Mamdani Launches “Office of Mass Engagement” While Distancing Administration from Adams Era

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced Friday that his first executive order as mayor was designed to mark a clear separation from the administration of former Mayor Eric Adams, while simultaneously establishing a new City Hall office aimed at transforming public involvement in governance.

During a question-and-answer session focused on what he called the city’s revived “Office of Mass Engagement,” Mamdani explained the significance of his initial executive action.

“In the first executive order, you, as the new mayor of a city, have to sign a continuation of all prior executive orders or a revocation or an amendment of all of them,” Mamdani said. His administration chose to continue only those executive orders issued before Adams’ 2024 indictment on federal corruption charges, which were later dropped by the Justice Department and dismissed by a federal judge in April.

The decision was symbolic of a fresh start for city governance. “What we did was to sign an executive order that continued every executive order that predated the moment when our former mayor was indicted,” Mamdani explained, describing it as “a moment when many New Yorkers lost even more faith in New York City politics and the ability of city government to actually prioritize the needs of the public, as opposed to the needs of the person.”

The executive order effectively revoked or required reissuance of all mayoral directives issued after September 26, 2024, giving the Mamdani administration control over which policies would carry forward into the new era.

Beyond this political reset, Mamdani outlined his vision for the newly established Office of Mass Engagement, which will be led by Tascha Van Auken, an experienced organizer whose background spans national Democratic campaigns and New York City’s Democratic Socialists of America.

“Since President Obama’s first campaign in 2008 to her leadership in New York City DSA, Tascha has spent more than a decade organizing at scale,” Mamdani said. He credited Van Auken with building the volunteer operation behind his mayoral campaign, mobilizing more than 100,000 volunteers who knocked on over 3 million doors across the city.

The new office aims to consolidate and enhance civic engagement efforts that have previously been scattered throughout city government.

“The work of civic engagement has existed before today. It has been a part of city government,” Mamdani acknowledged. “However, it has often been siloed in different parts of city government infrastructure, sometimes under different offices, sometimes through different initiatives.”

A key goal of the Office of Mass Engagement is to fundamentally change when public input occurs in the policy process. “Oftentimes, the outreach and engagement of city government is done with an intention to justify a decision that’s already been taken,” Mamdani said. “The point of this office is, however, to make decisions with a large part being what the public actually thinks about those decisions.”

When questioned about the budget and staffing for the new initiative, Mamdani indicated that the office would initially draw from existing city employees, with details about future expansion to be shared later.

Mamdani dismissed suggestions that the office was politically motivated toward his reelection, insisting it was focused on “delivering for New Yorkers today, delivering for New Yorkers every single day.” He emphasized that the current moment represents “an opportunity where New Yorkers are allowing themselves to believe in the possibility of city government once again, that is not a belief that will sustain itself in the absence of action.”

The mayor also highlighted another appointment in line with his civic engagement philosophy, naming Ali Najimy to lead recruitment and outreach for the Mayor’s Advisory Committee on the Judiciary. This move aims to democratize the judicial selection process, ensuring candidates are evaluated “on the merits of their experience, their qualifications, their commitment to public service,” rather than connections.

Looking ahead, Mamdani set clear expectations for how the Office of Mass Engagement should be evaluated. “We should not be measured on the number of meetings we hold, or the number of surveys that are filled out,” he said. “We should, in fact, be measured by the way in which we incorporate that feedback into the decisions that we make.”

This initiative represents one of the first concrete policy moves by the newly inaugurated mayor, who has promised to bring a more inclusive and responsive approach to governing New York City.