CITYWIDE \u2014Mayor Zohran Mamdani knocked on doors at 760 Grand Concourse in the Bronx Wednesday morning to kick off a new program aiming to bring mass public participation into the process of running the city.<\/p>\n
The first campaign of the effort, called Organize NYC, will be to encourage New Yorkers to testify ahead of the Rent Guidelines Board hearings in June.<\/p>\n
Mamdani was accompanied by Tascha Van Auken,\u00a0commissioner of the Mayor\u2019s Office of Mass Engagement, who was appointed in January to run the new bureau. Van Auken had organized thousands of volunteers to knock on doors and make phone calls during Mamdani\u2019s successful mayoral campaign.<\/p>\n
\u201cA year and a half ago, we launched a campaign that conventional wisdom said would not work,\u201d Mamdani told reporters at Wednesday\u2019s press conference, noting, \u201c104,000 people knocked on 3 million doors \u2026 [and] went to work to win a more affordable city, and they did it in New York City.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Now the mayor and Van Auken hope to harness this same public energy to involve more city residents into major public decisions.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe political process must not and cannot end just on election day,\u201d Mamdani said. \u201cWe want the voices of working class New Yorkers to be the driving force behind the decisions that shape their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Mayor](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Mamdani-Organize-NYC-rent-01-NYC-600x331.jpg\")
Mayor Zohran Mamdani, center, introduces Organize NYC, a program aiming to mobile the public to help guide city decisions. Left: Tascha Van Auken, commissioner of the Mayor\u2019s Office of Mass Engagement. Right: Cea Weaver, director of the Mayor\u2019s Office to Protect Tenants. Photo: NYC Mayor\u2019s Office screenshot<\/p>\n
Van Auken said the effort was meant to ensure New Yorkers are actively guiding the city they live in.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always been inspired by the ability of people to make real changes through organization and purpose,\u201d she said. \u201cThe movement that brought us here continues to inspire me. \u2026 There is immense power in creating an organized New York City.\u201d<\/p>\n
Education and involvement are the main goals, officials said. When Mamdani spoke to residents in the Bronx, some of them were not even sure if they were rent stabilized. \u201cWe had to tell them they were,\u201d the mayor said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Organize NYC will not advocate for any specific outcome\u00a0in\u00a0the Rent Guidelines Board vote, or guide what participants say. The effort is not just about tenants; the city is reaching out to landlords as well. \u201cIt\u2019s about getting residents involved in decisions that directly affect their lives,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The independent Rent Guidelines Board decides every year the maximum allowable increase for rent-stabilized apartments, lofts and hotels. According to Van Auken, only 400 people testified at these hearings last year, while 2 million New Yorkers were affected by the board\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n
Numerous factors play a role in setting any rent increase, including operating and maintenance costs, the cost of financing, housing supply and cost of living. But public testimony by both renters and property owners plays a role.<\/p>\n
![\"People](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/AP576091566924-1-600x410.jpg\")
People hold up signs during a public meeting of the Rent Guidelines Board in New York, Monday, June 8, 2015. Photo: Seth Wenig\/AP
\nFlatbush will be key organizing center in Brooklyn<\/p>\n
In early May, volunteers will\u00a0begin canvassing across the city to\u00a0encourage tenants and landlords to testify ahead of the Board\u2019s vote. In Brooklyn, the effort will be centered in Flatbush. (Other key sites include Concourse in the Bronx; Jackson Heights in Queens; Northern Washington Heights and the East Village in Manhattan.)<\/p>\n
According to the NYU Furman Center<\/a>, Flatbush is one of the top six city neighborhoods with the highest concentration of rent-stabilized or rent-controlled housing in New York City, with approximately 33,077 units, equal to 75.3% of total rental units.<\/p>\n \u201cFor everyone who wants to get involved, we will teach you how at an upcoming civic education event,\u201d Mamdani said. \u201cOr to plunge right in, go straight to organize.nyc.gov<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n In response to a question about funding, the mayor said the Office of Mass Engagement is a \u201ccohering of several previous city agencies into one\u201d such as the Public Affairs Unit or Community Affairs, which have already been covered in the existing budget.<\/p>\n Also attending the announcement was Cea Weaver, director of the Mayor\u2019s Office to Protect Tenants, other city officials, and volunteers.<\/p>\n Upcoming Rent Guidelines Board\u00a0hearings<\/p>\n Queens: Thursday, June 4, 5 p.m., Jamaica Performing Arts Center Auditorium,; 153-10 Jamaica Ave.
\nBronx: Monday, June 8, 5 p.m., Main Theatre of Hostos Community College; 450 Grand Concourse
\nBrooklyn: Thursday, June 11, 7 p.m., The Theater at City Tech, NYC College of Technology. 275 Jay St.
\nManhattan: Tuesday, June 16,\u00a05\u00a0p.m.,\u00a0Symphony Space; 2537 Broadway<\/a>and 95th St.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CITYWIDE \u2014Mayor Zohran Mamdani knocked on doors at 760 Grand Concourse in the Bronx Wednesday morning to kick…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":214486,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[5324,84666,9,5325,56,63,65,64,84667,564,15021,82],"class_list":["post-214485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-mary-frost","tag-mayors-office-of-mass-engagement","tag-new-york","tag-no-paywall","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-organize-nyc","tag-rent","tag-rent-guidelines-board","tag-zohran-mamdani"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214485","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=214485"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214485\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/214486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}