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Anthony Shorris speaks at City Hall next to Mayor Zohran Mamdani after being appointed to run the city’s Economic Development Corp., July 22, 2026. (Ben Fractenberg/The City Reporter)
Dear New Yorkers,
Mayor Zohran Mamdani has tapped a partner at global consultancy McKinsey & Co. to run the city’s top economic agency, months after his administration as part of cost-cutting measures scrapped a nearly $10 million contract with the company.
Anthony Shorris, who also previously served as first deputy mayor to Bill de Blasio and has spent more than 40 years in the public and nonprofit sectors, worked on that Social Services Department contract. City records and officials have so far offered few details on what it involved: “business consulting services” and reducing errors in the city’s handling of federally funded food benefits.
Under de Blasio, Shorris hired McKinsey to address violence in the Rikers Island jails through an algorithm-based system — but the violence kept rising. The city ditched the pricey system in 2022 after four years, and the company has received criticism over its work for government and corporate clients.
Shorris will head the city Economic Development Corp., which aims to boost the economy by providing tax incentives and grants to businesses and real estate developers. Mamdani is pledging the agency will focus on “economic justice” for working New Yorkers under his tenure, and he’s brought on former Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan as chair of EDC’s board.
A high around 80 and sunny during the day. A low around 65 and mostly clear at night.
MTA 🚇
Midday in the Bronx, Manhattan-bound 2 and 5 trains run express from East 180th Street to 3rd Avenue–149th Street. Find all the MTA’s planned changes and the latest delays here.
A group of landlords sued the city’s Rent Guidelines Board on Wednesday, challenging its recent vote to freeze rent on New York City’s 1 million regulated apartments.
The landlords allege the board “ran a sham process with a predetermined outcome” when the members approved the freeze last month. The plaintiffs, who mostly appear in the lawsuit as limited liability companies, are represented by Randy Mastro, former Mayor Eric Adams’ first deputy mayor.
They point to Mayor Mamdani’s promise of a rent freeze on the campaign trail and cite the resignation of board member Christina Smyth, a landlord representative who quit the board before the final vote, protesting what she described as a requirement to deliver the rent freeze.
Mamdani and the board's chair have emphasized it is independent and defended the process. A mayoral spokesperson said City Hall is confident the board “evaluated all of the relevant data and considered the factors facing both tenants and landlords.”
— Samantha Maldonado
Public Defenders Reach Deal to End Strike
More than 500 lawyers and other staff at two nonprofit legal organizations in Brooklyn and Queens reached a labor contract deal and returned to work Wednesday, ending a six-day strike that disrupted courts in the city’s two most populous boroughs.
The Association of Legal Aid Attorneys-UAW Local 2325 announced a tentative agreement with Brooklyn Defender Services on raises and benefits, student loan assistance and remote work flexibility. As part of the agreement, Brooklyn Defenders agreed to stop tracking staff through their phones and will let the union participate in the search for the organization’s next executive director.
The deal also covers staff at Queens Defenders and is pending ratification by union members.
“We are proud of this resolution and are pleased to see our staff return to deliver zealous defense, compassionate advocacy and support to all people in Brooklyn and Queens in need of our help,” Brooklyn Defenders Executive Director Lisa Schreibersdorf said in a statement.
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