Update: A New City Agency is (Sort-Of) Born: The Office of Community Safety

By Stephen Louis

On March 19, Mayor Zohran Mamdani signed Executive Order No. 15, establishing a new Office of Community Safety within the Mayor’s Office, and at the same time appointed Renita Francois as Deputy Mayor for Community Safety.

As previously described in CityLaw, there are a number of paths to move forward on Mayor Mamdani’s campaign pledge to establish a Department of Community Safety, which would create and expand mental health, crisis … <Read More>



Giving Birth to a New Agency – Paths to Mayor Mamdani’s Department of Community Safety

By Stephen Louis

When Zohran Mamdani ran for Mayor, one of his leading proposals was the creation of a new Department of Community Safety. His campaign website includes a report setting forth the two main components of this initiative. One is creating a new city agency — the Department of Community Safety (DCS) — that would take a public health approach to safety. The other is a list of programs — some new, many existing <Read More>


What to Make of Mayor Adams’ Last-Day Charter Revision Commission

By Stephen Louis

On December 31, 2025, Mayor Eric Adams, on his last day in office, appointed a new Charter Revision Commission (CRC), a body that reviews the New York City Charter and recommends changes to the voters. The press release announcing the creation of the CRC said it would especially focus on whether open primaries and non-partisan elections would make city government more inclusive, accessible, and democratic. 


Update: ‘Green Light Law’ Upheld But New Potential Roadblock Appears

By Stephen Louis

As previously reported in CityLaw, on February 12, 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice sued New York State in U.S. District Court in Albany, seeking a permanent injunction barring further implementation of the State’s “Green Light Law,” based on its provisions that limit federal access to information regarding undocumented driver’s license holders. The state law, enacted in 2019, limited access to records by ICE and similar agencies to those with a … <Read More>