Mamdani’s EDC head warns of ‘unbridled growth’ in first big speech

If there were any doubts that New York City’s economic development agency is cantering toward a new era under the Mamdani administration, its new leader, Tony Shorris, laid them to rest in his first public speech. 

“For too long, economic growth has fueled inequality,” Shorris said, sharing his philosophy for the Economic Development Corporation while speaking at City & State’s Economic & Workforce Development Summit Thursday. “It doesn’t have to be that way and our focus at EDC will be to make sure it does not.”

Shorris assumed the role of president and CEO last week, joining an administration eager to broaden the agency’s work beyond its traditional focus courting private businesses. With a goal to realign the organization to pursue economic justice in addition to growth, it took New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani an arduous seven months to find someone he believed could satisfy the business community and execute on that vision. Enter Shorris. A city government veteran of multiple mayoral administrations and a recent partner at the global consulting firm McKinsey & Company, he’s well-versed in politics and business.  

His vision for the agency, shared in his keynote remarks, aligned with many of the mayor’s values. Throughout the 16 minute speech, Shorris spoke of strengthening workforce development programs and increasing worker power, argued that the city’s economic power can grow alongside the economic power of New Yorkers, promised that the agency would do a better job acknowledging communities’ needs and made a compelling case for why economic growth and economic justice are integral to each other. 

“We’re going to continue to be a force for economic growth for EDC, that’s what we do, but not unbridled growth – not growth at the expense of communities or opportunities or equity,” Shorris said.

Referencing the role EDC is playing in the creation of city-owned grocery stores – one of Mamdani’s cornerstone campaign promises – Shorris said the agency will continue looking to reduce costs and provide New Yorkers with public goods “that level the playing field” between working people and the wealthy. 

“Families, for too long, have been told to just deal with it,” Shorris said of the pressure New Yorkers feel to meet the crush of housing, healthcare, food, childcare and transportation costs. While he didn’t name any new EDC projects on the horizon aligned with this mission, he teased that there are more to come. 

The Economic Development Corporation, which has a unique nonprofit status, is a powerful city agency that’s long been viewed as a tool to champion the city’s economic growth. Over the years it’s had a guiding hand in a broad range of infrastructure projects such as the creation of Hudson Yards and the High Line, expanding the city’s ferry system and redeveloping Brooklyn Marine Terminal. The agency is also the city’s single largest landlord, controlling over 60 million square feet of city property. 

All that to say, the city’s business leaders are invested in its direction. And many in this community have been apprehensive about Mamdani’s democratic socialist views – some outwardly hostile. 

Shorris acknowledged those concerns Thursday, but asked New Yorkers to suspend their “hard-headed, well-tested skepticism” and believe in the administration. 

“Help us deliver on those principles, whether you agree on every specific policy of the administration or not, so we can make people believe again that government can work for them,” Shorris said. “That's the new era we're trying to create in New York.”