WEBVTT - What NYC's Most Powerful CEOs Think About Zohran Mamdani 0:00:02.720 --> 0:00:16.360 Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, Radio News. 0:00:18.480 --> 0:00:21.840 Hello and welcome to another episode of The Odd Lads podcast. 0:00:21.880 --> 0:00:25.840 I'm Joe Wisenthal and I'm Tracy Alloway, former Odd. 0:00:25.760 --> 0:00:28.360 Lad's guest is very likely to be the next mayor 0:00:28.360 --> 0:00:29.040 of New York City. 0:00:29.240 --> 0:00:31.760 That's right. So we interviewed Zora and Mumdanie. I think 0:00:31.760 --> 0:00:35.400 it was in early May and right after that. I'm 0:00:35.400 --> 0:00:38.279 not saying I'm not going to take credit for this, 0:00:38.520 --> 0:00:41.000 but right after that he really started to surge in 0:00:41.040 --> 0:00:44.559 the polls and he went on to win the Democratic nomination. 0:00:44.760 --> 0:00:47.519 I think we think very very minor credits. 0:00:47.520 --> 0:00:48.640 I'm sure it was a coincidence. 0:00:48.680 --> 0:00:52.199 The thing actually that struck me after that episode was 0:00:52.240 --> 0:00:55.680 hearing from a lot of people who were basically like, 0:00:56.280 --> 0:00:58.880 I don't like any of his ideas at all, but 0:00:58.960 --> 0:01:02.240 I still like the guy, and I still found him 0:01:02.280 --> 0:01:08.360 impressive and intelligent and very strong understanding of policy. And look, 0:01:08.440 --> 0:01:11.360 I don't think his victory is attributable to us, but 0:01:11.480 --> 0:01:14.720 I did think that was telling in the sense that 0:01:14.800 --> 0:01:18.120 a lot of people who maybe on paper shouldn't or 0:01:18.120 --> 0:01:21.600 wouldn't really like some of his views, didn't seem particularly 0:01:21.680 --> 0:01:24.480 threatened by him, which I thought was really interesting and 0:01:24.520 --> 0:01:27.960 may have contributed to his sort of extraordinary margin is 0:01:28.000 --> 0:01:29.000 extraordinary victory. 0:01:29.280 --> 0:01:31.840 I do think what's interesting about this whole story is 0:01:32.000 --> 0:01:36.160 the tension between New York City as this hub of capitalism, 0:01:36.400 --> 0:01:39.240 this hub of business. You have a lot of money here, 0:01:39.319 --> 0:01:42.479 a lot of billionaires obviously with their own interests, and 0:01:42.560 --> 0:01:47.200 now you have this democratic socialist candidate who's proposing something 0:01:47.440 --> 0:01:49.480 a little bit new. Although some people would say we 0:01:49.560 --> 0:01:52.040 had something more similar to that in say the nineteen 0:01:52.080 --> 0:01:55.800 fifties nineteen sixties New York. But that tension is what 0:01:55.880 --> 0:01:57.760 I find really fascinating right now. 0:01:58.000 --> 0:02:00.760 Yeah, so we have to we have to learn more. 0:02:00.800 --> 0:02:02.720 I mean again in the run up to the election. Look, 0:02:02.760 --> 0:02:07.280 what are New York City's business financial elites thinking right now? 0:02:07.320 --> 0:02:10.160 What do they think of a possible I'm Donnie Merrilty. 0:02:10.639 --> 0:02:12.640 What do they think about New York City in general? 0:02:12.720 --> 0:02:15.639 All of this stuff, There's there's a lot to learn. 0:02:15.680 --> 0:02:18.000 This is going to be a rich vein of interesting 0:02:18.320 --> 0:02:19.280 stuff for us for a while. 0:02:19.320 --> 0:02:22.080 We're going all New York local politics, I guess, But 0:02:22.280 --> 0:02:24.919 I do think it has national consequences. 0:02:24.240 --> 0:02:25.960 Internet, so we should talk about it. We should definitely 0:02:26.000 --> 0:02:29.360 talk about anyway. I'm really excited. We do have, indeed 0:02:29.560 --> 0:02:35.240 the perfect guest to talk about how the city's business elite, billionaires, etc. 0:02:35.520 --> 0:02:38.560 Are thinking about the city, think about the election, the 0:02:38.680 --> 0:02:41.960 possibility of Donnie being the mayor. We're going to be 0:02:42.000 --> 0:02:45.040 speaking with Kathy Wilde. She's the president and CEO of 0:02:45.120 --> 0:02:48.160 the Partnership for New York City, which is an organization, 0:02:48.320 --> 0:02:53.000 a business leadership organization here all kinds of major employers. 0:02:53.280 --> 0:02:56.720 If you read any article about Kathy in the media, 0:02:57.680 --> 0:03:01.080 described as sort of one of the ultimate power brokers 0:03:01.200 --> 0:03:02.400 of New York City. 0:03:02.520 --> 0:03:05.840 Yeah, words like power brokers, power player comes up. 0:03:05.919 --> 0:03:09.520 In every single one, and so truly the perfect guest. So, Kathy, 0:03:09.639 --> 0:03:10.760 thank you so much for coming on. 0:03:10.720 --> 0:03:12.560 Oud lots, thank you for having me, Joe and. 0:03:12.560 --> 0:03:15.519 To absolutely we're really excited. What do you just before 0:03:15.600 --> 0:03:18.280 we move on, describe what the Partnership for New York 0:03:18.280 --> 0:03:21.000 City is and what you basically do there. 0:03:21.120 --> 0:03:24.560 The Partnership is business working in the interests of the city. 0:03:24.639 --> 0:03:27.560 It's not a chamber of commerce. It was organized after 0:03:27.600 --> 0:03:32.000 the city's nineteen seventy five physical crisis by David Rockefeller, 0:03:32.000 --> 0:03:34.320 who was then the chair of Chase Bank. And other 0:03:35.000 --> 0:03:39.760 CEOs of the major corporations that were not just businesses 0:03:39.800 --> 0:03:43.640 headquartered in New York, but were real citizens of New 0:03:43.760 --> 0:03:48.040 York and trustees of its hospitals and museums, and real 0:03:48.080 --> 0:03:52.400 contributors to the city as philanthropists. So it is very 0:03:52.520 --> 0:03:57.880 much a business organization that is designed to tap the 0:03:57.920 --> 0:04:02.880 expertise and the influence of the business community to support 0:04:03.160 --> 0:04:07.000 New York City and to maintain it as the city 0:04:07.040 --> 0:04:08.880 of great economic opportunity. 0:04:09.680 --> 0:04:15.320 What's the partnership's relationship like typically with the mayoral administration 0:04:15.480 --> 0:04:19.240 and are there examples where you've worked together to effectively 0:04:19.279 --> 0:04:22.560 do something or maybe change the path of policy. 0:04:22.920 --> 0:04:27.320 Well, absolutely, the partnership's relationship to government is really as 0:04:27.360 --> 0:04:30.919 an intermediary between business and government, as I said, to 0:04:30.960 --> 0:04:35.720 provide expertise, to provide advice, to give feedback, really to 0:04:35.720 --> 0:04:41.880 be a resource more than an adversary with the local government, 0:04:41.960 --> 0:04:47.200 in particular local state government and some extent the federal government. 0:04:47.279 --> 0:04:50.320 When there are overriding issues that make a big impact 0:04:50.360 --> 0:04:53.359 on New York that are being considered in Washington. 0:04:53.560 --> 0:04:56.760 When did Zoron come on the radar of the people 0:04:56.800 --> 0:05:00.440 that you talk to, of the CEOs, etc. In the like, 0:05:00.520 --> 0:05:01.360 was it a month before? 0:05:01.480 --> 0:05:01.640 Was he? 0:05:01.720 --> 0:05:04.159 Were they thinking about him at all? Three months before 0:05:04.200 --> 0:05:06.440 the election? I'm sort of curious, like when it may 0:05:06.440 --> 0:05:09.440 have flickered in their minds that the Democratic Party could 0:05:09.520 --> 0:05:10.960 nominate a socialist. 0:05:11.200 --> 0:05:15.120 I would have to say that it was primary night 0:05:15.160 --> 0:05:16.400 about ten o'clock. 0:05:16.800 --> 0:05:20.200 Really, it's incredible to me. 0:05:20.680 --> 0:05:24.880 Well, I had forewarned them that it was a possibility, 0:05:25.000 --> 0:05:28.920 but I think Cromo had been a figure in their 0:05:29.000 --> 0:05:34.400 lives as Mario's son, as attorney general, as governor for 0:05:35.040 --> 0:05:39.240 twenty some years, and it was kind of a foregone conclusion, 0:05:39.600 --> 0:05:42.240 is the guy we know who's now running for mayor 0:05:42.360 --> 0:05:46.440 is going to be mayor? And especially after Mayor Adams 0:05:46.480 --> 0:05:48.880 announced he was not going to be in the Democratic primary, 0:05:48.960 --> 0:05:53.080 and so they had kind of zeroed in on accepting 0:05:53.120 --> 0:05:56.440 that it was going to be Cromo, and really no 0:05:56.520 --> 0:05:58.920 one had met zorun. 0:06:00.000 --> 0:06:02.440 What is the mood like on primary night? Did everyone 0:06:02.480 --> 0:06:05.240 immediately go home and start looking up socialism on the 0:06:05.279 --> 0:06:06.400 internet on chat GPT? 0:06:06.960 --> 0:06:10.200 Well, I would say hysteria would be a good word 0:06:10.200 --> 0:06:14.520 for shock. Was first shock first and what happened? And 0:06:14.640 --> 0:06:18.520 who is this person? And so I tried to provide 0:06:18.520 --> 0:06:22.080 some reassurance. We had for the past twenty years led 0:06:22.160 --> 0:06:26.200 efforts to bring congestion pricing to New York City to 0:06:26.520 --> 0:06:29.719 both manage traffic but to really make the city a 0:06:29.760 --> 0:06:33.239 more efficient place. Excess traffic congestion was costing the city 0:06:33.320 --> 0:06:36.560 twenty billion dollars a year with lost time, lost productivity, 0:06:37.000 --> 0:06:39.800 and what makes New York a great place to work 0:06:39.960 --> 0:06:43.800 is the productive workforce. So we'd been an advocate of 0:06:43.920 --> 0:06:48.840 congestion pricing, and I had actually met Zoron in that 0:06:49.000 --> 0:06:53.080 context at the Rider's Alliance where it's a group of 0:06:53.200 --> 0:06:58.039 subway riders advocates, and had found him to be a 0:06:58.160 --> 0:07:01.360 very smart, interesting young man. So I had known him, 0:07:01.360 --> 0:07:05.400 and then he reached out to me last September and said, 0:07:05.720 --> 0:07:09.200 I'd like to talk to you about my mayoral prospects 0:07:09.240 --> 0:07:13.760 when he was polling at one percent, and so I 0:07:13.800 --> 0:07:17.000 met him for coffee at the LPQ at eighty five 0:07:17.080 --> 0:07:20.800 Broad and we had a conversation, and I found him 0:07:21.040 --> 0:07:26.000 to be smart, and I took him seriously from then on. 0:07:26.280 --> 0:07:30.200 HM. I'm impressed from his perspective that that early on 0:07:30.800 --> 0:07:33.640 he wanted to sort of build that connection or make 0:07:33.680 --> 0:07:36.800 that connection with you before you talk more about him. 0:07:36.880 --> 0:07:40.960 A friend of mine described you as a therapist to 0:07:41.080 --> 0:07:44.880 the New York City billionaires. They were hysterical on or 0:07:44.880 --> 0:07:47.840 they're experiencing hysteria on primary night. Did you feel like 0:07:48.320 --> 0:07:50.520 that was your role in that night? Did you feel 0:07:50.520 --> 0:07:52.720 like a therapist to the members of the partnership? 0:07:52.760 --> 0:07:56.840 To provide reassurance to the business community, I mean, number one, 0:07:57.040 --> 0:08:00.000 to remind them that many of the things they want 0:08:00.080 --> 0:08:05.920 are most worried about from a Democratic Socialist candidate were 0:08:05.920 --> 0:08:10.520 things that he has absolutely no capacity to execute on. So, 0:08:10.680 --> 0:08:14.840 for example, raising corporate and income taxes is not something 0:08:14.880 --> 0:08:19.240 that the city or the mayor can do. Free buses 0:08:19.480 --> 0:08:22.960 is not something the mayor can do, and figuring out 0:08:23.080 --> 0:08:28.080 where you make up that eight hundred million in revenues. 0:08:28.480 --> 0:08:33.480 So that was number one, reassuring them that we have 0:08:33.640 --> 0:08:38.480 a moderate governor who's watching out for business interests, who 0:08:38.520 --> 0:08:42.400 says she's not going to further raise taxes in New York, 0:08:42.440 --> 0:08:45.199 which is the highest tax city in the country and 0:08:45.240 --> 0:08:48.800 in most cases the world for both individual income tax 0:08:48.880 --> 0:08:52.559 and corporate tax. So that was number one, providing reassurance 0:08:52.760 --> 0:08:56.880 that as mayor, he would have an agenda. But there 0:08:56.880 --> 0:08:59.320 are a lot of checks and balances to work through 0:08:59.559 --> 0:09:02.760 in New York and it's not a unilateral post. Now. 0:09:02.800 --> 0:09:06.200 That was more difficult with the real estate community because 0:09:06.320 --> 0:09:10.200 their concerns having to do with land use proceedings and 0:09:10.280 --> 0:09:15.480 approvals and construction permits, etc. That the mayor does control 0:09:16.240 --> 0:09:19.440 basically huge amount of control over that process. That is 0:09:19.920 --> 0:09:23.280 one thing that's local and real estate taxes where the 0:09:23.320 --> 0:09:27.280 mayor has significant influence. So it was more difficult with 0:09:27.400 --> 0:09:31.480 members of the real estate community, who after the primary 0:09:31.559 --> 0:09:35.240 quickly pivoted to remembering what a good friend Mayor Adams was. 0:09:36.600 --> 0:09:38.840 So I want to talk more about the concerns of 0:09:38.880 --> 0:09:42.880 the business community, obviously, but before we do, I can't 0:09:42.880 --> 0:09:46.800 resist asking, when you first met zoron over coffee, what 0:09:46.920 --> 0:09:49.400 advice did you give him? What did you actually say 0:09:49.400 --> 0:09:50.920 to him about a mayor run. 0:09:51.400 --> 0:09:55.240 Number One, I said that you can't lead New York 0:09:55.280 --> 0:09:59.040 City unless you have a constructive relationship with the Jewish community, 0:09:59.760 --> 0:10:04.480 because that was the most obvious source of concern that 0:10:05.280 --> 0:10:10.000 he seemed not able to address. That worried me a lot. 0:10:10.920 --> 0:10:19.400 Number Two, that the solution to affordability is not for government, 0:10:19.840 --> 0:10:23.840 local government to spend more money. That the money that 0:10:23.960 --> 0:10:29.120 local government spends has to be accounted for that you 0:10:29.240 --> 0:10:33.600 need to raise taxes to support it, and ultimately that 0:10:33.800 --> 0:10:36.400 just ups the cost of living and the cost of 0:10:36.440 --> 0:10:38.920 doing business in New York and that all ends up 0:10:38.960 --> 0:10:43.400 getting passed along to consumers. So the affordability question, which 0:10:43.400 --> 0:10:47.040 he was absolutely right to emphasize and emphasize from the beginning, 0:10:47.080 --> 0:10:50.880 that we've got to make New York more affordable to 0:10:51.520 --> 0:10:55.200 not just poor people, to the middle class, to those 0:10:55.360 --> 0:10:57.960 people who rent an apartment and now the average rents 0:10:57.960 --> 0:11:00.840 almost four thousand dollars a month. This is the big 0:11:00.880 --> 0:11:03.079 concern of employers, and I said, this is their number 0:11:03.120 --> 0:11:05.920 one concern. How do we keep and retain young talent 0:11:06.480 --> 0:11:08.760 if they can't afford to rent an apartment in New 0:11:08.840 --> 0:11:12.280 York City? Big frustration. So that was kind of the 0:11:12.360 --> 0:11:17.200 conversation that we had, and he was open to that 0:11:17.640 --> 0:11:21.040 conversation and interested in learning. I mean, he impressed me 0:11:21.120 --> 0:11:25.520 right away as somebody who is interested in learning more, 0:11:26.160 --> 0:11:31.000 but who has has very strong opinions and is very committed. 0:11:31.240 --> 0:11:34.520 And I mean he's thirty three years old. In the 0:11:34.520 --> 0:11:35.520 world is his oyster. 0:11:35.960 --> 0:11:39.640 Yeah, you mentioned the importance of relations with the Jewish community, 0:11:39.679 --> 0:11:41.560 and I saw I watched that. I didn't watch the 0:11:41.600 --> 0:11:44.520 whole debate, but I did watch the last debate and 0:11:44.559 --> 0:11:46.920 there was that question about which country you're going to 0:11:47.000 --> 0:11:50.040 visit first, and every candidate blood store On said they 0:11:50.040 --> 0:11:52.320 were going to visit Israel. He said he wasn't thinking 0:11:52.320 --> 0:11:56.000 about is going to visit. Can you explain from the 0:11:56.040 --> 0:12:00.319 perspective of the business leaders new York City, why do 0:12:00.440 --> 0:12:04.760 they perceive that good relations with Israel is such an 0:12:04.800 --> 0:12:08.079 important aspect of the job of Why does the. 0:12:08.040 --> 0:12:10.240 Mayor of New York have to have a foreign policy? 0:12:10.800 --> 0:12:15.040 Well, their fears that he has a foreign policy. I 0:12:15.080 --> 0:12:17.720 don't think anybody thinks the Mayor of New York has 0:12:17.760 --> 0:12:21.480 to have a foreign policy. But he has a record 0:12:21.679 --> 0:12:26.080 of speaking out on issues that impact the Jewish community 0:12:26.120 --> 0:12:29.520 about Israel that they're very concerned about, and so their 0:12:29.559 --> 0:12:35.360 concern is not having. New York City has a long 0:12:35.640 --> 0:12:42.600 history of values that are very strong on supporting a 0:12:42.760 --> 0:12:47.760 diversity of people, are very tolerant of various religious beliefs, 0:12:48.280 --> 0:12:52.160 and a long history with Israel. I mean, when Cornell 0:12:52.240 --> 0:12:57.600 Technion partnered on Technion's the university in Israel, that really 0:12:57.679 --> 0:13:00.760 led the Startup Nation movement in his and did so 0:13:00.840 --> 0:13:04.200 much to propel their economy. And they were selected under 0:13:04.240 --> 0:13:11.199 the Bloomberg administration to establish a first class engineering school 0:13:11.360 --> 0:13:15.240 in New York on Roosevelt Island, which has been very 0:13:15.280 --> 0:13:19.840 successful and is producing a great number of PhDs. And 0:13:19.920 --> 0:13:23.560 so at the time that they came in, Technioy came in, 0:13:23.600 --> 0:13:26.480 they told me how they had been funded. Originally it 0:13:26.520 --> 0:13:30.840 was New York Jewish philanthropists that funded that effort. So 0:13:30.880 --> 0:13:35.640 there's this long term relationship. And obviously we have many 0:13:35.840 --> 0:13:40.840 people in New York who are family of Holocaust victims 0:13:40.960 --> 0:13:45.040 and survivors, and for whom the fact of a Jewish 0:13:45.120 --> 0:13:49.800 homeland a safe space for Jews around the world is 0:13:50.160 --> 0:13:56.040 of top area of importance. I think that that they 0:13:56.679 --> 0:13:59.959 are very concerned that the mayor of New York City 0:14:00.600 --> 0:14:04.920 respect and understand the importance of Israel and our long 0:14:05.000 --> 0:14:09.520 term relationship, and that worries them a lot. And that's 0:14:09.600 --> 0:14:12.840 an issue that I think he has yet to resolve. 0:14:12.840 --> 0:14:17.760 I think it's difficult because he has strong support in 0:14:17.800 --> 0:14:22.120 the young Jewish community, and so I'm sure he feels 0:14:22.280 --> 0:14:24.560 that he's got a lot of people who are with 0:14:24.680 --> 0:14:27.000 him on the issues of protecting the rights of the 0:14:27.040 --> 0:14:31.680 Palestinians and concerns about that. So it's this is an 0:14:31.760 --> 0:14:36.600 area again where the fact that he ran a campaign 0:14:38.200 --> 0:14:43.160 and had built relationships that are a piece of New 0:14:43.240 --> 0:14:47.000 York City. He expanded the electorate to folks who have 0:14:47.120 --> 0:14:52.720 not participated, but he really did not develop much of 0:14:52.760 --> 0:14:57.520 a relationship with the historic electorate. He was running against 0:14:57.560 --> 0:15:02.560 the democratic establishment, not with it, and so the communities 0:15:02.800 --> 0:15:06.560 where much of the Jewish population is concentrated were not 0:15:06.720 --> 0:15:10.520 communities he was necessarily reaching out to, except for the 0:15:10.520 --> 0:15:14.080 young people and the social media crowd, and that's not 0:15:14.280 --> 0:15:16.760 the people who are most concerned. 0:15:32.560 --> 0:15:34.800 So on the topic of the campaign, I mean, this 0:15:34.960 --> 0:15:37.720 was one of the really surprising things of him winning. 0:15:37.800 --> 0:15:40.800 He had this sort of grassroots campaign which was very 0:15:40.840 --> 0:15:44.680 much focused on social media, lots of merchandise with really 0:15:45.080 --> 0:15:48.280 interesting designs. I've seen the hot girls for zor and 0:15:48.360 --> 0:15:52.000 T shirts. People wearing those around town, usually young women, 0:15:52.160 --> 0:15:55.120 as you mentioned. And I'm curious, are any of the 0:15:55.120 --> 0:16:00.400 people you're speaking to perhaps thinking differently about campaign donators 0:16:00.480 --> 0:16:04.600 going forward if they donated billions of dollars for Cuomo 0:16:05.200 --> 0:16:06.520 and zorin. 0:16:06.880 --> 0:16:12.760 Well, not billions but millions. Okay, yes, yes, I would 0:16:12.800 --> 0:16:17.320 say that for the most part, what I'm hearing is 0:16:17.360 --> 0:16:25.840 that people feel that they contributed to Cuomo and that 0:16:25.920 --> 0:16:28.240 they don't feel they got a very good campaign out 0:16:28.240 --> 0:16:33.160 of it. They want to meet Zoron and I think 0:16:33.200 --> 0:16:37.240 they're making There are many, particularly in the real estate community, 0:16:37.560 --> 0:16:42.400 that are stepping up to transfer whatever donations they were 0:16:42.440 --> 0:16:47.320 making Cuomo to Eric Adams, if you will, the somebody 0:16:47.320 --> 0:16:50.400 that they know they can do business with, then who 0:16:50.400 --> 0:16:55.600 has been supportive of tremendously positive growth in the city 0:16:55.720 --> 0:16:59.920 from the nature of the pandemic and where our economy was, 0:17:00.200 --> 0:17:04.159 where our real estate situation. I'm Eric Adams. It should 0:17:04.200 --> 0:17:08.480 not be ignored that he has his administration has led 0:17:08.600 --> 0:17:12.159 rezoning efforts and really changed the zoning code for the 0:17:12.200 --> 0:17:15.119 first time since nineteen sixty one. So he's made a 0:17:15.160 --> 0:17:20.639 tremendous investment in trying to begin the process of making 0:17:20.680 --> 0:17:24.159 it easier and less expensive to develop housing in the 0:17:24.200 --> 0:17:29.520 city and supported economic growth overall. So there was concern. 0:17:29.640 --> 0:17:32.280 I mean, obviously he's the first mayor that's been indicted, 0:17:32.840 --> 0:17:35.720 and when he dropped out of the Democratic primary, I 0:17:35.720 --> 0:17:38.280 think that solidified most of the money going to Cuomo, 0:17:38.960 --> 0:17:43.440 but Eric is back in the general and in good form. 0:17:44.000 --> 0:17:46.480 I noticed you said something. I think your first answer 0:17:46.680 --> 0:17:52.520 that the business elite had accepted Cuomo as who was 0:17:52.600 --> 0:17:56.720 going to be the nominee. Accepted, it does not sound 0:17:56.880 --> 0:18:00.840 the same as enthusiastically support. I hear that is sort 0:18:00.880 --> 0:18:01.440 of resigned. 0:18:01.520 --> 0:18:03.119 Yeah, okay, status Cuomo. 0:18:03.400 --> 0:18:05.280 Yeah, and so I'm curiously. 0:18:04.880 --> 0:18:06.280 Come on, you have to laugh at that. 0:18:06.640 --> 0:18:09.800 Good lie here, right, status quo. That's a good one. 0:18:09.880 --> 0:18:10.679 Thank you, thank you. 0:18:10.800 --> 0:18:13.560 That was good. But how did they feel actually about Cuomo? 0:18:13.760 --> 0:18:16.800 And also, like I know there's some question it's still 0:18:16.880 --> 0:18:21.120 unclear whether he's gonna run actively in November, but if 0:18:21.160 --> 0:18:25.720 they do coalesce around someone, does it definitely seem like 0:18:25.720 --> 0:18:27.600 it's going to be Adams so. 0:18:27.680 --> 0:18:29.639 Far, I think yes, I think it's going to be 0:18:29.680 --> 0:18:35.840 Adams if and again, it is the real estate community 0:18:35.880 --> 0:18:39.959 that's most concerned. You understand that the financial industry in 0:18:39.960 --> 0:18:44.679 New York basically is prohibited by federal regulation sec IF 0:18:44.720 --> 0:18:48.639 in run other regulation from contributing to state and local 0:18:48.680 --> 0:18:52.560 candidates beyond a nominal amount of a few hundred dollars. 0:18:53.160 --> 0:18:56.879 So they are not, for the most part, money players 0:18:57.400 --> 0:19:01.920 in state and local elections, which has really disadvantaged New 0:19:01.960 --> 0:19:05.240 York's business community, which represents like forty percent of our 0:19:05.280 --> 0:19:10.000 tax base, who can't participate in supporting candidates of their choice. 0:19:10.080 --> 0:19:13.080 They could knock on doors like the Zorone volunteers did, 0:19:13.119 --> 0:19:15.520 they just can't donate gobs of money. 0:19:15.280 --> 0:19:20.920 And that would be great, but not happening. Okay, most 0:19:20.960 --> 0:19:23.840 of them are beyond the door knocking age. But your 0:19:23.920 --> 0:19:28.560 question about Cuomo. Cuomo was Attorney General during the financial 0:19:28.600 --> 0:19:33.960 crisis and was not very friendly toward the financial industry 0:19:34.119 --> 0:19:37.480 and did not develop relationships that were very positive during 0:19:37.480 --> 0:19:41.280 his tenure as Attorney General with the business community. So 0:19:41.840 --> 0:19:44.960 that was his job to be an enforcer. And during 0:19:45.119 --> 0:19:48.800 his term as governor he came in with a very 0:19:48.840 --> 0:19:52.320 strong agenda to try and get state spending under control 0:19:52.359 --> 0:19:56.200 and get taxes under control. But having made some of 0:19:56.320 --> 0:19:59.480 some real progress there on medicaid reform and pension reform, 0:20:00.200 --> 0:20:04.920 as the political wins changed, there wasn't that same relationship 0:20:05.000 --> 0:20:08.920 with the business community. So with the exception of real estate, 0:20:09.000 --> 0:20:12.879 where he was very pro growth, investing in infrastructure, supporting 0:20:12.920 --> 0:20:16.400 real estate development. So I would say that he had 0:20:16.800 --> 0:20:22.120 relative enthusiasm in the real estate community, but not broadly 0:20:22.160 --> 0:20:23.560 based in the business community. 0:20:23.920 --> 0:20:26.720 So on this note, you've emphasized a number of times 0:20:26.720 --> 0:20:28.920 that a lot of business leaders obviously want to talk 0:20:28.960 --> 0:20:30.760 to Zorin. They want to get in the room with him, 0:20:31.040 --> 0:20:34.959 and you are organizing, I believe, discussions between the business 0:20:34.960 --> 0:20:38.840 community and the mayoral candidate. I think next week we're 0:20:38.880 --> 0:20:42.639 recording this on let's see July ninth. How do you 0:20:42.720 --> 0:20:45.560 decide who gets to be in the room with Zorin? 0:20:46.040 --> 0:20:49.040 Well, the first meeting we're doing and I set this 0:20:49.200 --> 0:20:52.480 up with Zorn He called me right after the election 0:20:52.680 --> 0:20:57.600 and said he wanted to establish those relationships, and I said, well, 0:20:57.640 --> 0:21:01.440 it's so we set up a meeting with the CEOs 0:21:01.480 --> 0:21:05.000 of the partnership that's on Tuesday, and so they'll be 0:21:05.880 --> 0:21:08.119 some will join virtually, but it's going to be mostly 0:21:08.160 --> 0:21:12.439 an in person one hundred and fifty maybe CEOs of 0:21:12.560 --> 0:21:16.560 major companies, major employers in the city who have never 0:21:16.600 --> 0:21:19.760 met him and will be for the first time getting 0:21:19.760 --> 0:21:22.439 an opportunity. And that's going to be a conversation with 0:21:22.880 --> 0:21:26.800 our co chairs, Rob Speyer of Tishman Speyer and doctor 0:21:26.840 --> 0:21:30.760 Albert Borla of Pfizer and so they'll be having a 0:21:30.880 --> 0:21:34.600 conversation with Solorn and then we'll have some Q and 0:21:34.640 --> 0:21:37.400 A with our members, and so that's that's number one. 0:21:37.400 --> 0:21:40.080 And then I'll come back next week, right, and I 0:21:40.119 --> 0:21:42.119 will follow up to this episode. 0:21:42.680 --> 0:21:46.879 Interesting. Yes, I'm looking forward. I'm looking forward to that conversation, 0:21:47.080 --> 0:21:50.040 but I think again it's an introduction and I have 0:21:50.119 --> 0:21:54.160 full confidence as you know having met him, Zorn is 0:21:54.480 --> 0:21:59.000 pretty good at presenting himself and very fast in terms 0:21:59.000 --> 0:22:02.680 of his thoughtful responses on issues. So I'm looking forward 0:22:02.720 --> 0:22:04.880 to that because it'll save me a lot of time 0:22:04.920 --> 0:22:08.480 reassuring him that he's not the devil. He's okay. And 0:22:08.520 --> 0:22:12.440 then on Wednesday, Kevin Ryan, who is kind of the 0:22:12.480 --> 0:22:16.600 father of Silicon Ali Ali Corp. Is the name of 0:22:16.640 --> 0:22:21.720 his corporation, has a prolific history of creating tech companies 0:22:21.720 --> 0:22:26.120 in New York. Kevin is going to moderate a conversation 0:22:26.280 --> 0:22:30.160 with him which will be heavily tech focused, more entrepreneurs 0:22:30.200 --> 0:22:34.760 than corporate finance types. So that'll be on Wednesday, and 0:22:34.800 --> 0:22:38.400 then I should add that on Thursday, we'll be doing 0:22:38.400 --> 0:22:43.280 breakfast with Mayor Eric Adams and speaking to him about 0:22:43.320 --> 0:22:47.919 his path forward. And as I said, there's been a 0:22:47.920 --> 0:22:51.720 lot of support for the policies that Eric Adams has 0:22:52.280 --> 0:22:55.879 he started out as mayor. I had the same conversation 0:22:56.000 --> 0:22:59.280 with Eric. I'm a Brooklyn person, so I've known Eric 0:22:59.320 --> 0:23:02.359 for many years and most recently in his capacity as 0:23:02.359 --> 0:23:05.439 Brooklyn Boro President. But when we started out, he didn't 0:23:05.440 --> 0:23:08.720 know anybody in the New York business community either. But 0:23:08.920 --> 0:23:12.040 he introduced himself as saying, my number one priority is 0:23:12.080 --> 0:23:16.720 public safety, and my number two priority is a thriving economy. 0:23:16.760 --> 0:23:19.359 And I'm with you, and having lived through eight years 0:23:19.359 --> 0:23:23.320 of Bill Deblasio as mayor, who had nothing to do 0:23:23.720 --> 0:23:26.479 or to say to them except your awful people. And 0:23:26.520 --> 0:23:29.880 as Jamie Diamond famously said, for eight years, I never 0:23:29.920 --> 0:23:33.560 got a call from Bill Deblasio when he was mayor 0:23:34.160 --> 0:23:37.600 and have never had a conversation with him. So Eric 0:23:37.720 --> 0:23:42.000 immediately reversed the Deblasio big business is bad for New York, 0:23:42.040 --> 0:23:44.480 and Eric said, I want wealthy people in New York. 0:23:44.520 --> 0:23:47.680 I want big business in New York. So I don't 0:23:47.680 --> 0:23:54.120 expect that from Zoran next week. I think that he's 0:23:54.160 --> 0:23:57.760 not going to have the same unbridled enthusiasm for billionaires, 0:23:58.119 --> 0:24:01.440 but I do expect that he will come across as 0:24:01.480 --> 0:24:06.119 a responsible person who's thinking seriously and is open to learning, 0:24:06.200 --> 0:24:10.000 which is most important to listening and learning. And I 0:24:10.040 --> 0:24:13.879 think that that the number one concern is, is this 0:24:13.960 --> 0:24:19.800 a dogmatic, ideological person who is just going is going 0:24:19.880 --> 0:24:24.280 to be not interested in what we can contribute to 0:24:24.359 --> 0:24:26.320 the city or what employers contribute. 0:24:26.720 --> 0:24:29.480 You mentioned Kevin Ryan. I used to work for Business Insider, 0:24:29.520 --> 0:24:31.560 which was one of the Ali Corp companies, so I'm 0:24:31.600 --> 0:24:35.760 a beneficiary of his New York City investments. You know, 0:24:35.800 --> 0:24:38.240 when the night of the primary, I got some random 0:24:38.280 --> 0:24:39.959 messages online. They're like, oh, are you going to leave 0:24:40.000 --> 0:24:42.000 New York City. I'm never gonna leave New York City, 0:24:42.160 --> 0:24:44.439 Like it's the best city in the world, obviously, but 0:24:44.720 --> 0:24:47.680 you know, people do leave, And in twenty twenty one 0:24:47.760 --> 0:24:51.400 and twenty twenty two, people pretended to think that Miami 0:24:51.760 --> 0:24:54.160 was a better option for them. I think a bunch 0:24:54.200 --> 0:24:57.000 of them came back or they spent just the you know, 0:24:57.119 --> 0:25:00.879 minimum amount of time there so they could you know, 0:25:01.080 --> 0:25:04.880 qualify for their local taxes, et cetera. In your view 0:25:04.960 --> 0:25:07.080 or in the view of the employers of New York City, 0:25:07.400 --> 0:25:10.480 what are the threats the substance of threats that would say, Okay, 0:25:10.520 --> 0:25:15.000