{"id":103491,"date":"2026-01-17T19:58:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T19:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/103491\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T19:58:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T19:58:09","slug":"mamdani-names-longtime-dem-operative-as-nyc-parks-commissioner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/103491\/","title":{"rendered":"Mamdani names longtime Dem operative as NYC parks commissioner"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A longtime Democratic operative was tapped Saturday to head up NYC\u2019s Parks Department, Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced.<\/p>\n<p>Mamdani announced the appointment of Tricia Shimamura \u2013 a former top aide for Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Comptroller Mark Levine when he was Manhattan borough president \u2013 during a press conference at on the Bronx side of Highbridge Park.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe is an incredible New Yorker with a deep record of public service and a long standing commitment to fighting for working people,\u201d Mamdani said of Shimamura, whose resume also including stints as a social worker and director of government relations for Columbia University. At the Ivy, she led a vote-by-mail drive for more than 20,000 students during pandemic.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38211651\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/tricia-shimamura-new-parks-comm-119095988.jpg\" alt=\"Tricia Shimamura, the New Parks Comm., speaking at a press conference.\" class=\"wp-image-38211651\"  \/>Tricia Shimamura, a longtime Democratic operative who currently oversees Manhattan parks, will now head NYC\u2019s Parks Department, Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced Saturday. Robert Miller for NY Post<\/p>\n<p>She also ran to represent the Upper East Side on the City Council in 2021 but lost in the Democratic primary to current Speaker Julie Menin. <\/p>\n<p>Mamdani also promised to make good on his campaign pledge of making parks a top priority for his administration as he prepares to deliver his first city budget.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38211652\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/tricia-shimamura-new-parks-comm-119095992.jpg\" alt=\"NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Tricia Shimamura, Althea Stevens, and Landon Dias at a press conference in High Bridge Park.\" class=\"wp-image-38211652\"  \/>Mamdani (second from left) during the conference promised to make good on his campaign promise of making parks a top priority for his administration as he gets ready to deliver his first city budget. Robert Miller for NY Post<\/p>\n<p>Shimamura joined the Parks Department in 2024 when then-Mayor Eric Adams named her Manhattan borough commissioner. She\u2019s replacing Iris Rodriguez-Rosa, a 40-year agency staffer who Adams named parks commissioner last year. The agency oversees 30,000 acres across the five boroughs. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs commissioner, I will work to ensure that our parks aren\u2019t just free, but they\u2019re engaging spaces that New Yorkers can be proud of,\u201d Shimamura said. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe will hold every part to the same level of the significance as we would our own backyard, because we know that that\u2019s what we are.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A longtime Democratic operative was tapped Saturday to head up NYC\u2019s Parks Department, Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced. Mamdani&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":103492,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[47244,19817,75,57,9,56,63,65,64,10649,14182,87,58,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-103491","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-carolyn-maloney","9":"tag-columbia-university","10":"tag-manhattan","11":"tag-metro","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-ny","14":"tag-nyc","15":"tag-nyc-headlines","16":"tag-nyc-news","17":"tag-parks","18":"tag-parks-department","19":"tag-politics","20":"tag-us-news","21":"tag-zohran-mamdani"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103491"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103491\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}