It's time we let an Independent Candidate run and ReBuildNewYorkcity

MANHATTAN, NEW YORK / ACCESS Newswire / September 30, 2025 / Abbey Laurel-Smith said, "If elected Mayor this winter, first thing I will do will be to bring down rent in the city by slashing 30% off current rent and rates. Then slap bedroom tax on absentee landlords and home owners - who prefer to keep their other homes empty, rather than rent them out. My rule will be, if you have a space that is big enough to host a sofa bed and you are not renting it out, then be ready to pay bedroom tax on that unused space. Next will be food prices, phone bills, energy cost, congestion charge, bus and subway fares. But for now, let's keep to the topic, housing.

One thing New Yorkers' need to know about housing, rent and rate in New York City is, the power to bring down rent, slash inflated rates and increase the supply of housing rest solely in the hand of the Mayor. The Mayor, as the city's chief executive and head of all elected officials, is inherently willed by the city's charter to set up and pursue policies that would increase the supply of housing, strengthen rent laws, boost tenant protection.

The Mayor can expand assistance for low and moderate income New Yorkers', make yearly decisions about the control of rent stabilized units, streamline approval process for developers - so construction costs could be reduced.

These aside, the Mayor can also act to reduce construction costs by getting building material suppliers to the city to sign tariff and tax exemption forms S301 and S300 - which will enable them to supply green building materials and tested green technologies to city developers at a much reduced cost.

The Mayor can also use the power of his office as a magistrate, to encourage transparent pricing and fairer market rates by banning practices that enable landlords to artificially inflate rent rates, as well as crack down on the use of illegal building materials, approve construction of basement and arctic dwelling units.

Same power for overseeing government policies and maintaining law and order could be used to actively encourage the development of underused plot, vacant public land or make it easier to convert commercial buildings to residential, combat harassment and displacement of tenants who complain of poor building conditions, as well as take charge of zoning reforms.

But if the next Mayor decides to go the same way as the last four Mayors - treating housing as commodity, as well as going along with asset driven elites, then the housing crisis we have today will get worse.

This is why it is critical to vote in the right Mayor for the city of New York.

As at now, we don't have rent to own apartments buildings in any one of the five boroughs. Not enough of near transit points buildings outside Manhattan - where they are needed the most. Our water front development is lacking in vigor and not as active as it used to be in thew 1920's. Major commercial landmark buildings are sitting empty in Manhattan instead of being converted to multi-use buildings with affordable residential dwellings. We don't have affordable rentals for students. No housing program for teacher, professors and university lecturers - tenure or not.

Our low and middle income household has grown out of the number of affordable housing. We are not building suitable apartments to encourage our young ones to marry and have families. The few co-op's we have in the city are being run as if exclusive clubs. Live/work housing - which used to be the pride of New York City, is fast dwindling in numbers. Many buildings in the city are not listed nor graded - thus making it easy for developers to drastically alter the face of many neighborhoods.

To cap it all, housing in New York City of today has grown to be everyone's headache because the main figure at top at the top seems to not want to act right.

I hereby present myself as a better option for Mayor, city of New York, because I want to tackle theses issues by putting an end to housing as commodity for a few."

I am Abbey Laurel-Smith, an Independent candidate running for Mayor of the City of New York. As your candidate, I favor the general well being of all New Yorkers. And as much as I promise to work to improve the living experience for retirees, students, city workers and low income families, I also promise to work hard on bringing back those high earning out-migrators who left the city for neighboring states during the pandemic.

I put New Yorkers first. Join me, vote better live this general election and let's rebuild your city.

https://www.rebuildnewyork.city

Follow my campaign, donate if you can, and help spread the word about SmithieForMayor NYC 2025.

Contact:

Abbey S Laurel-Smith
mayor@rebuildnewyork.city
@smithieformayor @SmithiesNewYork

SOURCE: Abbey S Laurel-Smith