 000 new yorkers died on 9 11 22 years
- 18:45later, the death hasn't stopped. We mourn our neighbors who died that day, the hundreds of
- 18:51thousands who died in the wars that followed, the unknown millions injured and displaced.
- 18:56In their memory, we work toward a better world. Now, a lot of people were upset with that because
- 19:02in what he posted, he specifically or intentionally dismissed how they died and the reason
- 19:08why we remember 9-11. It was very dismissive in the way he did it. And that's the way a lot of
- 19:15people took it okay yeah i mean like that's like a lot of these people that support the dsa the
- 19:21socialist again yeah those are more concerned about the old wars that happened after 9-11
- 19:29because of 9-11 and like the hasan piker he said that america deserved 9-11 yes and that's just not
- 19:37like a slip of a tongue those people that support the dsa people like the socialist and the very
- 19:44for whoever is on the far left.
- 19:45Those people really believe that.
- 19:47So it's not something to take lightly, obviously,
- 19:51but that's a lot of people believe that.
- 19:53So there is a lot in the media talking about that
- 19:56as if it's like a fringe,
- 19:58but it's actually like a lot of people believe that.
- 20:01And it's the same people that on October 8th
- 20:04were celebrating Hamas.
- 20:08So it's the same people.
- 20:11And a lot of these people are getting in government
- 20:13because it's not just Mamdani, but there are a lot of other DSA members that feel the same.
- 20:19And so, yeah, and there was another situation.
- 20:22It was the beginning of the year, I think, where there was a protest.
- 20:28It was a far-right protest in front of Gracie Mansion, so where he lives.
- 20:34And it was a far-right.
- 20:37And yes, they were like bigot people, obviously, against the Muslim in general and everything.
- 20:44But then there was a counter-protest and two people threw a bomb against those people that were protesting.
- 20:50And when Mamdani wrote his statement, he said that it was unacceptable of the far-right people to do the protest.
- 20:58But it sounded like the bombs were thrown by the far-right people.
- 21:05When it wasn't the case, it was two people.
- 21:08There was actually the counter-protest.
- 21:10And in his statement, he didn't mention that.
- 21:13So right away, if you don't know what happened, you think it was the far-right people that were doing the violence when it wasn't the case.
- 21:20So again, that was another situation where the people that were screaming halak bar, because that's the problem.
- 21:28every time there is someone screaming at Laqbar,
- 21:30then he justified that person
- 21:32and the same people that voted for him
- 21:35justify that type of behavior.
- 21:37And so there are double standards here, obviously.
- 21:40So it's not like by chance
- 21:42that people are feeling this way for 9-11.
- 21:45There are a lot of reasons that have been going on.
- 21:48So, yeah.
- 21:49Yeah.
- 21:50So I get the fending, I guess, your people
- 21:54when you were talking about the protest against the Muslims.
- 21:57but you know that that's that's a can of worms we can definitely go down the road of that if you'd
- 22:01like um but here's here's the thing we can call the people far right we're also looking at a
- 22:06situation in new york where you have a strict pro-muslim islam mayor now i don't really care
- 22:12what i care is when that comes before your duty to your city or the country you live in currently
- 22:17and that seems to be his position when your wife skips the 250th anniversary of america now i guess
- 22:22she doesn't have an obligation to go on a muslim retreat in spain and then goes on another one in
- 22:26Portugal, I think that sends a clear message to what you really think of the people of the United
- 22:30States of America. And then it also begs the question, what are you doing here? When you're
- 22:35intentionally dismissing people and doing posts like I just read earlier, where you're just saying,
- 22:40well, people died. That's the same as Ilhan Omar saying, well, some people did some things.
- 22:46Same type of thing. I mean, I'm not saying it's right, of course. I'm not saying it's right to
- 22:51be bigoted but i can see where the frustrations have have you know come up over the years um and
- 22:57and it's you can see how i think people feel like they're being either replaced or they're just being
- 23:03brushed aside to welcome in a giant muslim community that seems to be immigrating like
- 23:09i wouldn't say uncontrollably because it's not uncontrollable anymore but it just seems like
- 23:14there's more and more of them and you're getting pushed for more mosques to be built you're getting
- 23:17push for more private institutions and schools.
- 23:21They want their own private communities where they could have their own police forces and
- 23:25everything, which we just saw they're trying to push for in Texas.
- 23:29They're trying to do that in Minnesota.
- 23:31They've been trying to do that in Kansas for a while.
- 23:32Kansas actually is an area that has had this going on for many, many years.
- 23:37A lot of people don't even realize that.
- 23:39And then when you have the leaders of care up there, the Council of American Islamic Relations,
- 23:44when they're up there giving a speech and they're endorsed by abdul al-sayed and his speech is not
- 23:52abdul al-sayed but the leader of care when his speech is literally telling you that our goal
- 23:56is to increase the mosques to 4 000 and from those donations of those 4 000 mosques we're
- 24:01going to go ahead and send people to the university to get degrees in political science
- 24:04we're going to get degrees in journalism and filmmaking specifically to write their own
- 24:09history and their own narrative and they literally did say that i'm not i'm not putting i'm not
- 24:13inflicting anything into this. This is what they actually said. And I have that clip,
- 24:16not with me, but I can send it to you if you haven't seen it. And so when these things keep
- 24:21coming up, you feel like they're telling you what they want to do. Now, the danger here,
- 24:26Sarah, and where I believe you're correct in the bigotry, there's a danger of being bigoted because
- 24:31we could throw a blanket around all Muslims. We know that there are different types of Muslims.
- 24:35We got Sunni, we got Shia, and I understand there's a difference between those who are extreme
- 24:38and want to be jihadists.
- 24:40But the average person doesn't discern that, unfortunately.
- 24:44So I think this Mamdani situation is,
- 24:47it's almost like fuel on the fire
- 24:49where I think people want to see him do good.
- 24:52But then there's these little things that keep adding up.
- 24:54And to me, the devil's in the details.
- 24:56I think it's intentional.
- 24:58And I think it's just building up
- 24:59and people are just getting to a point
- 25:00where they just don't want to deal with it.
- 25:03And hopefully it doesn't turn violent.
- 25:05I don't think it will.
- 25:06but I think people are starting to see through him,
- 25:09especially when you have stuff like this.
- 25:11Okay, let me play this.
- 25:12I mean, I don't know if people are starting to see through him, honestly.
- 25:15And I've been saying this for a long time.
- 25:18And I wrote a long sub-stack also about what he says
- 25:23and everything that he doesn't say.
- 25:25So he is a salesman.
- 25:27He does.
- 25:28So he just sells stuff.
- 25:30He doesn't know.
- 25:31He doesn't have a plan.
- 25:32And people say, I want him to succeed.
- 25:35I'm like, why do you want him to succeed?
- 25:38If he's succeeding in what he says he wants to do,
- 25:40that's going to hurt New York.
- 25:42So I want New York to succeed.
- 25:44I don't want Mandani to succeed
- 25:45because what he wants to achieve is going to hurt New York.
- 25:48Well, let's watch more of his salesmanship here
- 25:50as he was just citing executive orders
- 25:53in regard to what he was going to do with 9 And look where he hands the pin right Yeah yeah yeah To this man here So tell me that not a message
- 26:06he's sending to everybody
- 26:07because this guy is that lawyer.
- 26:10I forgot his name.
- 26:11What was it?
- 26:11It was, yeah, Ramsey Kassem.
- 26:14Isn't it the husband of Chevalier?
- 26:20Is that the answer?
- 26:20That I don't recall,
- 26:21but what he is famous for
- 26:23is literally being a lawyer.
- 26:25who represented a terrorist of al-Qaeda right here.
- 26:30Yeah, but that's been going on during the election,
- 26:36the campaign too,
- 26:36because there was also an article
- 26:38that Mamdani took a picture with this person
- 26:41who was, I don't remember how much he was involved,
- 26:45but he was involved with the first attack
- 26:47to the Twin Towers, the one in the 90s.
- 26:49Yeah.
- 26:50So he was taking a picture with that person too.
- 26:54So yeah, this controversy has been going on.
- 26:59There is obviously a lot of reasons why people don't want him there.
- 27:01He's not...
- 27:03Yeah, he's an actor.
- 27:06He's an actor.
- 27:07So that's...
- 27:08Say the least.
- 27:09Yeah, that's the thing.
- 27:11But I don't believe that people...
- 27:13Like, I'm very cynical in this
- 27:15because I don't know how people are really able to see this.
- 27:20And, you know, like New Yorkers are famous
- 27:22because they could spot bullshit.
- 27:24But I think a lot of people in New York
- 27:26are not New Yorkers.
- 27:28There are a lot of transplants.
- 27:29A lot of transplants.
- 27:31Like the people that voted for him
- 27:34the most were the people
- 27:35that had been in New York
- 27:37for under five years,
- 27:38less than five years.
- 27:39But the problem is that
- 27:41those people show up and vote.
- 27:44And especially,
- 27:45but there are a lot of reasons
- 27:46why people would support someone
- 27:47like Mamdani.
- 27:49Because if someone is in their 20s,
- 27:51especially because of like the
- 27:53resentment that this population
- 27:56like this generation has
- 27:57against boomers and
- 27:59older population
- 28:01they're not going to care about
- 28:03what he believes in
- 28:05just because he's young I think for a lot of
- 28:07people is enough for them to vote for him
- 28:09and he
- 28:10is controversial for this kind
- 28:13of stuff also like
- 28:15yeah you have to
- 28:17pay a lot of attention
- 28:19in what goes on the news.
- 28:21And a lot of people don't really read the news,
- 28:23don't read the other side.
- 28:26A lot of people just look at TikTok.
- 28:28On TikTok, there is only a specific type of population
- 28:31that is posting.
- 28:33It's not the boomers, obviously.
- 28:36Maybe they...
- 28:37I don't have TikTok,
- 28:37so maybe even the news media has their own channels.
- 28:40There's definitely that going on,
- 28:43but it's definitely...
- 28:45I think people see the news,
- 28:46but they're just glancing headlines
- 28:47and they're just moving on.
- 28:49To them, that's their update.
- 28:51Or they want to get their little 15-minute podcast that tells the entire world's news within 15 minutes every morning.
- 28:59And it's like, how deep are you really going?
- 29:01You're not getting any depth there.
- 29:02People don't want to challenge what they believe.
- 29:05So they see Mamdani.
- 29:06Even when he goes on television, when he has the clips, he speaks with a soft tone.
- 29:11He's so respectful.
- 29:13He's so nice.
- 29:15And they ask him questions.
- 29:16He doesn't answer any question, but it sounds like he does answer it.
- 29:21But again, it requires a lot of critical thinking that I think also in school.
- 29:26The problem is that in school, people are not being pushed to really think hard.
- 29:31And they're forced to believe that there are certain truths and everything else is not true.
- 29:38So I think that's a big element for sure.
- 29:42Like education in America is not too good right now.
- 29:44Yeah, I recently wrote an article about that to education in America on Subsak.
- 29:50I'm sure you should.
- 29:53Yeah, no, I did.
- 29:54So yeah, it was a very long one.
- 29:55So yeah.
- 29:56Let me do this real fast because I want to take our focus of Mamdani.
- 30:01On the one hand, there's the Muslim or Islam frustration, right?
- 30:06And then you and I didn't get to the DSA side, but that was a lot of what's going on behind this movement too.
- 30:12And then he does this stuff, though, that has nothing to do with religion.
- 30:15Okay.
- 30:16Taking Islam out of it.
- 30:18Where he goes and sues the city council over a $10,000 bonus to teachers' aides.
- 30:23And this one's interesting.
- 30:25Okay.
- 30:25So New York City Mayor Zoran Mamdani has filed a lawsuit seeking to block a new law that would provide roughly 25,000 school paraprofessionals with $10,000 payments, arguing that the compensation decision should be handled through collective bargaining.
- 30:40The city council unanimously approved the measure, which took effect Wednesday after Mamdani declined to sign it with the first $2,500 installment scheduled for January 2027.
- 30:52And Mamdani's administration says the legislation could undermine New York's labor negotiation system and create a precedent for other public sector unions to seek compensation directly from the city council rather than through bargaining.
- 31:05now that's fine except for the united federation of teachers and city council supporters defend
- 31:12the payments as necessary to address law um low paraprofessional salaries and staffing shortages
- 31:19while the estimated cost of city is about 325 million so in one breath he's trying to say this
- 31:25should be handled by the unions and then the unions are saying no we're good with this like
- 31:29so where are we at why is mam donnie suing them what's the play here in your opinion yeah i mean
- 31:37that that's a problem with mam donnie because like on one hand he wants to he's fine with doing
- 31:42short-term moves for everything like the freeze the rent just to provide some uh like
- 31:50some like just because the people are suffering right even that is gonna hurt a bunch of people
- 31:57the rent of the free is not going to solve any problem.
- 32:01But it's interesting
- 32:02how he does this stuff
- 32:04where this
- 32:06one, he's not okay with it.
- 32:08It doesn't make sense too though because
- 32:09your teachers unions are saying, yeah,
- 32:12pay them. There's a shortage.
- 32:14We're good with it. He's saying
- 32:15the union should be negotiating this and they
- 32:18shouldn't be going direct to city council, which
- 32:19obviously that's not necessarily the case here.
- 32:22I mean, also, it makes you
- 32:24question if there is also
- 32:26a lot behind closed doors
- 32:28because they say like the teachers union,
- 32:31especially in New York,
- 32:32is the most powerful entity that there is
- 32:36and how much really that the money
- 32:38that are going into the whole unions, honestly,
- 32:42are really going to the benefit
- 32:44of the people that need them the most.
- 32:46So that's that, but that's another point.
- 32:48You know, I know people who work in school systems.
- 32:52So I know for a fact that if the unions,
- 32:54the way it works.
- 32:55And if the unions get together
- 32:56and the teachers, for example,
- 32:57or the custodians
- 32:58or whatever union they're in,
- 33:00they do discuss these things.
- 33:02They go ahead and they agree on them.
- 33:03Then they present it to the school boards.
- 33:06And then from there
- 33:07is where the decisions are made.
- 33:09So this doesn't just get...
- 33:11You can't bypass
- 33:12and go straight to council this stuff.
- 33:13It has to go through the school board.
- 33:15They have to have these meetings
- 33:16and conversations before it even gets there.
- 33:18So it's like,
- 33:19ma'am, Danny's trying to look like a hero
- 33:20saying, well, there's some weird stuff going here.
- 33:22I'm going to save the city $325 million.
- 33:24And on the other hand, the schools can't keep up with providing services for students because they're understaffed.
- 33:29And the only way they can see to compensate those who are, you know, bussing their butts working is just give them a little more money because, you know, wages over there.
- 33:37It's not cheap to live out in New York, right?
- 33:41So it's just an interesting play here.
- 33:43I'm like, I'm not sure what it was other than him trying to enforce the whole union strong labor movement thing that the DSA has been pushing, you know, the whole socialist.
- 33:51um yeah that's why like a lot of dsa or socialist however you want to call them
- 34:00those people they believe that they help people in a way that maybe hurts them or the people
- 34:06because even like he didn't want the homeless to live on the street and then 20 people died
- 34:12last winter because they didn't they didn't force them to go out of the street like i don't want to
- 34:18say it's mandani's fault but when you have that mentality where oh they have the right to decide
- 34:24to be on the street and it's it's freezing there is this no that they shouldn't like especially
- 34:30there are a lot of people that have mental issues so you cannot just say oh just do whatever you
- 34:35want and that's the the human thing to do here for you the human thing to do sometimes is to force
- 34:41them into a facility so um so it's a they have like a very weird ideas of what really helps people
- 34:49and but that's the thing i think a lot is about power because i don't think the dsa really wants
- 34:56to help people i think they just want the power and it was very interesting because recently uh
- 35:02the i don't remember who it was but there was an interview to mamdani and they asked him
- 35:06what is the amount for someone to be working class.
- 35:14And Mamdani couldn't say it's that $50,000 a year that they make is $100,000.
- 35:19And Mamdani couldn't figure out what was.
- 35:21And then he said $1 million per year.
- 35:24Anyone that makes under $1 million a year is working class.
- 35:28It's like if someone makes $500,000 a year, that's a very wealthy person.
- 35:35It's a good chunk of change.
- 35:36Even in New York City, you're not rich because if you make $500,000 as a salary, maybe you take home $250,000 because you pay 50%.
- 35:47Yeah, but you're still doing well.
- 35:50Yeah, you still have like $250,000. You're not poor.
- 35:54But that's the thing. There are a lot of people that perceive themselves as poor in New York, even if they make $140,000.
- 36:00And again, yeah, apartments cost very much. Everything can be expensive, but it's also a city where people really want to go out every night of the year. So I think there is some entitlement too. Because yes, of course, apartments should not cost $6,000 for one bedroom.
- 36:22but of course it's not everywhere
- 36:25that's the price. It might be $3,000
- 36:27but even like $3,000
- 36:29per month for a one-bedroom apartment
- 36:31it is not just one bedroom like in Los Angeles
- 36:33one bedroom can be very big
- 36:35here we're talking about
- 36:36a horrible building
- 36:38with a small
- 36:39maybe it's one bedroom and not just a studio
- 36:43but still very small
- 36:45and maybe you don't even have the light
- 36:47because it's all like big buildings
- 36:49coming through the windows
- 36:50and in some buildings they're old.
- 36:55It's really bad, the housing.
- 36:58But at the same time, you're not poor.
- 37:02If you make $150,000 a year, you're not poor.
- 37:06But a lot of these people,
- 37:08and I know even some people in Los Angeles,
- 37:10that they wanted the government,
- 37:11like I was trying to help a friend of mine in Los Angeles
- 37:14because she quit her $140,000 a year job.
- 37:18and she always worked in big companies where she made a lot of money.
- 37:23She quit her job because it was a toxic environment
- 37:25and she didn't have insurance.
- 37:27So I tried to help her go through the system to get insurance
- 37:31and she complained that she couldn't get the government to pay for that
- 37:36because she made too much money in the past year.
- 37:39It's like, but if you make $140,000 or at least $100,000,
- 37:43like a government should pay for your health insurance?
- 37:45answer. And well, you got to, I completely get your point, but you know, people get used to a
- 37:52certain lifestyle and that becomes like, that becomes their baseline. Right. And then what
- 37:57you're saying about, okay, you're not poor at 140,000, but I don't know. It depends where you
- 38:02live because I don't live far from the Bay area out in California. I'm very close to like San
- 38:07Francisco, San Jose, all that. And I'll tell you right now, like Santa Clara, that's not New York
- 38:11expensive, but if you're making $140,000, you're not rich. I mean, I'll tell you that right now.
- 38:17No, you're not rich. You're not rich for sure.
- 38:19Your cost of living is... I mean, I don't even know if you feel middle class. I mean,
- 38:23everything is expensive there as well. And they have, especially in San Francisco,
- 38:28where prices are pretty similar to real estate in New York. It's not quite there, but there are
- 38:34cases where a studio apartment, for example, would be like $4,000 a month, $4,200 a month.
- 38:39It's gone insane.
- 38:40And even an average house that is not that big is a million dollars minimum and not even in a great area at all.
- 38:49So it's similar, but not the same.
- 38:53Yeah but it not the same thing as someone that makes a year That where the problem comes Because there are a lot of people that make a year like under
- 39:06So in New York, there
- 39:08are a lot of people that do that and survive.
- 39:11So the problem
- 39:12is not that if the money
- 39:14is available, if everything we're
- 39:16doing great, expand
- 39:18who gets help,
- 39:20no problem. But if right now,
- 39:22for example, even like the free buses,
- 39:24So to make the system free for everybody, like Mom and Danny wanted to do free buses, the MTA system, it's terrible.
- 39:34It's really very bad in New York, especially during summer.
- 39:38It's so hot under the subway, and the system breaks all the time.
- 39:46There's always something that doesn't work.
- 39:48And everything looks old, smells bad.
- 39:51And so there is so much work that should be done in the subway in New York.
- 39:57So you cannot provide free buses for everybody, even tourists, when you have so much work that you have to do.
- 40:05Because, of course, either they don't have enough money to do what they have to do or they don't have the intention.
- 40:11That's a different problem.
- 40:13But if someone with the little money that we have available in the system, if someone should benefit, should get benefit like free buses,
- 40:21it should be the people that make $20,000 a year,
- 40:25the $40,000 a year,
- 40:26not the people that make $300,000 a year.
- 40:29And that's where, to me,
- 40:31the problem with people like Mamdani
- 40:32is that I think it's that generation too,
- 40:37that we have to make the system perfect.
- 40:40And if it's not perfect,
- 40:42we're not going to do anything,
- 40:43but there is no system that is ever going to be perfect.
- 40:46You have to make, with what you have available,
- 40:48try to make the most important things today.
- 40:51but instead that generation tried to shoot for the stars so they don't have actually to do anything
- 40:56because you everybody knows you cannot make the the free buses in new york because also the mayor
- 41:02doesn't have the power the mta is controlled by the governor and they already said that we cannot
- 41:08do the buses for free it's not available in the budget there is not that money even like new york
- 41:14state struggles with money so they would have to bail out and they already bail out so many other
- 41:19things so you don't like instead of like try to get the buses for free for everybody because he's
- 41:28the people that vote for him don't make 40 000 a year the people that vote for him the most are
- 41:35those in the range 150 000 so but the priority should be let's give free buses and the subway
- 41:42to to the people that don't make enough money and right now in new york there wasn't that system
- 41:47that was only for people that are disabled or senior.
- 41:51I don't know if they changed it now,
- 41:53but only certain people could get it discounted
- 41:55when that's much easier to achieve.
- 41:58So, yeah.
- 42:00Yeah, when you start talking about wages and living,
- 42:04I mean, it gets a little weird
- 42:05because everybody has a different perspective
- 42:07from where they're at in life.
- 42:09But I mean, look, I'll be honest.
- 42:12I don't know how they do it in New York,
- 42:13but I know being in California,
- 42:15that if you make a certain amount,
- 42:18you don't qualify for any assistance or programs.
- 42:20It doesn't matter.
- 42:21I know that for a fact.
- 42:23If you own a business,
- 42:25no matter how much you make,
- 42:26you're already disqualified.
- 42:28It doesn't matter.
- 42:29Because they look at you as someone
- 42:31who could like,
- 42:32no, maybe you're not doing your taxes
- 42:33exactly on how much you make.
- 42:35You know, like,
- 42:35oh, you're writing all this off.
- 42:37Do you really have these expenses?
- 42:39I think there's always a little of that
- 42:40that goes with it.
- 42:41But it doesn't matter
- 42:42if you're making $40,000 or $100,000.
- 42:44These programs,
- 42:45are in place, like you said, to help those who don't meet a certain income level.
- 42:51I don't agree.
- 42:53Well, let's put it this way.
- 42:54I see what you're saying as in, well, it shouldn't be free for everybody
- 42:57if you have the means to provide for yourself.
- 42:59I get that argument.
- 43:00I do.
- 43:01But if it's your taxes that are also contributing to the upkeep
- 43:05and making that happen for everybody,
- 43:07it's kind of hard to tell those people who are paying those taxes
- 43:10that they can't also take advantage of, let's say, a free bus.
- 43:13But buses I get.
- 43:14I mean, there's maintenance up.
- 43:16Just like you said, they don't have the money.
- 43:18They don't have enough coming in to keep all that up.
- 43:19So I get it.
- 43:21And it's funny to say you're doing well at $140,000, $150,000.
- 43:26But let's just be honest, New York, it's not that much for the cost of living.
- 43:30Someone making $40,000, yeah, they're pretty damn poor.
- 43:32That sucks for them.
- 43:33I wouldn't want to be there.
- 43:34And they do need help.
- 43:35Absolutely.
- 43:37But it's like the new middle class.
- 43:39you've got to be making over $150 to $200 in some of these areas
- 43:43just to feel like you're even close to middle class these days.
- 43:47It just is.
- 43:49I mean, for sure.
- 43:50But yeah.
- 43:52The real estate market is what did this to everybody.
- 43:55And so that's what's tricky.
- 43:58Because you were talking earlier how Mom Donnie wanted to freeze the rents, right?
- 44:02Well, which also hurts the owners who can't raise the prices to keep up
- 44:05with everything around them going up for cost as far as maintenance and everything else.
- 44:09there were some landlords definitely taking advantage of people for sure.
- 44:12I mean, there were some slummy landlords for sure.
- 44:14Everywhere.
- 44:15And there are also so many tenants that they're also taking advantage of that too.
- 44:20That's the problem is that you cannot be naive in life.
- 44:23There are horrible people no matter where you're looking at.
- 44:26Oh yeah, all sides, definitely.
- 44:27There are like someone, like in Los Angeles, my neighbor,
- 44:31he was also like an older immigrant.
- 44:33He had this apartment that he was renting.
- 44:36And this guy was an ex-homeless person.
- 44:38So there was this like company that was paying for his rent.
- 44:41So he was not responsible for the rent because this other company was paying for him to help him not be homeless.
- 44:47And this person had like a lot of issues.
- 44:50Like it was dangerous.
- 44:51Like you would see like different times when you walk on the street, he would like scream.
- 44:56Sometimes it was in the middle of the street with his eyes closed.
- 44:59So this person was a person with problems, obviously.
- 45:03And so every time I was at the end of the night, he was living like on the ground floor.
- 45:07and he had a bunch of random people going into the apartment,
- 45:11so he didn't feel safe, and they were always there with the door open.
- 45:15So it was a very shady situation.
- 45:18And apparently this guy, the owner, tried to get rid of him
- 45:22because apparently the people that were going inside this apartment
- 45:24were doing drugs, were doing prostitution,
- 45:28and he was getting people from all over, and they trashed the place.
- 45:32He tried to enter to evict him, and he couldn't evict him
- 45:37because he was paying the rent because it wasn't him paying the rent it was the sponsoring company
- 45:43so because of that you can evict him only pretty much if someone is not paying for the rent but
- 45:50because there was a company paying for the rent no matter how bad he was behaving like this person
- 45:54was not going to work this person was not trying to get his life together so it was pretty bad and
- 46:00apart during this time he tried to do all the process to evict him it took him three years
- 46:04to do it.
- 46:06And this guy went to prison twice
- 46:08during this period.
- 46:10And he still couldn't get rid of him.
- 46:12So there are a lot of bad landlords.
- 46:16What program was that under
- 46:17that this was going on?
- 46:19Do you know what it was?
- 46:20I mean, if he told me,
- 46:22but it was something for homeless people,
- 46:25like a sponsoring agency.
- 46:28Specifically for homeless people?
- 46:30Yeah, that's what he said.
- 46:32Yeah.
- 46:32Yeah. So...
- 46:34Man, that's crazy.
- 46:35I don't know.
- 46:38What I see happening is
- 46:39I see how when you're talking about the younger generation,
- 46:42I can see why they would back someone like MomDani
- 46:44and they feel like the allure of the DSA
- 46:46and the socialist message of band together,
- 46:50workers unite, all this stuff.
- 46:53Because there is that big disparity between wages.
- 46:56There's a huge wage gap.
- 46:57And I saw it get even bigger over COVID
- 47:00when all of a sudden the real estate market
- 47:01doubled or tripled overnight, almost four times actually.
- 47:05And one of those problems is these large corporations like Berkshire Hathaway and all these other
- 47:10companies that are buying up all of this real estate as a company, corporation with no intent
- 47:17to sell just so that it can rent and control everybody through controlling the rent and the
- 47:21market.
- 47:22And they can buy, let's say, 100 houses, for example.
- 47:26Let's just say they're buying houses, not apartments.
- 47:27and then all they have to do is sell like let's say three houses to themselves by the way using
- 47:33a different shell company raising the price now all of a sudden the market value for the whole
- 47:36neighborhood has just shot up because it goes by your last sales right your your most recent sales
- 47:42within your comparable area and home so this is a tactic they've used to drive up the real estate
- 47:49market to where it's got a point where you can't afford to live where you work half the time in the
- 47:54bigger cities, right? That's why so many people commute,
- 47:56take the bus, drive, whatever they got to do.
- 47:58And it's like the people
- 48:00that, like you said, they're making the $40,000.
- 48:02I mean, how are you ever going to be able to get
- 48:04even just a
- 48:06small home these days with
- 48:07the valuations that
- 48:10they are right now?
- 48:11Yeah, I mean, and that was Trump that he did the
- 48:13role to prevent these companies to
- 48:16buy the one or
- 48:18two family home, I think, recently.
- 48:20So, but that's
- 48:22the problem. Like in New York and
- 48:24It's almost too late though, right?
- 48:25Like the damage was already done.
- 48:27Yeah, I mean, yes.
- 48:29Like you still should act.
- 48:31But that's a problem.
- 48:32Like New York has a big,
- 48:35it has a shortage of houses.
- 48:39And it's getting worse.
- 48:42So there are so many levels actually going on on this.
- 48:48Oh, yeah.
- 48:49So for example,
- 48:51they say there are not enough,
- 48:53because they say it's 1.4% of houses available in New York,
- 48:59and they say in New York City.
- 49:00And they say that under five, it's a crisis.
- 49:03So 1.4% is much lower than what already is considered a crisis.
- 49:06So they have to build houses.
- 49:09And I think it was right yesterday or a couple of days ago
- 49:12that there was a report that came out in New York City
- 49:16and they said to fix the crisis,
- 49:18they need 700,000 new homes in 10 years.
- 49:26So that's what happened in the past years.
- 49:30So Eric Adams wanted to do 500,000
- 49:33and he achieved to do like 86,000, I think, in four years.
- 49:38Because there are so many regulations.
- 49:40The problem is the regulations.
- 49:42It's not just the bad guys.
- 49:45but de Blasio
- 49:47in 8 years I think he did
- 49:4950,000 so if
- 49:51in 10 years you have to achieve
- 49:53700,000 and de Blasio
- 49:55which is Mamdani's hero
- 49:57made 50,000 in 8
- 49:59years there is a big problem
- 50:01here there is a big problem
- 50:02but on the
- 50:05other side too so
- 50:07there are so many regulations they say there are so many
- 50:09regulations in New York
- 50:10like pipes that you need to have
- 50:13for water
- 50:14type of heating.
- 50:16So some of them are obviously important
- 50:18because they're for the health of the people.
- 50:20But also a lot of those rules are probably there
- 50:23because of unrealistic expectation for the environment,
- 50:27like environmental rules.
- 50:28So they're really putting a big burden.
- 50:31So every time someone has to build a building in New York,
- 50:34it costs much more than building everywhere else.
- 50:38So what they said,
- 50:39that makes building luxury apartments affordable,
- 50:43but not affordable to make affordable apartments.
- 50:47Because with luxury apartments,
- 50:50like for example,
- 50:50the one where Ken Griffith was living,
- 50:52that cost, what was that?
- 50:53Like $50 million or something?
- 50:56Way too much.
- 50:57It was like the most expensive built apartment.
- 51:01So they said,
- 51:03there were reports that were saying
- 51:04to build luxury apartments,
- 51:06it can be done in New York
- 51:08because you can make enough money to build.
- 51:11But because everything costs so much,
- 51:13And if you spend, I don't know, 50 millions to build, you cannot sell the total of the apartments for 30 millions because then you're losing the money.
- 51:25Right.
- 51:26So even if you're just doing even, you have to at least get even if you as a private person want to build a building.
- 51:33So because of the regulation, everything that is going on, and because there are all these rent stabilization,
- 51:40the rules about rent stabilization in New York were 50% of the units.
- 51:47There are rules that say how much you can increase.
- 51:50And another level of this problem was in 2019, they passed a Housing Act.
- 51:57And they say because of that Housing Act, that before when you...
- 52:02You had an apartment, you rented to someone, but after this person left, you can do renovation and you can deduct enough, get credits, you know, like, and after that person, you can increase whatever you need to increase to make up for the expenses that you paid.
- 52:19they kept that so now because of this act there are they said that there are at least 50 000
- 52:24units apartments in new york they're just sitting dead because because uh they have to do renovation
- 52:34because they like you cannot leave they're not livable right now you need to do the renovation
- 52:39but the renovation is going to cost at least maybe 200 300 000 because of this regulation because
- 52:45at a certain point it's not
- 52:47grandfathered, so you have to go to
- 52:49the new rules. So even
- 52:51if you have to do some small fixes, you might have to
- 52:53actually make bigger changes.
- 52:55Because of that rule,
- 52:57then you cannot increase the
- 52:59rent of that apartment, and so you're
- 53:01going to lose money. So a lot of people say
- 53:03rather than spend $300,000
- 53:05that I'm not going to be able to recoup, I'm going to
- 53:07just leave that apartment there.
- 53:09So, so much is going
- 53:11wrong in New York, and
- 53:13it's not just because of one thing.
- 53:15So, yeah.
- 53:16No, it's not.
- 53:16I mean, California is kind of similar in that situation, you know, when it comes to, I mean,
- 53:22we don't, they're not enforcing, most of California is not enforcing like the rent-free stuff
- 53:27and all that and penalizing landlords.
- 53:30But I mean, I was in a rent-stabilized apartment when I was in Los Angeles.
- 53:35It didn't go up every year.
- 53:37So I don't know if it was my landlord.
- 53:39They were nice.
- 53:40They didn't raise it every year.
- 53:41They raise it every other year.
- 53:43but that's the thing
- 53:45that's my problem
- 53:46the problem with the rent-stabilized apartment
- 53:50it's great
- 53:51I loved it for sure
- 53:52but the problem with that is that
- 53:54especially in New York
- 53:57it's not a means
- 53:59they don't check your income
- 54:02so that means
- 54:04you might be even a rich person
- 54:06that makes $1 million a year
- 54:07and be able to get the rent-stabilized apartment
- 54:09and a person
- 54:11who now maybe someone is being like,
- 54:14needs to leave their own apartment.
- 54:16Now they're looking for another apartment
- 54:18and maybe they make $40,000 a year.
- 54:21They might have to go into like the regular marketplace rate.
- 54:28And they cannot find that
- 54:30because maybe someone rich is in that apartment.
- 54:33So you need to have a system to prioritize people
- 54:37that are really hurting.
- 54:38And then we can expand to people that,
- 54:40Yes, they make $100,000.
- 54:42It's fine.
- 54:43So they don't check the income levels to meet programs out there?
- 54:47It depends which programs.
- 54:49Rent-stabilized, no.
- 54:50If it's Section 8, I think yes.
- 54:53But if it's rent-stabilized, it's not one of those programs.
- 54:57So that's the problem.
- 54:59Yeah, that makes any sense.
- 55:00Yeah, that's the problem.
- 55:02Because then poor people might not have access to that.
- 55:05And when you do the rent freeze, it's even worse.
- 55:07because when you do the rent freeze,
- 55:09the people that are in that apartment,
- 55:12and maybe now they're making more money
- 55:13because their income went up.
- 55:15Maybe they were still under a certain threshold at the time,
- 55:19but now maybe they make three times more.
- 55:21But with the rent freeze,
- 55:23why would they leave the apartment?
- 55:25So now these people maybe are making much more money.
- 55:28They could afford another apartment,
- 55:30but there is no reason for them to do that.
- 55:33So let's talk about this issue though with housing
- 55:37because that's been a push in California too.
- 55:40They're trying to force smaller towns and cities
- 55:42to build more housing.
- 55:44And I think it comes back down to the immigration though.
- 55:48And I'm not talking illegal.
- 55:49I'm just talking about immigration in general,
- 55:50like people moving to New York or however it works out.
- 55:54Should the state or any state also control
- 55:56how many people should be allowed to live in that state
- 55:58so that they can keep up with this?
- 56:01Because if they just allow everybody in,
- 56:03but they have nowhere for them to live,
- 56:04it doesn't make sense.
- 56:05You can't just absorb those people.
- 56:07I mean, if they don't have a place to live, they cannot live there.
- 56:10So I don't think...
- 56:12Technically, but it's like people do tend to flood to New York.
- 56:17And it could be people from other countries immigrating in,
- 56:20or it could just be people from the outside in the states going in there.
- 56:24But I've noticed, and the reason I'm asking is because I don't know.
- 56:27I've never recalled any state saying there's a limit to the population of who can come.
- 56:31It's almost like they all have open arms.
- 56:33Like, hey, just come in.
- 56:34but you also can't just force to build houses everywhere and just urbanize the entire damn
- 56:41state either i mean in my opinion like in los angeles you can still build a lot in new york
- 56:46you cannot obviously because everything is already built tall and you cannot just expand into the
- 56:51river or to no you can't obviously so there is a there is a limit that's that's the problem like
- 56:57with new york there cannot be an unlimited draws in new york because there isn't the space so should
- 57:03they be capping the people like if it's like if you want to move there should you be able to apply
- 57:07or be on a waiting list i don't i don't think you can do that i think it would be probably
- 57:12unconstitutional but i don't think it's the it's not the immigrant necessarily because then you
- 57:17could put you could say the same for an american person from iowa they want to live in new york no
- 57:23that's my point that's what i was saying i don't care if it's an immigrant or someone from from in
- 57:27the states i'm saying in general like and i don't think it's unconstitutional that i know of but i
- 57:32I mean, it's like you can only support so many people with the infrastructure you have, right?
- 57:36And it just seems like it's like, oh, keep coming, keep coming.
- 57:40And then you're forced into the situation where it's like, oh, damn, we have no houses.
- 57:43Oh, shit.
- 57:44Our infrastructure and our sewage is like a thousand years old, for example.
- 57:48You know, you just get into these problems.
- 57:50I mean, that's where even Ben Shapiro was saying you're not entitled to live in a place.
- 57:57and I agree with that because, of course,
- 58:00if New York became the most affordable city on earth
- 58:05and we give housing for free,
- 58:08of course, everybody would come to New York
- 58:10and you cannot do that.
- 58:12That's why also the prices,
- 58:14if a city is very well wanted by a lot of people,
- 58:17the prices will go up.
- 58:18It's a demand and supply issue.
- 58:20It's just the market.
- 58:21Yeah, it's like if now you have 10,000 people
- 58:24that want the same apartment,
- 58:25Of course, I could charge the most.
- 58:28So it's normal.
- 58:29So that's where, to me, New York will never be affordable
- 58:32because New York is a city where a lot of people want to go.
- 58:36The same thing.
- 58:37It's just like a regular...
- 58:39It's a destination for sure.
- 58:40Yeah.
- 58:41Yeah, people would want to come.
- 58:42So, of course, if everything was affordable,
- 58:45there was a limited space, everybody would like to come.
- 58:49So, yes.
- 58:50But I don't think you need to do a cap
- 58:52because I think the reality is already capping that.
- 58:56Because if you don't have money, you cannot come here.
- 58:59If you don't have a job, you cannot come here.
- 59:01Yeah, the people still try, though.
- 59:03Now, I live in Jersey.
- 59:05I live in Jersey, and Jersey is amazing
- 59:07because it's so well-connected to New York,
- 59:09and it's much cheaper.
- 59:11So that's also, for me, in this situation,
- 59:12it's not that I'm rich at all.
- 59:15So there are other ways.
- 59:17So it's not that everybody needs to be in Manhattan.
- 59:19I would love to live in Manhattan,
- 59:20but in this moment of my life,
- 59:22I cannot afford it.
- 59:23So I'm not doing it.
- 59:24I'm not asking the government to pay for me to live
- 59:27because I want to live there.
- 59:28I just think given the situation,
- 59:30given what's been going on across the country,
- 59:33I don't think it should be unquestionable
- 59:37to regulate population
- 59:39in terms of how many people can live.
- 59:44Basically, they got to look at
- 59:45how much can a city support, for example.
- 59:48Yeah, but at the same time,
- 59:50The problem is that you want the people who work the hardest, the people that have opportunities to live there.
- 59:57So let's say now there are the people living in New York right now and we kept this.
- 1:00:02Okay, now maybe there are people who are not going to work or taking benefits.
- 1:00:07Now you're going to block someone who has a job offer in New York.
- 1:00:10They cannot come because there is no housing because it's there is.
- 1:00:13I don't think it's doable.
- 1:00:15Yeah, I hear that.
- 1:00:16But that's I think where it's just like that person that's not contributing is there regardless.
- 1:00:20you know i mean they're they're still going to be dragging the system down regardless
- 1:00:25yeah i mean obviously i just think my people that are able to work they should be able to
- 1:00:31yeah i think i think we're missing each other here because i'm not saying to cap someone's
- 1:00:35opportunity what i'm literally saying is your infrastructure and land like what you have and
- 1:00:41resources there's all it can only provide for so much if if you and i got trapped on a deserted
- 1:00:46Island, for example, is what I'm getting at.
- 1:00:48Maybe it's that big, right?
- 1:00:50We have one coconut tree, and that's all
- 1:00:52we got. And if that tree
- 1:00:54starts to not produce fast enough
- 1:00:56for us to eat, does
- 1:00:58that little island seem feasible to
- 1:01:00support the population at that time?
- 1:01:02Would you be welcoming to five other people trying to
- 1:01:04come on that little island and eat more of your
- 1:01:06coconuts? Probably not.
- 1:01:09I'm not trying to be mean. I'm just saying
- 1:01:10I'm just talking about from a resource
- 1:01:12perspective, not from a job
- 1:01:14or opportunity perspective. I'm just thinking source-wise.
- 1:01:16No, but that's why I'm talking about the apartments too.
- 1:01:20It's like, or the free buses.
- 1:01:23Resources are limited.
- 1:01:25You cannot just assume it's like,
- 1:01:26we're going to grow, we're going to get more money.
- 1:01:28You have to deal with what you have.
- 1:01:30And right now there is already a crisis.
- 1:01:33That's why I also decided,
- 1:01:34why am I going to look for an apartment in New York
- 1:01:37where even the people that have lived there,
- 1:01:39they know people and they have like all kinds of money,
- 1:01:42cannot find an apartment.
- 1:01:43Why would I put myself in that situation?
- 1:01:45Yeah, but you're sensible.
- 1:01:46I know, but that's what we want in people.
- 1:01:50If you cannot afford to be there, there are other options.
- 1:01:53No, agreed, yeah. I get where you're coming from.
- 1:01:55Especially for someone, and I'm coming from outside,
- 1:01:58I would feel like if someone needed to be prioritized,
- 1:02:01it would be the families that have been born and grown in New York.
- 1:02:06Those people, if they have issues after so many years of staying there,
- 1:02:11the system should support them more than me,
- 1:02:13that I'm coming now to New York for the first time.
- 1:02:15so that's where like everything is limited so yeah you have to prioritize and you have to
- 1:02:20prioritize the people that are hurting the most but it was also an interesting video that i saw
- 1:02:26the other day i think it was the washington post and it was showing what's the problem with new york
- 1:02:31related to this because the population in new york has been going down but the housing crisis
- 1:02:37has been continuing and getting worse so how is that possible if your population especially since
- 1:02:43COVID has been going down.
- 1:02:44Yeah, that don't make sense.
- 1:02:47But it makes sense because they said before,
- 1:02:51especially maybe like 20 years ago, 30 years ago,
- 1:02:54there were many more families.
- 1:02:56So before maybe you would have a family of four people
- 1:02:59living in one apartment.
- 1:03:01Now everybody's single in New York.
- 1:03:03A lot of people are not marrying.
- 1:03:05A lot of people are not like starting a family.
- 1:03:07So the population might be going down
- 1:03:10because the families are not staying there.
- 1:03:12But all the single transplants that are coming from the other side of the country are coming.
- 1:03:18So a lot of these people are still living with roommates.
- 1:03:21So, of course, in this situation, you might still have two or three people in one apartment.
- 1:03:26But a lot of people especially the one that are wealthy the 150 the 200 people money a year the people are going to live in their own apartment So in that case you might have one person for one apartment when maybe before when there were more families there would be four people in one apartment
- 1:03:44So that was actually very interesting.
- 1:03:47Yeah. So how's ma'am Danny going to fix this?
- 1:03:51He's not going to fix that.
- 1:03:53That's the problem.
- 1:03:54Because it's already a very difficult issue.
- 1:03:57And a lot of people that are more experienced than him
- 1:04:00couldn't achieve that success.
- 1:04:02and he doesn't really want to fix that.
- 1:04:07He's not the builder.
- 1:04:09He doesn't have the experience.
- 1:04:10So if other people with much more experience than him
- 1:04:13couldn't do more than 80,000, 50,000 in four years,
- 1:04:17he's not going to build more.
- 1:04:19So he's doing the rent freeze,
- 1:04:20which again is another problem.
- 1:04:23So to achieve the rent freeze,
- 1:04:25which was done before too,
- 1:04:26so he's not the first time that New York does a rent freeze.
- 1:04:30But also, beside all the problems
- 1:04:32of the rent freeze, how it prevents
- 1:04:35other people from building, how
- 1:04:36to get people to move out, etc.
- 1:04:39But the problem with the rent freeze
- 1:04:41also, it is interesting
- 1:04:42because they're all against corruption,
- 1:04:44they're all against all this kind of situation
- 1:04:47in government. But
- 1:04:48in order to get the rent freeze,
- 1:04:51so there is the rent board
- 1:04:53guideline. This is like
- 1:04:54an entity that has been
- 1:04:56voting on this issue.
- 1:04:58Housing authority?
- 1:05:00Yeah, it's not the housing authority, but it's a separate group.
- 1:05:04But it's part of those.
- 1:05:07And so the people have been appointed by the mayor.
- 1:05:10So some have been appointed by Adams.
- 1:05:13He appointed a bunch of these people.
- 1:05:15So they're appointed by the mayor, but the mayor cannot tell them what to do.
- 1:05:20They're supposed to be independent.
- 1:05:22They're supposed to do every year, and it's a mixture of people.
- 1:05:25So some people are landlords.
- 1:05:27Some people are tenants.
- 1:05:28and then some people are just from the general public.
- 1:05:32So it's a mix so that the interests of all the people are being respected, let's say.
- 1:05:39But these people have to put together a report to see how much you would have to increase the percentage
- 1:05:46in these rent-stabilized apartments in order to make sure that the landlords are not losing money, let's say.
- 1:05:54So just to break even.
- 1:05:56And they did this report at the beginning of the year, maybe a few months ago.
- 1:06:01And I think it was that they would have to increase 8.5% over two years in order just to break even for the landlords because the expenses for the landlords keep going up.
- 1:06:13Utilities go up, property, everything.
- 1:06:16Possibly a business goes up.
- 1:06:17Yeah, like maintenance, every expense goes up.
- 1:06:20So they did this report.
- 1:06:21I think it was 8.5% over two years leases,
- 1:06:26that they would have to increase it.
- 1:06:27They're rent-stabilized.
- 1:06:28They don't do the marketplace one.
- 1:06:32So just rent-stabilized,
- 1:06:34which is like 40-50% of the apartments in New York.
- 1:06:39So they did the report,
- 1:06:40and they said that in order for the system
- 1:06:43where no one loses, you have to increase that.
- 1:06:46So technically, based on the report,
- 1:06:48that then they have to decide what's going to be the increase per year so it would be three percent
- 1:06:54four percent one percent or they can also decide to do a rent freeze but now they did this report
- 1:07:00what they said just for everybody to break even you have to increase it what's that like four
- 1:07:05percent for one year leases and then they voted on the rent freeze so that's they're technically
- 1:07:11supposed to vote based on the numbers not on what the mayor wants and the night before the vote or
- 1:07:17the day before whatever it was one of the people that was appointed by adam so she resigned in
- 1:07:22protest because she said that they were never going to look at the numbers for that so they said
- 1:07:28that the mayor mamdani already set them up and appointed people to force them to do the rent
- 1:07:34the rent freeze even if like the numbers were against it so now of course a bunch of people
- 1:07:41started suing.
- 1:07:45So now that's in the court.
- 1:07:48Because, of course,
- 1:07:49that's the thing.
- 1:07:50You're not supposed to push
- 1:07:53for a specific outcome.
- 1:07:54It has to be an independent group.
- 1:07:56What do they think will happen
- 1:08:00if landlords can't afford to...
- 1:08:03They're not going to lose money
- 1:08:04year over year,
- 1:08:05or every month anyway.
- 1:08:08You can't run a business
- 1:08:09at a negative.
- 1:08:11income just doesn't work so what do they think what do they think is going to be the outcome here
- 1:08:15but first of all they don't care because they think that all landlords are evil but that's the
- 1:08:21problem that's the problem yeah but no but that's that's the problem because yes there are there are
- 1:08:28landlords that they're losing every month every month money because of the rules rent stabilized
- 1:08:33there are still people like in a rent control department so maybe someone pays 500 per month
- 1:08:39for a two-bedroom apartment.
- 1:08:41So there are still situations like that in New York.
- 1:08:44So there, with 500 per month,
- 1:08:47you cannot do any renovation,
- 1:08:48you cannot do any maintenance or anything.
- 1:08:51But the problem with that is that
- 1:08:53even when you look at what you need to break even,
- 1:08:59it's in general for the five boroughs,
- 1:09:01but that's a very, very different situation
- 1:09:03between Manhattan and the Bronx.
- 1:09:05So the people that are really hurting
- 1:09:07are the landlords that are in Queens, in the Bronx.
- 1:09:11It's not the people in Manhattan.
- 1:09:13So when they say, oh, we're going to do a rent freeze
- 1:09:16because the landlords are fine.
- 1:09:18Yes, the one in Manhattan, they have like a lot of money.
- 1:09:21They are fine.
- 1:09:22But it's the people that are relying on that.
- 1:09:25It's the immigrants who are like renting apartments.
- 1:09:28It's the minorities.
- 1:09:30They are not fine.
- 1:09:31And so that's where, again, who is Mamdani for?
- 1:09:35because, yeah, if you look at the members, it's like in the middle, yes.
- 1:09:41The reason I also brought that up is because I don't know if he actually did this,
- 1:09:44but I thought they're also trying to push a policy that
- 1:09:46if the landlords don't keep the buildings up or something to that effect,
- 1:09:50that the city can go and take their property from them and own it.
- 1:09:54Is that something that ever did happen out there?
- 1:09:56Yeah, I mean, talk about that.
- 1:09:58And it sounded like they were trying to push a rule where
- 1:10:01even recently there was this thing where if a landlord wanted to sell an apartment,
- 1:10:12the priority, like he couldn't sell it to whoever he wanted.
- 1:10:16He would have to give priority to some nonprofits
- 1:10:18that seemed to be connected also to the government.
- 1:10:23So that rule didn't pass, luckily.
- 1:10:26But they were trying to do something like that,
- 1:10:28were like, if you wanted to sell it, you have to sell it to us pretty much first.
- 1:10:33Technically, it wasn't the government, but I think it was some entities that are kind
- 1:10:37of connected.
- 1:10:38Yeah.
- 1:10:38That's shady, man.
- 1:10:40It is very shady.
- 1:10:41It's very shady.
- 1:10:42That's him.
- 1:10:44I think all Mamdani has been trying to do is basically show the rest of the country how
- 1:10:49socialism can work.
- 1:10:50He's trying to do it little by little through these stupid policies.
- 1:10:53It's like his dumb grocery store.
- 1:10:55How is that getting funded, man?
- 1:10:56and then it's so funny because he was
- 1:10:59one of the staunch reporters
- 1:11:01of no voter ID, right?
- 1:11:03Oh, it just marginalizes people. It's racist.
- 1:11:05But then at the same time, he's like,
- 1:11:07well, we might have to come up with some kind of idea
- 1:11:09system so people don't take advantage. I'm like, what the hell
- 1:11:11are you talking about, dude? I thought that was like,
- 1:11:13we can't do that. I thought it was racist
- 1:11:15and marginalizes people. But then, okay.
- 1:11:18It's like there's so much
- 1:11:19conflicting messages from this guy.
- 1:11:22It's like
- 1:11:22he's literally like, I think it's what you said.
- 1:11:25He's a puppet.
- 1:11:26I think he's just a puppet,
- 1:11:28a mouthpiece by whoever's pulling the strings.
- 1:11:30But whoever's in charge,
- 1:11:31they don't know what they're doing.
- 1:11:33I think they're just hoping
- 1:11:34everyone's just dumb enough to go with it.
- 1:11:36Unfortunately, a lot of people
- 1:11:37have been dumb enough to go with it.
- 1:11:39I mean, and that's, again,
- 1:11:40even with that one,
- 1:11:41it's going to hurt minorities.
- 1:11:44And right now,
- 1:11:44they started doing lawsuits against him
- 1:11:46because of the grocery.
- 1:11:48The same thing.
- 1:11:49He was saying,
- 1:11:49we're going to build grocery stores
- 1:11:52for 70 millions.
- 1:11:53But I think even just the first one,
- 1:11:55right now the price tag is 30 million so if you have to do five and already the first one is 30
- 1:12:02million obviously you're not going to be able to achieve five with 70 million and you know every
- 1:12:07time you say it's going to cost something it always increase anyway we actually build it so
- 1:12:12but besides that so the point it's to build the the grocery stores it's to provide affordable food
- 1:12:22to pin areas, technically, where there is food deserts.
- 1:12:27But the problem is that it's not a food desert,
- 1:12:29especially in New York.
- 1:12:30There are bodegas everywhere,
- 1:12:33bodegas that are owned by minorities.
- 1:12:35It's not a place full of Whole Foods or something like that.
- 1:12:38And right now, the first two are in the Bronx and in Harlem.
- 1:12:43But over there, there are a lot of different communities
- 1:12:47that have bodegas and he fee because the problem like he's not going to be able to sell and make a
- 1:12:56profit or anything with those stores the government will have to subsidize everything because he's
- 1:13:02he's literally hurting like families who started businesses some of them had these bodegas for
- 1:13:08generations and just provide the community service and then he's literally just taking
- 1:13:12money out of their pocket by putting a
- 1:13:14government-funded grocery
- 1:13:16store. I mean, we've seen this
- 1:13:17happen before in Cuba. That didn't work
- 1:13:20out too well. I'm just saying, it's like
- 1:13:22the dude is trying to implement things
- 1:13:24here that it just doesn't work.
- 1:13:26I don't... And right now,
- 1:13:28she's... Yeah, it is.
- 1:13:30And I'm all for
- 1:13:32bold ideas trying something different.
- 1:13:34If you want to take a risk,
- 1:13:36take risk. But in this case, it makes
- 1:13:38no sense to... Because you have to...
- 1:13:40First of all, not all of them, they're going to build it.
- 1:13:42But this one, they have to build and spend millions of dollars.
- 1:13:45It's going to take years.
- 1:13:47And anyway, you're not going to be able to...
- 1:13:49Already in the grocery industry, the profit, they say, is 1%.
- 1:13:54So we're not talking about people that make a huge profit.
- 1:13:57So it's already difficult.
- 1:13:59Plus, you don't have the same...
- 1:14:02For five stores, you don't have the same purchasing power
- 1:14:04as grocery stores like the giant ones.
- 1:14:07And there are a lot of these grocery stores, they're still affordable.
- 1:14:15Aldi, Costco, there are a lot of options for affordable food.
- 1:14:19But what drives me crazy, I'm Italian, I cook a lot, and I love going to grocery stores.
- 1:14:25But he keeps saying the price is going to be 30% cheaper than the regular price.
- 1:14:31But what does he mean?
- 1:14:34What does it mean? It's not that the FDA decides zucchini will cost $2.50 all across the country and you do 30%.
- 1:14:42Every store picks their prices and something might be cheaper in one grocery store, something might be at another one.
- 1:14:50So the 30% of what price?
- 1:14:53And plus, I buy organic food that is more expensive than the other food.
- 1:14:58So if you do 30% cheaper, of which one? Are you providing organic food that is cheaper?
- 1:15:05I doubt it.
- 1:15:06Or you just getting lower quality food and charging 30 less than what Whole Foods would charge for organic None of it makes sense Sarah because you correct My brother he doesn work in the grocery industry
- 1:15:19He doesn't work for a grocery store, but he's been in the industry because he works for
- 1:15:22beverage companies and distribution.
- 1:15:24And you're lucky if you get a 3% margin on some stuff for sure.
- 1:15:29And grocery chains, they work by volume.
- 1:15:32It's volume sales.
- 1:15:33They're not getting rich off a couple sales here and there.
- 1:15:36They're relying on continuous volume purchases.
- 1:15:39I don't know how he thinks he's going to get vegetables and meat and everything to market for 30% below market value.
- 1:15:46And like you said, it's a city.
- 1:15:48It's not like the state of New York.
- 1:15:49It's a city.
- 1:15:50So they don't have the buying power of a Sam's Club, a Walmart.
- 1:15:54I don't know what other stores might be in your area out there, but it's just like they don't have that buying power.
- 1:16:00Does he think he's going to force farmers and food suppliers to just donate?
- 1:16:04and that's and i think there are so many problems in this country because of like food supplies or
- 1:16:09everything rules of the i hate the fda but besides that it's also like a big a big country so if you
- 1:16:17have to get some food from another place they're like the chain or who needs to get paid it's a
- 1:16:24long chain because like if you have to get something from the next state let's say something
- 1:16:30closer, not even like Mexico or whatever.
- 1:16:33Someone needs to drive that food to you.
- 1:16:36The gas needs to be paid.
- 1:16:37If the gas price goes up, that's more expensive.
- 1:16:40The person needs to be paid.
- 1:16:43But again, very often, even when you go to a coffee shop, you don't pay $6 the coffee
- 1:16:49because the beans are expensive.
- 1:16:52You pay the rent and you pay the minimum wage.
- 1:16:55You pay a lot of expenses that are not the actual food.
- 1:16:58Yeah.
- 1:16:59So to believe that the problem is that the food, you're making too much margin on the food, that's ridiculous.
- 1:17:06And a lot of people have to charge a certain amount for food because their rent is expensive, because the property taxes is expensive if they own the place.
- 1:17:15The utilities are expensive, the minimum wage.
- 1:17:18And that's the problem with the minimum wage.
- 1:17:20I believe everybody should have a living wage.
- 1:17:22But the problem is that when the minimum wage keep going up, it's not Amazon that will suffer for a minimum wage going up.
- 1:17:31It's the small businesses.
- 1:17:34Because the small businesses that have a couple of people, they already cannot afford with the money they are making that much.
- 1:17:41And it drives me crazy because I was working for a nonprofit in Los Angeles.
- 1:17:45And they're all people that would support Mamdani if he was there.
- 1:17:48They would support the DSA.
- 1:17:50would they pay $30 per hour as a minimum wage?
- 1:17:54They would never do that.
- 1:17:55And they don't do that.
- 1:17:56And every time someone asks for more money,
- 1:17:58oh, that's a problem.
- 1:17:59We cannot afford it.
- 1:18:01It's like, then why would you support someone
- 1:18:03who requires the minimum wage of $30 an hour?
- 1:18:06How are you reasoning here?
- 1:18:09Yeah, I've had that experience
- 1:18:11because I've owned businesses.
- 1:18:13I still have one.
- 1:18:14And I always found it fascinating for people
- 1:18:17like who you're describing,
- 1:18:20I mean, who would support the DSA, for example?
- 1:18:22They're all for it when it's not their money.
- 1:18:24But when you ask them to take it out of their pocket, all of a sudden it's an issue.
- 1:18:27Like, oh, wait, wait a minute.
- 1:18:29Now you're cutting into my profits, right?
- 1:18:31I remember businesses were always telling me, oh, why can't you just do it for this price or donate this or that?
- 1:18:36I was like, well, why don't you take a pay cut for a month then or something?
- 1:18:39Would you accept that?
- 1:18:40Would you accept a lower wage for the job you actually do?
- 1:18:43Of course they wouldn't.
- 1:18:44It's just so hypocritical.
- 1:18:46It's all fluff, man.
- 1:18:47It's theater.
- 1:18:48It's bullshit, to be quite honest.
- 1:18:50Yeah.
- 1:18:51I mean, that's a problem.
- 1:18:52A lot of people don't want solution.
- 1:18:54And it is just theater.
- 1:18:57They want to feel good now, but they don't understand how that's going to affect them later.
- 1:19:01Right?
- 1:19:02Yeah.
- 1:19:02Yeah, yeah.
- 1:19:03I mean, even like the rent freeze.
- 1:19:05Yeah, it might be nice for one year for you that you're living there.
- 1:19:09But next time that you, in 10 years, you're looking for a new apartment or it's winter and your heater breaks.
- 1:19:18And the landlord cannot fix it because it would cost even air conditioning.
- 1:19:24Like for a building, not maybe the small units, but working in big buildings.
- 1:19:29If you have to replace one unit because it's 10 years old, 15 years old,
- 1:19:33it can cost you $10,000, $20,000 just to replace one unit if it's a big building.
- 1:19:38Yeah.
- 1:19:39So maybe if you just have that window unit, you're fine.
- 1:19:43Maybe it costs $500, $1,000 when you have to pay for labor.
- 1:19:47but if you have an actual centralized unit,
- 1:19:50that might be much more expensive.
- 1:19:52And so now the landlord might not be able to afford it
- 1:19:55and now you're spending months or maybe just days if you're lucky.
- 1:19:59But if it's something big,
- 1:20:01that needs to really be fixed, complicated,
- 1:20:03it's still going to take months
- 1:20:04and you don't have air conditioning.
- 1:20:07But a lot of these problems will be seen in five years, in 10 years.
- 1:20:12And so by that point, Mom Dani will be out of office.
- 1:20:15so then it's going to be the fault of the person that is there at the time i don't think he's
- 1:20:20getting voted back honestly i hope i hope not and i don't i don't think he is because there there is
- 1:20:26just so much going on and yeah honestly yeah i mean there is so much conversation we could do
- 1:20:32about elections too there are some people that are actually looking into if the election that
- 1:20:37he got elected was actually legit i didn't hear that yeah it's a it's a very small people like
- 1:20:44But they said they found at least 200,000 votes that they couldn't figure out their registration.
- 1:20:51So it's only a few people are talking about that.
- 1:20:54So it's and it's not clear if these people are really like the method that they are using to find these people, if it's true.
- 1:21:03But the problem is that when you look into actually how the election went last time, because if in order to vote for that election, you had to live in New York City.
- 1:21:14for 30 days but but you could be living there temporarily so let's say if it was during the
- 1:21:22summer and the winter let's say let's say you decided to spend a few months on an airbnb
- 1:21:28like just for those months working remotely while you enjoyed the winter the summer in new york
- 1:21:35and you could have registered to vote there and they would not ask you for proof or anything like
- 1:21:42you just have to give an address.
- 1:21:44Are you saying they fixed the votes?
- 1:21:45Like they brought people in to vote for Manbani?
- 1:21:48I mean, I don't know.
- 1:21:49I don't know.
- 1:21:50But it was so relaxed.
- 1:21:53So it's not that you have to give big proof
- 1:21:55that you actually live there.
- 1:21:58And you can live there.
- 1:22:01It does raise suspicion, though.
- 1:22:03When you're talking about it,
- 1:22:04it does make you think like,
- 1:22:05well, was it a legitimate vote?
- 1:22:07You know, there might be an argument there for sure, right?
- 1:22:10I know.
- 1:22:10that's like to me like i have what people are saying oh there is no proof of fraud i understand
- 1:22:16but i like are you looking into the situation or just assuming just because someone claimed that
- 1:22:21they were legal to vote that means they could vote right so because you could have registered
- 1:22:27when you were not living there and you just have a like in the registration that was written are
- 1:22:33you declaring that you've been living for like you have lived in new york for at least 30 days
- 1:22:40before the election and you just have to say yes you don't have to provide any proof obviously
- 1:22:44so but technically someone could have done that i could have stayed in an airbnb could have stayed
- 1:22:50at a friend's couch so you you could register in someone's place without necessarily living there
- 1:22:56the whole time how who's gonna check and then when you're done you go the next city register
- 1:23:01over there and live there for 30 days i don't know i'm just saying no but it is scary and of
- 1:23:06Of course, you want the system to be open because if you legitimately live in New York, you want to give the chance.
- 1:23:15But how do you make it safe if someone has no morals?
- 1:23:19If someone doesn't care of lying just to get someone elected, how do you fix that?
- 1:23:26And everybody says, oh, everybody checked that there is no fraud.
- 1:23:30But are people looking for real?
- 1:23:33So I don't know.
- 1:23:34Yeah, it does sound suspicious.
- 1:23:36It does.
- 1:23:37I know someone was doing that,
- 1:23:39but yeah,
- 1:23:39it's not picking up much attention yet.
- 1:23:42So,
- 1:23:43but yeah,
- 1:23:43they said it was at least,
- 1:23:44I think 200,000 people
- 1:23:46and they just did half of the people
- 1:23:48that they couldn't find
- 1:23:50if they actually lived there in New York
- 1:23:53or if these people existed
- 1:23:54or if their social security existed.
- 1:23:57It was something like that.
- 1:23:59but again,
- 1:24:00I don't know if...
- 1:24:00California election.
- 1:24:02Yeah.
- 1:24:02I mean,
- 1:24:03California is the same thing.
- 1:24:05Like,
- 1:24:06Oh, man.
- 1:24:06Again, like, I mean, I left Los Angeles right before the election, but there were, like, I'm not a citizen, so I cannot vote.
- 1:24:16But I could tell you, like, on the mailbox on the street where, like, the building is, there were, like, three mailing ballots.
- 1:24:24So if someone wanted to grab those and vote, they could have done it.
- 1:24:29So the way that the system, they check that is the right person is that they check if the signature is the same, right?
- 1:24:37But then if you go on the website, it'd say, if you're disabled or if you cannot sign, just do a random mark there and then just have a witness write their own name nearby.
- 1:24:50So you could say, you could just do a random mark there that is not the signature, write there Donald Trump in the witness.
- 1:24:58and California would accept that technically.
- 1:25:02Is there a system for California to make sure
- 1:25:05that those witnesses are real people?
- 1:25:09And it's just...
- 1:25:11You know, I am going to find out.
- 1:25:13I have a county clerk coming on the show here next week
- 1:25:17where I live.
- 1:25:19And we met at a conservative gathering out here somewhere.
- 1:25:26and so that's where I met her she was giving a speech and then I was talking to her about this
- 1:25:30exactly what you're talking about and she showed me like in a presentation you had all these videos
- 1:25:34and she explained how it's done and it's like it makes you question it's like it's like how could
- 1:25:40there not be fraud but at the same time what I could see that she's on top of whatever she's
- 1:25:44supposed to do like I can see that she's doing everything she's supposed to do to make sure
- 1:25:48there isn't any fraud, any
- 1:25:50business, you know,
- 1:25:53sorry, silly business
- 1:25:54going on. And she says they take
- 1:25:56their time. They literally touch every envelope. They literally
- 1:25:59verify. But
- 1:26:00then you also have ballot curing,
- 1:26:03which is legal. You have a ton
- 1:26:04of other things that is suspect. Like
- 1:26:06when this whole Spencer Pratt thing was going on, in spite of what
- 1:26:08you're referring to, we have video.
- 1:26:11Like they caught people going to homeless
- 1:26:12people, paying them a couple of
- 1:26:14dollars just to sign and
- 1:26:16cast their vote.
- 1:26:17you know yeah yeah i mean it's hard to know if those are true because you know social media
- 1:26:22like i saw i get it but it's it's possible is the thing you know i don't know which one would
- 1:26:28be worse the fact that they paid someone for their vote or that they paid them only two dollars
- 1:26:33right because honestly like if someone had to sell their vote at least get a few hundred dollars
- 1:26:40but it's just it's just i brought that up because it's you're right we don't know if that was true
- 1:26:44or not but at the same time it raises suspicion because there no one controlling those things Like once it gets into the clerk office sure the only thing they control is what in their building and the procedures that they got to do to verify
- 1:26:56But before it gets there, we don't know how those votes are being coerced or how they're being gathered.
- 1:27:01We have no idea.
- 1:27:03Yeah.
- 1:27:04I'm sure the people that are actually counting and doing the work, they're honest.
- 1:27:08They're doing the right job.
- 1:27:09But if the system is broken so that someone can register, like someone that is an immigrant who's not allowed to vote, if someone can actually register.
- 1:27:21Because when you create your ID, you get an ID at DMV.
- 1:27:25They ask you, do you want to register?
- 1:27:27The other day, even on Facebook, I changed that I live in New York and it asked me if I should register to vote in the new city, like Facebook.
- 1:27:36I was like, I don't know how, if they're going to just send me to the other website, but even Facebook was asking just because they changed the city.
- 1:27:44But anyway, so when you go to DMV, you have to say if you can vote to register to vote or not.
- 1:27:51Of course, if you're not a citizen, you have to do not.
- 1:27:55But if you do yes, do they check to make sure that the person who actually registered to vote is a citizen and can vote?
- 1:28:03I'm wondering that same thing. How would they check?
- 1:28:06That's the problem because in Italy, first of all, when you go to vote, you have to show your ID.
- 1:28:14And in our ID, it's written what your citizenship is.
- 1:28:18But in your ID, it doesn't say if you're an American citizen or if you're something else citizen.
- 1:28:23So I think that's where it should be fixed.
- 1:28:26And the ID should say what your citizenship is, would be the simplest issue.
- 1:28:30Because even if you do what your ID rules, yes, you can see that someone is the person in the ID,
- 1:28:36but it doesn't say that person is a citizen or not.
- 1:28:39I think that's why they were pushing for the real ID
- 1:28:43because if you have a real ID,
- 1:28:45you're supposed to have been verified, basically.
- 1:28:49I don't know about verified,
- 1:28:50but you can get, as an immigrant, a real ID too.
- 1:28:53Yeah.
- 1:28:54So you can have a real ID, but you cannot vote.
- 1:29:01But there is that thing.
- 1:29:02First of all, in Italy, they also give you a piece of paper.
- 1:29:05So they're supposed to stamp there so that you cannot just go and re-vote or something else.
- 1:29:11So they can see that you voted for that election.
- 1:29:13So you have given these two pieces of paper every time you go and vote, except if you vote by mail.
- 1:29:21But the only people in Italy allowed to vote by mail are the immigrants.
- 1:29:25Sorry, the immigrants, the people that live abroad.
- 1:29:28So for me, they mail me a ballot when I have to vote for Italy, and then I just send it.
- 1:29:34But even there, in Italy, there is talk all the time about the fraud that happens for those living abroad because the system cannot be really checked.
- 1:29:43Even like last time I voted, I didn't receive the ballot.
- 1:29:45So I had to request a second one.
- 1:29:47So what if I was lying and now I voted twice?
- 1:29:50No one would be able to check that probably.
- 1:29:53So in Italy, there is a lot of conversation about it.
- 1:29:56Not a lot because there are not that many people living abroad and voting, obviously.
- 1:30:00But it's a bipartisan issue.
- 1:30:04It's not the Republicans like here.
- 1:30:07If you question the legitimacy of an election, you're a Republican and Democrats don't want to go into that.
- 1:30:14But that's where you need to have a system to make sure that people are verified.
- 1:30:20I think it's ridiculous that that SAVE Act, for example, is not getting passed.
- 1:30:29It's not even a partisan issue.
- 1:30:31And to your point, I mean, look, it's not even a Republican issue.
- 1:30:34It's just the Republicans that are bringing it up now.
- 1:30:35But before that, I brought this up previously.
- 1:30:39Al Gore was claiming fraud when Bush won.
- 1:30:43Hillary Clinton was claiming fraud when Trump won in 2016.
- 1:30:48So it's like all sides do it.
- 1:30:51It's just when they're on the losing side that it becomes an issue, right?
- 1:30:55Yeah.
- 1:30:55I know even when Trump won this time, someone I know, she's very much the left.
- 1:31:00She said that Trump won only because Elon Musk was able to trick the places where you vote, like the machines.
- 1:31:10So people on the left believe that too, that he's not legit, that he didn't win the election.
- 1:31:17It goes for both sides.
- 1:31:19So I think the whole, what you're saying, like an actual verified, I don't know why.
- 1:31:24You're right.
- 1:31:25It should have your citizenship on your ID.
- 1:31:26Why isn't it there?
- 1:31:28It doesn't make sense.
- 1:31:28Yeah, it shouldn't be controversial that because, yeah, you're a citizen.
- 1:31:33I'm sure someone is going to come and say it's racist or something to be able to see someone as a citizen or not.
- 1:31:41But you can be, it doesn't matter what your skin color is.
- 1:31:45You can be from Poland, for example, and not be a citizen of the US.
- 1:31:50You can be from Canada. It doesn't matter.
- 1:31:52Yeah, I mean, and that would solve all the issues with ICE too.
- 1:31:55Because now if you're American and someone stops you on the street, like ICE stops you, you don't have a way to prove that you're a citizen because you're not going to drive your car with your passport, even if you have one.
- 1:32:07So even for you, American, you don't have a way to prove to ICE that you're an American citizen.
- 1:32:12Except the accent, technically, maybe they can understand that.
- 1:32:15I know, but at the same time, you're right.
- 1:32:17How are you going to prove it?
- 1:32:18How would I prove it?
- 1:32:19How would anybody really prove it?
- 1:32:21Yeah.
- 1:32:21So I'd have to go back and get documents.
- 1:32:23And by the time you get it,
- 1:32:25you're probably in another country.
- 1:32:27Who knows?
- 1:32:27Yeah.
- 1:32:28And I,
- 1:32:28I'm sure I would have a way in the system to be able to see like who's a
- 1:32:35citizen or not or something.
- 1:32:37But again,
- 1:32:38it doesn't seem like it's because I was checking even with chat GPT.
- 1:32:42If I was missing something about how do they prove that's the DMV in
- 1:32:47California.
- 1:32:48Is there in Italy,
- 1:32:49there is a website where the government can find this information,
- 1:32:53like their private website, obviously, like a database,
- 1:32:56where they can see this information.
- 1:32:57But Italy is one country with one government,
- 1:33:01and all the region responds to the government.
- 1:33:03Here you have the different states that are not talking to the federal government,
- 1:33:08and the elections are run by the different states.
- 1:33:11So from my understanding, there is no database that the government is running
- 1:33:16where every state can get that information,
- 1:33:18which should exist and should be very simple to create.
- 1:33:22Well, I'm very positive there's a database of who's a citizen and who isn't.
- 1:33:29I'm pretty sure they probably have that.
- 1:33:31They must have it.
- 1:33:33Yeah, they have to.
- 1:33:36But does DMV have access to that?
- 1:33:39That's a question for your future guests,
- 1:33:42so that they can verify that the person registered.
- 1:33:45DMV is an evil organization.
- 1:33:47I don't know.
- 1:33:48Who knows?
- 1:33:49I don't know what they can really do and can't do, to be honest.
- 1:33:53Yeah, but that's the question I have.
- 1:33:55But then here there was the crazy situation in New Jersey where the system,
- 1:34:00did you hear about the immigrants that got registered to vote by the system?
- 1:34:05I heard a little bit.
- 1:34:06I mean, I don't know all the details, but I kind of heard it loosely from another podcaster.
- 1:34:10but sounded that like immigrants
- 1:34:13like naturally when they had to
- 1:34:15do the DMV registration
- 1:34:17or however it's called here
- 1:34:18they did, they wrote, they clicked no
- 1:34:20but the system still enrolled them
- 1:34:23yeah, and it still put them
- 1:34:24which like there can be fraud everywhere
- 1:34:27but that's the only one that should never happen
- 1:34:29like it shouldn't be the system automatically
- 1:34:31enrolling someone into that
- 1:34:33so that's pretty bad
- 1:34:35and sounded that a few
- 1:34:37still voted
- 1:34:38But again, also a lot of people might not necessarily know that they cannot vote because even in some countries, like for some local election, you're allowed to vote even if you're an immigrant.
- 1:34:49So it's possible someone did vote and didn't know about that.
- 1:34:53Like even I received some time ago, the one for the, what do you call it?
- 1:35:00The jury duty.
- 1:35:02Yeah.
- 1:35:02Like they sent it to me and then I had to fill the form to communicate that I'm not a citizen.
- 1:35:08So I'm not allowed to vote.
- 1:35:09But if you don't actually do your own researches on Google and you receive this one, you think you might qualify.
- 1:35:15So it can be confusing if someone is not that savvy, I guess.
- 1:35:20So the system is broken for sure, right?
- 1:35:22The system should not allow that.
- 1:35:25Sir, I'm going to have to cut this here because I got to go.
- 1:35:29But do you have anything else you want to tell anybody?
- 1:35:34I don't know.
- 1:35:35We've been talking about so much stuff, but it feels like always there is so much more to talk about.
- 1:35:40Well, yeah.
- 1:35:41I mean, I think we just need to have you here more often because our conversation...
- 1:35:48Second time I talk to you, we do tend to keep going, which I'm not opposed to.
- 1:35:52I just have to get moving.
- 1:35:54So it's not trying to be a jerk.
- 1:35:56We've been here an hour and a half.
- 1:35:58We didn't even talk about the DSA.
- 1:36:00No, we didn't get there.
- 1:36:02We didn't talk about that another time.
- 1:36:04I'm sure there's going to be more.
- 1:36:05We'll talk again.
- 1:36:06So let's do this.
- 1:36:07Tell everybody how they can follow you, find you.
- 1:36:09Tell them a little bit about what you're working on.
- 1:36:11If you are, I have no idea.
- 1:36:12I know that you have some iron in the fire.
- 1:36:15Well, right now, I also started the Substack
- 1:36:17where I've been writing more about this.
- 1:36:19I recently wrote an article
- 1:36:21that I actually talk about the fact that Italy didn't qualify in the World Cup
- 1:36:24for three times in a row.
- 1:36:26And I connect that to actually the problem with the educational system
- 1:36:30and the immigration debate in the United States.
- 1:36:33So it's a complex one, but it's actually very interesting.
- 1:36:37And so I wrote a piece on my Substack,
- 1:36:40and I wrote another one where I also talk about Mamdani's policies.
- 1:36:44So if people want to check that out, it's under my name,
- 1:36:47Substack, Sarah Alessandrini.
- 1:36:48and if they want to check out
- 1:36:50my website where they can find
- 1:36:53more about my documentary series
- 1:36:54it's thisiswhatnewyorkersay.com
- 1:36:57so they can just
- 1:36:59go online find more about me and there are
- 1:37:01links to my social media
- 1:37:02so I'm on Instagram or on
- 1:37:04Twitter
- 1:37:06the usual ones so they can find me there
- 1:37:08nice
- 1:37:10well I'm going to sign
- 1:37:12off and I think
- 1:37:14if we're staying up late because again you're like
- 1:37:16three hours ahead of me so
- 1:37:18I appreciate it.
- 1:37:20And you and I
- 1:37:21will be talking again.
- 1:37:22I have a feeling
- 1:37:23and next time
- 1:37:24we are going to get
- 1:37:24onto the DSA first,
- 1:37:25I think.
- 1:37:26I think we're meeting
- 1:37:27next week, actually.
- 1:37:28I think we're going
- 1:37:28to be together
- 1:37:30with Sam next week.
- 1:37:31Maybe.
- 1:37:32She hasn't told me yet,
- 1:37:33but I know she scheduled me.
- 1:37:34So I guess you and I
- 1:37:35will be seeing each other
- 1:37:36here again really soon.
- 1:37:38Yes.
- 1:37:39That's awesome.
- 1:37:40All right.
- 1:37:41Thank you very much, Sarah.
- 1:37:42And I guess I'll see you
- 1:37:43in about a week
- 1:37:44on Shades of Jade podcast,
- 1:37:46apparently.
- 1:37:47Yeah.
- 1:37:47All right, Sarah. Thank you.
- 1:37:50All right. Thank you. Bye.
- 1:38:17Bye.