By: Betsy McCaughey

“Tenants are a majority, it’s time we had a mayor who acted like it,” says Zohran Mamdani, the front runner in the mayoral race.

When Mamdani says it, believe him.  If he wins, tenants will be favored, and home owners will be in his crosshairs.

They already are.  Mamdani is vowing to fully enforce Local Law 97, a law that clobbers condo and coop owners with costly mandates to reduce their building’s carbon emissions at their own expense.

If Mamdani wins, middle class and working class people who saved and bought a coop or condo in a high rise complex, will be facing huge cost increases.   More than a million New Yorkers — cops, teachers, accountants, retirees — own the 832,000 units impacted by Local Law 97, and many will suddenly be faced with budget breaking costs.

The law was passed by the City Council in 2019, but it sets a 2030 deadline to reduce carbon emissions by 40%, , meaning buildings have to start the costly construction process now to convert from oil-burner heating and gas stoves to electric heat and stoves in the name of climate improvement.

Owners at Queensview Cooperatives, a complex of 14 buildings in Long Island City built in 1950,  are told the conversion will cost them $62 million, which will boost their monthly maintenance by $1,155 for a one bedroom apartment.   That’s about double. Owners who can’t afford the increase may be forced to sell – at fire sale prices since their neighbors will be struggling with the same cost hikes.

Mamdani vows to rigorously enforce this lunatic law, expressly opposing what he calls “loopholes” like selling owners renewable energy credits or offering time extensions to comply.  His website mentions  assistance “for middle income homeowners” but he’s never followed up with any specifics.

Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa opposes Local Law 97, posting on X on June 7th that the law is  “forcing longtime New Yorkers out of their apartments they’ve lived in for decades. The cost is just too high, especially in a housing crisis.”

Candidate Andrew Cuomo has said he’s open to modifying the law.  Of course, that would require the City Council going along – a big maybe. An alternative is for the next mayor to slow walk enforcement. Unless it’s Mamdani.

Here’s the biggest outrage. Local Law 97 takes a million or more modest New York home owners to the cleaners to pay the tab for a scheme that offers no demonstrable benefit to the city’s air quality, or the health of its residents. Zero.

City Council members should have examined the facts before mandating these high rise buildings convert from oil burning heat to electrical heat. It’s an example of legislative malpractice.  Leftwing climate ideologues happy to spend other people’s money without asking if the scheme makes sense.

A report from New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine and School of Global Public Health published in Frontiers shows how scientifically farcical Local Law 97 is.  The two authors, both climate activists, caution that the benefits of the law “may only materialize in future generations— and only if similarly ambitious policies are embraced worldwide.”

The authors add that there’s “scant literature” demonstrating any health benefits from Local Law 97.

Here’s the kicker.  Although the coops and condos are being forced to convert from fossil fuel heating to electrical heat, these buildings will then be buying their electricity from suppliers who still generate it using fossil fuels.    The NYU scientists conclude “building electrification is unlikely to yield net benefit without a transition to renewable energy services” citywide, something the city has not done.

Message to the condo and coop owners – you are getting shafted. The climate ideologues pushing Local Law didn’t bother to get the facts.

Mamdani is vowing to actualize “the vision of Local Law 97.”  The condo and coop owners facing financial stress and even the loss of their homes because of the law should go to the polls this November and vote for anybody but Mamdani.  They should also vote against any City Council member who supported the law.

These coop and condo owners likely number more than one million voters.  The issue is who will turn out, these homeowners or the 1.7 million tenants Mamdani is promising rent freezes. Middle income coop owners slammed Local Law 97 can turn this election,” predicts Democratic strategist Hank Sheinkopf.

Protecting the earth against climate damage and preparing New York City for climate changes are worthy goals. But Mamdani and the extremists push to enforce Local Law 97 ignore the facts and treat New York homeowners with utter disrespect.