New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s new tenant advisor is backtracking after her tweets calling private property a “weapon of white supremacy” resurfaced online.
In an August 2019 post on X, then known as Twitter, Cea Weaver wrote “Private property including and kind of ESPECIALLY homeownership is a weapon of white supremacy masquerading as ‘wealth building’ public policy,” Weaver wrote. A screenshot of the post was shared by the conservative account Libs of Tiktok.
Another X account, PNW Conservative, posted an undated video of Weaver advocating for property as a “collective good.”
“For centuries, we’ve really treated property as an individualized good and not a collective good.
In transitioning to treating it as a collective good and toward a model of shared equity will require that we think about it differently,” she said. “And it will mean that families, especially white families but some POC families who are homeowners as well, are going to have a different relationship to property than we currently have.”
On his first day in office, Mamdani appointed Weaver as director of the Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants. Weaver previously served as the executive director of Housing Justice for All and the New York State Tenant Bloc, according to a statement from the mayor’s office.
Amir Korangy, founder of the real estate media company The Real Deal, told Fortune in emailed comments that many in real estate were already familiar with Weaver’s views, but he isn’t concerned about her politics becoming reality.
“She is outranked by moderate Mamdani aides. Her job is limited to tenant protection — preventing evictions and pushing building owners to fix violations,” Korangy said. “She has no funding or authority to seize buildings.”
Korangy said that Weaver’s comments will have no effect on individual home sales, but her appointment signals what is to come for building owners.
“Landlords are definitely upset that Mamdani will be holding public hearings in every borough to shame and embarrass them,” he said. Indeed, the administration recently announced its plan to hold “Rental Ripoff” hearings, an opportunity for New Yorkers to testify about their challenges as renters.
How radical is Mamdani’s administration?
The polarizing comments have emerged less than a month after another Mamdani advisor resigned over resurfaced tweets (not about white supremacy, but with antisemitic comments) and come as the new administration aggressively pursues its campaign promise to make housing more affordable.
The fear among New York’s business community coming into Mamdani’s mayoralty was his potential radicalism on subjects ranging from anti-Israel policies to defunding the police to a generally socialist outlook. At his swearing in, Mamdani indicated he would not back down: “I will not abandon my principles for fear of being deemed radical,” he said. “We will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism.”
“Regretful comments from years ago do not change what has always been clear — my commitment to making housing affordable and equitable for New York’s renters,” Weaver said in a statement through the mayor’s office to The New York Times. Weaver’s X account is now deactivated.
At an unrelated press conference on Tuesday, Mamdani defended Weaver, according to the New York Post.
“We made the decision to have Cea Weaver serve as our executive director for the mayor’s office to protect tenants, to build on the work that she has done to protect tenants across the city, and we were already seeing the results of that work,” he said. The mayor’s office did not respond to a request for further comment.
“Rent-stabilized owners see themselves as the victims,” Korangy explained, “because the government has put a stranglehold on rents while their expenses have soared. To be singled out as greedy and unfair, when many are struggling to pay bills and hold onto their buildings, they see as outrageous.”
