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New York Post
7 hours ago
- Business
- New York Post
NYC biz leaders left shaking over prospect of Zohran Mamdani mayoral win: ‘It would be disastrous'
They want none of his business. Big Apple business leaders are shaking in their boots that socialist Zohran Mamdani will pull off an upset win in Tuesday's Democratic mayoral primary and coast into Gracie Mansion, The Post has learned. Frightened movers and shakers said that a Mayor Mamdani would be 'disastrous' for New York City — with some loath to speak out publicly for fear of ticking off progressives and galvanizing the Queens assemblyman's lefty, anti-business base. 'It would be disastrous for the city,' said startup entrepreneur John Borthwick — who recently met the surging candidate during a Partnership For New York City meeting. Mamdani, who spent just three years in the workforce between graduating college in 2014 and being elected to the state Assembly in 2020, struck Borthwick as out of his depth. 'He's a very nice charming human who I think who has absolutely no idea what it would take to run a city government,' Borthwick, the CEO of Betaworks, said. 3 Zohran Mamdani's surge in the Democratic mayoral primary has some business leaders running scared. LP Media 'Given the challenges the city faces with the state budget and federal government, they will eat him for breakfast.' The business community's fear has been rising along with Mamdani's standing in the polls — culminating with an Emerson College Polling/Pix 11/The Hill survey Monday shockingly finding him edging out former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in eight rounds of ranked-choice voting. Mamdani's surge in the polls has been driven by his unabashedly socialist, freebie-heavy platform promising free buses, city-run grocery stores and higher taxes on the rich. But many business leaders such as billionaire John Catsimatidis — who threatened to close his Manhattan-based grocery chain Gristedes if Mamdani wins — have claimed that the Democratic socialist's proposals will lead to an exodus from the city. 3 Billionaire John Catsimatidis threatened to move his Gristedes grocery chain out of New York City if Mamdani wins. Stefan Jeremiah for New York Post Florida's Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis gleefully weighed in on the recent poll showing a Mamdani win by boasting of boon for the Sunshine State — at least for the well-to-do. 'Just when you thought Palm Beach real estate couldn't go any higher…' he wrote on X. Frank Garcia, national chairman of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, who lives in New York, bluntly said business leaders were very concerned about Mamdani getting elected. 'He's like Bill de Blasio. He's anti-business,' Garcia said. One New York business industry leader, who spoke with The Post under the condition of anonymity out of concern that Mamdani may actually win, said the outspoken progressive would bring 'uncertainty.' 'Uncertainty is never good for businesses, it's never good for the market,' he said, even going so far as comparing Mamdani to President Trump and his erratic tariff policy. 'It's almost like Trump in reverse,' he said. One of Mamdani's people-pleasing planks is a promise to raise New York City's minimum wage to $30 an hour by 2030. 'In the world's richest city, making the minimum wage shouldn't mean living in poverty,' his campaign's platform states. Tom Grech, president of the Queens Chamber of Commerce, said his borough's merchants — of whom 90% have 10 or fewer employees — are worried about Mamdani's promises. 'A $30 minimum wage is unsustainable,' he said. 'The average merchant can't afford a minimum wage increase now. That would kill the bottom line. They'd have to cut employees.' But other business leaders have publicly kept their concerns to themselves. 3 Kathryn Wylde, CEO for the Partnership For New York City, said business leaders have stayed silent in the Democratic primary because their 'kind words' are not helpful. Bloomberg via Getty Images Kathryn Wylde, CEO for the powerful Partnership For New York City nonprofit business group, said their silence isn't necessarily unusual, noting they don't typically comment on political races. 'Plus, they are not plugged into social media, so few were forewarned about the possible far-left direction of the mayoral race,' she said. 'Many have some history with Cuomo — as some pundit put it 'the devil they know' — who was looking for their dollars but not for public endorsement in a Democratic primary, where kind words from the business community are not helpful.'
New York Times
16-05-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Live Updates: New Jersey Transit Strike Leaves Commuters Scrambling
The shutdown of the New Jersey Transit rail system on Friday could inflict economic damage across the region, hurting shops and restaurants that depend on commuter spending and companies whose workers could be delayed getting to the office. New Jersey Transit trains are a major piece of the region's commuter transit network, ferrying about 70,000 people to their jobs in New York City every workday. The agency said it would run extra buses for commuters starting Monday, but they can accommodate only about 20 percent of the daily train riders. With delays likely, every hour that all New Jersey commuters are late arriving to work in the city could cost employers about $6 million in lost productivity, according to an analysis by the Partnership for New York City, a business advocacy group. About half of those commuters work in high-paying industries like finance and information, the group said. Since the last New Jersey Transit strike in 1983, many more people, including a majority of New Jersey Transit rail passengers, have gained the ability to work remotely. Many companies embraced hybrid work during the pandemic, allowing employees to split their workweek between the office and home. Fridays are the least popular day for in-person work. The transit agency encouraged riders in the weeks before the strike to prepare to work from home. Nearly 60 percent of rail passengers have hybrid schedules, according to a survey by New Jersey Transit of its passengers a year ago. Companies that have called their workers back to the office five days a week, including Goldman Sachs, said they had been preparing for a potential transit strike and discussing expectations for their employees, including allowing some to work from home. Citigroup, one of the largest employers in the city, said it had allowed employees whose jobs can be performed remotely to work outside the office because of the strike. (Most Citigroup employees have hybrid arrangements.) The economic fallout will extend beyond corporate workers and their companies, with local businesses also feeling pain. Many New Jersey Transit rail stations are in the heart of suburban towns and surrounded by restaurants that serve commuters, and some major rail stations, such as Newark Penn Station, have coffee shops inside them. There are also numerous restaurants in Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan, the terminus for New Jersey Transit trains. Morning commuters have provided a steady stream of business for Cait and Abby's Bakery in South Orange, N.J., since it opened 27 years ago, said Raul Saade, its owner. The bakery, next to the South Orange station, opens at 6:30 a.m. to serve passengers traveling to New York, he said. While there are fewer commuters now than before the pandemic, Cait and Abby's serves about 100 people a day on average who buy coffee and often a pastry before they board the train, accounting for an important portion of the bakery's business, Mr. Saade said. 'If it goes on for the whole week,' Mr. Saade said of the strike, 'we are going to suffer.'
