"The city screwed this up… got it wrong… stop the train and make them do it over," Randy Mastro, a former deputy mayor, told the court. Mastro is the one who brought the suit on behalf of three New York homeowners. "You know, there are few things more certain in New York City than death, taxes and Randy Mastro filing a lawsuit against this administration," the mayor said at a press conference. This plays into the broader socialist endgame: bankrupt landlords and create conditions for City Hall to seize distressed apartment buildings. Mamdani has said the new pied-à-terre tax will help fund safer streets, safer schools, and "the city that New Yorkers deserve."