The Bigger Apple Podcast

This week, join us for a conversation about the Long Island Rail Road strike, the proposed state and city budgets, and the outsized influence of public- and private-sector unions with our colleague, New York's preeminent expert on public finance, E.J. McMahon.

Nicole and Liena talk with Eric Kober, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and former director of housing, economic and infrastructure planning at the New York City Department of City Planning, about rent regulation , labor unions, property tax reform, 1961 zoning, and more.   

Liena and Nicole talk to traffic guru Sam Schwartz and planner Kelly McGuinness about the good, bad and ugly about self-driving cars and dense, transit-centric cities.   Watch this podcast here .

In this episode we talk about Mamdani's plans for municipal grocery stores and whether green carts and farmers markets are already doing this work, the mayor's proposed Pied-à-terre tax, the state's war against insurance schemes, and more. 

In this episode, Liena and Nicole unpack Mayor Mamdani's first 100 days, looking at his diluted promises of free childcare, fast and free buses, a rent freeze, and government groceries, as well as his ambition versus budgetary realities and how he's dealt with the day-to-day challenges of running the city.

Rafael Mangual, Nick Ohnell Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute and author of  Criminal Injustice , joins Nicole and Liena to discuss the spate of daytime shootings hitting New York, the Raise the Age law and its role in rising juvenile crime, rising public disorder, Canal Street's counterfeit economy, and the legal and logistical chaos likely to unfold as the city's self-imposed 2027 Rikers...

In this episode, we talk with Ken Girardin, our colleague at the Manhattan Institute who covers New York tax, pension, energy, and labor policy, about two very expensive problems facing New York: a legislative push to roll back the pension reforms of 2009 and 2012, which would send public employer costs skyrocketing again, and the 2019 Climate Act, which halted the private investment cycle and lef...

In this episode of The Bigger Apple Podcast, Nicole Gelinas and Liena Zagare talk with former Baltimore police officer and John Jay professor Peter Moskos about Washington Square's social‑media snowball fight, NYPD staffing and recruitment challenges, the proposed Community Safety Department, homelessness, and much more.

E.J. McMahon, New York's leading budget expert, joins Liena Zagare and Nicole Gelinas to explain what's really happening with the city and state's finances. They talk about why New York seems flush with cash, what's driving higher spending on schools and Medicaid, and whether the mayor-elect's ideas—like free buses and universal childcare—are affordable. They also look at whether higher taxes migh...

Why are so many visibly ill people on New York's streets and trains in a city that guarantees shelter? Liena and Nicole speak with Manhattan Institute senior fellow and  Homelessness in America author Stephen Eide about deinstitutionalization, Medicaid's limits on long-term psychiatric care, and how shelters and supportive housing actually function. They also discuss what Eide has observed in Norw...

In this episode of the Bigger Apple podcast, Manhattan Institute's Liena Zagare and Nicole Gelinas talk with MI fellow and Director of Cities   John Ketcham about the general-election results, what they mean for mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani's agenda, and what New Yorkers can expect in the weeks ahead.

In this episode of the Bigger Apple podcast, Manhattan Institute's Liena Zagare and Nicole Gelinas talk with MI fellow Danyela Souza-Egorov about a $41 billion school system in crisis—from chronic absenteeism to falling enrollment—and how the next mayor could make things better or worse.

In this episode, Liena Zagare and Nicole Gelinas discuss how regulation, rent, and labor shortages turned child care into a luxury — and plans New York City mayoral candidates Zohran Mamdani, Andrew Cuomo, and Curtis Sliwa have proposed to help parents.  

In this episode of the Bigger Apple podcast, Manhattan Institute's Nicole Gelinas and Liena Zagare discuss NYC's crime situation — what's working, what's not, and how the narrative has changed since the last mayoral race.