New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's office published a searchable database of property owners that included the names and home addresses of his own high-profile supporters, drawing bipartisan condemnation and warnings that the list could invite harassment or worse.
The database, tied to the city's proposed pied-à-terre tax on secondary residences valued at $5 million and above, landed this week with a scope that stunned even allies of the mayor. It contained more than 960,000 property records, roughly 86 times the estimated 11,200 properties actually expected to owe the tax, Newsmax reported. Among those named: actress Cynthia Nixon, Vogue editor Anna Wintour, director Darren Aronofsky, Taylor Swift, self-help author Deepak Chopra, journalist Gay Talese, billionaire philanthropist Leonard Stern, and real estate developers Morris Moinian and Bruce Ratner.
Several of those individuals had publicly backed Mamdani. Now their names and addresses sit in a government-published, searchable list available to anyone with an internet connection.
The pied-à-terre tax was originally sold as a narrowly targeted levy on ultra-wealthy and global elites who maintain second homes in New York City. Mamdani's administration projected $500 million in annual revenue. But City Comptroller Mark Levine's office has already revised that figure downward to between $340 million and $380 million, and warned the yield could shrink further over time, the New York Post reported.
The list did not limit itself to second homes. It swept in middle-class homeowners, a shopping center, and the primary residences of sitting City Council members. District 6 Democrat Gale Brewer discovered her own home on the list and fired back at the mayor's office.
"I've been living in [my place] 365 days a year since 1994. So, this whole list must be messed up."
Brewer's complaint points to a basic competence problem: a database that was supposed to identify secondary luxury properties instead flagged full-time residences occupied for decades. If the city cannot distinguish a pied-à-terre from a primary home, the tax itself rests on a foundation of bad data.
Republican Council Minority Leader David Carr called Mamdani "realtor of the year" for the state of Texas, a jab at the likelihood that wealthy New Yorkers will simply relocate rather than submit to the tax. Carr was more direct in his formal criticism.
"It's a reckless and foolish move, especially considering there are potentially thousands of properties on this list that do not qualify as second homes or whose owners will successfully dispute their inclusion."
The fallout extends well beyond embarrassed supporters. Mamdani had already singled out hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin's $238 million New York City apartment in a video promoting the pied-à-terre tax. Citadel, Griffin's firm, responded with force. Chief Operating Officer Gerald Beeson sent an internal email pushing back on the mayor's rhetoric and issued a veiled threat: the firm was reconsidering a planned $6 billion office building on Park Avenue, National Review reported.
That development was projected to contribute $4.5 billion to the local economy and create 6,200 construction jobs and 15,200 permanent positions. Beeson did not mince words about the mayor's approach.
"It is shameful that he used Ken's name as the example of those who supposedly aren't carrying their fair share of the burdens associated with New York City's often costly and wasteful spending. The Mayor has once again manifested the ignorance and disdain of the elite political class towards those who have been consistently committed to building one of the greatest cities in the world."
The pattern echoes what happened in Chicago when Griffin moved Citadel's headquarters to Miami in 2022 over similar policy grievances. Critics warn New York is walking the same path, one of several fronts where Mamdani's agenda faces organized resistance.
Steven Fulop, president and CEO of the Partnership for New York City, framed the list as something more dangerous than a policy blunder.
"Publishing names and addresses singles out people who have done nothing wrong, at a moment when the far-left already treats success itself as something to be punished."
John Ashbrook, co-host of the "Ruthless" podcast, was blunter. "Nobody wants this database more than Mamdani's band of communist social media agitators salivating to harass Americans at every turn," he told Fox News.
Republican strategist Colin Reed tied the database to the broader climate of political hostility: "In this era of heightened political violence, this type of inflammatory and divisive rhetoric is not only reckless, but outright dangerous, especially from a public official who not that long ago pledged to be a mayor for all New Yorkers."
Former Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt went further, as Breitbart reported, arguing the list functions as a targeting mechanism.
"This is what commies do. They mark their enemies, call them 'fascists', and that's the bat signal: they know their deranged commie street animals will Luigi them. They never have to explicitly call for violence...violence is just the inherent reflex of the commie. Message receive."
A parody account impersonating Secretary of State Marco Rubio took a different angle, telling elite New Yorkers to pay up and suffer the consequences of their own voting choices. S1 identifies the account as a parody, not the real Rubio.
The database debacle arrives amid a growing list of self-inflicted setbacks for Mamdani. He has already abandoned a signature campaign pledge to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, acknowledging the city lacks the authority to do so. A Gold Star family blocked him from speaking at a fallen soldier's funeral in Queens, a public rejection that underscored how far his standing has fallen outside his activist base.
His administration has also drawn fire for claiming credit for a $104 million delivery tip boost he had little role in creating, raising questions about whether the mayor's office treats press releases as a substitute for governance.
The pied-à-terre list fits the pattern. A policy pitched as holding the ultra-wealthy accountable instead exposed nearly a million property owners, including the mayor's own supporters, middle-class homeowners, and full-time residents, to public identification by name and address. The revenue projections are already shrinking. The data is riddled with errors. And the city's largest potential corporate tenant is openly weighing whether to take $6 billion and 21,000 jobs elsewhere.
Mamdani set out to punish wealth. So far, the only people paying the price are the ones who trusted him.
