The Mamdani administration was warned to install bollards and take other security measures at houses of worship nearly a month before maniac Dan Sohail allegedly rammed his car into the Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters in Brooklyn, The Post has learned.
Moshe Davis, executive director of the Mayor’s Office for Combating Antisemitism, issued a Dec. 30 report two days before Mamdani was sworn in as mayor — offering recommendations for 2026 on how to combat future antisemitic attacks, including adding bollards and other security features at “vulnerable” houses of worship.
The Hasidic Jewish group’s Eastern Parkway building in Crown Heights – where Sohail, 36, of New Jersey, was arrested on hate-crime charges Wednesday after being caught on video driving into a set of doors five times during a holy celebration – is one of the site’s city officials deemed high-risk and recommended for bollards, according to a source briefed on the matter who declined to name the other locations for security reasons.
Former Mayor Eric Adams created MOCA in May, and under him, it partnered with the Department of Transportation and NYPD’s Counterterrorism Threats Reduction Infrastructure Protection Section (TRIPS) unit last year to “streamline the permit process for security bollards at houses of worship” and reduce any “bureaucratic delays,” the report says.
“The 2026 expansion proposes establishing a dedicated city budget line for bollard installation and other hardening measures at vulnerable institutions,” the report adds. “This mirrors previous successful iterations of such funding before resources were exhausted.”
In 2018, the city under then-Mayor Bill de Blasio agreed to spend $50 million installing 1,500-plus protective metal bollards to thwart terrorist-ramming attacks, primarily in tourist hotspots like Times Square, bustling business corridors and near iconic sites like St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
The move came following a series of terror attacks, including one where eight people were mowed down and killed along a West Side Highway bike path by a truck-driving madman.
At the time, some Crown Heights community leaders proposed building a pedestrian plaza in front of the iconic synagogue that included bollards and planters as deterrents, but the proposal never made it across the finish line with City Hall.
“It could have helped prevent what happened, I hope, now, there’s renewed interest in the project,” said Crown Heights Jewish Community Council Director of Outreach Rabbi Eli Cohen, who spearheaded the project.
“They didn’t really get the whole community on board with the idea. The plaza could have been open to any kind of event, like yoga, in front of the shul,” said another Crown Heights familiar with the proposal.
It’s unclear how much money the city plans to allocate for security infrastructure at houses of worship as budget discussions are ongoing, but it will take at least a few months to begin installation, officials said.
“Mayor Mamdani knows that the safety of our neighbors and our houses of worship is non-negotiable,” said his spokesman Sam Raskin.
“The Mamdani administration will take every necessary step to ensure synagogues — and all religious institutions and houses of worship — are safe, secure, and free from fear.”
However, a source familiar with the project said the city shouldn’t wait for another car-ramming incident with a more deadly outcome.
“If this is such a priority, why not press play now,” the source said. “The community wants more security.”
