‘City of Yes’ is a legacy victory for Eric Adams – and he risked pissing off his voter base to do it

Many of the New York City Council members who voted against Mayor Eric Adams’ sweeping proposal to boost housing production through zoning reforms represent areas of the city that firmly backed the mayor in the last Democratic mayoral primary – a testament to the political risk he took in pushing the ambitious proposal.

Opposition to the proposal, which passed 31 to 20 on Thursday, was particularly fierce in more suburban neighborhoods and in the outer boroughs where many residents feared proposals like ending parking mandates and adding accessory dwelling units would alter the fabric of their communities. 

“Unfortunately the City of Yes plan does little to ensure the future of housing will be affordable and offers no meaningful solution to improve home ownership. Most importantly, my vote today reflects the wishes of my constituents,” City Council Member Chris Banks said of his decision to vote no. Banks represents neighborhoods in Brooklyn including Canarsie, East New York and Brownsville that strongly supported Adams in 2021. “City of Yes lacks the nuance to avoid harm in my district.”

Getting the plan across the finish line has been a top priority for Mayor Adams – a task made all the more complex in wake of his federal indictment. First Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer, Department of City Planning Director Dan Garodnick both played a big role in negotiations on City Hall’s end.

Despite the fact that the final version agreed upon by the mayoral administration and the City Council late last month is expected to produce fewer homes over the next 15 years than initially projected – down from an estimated 109,000 to roughly 80,000 units – pro-housing advocates have still lauded it as the most significant zoning change in decades. The compromise deal also allocates $5 billion secured by the City Council to affordable housing and infrastructure projects.

From Adams’ perspective, the reforms amount to his largest tangible accomplishments in office – coming at a time when Adams could use all of the policy wins he can get as he mounts his reelection bid. But he could also use all of the voters he can get, and “City of Yes” has been unpopular in some of the same moderate neighborhoods that elected him. Still, that potential political risk would only come into play if a more formidable moderate challenger enters the mayoral race. So far, his current challengers in the race are not only supportive of “City of Yes,” they’ve advocated for the reforms to go even further. 

From the Adams administration, to the City Council, to even the governor, just about everyone has sought to position themselves as the lynchpin that got the finalized proposal across the finish line. They are all likely right to some degree. But a handful of political experts said the mayor deserves ample credit, particularly given the potential political cost he faced in pushing the proposal.

“(Adams) has exhibited an enormous amount of political bravery,” one city official said. “If someone looks at his coalition and who likes ‘City of Yes’ and who doesn’t like ‘City of Yes’ they could reasonably conclude that the mayor has only been doing damage to himself by pursuing this proposal,” they said. “He’s been clear eyed about the political stakes.”  

“It was high risk, high reward and a necessary win for the mayor,” Democratic political strategist Yvette Buckner said. “This will be his legacy project that people will talk about for years to come.” 

But a City Council source said the truth is more nuanced. While they agreed pushing the housing proposal was a political risk for Adams, they don’t think the decision was an intentional act of courage. “It was the product of incompetence within City Hall’s political operation,” they said, arguing that council members’ and New Yorkers’ apprehensions about the plan could have been avoided had the mayor built a more comprehensive  proposal beyond just zoning that brought more people to the table by better reflecting their needs with a stronger organizing effort from city hall. Pushing zoning reform in conjunction with major investments in affordable housing and infrastructure projects – similar to what the City Council ended up securing several weeks ago – from the start could have helped accomplish this, they argued.

At a press conference before Thursday’s vote, City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams specifically thanked Gov. Kathy Hochul, Garodnick, and City Hall staffers for partnering with members on the plan. She made no mention of Mayor Adams. Asked again about the mayor’s involvement, she declined to cite or thank him specifically.

“My team and I worked very very hard with the administration,” Speaker Adams said.“Through the partnerships with myself and my able staff and the administrative staff we were able to make this a success.”