At NYC Power 100 event, Tisch commends Mamdani for leading with ‘SRG’

New York City Police Department Commissioner Jessica Tisch poked fun at her boss at City & State’s New York City Power 100 event Tuesday night. The event, held at Aura 57 in Midtown, celebrated the lawmakers, advocates, business leaders and organizers named in City & State’s 2026 New York City Power 100.

“At the very top, of course, Mr. Mayor – congratulations on the No. 1 spot,” Tisch said. “Since taking office, you’ve governed by a core principle to ensure the strength of our city: Support, Reinforce and Grow, or, for short, SRG.” As everyone in the crowded room well knew, those letters also stand for Strategic Response Group, the controversial NYPD unit that responds to protests and terrorism Mamdani has said he wants to disband.

Tisch, one of the few holdovers from former Mayor Eric Adams’ administration, was ranked No. 6 on the list, spicily just above First Deputy Mayor Dean Fuleihan, to whom she technically reports. 

There’s a reason her name has come up as a possible future New York City mayor. Tisch, an heiress of the Loews fortune and herself a member of Manhattan’s elite, recently touted the lowest number of murders – 54 – in the first three months of the year in city history, with major crime also falling. She has focused on quelling corruption within one of the city’s largest and most difficult agencies. She is friends with President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka, and as a member of one of the city’s most prominent Jewish families, she puts many of the city’s Jewish residents concerned about antisemitism at ease. “I’ll say this,” she quipped Tuesday night, “I haven’t been in a room with this much influence since last week’s Tisch family dinner.” 

But her job in the Mamdani administration has not been without its challenges. Police shot and critically wounded a 22-year-old man having a mental health episode in his home in front of his family in January, reviving questions about whether police are able to effectively handle mental health incidents. The frigid winter that probably helped drive down crime also resulted in at least one high profile conflict with the mayor. Tisch and Mamdani sharply diverged after two police officers were pelted with snowballs in Washington Square Park in February, with Tisch calling for charges to be brought, and Mamdani characterizing the event as a kids’ snowball fight gone awry. In March, police responded first to a white supremacist anti-Muslim protest outside Gracie Mansion, and then to an attempted terror attack targeting the protesters. And this month, police were caught on video brutally beating up an innocent man who they believed was linked to a drug dealer. The victim is now suing the city for $100 million in damages. And at the end of the day, as the New York City Power 100 list attests, Tisch still works for Mamdani, a democratic socialist who was previously extremely critical of cops and who ran on revolutionizing the way the city handles public safety. 

Tisch nodded toward the future in her prepared remarks Tuesday, calling for a “partnership between the public and private sectors, between government and community, and between the people who protect this city and the people who power it.”

“Throughout the five boroughs, people are asking what the next chapter of this city will look like – how business districts grow, how neighborhoods thrive, and how we make sure New York remains the most dynamic and vibrant city in the world. At the center of all of those conversations is something fundamental: whether people feel safe here,” she said. 

Mamdani wasn’t there in person to hear Tisch’s speech, but many of the city’s power brokers were, including Comptroller Mark Levine and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams. Several city commissioners including Lillian Bonsignore, Christina Farrell, Ahmed Tigani, Alister Martin and Mike Flynn all made appearances. Department of Consumer and Worker Protection Commissioner Sam Levine attended with his partner Curtis Clinch. “I've had a chance to meet a number of my fellow honorees,” Levine said. “I think that what's unexpected is that I haven't been yelled at. 
I haven't been lobbied on anything.” 

New York Apartment Association CEO Kenny Burgos was there, as was Partnership for New York City CEO Steve Fulop. Mamdani’s campaign aide Andrew Bard Epstein stood nearby. “I appreciate that in Mayor Mamdani's New York,” he said, “the co-chairs of New York City DSA have ranked higher than the chair of the Partnership for New York.”