With the mayor's race decided and 2026 election moves just beginning, the FAQ NYC hosts talk about the Council Speaker's race that drew lots of attention at Somos, where Gov. Kathy Hochul got hit with another chant of "tax the rich!" There are only 51 votes that count in a closed-door campaign where the narrative question is whether the Council wan…

In our final episode of City Hall Free For All, we talk about the future of New York City under Mayor Elect Zohran Mamdani and who he will surround himself with to help him accomplish his vision. We’re also joined by Patrick Gaspard, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, former key Obama aide and now key advisor to Mamdani, to talk abo…

Ben Fractenberg, visuals editor for THE CITY, joins LIT NYC hosts Harry Siegel and Amy Sohn for a wide-ranging conversation about street photography, photo journalism and much more.The interview comes just before the opening reception for Ben’s solo show, In Tension, this Friday evening from 6-9 at Gallery 198, at 198 24th St. in Brooklyn, with his…

The Election Night results are in: Zohran Mamdani will be New York City’s 111th Mayor. Our hosts react to Mamdani’s big win over Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa, with over 1 million votes out of more than 2 million cast, and discuss his rousing, defiant victory speech and what comes next. — FAQ NYC and Max Politics are teaming up for a limited series…

Alex Brook Lynn, FAQ NYC's original executive producer, rejoins the podcast to talk with Harry Siegel about New York City's election, and how and why Paris — which has all the same big urban issues — has taken a different approach to providing things like affordable housing for working class people, childcare, and more.…

In episode six, we’re focusing on affordability, housing and the related ballot proposals. We’re joined by housing experts Jamie Rubin (Chief Investment Officer of Aligned Climate Capital & Chairman of the Board of NYCHA) and Alicia Glen (Founder and Managing Principle of M Squared & former Deputy Mayor for Housing and Economic Development), who sh…

Ric Burns, director of the epic New York: A Documentary Film, joined the FAQ NYC hosts on Thursday evening for beer and cider at Schneider’s Saloon inside the Tenement Museum to talk about 21st century scandals and hopes in the space where German immigrants huddled to do just that in the 19th Century.…

In episode five, we debrief the first mayoral debate and preview the second one as Andrew Cuomo struggles to gain ground against frontrunner Zohran Mamdani with wild card Curtis Sliwa also in the mix. Plus, two-time former NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton joins to explain why he wouldn't advise Jessica Tisch, or anyone else, to run the NYPD on Mamdan…

The legendary illustrator talks with LIT NYC hosts Amy Sohn and Harry Siegel about what he wants to illustrate now that he no longer needs to take assignments, how New York City shaped his work, why he thinks being called "the Vermeer of the Borscht Belt" is a misnomer, and much more.بقلم FAQ NYC

In our fourth episode, we discuss the federal indictment of New York Attorney General Tish James, how the mayoral candidates are reacting, and how the next mayor could influence President Trump’s approach to the city. Then, DSA-backed City Council Member Alexa Avilés of Brooklyn, chair of the Council immigration committee, joins us to talk about Tr…

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In our second episode, the hosts debrief about Mayor Eric Adams’ decision to drop his re-election bid. New York Attorney General Tish James also joins us to talk about the cases she and Donald Trump have brought against one another, and her support of Mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani. FAQ NYC and Max Politics are teaming up for a limited series, …

"The tabs were this incredibly paradoxical force in New York during these years. On the one hand, they were totally polarizing, turning the world into into heroes and villains, good guys and bad guys — like comic books for adults. On the other hand, everyone is reading the Post and the News and Newsday, and they were unifying all of New York around…

In our debut episode, Public Advocate Jumanne Williams joins us to talk about his arrest outside of 26 Federal Plaza, what the mayor and other elected officials can and should be doing in response to President Trump's threats, and why Williams thinks it's time for New York Democratic Party Chair Jay Jacobs to step down. FAQ NYC and Max Politics are…

Laurie Gwen Shapiro, the author of "The Aviator and the Showman: Amelia Earhart, George Putnam, and the Marriage that Made an American Icon," joins Harry Siegel and Amy Sohn to dig into what they don't tell you in the children's books about the life and death of the world's most famous female flier.بقلم FAQ NYC

While Eric Adams says Andrew Cuomo is spreading fake rumors that he’s out, even Donald Trump seems resigned to the idea that Zorhan Mamdani will be New York City’s next mayor — and is threatening to punish the city and the state now that Gov. Kathy Hocul has endorsed the Democratic nominee. The FAQ NYC hosts discuss all that and much more from anot…

The incumbent mayor polling in the single digits regained the spotlight after Labor Day as he insisted he was running to somehow win a second term, not auditioning for a job as the Trump administration's new ambassador to Saudi Arabia. But even then, he seemed at least as concerned with dragging down Andrew Cuomo as he did in lifting himself up. Th…

The summer’s done, Jerrold Nadler is ending his storied Congressional career at the end of his term, nodding at the need for generational renewal in the Democratic Party, and it looks like Eric Adams might be out of work soon, too, as Zohran Mamdani has maintained a healthy lead in the mayoral race entering its final two-month sprint.…

Just two lawyers have remained inside 26 Federal Plaza every day as it’s become the epicenter of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda in New York City, with “large masked men with guns” stationed outside of courtrooms to drag away people showing up for civil hearings. Allison Cutler and Benjamin Remy of the New York Legal Assistant Grou…

Katie Honan never wants to be the story and is "tired of telling the story" but she recaps and reflects on a very weird week, why she's "filled with sadness about Winnie," and the film-noir feeling of getting left, quite literally, holding the bag full of crumbled chips and $300:بقلم FAQ NYC

It's an Off Cycle episode, with photographer Stanley Greenberg sitting down with Harry Siegel and guest host Lizzie Walsh to talk about the epic new Waterworks: The Hidden Water System of New York. He discusses how the DEP tried to stop his first edition of Waterworks from being published after 9/11, how COVID helped lead him to create a totally ne…

How did the mayor end up so far behind the 8 ball that he's polling in the single digits in his independent run to win a second term? His press strategy, if that's even the word for it, is one part of the problem, and the signs of a city for sale as he's likely on his way out aren't helping.بقلم FAQ NYC

What is Andrew Cuomo thinking with his weird new approach to social media, and wild swings at Zohran Mamdani? Will yesterday's leaders ever clear the stage, and will tomorrow's likely leaders get seriously vetted before they're vested with tremendous power? The FAQ NYC hosts discuss all that and much more, including the Trump pressure test on his o…

Hosts Katie Honan and Harry Siegel dig into a stunning Midtown shooting — the second in seven months in which a gunman traveling to New York City to murder businesspeople — and how the mayoral candidates responded to that. Plus, Katie goes deep on one simple trick for getting free drinks in a bar: Finding a gun left behind in a bathroom . And she e…

In the latest episode of LIT NYC, host Alyssa Katz talks with J. Hoberman about his new opus, Everything Is Now: The 1960s New York Avant-Garde—Primal Happenings, Underground Movies, Radical Pop. “Certainly the cheap rents are essential. And the fact that there were areas of the city, of Manhattan, which had been in a way deserted because various l…

The FAQ NYC hosts dig into the Trump administration’s latest demands for compliance, why Mayor Eric Adams insists New York is powerless to enforce its own laws and ordinances inside of the federal office building in lower Manhattan now doubling as a makeshift jail, and how the Department of Homeland Security has the city and the country totally kro…

In the latest episode of LIT NYC, host Katie Honan talks with author Radha Vatsal, a speechwriter at city hall by day, to discuss her new novel about old New York, No. 10 Doyers Street, and “a past that was not as black and white as we make it out to be today.” Vatsal, an immigrant herself, explains how she came to tell a story of Chinatown in the …

The last police commissioner is suing the mayor and the NYPD for running what he alleges was a crooked operation with Eric Adams’ cronies peddling promotions for payoffs. Incredibly, City Hall and one of those cronies responded by claiming the mayor’s pick, storied FBI agent Tom Donlon, wasn’t mentally up to the job — and on Monday Donlon put in a …

As Andrew Cuomo and Eric Adams keep playing centrist chicken, the FAQ NYC podcast digs into all the latest developments in an upside down mayoral race where polls show a generic centrist would be tough to beat but the candidates clogging the middle lane now are each way behind in an upside-down race. Plus, co-host Harry Siegel opens the episode wit…

It seems like no one — from President Donald Trump to Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, the New York Post to the New York Times — can seem to line up a clean swing at Zohran Mamdani. Instead, the young socialist who just upended Democratic politics keeps benefitting from the wild shots aimed at him while members of the establishments determined to defeat…

What just happened, how did New York City get here, and what happens now?! Three guests with different behind-the-scenes perspectives about Zohran Mamdani's winning primary campaign and his alignment with the Democratic Socialists of America — Narrative Wars writer Michael Lange, city historian Asad Dandia, and City and State Editor Peter Sterne — …

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On an historic night for Zohran Mamdani, Katie Honan phoned in from Andrew Cuomo’s forlorn “celebration” moments after he conceded and as workers were already taking down the bunting. New York Law School Executive Editor Ben Max joined her and co-hosts Crhistina Greer to take in the moment and consider what it all means for New York City and the De…

Christina Greer gives her perspective on the New York Times mayoral' panel ("everyone's a trope, right"), and the mixed message the paper sent by in effect overruling that panel to publish its own editorial blasting Mamdani, quickly dismissing Lander, and suggesting, without directly saying so, that voters should back Andrew Cuomo given that the ra…

Mayoral candidate and State Senator Jessica Ramos joined FAQ NYC in March to lament that ”there is, I think, a little bit of amnesia happening. I do think the press could do a better job of highlighting the myriad of ways in which Andrew Cuomo has created the mess that he now claims he is somehow going to fix. But I can't forget, right?" Now, Ramos…

Polling shows that the mayor’s race is still the governor's to lose — but his lead keeps shrinking and he might well lose it in the home stretch. Cuomo’s limited public appearances haven't exactly inspired confidence, let alone the sort of energy that's evident in Zohran Mamdani's ubiquitous volunteers. Hosts Christina Greer, Katie Honan and Harry …

FAQ NYC teamed up with Max Politics for a live podcast event on Thursday, with special guest Kathryn Garcia reflecting on her 2021 mayoral race where she came just 7,000 votes short of upsetting Eric Adams , what's different this time around and the difference between politics and policy: "I hope that despite what's happening at the Federal level, …

“It's hard to be a human in New York but it's downright dangerous to be a baby squirrel,” says Kyra Tippens-Richan, who spends her work days performing autopsies on animals and her off-hours caring for squirrels. She shares her story, and then Ben Max stops by to run down the competitive races down-ballot ahead of the FAQ NYC-Max Politics live podc…

Time's running awfully short for Zohran Mamdani to turn momentum into position, Adrienne Adams to ignite or anyone else to catch up with Andrew Cuomo, who's happy to stay out of the fray, keep unscripted interactions with voters let along other candidates to a minimum and other otherwise trust, like Eric Adams did four years ago, that even Democrat…

While New York City mayor went to DC to kiss the ring, Newark’s mayor got himself arrested trying to visit a newly opened ICE lock-up in his city. Meantime, Andrew Cuomo was docked $600,000 by the Campaign Finance Board on Monday for illegally coordinating with his own super PAC — but still seems to be on track for a victory in the Democratic prima…

Mamdani momentum is monumental, but Cuomo remains a steep cliff to climb with time running short. Co-hosts Christina Greer, Katie Honan and Harry Siegel discuss that and much more, including Kathy Hochul’s premature “budget deal” proclamation, Eric Adams’ “best budget ever” proposal, and Donald Trump’s brutal federal spending plan that neither New …

With not even 60 days to the Democratic primary, the field is running out of time to catch up with Andrew Cuomo while the governor — as the mayoral candidate’s team still refers to him —tries to run out the clock while keeping the public and the press at arm’s length. Co-hosts Christina Greer and Harry Siegel discuss all that and much more, plus Ha…

While Eric Adams, no longer facing the prospect of a prison sentence, is rocking too-tight tees and trying to find the right tone to convince New Yorkers to give him a second term, new First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro is taking a very public, aggressive approach. FAQ NYC co-hosts Christina Greer, Katie Honan and Harry Siegel discuss that and much mo…

As the former governor racks up more big endorsements for his mayoral run while putting out reportedly AI-assisted policy plans and mostly avoiding the press, co-host Christina Greer asks if the frontrunner in the polls wants a marriage with New York City or just a wedding. It remains to be seen, though, how his lead holds up as the election heats …

“I'm running to bring a safer, more affordable and better run city,” says city Comptroller Brad Lander, offering himself as the candidate with both a vision and “a track record of making government work for people.” In the latest installment of the pod’s series of sitdown interviews with the Democratic mayoral contenders, Lander talked about how he…

“We are so tired of the trauma, we are so tired of the drama, we are tired of the scandal,” said City Council Speaker and mayoral candidate Adrienne Adams. “When I saw four deputy mayors resign at the same time and it appeared to be because our mayor decided to cozy up to the chaotic Donald Trump — I saw the brains walk out of the computer and I sa…

What's the difference between a parking lot, a park and a casino? Just a few words scribbled on some paper if Mets owner Steve Cohen gets his way, and it looks like he might now with a well compensated assist from State Senator John Liu that's also a kick in the shins of his legislative colleague and mayoral candidate Jessica Ramos. Co-host Katie H…

After eight Black elected officials from Southeast Queens put out a joint statement saying they were endorsing Andrew Cuomo for mayor, three of them said that, actually, they’re not doing that (and, in one case, won’t be ranking Cuomo at all). Guest Jeff Coltin of Politico New York, who broke that story over the weekend, talks with hosts Christina …

Vital City founder Liz Glazer talks about her group's ambitious new memo on What To Do (and Not To Do) About Subway Safety — and why the answer isn't gun detection technology, surging officers into the system or more fare-evasion enforcement. Plus, Katie Honan and Harry Siegel gab about the mayoral fund-raising numbers and the state of the race — i…

Ramos also delved into her position as “a labor Democrat… in a lane of my own,” her “plan to call for a mental health emergency on day one of my mayoralty,” the city’s “new Gilded Age” and the battle for a casino license here (“Andrew Carnegie, who wasn’t as rich as Steve Cohen is today, by the way he built 2,500 public libraries”), and much more I…