TEANECK, N.J. — New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is celebrating Teaneck Mayor Mark "Mendy" Schwartz after Schwartz took over three troubled apartment buildings in Crown Heights.

The buildings, at 1018 Eastern Parkway, 1074 Eastern Parkway and 1392 Sterling Place, contain 88 rent-stabilized apartments and nearly 1,000 open housing-code violations.

Schwartz, the Orthodox Jewish mayor of Teaneck, is now being publicly praised by Mamdani as part of a deal aimed at fixing the troubled properties and eventually moving them toward resident ownership.

The buildings were previously controlled by the estate of Rubin Dukler, a landlord who twice landed on the New York City Public Advocate’s list of the city’s worst landlords. Tenants and city officials have spent years dealing with the buildings’ problems.

In 2019, 18 tenants sued over 561 open housing violations, including lack of heat, vermin and other serious problems.

In 2020, another group of 22 tenants sued over $2 million in alleged illegal rent overcharges. They claimed rents were raised even though a rent freeze was in place because building defects had not been fixed.

The city later placed the buildings in its Alternative Enforcement Program, which targets some of New York’s most troubled properties.

Now Schwartz is taking over.

Under the agreement, Schwartz will work with the tenants and the city to rehabilitate the buildings. Tenants will have a role in overseeing the work, with the long-term goal of moving toward resident ownership.

Mamdani’s administration is calling the deal a victory for the tenants, and Mamdani himself celebrated the transfer.

That puts the mayor of Teaneck in an unusual position.

Schwartz is not just a New York real estate investor. He is the mayor of Teaneck, one of Bergen County’s largest Orthodox Jewish communities.

Mamdani, meanwhile, has become the most prominent anti-Israel and antisemitic voice in American public life. He has repeatedly used his public platform to attack Israel, demean Jews and push rhetoric that many Jews say helps normalize hostility toward them and makes Jewish communities less safe.

Yet his administration is now celebrating the mayor of Teaneck.

The housing deal will ultimately be judged by what happens next. The buildings have major problems, and tenants will be watching to see whether the promised repairs are completed and whether the path toward resident ownership becomes reality.

For now, however, New York City Hall is celebrating Mark Schwartz, the mayor of Teaneck.