Despite hiring freeze, Bronx restaurateur Jeffrey Garcia will draw salary as NYC’s new ‘nightlife mayor’

NEW YORK — Mayor Eric Adams officially tapped veteran Bronx restaurateur Jeffrey Garcia as the city’s new “nightlife mayor” on Friday — even though there’s a hiring freeze in place across all city government agencies due to budgetary concerns.

In a late afternoon press conference at City Hall unveiling the appointment, Adams confirmed Garcia’s position will come with a salary. But his spokesman, Charles Lutvak, would not say how much Garcia is expected to make.

The New York Daily News first reported Thursday that Garcia was expected to get the job, which is formally called executive director of the city Office of Nightlife; it was not immediately clear whether he’d be paid in the post.

Garcia’s predecessor, Ariel Palitz, who stepped down in April after serving in the post since 2018, raked in a $130,000 salary in the job, which is focused on boosting and advocating for the city’s nightlife industry.

The appointment of Garcia comes after Adams unveiled a November budget modification plan on Thursday that proposes to enact deep spending cuts across all city agencies, including the New York Police Department. As part of the budget modification, Adams also ordered that the NYPD should be covered by a hiring freeze that’s been in place across most other agencies since October, meaning the city can’t hire any more cops for the foreseeable future despite vacancies on the force.

Lutvak would not explain Garcia’s appointment in the context of the hiring freeze. He did say all city agencies have come up with plans to reduce their spending by 5% this fiscal year as first ordered by the mayor in September.

In addition to appointing Garcia, Adams, an avid nightclub connoisseur himself, signed bills passed by the Council that are supposed to streamline the Office of Nightlife’s operations, including by moving it from City Hall to the Small Business Services Department.

In a statement, Adams touted Garcia, a former NYPD detective who owns multiple restaurants in the Bronx, as the perfect fit to lead the Office of Nightlife.

“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,” the mayor said.

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