President Donald Trump holds a mock‑up Daily News front page reading “Trump to City: Let’s Build” after a meeting with Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who called the sit-down productive and said he looks forward to expanding housing in New York City.
Photo courtesy of NYC Mayor
The apparently blossoming working relationship between Mayor Zohran Mamdani and President Donald Trump is rapidly turning into one of the more bizarre political stories of our time.
You could not find two diametrically opposite people if you tried. Their politics, policies and world views rarely align, if at all. They have both, at times, not held back in castigating the other for their actions and opinions.
Despite all the ways they don’t see eye to eye, there they were, Mamdani and Trump, together in the Oval Office on Feb. 26. It was the second time in three months the duo had met in such a manner.
Mamdani said he pitched to Trump plans to build 12,000 homes on the site of Sunnyside Yards in Queens — something that has been thought of before.
Ten years ago, then-Mayor Bill de Blasio pitched a similar development concept for the massive 180-acre train yard. Six years ago, the city and Amtrak, which controls most of Sunnyside Yards, published a “master plan” that further outlined a vision of creating a new neighborhood with affordable housing, parks, a new train station and other essential amenities.
The price tag for decking over and developing Sunnyside Yards is enormous; the Mayor’s office indicated that Mamdani told Trump the city would seek $21 billion in federal grants to get the job done.
It’s an incredibly bold ask from the mayor, given that Trump has tried again and again, since retaking the White House, to pull money from New York City for other projects — from the Gateway Tunnel to the Second Avenue Subway extension in East Harlem. Would Trump agree to this while trying to stop progress in other areas of the city?
After Thursday’s Oval Office meeting, the Mayor’s office insisted that Mamdani and Trump agreed to discuss the Sunnyside Yards proposal further; the White House, however, has been mum about the meeting.
Since his days as a real estate developer, Trump has always been about “The Art of the Deal.” In his view, nothing gets done for free; there is always a tradeoff. What would Trump seek from Mamdani and New York City to provide $21 billion for development at Sunnyside Yards?
Flattery alone won’t be enough to convince Trump to help New York. So what will?
Without question, the Sunnyside Yards plan should move forward, and Trump should make sure it does. Mamdani, however, must also insist that Trump end efforts to defund other vital city projects, such as the Gateway Tunnel and the Second Avenue Subway extension.
And no agreement between City Hall and White House must come at the expense of compromising the city’s values to protect immigrants, the working class, and individual freedom. Mamdani must stand strong in making Trump realize that these are non-negotiable terms in “The Art of the Deal” for New York.
