On Thursday, the day Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s rent freeze took full effect, the property owners suing to overturn it revealed some startling evidence.
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owners → take → evidence
Their attorneys released hundreds of texts and emails that top Mamdani aides exchanged with members of the Rent Guidelines Board, which the court forced the city to produce.
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court → release → city
Mamdani ran explicitly on delivering 0% rent adjustments on rent-stabilized apartments for four consecutive years.
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Mamdani → run → years
The power to set stabilized rents rests wholly with the RGB — not the mayor.
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power → set → RGB
Yet Mamdani promoted his signature promise with various social-media stunts, including a New Year’s Day polar plunge off Coney Island.
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Mamdani → promote → Island
He vowed to appoint only RGB members who understood landlords are “doing just fine.”
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landlords → vow → members
After taking office, he named six of the board’s nine members, including Chair Chantella Mitchell.
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he → take → Mitchell
Mamdani then started repeatedly referring to the RGB as an “independent board” — a tacit admission that City Hall has no business meddling in its deliberations.
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Hall → start → deliberations
Even as he touted the board’s independence, however, at least eight top administration officials were communicating with RGB members and staff, according to the evidence produced in court.
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officials → tout → court
On Feb. 28, Sindhwani asked the RGB chair to move the date of the board’s preliminary vote from April 30 to May 7.
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Sindhwani → ask → May
Days later, Mitchell reported that “all members are good for 5/7,” and the vote occurred on that date.
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vote → report → date
On March 9, Sindhwani asked to review the list of speakers and groups invited to testify before the board.
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Sindhwani → ask → board
He asked Mitchell to discuss it with him before she finalized the list, and she kept him updated.
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she → ask → him
Why would an independent board run its speaker list past City Hall?
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board → run → Hall
Then on June 16, the public’s last day to submit testimony and hours before the final public hearing, Mitchell emailed Sindhwani a draft of the board’s explanatory statement — which wound up being essentially the same as its final statement.
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which → submit → statement
In other words, the board’s findings were written before all the testimony was received.
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testimony → write → words
Meanwhile, Mitchell offered special treatment to the Mayor’s Office of Equity and Racial Justice, allowing it to submit additional evidence beyond the June 16 written-testimony deadline.
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it → offer → deadline
She asked to receive the office’s written testimony by June 19, but it didn’t even submit its materials on the “True Cost of Living” until June 24 — the day before the vote.
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it → ask → vote
A truly independent RGB wouldn’t need such extensive collaboration with the mayor’s team.
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RGB → need → team
After all, the board has its own budget and its own staff, including an executive director and two full-time researchers.
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board → have → director
Its legal structure is designed to shield it from political pressure, to ensure its decisions balance the interests of owners, tenants and the public at large.
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decisions → design → owners
The mayor may appoint the members, but he can only remove them for cause (except the chair, whom he can fire at will).
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he → appoint → will
The city’s administrative code requires the RGB to weigh operating costs, property taxes, financing, vacancy rates and other economic factors.
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code → require → costs
The idea is to set increases that give owners enough capital to keep buildings in good repair and assure tenants they won’t face dramatic rent hikes, while accounting for broader economic conditions.
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they → set → conditions
Mamdani ran on a promise to turn that careful balance into a sham process that he controlled.
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he → run → that
Christina Smyth, an Eric Adams appointee who resigned from the RGB in protest the morning of the vote, called this year’s deliberations “theater.”
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who → resign → deliberations
The record, she wrote, was “being built to fit a decision that was made before the first hearing was held.”
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hearing → write → decision
These court documents back her up.
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documents → back → her
In the end, the RGB never explained why a freeze was justified.
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freeze → explain → end
Its explanatory statement lists data, studies and testimony — but doesn’t offer a rationale for setting a 0% increase despite mounting owner costs.
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statement → list → costs
A biased, prejudged and unreasoned decision shouldn’t receive the deference that courts usually give administrative bodies.
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courts → receive → bodies
If the court allows the freeze to stand, mayors will control future rent adjustments.
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mayors → allow → adjustments
Left-wing mayoral candidates will promise rent freezes until the owners of rent-stabilized buildings go bankrupt, placing the privately owned regulated housing stock at grave risk.
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owners → promise → risk
Instead, the court should invalidate the rent freeze and order the RGB to produce a new decision — along with a written rationale justifying whatever increase it adopts.
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it → invalidate → increase
Doing so would restore the board’s lawful independence and ensure that future rent adjustments rest on evidence and reason, not on campaign promises the law doesn’t allow a mayor to keep.
John Ketcham is director of cities and a legal policy fellow at Manhattan Institute.
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Ketcham → do → Institute
MI is funding DiFiore Realty LLC’s intervention in the rent-freeze lawsuit and has sought leave to file an amicus brief.
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MI → fund → brief
The Aporia
