Mayor Zohran Mamdani rolled out a lite version of his much-touted “Department of Community Safety” on Thursday — with just two staffers and a budget of $260 million to reshape how the city handles 911 calls.
The new “Mayor’s Office of Community Safety” will be leaps smaller than the crowd of supporters who flanked Mamdani during a raucous rally-style event in City Hall, where he unveiled the initiative.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks on March 13, 2026. Andrew Schwartz / SplashNews.com
Mamdani called it a “step” toward his campaign promise of a department with a $1.1 billion budget that would send social workers to respond to non-violent 911 calls instead of NYPD cops.
“This will demand a multifaceted approach to a wide array of challenges across the city,” he said. “It will require ambition, compassion and competence.”
The meat of Mamdani’s announcement was significantly more scrawny than his expansive rhetoric.
He tapped Renita Francois – who previously headed a neighborhood safety initiative under former Mayor Bill de Blasio – to serve as the first Deputy Mayor for Community Safety.
Port Authority police patrolling Penn Station on March 13, 2026. Getty Images
The new deputy mayor position will oversee a grab bag of safety-related departments, such as the Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes and Division of Community Mental Health, that will be moved under the new office’s umbrella, officials said.
The pared-down initiative immediately raised eyebrows — especially as it was unclear what the multi-million dollar budget would be used for, and where the funding was coming from.
“This feels more like Thrive 2.0,” former city comptroller and ex-mayoral candidate Scott Stringer wrote on X, referring to de Blasio’s $1 billion mental health boondoggle.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani will roll out a pared-down initiative to overhaul how NYC handles mental health calls. AP
“How can you have no spending plan for 250 m. No staff? If this was announced during the campaign he would have lost.”
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The new mayor’s office was first reported by The New York Times, which noted Mamdani will launch it with an executive order. In order to create an entirely new department as promised, he would have needed the OK of the City Council, led by moderate Speaker Julie Menin.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani outlines his budget for 2026. AP
Sources told The Post that City Hall shifted strategy weeks ago, mulling creating a “deputy mayor” role rather than a Department of Community Safety.
Mamdani gave few specifics as to how the new office will work.
“So, what we are going to see over the next few weeks and months and years is going to be a fulfillment and an answer to many of these questions,” he said.