Mamdani Taps Adviser Behind Police Replacement Plan

Zohran Mamdani's latest hire to his incoming staff includes the mayor-elect's long-time chief advisor, who has been dubbed the "chief architect" of Mamdani's campaign proposal to have social workers respond to certain non-violent 911 calls in New York City.

The heavily criticized proposal was drummed up by the Ivy League-educated, California-native Elle Bisgaard-Church, a relative political newcomer affiliated with the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).

Bisgaard-Church was tapped by Mamdani Monday to once again be his chief adviser while running the helm at New York City's City Hall after serving in the same post during his campaign and during his state assembly days.

Bisgaard-Church has been credited with being pivotal to getting Mamdani's message to voters and campaign staff dub her the "chief architect" behind Mamdani's Department of Community Safety proposal, according to CBS News.

When developing the Department of Community Safety proposal, which aims to replace police officers with mental health professionals to deal with non-life-threatening emergencies with a focus on subway stations, Bisgaard-Church reportedly spoke to mental health experts, public safety officials from other cities and former New York City Police Department (NYPD) Chief of Department Rodney Harrison.

The new department will cost approximately $1.1 billion, according to a campaign proposal on Mamadani's website.

In addition to leading Mamdani's much-maligned Department of Community Safety proposal, Bisgaard-Church was a key player setting up weekly standing meetings with the New York City DSA chapter throughout the campaign to incorporate leadership from the groups that helped Mamdani win.

During a feature interview last month ahead of the looming mayoral election, the former student at private liberal arts Swarthmore College and the Ivy League's Columbia University, compared her motivations to those of the DSA.

"I still feel daily, deeply ashamed to live in a place where we allow people to sleep on concrete at night … and I fundamentally believe it doesn’t have to be that way. It represents (a) political choice," Bisgaard-Church told New York's City & State.

"The place where I have seen that shared sense of rage at such a moral failure has been in a handful of movement organizations, including New York City DSA."

It was apparently seeing five democratic-socialist candidates win their 2020 primaries in local races in Brooklyn and Queens that initially galvanized Bisgaard-Church to apply for a role on Mamdani's team while he was a state representative, according to her City & State feature.

It was a public affairs fellowship that initially brought her to the Big Apple, but Bisgaard-Church reportedly thought she would just end up working at some government agency after a couple stints at various nonprofits in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.

Bisgaard-Church, who does not keep an active social media presence and infrequently comments in the media, gained a reputation of being relatively "low-profile" and has been credited with playing a major role in securing the DSA's endorsement of Mamdani's electoral campaign.

Her history with the DSA includes helping form their legislative analysis team and helping form a guiding document for the group in 2021 about how the group should interact with elected leaders, according to City & State.

In comments following her appointment, Bisgaard-Church said it was "the honor of a lifetime" to lead Mamdani's campaign, and is now ready to roll up her sleeves and deliver on Mamdani's "affordability agenda" while "demonstrating what a well-run City Hall can do for everyday New Yorkers."