They don't like her tactics, but they still like her.
Both of the mayoral candidates who promised to retain NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch should they win the keys to Gracie Mansion reiterated that pledge this week, despite also expressing concern for the safety of delivery workers and other cyclists caught in her ongoing criminal crackdown on cycling.
Comptroller Brad Lander and state Sen. Zellnor Myrie raised their hand at a debate last week when asked if they would keep Tisch as the top cop. And in subsequent statements to Streetsblog, both doubled-down on that promise.
“Brad trusts Jessie Tisch to fully implement the policies he will lay out as mayor,” said Kat Capossela, Lander's campaign spokesperson, who also sent out a white paper of the candidate's position on road safety — a paper that said Lander would "crack down on reckless drivers" (emphasis added) even as Tisch is focusing her attention on cyclists.
And Myrie's campaign said only that as mayor, he "will work with his Police Commissioner to keep our streets safe without unnecessary enforcement" (emphasis added).
Meanwhile, most other candidates have not promised to retain Tisch. Yet in the wake of the debate, where Mayor Adams's crackdown on cyclists was a topic of serious discussion, no one has criticized her.
Rich Azzopardi, a spokesperson for former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, said the governor did not raise his hand not out of any animosity towards Tisch, but because "we're focused on the race."
"The governor has said plenty of times ... the commissioner is doing a good job, but it is premature to make any declarations about potential appointments," he said.
A spokeswoman for Council Speaker Adrienne Adams said she didn't raise her. hand for the same reason.
"Adrienne has been impressed with Commissioner Tisch and her approach," said the flack catcher, Lupe Todd-Medina. "She didn’t raise her hand because she isn’t planning to announce personnel decisions before being elected."
Former Comptroller Scott Stringer also said that "Commissioner Tisch has done an excellent job during her short tenure ... and I am considering keeping her in the role."
He also offered a seeming contradiction, saying that the NYPD needs a leader "who's willing to overhaul our broken system rather than getting stuck trying to enact a Band-Aid solution to systemic problems," while also expressing no concern for Tisch's single-focused crackdown on cyclists in the face of the muli-faceted problem of road safety.
"Commissioner Tisch has started to make people feel safe traversing our streets and using our subways again," Stringer said in a statement. "The Commissioner’s tactics are a direct response to the hand she’s been dealt and the directive of the Adams administration, focusing on the symptoms of the broken system rather than eliminating the root causes."
Stringer said he would create "a cross-agency response to different situations so the city can lead with compassion before resorting to enforcement."
The campaigns of state Sen. Jessica Ramos, former Assembly Member Michael Blake and Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani did not respond.
