Real Estate CEO and Community Activist Drew Early Inspiration from Firebrand Bella Abzug

The face is unmistakable yet surprising, somehow, staring down from the wall into that corner office where multimillion dollar real estate deals are hatched.

Looking out from under her trademark wide brim is none other than the progressive and feminist crusader Bella Abzug.

Bess Freedman, who as CEO of Brown, Harris, Stevens, is one of the most influential brokers in New York, placed Bella on the wall to honor the moment the activist changed her life.

“Bella was speaking at RPI [Renessalaer Polytechnic Institute] in Troy, New York,” recalled Freedman, who grew up nearby. “My mom, I was a little kid, took me. I was nine. We sat in the seats, and I stood at the stage, and it just changed my life. I went home. I still have what I wrote in my diary. I still have that writing that said, ‘I want to be like Bella.’”

For young Bess it was as much persona as politics. “One day I’m going to be a lawyer,” she remembers thinking. “I looked at her and I thought, ‘I want to follow in that...elbows out, you know, tough lady.’”

Bella always said a woman’s place was in the House. And the Senate. And the corner office. So while Freedman’s politics may be more moderate, her empowerment is everything Abzug campaigned for.

“You have to see it to be it, right? I looked at her and I thought, ‘I want to follow in that.’”

Young Bess went on to become a lawyer, a prosecutor in Maryland and a juvenile defender in New York, before finding her calling as a real estate broker, philanthropist and promoter of social change. Our Town sat down for a chat with her in that corner office, edited for length and clarity:

Tell us about the two parts of you. The executive and the campaigner for social good.

It’s an interesting thing. People point that out a lot. They say, “well, you’re in this position, and you’re running like this luxury real estate firm where people are selling $50 million apartments, but at the same time you care about and you’re on the board of an affordable housing place [The Bridge]. And you were a prosecutor, a legal aid lawyer.”

I think that we’re all so complicated. We all have facets of ourselves, right? And this culture has decided that we have to be binary. Either you’re black or white. Or this or that. But I feel like we’re mostly gray, as human beings. I love my job. I get to work with incredible people. But just because I’m in this job doesn’t mean that I’m not a person who cares about other people and wants to help them and do all those things.

I think we’re so in that [polarized] mindset. It’s like AOC when she went to the Met Gala and wore a dress that said, tax the rich. Why are we demonizing people because they have money? Plenty of wealthy people give back. I mean, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, because they’re rich doesn’t make them bad. We have to stop doing that. We know what’s going on politically. It’s this sort of swinging of stuff. The middle is sort of the sweet spot, right?

I’m a middle person. I don’t like these super left or super right. And the rhetoric today, which scares me, because I’m on all these chats. And I say, you know, stop this rhetoric about demonizing immigrants. It is really dangerous. The people that I know that are immigrants that came here, are working here, are legal and doing their best. Yes, are there some people that you have to arrest? But that’s not the majority.

How do you see that playing out in New York City?

What are the challenges, right? A big one would be the lack of compromise. If you think about the City Council, we have these very progressive people who, not to criticize them, but they don’t really understand how real estate works, and they pass all these laws that they think help the city, but they don’t, and they’d rather police language versus the streets, and it’s unhelpful....And also you want to make the police feel respected, they’re working hard. You know, of course, are there bad actors in every profession? But we have to again, stop demonizing people who are keeping us safe.

Say more about what needs to be done to expand affordable housing in New York

City of Yes is a good start. But at the end of the day, so many things are challenging people. So many developers that I know, and I’ve worked with, feel like they want to pack up, pencils down, because they don’t feel welcome. It’s almost like they’re making it impossible for people to want to be a part of the city. And why are they doing that? Why is the City Council being so difficult, versus wanting to work with people.

Look at The Bridge, which I’m on the board of. I’m honored to be a part of that organization. And I do very little compared to others. I just volunteer some time and go to the gala and raise money. They’ve been responsible for building 28 buildings of affordable housing that gives services to seniors, that helps people with mental illness, that treats people who have drug addiction and get some services, gets them jobs, education.

It’s transformative, We need people to back organizations like The Bridge. There’s many of them, and to be able to do more of that kind of stuff. We want people to have good lives, right?

Assuring a bright future for New York sounds like more than just a business imperative for you?

I’ve been here 25 years. I will never leave. I just love the city. I go to Rhinebeck on the weekends [where mom Sylvia lives]. But I love the hustle and bustle. I love the subways. I could take a car if I want, but I like taking the train for efficiency. I just like everything about the city. I love this city so much. It gives me energy. The people, the chaos, the fun, the humor.

And the food, oh, my God, every corner. Obviously, as a Jew, I care greatly about what I’m eating. We plan trips based on the restaurants, so it’s important. But I do love the city. And that’s why I also want the city to be cleaner. I want it to be safer. I want all the things that matter for a great city, which we are. A great city.