Meeting Mamdani

Many of the city’s business leaders met last week with Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani during convenings organized by the Partnership for New York City. The Wall Street Journal reported that "Many in attendance said they walked away impressed by the 33-year-old candidate’s ability to work a crowd but no more comfortable with his ideas." 

I joined the meeting on Wednesday and heard similar conclusions from attendees who were both impressed by Mamdani’s charisma but concerned about his inexperience and more extreme positions. These comments echoed thoughts I shared earlier this month following the primary. The moderator nudged Mamdani for specific details but often came up empty-handed. When asked in a room of tech leaders for an example of government innovation, Mamdani pointed to an example in the 1990s when, in response to a request from NYCHA for energy-efficient refrigerators, manufacturers birthed the mini-fridge. 

Surely, someone seeking endorsement from New York’s tech community for a position overseeing 300,000 city employees might be better prepared to respond to questions about innovative tech uses within local government. I, however, was most concerned about his response to a question regarding charter schools, where he expressed he had “skepticism” about charters regarding equity and their encroachment on public education.

Comments like these explain why some might be skeptical of Mandani’s executive experience and willingness to buck entrenched interests and embrace proven solutions. New York City has more than 280 public charter schools servicing 149,000 students. While they operate outside the bureaucracy of the district schools managed by the Department of Education, they are, in fact, public schools funded by public tax dollars. And unlike many district schools, they must consistently meet performance milestones to continue operations. 

Eighty-two percent of students in NYC charter schools come from lower-income communities, and 96% are students of color. On average, charters in New York consistently outperform district schools, with higher student proficiency rates in math and English Language Arts. These results are particularly pronounced for historically underserved communities. Charter networks like Success Academy, where I serve on the board, outshine far wealthier school districts where the median family income can be multiples of their student population. And charter networks achieve these outsized results while receiving less than two-thirds the funding per student as traditional district schools.

Since Mike Bloomberg secured mayoral control in 2002, the mayor of New York has had oversight of the city’s school system, which is the largest in the nation. While education received little attention during the mayoral campaign, the Department of Education’s $40 billion budget is one-third of the city’s budget. In addition to his view on charters, Mamdani’s main education position has been his support to end mayoral control of the schools — a move experts say would disperse accountability and responsibility and be a "terrible mistake." 

In last week's meeting, Assemblymember Mamdani repeatedly expressed an openness to learning and evolving. When asked about the impact of AI on the workforce, he noted he hadn't fully formed a proposal on this and would engage the tech leaders in the room to develop a roadmap. On housing, he shared that he had shifted his thinking and now understood the importance of the private sector's involvement in constructing new units. 

One would hope he would embrace this same openness when considering the strong results of New York City's public charter schools. Rather than skepticism, he might embrace curiosity about successful models, visit some high-performing networks, and consider how to scale solutions that work for tens of thousands of families across New York City.

Three More Things 

• On voting, TED released a talk from Bradley Tusk on how mobile voting can increase voter participation and improve political outcomes, especially in local elections. Reflecting on his years in politics and government, Bradley observed that "virtually every politician makes every decision solely based on winning the next election – and nothing else." As a result, particularly in local elections, politicians are heavily influenced by low-turnout primary elections, and “the people in the middle – they don't vote in primaries, so politicians ignore their views and cater only to the extremes." Bradley is one of the smartest political strategists I’ve worked with, and I regularly look to his Substack and podcast for insights on New York politics. We will host an event with him in the fall, but in the meantime, be sure to watch and share his TED Talk. 

• On energy and artificial intelligence, last week, President Trump joined Senator David McCormick in Pittsburgh for the Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit at Carnegie Mellon. More than $90 billion in investments were announced at the summit, including separate $25 billion commitments from Blackstone and Google for new data centers and energy infrastructure. While executives point to Pennsylvania's competitive advantage with its cheap, accessible natural gas, New York is also well-positioned to mobilize these large-scale investments and ensure the state remains a vibrant, viable home for artificial intelligence and advanced manufacturing. One proposal we're working on in our broader policy roadmap is to establish a Technology, Energy, Research, and Robotics Accelerator (TERRA) in upstate New York that would use a mix of incentives and reforms to unleash renewable energy capacity, technology infrastructure, and manufacturing of new materials. We're still early in developing this idea, but if you are interested in exploring it with us, or if there are models we should look at, drop me a note here and I’ll follow up. 
  

• On partying, The Free Press is hosting a party in NYC for subscribers under 30. Let’s just say I missed the cutoff by a few years, but I do enjoy their coverage and columns, so I’m sharing the RSVP link here for you, your kids, or your younger colleagues. While we’ve hosted several great gatherings with our slightly more seasoned member community, researchers found younger Americans now spend 70% less time attending or hosting parties, and almost every age group cut their partying time in half over the last two decades. If you are one to buck the trends and still enjoy a good get-together, especially for a great cause, consider applying to be a founding member of The Future Forum here.