A longtime Democratic operative was tapped Saturday to head up NYC’s Parks Department, Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced.
Mamdani announced the appointment of Tricia Shimamura – a former top aide for Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Comptroller Mark Levine when he was Manhattan borough president – during a press conference at on the Bronx side of Highbridge Park.
“She is an incredible New Yorker with a deep record of public service and a long standing commitment to fighting for working people,” Mamdani said of Shimamura, whose resume also including stints as a social worker and director of government relations for Columbia University. At the Ivy, she led a vote-by-mail drive for more than 20,000 students during pandemic.
She also ran to represent the Upper East Side on the City Council in 2021 but lost in the Democratic primary to current Speaker Julie Menin.
Mamdani also promised to make good on his campaign pledge of making parks a top priority for his administration as he prepares to deliver his first city budget.
Shimamura joined the Parks Department in 2024 when then-Mayor Eric Adams named her Manhattan borough commissioner. She’s replacing Iris Rodriguez-Rosa, a 40-year agency staffer who Adams named parks commissioner last year. The agency oversees 30,000 acres across the five boroughs.
“As commissioner, I will work to ensure that our parks aren’t just free, but they’re engaging spaces that New Yorkers can be proud of,” Shimamura said.
“We will hold every part to the same level of the significance as we would our own backyard, because we know that that’s what we are.”
