Bayona out at City Hall

José Bayona, founder and executive director at the Mayor's Office of Ethnic and Community Media, handed in his resignation Monday, a source at City Hall told City & State. Dana Rubinstein at the New York Times first tweeted Monday night that Bayona was leaving the administration. 

Bayona, a longtime Adams aide who was a visible presence on the campaign trail and link to New York City’s Latino electorate, commanded an agency managing an advertising budget of $70 million to $100 million annually. The office is a first of its kind nationally and was built out by Bayona to penetrate the various weekly and ethnic community publications throughout the five boroughs. He declined to comment when approached by City & State and City Hall did not respond to a request for comment. 

Bayona previously held the title of director of community and ethnic media and served as a deputy press secretary under Bill de Blasio’s administration. He also was press secretary for the Administration for Children’s Services from October 2016 to January 2018, according to his LinkedIn page, and was deputy press secretary at the Department of Transportation from July 2014 to October 2016. 

He is a member of the board of trustees for the Queens Public Library and founded his own consulting firm, Grassroots Strategies, in 2021. 

Bayona has a background in journalism and worked more than 8 years at the Daily News, where he worked his way up to become special sections editor. He also did stints as an adjunct professor, was a news writer for NY1 News/Noticias and worked as a podcast producer for the communications department at the City University of New York.