The show must go on — and tonight, it will.
New York City’s Rent Guidelines Board is barreling ahead with a final vote on rent freezes Thursday night, despite an explosive, last-minute resignation from one of its two landlord representatives who claimed the game is totally rigged by Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
On Thursday morning, landlord rep Christina Smyth unceremoniously slammed the door on the RGB, claiming in a letter to the board it had “stopped being a fact-finding body.”
“This rebuilt board was required to deliver a rent freeze. Everything since has been theater,” the real estate attorney wrote.
Smyth, a partner in law firm Smyth Levenson who has been on the board since April 2022, ripped the board for ignoring rising building and insurance costs for landlords.
The defection was a surprise to the RGB, its chair said.
On her LinkedIn page, where she posted the letter, Smyth said, “I resigned today because this process is broken. I have had no problem in the past with my vote being on the losing side. It has already happened during my five-year tenure. I cannot in good conscience validate a process I believe is completely unjust. Owners and tenants deserve better.”
Smyth did not immediately respond to The Post’s requests for comment.
“I want to take this opportunity to affirm the independence with which this year’s board members have served, along with the rigor and integrity demonstrated by the RGB staff in preparing and presenting data, RGB chair Chantella Mitchell said in a statement. She added, “We will proceed with tonight’s vote.”
According to the RGB’s rules, the nine-member board appointed by the mayor — which consists of two tenant reps, two landlord reps and five reps for the general public — only needs five members present to vote. Since “convention” says at least one representative from each side should show up, the body could push the mayor’s agenda through.
Furious mom-and-pop landlord group Small Property Owners of New York sounded the alarm.
SPONY is “deeply concerned” the final vote “will be held without the veteran, strong and only meaningful voice representing the interests of financially struggling small property owners and distressed rent-stabilized housing,” said Ann Korchak, board president of the organization. “More disturbing is the reason for her resignation. If the vote is already predetermined by the majority Mamdani-appointed RGB, then this independent board would be acting illegally by injecting political influence into its objective decision on rent adjustments.”
Freezing the rent on the city’s rent-stabilized apartments was the crown jewel of Hizzoner’s campaign promises.
The Queens Chronicle Editorial Board echoed the sentiment, writing in the RGB website’s comments section, “One issue that put Mayor Mamdani into office was his promise to freeze rents. And now the Rent Guidelines Board that he controls is seeking to do just that for two years, for those in rent-stabilized apartments. It shouldn’t.”
Tonight’s vote on lease adjustments applies to rent-stabilized apartments, lofts and hotels. Starting Oct. 1, rents for rent-stabilized apartments can be raised from 0% to 2% for a one-year lease and from 0% to 4% for a two-year lease.
Desperate property owners flooded the RGB’s website with anonymous pleas, warning that the city is driving them into bankruptcy.
“We have already very low rents that barely cover all the expenses of building,” a small landlord wrote in the online comments on RGB’s website. “Rising oil prices and insurance costs along with the new interest rate makes it almost impossible to cover costs.”
An anonymous commenter warned, “Restricting rent increase rates to below the increased costs to landlords to maintain their buildings leads to a decline in quality of life to tenants.”
Rent-stabilized tenants also weighed in on the proposal, urging the board to freeze rents.
“Several comments suggest that rent freezes lead to building deterioration,” a rent-stabilized tenant at 4215 Park Ave. in the Bronx wrote in the comments section of the RGB website. “Our building deteriorated under rent increases. The question is whether owners are using rent revenue to meet their obligations. When they are not, increasing that revenue rewards the failure.”
Stephanie Dawson, a rent-stabilized tenant, wrote: “I accept a certain amount of sacrifice so I can remain in the city. But I strongly push for a two-year rent freeze until wages catch up with inflation. I think this city should prioritize residents who could literally lose their homes over landlords who are losing margin on their businesses.”
