Friday, October 30, 2026
Mamdani Quietly Kills the Police Academy He Branded “Cop City”
Mayor Zohran Mamdani has scrapped the planned public safety academy in College Point, Queens, delivering on a campaign line that activists — and Mamdani himself — branded “Cop City.” City Hall confirmed the cancellation this week, telling reporters only that officials “stopped plans for the previously proposed public safety academy”, with no further rationale offered. The $225 million facility, an idea that predates Mamdani and was expanded under Eric Adams, would have trained the city’s smaller law-enforcement agencies alongside the NYPD; construction had not yet begun. Council Member Vickie Paladino, whose district includes the site, called the move “disappointing but unsurprising” and said the mayor “is committed to de-policing and decarceration.”
The takeaway — A campaign slogan beat a $225 million training facility. The mayor says he wants better-trained public servants, then cancels the one building where that training was supposed to happen — vibes over logistics, as usual.
Manhattan Rent Just Hit $5,375 a Month, and There’s Nothing Left to Rent
New York’s rent problem got worse, again. Citing a Realtor.com report, the Epoch Times says the city’s median asking rent hit a record $3,785 a month in the third quarter, up 4.5% year over year and 27.5% above pre-pandemic levels. In Manhattan, the median asking rent climbed to $5,375, up 8.3%, while Corcoran — also cited by the Epoch Times — put the borough’s median signed rent at a record $5,395 in September, with available apartments at their lowest level since 2019 as “demand continues to outpace supply.” Studios through two-bedrooms rose 7.1% year over year to $3,662, which one Realtor.com economist called “the sharpest increase.”
The takeaway — Rents are at a record and the number of apartments on the market is at a low. A city that keeps making it harder to build, and harder to be a landlord, shouldn’t act surprised when the apartments run out.
New York Lost 200,000 People in Five Years. Albany’s Still Promising to Build.
Five days before the election, Gothamist and WNYC published a housing report card for the state, and it isn’t flattering. New York’s population fell by about 200,000 between 2020 and 2025 — roughly 1%, according to Census data cited in the report. The city’s apartment vacancy rate sits at 1.4%, and a city housing agency estimates New York needs 700,000 new homes over the next decade. On Oct. 20, StreetEasy showed no New York City apartment listed at $1,200 a month — the closest was a $1,250 East Harlem studio — while the median asking rent for a Brooklyn one-bedroom sits at $3,600. Gov. Kathy Hochul, seeking a second term, says more supply is the only fix — “Build, baby, build” — but the report notes she proposed statewide construction mandates for every town back in 2023, withdrew them after local pushback, and hasn’t revived them.
The takeaway — Two hundred thousand people gone, a 1.4% vacancy rate, and a governor whose one serious housing mandate got pulled after a single round of complaints. Albany keeps promising to build. The people who can leave, do.