It’s just all so vindictive and petty. He’ll still make a ton from this venture. New York chose Mamdani. Work with him.
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I kinda agree that Mamdani perhaps could have made his [very valid] point without singling out any particular billionaire. Perhaps that was indeed a bit unnecessary.
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Brother, all Mamdani did was point out Ken’s expensive ass apartment and use him as an example of his new policy. There was no harassment. He wasn’t even the point of the video. You are simping for a literal billionaire right now.
NYC does not need to and has never needed to bend to the will of random billionaires because they got their feelings hurt. The city is bigger and more important than they will ever be, and it will be here long after they are dead.
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Why can’t we have sympathy for billionaires? Do some people not deserve any respect because they made a certain amount of profit? And if that’s the case, what’s the threshold?
The point is not the tax itself. The point is branding him as the enemy and the bad guy. As if he’s an evil emperor who stole our money to build his empire.
As uncomfortable as it may make us feel, we do need the billionaires to be happy here for this city to continue running smoothly. Singling out one person, (who happens to be a “good” billionaire so to speak) is absolutely disrespectful and childish. Ken Griffin is allowed to have emotions and we shouldn’t expect him to throw himself at our knees for the crime of building a business empire.
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In response to Ken’s Griffen’s comments, someone online said “Thank you for giving a voice to the decabillionaires”
And I’m howling 
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Dick-riding billionaires is so damn cringe and pathetic. Like please have some integrity. It’s fucking cuckish behavior to the max.
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The mayor has every right to call out those who exploit the system. Are we really holding the mayor to a higher standard than the President who calls out, mocks and bullies literally anyone with no reason?
We shouldn’t hold sympathy for billionaires who actively fundraise and support policies that are detrimental to the workers who made him his billions. His feelings are hurt meanwhile millions are losing healthcare coverage and seeing costs go up. If it’s wrong to brand him as the bad guy, maybe he shouldn’t make it so easy. Ridiculous.
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I’m calling Griffin whiny because he is giving such a knee jerk reaction and acting like he’s a poor victim. Sure, Mamdani calling him out specifically is unproffessional, but Griffin is really willing to stop a multi billion dollar long term investment because of the actions of one administration and his feelings got hurt? It’s not even harassment in the slightest, Mamdani just name dropped him on an Insta post, and Griffin is acting like Mamdani personally came to his house and kicked him
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Reading these comments is like rewatching the Citadel situation in Chicago play out all over again.
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I recall playing a similar game in kindergarten called musical chairs. At some point, Griffin will run out of cities worth moving to.
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I saw this video clip yesterday; and was not following this issue until reading this thread.
I listened carefully to each of the statements Ken Griffin made; I can’t disagree with a single statement he has made in this video clip. He statements seem to me perfectly reasonable, and completely irrefutable.
I would truly be interested in hearing a good, fair minded, reasonable response to any of the statements made in this clip. Then it would be good to hear a bit more about the Architecture and construction progress at 350 Park Avenue.
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Agreed. It would be nice (and good for everyone) if Mamdani would be respectful to and not antagonize Griffin.
There’s no reason he had to single him out.
Griffin even pointed out that Mamdani doing that silly video in front of his home made him uneasy considering that just a few blocks away another CEO was gunned down. It’s a legitimate concern
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I hear you.
I think one big concern that Griffin pointed out was that Mamdani actually made it a point to make a video in front of his (Griffins’s) home - that raised concerns for him regarding his and his family’s safety considering the fact that another CEO was gunned down just blocks away.
It’s served no purpose other than to villainize a billionaire who contributes a lot of good things to NYC.
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There’s no safety issue - his family lives in Miami. That was the whole point - he bought this large apartment in which he doesn’t even live in.
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He is in NYC often and stays here. A huge part of their investment and market making business lives here. Doxing him in this climate is absolutely a safety risk and any normal person would be wise to take precautions.
the guy built an enormously successful business and he is actually one of the top 5 payers in taxes in all of the country. His irs files were already illegally leaked (he is a huge cash tax payer vs someone who just brows against wealth) He’s not asking the city to give him or his firm tax breaks or whatever just allow him to grow in the city with a 6 billion dollar investment which creates thousands of of high paying trade jobs and is by every measure a huge win for the city.
Sure the city will be “fine” but it would be better with 350 park being built. Millions in wages, economic activity and just iconic symbols that says hey this is the best address in the world for business. I’m biased because I have a lot of family and friends in the trades in nyc and they are just so mad at this self own.
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There are some rumors that the pope wants to make him the first living person to be declared a saint. So Zohran is just jealous, that’s all.
What’s petty and childish is hating a person because they have more money than you. And then hating anyone who doesn’t hate that person.
I’m sorry, I choose to believe that he’s still a regular human being even though his bank is fuller than mine.
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At the end of the day we all want him to give us the gift which is 350 Park Ave. He is the sole person who can do that for us. I agree it would be a bit much to cancel the project because the mayor is trying to make you into a monster, but there is nothing we can do about it.
So he nice to him, let him play, and hopefully he’ll give us the tower.
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This issue is way, way bigger than just two people - this is about systemic imbalances that are having profound effects on the overall health of our society. We are approaching Gilded Age levels of wealth disparity here.
The difference between the 19th century and today is that these wealthy people actually don’t employ that many people. The Vanderbilts and the Rockefellers employed thousands of people during a time when the labor force was just a fraction of what it is today, and so represented a much larger percentage of America workers. Andrew Carnegie for example, employed 40,000 people, while Ken Griffin employs less than 1/10th of that. So his wealth is outsized even in comparison to Carnegie IMO.
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Exactly right. And as tempting as it is to say, “This is a skyscraper site, just enjoy the big buildings,” that’s hard to do when many of the buildings we admire on here only exist because of that warped economy.
For example, in the early 2010s, I was as excited as anybody about the supertalls of Billionaires Row. But now — while I still admire the feats of engineering and in some cases the architecture — I look at those towers and see monuments to excess, symptoms of a diseased society.
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