Copyright AM New York
Zohran Mamdani has mastered the art of performance politics. He’s a TikTok man, quick with a slogan, full of fiery rhetoric, and ready with a viral soundbite. But behind the social media gloss lies a troubling silence. When it comes to older New Yorkers, the people who built this city and continue to sustain it, Mamdani has nothing to say, or worse, he allows his supporters to say it for him. Scroll through his online army on social media and you’ll see the contempt on full display: “9/11 is over, boomer!” “You’re irrelevant!” “Go away, old lady!” These are the words hurled at retirees, the same retirees who kept New York running through crisis after crisis, who staffed the hospitals, classrooms, and firehouses, and who raised the generations now mocking them. And what does Mamdani say in response to this cruelty? Nothing. Not a word of rebuke. His silence speaks volumes. That silence is not just disrespectful; it’s policy. Mamdani’s vision of New York appears to have no place for the people who are over 50, the very New Yorkers who need compassionate leadership the most. When he talks about the “average” New Yorker, he paints a picture that somehow excludes the elderly, the disabled, and the retired civil servants living on fixed incomes. His campaign is filled with lofty promises about fairness and equity, yet those words ring hollow when he won’t even acknowledge one of the city’s fastest-growing populations and the largest civil service retiree organization in the state, the NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees. The truth is that older New Yorkers are struggling. Housing insecurity, rising healthcare costs, threats to Medicare, and the erosion of retiree benefits are daily realities. Public safety concerns keep many from walking outside at night. Seniors face loneliness, food insecurity, and bureaucratic neglect. A real leader would see this and respond with empathy, not hashtags. But Mamdani has chosen a different path: to ignore us, or worse, to dismiss us. That is because his team includes the very people who tried to steal from us in the last four years. This isn’t about age; it’s about respect and representation. Every generation deserves to have its voice heard, but the older generation has earned that right many times over. We have paid taxes, raised families, and kept our promises to this city. What we expect in return is leadership that values experience and compassion. Instead, Mamdani offers a politics of division, one that pits young against old, as if solidarity has an expiration date. He’s in good company. Adrienne Adams, outgoing City Council speaker and representative of Council District 28 in southeast Queens, has done the same thing. For our almost 500,000 members, retirees, city workers, teachers, police, firefighters, nurses, and countless others, there is no reason to vote for him. None. A mayor who will not meet with retirees cannot be trusted to govern for all New Yorkers. A mayor who allows ageism to thrive in his own ranks will not stand up for the vulnerable when it matters most. And a mayor who sees older New Yorkers as obstacles to progress, rather than partners in building a better city, is unfit for office. By contrast, Andrew Cuomo, whatever one’s views of his past, has shown a fundamental respect for public servants and for the retirees who dedicated their lives to New York in meetings with us. He understands that progress and protection can coexist. Cuomo has always been a hands-on leader, and when he speaks to older New Yorkers, he speaks with them, not about them. He has the experience and the pragmatism to govern a complex city where ideology alone won’t pay the rent or keep the lights on. Mamdani, on the other hand, appears more interested in making history than in creating lasting change. He wants to be remembered as the mayor of a “new” New York, but if his current attitude is any indication, that “new” New York will be one where the elderly are invisible, their contributions forgotten, their needs dismissed. If he truly cared about building a city for everyone, he would start by listening to those who have already lived through its greatest challenges. New York deserves a mayor who understands that compassion isn’t a trend, it’s a duty. A mayor who sees every generation as part of the same community. A mayor who won’t leave retirees behind. Zohran Mamdani may have TikTok on his side, but we have time and truth on ours. And we will use both to remind New York that leadership is about service, not spectacle. The future of this city depends not on who can go viral, but on who can govern with vision, one that includes every New Yorker, from the youngest to the oldest. Because a mayor who can’t speak to us can never truly speak for us. Marianne Pizzitola is president of the NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees.
