At a time when New Yorkers public universities are being subjected to yearly budget cuts and only have 8% of buildings in good repair, Columbia and NYU, two of the largest property holders in New York City, are exempted from paying property taxes. I, many of my colleagues, and many New Yorkers believe that it's time these institutions pay their debt to the working class of New York City.

Shortly after the hunger strike concluded, Teen Vogue spoke to New York State Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani and actor and activist Cynthia Nixon, who were both participants in that action. “At one level, my body is definitely in a state of relief,” Mamdani, 32, a longtime organizer for Palestinian rights who now represents Queens, told Teen Vogue. No stranger to this kind of tactic, in 2021 Mamdani was part of a hunger strike on behalf of striking taxi workers in New York City. “But my soul, my mind, I would say, is in a deep sense of sadness.”

“If you want to move New York better, if you want New York to be safer, if you want New Yorkers to have more access, then free public transportation is the answer,” Assemblywoman Phara Souffrant Forrest, a Brooklyn Democrat, said during a news conference on Wednesday about the pilot program. “We need all the lines free.”

A growing number of socialist politicians have organized their offices to deliver constituent services. But what makes their approach distinct is that they’re doing this by activating community members, developing leaders, and building organizations—and thus transforming the political terrain of their districts. While local political machines have often traded constituent services for votes, democratic socialists have turned that model on its head by using the delivery of services to build power outside of their offices.