Photo: Il Tempo
Giulia Sorrentino
The election of New York’s new mayor, Zohran Mamdani, the first Muslim in the city’s history to hold this office, and whose controversial positions on Israel and Jews, rocked public opinion and alarmed Big Apple businesspeople. A “socialist” policy, as he defines it, that seeks to tax the super-rich in the name of “fairness.” But what is the real situation? We asked a great entrepreneur who lives there, Jason Pomeranc, a 54-year-old Democrat, co-founder of the group Sixty Collective, which owns and manages hotels, bars and restaurants in New York, as well as in Los Angeles and Washington.
Although it is too early to say, how much do you think the tourism sector and those who, like you, have a strong interest in this area, will be affected by the election of a mayor who is being talked about around the world? Aren’t you also afraid of excessive negative publicity?
“New York welcomes nearly 65 million visitors annually. Even a small decline would have a major impact on my business and the economy as a whole. The mayor-elect’s rhetoric, which shows no respect for law enforcement, shows hostility toward business and pursues a socialist and, many say, anti-American agenda, could have a devastating impact on tourism and cost billions of dollars. Financial services companies are already preparing to operate in New York, Connecticut, Florida and Texas, if the situation gets out of hand.”
.The mayor has spoken of his desire to introduce socialist policies to New York. Is a policy like “everything is free” really achievable? Could the city support a similar election program?
“These policies have proven ineffective and are a step toward economic failure. It is almost ludicrous to think that they could work in a system as complex as New York’s. The mayor cleverly promises things he cannot deliver without the state’s cooperation. And when the state fails to keep its promises, for various reasons, he will blame the state for its failures and lies. The top 1% of New Yorkers already pay 48% of taxes: regulating and taxing them more is unreasonable, and even if as some of them move, revenue will not be enough to maintain current services.”
Is Mamdani’s choice a form of protest? Do you know why he managed to win?
“He ran a brilliant campaign, extremely well organized, and also well financed by the Soros family and other left-wing extremist groups with a destructive agenda. But, basically, he was able to exploit the resentment of those struggling to bear the costs of building one of the world’s most expensive cities, and the guilt of some young liberals who thought they didn’t deserve what they had, until, of course, it was taken away from them. It’s easy to get people excited with false promises.”
Is this more of a vote against Trump or in favor of Mamdani?
“I think it’s a mix of both things. Most of his supporters are very anti-Trump. There is a major component of the protest vote against the Maga movement. Unfortunately, part of this movement is also rooted in anti-Semitism. The war in Gaza has brought out latent anti-Semitism that has clearly exploded. This was first seen in the student protests, where Mamdani gained initial notoriety. But clearly, the trigger for these protests came from external actors: foreign governments and domestic left-wing organizations, who funded and fueled the protests with false content in the media Mamdani is not the product of an organic campaign for change, but rather the product of a manipulative, well-funded, organized group of bad actors aiming to destabilize New York and, ultimately, the United States.”
