Five days after Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he was confident his officials could juggle a City Council hearing with an ongoing lawsuit over the pied-à-terre tax rollout, his administration declined to show up Tuesday, leaving lawmakers to air questions without anyone from City Hall there to answer them.
In written testimony submitted instead, Department of Finance (DOF) Commissioner Richard Lee said the “pending and active litigation precludes me” from appearing in person and revealed that the administration had asked the Council to postpone the hearing, a request lawmakers declined.
