Zohran Mamdani, mayor of New York City, released a nearly 14-minute documentary on Tuesday titled "The Union of Pinnacle Tenants: A Short History of NYC Housing," Focusing on a tenant union he supported on his first day in office in January.
The film documents a tenant union spanning 93 buildings formerly owned by Pinnacle Group. It does not mention the group's ties to the Crown Heights-based Palestine Solidarity Working Group, which has stated that displacement of tenants in Brooklyn is connected to the Palestinian cause.
The documentary portrays the union as a grassroots response to leaks, vermin, utility failures and other hazardous conditions affecting approximately 5,100 rent-stabilized apartments.
The union has criticized Pinnacle, owned by Jewish real estate investor Joel Wiener, for raising money through Israel's bond market. The documentary does not address this criticism.
The Palestine Solidarity Working Group stated: "From Oct. 7, 2023, the Palestine Solidarity Working Group of Crown Heights Tenant Union heightened the urgency of this campaign, to intentionally disrupt the connected processes of displacement between Palestine and Brooklyn." The group has argued that tenant struggles in Crown Heights constitute part of a global movement aligned with Palestinian causes.
According to the union's website, Pinnacle began borrowing through the Israeli bond market in 2012 and had raised approximately $500 million by 2017. The union stated: "The Israeli occupation's banks and institutional investors lend Pinnacle money to buy rent-stabilized buildings in New York, and Pinnacle pays them back with interest on those loans."
The documentary instead describes the union as emerging from tenant conversations about building conditions and organizing during Pinnacle's bankruptcy proceedings, which began in 2024. Summit Properties acquired the portfolio on April 1, 2026. Mamdani's administration said its intervention helped secure a commitment from Summit to spend $30 million on repairs and forgive millions in rent arrears.
Cea Weaver, director of the Mayor's Office to Protect Tenants, narrates the documentary. Weaver faced earlier backlash after social-media posts resurfaced in which she called for seizure of private property and described homeownership as a "weapon of white supremacy."