City&State | J Coltin
Some progressive activists derided that $225 million proposal as New York’s “Cop City” – inspired by the mass organizing against a similar police training facility in Atlanta, Georgia. And that included Mamdani. “We do not need to spend more than $200 million on a ‘Cop City’ training facility in Queens,” Mamdani said, unprompted, in a 2024 interview with City & State ahead of the launch of his mayoral campaign. He reiterated that throughout the campaign, saying “we can put that money to better use.”