Mamdani’s deputy mayor Julie Su didn’t officially start until this week

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced the appointment of former Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su as the first-ever deputy mayor for economic justice on Dec. 19. But her first official day on the job as deputy mayor didn’t come until March 1, City & State has learned. That’s because she only moved to New York City from California this month – though she started assuming many responsibilities as an unpaid volunteer and senior adviser weeks earlier.

A City Hall spokesperson said that Su didn’t officially step into the deputy mayor role until she signed a lease in Brooklyn and became a permanent New York City resident. Prior to that point, she stayed with friends when she was in the city, traveling back and forth between California and New York in January and February while moving her stuff and looking for housing, they said. Su was still technically working for the Mamdani administration during this time, first as an unpaid volunteer from Dec. 20. Then on Feb. 1 she started earning a paycheck as a “senior adviser.”

City Hall has kept that technical distinction quiet – in fact, she’d consistently been introduced as deputy mayor for economic justice at multiple events, in press releases and in media appearances. And when she took a “signing day” photo with the Mamdani, she was featured with a Queens soccer jersey and deemed “a lover of Queens.”

Deputy mayors and other top officials within the mayor’s office are subject to residency requirements – a rule the City Hall spokesperson noted was the reason Su didn’t take on the deputy mayor mantle until this week. Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg signed an executive order in 2010, which dictated that these top appointees must be a New York City resident or establish residency within 90 days of assuming the role. While some past officials obtained waivers that allowed them to circumvent residency requirements – like Kaz Daughtry, the former deputy mayor for public safety under then-Mayor Eric Adams, who lived on Long Island – the City Hall spokesperson noted that Su moved here instead.

Examples date back further. Robert Steel, a former deputy mayor under Bloomberg, earned ire for spending too much time in his massive Connecticut mansion instead of his Chelsea apartment. Another Bloomberg deputy mayor, Stephen Goldsmith, split his time between Washington and New York City before his tenure came to a tumultuous end, spending two nights in jail in D.C. after a domestic violence arrest, though charges were never filed.

Su spent the last couple of months winding down prior commitments, attending in-person meetings and events, and interviewing and hiring commissioners for the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, the Office of Racial Equity, the Department of Small Business Services, the Department of Cultural Affairs and other agencies that fall under her broad portfolio, according to the City Hall spokesperson. They described this as “all of the duties of a Deputy Mayor,” save for signing city contracts, which was conducted by First Deputy Mayor Dean Fuleihan in her stead.

Su also spent time traveling abroad, according to one person familiar with her movements – though City Hall didn’t confirm the dates of her trip prior to publication. 

“Deputy Mayor Su hit the ground running alongside Mayor Mamdani and the rest of the administration in January. Su worked unpaid for six weeks building the team, interviewing commissioners, shaping the agenda and bringing an economic justice lens to all decision-making, policy, and communications,” Cassio Mendoza, deputy press secretary for economic justice, said in a statement. 

Partnership for New York City President Steve Fulop said Su has been “communicative, like very much, on issues,” despite not living in the city. And while he doesn’t agree with the Mamdani administration on many policies, he understood the delay.“That transition, obviously, from California to New York takes a little bit of time,” Fulop said.

But Su’s hybrid approach to the job has not gone unnoticed. Greg Morris, CEO of the New York City Employment and Training Coalition, a workforce development nonprofit that represents 220 organizations, said he’s still waiting to meet with her.

“We have now entered the third month of this administration without guidance, clarity, or engagement,” Morris, who also served on Mamdani’s mayoral transition committee, said in a statement. “I worry this may represent a lack of investment in how we cultivate our city’s talent – especially talent that has historically struggled to gain a foothold in quality jobs and fair wages.”

The presidents of chambers of commerce in Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Manhattan likewise all have not yet met with Su, representatives told City & State, though Manhattan said they’re “close to locking in a meeting.” (The Staten Island chamber didn’t respond to a request for comment.)

Su has been present for some City Hall events like a gathering with delivery drivers at City Hall, announcing the commissioner of the Taxi and Limousine Commission and announcing a workers rights enforcement blitz. But she’s been absent from others, including a press conference about cracking down on junk fees, the press conference announcing the commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment (who reports to her), the establishment of a new Business Improvement District in Coney Island, and demonstrations on the picket line with striking nurses.

Appointments in this area of city government are still in progress. There still isn’t a permanent head of the city Economic Development Corporation, and the Department of Small Business Services Commissioner Kenny Minaya was just announced March 2. Mamdani has yet to appoint the “mom-and-pop czar” he promised on the campaign trail.