New York City Mayor Eric Adams has appointed a new executive director of the city’s Office of Nightlife (ONL), announcing that former NYPD officer and business owner Jeffrey Garcia will take on the role.
“With the appointment of Jeffrey Garcia — an experienced entrepreneur and hospitality veteran who has long advocated for minority-owned businesses — we are also ensuring that the Office of Nightlife has the strong leadership needed to uplift nightlife businesses across the city,” Adams said in a press release.
Garcia has served as president of the New York State Latino Restaurant, Bar and Lounge Association and on the New York City Hospitality Alliance Board, in addition to co-founding the Latino Cannabis Association in 2022.
In an interview with Time Out New York, Garcia explained that he intends to expand the scope of NYC’s nightlife beyond Manhattan and into the outer boroughs.
“One of my main priorities coming in here is, how do we get folks to visit these wonderful businesses now in the South Bronx, in the North Bronx?” Garcia said. How do we get them to go to Staten Island, to Brooklyn, to Queens?”
Adams also confirmed that New York’s ONL has been moved from its previous position within the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment to the Department of Small Business Services, in an effort to cut red tape for the nightlife industry and “make sure that nightlife establishments get the resources they need to thrive.”
Garcia’s appointment follows the exit of Ariel Palitz, who became the first person to hold the position after NYC first established a nightlife advisory board in 2018, following in the footsteps of cities like Amsterdam and London.
NYC nightlife could be in for even more changes this year after Mayor Adams suggested the city could take legal action against nightclub power-player and Electric Zoo organizer Avant Gardner for the unsafe conditions created at the festival back in September.
Featured image from New York City Office of Nightlife.
