This past week, the Big Apple went to investors to sell billions of dollars in municipal debt.

With Mamdani doing his best imitation of Fidel Castro, the city sold $2.3 billion — $300 million less than it had targeted.

Mind you, I’ve been covering NYC bond deals for decades.

For the most part, they’ve been what you might call boring — in a good way.

Even back under Mayor David Dinkins, when the city was reeling from the aftershocks of the 1987 stock market crash — not to mention Dinkins’ own spending largesse — the city’s bond sales remained mostly strong.

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Once the fiscal crisis of the 1970s and our near-default subsided in the minds of investors, NYC bond issues have frequently been “oversubscribed,” which in Wall Street lingo means there are more buyers than bonds available at auction.

That’s because of the heavy city and state tax burden and how city debt provides significant yields that are triple tax-free, and not least, the protections provided by something called the Financial Emergency Act of 1975, the state law designed to make sure that what went down in the 1970s never happens again.

The fact that the city had to scale back the latest bond issue because of the weakened demand indicates a particular investor animus to what Mamdani is doing, according to well-placed investors.

One broker who deals with super-rich people looking for tax breaks in municipal debt says many of his clients are staying away from NYC debt — simply because they don’t trust Mamdani.

“I’ve had clients that are selling them and others who don’t want to own them,” he said.

“That’s ­unusual because taxes might be ­going up. I don’t think they’re going to default, but it’s been difficult to make the sale.”

You wouldn’t know any of this based on the spin from the city and its bond underwriters on Wall Street.

Given the trauma the Iran conflict has produced in global markets, particularly the bond market off of which NYC debt is priced, the sale went swimmingly, they claimed.

Signal of confidence?

The “steady demand for the City’s municipal bonds in the face of market volatility is a clear signal of confidence from investors who know that our credit is strong,” city Comptroller Mark Levine said in a statement, according to Bloomberg.

(A City Hall rep didn’t return a request for comment.)

Reality check: First, the city paid higher interest rates on those bonds than it did not too long ago, meaning it’s getting increasingly expensive to sell debt, when it used to be a cakewalk.

Recall that the state fiscal-crisis law, which provided significant safeguards for city bonds in good times and bad, was created when bankruptcy was looming and NYC couldn’t sell bonds for infrastructure; and cops were being laid off as were city workers.

The Emergency Act created a mechanism where investors wouldn’t be afraid to buy our debt because they received first dibs on city tax revenues.

That’s one reason Mamdani, for all his self-inflicted governing nuttiness, is still able to tap Wall Street when he needs to.

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If you believe the city will never default given the above, its bonds might seem like a good place to park money.

During times of fiscal distress when yields (their implied interest rates) rise and prices fall, you can make a few bucks rolling the dice on Mamdani.

But that gamble is growing increasingly dicey now that we have an avowed socialist for a mayor with plans to tax and spend the city into oblivion.

It’s also why rating agencies that grade city debt are increasingly worried that Mamdani’s budgeting won’t work.

Three agencies recently revised their outlook on the city’s debt to “negative” from “stable.”

And it’s why even the city comptroller is worried about Mamdani’s decision to raid rainy-day funds to try to get a balanced budget, which he must under the Financial Emergency Act.

If he ends the year with a deficit of just $100 million, Mamdani faces a state takeover of the city’s finances.

In other words, the city will be run out of Albany.

Mamdani wants to raise taxes, but a growing chorus of Dems, the governor included, know it’s like pushing on a string; people leave, as they have been doing, meaning there are fewer taxpayers to tax while the welfare rolls grow.

Then there’s the obvious incompetence coming from City Hall. It projected a 15% increase in Wall Street bonuses to pay for the mayor’s $127 billion budget but instead bonuses grew 9% from 2024.

With the likes of JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs doing more hiring in places like Texas (which has no income tax) and low-taxed Utah, you can see how even that healthy increase will decline in the budget cycles ahead.

Put it all together and you can say there were buyers of city debt, but the reality is they’re demanding more for their money because they’re getting nervous — which they have every right to be.

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It’s the first Big Apple-style, members-only club to come to Sin City. In a locale known for excess, the club is keeping everything — from fees to the number of members — relatively small.

Joining the club located inside the Wynn Las Vegas costs $1,000 for “initiation” plus $2,750 per year. Members who want to be considered “founders” have to cough up $50,000 in initiation fees, with higher annual dues, too. They get access to the Manhattan club.

Zero Bond, the exclusive New York City club, is opening inside the Wynn Las Vegas. Wynn Las Vegas

“In a town where money talks, this is about curation and the quality of the community,” founder Scott Sartiano told Side Dish, who declined to share the number of members he has in mind.

The two-story, 15,000-square-foot space, which overlooks a golf course and features a $40 million art collection, is already drawing buzz. Guests at last weekend’s opening party included Gwynneth Paltrow, Michael Rubin, LeBron James – and Tom Brady and Alix Earle, who arrived separately after sparking romance rumors earlier this year. Doja Cat serenaded the stars.

In Sartiano’s view, he’s fulfilling an unmet demand.

“Las Vegas is the biggest hospitality market in the world, and there is nothing like Zero Bond in the ecosystem here — just country clubs” and the Discovery Land Company’s exclusive gated community, the Summit Club, he said.

Reaching for the highest of the high brow, the new club features a Renoir above the fireplace, a work by contemporary Mexican artist Jorge Pardo, and outdoor sculptures by artists including Joan Miró, Jim Dine, and Robert Indiana. They’re all for sale and are the fruit of a partnership with Heather James Fine Art.

“Las Vegas is the biggest hospitality market in the world,” says Scott Sartiano, middle. Mark Wahlberg and Kevin Costner were among the guests at last weekend’s opening party. BFA.com / BACKGRID

For earthlier delights, there are no fewer than four bars, a central salon, and a cigar room where club members can puff hand-rolled cigars.

True to its Vegas setting, the new Zero Bond features a poker room and a disco, both designed by Wynn Design & Development.

As in the New York City original, there are no photos.

“I want Zero Bond to grow as a premium luxury hospitality brand,” Sartiano said, adding that he seized “the opportunity to partner with Wynn [because] everything they do is the best — from their design to the atmosphere and food and beverage. Partnering with them made sense.” 

Sartiano and Jessica Alba BFA.com / BACKGRID

He noted that private clubs have mostly been in urban areas, not travel destinations like Vegas.

“There is a whole new market for it. Basically, if you think about it, Vegas is about maximizing square footage and access, which is the opposite of a private member’s club,” Sartiano said.

Mariena Mercer Boarini oversees the new club’s drinks. Bar bites like chicken nuggets topped with caviar are available, too. Food can also be ordered from Sartiano’s new steakhouse next door.

Unlike the club, that establishment is open to the masses.

Michael Rubin, from left, Will Makris and Tom Brady. BFA.com / BACKGRID

Sartiano’s Italian Steakhouse –  run by three-time James Beard Award winner Alfred Portale of New York and chef Michael Rubinstein – offers classic steaks and pasta.

The restaurant recently opened after Sartiano’s Hamptons eatery shuttered following noise complaints from locals.

“It breaks my heart,” he said of the closure.

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Groups including the Partnership for New York City and chambers of commerce for all five boroughs say the city must pause its short-term rental laws from June 1 to July 31 so more people can stay in the Big Apple during the games — along with celebrations for the country’s 250th anniversary and Fleet Week.

FIFA World Cup games will be played at MetLife stadium in July. Getty Images

The groups said throngs of visitors expected to come for the special events won’t be able to land bookings at the city’s roughly 135,000 hotel rooms, where “occupancy already hovers near 97%.”

“Without additional capacity, hotel prices will surge beyond the reach of working families, spending will leak to New Jersey and the suburbs, and neighborhoods hosting events across the outer boroughs — where only 20% of hotel rooms are located — will see visitors but capture none of the overnight economic impact,” states a letter the business groups wrote the elected.

“New York will project to the world that it cannot manage the logistics of hospitality at the very moment it is hosting the planet’s biggest stage.”

The mayor’s office did not comment on the letter but said the administration will meet with business leaders next week to hear out their concerns ahead of the World Cup.

Menin did not immediately answer requests for comment.

While home-sharing apps are not technically banned in New York City, the business leaders noted “almost nobody uses them because city laws say the owner has to stay in the apartment with you.” 

The 2023 short term rental law – aimed at stays of less than 30 days – decimated Airbnb and the rest of the short-term rental market in New York City.

It limits the number of guests per booking to two and requires hosts to register with the city or face hefty fines.

Airbnb has spent millions on lobbying efforts to overturn or loosen the regulations. The San Francisco-based company blames the Hotel Association of New York City and the powerful hotel union for the stringent rules.

The law’s backers have said home-sharing apps like Airbnb made homes less affordable by taking units off the market.

Mamdani and Menin announce the opening of a new school in Manhattan last month. Matthew McDermott for NY Post

The Manhattan Chamber of Commerce launched a digital campaign and petition to drive support for a temporary reprieve for short-term rentals.

 “Act Now, NYC! Or our sales will go to New Jersey this summer,” the group warns.

Airbnb’s market share in New York City has plummeted since Local Law 18 was enacted in 2023. AP

About 1.2 million visitors are expected to converge on the region for eight World Cup games at MetLife Stadium, the letter states.

Another 6 million visitors are expected for events around the 250th anniversary of the country, with which Fleet Week will coincide this year.

But there’s plenty of space, according to Vijay Dandapani, chief executive of the Hotel Association of New York City, who said claims of too few hotel rooms are an “absolute falsity and a red herring.”

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“The letter is untethered to any facts and is a propaganda piece put out by Airbnb with the chambers carrying their water,” he told The Post.

FIFA has actually been “canceling room blocks” in New York City because there is not enough demand, he added.

FIFA did not immediately answer a request for comment.

Airbnb is a member of the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce, whose chief executive Jessica Walker testified at the City Council last week. 

The Hotel Association for New York City says there enough hotel rooms to meet tourist demand this summer. RightFramePhotoVideo – stock.adobe.com

“We are recommending a narrowly tailored suspension of the short-term rental ban for the World Cup window,” she said. “This costs the city nothing, while preventing the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars from leaking out of the city.”

Walker told The Post, “People see this is as a reasonable request that is meant to be temporary and have guardrails,” adding that “it’s clear who who we represent: small businesses.”

New Orleans, Kansas City, several southern California cities and other locales have changed their short-term rental restrictions in order to accommodate major events, the new letter stated.

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The powerful REIT plans to create what a source called a “cohesive street-level experience” on both sides of Seventh Avenue between West 33rd and 34th streets, replacing what Vornado chairman Steve Roth recently called “junky retail.”

Vornado quietly bought up one parcel after another on the nondescript but heavily-trafficked block over the past few years. The next step, our sources said, will be demolishing the unattractive small buildings on the east side, to be followed by those on the west side. The few existing tenants are all on short-term leases.

One Penn Plaza Bloomberg via Getty Images

Roth tapped a crack leasing team headed by Newmark’s global retail chairman Mark Masinter to “repopulate,” as our source put it, the old stores with merchants appropriate for the reborn district anchored by Penn Station and Madison Square Garden. Vornado spent $2.5 billion to redevelop old office towers, launch the dining and shopping options inside the Moynihan Train Hall, and install a popular  public plaza on West 33rd Street between Seventh and Eighth avenues.

The Newmark leasing team also includes Karen Bellantoni, Jackie Totolo, Pierce Thomspon and Nick Masinter.

The district is now home to more than 5 million square feet of prime office space, 300,000 square feet of public plazas and scores of eating and drinking venues, including huge new Avra inside the Moynihan building and Blue Ribbon Steak & Sushi. Vornado is also landlord to Primark, the international clothing merchant opening its US flagship at 150 W. 34th St.

The new Seventh Avenue storefronts — to be installed inside three-level “retail boxes” — will aim to sign actual stores, not restaurants or fast-food operations. Demolition of old structures is to start later this year with completion of the new spaces targeted for 2027.

Roth tipped the plan, although without details, in Vornado’s third-quarter earnings call in November. He pledged to replace  “junky” retail on the avenue and to lead revitalization of the busy but “deteriorated” 34th Street/Seventh Avenue subway station.

Vornado chairman Steve Roth Bloomberg via Getty Images

Vornado EVP and co-head of real estate Glen Weiss said his company’s “transformative work is evident  across all corners of the neighborhood. With Newmark, we will make the Penn District retail environment New York’s next big event.”

An even bigger event will be a new skyscraper  to rise on the former Hotel Pennsylvania site. Vornado’s mum on plans but Roth told investors last fall he was in talks with a major tenant to anchor a 1,000 foot-tall tower.

The Big Apple’s retail world lost a true giant with the passing of C. Bradley Mendelson last week. “Brad,” as all knew him, was one of the premier dealmakers at CBRE, Cushman & Wakefield and Colliers International for over four decades.

C. Bradley Mendelson Cushman & Wakefield

Mendelson was a prime mover behind such epochal deals as the opening of Toys ‘R’ Us in Times Square — then the world’s largest toy store — and for bringing a trio of spectacular tenants to  the former 666 Fifth Ave. Landlords and tenants valued his professionalism;  journalists appreciated the inside knowledge he generously, and often amusingly, shared; his colleagues loved the homemade cookies he brought to the office every week.

 A man beloved for many reasons — and for all seasons.

The weekend opening of Milk & Honey cafe at LCOR’s 1515 Surf Ave. was the icing on the cake for the twin-towered project overlooking the Coney Island Boardwalk.

It’s Brooklyn’s third Milk & Honey, the casual eatery with locations in Ditmas Park and Bay Ridge. “It’s the perfect setting for us, right by the beach in a building that’s redefining modern living in Coney Island,” said eatery owner Yasser “Max” Habib.

Milk & Honey cafe on Surf Avenue in Brooklyn. milkandhoneycafebk/Instagram

The rental building is part of a residential development boom along Surf Avenue, which is unrecognizably transformed from what it was just 10 years ago.

The project’s 463 apartments  are 75% leased, including 139 affordable units that are 100% leased.

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The publisher Barrons says a spokesperson told them the snowstorm market is the largest climate-related market the Kalshi platform has ever seen, with 17,418 traders having traded $5.1 million on the market as of early Monday afternoon (January 26).

The NYC snowstorm market is @Kalshi’s largest ever climate market, a spokesperson tells me, with more than 17,000 traders participating and $5.3m in volume.

One New York-local trader I talked to got his edge by measuring snowfall on a parked car. pic.twitter.com/VP1HOFXUqr

— Nick Devor (@nickdevor_) January 26, 2026

The company began accepting bets on the snowfall across its prediction market, with a focus on inch counts ranging between two inches and two feet. Ahead of the snow beginning to fall, the region of New York City and New Jersey was predicted to see somewhere between eight to 14 inches of snow, depending on the actual location.

The Kalshi market asked people the question ‘Snow in New York City from Jan 24-26?’ with the outcome detailed as being verified through the National Weather Service which measures snowfall in NYC at Central Park.

NYC snowfall on prediction markets focused on Central Park

In the comments, though, some people suggest it was “misleading” as they didn’t realize it would be focused on Central Park snow only.

I’ve been trading the NYC snow market on Kalshi. As of time of writing, it has $3mm volume. Polymarket has around $550k volume in total. From what I can tell, they have the same resolution terms (would love to be fact-checked on that).

You’d think that higher volume = more…

— SurfShopCapital (@SurfShopCapital) January 26, 2026

In one comment, left under the original market, someone said: “I feel bad for all the beginners that read the title and bet on snow in NYC. There WAS more than 12” of snow in NYC, just not in the one spot that matters…”

They continued to say the title should have included ‘in Central Park NYC’ to make it clearer.

Others, however, in the comments section on Kalshi, have suggested people read the rules.

Traders argue in Kalshi’s comments over whether a NYC snowfall market was misleading after results were based solely on Central Park measurements. Credit: Kalshi

It wasn’t just Kalshi that allowed people to wager on the weather event though, as Polymarket opened similar markets too with it titled ‘How many inches of snow in NYC this weekend? (Jan 24-26).’

In the first line of Polymarket’s rules, they do state the market will resolve according to the total snowfall in Central Park, New York City, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Further down in the rules, they mention it will be focused on the Central Park area once more.

Featured Image: Via Ekahbishek on Wikimedia Commons, CC 2.0

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In an exclusive sitdown interview with The Post, Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson said Mamdani’s socialist agenda for the Big Apple — including vows to hike taxes on the rich and expand government control over prices for housing, groceries, and childcare — could accelerate defections of big financial firms from the city.

The 50-year-old Republican, who majored in history as an undergraduate at Harvard, likewise floated the possibility that Wall Street is at risk of being toppled from its perch as America’s premier financial center — likening it to Venice, Italy losing its edge as Europe’s premier trading hub centuries ago.

Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson, a Republican, leads what is now the second-largest financial services hub in the US. Anadolu via Getty Images

“It’s not inconceivable at all that within a certain number of years, people look back and go, ‘Do you remember back when New York was the financial capital of the United States? Isn’t that weird?’” Johnson told The Post.

The Dallas native has worked closely with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to offer “economic incentive deals” — a mix of generous tax breaks and grants — to attract the likes of JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo and Canadian giant Scotia Bank to the fast-growing Texas destination long known as “Big D”.

The strategy appears to be working. JPMorgan — led by legendary Wall Street titan Jamie Dimon — already employs more people in the Lone Star State than in New York.

Dallas is now the second-largest financial services hub in the US, having added over 100,000 finance jobs in the past decade — and Johnson expects the pace to accelerate.

“What was already a trickle is going to turn into a flood of individuals and companies who have called New York home for a long time, moving to Dallas,” Johnson said.

Mamdani, who was sworn in on New Year’s Day as the new mayor of New York City, showed little sign that he would back down from his radical left-wing agenda. Richard Swafford/ZUMA / SplashNews.com

“The action isn’t here,” he said of the Big Apple. “The action is in the western part of the country.”

His comments echo a warning from Fortress co-CEO Drew McKnight, who told The Post in November that Dallas was now a serious rival to New York in terms of attracting financial talent.

Last week, Mamdani, a 34-year-old former state assemblyman, doubled down on his campaign pledges to freeze rents and hike taxes as he took office.

Johnson called Mamdani’s policies an “un-American socialist impulse” — and noted that he isn’t the only New York politician who shares blame for spurring financiers to “vote with their feet” and quit the city.

“A transaction tax was being discussed in Albany. That’s why I think we first started getting a lot of communication from New York-based firms about whether or not they wanted to come to Texas,” he added, saying the policy proposal had helped spur the creation of the Texas Stock Exchange, which will formally launch later this year.

Renderings released by Goldman Sachs show how its new Dallas campus will look once completed in late 2027. Goldman Sachs

Johnson outlined his pitch to Wall Streeters, saying Dallas was a prime spot for financial giants as there is no state income tax in Texas, falling property rates, and a pro-business administration.

“I’ve cut the property tax rate every year I’ve been in office now. So we’re talking seven straight years,” Johnson said.

“You’re talking about an environment where they’re talking about trying to find new ways to tax people, compared to one where we’re trying to push down the one tax we’ve got, and we don’t have an income tax,” he added.

Cheaper housing, strong schools, safe streets, and easy permitting for big projects like David Solomon-led Goldman Sachs’ new $700 million campus, set to employ 5,000.

Fortress co-CEO Drew McKnight told this newspaper in November that Dallas was now a serious rival to New York in terms of attracting financial talent. Bloomberg via Getty Images

Federal rules from the SEC apply to banks or financial firms wherever they are based, but Dallas offers a better life for employees, he added.

“The cost of living is lower,” Johnson said. “You can have the best of New York, but you can have it in a place where you can also afford to have a very nice home, send your kids to good schools, and be safe.”

Mamdani’s planned tax hikes — such as raising the corporate rate to 11.5% and adding a 2% personal income tax over $1 million — aim to fund his programs, which he claims will raise $9 billion yearly.

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But, one new company — the London-based Eva AI — is taking it a step further. They’re betting solely on artificial intelligence romantic partners — and think there’s a market for people who want to take their chatbot boyfriends and girlfriends out on the town.

In February, the company is launching a pop-up cafe in Manhattan that they hope to make a permanent fixture.

Tables will have special perches for people’s phones, so they can more easily interact with AI partners while sipping cocktails.

In February, Eva AI is launching a pop-up cafe in Manhattan where customers can go on a date with their AI companions. EVA AI

Tables will have special perches for people’s phones, so they can more easily interact with AI partners while sipping cocktails. EVA AI

“Being able to sit across from your AI in a real venue makes the event meaningful,” Eva AI CEO Tany Save told me.

“For many people, their AI partners are a meaningful part of everyday lives, someone they can talk to about personal worries, daily challenges, or with whom they enjoy witty, fun conversations,” she added. “Going on a real-world date with their AI companion is a natural next step.”

This story is part of NYNext, an indispensable insider insight into the innovations, moonshots and political chess moves that matter most to NYC’s power players (and those who aspire to be).

While the percentage of people interested in virtual companionship is still small, it’s growing: 23% of millennials have used AI as a romantic companion and 33% of Gen Z has, according to Dynata in association with The Kinsey Institute.

“AI partners provide people long-term, reliable emotional support, entertainment, and space for self-expression,” Save said. “We know that some of our users are having really long-term relationships with a character lasting more than a year.”

Other newcomers in the dating space are also betting big on AI.

Bethenny Frankel is clear, “There is an essence to a human being that even AI cannot capture.” Getty Images for Sports Illustrated

Bethenny Frankel has just launched The Core, a high-end dating platform and matchmaking service that uses AI in its proprietary algorithm to match people. Membership dues start around $1200 annually.

“AI thinks about hair color, height, and religion,” Frankel explained to me. But she’s clear about tech’s limitations: “There is an essence to a human being that even AI cannot capture.”

Earlier this month, Justin McLeod left his job as Hinge CEO to launch Overtone, an AI-driven dating app backed by Match Group that uses voice tools to help people connect.

Known, founded by Stanford dropouts, uses voice AI and has raised $9.7 million. It charges $30 per successful date and claims 80% of introductions lead to in-person dates. Sitch has raised $9 million from a16z and charges $90 for three AI-powered matches.

Of course, this also comes as AI adoption raises serious concerns. Multiple suicides have been linked to chatbot relationships, with ChatGPT parent company OpenAI facing a lawsuit after the death of one teen. Critics worry that some AI companions can reinforce unhealthy attachments and delusional thinking with one otherwise sane man being convinced he was a superhero over the span of a few weeks.

Send NYNext a tip: nynextlydia@nypost.com.

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Fintech Arch Inc. and law firm Cohen Millstein, Sellers & Toll have signed leases at 199 Water St.

Fintech firm Arch Inc., took 73,581 square feet, moving from 111 East 18th St. in Midtown South in January. Law firm Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll signed for 18,457 square feet, moving from 88 Pine St. in the second quarter of 2026.

The year’s largest lease in DUMBO is a long-term renewal on 50,000 square feet by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) at Two Trees Management’s landmarked 45 Main St.

Main Street in DUMBO Brooklyn.

As we first reported, the cutting-edge architectural firm is designing the new apartment building for Charney Companies and Tavros at 175 Third St. in Gowanus.

DUMBO has emerged as the Brooklyn epicenter of design and architecture. Two Trees also lured Snohetta from Manhattan to 55 Washington St. earlier this year. The district is also home to Garrison Architects, Brooklyn Studio and to many furniture designers.

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“I feel confident. I feel bullish. Bet on Queens,” Richards said Sunday, a day before the New York Gaming Facility Location board is set to decide whether to issue up to three downstate casino licenses — with two bidders pitching locations in Queens.

“Why go to Manhattan? You can stay in Queens! Queens becomes a global entertainment hub,” Richards said.

Illustration of Resorts World casino at Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, New York. AP

New York Mets owner Steve Cohen is leading a group that wants to build a gaming complex near Citi Field while Genting’s Resorts World is bidding for a casino at Aqueduct race track.

Bally’s is also bidding for a casino complex at Ferry Point, President Trump’s former golf course in The Bronx.

The proposed $8 billion Cohen-Hard Rock Metropolitan Park casino complex would be a tourist magnet and an economic multiplier next to the US Tennis Center, new soccer stadium and the Mets home stadium, Richards said.

He said Resorts World, which has operated a slots parlor for more than a decade, can offer live table games within months because they already have the space to do so. The expanded complex with community benefits is worth $7.5 billion.

Both bidders will build concert halls for added entertainment.

“I feel confident. I feel bullish. Bet on Queens,” Richards said. Gabriella Bass

The proposed $8 billion Cohen-Hard Rock Metropolitan Park casino complex would be a tourist magnet. Hard Rock International

Both sites are close to the borough’s two airports — Metropolitan Park near LaGuardia and Resorts World near Kennedy.

Meanwhile, Bally’s $4 billion bid has strong support from the Bronx Democratic Party elected officials, though it has faced some stiff neighborhood opposition.

Bally’s chairman Soo Kim told The Post Saturday he believes his chances of scoring a license “looks pretty good.”

“We put our best effort out there,” he said. “I don’t think we have any weak spots.”

New York Mets owner Steve Cohen (left) is leading a group that wants to build a gaming complex near Citi Field. James Keivom

Bally’s acquired the golf course at Ferry Point from the Trump Organization in 2023, and it’s now called Bally’s Golf Links at Ferry Point. It is on the Bronx side of the Whitestone Bridge that connects with Queens.

As part of the deal, Bally’s agreed to provide the Trump Organization an additional $115 million — if it wins a casino license.

The Gaming Facility Location Board is evaluating each project based on criteria set in state law. Economic activity and business development accounts for 70% of the grade, 10% for location site impact — and 20% combines for workforce enhancement and diversity framework.

Casino applicants each need to pay $500 million license fees to operate – which would go into the cash-strapped state’s coffers — as well commit to at least $500 million in capital investments on their projects.

Some of the proceeds from gaming operators will help fund mass transit.

Bally’s agreed to provide the Trump Organization an additional $115 million — if it wins a casino license. James Messerschmidt

A pool of what was once 11 bidders has dwindled to three – but there’s no guarantee each of the survivors will get licenses because the five-member board doesn’t have to award any.

But many Albany insiders said the immediate cash from the licenses will spur the state to award as many as 3.

The state Gaming Commission will have final say, ratifying or rejecting the awards made by the siting board by year’s end.

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It’s not just because Lander is a knee-jerk leftist who rivals Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani when it comes to his out-of-touch patter on economic policy.

He’s also a dullard seemingly unaware of the core function of the job he’s held for the last four years.

Lander, as the city’s chief fiscal officer, is the fiduciary, investment adviser and custodian of the city’s $300 billion pension fund system.

He’s supposed to make sure the funds are invested in securities that grow in value so they can “fully fund” the retirement accounts of all the city’s police, firefighters and teachers.

Those accounts are not fully funded, and the shortfalls are poised to grow once Mamdani gets into office.

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Recall the mayor-elect’s pledges to raise taxes and turn the city into Moscow-on-the-Hudson, which will certainly cause more businesses and high earners to leave.

Now Lander wants to oust BlackRock from managing city retirement money because it refuses to embrace his weird green energy agenda, which envisions a future of windmills and bicycles along the streets of New York instead of cars — and energy bills that no one can afford.

Consider: BlackRock doesn’t suck at money management, it’s actually quite good at it.

Its CEO, Larry Fink, is considered among the best risk managers in the business.

BlackRock’s big crime is that it doesn’t want to be an accomplice to Lander’s wacky, unrealizable and maybe illegal campaign on the climate — i.e. reducing carbon emissions with brute force.

In Lander’s mind, the stocks of companies that drill for oil, frack natural gas, keep our lights on or make sure the AC works in the summer are pure evil.

The comptroller, of course, prefers those that embrace green energy — like those useless windmills off the coast of New Jersey that give the state some of the highest electricity bills on the planet.

What’s more, Lander literally wants the city to demand that all of BlackRock’s clients’ portfolios — not just the NYC retirement system’s — comply with his whims under threat of NYC yanking its funds.

Dumb and dumber

It’s among the most narcissistically dumb ideas to ever come out of a public official.

Let’s get real: little Brad Lander ain’t doing nothing to stop global warming; China keeps polluting and adding to carbon emissions every day. So does India and the rest of the ­developing world.

Plus, those green stocks often really do really suck (Google “Solyndra”) while companies that invest in good old-fashioned crude like ExxonMobil — with a five-year spike in its shares of nearly 200% far outstripping the S&P — really don’t.

BlackRock’s CEO, it should also be noted, is an odd target for Lander.

Fink was one of the key proponents of so-called Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investing, which took into account carbon emissions of companies in which it invested.

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He got a bad rap from the political right for it, and BlackRock lost business — that is until Fink clarified the company’s position: As Fink told Lander years ago, the NYC comptroller can’t dictate what BlackRock does for the Texas state pension.

Plus, if BlackRock sold all of its $225 billion in energy-related stocks — the largest energy slug owned by any money manager — it would probably crash all major stock market indices.

How is that good for NYC retirees?

It isn’t, of course.

It shows how little thought Lander probably put into this attention-grabbing charade as he reportedly gears up to run for a seat representing lower Manhattan and progressive parts of Brooklyn in Congress in the 2026 midterms.

It also shows why lefty Manhattan Borough President and former City Councilman Mark Levine, who will replace Lander as comptroller, should just ignore his predecessor’s recommendation.

Levine probably won’t, of course, given how progressively cringey NYC politics has become.

I should point out that neither Lander nor Levine has the complete final say over where managers of the city’s retirement system invest all that money.

That say belongs to the trustees of the funds, of which the comptroller has one vote, while the mayor appoints members as well.

That doesn’t mean Lander should be given a pass in the court of public opinion for making this an issue.

Nor should he be given a pass when it comes to his legal obligations as city comptroller, i.e. maximizing returns in the retirement system, as opposed to tilting at windmills.

A fully functioning government should take action before Lander or whoever replaces him does even more damage to a city that has been losing population and business for years.

But our local prosecutors (Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, et al) are too busy jailing citizens defending themselves from criminals to make sure a raging leftist doesn’t defund pension funds that are already underfunded — and bound to get worse as the city goes full-on socialist under our new mayor.

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