Mayor Eric Adams’ administration wants to beef up security at its licensing office that business owners visit to obtain permits — so it’s turning to a private firm formerly owned by the ex-Deputy Mayor for Public Safety, Phil Banks.
The Department of Consumer and Worker Protection plans to replace unarmed guards with armed guards at its Licensing Center and central office in Lower Manhattan. To do so, DCWP plans to award a three-year, $996,000 contract to City Safe Partners Security, according to a notice published Monday.
The department is adding security as a precautionary measure, since the Licensing Center is open to the public and lacks safety protections like metal detectors, DCWP spokesman Michael Lanza said. In past years, Lanza said, department staff have been physically threatened a handful of times by members of the public, who visit the office at 42 Broadway to apply for licenses for a range of businesses — from car washes to pedicabs to locksmiths.
City Safe came under scrutiny last fall for its connections to Banks, the powerful Adams deputy who bought an interest in the firm in 2015 and sold it in 2018. The company, founded as Overwatch Services, did little business with the city before Adams took office in 2022 — but then received a $154 million contract from the New York City Housing Authority in 2024, records show.
After federal agents seized Banks’ phone in September, the New York Post reported that both local and federal investigators were looking at City Safe and its dealings with the city. Spokespeople for the city’s Department of Investigation and the U.S. Attorney’s office in Manhattan declined to comment this week about whether those investigations are still active.
Banks resigned from City Hall under pressure in October and has not been accused of wrongdoing. Banks’ attorney, Benjamin Brafman, reiterated this week that Banks severed all ties with City Safe after selling his shares in 2018.
City Hall spokeswoman Amaris Cockfield said that City Safe had submitted the second-lowest bid in a competitive bidding process. The company that submitted the cheapest bid was not chosen because it is under investigation by DCWP for violating the city’s Paid Sick Leave Law, she said.
“The Department of Consumer and Worker Protection is dedicated to ensuring that we make the best use of New Yorkers’ tax dollars by selecting the most suitable and cost-effective firm during any bidding process,” Cockfield said. “That is precisely what is being done to select armed security services for the city’s Licensing Center and DCWP’s central offices at 42 Broadway to replace unarmed security. This process is not complete and still under review.”
The proposed City Safe contract will face a public hearing on March 27. If approved, it would run from April 1 of this year through March 2028.
City Safe was reportedly founded in 2010 by Dwayne Montgomery, a retired police inspector who was later caught up in his own scandal for orchestrating a scheme to funnel fake “straw” donations to Adams’ 2021 campaign. Montgomery pleaded guilty to orchestrating the illegal donations last year and was sentenced to community service; Adams, who said he knew Montgomery socially, was not accused of being aware of the scheme.
The current owner of City Safe, Soyini Chan-Shue, had purchased it along with Banks before he sold his shares. Chan-Sue, a retired NYPD sergeant, did not respond to a request for comment.
The new contract with DCWP appears to be the biggest that City Safe will have secured with any city agency aside from its $154 million NYCHA deal. The firm also has a 16-month, $98,000 contract for security services from the Commission on Human Rights that began March 1 of this year, and a $44,000, 10-month contract from the Department of Social Services that ended last June.
