As Bragg Refuses to Disavow ‘Day One Memo’, Florence Spotlights Policy Agenda

For Immediate Release

July 24, 2025

CONTACT: [email protected]

Florence Releases Plan to Protect Small Businesses, as Bragg Refuses to Disavow ‘Day One Memo’

Since Bragg took office, 6 out of 7 major felonies are up and major felonies are up 14 percent overall

Subway felony assaults have skyrocketed 20 percent this year alone

Amid rising retail theft, grand larcenies have soared 25 percent since Bragg took office

In response to the crime and chaos, businesses New Yorkers rely on have locked up their goods

Florence lays out blueprint to support small businesses

Florence: ““I got my start in the Manhattan D.A.’s Office under the legendary Robert Morgenthau in the 1990s, and we worked tirelessly to safeguard New Yorkers’ quality of life. We centered prosecutions around victims of crime and used our discretion to deliver justice. We knew back then that blanket policies forbidding prosecutions wouldn’t keep us safe. And we know it now, too.”

New York, NY– As District Attorney Alvin Bragg refuses to disavow his ‘Day One Memo’ – in which he directed his prosecutors to automatically downgrade how crimes were charged, turning felonies into misdemeanors and misdemeanors into no crimes at all – Diana Florence released her blueprint to change course and make Manhattan safer for small businesses across Manhattan. Florence’s blueprint would establish a Small Business Community Task Force, which can use the prosecutorial powers of the office, its public platform, and resources to support small businesses and address concerns of business owners in real-time. Florence would also hire a full-time small business liaison in the District Attorney’s office who would have a dedicated focus on Manhattan’s small business community.

Under Alvin Bragg, Manhattan’s business community has struggled under a climate of fear since Bragg’s directive on day one of his term to downgrade most crimes. Instead of considering each case individually, Bragg issued a blanket policy to avoid seeking jail time in most cases and to outright decline to prosecute certain crimes altogether.

“Manhattan thrives when businesses can flourish – but establishing successful businesses starts with creating safe neighborhoods. Since ‘Day One’ Alvin Bragg has fomented a climate of fear, by focusing on downgrading crimes instead of prosecuting crimes,” said Diana Florence. “I got my start in the Manhattan D.A.’s Office under the legendary Robert Morgenthau in the 1990s, and we worked tirelessly to safeguard New Yorkers’ quality of life. We centered prosecutions around victims of crime and used our discretion to deliver justice. We knew back then that blanket policies forbidding prosecutions wouldn’t keep us safe. And we know it now, too.”

Weeks after D.A. Bragg released his Day One Memo, he backtracked to quell a political firestorm, calling it “a source of confusion, rather than clarity.” But acknowledging messaging missteps is not the same as admitting a fundamental mistake—the memo is wrong, plain and simple. The results speak for themselves, and it’s not a matter of the District Attorney failing to use the right words: it’s about choosing to use the wrong strategy.

Since Bragg took office, 6 out of 7 major felonies are up and major felonies are up 14 percent overall during Bragg’s term. Despite his so-called focus on crimes of “physical harm,” felony assaults are up 18 percent, and this year alone, subway felony assaults have skyrocketed 20 percent. New Yorkers don’t feel safe—not because of a misunderstanding, but because of the facts. Beyond that, shoplifting is up, and organized retail theft has risen sharply, and grand larcenies have soared nearly 25 percent. In response to the crime and chaos, businesses New Yorkers rely on have locked up their goods, putting everything from toothpaste to deodorant behind glass barriers.

Florence, a lifelong Democrat who has spent 30 years as a prosecutor, including 25 years in the Manhattan DA’s Office, is running for Manhattan DA as an Independent on the “Safer Manhattan” line in the November election, and believes in a fundamentally different approach to keep neighborhoods and businesses safe.

The Florence plan to make Manhattan safer for businesses includes:

Cracking Down on Crime: Restore public safety by prosecuting violent crime and bringing real consequences to those who commit them.

Ending Downgrading of Offenses: Address quality-of-life crimes like shoplifting, vandalism, and trespass.

Root out Retail Theft: Target retail theft rings and serial shoplifters hurting neighborhood stores.

Florence Would Create a Small Business Task Force:

NYC small businesses are essential to public safety and the DA needs to secure their future.

Small, immigrant owned businesses in particular, retail and restaurants, not only contribute $195 billion to New York City’s GDP, but create the bustling sidewalk activity that keeps neighborhoods safe and vibrant

That’s why Florence proposes to create a Small Business Community (SBC) Task Force, which can use the prosecutorial powers of the office, its public platform, and resources to aid and protect small businesses. In addition, Florence plans to hire a Small Business Liaison, who will serve as a direct line for small businesses to contact the Manhattan DA’s Office.

• The Small Business Community Task Force will focus on building relationships with small business stakeholders and ensure a direct line of communication between the District Attorney’s Office and the small business community. This Task Force will focus its efforts on six major areas of investigation that will enhance public safety and revitalize small businesses:
  – Neighborhood quality of life concerns
  – Commercial tenant harassment
  – Corruption in city agency enforcement
  – MWBE fraud
  – Cybercrimes

Small Business Liaison & DANY on Your Corner – As District Attorney, Florence will meet people wherever they are: at home, at work, and on the street. With stronger relationships on the ground, the District Attorney’s Office can build partnerships and better align its priorities with community safety priorities. That is why Diana is pioneering a new program to increase the DA’s ground presence in the community: DANY on Your Corner where she, along with staff, will meet regularly in person and virtually with the community across different locations, including cafés and restaurants across Manhattan.

Another key component of Florence’s small business community approach will be the hiring of a Small Business Liaison, who will serve as a direct line for small business to contact the Manhattan DA’s Office. The liaison will be a resource to small businesses across the City, providing them with assistance in how the District Attorney’s office can help them. Furthermore, the liaison can communicate with attorneys in the office to ensure that the Office is pursuing cases that keep small businesses safe. Furthermore, the Small Business Liaison will establish robust relationships to educate small business owners of their rights and crime prevention.

The Small Business Task Force will follow Diana’s collaborative model of prosecution that she created with the Construction Task Force. It will be staffed by personnel from the Financial Fraud Bureau and Community Partnership Unit. In addition, the Small Business Task Force will include the voices of the local business community and stakeholders throughout the city, such as small business owners, business associations, Manhattan BIDs, community organizations, individuals, elected officials, community boards. With a mix of perspectives and with ears to the ground, the Small Business Task Force will be able to draw from a vast array of perspectives and accurately understand the situation in the small business landscape across the City.

Florence said, “My approach will change course, and use a successful model I established as a prosecutor in the District Attorney’s office, in charge of the Construction Fraud Task Force. As District Attorney, I will make sure New Yorkers small businesses know they have a dedicated ear and constant voice advocating for them and responding to their concerns in real time. No more cutting corners or kicking the can down the road.”

About Diana Florence:

Diana Florence started her career 30 years ago in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, after receiving both her BA (with honors and Phi Beta Kappa) and her law degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Fluent in Spanish, Florence spent 25 years as a prosecutor. She focused on street crime, domestic violence, complex frauds, and corruption cases, ultimately creating and leading the nation’s first Construction Fraud Task Force. She won groundbreaking convictions against companies and individuals for corruption, domestic violence, defrauding 9/11 charities, wage theft, and deadly work conditions. Working side-by-side with community-based groups, unions, worker centers, and government agencies, Florence created an innovative prosecution model rooted in broad-based community participation. She taught trial advocacy for over two decades to lawyers in the DA’s Office and lectured investigators and lawyers from around the world on topics ranging from inter-agency cooperation to prosecuting fraud, racketeering, and workplace homicide.

As an Assistant District Attorney (ADA), Florence held powerful interests accountable by prosecuting landmark cases on behalf of workers and taxpayers. She secured justice for the family of Carlos Moncayo, a 22 year-old construction worker who was buried alive at work. Using the existing criminal law, Florence obtained convictions against the corporations and site supervisors—who had been repeatedly warned of hazardous conditions—for manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide related to Moncayo’s death. Florence also secured a record-breaking wage theft conviction working alongside IronWorkers Local 361 to secure $6 million in stolen wages and back-pay from AGL Industries. Not only did Florence prosecute these cases, she authored two bills—Carlos’ Law and Wage Theft—that became New York State Laws. These successes led to her run for Manhattan District Attorney in 2021, with the support of 20 labor unions.

The conclusion of Florence’s campaign coincided with the broad legalization of Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) compensation for college athletes. Recognizing the parallels between immigrant construction workers and these young athletes—namely, that both groups were the often-overlooked engines of multi-billion-dollar industries—she transitioned her practice to collegiate athletics as an attorney and consultant. She is one of a handful of lawyers nationwide who has successfully sued the NCAA. She sued on behalf of a Division One basketball player at Manhattan College and won a preliminary injunction that granted him immediate eligibility. Florence also advocates for college athletes as a member of the board of Thriving Not Surviving, a nonprofit that supports college athletes who have been sexually assaulted.

Born in Manhattan, Florence is a long-time resident of Kips Bay, where she lives with her husband and two children.