"The Rent Is Too Damn High, But the Fear Is Even Higher"

Weekday morning commutes from New Jersey to Manhattan can be quite hectic, even with congestion pricing in place.

I’ve been enjoying the latest headlines from the New York Post with a generous dash of incredulity—New Yorkers allegedly fleeing the city over fears of Zohran Mamdani becoming mayor. You’d think Gotham was about to be draped in red flags and collectivist murals. Are they out of their minds?

Fleeing to Baton Rouge or the middle of Ohio or even Texas isn’t exactly a natural upgrade for a displaced Manhattanite. Let’s be honest: if you’re not living in NYC proper, your next best bet is still somewhere with a Metro-North shadow—Long Island, Jersey, or up here in the Hudson Valley where creative types orbit the city like satellites, waiting for gravity to pull them back in.

Now, do I support Mamdani? Yes. Do I have bones to pick with his affordability plan? Also yes. The idea of balancing affordability on the backs of billionaires sounds noble, but let’s be real—they’re built for escape velocity. Their tax residencies are already halfway to Bermuda. What New York really needs isn’t another Robin Hood fantasy—it needs more housing. Period.

Since 1980, employment in NYC is up 35%. Housing stock? A modest 24%. That gap is the quiet villain of this whole saga. Even with a declining population, rent in NYC leads the nation in increases. Nearly a third of residents pay half their monthly income on rent. Fifty-two percent are “rent-burdened,” statistically speaking.

So while billionaires may jet off, creatives like me inch closer from the edges—Peekskill, Yonkers, those stations where the Metro-North conductor still greets you with a weary smile and a free vibe check.

New York isn’t dying—it’s recalibrating. And as one door slams shut, another gently creaks open. If people flee in fear, let them. There are millions more who still dream of squeezing into a postage-stamp apartment just for the chance to hear the city whisper to them at 2 a.m.

​As for ideology, let’s untangle the jargon:

CONCEPT

• Ownership
• Wealth
• Government Role

FASCISM

• Authoritarian, individual control
• National unity over equality
• Dictatorial power

SOCIALISM

• Collective, public ownership
• Redistribution for equity
• Public welfare-centric governance

New York, New York

And America? We’re meant to be a democratic republic with capitalist spice. But between our reality TV governance and our ideological traffic jams, it’s a miracle we still remember what liberty looks like.
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Until gravity shifts, we orbit. But New York still beckons—through bagel carts, broken subway speakers, and overheard rooftop soliloquies.

​One day, maybe sooner than we think, it pulls us home.