On July 8, New York City mayoral candidate and founder of the Guardian Angels nonprofit, Curtis Sliwa, met with members of the city’s Chinese community at the headquarters of the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association (CCBA), located in the heart of Manhattan’s Chinatown.
A talk show host born and raised in New York City, Sliwa has previously run as a Republican candidate in the 2016 primary, where he was unsuccessful, and later securing the Republican nomination for the 2021 New York City mayoral race, where he lost against outgoing Mayor Eric Adams.
This election cycle, Sliwa is running a campaign focused on public safety, reforming the notorious Rikers Island prison, housing, education, transit safety, and reviving the city.
Sliwa opened the CCBA event by saying, “They want to come into Queens and Brooklyn and Staten Island and the Bronx where Chinese have bought homes and take the homes and put up huge apartment buildings.”
In December 2024, the New York City Council passed the “City of Yes for Housing Opportunity” zoning reform, which aims to create over 82,000 new homes across the five boroughs. The initiative includes measures such as eliminating parking requirements in select neighborhoods, converting non-residential buildings into housing, and legalizing accessory dwelling units (ADUs), like basement apartments. Many city residents fear potential displacement from their communities as a result of these reforms.
Success
You are now signed up for our newsletter
Success
Check your email to complete sign up
However, Sliwa promised the crowd that, if elected, he would not “take the American dream away from you,” adding, “You did not come to America to rediscover communism. No communism in America.”
“Democracy. Freedom. Your right to vote for the candidate of your choice. No Zohran, no socialist. No communist. Freedom, democracy, America. That’s Curtis Sliwa,” he said.
RELATED:
Addressing CCP Influence
Sliwa also spoke about the presence of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) influence in New York City, particularly within the Chinese-American community and the political landscape more broadly.
He told Vision Times that during the 2021 mayoral race, several individuals — whom he suspected of having ties to Beijing — attempted to give him red envelopes during Lunar New Year celebrations.
Sliwa said he was warned by a member of the City Council who told him, “Don’t take from them. It’s no good, that’s CCP.”
“We don’t want their money for the campaign,” Sliwa said, adding, “In the meantime, Eric Adams was taking their money and that’s why… he got in trouble.”
When asked about the CCP’s persecution of Falun Gong practitioners, Sliwa said, “They are so oppressed. All religions. Falun Gong, Christian, other religions.”
“We see what they have done to Uyghurs, Muslims in Western China,” he added, noting that his sister “actually represented Uyghurs, who were oppressed, abused, put into concentration camps.”
He acknowledged that such issues are rarely discussed publicly in the U.S., saying, “We don’t talk about that. But I certainly do because I know first hand these people have a right to their own worship.”
Speaking more broadly, Sliwa said immigrants from communist countries like China, Laos, and Vietnam are fleeing ideologies they don’t want to see spread to the West.
“The last thing they want to see when they come to America is socialism or communism,” he said.
He then turned his attention to his opponent, Zohran Mamdani.
“Zohran wants to make socialism the main economic vehicle in the capitalist capital of the world, New York City. There goes Wall Street, there goes business, and New York City will be poor and impoverished, and nobody’s going to want to come to New York City and everybody is going to want to leave,” Sliwa said.
READ MORE:
- From Street Cart to Cultural Icon: The Story Behind New York City’s Beloved Hot Dog
- Hunter’s Point South: A Key to Unlocking More Affordable Housing in Queens
- New York City Commits $50 Million to Transform ‘The Arches’ Into a Vibrant Community Hub
Rikers Island and Property Taxes
Responding to a question from the crowd about Rikers Island prison, notorious for its poor managment, Sliwa remarked, “I am the only candidate who has been to Rikers Island many times,” prompting laughter before he clarified that he had never been there as a prisoner.
The Guardian Angels, which Sliwa founded and heads, focuses on crime prevention.
“I’ve taught, they have a high school. I taught in the high school. Tough guys,” he said.
Sliwa said that as mayor, he would keep the prison open, noting that half of the facility’s buildings remain empty. He proposed repurposing parts of the island to provide shelter for the homeless.
“We will house homeless men there. Not in jail cells, but we’ll make a dormitory for them there,” he said.
He added that there would be “no community jails” or homeless shelters placed in residential neighborhoods under his administration.
When asked about property taxes by a small landlord in the audience, Sliwa responded, “We cut property taxes, small landlord, mid-size landlord, we cut your property taxes,” adding, “The big landlords, the millionaires, billionaires, they can afford to pay their property taxes. You? You can’t.”
He also promised to ensure that landlords had the power to take action when tenants fail to pay rent.
“Because, tenants can live forever without paying their rent. I’m the only candidate who goes, ‘Oh no! You don’t pay your rent? Out you go,’” he said.
READ MORE:
A broad platform
According to Sliwa’s campaign website, his solution to the city’s housing problems includes “empowering community boards, local residents and their City Council members to guide local housing decisions, ensuring development serves residents—not corporate interests.”
He also plans to implement incentives to rehabilitate an estimated 26,310 vacant rent-controlled apartments in the city and put them back on the market.
In addition, he aims to “expand the availability of rent-stabilized units for working families and seniors on fixed incomes.”
To address public safety, Sliwa says that if elected, he would hire an additional 7,000 NYPD officers, expand the NYPD’s gang unit, enhance proactive and intrusive policing strategies, and improve the deployment of police resources, among other measures.
To tackle crime on the city’s transit system, he says he would expand mental health response teams to assist individuals in crisis and direct them to immediate and appropriate care. He also plans to enforce MTA and transit rules while ensuring individuals in need are referred to timely and effective medical services.
Sliwa also has a broader plan that he says will revitalize the city. Key initiatives include cracking down on crime, redirecting city incentives from corporate developers to local businesses, auditing city spending to eliminate corruption and waste, and revitalizing local downtowns and commercial districts across the outer boroughs.
“As your mayor, I will make our vision a reality. Do not listen to those who say we can’t win—they’re just afraid of us. We know injustice. We’ve lived it. We know the state of our city isn’t normal, and we know better days for New York City lie ahead, but only if we are united,” his website reads.
With reporting by Judy Tao.
