Mamdani property database sparks doxxing, safety fears

Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration has published a searchable database naming and listing the addresses of wealthy New York City property owners who may owe the city’s new pied-a-terre tax, drawing criticism from real estate groups and Republican strategists who say the move creates serious privacy and safety risks.

The city’s Department of Finance released the database, which lists properties that may be subject to the surcharge, along with the names and addresses of their owners. A Department of Finance spokesperson said publication of the roll is required under state law, adding that the agency will use the list to identify which of the properties are ultimately subject to the new surcharge — a determination that requires further review beyond initial inclusion on the roll.

A person familiar with the process, speaking anonymously, described the release as consistent with how the city has handled new tax rolls in years past: Albany passes the legislation, the city publishes a property roll, and the Department of Finance applies the state’s criteria to identify which properties owe the tax. That account could not be independently verified and is presented here as background from a single source, not as established fact.

Critics argue this database goes further than past disclosures by compiling owners’ names and addresses into a single, easily searchable tool. According to the New York Post, the roll includes more than 960,000 properties or ownership records — far beyond the roughly 31,000 homes the Post reported city officials cited when the tax was first pitched to the public — and includes some properties, such as modest homes in working-class neighborhoods and at least one shopping center, that appear to fall outside the tax’s intended target of luxury second homes.

Council Minority Leader David Carr, a Staten Island Republican, whose own condo appeared on the list, called the release “reckless and foolish,” predicting that thousands of listed owners will ultimately contest their inclusion. Steven Fulop, president of the business advocacy group Partnership for NYC, said the disclosure sets “a dangerous precedent” that singles out people “who have done nothing wrong.”

“Ruthless” podcast co-host John Ashbrook warned the database could become a tool for Mr. Mamdani’s supporters to target landlords, saying critics of the mayor risk being harassed “at every turn.”

James Whelan, president of the Real Estate Board of New York, argued the scope of the list undercuts the mayor’s original framing of the tax. Mr. Mamdani initially pitched the measure, announced alongside Gov. Kathy Hochul in April, as targeting the “ultra-wealthy and global elites” who own secondary homes worth more than $5 million. Mr. Whelan said the database shows the levy sweeping in many owners who don’t fit that profile.

Republican strategist Colin Reed said the database, combined with Mr. Mamdani’s rhetoric toward wealthy residents, is “not only reckless, but outright dangerous” given the current climate around political violence.

The database is the latest flashpoint in Mr. Mamdani’s running dispute with the city’s wealthiest residents. In April, the mayor filmed a video outside Citadel founder Ken Griffin’s $238 million Central Park South penthouse to promote the tax proposal, naming Mr. Griffin directly. Mr. Griffin later called the video “creepy and weird,” saying it reinforced his decision to expand Citadel’s presence in Miami rather than New York.