Emergency continuity plans face first overhaul since 2007
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced Friday that he will sign two executive orders — one establishing September 11 as a Day of Remembrance and Service and another overhauling the city’s emergency continuity plans for the first time since 2007.
According to Mamdani’s office, the remembrance order is expected to set aside time on September 11 for a moment of silence honoring those killed in the 2001 attacks and those who have suffered health consequences in the years since. The order would also encourage city agencies to hold memorial ceremonies, educational programming, and other remembrance activities. The continuity order would create a new interagency team to coordinate the city’s response and continuity planning.
Mamdani’s office said the designation would mark the first city-level action of its kind by a New York City mayor. The orders come ahead of the 25th anniversary of the attacks.
“I am honored to establish the City’s first Day of Remembrance and Service on September 11th to remember those we lost on that horrific day and the first responders, families and city workers whose lives were irrevocably changed in the aftermath,” Mamdani said in a statement Friday. “Through this executive order, we are calling on New Yorkers to honor their memory through service and deep reflection.”
He added: “We must also recognize that remembrance carries a responsibility to strengthen our city, protect New Yorkers and ensure that government is prepared to deliver for people no matter the circumstances. ‘Never Forget’ is not a slogan. It is a commitment that we must carry forward through action. And that is precisely what these two executive orders demonstrate.”
Fire Department Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore said: “Service was the legacy of those who answered the call on September 11, 2001, and those who have died since. The greatest tribute we can pay them is to continue serving one another with compassion, courage and a shared commitment to building a stronger New York.”
The announcement comes as Mamdani faces a separate political controversy over whether he should participate in this year’s commemoration. A petition with more than 98,000 signatures, including from family members who lost relatives in the attacks, calls for him to be excluded from the 25th anniversary events. The petition accuses him of supporting individuals whose public statements or records are, in its language, “dismissive of American institutions or insufficiently critical of extremist ideologies.”
Former New York Governor George Pataki, a Republican, has said Mamdani should skip the 9/11 memorial.
Other families and local officials have pushed back. Elizabeth Miller, whose father was killed in the attacks and who is project director of September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, told CBS earlier this month: “The focus should be on where are we in this world, 25 years later?” Miller added: “Mayor Mamdani has assured 9/11 families that he wants to be there to honor our loved ones, and I think he should be allowed to do that.”
In a separate statement, September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows said: “We strongly condemn the anti-American accusations and Islamophobic sentiment underlying the effort seeking to prevent him from being at Ground Zero. For decades, we have firmly maintained that Ground Zero is sacred space and should never be used as a platform for political speech or partisan politics. Ground Zero remains a burial ground.”
City Council Speaker Julie Menin called the push to exclude Mamdani “absolutely inappropriate.” She added: “I think mayor [Mike] Bloomberg made a terrific decision in making sure that there were not political speeches because, again, it shouldn’t be politicized … So, those that are trying to politicize this, what is happening on the 25th anniversary, I think that that is unfortunate.”
Mamdani, the city’s first Muslim mayor, has faced attacks that The Guardian described as “a wave of attacks, some Islamophobic.” The paper reported that even before taking office, the 34-year-old faced attacks on the campaign trail from political opponents including former Governor Andrew Cuomo, House Republicans who have called for his deportation, and Donald Trump — attacks The Guardian characterized as Islamophobic.
Responding to a question about the petition, Mamdani told reporters: “I will proudly honor the families, the survivors, the first responders, forever impacted by that horrific terror attack, by standing alongside them at this year’s 9/11 commemoration, reaffirming that we will never forget the solemn day felt by all of us who call this city home, and frankly, by all of us who call this country home.”