New Executive Order will require Allah School in Mecca to be inventoried and reviewed by July 1, 2026

       According to the Official Website of the Mayor of New York Zohran Mamdani, on January 1st, 2026, he signed into law Executive Order 04 [LEVERAGING CITY-OWNED LAND TO ACCELERATE HOUSING] due to the housing shortage in New York City. Executive Order 04 created a fast-track process to identify and utilize city-owned land for housing development (AKA: economic development). For that purpose, Mayor Mamdani established an interagency Land Inventory Fast Track Task Force (the “LIFT Task Force”). According to Executive Order 04, "The LIFT Task Force shall consist of representatives from Mayoral agencies offices, and affiliated non-profit corporations, including the Department of Citywide Administrative Services [NYC DCAS], the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, the Department of City Planning, the Department of Buildings, the Office of Management and Budget, the New York City Economic Development Corporation, and representatives from other agencies, offices or entities affiliated with the City designated by the Chair." This LIFT Task Force will also seek participation and cooperation of additional public and other entities as the Task Force Chair deems appropriate. Some of those additional entities that were identified are the New York Public Library, the Queens Public Library, the Brooklyn Public Library, the New York City Department of Education, the New York City Housing Authority, the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and the Empire State Development Corporation. The Executive Order goes on to state the duties of the LIFT Task Force below:

      In addition to the city-owned property inventory that must be completed no later than July 1, 2026, the review of (adjacent) Capital Projects that impact city-owned properties, and consulting on land use changes, it is important to consider what this can mean to citizens and our communities. More specifically, what can this mean to the Allah School in Mecca [2122 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd] -an undeveloped city-owned parcel that has served as our national headquarters? I spoke with the NYC DCAS and they confirmed that this city-owned parcel will be reviewed and inventoried along with all other city-owned properties via Executive Order 04. Following Executive Order 04, Mayor Mamdani also signed into law Executive Order 5 that creates the SPEED Task Force. The SPEED Task Force is tasked with identifying and developing city department policies, procedures, and processes for Streamlining Procedures to Expedite Equitable Development [SPEED] in NYC. According to Executive Order 5, these recommendations will be shared with Mayor Mamdani no later than April 11, 2026. 

Universal Parliament, P.S. 154 Harriet Tubman elementary school 
[November 28th, 1982]

     In my 2024 article Anchor Institutions and the Fate of Allah School in Mecca I shared that it was always assumed among our (Five Percent Nation) members that our Allah School in Mecca [2122 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd] is a parcel that was gifted to us by the Lindsay Administration with a 99-year lease. However, it was discovered that no legal document exists to substantiate that claim of a 99-year lease. While some Five Percenters have argued that Allah School is Defacto ours because of our historical use, we are not the legal property owners. This parcel is classified as a miscellaneous religious facility owned by the NYC DCAS. In that 2024 article I went on to share some of the unique challenges that we face based upon this lack of ownership. Challenges that some of us dismissed at the time. Challenges that are now at that forefront due to the January 1, 2026, passage of Executive Orders 04 and 5. 

     To clarify some of these challenges that we face, in my article Are we winning the battle of Reputational Warfare? I wrote, "Striving to achieve more, individually and collectively, may require us to be more intentional with how we appropriate our time and where we invest our finances and resources. Investing our time, finances and resources to create a tangible project to better serve our community is more valuable than sitting around recording 4-hour reaction videos about people. Being more selective about the company that we keep is equally important. This may require us to disassociate from folks who are clearly making us look bad, tarnish the reputation of our community, and destroy the positive relationships that we are striving to build. That disassociation may also need to carry over into the digital space. Being consistent about celebrating our achievements and disassociating from negativity will enable us to slowly course correct the Ghost Brand trajectory that we are currently on. Like with any defunct brand that lost its growing success yet still maintains some old loyal customers, Allah's Five Percent has been similarly falling out of significance yet still maintaining some old loyal adherents to what we teach. This is due to our lack of positive public facing representation, successful youth outreach, and real community development." This analysis was based upon the fact there are no professional revenue-generating workshops, classes, or projects being facilitated at Allah School every day. We have no grant-funded youth advocacy/community outreach programs being offered in the neighborhood. We have no collaborative initiatives with area organizations and institutions that are available on-site or virtually. Nothing is being offered by/for women and girls, even though women represent 75% of the professional non-profit workforce in the U.S. and the Allah School is a non-profit with no women board members. 

     In a more recent 2025 article Political Financial Illiteracy: How much does a Policy (Law) cost? prior to Mamdani's election, I further elaborated on the changing NYC Administration, what that could potentially mean to our nation (of the Five Percent) and Mayor Zohran Mamdani creating, amending, or repealing any NYC Policies (Laws) that he would like to implement -such as Executive Orders 04 and 5. I shared these words below;

"Building relationships with any Administration is the key to collaboration and maintaining cultural assets. Being prepared to show and prove our value as a community asset, cultural resource, and historic site will always be the difference between what we build or destroy. We have to ask ourselves, where do we stand regarding the Policies (Laws) that will be created, amended, or repealed during Mamdani's Administration? What will this cost our nation, and the community of Harlem, where we call our headquarters home? Are we at the table or positioning ourselves to be at the table to help create, amend, or repeal these Policies (Laws) to help better serve our nation and community? If we are not at the table, that is evidence that we are on the menu, either as an appetizer, entrée or a dessert. I am unaware if any Five Percenters were actively involved in Mamdani's campaign or if any Five Percenters saw the election result signs in advance and made contact with his campaign to begin building those relationships. Are any Five Percenters striving to be a part of his new Department of Community Safety?" 

     Since Covid-19, I have consistently written/spoken on the subjects of historic preservation, controlling our IP (Intellectual Property), and various procedures and programs that we can use to maintain our cultural continuity. Times are clearly changing and while some of those insights still dismissed, some folks are now starting to see the importance of changing how we do things, when to share our time, and where we should invest our finances and resources. I get the impression that some of us are waiting around to react to what happens instead of being proactive. As I am not in NYC or a resident in the Harlem community, there is only so much that I can do, based upon physical proximity and how open some nation members actually are to receive what I have to share. 

     Some time ago I shared that it was not a great idea when I learned that a few Five Percenters met with city officials under the Eric Adams Administration to share a slide presentation about our ideas for developing their city-owned parcel: 2122 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd [Allah School in Mecca]. I thought it was premature because we had no capital funding to do it and we still do not have the capital funding in the bank to do a multi-million-dollar economic development project. It was simply an idea that we shared with no funding or even Memorandums of Understanding (MOU) with partnership businesses or organizations who support this project. If there is a record of those Five Percenters meeting with city officials' pre-Mayor Mamdani, it can be used by the current Administration to show a timeline and incapability to develop their city-owned parcel. If there is no record of those Five Percenters meeting with city officials' pre-Mayor Mamdani, it still puts us in a vulnerable position with the LIFT Task Force review happening no later than July 1, 2026, especially if none of us were actively involved in Mamdani's campaign, are actively communicating his Administration or actively involved with any of his departments such as the Department of Community Safety. Mamdani's Administration simply may not know who we are. With a quick Google or YouTube search, his Administration will get some answers, answers that I am not sure that we would like concerning how engaged, organized, and competent we are. If his Administration did further research by contacting surrounding anchor institutions such as P.S. 154 Harriet Tubman, P.S. 92 Mary McLeod Bethune or housing developments such as the St. Nicholas Houses to learn who we are, I am also not sure that we would like their answers. Even if some city officials wanted to pop-up at the Allah School on a random Tuesday just to check out what is going on, they won't see anything of socioeconomic value, especially with 50% of their parcel inoperative [CommonUnity CENTER]. None of these things are favorable for us. 

     So, what can we do about it? At this point I think it requires radical change. That radical change requires more effort than guys showing up every week to stream a pixelated video for a handful of viewers, dudes posting three-hour videos talking about what other people are doing, or unemployed people just hanging out at the school. It requires more than that to show and prove that we are serious about the socioeconomic growth and development of Allah School. Especially at this critical time when the city-owned parcel that we have occupied all of these years is clearly undeveloped and underused compared to all of the development happening around it. As a part of this radical change there are a number of things that I would do, from restructuring the board, exploring historic preservation, grant writing, community engagement initiatives, youth programs, strategic partnerships, and etc. If or when people [men and women] are seriously ready to add-on like this and remove all of the obstacles out of the way that will undermine those efforts, I would be willing to build. Other than that, I'll continue to do the work that I do and continue to share information for those who have the eyes to see, the ears to listen, and the mouths to speak. If something is not radically done to ensure the ownership and socioeconomic development of our Allah School, we risk losing our national headquarters. With that lost, the adjacent "Allah, Justice & The Five Percenters Square" street sign will become a political consolation prize. A sign that will now serve as the only remaining evidence and historical reminder of who we once were in this Harlem community. This is no different than any other street signs that are named after figures who are no longer there. I don't want that, and I am sure many others don't want that either. We need to do something about it then.

Peace,

Saladin, #AtlantisBuild