It’s Friday, Jan. 2, the second day of Zohran Mamdani’s time period as mayor. New York News is following Mamdani round his first 100 days in workplace as we carefully monitor his progress on fulfilling marketing campaign guarantees, appointing key leaders to authorities posts, and managing town’s funds. Right here’s a abstract of what the mayor did at the moment.
On the second day of his administration, Mayor Zohran Mamdani took steps to formalize the movement-style organizing inside Metropolis Corridor that helped propel him to victory in November.
At a press convention on Friday at Grand Military Plaza, surrounded by marketing campaign volunteers, Mamdani signed an govt order establishing the Mayor’s Workplace of Mass Engagement, a brand new executive-level workplace meant to centralize and increase alternatives for New Yorkers to take part in metropolis authorities.
Mamdani named Tascha Van Auken, a longtime Democratic Socialists of America organizer and veteran progressive marketing campaign operative, because the workplace’s inaugural commissioner.
“She also spent many years working at the Blue Man Group, which means she brings both organizing discipline and an unusual tolerance for chaos,” Mamdani quipped.
The brand new workplace, Mamdani mentioned, just isn’t a continuation of the marketing campaign equipment however a restructuring of current civic engagement capabilities inside metropolis authorities.
“Too often engagement is fragmented or symbolic,” Mamdani mentioned. “Too often people are asked for input, but never see how it shapes outcomes.”
“Oftentimes, the outreach and engagement of city government is done with an intention to justify a decision that’s already been taken,” Mamdani continued. He mentioned the brand new workplace is meant to make sure public suggestions is embedded earlier in coverage design and decision-making.
Administration: What’s the Mayor’s Workplace of Mass Engagement?
Tasha Van Auken, commissioner of the Mayor’s Workplace of Mass Engagement, speaks Friday at Grand Military Plaza about turning campaign-style participation right into a everlasting function of metropolis authorities.Picture by Lloyd Mitchell
In accordance with the mayor, the Workplace of Mass Engagement will mix current neighborhood affairs and public engagement models underneath a single umbrella and instantly change how Metropolis Corridor coordinates outreach. Whereas particulars on staffing and price range had been nonetheless being finalized, Mamdani mentioned workers at the moment working in engagement roles could be folded into the brand new workplace, with extra info to be launched later.
Requested whether or not the workplace could be used to mobilize volunteers to strain state officers in help of the mayor’s legislative priorities, together with greater taxes on the rich, Mamdani mentioned his administration wouldn’t pursue its agenda “behind closed doors” alone.
“Our agenda is not one that is going to be fought for simply behind the closed doors of city and state government,” he mentioned, including that residents could be concerned each in shaping and advocating for coverage objectives.
Van Auken, who led Mamdani’s area operation that mobilized greater than 100,000 volunteers and knocked on greater than 3 million doorways, mentioned the workplace is supposed to show campaign-style participation into a long-lasting function of governance.
“The Office of Mass Engagement is about taking that ethos and making it part of how government works,” Van Auken mentioned. She mentioned the workplace will deal with “organizing participation at scale, strengthening feedback loops so public input shapes policy, and building the relationships and systems — human and digital — that make long-term co-governance possible.”
Van Auken, who additionally beforehand served in metropolis authorities as chief of employees to Assemblymember Phara Souffrant Forrest, mentioned the aim just isn’t merely to solicit suggestions however to make sure residents see how their participation influences outcomes.
“A government that doesn’t just ask for input, but acts on it,” Van Auken mentioned, including that New Yorkers ought to see themselves “not as spectators, but as co-creators of our shared future.”
Mamdani mentioned the success of the workplace wouldn’t be measured by the variety of conferences or surveys it produces, however by whether or not engagement results in tangible modifications in coverage and repair supply.
“Judge us by whether engagement changes outcomes,” Mamdani mentioned.
Governance: All rise
On Friday, Mamdani additionally named his election legal professional Ali Najmi as chair of the Mayor’s Advisory Committee on the Judiciary, which is launching a brand new effort to contain a broader section of town’s authorized neighborhood in choosing judges.
The committee evaluates and appoints judges to town’s household and legal courts, in addition to interim judges for civil courts.
Najmi, a longtime pal and advisor to Mamdani, can also be a fellow Queens resident. The 2 first related when Mamdani volunteered on Najmi’s unsuccessful 2015 Metropolis Council marketing campaign in jap Queens. They’ve stayed shut since, with Najmi serving as Mamdani’s lawyer and mentor throughout his Meeting and mayoral campaigns.
Ali Najmi says the mayor’s advisory committee will increase entry to town’s judicial system and recruit judges primarily based on advantage, not connectionsPhoto by Lloyd Mitchell
Najmi has spent roughly 15 years representing rebel Democratic candidates, serving to guarantee a variety of voices can get on the poll. Within the June primaries alone, he represented at the very least 18 candidates.
To help this initiative, Mamdani signed an govt order directing Najmi’s committee to interact the broader authorized neighborhood within the judicial choice course of, together with public defenders, household courtroom attorneys, and people in indigent authorized companies.
The order additionally goals to make the committee extra clear by frequently releasing demographic information on judicial candidates and making a searchable public database of upcoming appointments. Moreover, it extends committee member phrases from two to 4 years.
Mamdani mentioned these modifications are supposed to make the courtroom system extra accessible and accountable to the general public.
Government order fallout: Mayor stands by order altering definition of antisemitism
One govt order Mamdani signed on his first day in workplace revoked a collection of mayoral govt orders issued on or after Sept. 26, 2024 — the date former Mayor Eric Adams was indicted on federal fraud expenses associated to alleged marketing campaign finance violations.
Among the many revoked orders issued through the remaining 16 months of Adams’ administration had been measures barring metropolis officers and appointees from discriminating towards Israel and a June directive adopting the Worldwide Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism.
Israeli Consul Common in New York Ofir Akunis was amongst those that criticized the transfer Friday, saying it contradicted Mamdani’s pledge to manipulate inclusively.
“The mayor of New York said he would be a mayor for everyone, yet he is taking dangerous steps in the exact opposite direction,” Akunis mentioned in a press release. Revoking the IHRA definition of antisemitism and permitting boycotts of Israel, he mentioned, “pose an immediate threat to the safety of Jewish communities in New York City” and will result in elevated antisemitic violence.
A number of civil rights organizations and progressive Jewish teams oppose the IHRA definition, arguing it has been used to suppress criticism of Israel — a place Mamdani has publicly supported.
Picture by Lloyd Mitchell
He mentioned the chief order was meant to provide his administration a “clean slate” whereas reaffirming a dedication to fight hate, together with antisemitism, by funding hate crime prevention, neighborhood engagement and what he described as a “politics of universality.”
Mamdani additionally famous that some Jewish organizations have raised considerations concerning the IHRA definition and mentioned his administration would deal with defending Jewish New Yorkers in ways in which deal with these considerations.
Requested whether or not the revocations had been deliberate, Mamdani didn’t present a direct reply. As an alternative, he mentioned new mayors should both proceed, revoke or amend current govt orders. He mentioned his administration selected to protect orders issued earlier than Adams’ indictment.
“I was proud yesterday to sign a number of executive orders that will give my administration a clean slate to get to work on delivering a new era for New Yorkers, one where they can envision living an affordable and dignified life,” he mentioned.
“We will now showcase a new era,” Mamdani continued, “one that protects every New Yorker and delivers for them in ways they have not seen under prior administrations.”
