Ex-City Councilman Rafael Espinal — who led the repeal of New York City’s antiquated dancing ban at nightlife venues — was named by Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Monday to lead the Big Apple’s entertainment outreach.
Espinal, 41, was appointed as the next commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, tasked with luring film and TV productions to the city and growing the industry locally through various initiatives.
“MOME does incredible, often unseen work,” Mamdani said at a press conference in Brooklyn, flanked by Council Speaker Julie Menin, who ran the office under Mayor Bill de Blasio.
“Most productions that are filmed in the city interact with this agency. And I was struck by Rafael’s passion for this specific work and the importance that it holds for New Yorkers across the five boroughs.”
Espinal, a progressive Brooklyn lawmaker, was known as a defender of the city’s bar and club scene as the architect of the bill ending the city’s 1926 Cabaret Law, which was signed by de Blasio in 2017.
The law, which was initially intended to prevent interracial mingling in Harlem, had long been attacked by the nightlife industry for creating a nearly impossible and pricey licensing process to legally allow dancing — essentially leading to a ban that lasted for nearly a hundred years.
Espinal resigned from his position in the 37th Council District in 2020 to take a job with the Freelancers Union, which he has led for the last five years.
“As commissioner, I’ll work to keep New York the creative capital of the world, not just a place where great work gets made, but a place where the people who make that work can actually live in,” Espinal said.
“To do that, I’ll prioritize partnership with the amazing labor unions, with the industries and partners in the state, to secure and expand good-paying union jobs, and to strengthen the ecosystem that makes the city the global standard,” he said.
The office also handles press credentials and the city’s broadcast network and media production, NYC Media.
The creative industry employs more than 325,000 people in the city and generates more than $150 billion in revenue each year.
Espinal, also a former state assemblyman, was the only councilmember to back Democratic socialist Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in the 2016 presidential primary.
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