New York's Mayor Stands Firm Behind Housing Chief Amid Controversial Past Posts

In New York City, Mayor Zohran Mamdani is backing his newly chosen housing leader, Cea Weaver, despite some people being upset about her old social media posts. Weaver, known for her work helping renters, was picked to lead the Mayor's Office to Protect Tenants. Her job is to take strong action against landlords who don't take care of their properties. Some of Weaver's old posts online have caused a stir. In these posts, she talked about taking private property for the greater good and linked homeownership to ideas of white supremacy. These posts, which she later removed, have been criticized by officials and newspapers. Former Mayor Eric Adams said her remarks showed she was out of touch with reality. When asked about the controversy, Mamdani didn't talk about the posts directly. Instead, he praised Weaver's work for tenants. Weaver herself said some of her old posts were regrettable and not what she would say now. She emphasized her focus on making sure everyone has a safe and affordable place to live.This isn't the first time Mamdani's administration has dealt with social media controversies. Earlier, another official resigned after old antisemitic posts were found. Mamdani said he didn't know about those posts, but Weaver's past posts were known to his team. Weaver has a strong background in tenant rights. She led a group that helped pass important tenant protections in 2019. In her new role, she will help Mamdani with one of his big campaign promises: taking action against negligent landlords. This includes forcing them to sell their properties to the city if they can't pay fines. Mamdani seems serious about this plan. Right after his inauguration, he announced the city would take bold action against a Brooklyn landlord who owed money and was in bankruptcy. This shows he's not backing down from his promises, even if some people disagree.