5 Questions For Mayoral Candidate Brad Lander
You’ve represented parts of Brooklyn for years. But Brooklyn isn’t just Park Slope. What would you say to voters in Canarsie, Midwood, or Bay Ridge who don’t see themselves in your coalition? What would your mayoralty mean for Brooklyn’s working-class families—especially those who feel let down by both progressives and City Hall?
It has been a privilege to be a Brooklyn dad, and to have raised my children in the same neighborhood that I served as a City Councilmember. Brooklyn residents, like New Yorkers across all boroughs, have been frustrated with government that too often fails to deliver and is riddled with corruption.
As Mayor, I will bring visionary policy ideas grounded in my deep experience of city government – so we can rebuild trust that government can actually deliver. That means reforming and strengthening our civil service to attract and retain top talent, ensuring fiscal responsibility to protect our city from federal rollbacks, and instilling accountability at every level of City Hall.
Brooklyn has been the epicenter of both tenant activism and homeowner anxiety. You’ve talked about building half a million or more homes citywide—where would they go in Brooklyn, and how will you avoid deepening Brooklyn’s neighborhood tensions?
The unaffordability crisis has too many New Yorkers leaving the city. While building more homes will be a key component to bring down costs, my housing plan also includes historic tenant protections. To protect tenants from displacement and deliver permanently affordable housing to working class New Yorkers, I will ramp up the City’s development of permanently affordable rental units, dramatically increase affordable homeownership opportunities, preserve distressed rental housing, protect renters by upholding our City and State’s tenant protection laws, fully fund the Right to Counsel, and expand rental assistance and legal representation to protect tenants from eviction, and much more.
My housing plan begins with creating a “Citizen’s Assembly” on growth and affordability, which will establish key principles for future housing growth. Ensuring community support will be critical to the success of my housing plan. As a Council Member, I championed the Gowanus rezoning, through an intensive community process, resulting in what is still the only successful large-scale MIH upzoning of a higher-income neighborhood in the City to date. I am the only candidate in this race that has the necessary experience to enact bold policy while working alongside and building support from community members and organizations.
Also, my campaign does not accept contributions from real estate developers, real estate PACs and for-profit lobbyists, to ensure that my commitment to housing is driven solely by the public interest – addressing the affordability crisis, not private profit.
Would your mayoralty change the city’s approach to public safety in neighborhoods like East New York or Sunset Park?
Every New Yorker deserves to be safe and feel safe – whether on the subway, walking home at night, or sending their kids to school. My number 1 campaign promise is to end street homelessness for New Yorkers with serious mental illness to make our streets and subways safer for all — with a better coordinated continuum-of-care, more effective outreach and hospitalization, and a “Housing First” approach that gets and keeps people stably housed 70% to 90% of the time.
I will also make NYC safer by reducing crime and improving policing. I will restore trust and accountability by addressing hate crimes, retail theft and investing in community partnerships. New Yorkers expect accountability – for those who commit crimes and for officers who use excessive force. As Mayor, I will focus the NYPD on solving gun crimes, stem the flow of illegal guns into NYC and partner with the state to speed up consequences. I will support and strengthen community based preventative measures – like the Brownsville Safety Alliance – proven to decrease gun violence.
Immigrant New Yorkers are the economic engine of our city. As Mayor I will continue to stand up for our neighbors against authoritarian attacks from the Trump administration– including the disappearance of asylum seekers by ICE. I will ensure immigrant New Yorkers have access to due process and the legal services they need to get work authorization, ESL, job training, and case management.
What do you think Eric Adams got right? What would you keep—and what would you leave behind?
Eric Adams has gotten a lot wrong. But there are three things I would keep. Every child — regardless of neighborhood — deserves access to a high-quality, equitable education and a fair shot at a brighter future. We are moving in the right direction with evidence-based solutions such as NYC Reads – implemented under Adams, but implementation has been spotty. Teachers need more support as they implement the changes.
My plan for Great NYC Public Schools will design a school system that enables every child to succeed – fully staffing schools with mental health and attendance supports, measuring student outcomes with cutting-edge tools, and investing in arts and culture programming. We cannot succeed without great teachers, which is why I’ll focus on recruiting, retaining, and empowering educators and strengthen public schools as the foundation of our democracy by giving educators and parents more voice in the key decisions affecting our children.
Second, leadership and accountability begins at the top. I have been encouraged by the leadership of NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch and will seek to retain her as Commissioner, in order to continue the work of reform and outcomes-driven management she has begun. My Blueprint for Public Safety also expands the role of the Deputy Mayor for Public Safety to ensure better coordination across the agencies responsible for public safety, public health, emergency response, and addressing the root causes of public safety challenges
Finally – I agree with garbage containerization. It is amazing it took us so long to put lids on garbage and expand composting citywide (read my Trash the Rats policy here).
What I will leave behind is corruption and a government that doesn’t work. The corruption of Eric Adams and Andrew Cuomo has severed trust between New Yorkers and our government – concerns exacerbated by the increasingly authoritarian Trump administration. Cuomo’s history of corruption and self-dealing, paired with his always-abusive and often-ineffective management style, make him an unacceptable choice for mayor – especially in this critical moment.
The way to restore the trust and success to City government is to elect an honest Mayor who knows how to utilize City agencies and manage effectively to deliver progressive results. My decades of experience in nonprofit work and City government mean he deeply understands the levers of government necessary to running the City, protecting New Yorkers against the threats from President Trump, and making New York City once again a model for our country. And my track record of standing up to bullies and powerful interests to deliver for working New Yorkers, unlike Andrew Cuomo who always punches down while protecting elites and himself.
Why should Brooklyn’s voters vote for you?
Across my whole career, I have worked aggressively to involve frontline community members in shaping City policy. My deepest political belief is that the best way to affect change is to work with coalitions and in partnerships with impacted communities to solve the problems of our city.
I have always tried to collaborate with an intentional inside/outside, or co-governance, approach, and to involve young people in helping to lead that work. As the largest of the five boroughs, Brooklyn is diverse across every spectrum: politically, racially, and economically, which is bound to result in disagreements for the path forward.
As Mayor, I will work with community and organizational leaders to ensure that Brooklyn’s diverse ideology is included in advancing our shared policy priorities. Together, we can have a safer, more affordable, and better run city for every Brooklynite and every New Yorker.
