New York City is at a crossroads. We are in a state of crisis. And in crisis, experience matters — a record of delivering real results matters. It is not the time for on the job training: you need a mayor who is ready on day one.
The challenges NYC currently faces are numerous and complex. Working New Yorkers can’t afford to live here anymore. Our streets, our subways, our neighborhoods don’t feel as safe when we go to work, take our children to school or go about daily life.
We need leadership with urgency, accountability, and vision. For New York to be affordable, safe, healthy, educated and fair, government needs to work again. And I know how to make government work.
I will tackle each problem head on as I did as governor — clear-eyed and wholeheartedly. Over the past several months, I have laid out my plans to meet this moment and to reverse the trends that have caused more than 500,000 New Yorkers to leave and made people question whether government can actually get anything done.
I know we can. I know we will. Because we’ve done it before.
We will make NYC safe and restore a sense of order by hiring an additional 5,000 police officers, increasing the size of the police force by 15% while cutting overtime in half to pay for it. Within the first 30 days of taking office, I pledge to remove all of the homeless out of the subway on a daily basis to get the help they need — we did it during COVID-19, and we will do it again.
It is not a secret that NYC is in the grips of an affordability crisis. The cost of living has risen faster than the rate at which incomes have grown. Families are being priced out, left out and forced to move out. Our plan to make life affordable for New Yorkers is multi-pronged because the problem is multifaceted.
We will lower the cost of housing by building 500,000 new homes through aggressive and skilled development while taking steps to keep people in their homes and we will increase tenant protections — I did it as our nation’s housing secretary during the Clinton Administration, and I will do it again now.
We will raise the minimum wage to $20 an hour because no one working full time should struggle to make ends meet — I did it as governor when we raised the minimum wage to the highest in the nation, and I will do it again now.
We will make real the promise of free 3-K and after school care and bring tax relief by eliminating NYC income tax for low-income households, ending taxes on tips and capping property taxes at 2%.
I have fought for New Yorkers all my life. It is what I do. It is who I am. We got through COVID together because we are New York Tough. And because we unified and we looked out for one another. And I will be New York Tough when it comes to dealing with and standing up to President Trump.
I will work with state and federal partners to secure sustainable funding and make sure that New Yorkers have critical access to the services they need, and I will effectively protect and defend our New York rights and values. I did it before and I will do it again.
I am proud of my work as governor. We completed long-delayed projects including the Second Ave. subway, LaGuardia Airport, and Moynihan Train Hall. We built the Mario Cuomo and Kosciuszko bridges. We made New York the progressive capital of the nation by enacting the highest minimum wage in the country, passing the strongest gun violence prevention and paid family leave programs and we led the nation through COVID.
I have decades of proven experience in policy making, the mechanics of government, ensuring public safety, improving our schools, caring for those in need of shelter, and in running the MTA and I believe we must have a zero tolerance policy for antisemitism, for hate in all forms and in enforcing the laws we enact.
In the end it is not about what you say — it’s about what you deliver.
New Yorkers deserve a life they can afford in a city where they are safe — the city that they love. As mayor I will work every day to make that a reality. And that is why I am asking for your vote. I will work for you and I will fight for NYC.
Cuomo, the former New York governor, is a candidate for mayor in this month’s Democratic Party primary.
