New York City Councilwoman Vickie Paladino said Tuesday that the City Council passed the controversial Community Opportunity to Purchase Act with little notice to lawmakers, calling the process a deliberate push to weaken private property rights.
Appearing on Newsmax's "Carl Higbie FRONTLINE," the Queens Republican said council members "did not even know this was going to be on the agenda until the night before" the final stated meeting of the year on Dec. 18.
Paladino told host Carl Higbie that the late scheduling made meaningful review difficult but that lawmakers understood the bill's stakes.
Asked whether council members could realistically read a lengthy proposal in time, Paladino rejected the idea of ignorance.
"No, they read it, and they knew exactly what they were doing," she said.
The bill approved by the New York City Council gives certain nonprofit and community-based groups a preferred path to purchase eligible properties when owners decide to sell.
Paladino said the measure is being marketed as "community" empowerment while excluding everyday New Yorkers.
"Community — that doesn't mean you, the individual," she said.
She framed COPA as part of a broader campaign against private homeownership and said it aligns with the agenda of democratic socialist Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.
"This is exactly what they want," Paladino said.
"He wants community-owned property. He does not want single-family, two-family, three-family, four-family ... anybody to own private homes."
Paladino said the impact to the city would reach far beyond Manhattan, adding that outer borough neighborhoods could be most affected.
"Everybody needs to know this is happening in every borough," she said, adding that "the least affected will probably be Manhattan."
She described the measure as an infringement on basic rights.
"When I called it 'maniacal,' when I called it 'taking away our rights' as citizens of the city of New York, private ownership ... this is so bad," she said.
Paladino also alleged the bill's passage came at the expense of other priorities, saying council leadership cleared the way for COPA by sidelining veterans' legislation.
"Eleven veterans bills were knocked off," she said, explaining that the measures had passed in committee but "disappeared" before the floor vote.
The councilwoman urged New York City residents to pay attention to the bill's consequences and to what she described as the Big Apple's accelerating push toward "community-owned property" over private ownership.
"It's just the tip of the iceberg of what we see happening," Paladino said.
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Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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