Zohran Mamdani

For 12 hours, I sat at the Museum of the Moving Image and I listened to New Yorkers.

More than 140 New Yorkers came to share their stories with me.

And the point of that is not just to say I listened, it's to actually take what they're saying and then act upon it.

And some of the concerns were large.

They were the concerns of undocumented New Yorkers sharing with me stories

The immense fear that they live with on a day-to-day basis.

And I think this idea that, in fact, governing could be informed by the people you're governing for, as opposed to treating New Yorkers as if they're just subjects.

And also the understanding that in order for people to act upon something, they have to know about something.

We even take that approach to rights.

In this moment when so many New Yorkers are fearful of ICE agents and the potential of immigration enforcement as we've seen it take place across the city, we thought it was important to remind every New Yorker of their own rights.

And so that the only way they can exercise them is if they know about them.

You know, any gathering of New Yorkers has to have some critique.

Otherwise, you know, it's not a gathering of New Yorkers.

And I think there's critique in a fear of, are you going to be able to deliver on these things?

Because there's a fear of, should I have believed in this?

And my job and our job in building a team is to showcase the seriousness with which we took those commitments and how we actually deliver them.

You know, one New Yorker spoke to me about how,

Their number one concern was about casinos, you know, and I shared with them that I myself am skeptical of the economic development promises that come with casinos.

And I also know that there's a referendum that was passed by voters that creates the citation of three casinos within New York City.

And I can't.