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Mayor Zohran Mamdani has taken a page from his filmmaker mom Mira Nair and released a short taxpayer-funded documentary about tenants organizing against their do-nothing landlord.
Mamdani and Cea Waver — the controversial director of the Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants who once called private property ownership a “weapon of white supremacy” — are featured prominently in the City Hall-produced film, “The Union of Pinnacle Tenants: A Short History of NYC Housing.”
The New York Post even makes a cameo appearance in the 13-minute work narrated by “The Gilded Age” actor Morgan Spector, who was blasted by one watchdog group as “extremist” over his anti-Israel views.
“The Union of Pinnacle Tenants has shown what becomes possible when neighbors organize,” the democratic socialist mayor said in a press release. “Across nearly 100 buildings, tenants came together and won important victories that made real, material impacts in New Yorkers’ lives.
“I’m proud to stand with them as they continue the fight for affordable, dignified housing across the city,” said Mamdani — whose mother has produced star-studded award-winning movies.
“This film tells the story of that organizing, but I hope it also reminds New York City tenants that the power to change their living conditions begins with one another,” he said. “The most protected tenant is an organized tenant.”
But the watchdog group Common Sense yelled, “Cut!” on the notion that the documentary was needed.
“New Yorkers elected a mayor, not a Hollywood producer,” it said.
“The administration should, of course, communicate with New Yorkers, and transparency and accessibility are essential. But when an undisclosed sum of public dollars is used to create a video narrated by a well-documented extremist in an effort clearly intended to generate viral attention, priorities have become recklessly misplaced.
“Good governance is about delivering real solutions to real problems, not merely generating headlines. As the city grapples with an ever-worsening deficit, City Hall should be vigilant about the appropriate use of taxpayer funds.
“Making short films does not clean the streets or keep New Yorkers safe or even make the buses faster.”
The flick heavily features tenants and chronicles how they organized across 93 buildings formerly owned by Pinnacle Group to “defend their homes, build collective power, and win repairs.”
Weaver, a tenants advocate who also once pushed to “seize private property,” takes center stage at one point in the documentary.
“This is Cea Weaver. Some, like the New York Post, prefer oddball,” Spector says as a Post headline appears in the flick.
Weaver, sitting in a chair next to a table of books about housing and rent control, responds, “But I like to call myself a tenant organizer.”
The documentary focuses on the residents organizing to form the Union of Pinnacle Tenants to challenge The Pinnacle Group, responsible for more than 5,000 housing violations and 14,000 complaints.
The Pinnacle group ended up selling its 5,200-unit portfolio in The Bronx and Brooklyn.
The new owner, Summit Properties, agreed to spend $30 million on repairs and forgive tenants’ rent arrears.
The documentary also provides a history of changes to the state’s rent-control and rend stabilization laws since the 1960s.
Mamdani’s office said the film was prepared in-house with recordings from his video division.
The release did not specify how much was spent on the production.
Spector — who has accused Israel of genocide in Gaza and supports legislation that would halt the sale of US weaponry to Israel — was not paid, the mayor’s office said.
A Post review of records filed with the comptroller’s office found City Hall spent more than $6,000 on Canon recording cameras and other equipment that could be used for filming.
Mamdani’s office said his predecessors also had video units.
Mamdani’s release said the documentary is part of his administration’s pro-tenant effort to build tenant power across the city, including with his Block by Block housing and Rental Ripoff hearings.
His office also recently issued a “Right to Organize” letter, signed by the mayor, reminding tenants of their right to knock on their neighbors’ doors, form tenant associations and hold meetings without landlord interference.
Mamdani’s appointees to the Rent Guidelines Board recently imposed a one- and two-year freeze on rent at 1 million rent-stabilized apartements.
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