Mamdanis mass engagement office draws fire over plans to build influence beyond City Hall: NYC is done

A top official in Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration is facing criticism after describing the mission of the city’s Office of Mass Engagement as helping organize New Yorkers and develop leaders who could remain influential "long after this administration is over."Tascha Van Auken, commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Mass Engagement, is an organizer whose background includes Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign and leadership in New York City’s Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).She spoke about the administration’s vision for the new office during the Urban 20 summit, describing an effort to build organizational capacity for the future."Trying to help organize people, building the knowledge and organizational capacity that let New Yorkers shape outcomes, and developing leaders who we hope will still be leaders long after this administration is over," Van Auken said Sunday during the Urban 20 summit in New York City, which brings together mayors and local leaders from major cities across the world."An organized tenant is a protected tenant, and that is the whole method.

Knowledge makes people confident, and that gets them talking to their neighbors.Talking to your neighbors is how you find out your problem is not only yours.

And that is where organization begins," she added.MAMDANI CLASHES WITH DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISTS' PUSH TO ABOLISH POLICE AND PRISONSNew York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announces his first executive orders on Thursday, Jan.1.

(Fox News / Pool)Mamdani established the Office of Mass Engagement through Executive Order No.7 on Jan.

2, his second day in office, describing the new City Hall office as an effort to change how New Yorkers participate in government decision-making.He appointed Van Auken to lead the office, crediting her with spearheading the field operation behind his mayoral campaign, which mobilized more than 100,000 volunteers who knocked on more than 3 million doors across the city.Van Auken’s comments circulat...