If you’re looking at the race to succeed Rep. Jerry Nadler from a real estate perspective, you might be concerned.
The first two polls show Jack Schlossberg well ahead of former Republican George Conway and Manhattan Assembly members Alex Bores and Micah Lasher.
Schlossberg, best known as JFK’s only living grandson, revealed himself to be a deceptive, anti-development populist by releasing an incredibly misleading video attacking the Related Companies/Essence Development plan to build mixed-income housing on a New York City Housing Authority campus in West Chelsea.
Schlossberg’s video was carefully edited to make it seem like residents of the NYCHA development agree with him. Reality check: They voted for the project, because it will allow tenants to move out of their 2,056 horrible apartments into sparkling new ones.
Some tenants will have to move temporarily while their new homes are built, but that will be far less disruptive than renovating their decrepit units while they are living in them.
Despite Schlossberg’s poll position and dishonest video, there are reasons to be optimistic about the congressional race and the Fulton and Elliott-Chelsea Houses project.
The two polls that have been made public were done so early in the race that they basically measure name recognition, not likelihood to win. If you need reassurance that they are nearly meaningless, consider that Rudy Giuliani led in 2007 polling for the GOP nomination for president. He plummeted before dropping out in January 2008.
Also, then-Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz led the initial polling in the 2013 mayoral race, as did Andrew Yang in the 2021 race. There are countless other examples.
Lasher — who is experienced, reasonable and smart — was last in the first two polls, but I expect him to gain ground once voters tune into the race.
Another good sign for the industry is that Democratic district leader Layla Law-Gisiko — a leading opponent of Related’s NYCHA deal — was nearly kicked off the April 28 ballot in the nonpartisan special election to replace Manhattan Democrat City Council member Erik Bottcher.
The city Board of Elections’s general counsel recommended Law-Gisiko’s independent ballot line, “Affordable NYC,” be disqualified because state law bans ballot lines that refer to New York. The board kept her on, but the episode was a blow to her campaign.
Bottcher’s chief of staff, Carl Wilson, might be the most pro-housing candidate in that Council race.
Something else in Manhattan politics that real estate can be thankful for is that Manhattan Assembly member Deborah Glick is not seeking re-election after 35 years in office.
A persistent thorn in the industry’s side, Glick is predictably questioning the rationale for an important bill to reform SEQRA, the environmental law that NIMBYs (like her) routinely use to stall environmentally beneficial housing, clean energy projects and other development.
For good measure, Glick, speaking at a legislative hearing in January, blamed the state’s housing crisis on “real estate speculation.” Most progressives stopped believing that myth when reams of research disproved it. Glick didn’t get the memo. She is beyond hope.
Glick chairs the Assembly’s environmental conservation committee, but her lame-duck status should make it easier for Gov. Kathy Hochul to get SEQRA reform done.
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