Black Barbershops and the Civil Rights Movement

The New York City board that sets the rent for roughly 1 million regulated apartments voted to consider a rent freeze on Thursday in a move that, if enacted, would fulfill a key campaign pledge of Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

New York City’s Rent Guidelines Board convened for an annual hearing that establishes the parameters for the panel’s final binding vote. It will consider a range of 0% to 2% on one-year leases and 0% to 4% on two-year leases. Board members voted 7 to 1 in favor of the range, with one abstention.

The board has only considered a 0% increase for one-year leases on two other occasions in the past decade. It’s also the first time board members have considered freezing rent on two-year leases.

Two tenant representatives on the board proposed taking the unprecedented step of decreasing rent by 3% on new one-year leases and by 4.5% on two-year leases, essentially nullifying the board’s rent increase last year. Their landlord-sided counterparts proposed raising rents by 3% to 5.5% on one-year leases and 6% to 8% on two-year leases.

The nine-member panel will hear public testimony at a series of upcoming hearings before casting a final vote on June 25, but board data shows members typically use the preliminary figures as a framework ahead of an ultimate decision.

The divisive annual event Thursday at LaGuardia Community College drew hundreds of tenants and advocates, but took on a more subdued atmosphere than in past years, when attendees banged noisemakers, drowned out board members and, in one instance, even stormed the stage.

The night marked the first test of Mamdani’s now-famous campaign promise to “freeze the rent” for tenants in rent-stabilized apartments — a slogan that galvanized many renters confronting a deep affordability crisis, but infuriated landlords who say they need a rent hike to offset their own rising maintenance and operating costs.

On the campaign trail, Mamdani took specific aim at the board under his predecessor, Mayor Eric Adams, which voted to raise rents by a combined 12% over four years, including the 3% increase last year.

“New Yorkers are being crushed by the cost of living, and they need real relief," Mamdani said in a statement on Thursday night. "I’m encouraged to see the Board taking seriously the data around affordability, operating expenses, and the pressures facing both tenants and small property owners as it sets this preliminary range."

But the mayor does not have the power to set rent levels on stabilized apartments. That’s up to the board, whose members are appointed by the mayor but are supposed to function as an independent body.

In February, Mamdani named five new members and reappointed a sixth, saying only that he expected them to “take a clear-eyed look at the complex housing landscape and the realities facing our city’s 2 million rent-stabilized tenants, and help us move closer to a fairer, more affordable New York.”

“Politics has pitted the two groups against each other as if they’re not all New Yorkers who are investing in their communities and seeking the same thing: the means to live,” New York Apartment Association CEO Kenny Burgos said in a statement after the vote. “This threat of a rent freeze nearly guarantees our owners and tenants will live in declining conditions for years to come."

The mayor has stopped publicly voicing his support for a rent freeze since taking office in January amid legal questions around mayoral intervention in the board’s process.

He has instead created a new City Hall office tasked with mobilizing New Yorkers to testify at upcoming Rent Guidelines Board hearings, an effort he said will engage tenants and landlords alike and isn’t intended to encourage a specific outcome, though landlord groups are skeptical of the new office’s mission.

Joanne Grell, a hospital legal assistant and tenant activist, said regulated apartments provide stability and opportunity for low- and middle-income renters who might otherwise be subject to dramatic hikes they could not afford.

She said she was able to raise two children in a two-bedroom Pelham Bay apartment for which she pays $1,800 a month.

“I could have never let them dream as big as they did unless it was for our affordable apartment,” Grell said before the vote.

She said she hoped the board would consider keeping current rent levels flat for the next two years.

The nuances of New York City’s rent regulations, established by the state more than half a century ago, reveal the complexity and diversity of the housing stock in a city of more than 8 million.

Most rent-stabilized apartments are located in buildings with six or more units constructed before 1974 — though tens of thousands of units that meet those criteria were lifted out of rent stabilization, often legally, before new laws ended the practice in 2019.

Apartments in newer buildings, many of them considered luxury accommodations, are also subject to rent regulations if their owners receive government financing or property tax breaks.

Tenants in rent-stabilized apartments have a median household income of $60,000 a year, while tenants in market-rate units earned a median income of $90,800, according to a 2023 city housing survey. But rent-stabilized apartments are not income-targeted and about 30% of households earn at least $100,000 a year – an amount approaching the area median income for single adults.

The city housing survey also revealed the depths of the city’s affordable housing shortage, with less than 1% of units priced below $2,400 available to rent.

Other recent data considered by the board shows an increase in the city’s unemployment rate and number of residents receiving cash assistance benefits — two indicators of deep economic trouble.

But landlords say they too are hurting financially and are struggling to keep up with their own rising costs for insurance, materials for maintenance and fuel without a significant increase in revenue from rent.

Board data shows owners of buildings with at least one rent-stabilized apartment have enjoyed a roughly 6% increase overall in their net operating income, but landlord advocates say the rosy picture citywide obscures financial distress in places like the Bronx and in older buildings where all units are rent-stabilized.

Ahead of the vote Thursday, groups representing owners of rent-stabilized units began calling on the board to approve a larger increase for apartments in older buildings than in newer complexes due to their rising maintenance and insurance costs.

The board has in the past approved such split increases based on how long a tenant has held a lease, but not based on the age of the building.

Small Property Owners of New York Board President Ann Korchak said such a move is necessary to stave off worsening financial problems.

“The disparate operational realities between aging and newer buildings call for separate rent adjustments for older, majority rent-stabilized properties,” Korchak said in a written statement.

Opera lovers who caught a matinee of La Bohème at the Metropolitan Opera House last month later received emails from the Met Opera letting them know that one of their fellow attendees had measles, the opera house has confirmed.

The Met Opera sent a longer, more detailed email to those seated in the person’s immediate vicinity for the April 25 performance, in accordance with guidance from the city health department, said Jen Luzzo, a spokesperson for the Met Opera. The letter advised recipients to get vaccinated against measles if they weren’t already and to keep an eye out for potential symptoms, including a fever and rash.

“If you think you or your relatives have measles, stay home and call your healthcare provider or local health department right away,” read the notice, which the Met Opera shared with Gothamist. A shorter notice emphasizing the importance of vaccination, which was also shared with Gothamist, went out to the other attendees.

It typically takes 11 to 12 days for symptoms to potentially appear after exposure to the measles, and the virus can be contagious up to four days before a rash shows up, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The person who went to the opera with the measles also ate at two Manhattan restaurants and was treated at health care facilities in the borough. City officials said the person is an unvaccinated adult, who tested positive for the virus after international travel.

The health department opted not to issue a broad public alert disclosing the dates, times and locations of these potential measles exposures, instead asking each individual business to communicate with those who might have been affected. City health officials said they are taking this approach because of the low overall risk to the general public due to high vaccination rates and the businesses’ ability to notify employees and patrons.

“There continues to be no reports of secondary cases or local transmission despite the infected person visiting multiple locations,” Chantal Gomez, a spokesperson for the city health department, said Thursday.

The agency confirmed earlier this week that one of the restaurants the person with measles patronized was Norma, an Italian eatery in Hell’s Kitchen — but only after Norma posted about the potential exposure on its Instagram story and caught the attention of news outlets.

Gomez said the Met Opera was able to email attendees who had purchased tickets from the venue, while Norma made a more general Instagram post because it didn’t have diners’ contact information.

Gomez said the city determines whether to issue a broader, citywide alert about a disease exposure depending on factors such as how the disease spreads, immunity levels and businesses’ ability to notify those affected.

Nina Schwalbe, who’s running for office in New York City’s 12th Congressional District on the Upper West Side, posted about the measles incident at the Met Opera on her Instagram story, after speaking with a woman in the neighborhood who said she’d received an email from the opera house about being exposed to the virus.

Schwalbe has had a long career in public health, including as a former professor at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. She said best practices for alerting people who have been exposed to a virus can vary depending on the circumstances. If it’s possible to directly contact everyone who was exposed, it might make more sense to do that rather than putting out a broad public alert, she said.

“There is a balance between panic and responsible public health,” Schwalbe said. “That's where it really depends on the details of the case.”

Five cases of the measles have been confirmed in the city so far this year and city health officials said all were linked to international travel, not local transmission. Statewide, there have been 10 measles cases this year, including one reported in an unvaccinated child under five in Nassau County earlier this week.

In New York City, the coming of summer can be sensed as much by the warming temperatures as it can by the increasing number of lineup announcements for outdoor performances.

SummerStage released its lineup late last month, and now the BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival — the city’s other significant and long-running source of free outdoor music each summer — has also made its lineup public.

Highlights of the 2026 season schedule include “Queen of Percussion” Sheila E., Brooklyn-born father-son DJ duo Saint James Joy, and Grammy-winning rapper Common. The few ticketed benefit shows (which are still free for those within earshot to listen to) include performances from “Godmother of Soul” Patti LaBelle and Gen X rock legends Sleater-Kinney.

In all, Celebrate Brooklyn’s 47th season will feature 15 free shows and three benefit concerts from June 4 to Sept. 19 at Prospect Park’s Lena Horne Bandshell. Entry works on a first-come, first-served basis, but festival organizer BRIC Arts Media encourages attendees to RSVP for shows online beforehand.

The full 2026 Celebrate Brooklyn! schedule below:

• Thursday, June 4: Sheila E., Leon Knight, and DJ Spinna
• Saturday, June 13: Antibalas, KidsRead with Kate Yamasaki, and DJ Marc Bars
• Friday, June 19: Infinity Song, Annie and the Caldwells, Victory Boyd, and DJ Duane
• Saturday, June 20: Wayne Wonder, Lila Iké, and DJ Gravy
• Friday, June 26 (benefit show): Patti LaBelle
• Friday, July 10: EMEL, Mai Elgizouli, Nesrine, Yacine Boulares and the Habibi Festival House Band, and Yalla! Party Project
• Saturday, July 11: Saint James Joy, Pahua, and Puppetmobile
• Saturday, July 18 (benefit show): Royel Otis, and Ax and the Hatchetmen
• Friday, July 24: Cindy Blackman Santana, The Patricia Brennan Septet, and Lucía. (This show takes place on Park Place between Brooklyn and Kingston avenues.)
• Saturday, July 25: BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! at Brower Park with Black House Radio
• Friday, July 31: CARRTOONS & Hailé Supreme, Sofía Valdés, and Julia Zivic
• Friday, Aug. 7: DakhaBrakha, Yeison Landero, Sally Baby's Silver Dollars, and Sunju Park
• Saturday, Aug. 8: BRIC Celebrates Aaliyah: One in a Million
• Friday, Aug. 14: Lyricist Lounge 35th Anniversary
• Saturday, Aug. 15: Yola, Dom Flemons and the Traveling Wildfires, and Cleo Reed
• Friday, Aug. 21: Sasha Velour's NightGowns
• Friday, Aug. 28: Common and Special Guests To Honor the Social Justice Legacy of Harry Belafonte
• Saturday, Aug. 29: Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso Presents Dominican Night at the Bandshell
• Saturday, Sept. 19 (benefit show): Liz Phair & Sleater-Kinney, and The Flannel and The Fury 2026