Breathtaking hypocrisy of woke NYC mayoral aide who says whites proudly owning properties is racist… as her $1.4m secret is revealed
New York City‘s new renters’ tsar wasted no time in outraging locals by vowing to make life harder for whites in the Big Apple over their role in ‘racist gentrification.’
But Cea Weaver has kept strangely quiet about her own mother – a white professor who owns a gorgeous $1.4 million home in America’s fastest gentrifying city, where longtime black residents are quickly being priced out.
The hardline leftist’s mother Celia Applegate, a professor German Studies at prestigious Vanderbilt University, resides at a pretty, roomy 1930s Craftsman home in one of Nashville’s leafiest neighborhoods.
Applegate and her partner David Blackbourn, a professor of history, purchased their home in Music City USA’s Hillsboro West End neighborhood in July 2012 for $814,000, according to county property records.
Since then, its value has soared by nearly $600,000 – a surge in value likely to infuriate Weaver, who in July 2018 tweeted: ‘Impoverish the white middle class. Homeownership is racist.’
Strangely, Weaver hasn’t confessed to her own family wealth – or whether she has ever confronted her mother about benefitting from owning her own home.
On Tuesday, New York’s socialist mayor Zohran Mamdani vowed to stand behind Weaver despite her anti-white views, after the Trump administration warned she faces a probe.
Weaver has also failed to disclose whether she will sell the property if she ever inherits it, to give cash to the kind of worthy causes she likes to preach about.
And there is plenty for her to be angry about in Nashville.
Cea Weaver (second from left back row) is the daughter of a professor who owns a $1.4 million home in fast-gentrifying Nashville. Weaver, who is New York City’s new renters’ tsar, has made no mention of this fact despite branding home ownership and gentrification racist. Weaver’s mother Celia Appleton is pictured (front row left in blue dress) at the wedding of her son Henry (center in gray suit)
Her mother Celia Applegate owns a $1.4 million home (pictured) in the gentrified Hillsboro West End neighborhood of Nashville, Tennessee
Middle class black residents who once made up a large segment of the same area have found themselves driven out of their longstanding homes by the likes of Weaver’s mother.
The Tennessee capital exhibited the most ‘intense’ gentrification of any city in the US from 2010 to 2020, according to a National Community Reinvestment Coalition report published last year.
Contacted by the Daily Mail Monday, Weaver said: ‘I can’t talk to you now, but can talk to you later,’ and hung up before a reporter could ask any questions.
Weaver, her lawyer brother and Blackbourn’s two children could one day inherit their parents’ home, as suggested by the warranty deed issued at the date of sale.
But the housing justice activist is a vocal opponent of homeownership and believes property should be treated as a ‘common good,’ posing questions over whether she will hold her own family to the same standards she holds the American public.
Socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani appointed Weaver, 37, to be the director of New York City’s newly reinvigorated Office to Protect Tenants on his first day in the office.
Weaver grew up in a single-family home in Rochester, New York that her father Stewart Weaver purchased for $180,000 in 1997, property records show.
The property, like many across the nation, has seen significant price appreciation over the past few decades and is now valued at more than $516,000.
Weaver was appointed to Mamdani’s team under one of three executive orders the new mayor signed on his first day in office. The duo are pictured together
She moved to NYC after studying at Bryn Mawr College, a private women’s liberal arts college in Pennsylvania. She graduated in 2010 with a bachelor’s degree in the growth and structure of cities.
Weaver earned her master’s in urban planning from New York University in 2014. It is unclear when exactly she moved to NYC, but is currently living in Brooklyn.
Her last known address is at a three-bedroom apartment in a six-unit building in the historically black neighborhood of Crown Heights.
She appears to rent the unit for around $3,800 per month, previous realty listings revealed.
Crown Heights, like the Hillsboro West End neighborhood where Applegate lives, has experienced ‘profound’ gentrification in recent years, which experts allege has ‘exacerbated racial disparities’ in the historically-black community.
Census data showed that from 2010 to 2020 the white population in Crown Heights increased two-fold – by over 11,000 residents – while the black population declined by 19,000 people, according to an ArcGIS report published in February 2024.
Black small owners also reported being pushed out of the community and alleged that culture dating back more than 50 years was starting to disappear.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani appointed Weaver (pictured together) as director of the newly revitalized Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants on his first day in office
Celia Applegate (right) and her partner David Blackbourn, (left) both professors at prestigious Vanderbilt University, purchased their Nashville home in July 2012 for $814,000. But the couple’s property value has skyrocketed nearly $600,000 in just 13 years
Cea Weaver grew up in a single-family home in Rochester, New York that her father Stewart Weaver purchased for $180,000 in 1997. The home (pictured) has seen significant price appreciation over the past few decades and is now valued at more than $516,000
Weaver now lives in Brooklyn’s once-historically black Crown Heights neighborhood, seemingly renting a three-bedroom unit for around $3,800 per month. A Working Families Party sign can be seen displayed in a window of what is believed to be her apartment
Weaver, in her new role, has vowed to launch a ‘new era of standing up for tenants and fighting for safe, stable, and affordable homes.’
But her promise is now being scrutinized after internet sleuths unearthed a collection of controversial old posts she made between 2017 and 2019 on a now-deleted X account.
Weaver’s tweets saw her call to ‘impoverish the white middle class’ and brand homeownership as ‘racist’ and ‘failed public policy.’
She called to ‘seize private property’ and even claimed that ‘homeownership is a weapon of white supremacy masquerading as “wealth building” public policy.’
The tenant advocate encouraged voters to ‘elect more communists’ and urged for the endorsement of a ‘no more white men in office platform.’
Weaver, in a now-viral video believed to have been recorded during a podcast appearance in 2022, also suggested a change in homeownership is soon to come.
She predicted there will a shift from treating property like an ‘individualized good’ to a ‘collective goal,’ which she added will have a significant impact on ‘white families.’
It is unclear if Weaver, serves as the executive director of two organizations that advocate for tenant protections, still shares these viewpoints today.
She has given no indication of a shift in her politics and proudly accepted a job working for the most left-wing mayor ever to govern New York City.
Weaver has come under fire over a slew of resurfaced social media posts from her since deleted X account that appeared to target white people
Weaver was appointed to Mamdani’s team under one of three executive orders the new mayor signed on his first day in office.
The order named her boss of the newly revitalized Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants.
Weaver currently serves as the executive director of Housing Justice for All and the New York State Tenant Bloc.
She advocated for and played a key role in the passing of the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019, which aimed to expand tenants’ rights across the state of New York.
The law strengthened rent stabilization, made it harder for landlords to raise rents sharply, and imposed restrictions of landlord actions, such as evictions. It also capped housing application fees to $20 and limited security deposits to one month’s rent.
Weaver is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, like Mamdani, and served as a policy adviser on the NYC mayor’s campaign.
She was also named one of Crain’s New York’s 40 Under 40 last year.
