In the months before the election of the young democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani as mayor, panic seized members of New York's elite business community. Real-estate moguls, hedge-fund princes, and a well-known supermarket-chain magnate forecast disaster. Several of them vowed to move to Texas or Florida, or at least Hoboken, if Mamdani was elected. So far, however, the city hasn't seen an exodus of its richest residents, and their alarm has lapsed into glum acceptance. I recently asked Kathryn Wylde, the soon-to-be-retired president of the Partnership for New York City'a sort of chamber of commerce for finance, real-estate, and tech barons'how her members now view Mamdani. Has anything changed' Wylde, who voted for the new mayor, paused. 'I would not say it's positive,' she said. 'But those who are at all open to him recognize that he's smart, and they know that their kids voted for him. Now they are waiting to find out who he is.' Mamdani, who took office shortly after midnight,...
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