Mayor Mamdani named three new commissioners on Tuesday, vowing that they’d help him establish a “new era” in city politics — but some of the picks offered only lukewarm answers on how they’d address problems of the previous era.
He announced Sharun Goodwin will serve as commissioner of the Department of Probation, Yume Kitasei as the commissioner of the Department of City Administrative Services, and Lisa Garcia as commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection.
“Each of these New Yorkers shares a common commitment to service, a desire to place the city and its needs before their own, and a real ambition to deepen what New Yorkers expect from their government,” the mayor said at a press conference announcing their appointments.
The Department of Probation was mired in allegations of nepotism and cronyism under ex-Mayor Adams and former Commissioner Juanita Holmes, who Goodwin worked under as a deputy commissioner in the department before retiring in 2024
Asked about those allegations on Tuesday, Goodwin said she was “not certain” they have merit but that she’d look into it: “I’ll give [myself] an opportunity to evaluate and assess what needs to be done, if something needs to be done,” she said.
Kitasei, who worked in the de Blasio administration under then and current First Deputy Mayor Dean Fuleihan, similarly wouldn’t say whether she plans to publicly release a review of all leases under the purview of former DCAS official Jesse Hamilton, who came under investigators’ scrutiny for leases he signed off on, and was indicted on separate charges in August.
“Of course,” Kitasei said, “we’re going to do a deep review of everything and and we’ll work with the team to commit to transparency.”
