Mamdani uses taxpayer funds for film on tenant organizing narrated by anti-Israel Gilded Age star

Mayor Zohran Mamdani has taken a page from his filmmaker mom Mira Nair and released a short taxpayer-funded documentary about tenants organizing against their do-nothing landlord.Mamdani and Cea Waver — the controversial director of the Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants who once called private property ownership a “weapon of white supremacy” — are featured prominently in the City Hall-produced film, “The Union of Pinnacle Tenants: A Short History of NYC Housing.”The New York Post even makes a cameo appearance in the 13-minute work narrated by “The Gilded Age” actor Morgan Spector, who was blasted by one watchdog group as “extremist” over his anti-Israel views.“The Union of Pinnacle Tenants has shown what becomes possible when neighbors organize,” the democratic socialist mayor said in a press release.“Across nearly 100 buildings, tenants came together and won important victories that made real, material impacts in New Yorkers’ lives.“I’m proud to stand with them as they continue the fight for affordable, dignified housing across the city,” said Mamdani — whose mother has produced star-studded award-winning movies.“This film tells the story of that organizing, but I hope it also reminds New York City tenants that the power to change their living conditions begins with one another,” he said.

“The most protected tenant is an organized tenant.”But the watchdog group Common Sense yelled, “Cut!” on the notion that the documentary was needed.“New Yorkers elected a mayor, not a Hollywood producer,” it said.“The administration should, of course, communicate with New Yorkers, and transparency and accessibility are essential.

But when an undisclosed sum of public dollars is used to create a video narrated by a well-documented extremist in an effort clearly intended to generate viral attention, priorities have become recklessly misplaced.“Good governance is about delivering real solutions to real problems, not merely g...