The vibe at City Hall is Thank God for Maria Torres-Springer

Just one week into her life as a New Yorker, Maria Torres-Springer found herself evacuating midtown Manhattan, only barely aware of how to get back to her apartment in Brooklyn. The city – a place where the recent college graduate had long dreamed of building a life – was devastated. Sirens blared as emergency responders from all corners of the city raced to respond to the smoldering wreckage downtown. Dust and debris filled the air.

But rather than spurring her to flee back to her home state of California, the attack on 9/11 – and the many ways New Yorkers rallied to rebuild in the period that followed – were a catalyst that pushed Torres-Springer to dedicate much of the next two decades of her life to New York City government. Public service felt like a calling. 

After briefly leaving to secure a master’s degree in public policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, Torres-Springer started working at City Hall as a policy analyst in 2005. She would become a major presence across three very different mayoral administrations – each affirming what she’d started to glean in her first weeks as a New Yorker: that the city has a “boundless capacity of reinvention.” “That belief that despite whatever crisis, natural or man-made, the city has a capacity not just to crawl out of that last crisis, but to take a great leap forward,” Torres-Springer said in an interview with City & State. “(That) was something I felt from day one of working in government.”

To many, New York City is again undergoing a period of crisis. But unlike in the aftermath of 9/11, the Great Recession or the COVID-19 pandemic when New Yorkers looked to City Hall to help guide them through the turmoil, the origin of this crisis is internal. Several federal investigations have engulfed Mayor Eric Adams and his inner circle. While Adams pleaded not guilty to a five-count indictment and vowed to muscle through the strife, his political standing has rapidly eroded. A chorus of elected officials have called on him to step down. There’s been a string of recent high-profile departures from the administration. A majority of New York City voters believe he broke the law. 

Enter Torres-Springer. Newly elevated from deputy mayor for housing, economic development and workforce to first deputy mayor – perhaps City Hall’s most powerful position after the mayor himself – she may have an opportunity to help reinvent the Adams administration as it faces a crisis of public trust.

’A significant change’

News that Torres-Springer would be taking the helm of City Hall operations on Oct. 8 was met with a resounding sigh of relief from elected officials, the business community, advocates and government operatives alike. The overarching consensus seemed to be that the appointment of Torres-Springer to replace Sheena Wright, who’d resigned about a month after federal investigators seized her phones and those of a handful of other senior administration officials, brought a dose of stability.

“That is a very significant change. It’s an important change,” said Gov. Kathy Hochul said, joining the new first deputy mayor at an Oct. 16 housing announcement. Secretary to the Governor Karen Persichilli Keogh was even more explicit. “We are extraordinarily pleased with a lot of the appointments, particularly Maria Torres-Springer,” she said. Even a number of progressive City Council members – some of Adams’ staunchest critics – were pleased.

The decision also further indicated Adams is listening to the governor’s urging that he weed out his scandal-scarred friends and replace them with well-regarded government veterans – an important step to dissuade Hochul from wielding her seldom-used statutory power to remove him from office. 

While serving across three consecutive mayoral administrations isn’t unprecedented, it is fairly rare. Before joining the Adams administration, Torres-Springer had been commissioner of the city Department of Housing Preservation and Development, president and CEO of the Economic Development Corporation, commissioner of the Department of Small Business Services, and vice president of U.S. Programs at the Ford Foundation. 

“She understands deeply how to take a vision and make it come to life,” said former Mayor Bill de Blasio, pointing to how Torres-Springer led the implementation of the new citywide ferry service while serving in his administration. She’d fully embraced his vision to approach the project through “a very strong equity lens,” he recalled, never skimping on that goal even though doing so made executing the project more complicated. 

Interviews with more than 20 people across city government, nonprofits, advocacy groups, business associations, and Torres-Springer’s former and current coworkers painted a picture of a skilled behind-the-scenes operator – someone who understands how to leverage both the might and intricacies of government to get things done while also empowering and working well with others. 

New York City Department of Social Services Commissioner Molly Wasow Park lauded Torres-Springer as a “phenomenal leader.” Democratic City Council Member Rafael Salamanca said she is a “a very classy, charismatic, knowledgeable individual.” Republican City Council Member Joe Borelli called her a “serial overachiever” – someone he’s confident “will be able to pull the strings of government and untie some of the knot.”  Fondly describing her as a “goody two-shoes,” Democratic City Council Member Julie Won pointed out that while some people might wonder why Torres-Springer has stayed with the Adams administration, it’s actually very much on brand.

“I think she truly is a lifelong public servant and she sees it as her job to protect the city by staying,” Won said. “That’s really admirable to feel like, ‘Hey, the city is in shambles and I as a public servant cannot let this go burning down in flames.’”

Much of the confidence in Torres-Springer’s abilities comes from her management style and the fact that she’s spent so many years immersed in city agencies. This will likely serve her well as first deputy mayor, according to Democratic political strategist Yvette Buckner. “People are going to want to see more of an internal job being done and all of the I’s being dotted and the T’s being crossed,” Buckner said. “Someone who's really been very focused and very deliberate about connecting with agencies, elected officials and the staff as opposed to someone playing much more of an external role.”

While some people interviewed expressed doubts that any one person is capable of truly rehabilitating the Adams administration’s image at this point, those concerns were never tied to the specific abilities of Torres-Springer. Rather, many explicitly attributed her elevation as already building back some trust in the administration’s ability to keep the cogs of government turning.

“She comes in at a moment where she needs to project stability and calm,” said Department of City Planning Director Dan Garodnick. “She is well-suited to step right in.”

Trying to break down the silos between the various complex levels of city government has been a theme throughout Torres-Springer’s career. She’s held monthly luncheons with the agency heads and commissioners in her portfolio for several years, using it as an opportunity to share best practices and to better understand what everyone is working on. The location varies month to month depending on which agency head is tasked with delivering a presentation. 

“She will help you figure things out because she’s been in your shoes,” said Department of Consumer Worker and Protection Commissioner Vilda Vera Mayuga, following the most recent meeting at Brooklyn Navy Yard.

One of Torres-Springer’s first moves as first deputy mayor came from a similar line of thinking. Days into her tenure, she introduced a swing seat into “the bullpen” room where many senior government staffers work. Each deputy mayor is assigned to sit at the desk on a rotating basis. “We want to make sure that people see us, that they know we’re accessible,” Torres-Springer said of the decision.

Endurance 

Torres-Springer has been thinking a lot about endurance lately. That’s in part because she’s currently signed up to run the upcoming New York City Marathon with Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Anne Williams-Isom and Deputy Mayor for Communications Fabien Levy. But also because she sees the attribute as a necessary part of public service. 

She’s needed endurance to move forward decade-spanning projects like the sprawling Willets Point transformation – the city’s largest affordable housing project in over 40 years – and the massive Brooklyn Marine Terminal redevelopment. She’s needed endurance to tackle the city’s housing crisis. She’ll certainly need endurance as first deputy mayor.

The role, while always a hefty undertaking, has varied somewhat from mayor to mayor and appointee to appointee. Torres-Springer’s hands are particularly full though. In addition to overseeing a host of city offices like the Office of Management and Budget, the Department of Finance and the Department of Citywide Administrative Services – the same as Wright – she’ll also still be managing her housing and economic development portfolios. Add in keeping up staff morale and it’s altogether a huge lift.  

There are currently no plans to hire someone to fill her prior deputy mayor role, according to Torres-Springer. That portfolio will remain with her – in part because housing and economic development have been central to the administration’s agenda. “We want to make sure that that continues with the speed and energy and velocity that is needed,” she said, adding that previous first deputy mayors have also had large portfolios. She said her confidence that she’ll be able to do the role in this way comes from “the battalion of public servants” that surround her. 

“Being in this new role, is it tiring? Of course,” Torres-Springer said. “But you know that you’re not doing it alone.”

Her fellow deputy mayors have certainly vouched for her – as she has for them. Deputy Mayor for Operations Meera Joshi said Torres-Springer’s leadership has “absolutely” opened up and made the work of the Adams administration “even more powerful.” 

There’s a phenomenon sometimes called “the glass cliff” wherein women and people of color – often women of color specifically – are promoted to upper management roles during a period of crisis. They are often judged for any perceived missteps despite the obstacles they face in trying to right an already turbulent organization.

While Torres-Springer’s appointment as first deputy mayor doesn’t quite fit that description – Adams has appointed a diverse spectrum of people as top appointees and Wright, his previous first deputy mayor, is a Black woman – there are still some parallels. Torres-Springer, the daughter of Filipino immigrants, is coming into the position with a great deal of hopes and expectations resting on her shoulders, but the obstacles loom large. There’s a lot on her plate. In addition to navigating – and trying to right – what’s been described as an uncertain power structure in City Hall, she’ll need to manage staff morale as Adams fights allegations of malfeasance and corruption. Given the mayor’s diminished political capital, she’ll also need to play an especially big role in getting the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity zoning proposal across the finish line as it faces City Council consideration. 

A high-ranking City Hall staffer said Torres-Springer’s success will hinge on how much power she can exert and control. The administration’s decision-making process has historically been unclear, clouded by all these competing power centers, they said, pointing to Wright, Chief of Staff Camille Joseph Varlack, and Chief Adviser Ingrid Lewis-Martin as an example. 

“It wasn’t ever, like, the first deputy mayor who is the one making the decision with the mayor. There were all these other people who were exerting influence,” the staffer said. 

While Adams has defended his administration, saying the results speak for themselves, he’s also acknowledged that he’s considering making structural changes. Torres-Springer is currently working with Joseph Varlack to review City Hall personnel, policies and programs. 

Torres-Springer didn’t directly respond to whether she sees herself as being brought in as a problem-solver for the mayor amid the federal investigations, she said she’s trying to put a dent in the housing crisis and to identify and address problems hampering government operations. “Those are the things that I’m trying to fix,” she said. 

It’s not lost on her either that the dynamic exists in other organizations. Under this mayor though, she thinks there is something powerful and even unprecedented in appointing people with “the life experience” to solve problems. For example, if there’s someone who is going to fix issues in housing, it should probably be someone who has faced housing insecurity – like she did having grown up in Section 8 housing. If there’s a need to fix government processes, the best person for the job is probably someone who has had to personally navigate governments that didn’t work in their lives – like many in the Adams administration who fall into that category, Torres-Springer said. The list of examples goes on.

“New York always has complex challenges,” Torres-Springer said. “I would rather the (problem-solvers) be people whose identities are a reflection of the experience and compassion that they would then bring to solving the problems.”

City of Yes

Helping persuade the City Council to pass the Adams administration’s ambitious proposal to change land use rules across the city to spur housing construction will be one of the first big tests for Torres-Springer. 

The City Council has received the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity plan with mixed reactions. While there is general agreement that more housing is needed, some members – particularly those representing lower density neighborhoods in the outer boroughs – are fearful that the proposals will completely alter their communities. Others wish the proposal would go even further in securing affordable housing commitments. City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams has said it won’t win members’ support without greater investments in communities. 

While the proposal has the potential to be Adams’ most significant achievement of his tenure, his legal troubles put him in a particularly vulnerable negotiating position. Housing advocates were heartened when Torres-Springer was made first deputy mayor. While she was already deeply embedded in crafting the plan, many people see her new position as a boon for its passage. 

“She has a record of stellar public service and so I do think it gives a lot of people confidence that she’s in that first deputy mayor role,” said Rachel Fee, executive director of the affordable housing policy and advocacy nonprofit New York Housing Conference. 

Torres-Springer also has a fairly good relationship with City Council members – certainly more than Wright did. Amit Singh Bagga, principal of Public Progress Solutions and a 17-year veteran of federal, city, state government, credited Torres-Springer’s ability to have “honest and strategic conversations” with City Council members in a way that makes it clear the proposal is aimed at solving the city’s most urgent problem – a problem that exists entirely independent from Adams and the indictment. 

“The darkening clouds over City Hall have actually parted over the City of Yes, which can now have its day in the sun as it is a product of Maria and her brilliant team,” Bagga said.

Significantly, Torres-Springer now has oversight over the city Office of Management and Budget through her appointment as first deputy mayor. This could give her more power to push the Adams administration to meet costly City Council demands in exchange for their passage of the proposal. According to the City Hall staffer, that won’t necessarily be easy.  They said that Jacques Jiha, the mayor’s budget director, has been an especially powerful force in the Adams administration.

“Will Jacques be able to go around her to the mayor to have his desired outcomes as opposed to the ones (Torres-Springer) thinks are in the best interest of the administration?” the City Hall staffer said. “I think it’s an open question.” 

Torres-Springer is optimistic about the proposal’s odds of passing. She thinks there’s been a “sea change” in the housing conversation. “We have work to do,” she said, pointing to the upcoming committee vote.  “This is an area where we are in common cause. I’m hoping that means we’ll get to the finish line together in a way that we can be proud of.”

Torres-Springer won over Shams DaBaron, a housing and homeless advocate who often collaborates with Adams, shortly after her portfolio was expanded to include housing. While sitting down for a one-on-one meeting, DaBaron was struck by how Torres-Springer sees workforce and economic development as something that should be entwined with building housing. He added that Torres-Springer has been a steadfast presence at the monthly City Hall meetings between people experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity and the city’s deputy mayors and commissioners.  

“She’s someone who can balance the compassion of her lived experience with the intellectual component, the educated component,” DaBaron said. “I wouldn’t personally want someone who is just an advocate, but not informed on how to solve these issues.”

Torres-Springer has come a long way since her first week in the city, when the attack on the twin towers sent her stumbling through the streets trying to find her way back home. She’s since seen – and played a part – in the city rebuilding time and time again. Time will tell to what degree she’ll be able to revitalize the Adams administration from within. 

Asked what has kept her around for three different administrations, Torres-Springer paused for a moment. It’s a question she says she’s thought about a lot. In all the roles she’s pursued or been asked to take on, she said her acceptance was always driven by love for the city – a place where she’s raising her two teenage daughters, a place that’s been a gift to her family and so many others. She wants to honor that history, making sure the city continues to be a place where people can both come and stay. 

“When public servants do their best work, it’s actually unconditional love,” she said. “You don’t ask yourself, what’s in this for me? Or what does this mean for my brand or what does this mean for the job I have after this? You serve because you simply know no other way.”