US News Metro Long Island Politics

Sports NFL MLB Olympics NBA NHL College Football College Basketball WNBA

Entertainment TV Movies Music Celebrities Awards Theater

Lifestyle Weird But True Sex & Relationships Viral Trends Human Interest Parenting Fashion & Beauty Food & Drink Travel

Health Wellness Fitness Health Care Medicine Men’s Health Women’s Health Mental Health Nutrition

Science Space Environment Wildlife Archaeology

Today’s Paper Covers Columnists Horoscopes Crosswords & Games Sports Odds Podcasts Careers

Email Newsletters Official Store Home Delivery Tips

Switch between CA and NY editions here.

Mamdani beware — Cleveland’s forgotten folly holds a warning for NYC

See more of our coverage in your search results.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani is just the latest in a long line of tax-the-rich politicians eager to go after America’s business elite — but he should consider how one such war on wealth enriched and empowered the city over which he now presides.

If not for Cleveland, Ohio, New York’s rise as the nation’s undisputed center of capital, commerce and culture may never have happened.

By 1914, John D. Rockefeller was already the richest man in America.

Standard Oil, the behemoth he originally incorporated in Cleveland, had moved its headquarters to 26 Broadway in New York in 1885 — a strategic decision driven by access to global capital markets, not any hostility toward his home state.

In 1899, though, responding to New Jersey’s deliberate decision to actively compete for the business by liberalizing its corporate laws, he reincorporated Standard Oil as a Jersey holding company while retaining his New York City home base.

Two states vied for Rockefeller’s enterprise — and both won something.

Fuming Mamdani blocked from speaking at fallen NYC soldier’s funeral despite writing speech: ‘He was never called’

Mamdani’s pied-à-terre tax: Letters to the Editor — Aug. 1, 2026

Mamdani and Albany need to face the deadly E-bike menace NOW

But Rockefeller’s heart remained in Ohio: His wife Cettie loved Forest Hill, their estate in East Cleveland, and he returned to her there each summer.

When Cettie became ill in 1913, Rockefeller stayed through........

© New York Post