NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani creates Office of Mass Engagement to expand City Hall outreach
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani signed an executive order Friday establishing the Mayor's Office of Mass Engagement to streamline City Hall's existing community affairs and public engagement units.
Mamdani said the new office will be "a fundamental part of city government dedicated to rebuilding our social infrastructure at scale."
The mayor made the announcement and took questions during a news conference at Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn. It was streamed live on CBS News New York.
"The Office of Mass Engagement will organize participation across this city, proactively reach those that have been excluded, and ensure that public feedback is embedded directly into how we design policies, deliver services and make decisions," Mamdani said.
The mayor said Tascha Van Auken, one of his campaign's key organizers, will serve as the office's first commissioner.
"Since President Obama's first campaign in 2008 to her leadership in New York City [Democratic Socialists of America], Tascha has spent more than a decade organizing at scale," Mamdani said. "On our campaign, she mobilized more than 100,000 volunteers who knocked on more than 3 million doors, not just to win an election, but to build leadership and a real sense of community across this city."
Mamdani rides subway
Mamdani and his mayoral security detail took the subway to work on Friday morning, the day after his high-energy inauguration. The mayor boarded in Astoria, Queens, and shook hands with riders throughout the train.
Mamdani focused heavily on improving city transit during his campaign.
He promised to make buses "fast and free," but so far Gov. Kathy Hochul and MTA leaders have not expressed support for the mayor's plan to eliminate bus fares.
Bolstering tenants' rights
Mamdani also took action on his first day in office, signing executive orders that are intended to bolster tenants' rights and jumpstart housing development.
The mayor announced the orders at a rent-stabilized building in Brooklyn just hours after giving his inauguration speech.
"We will stand up on behalf of the tenants of this city," Mamdani said.
The first executive order reestablishes what's called the Mayor's Office to Protect Tenants.
Mamdani said it's designed to serve as a central hub to defend renters' rights and push city agencies to respond faster to unsafe or illegal living conditions.
"If your landlord does not responsibly steward your home, city government will step in. We will make sure that 311 violations are resolved, and we will hold slumlords to account for hazardous and dangerous threats to your well-being," he said.
Housing push "a double-edged sword"
Mamdani's second executive order creates the LIFT Task Force, short for Land Inventory Fast Track, and aims to review city-owned land for housing development by July 1.
The third order kickstarts the SPEED Task Force — Streamlining Procedures to Expedite Equitable Development — focused on removing bureaucratic hurdles that slow housing construction across the city.
Political expert J.C. Polanco called the mayor's push for housing "a double-edged sword."
"On one end, tenants are happy to have a pro-tenant mayor that is talking about freezing the rend and providing more protections for them. On the other side, is the reality of the shortage we currently have with housing. We have hundreds of thousands of apartments that are sitting vacant because of these archaic laws that make it impossible for small mom-and-pop landlords to rent their apartments," Polanco said.
In his inauguration speech, Mamdani proclaimed his administration would usher in "a new era" for the city.