Julie Menin is settling into her role as the seventh elected speaker of the New York City Council.
It’s been noted she is the first elected Jewish speaker at a time the city elected its first Muslim mayor. She views this unique dynamic as an opportunity, and says she is ready to work to make this city a better place for all New Yorkers.
Menin’s history
Menin’s rise to speaker was slow and steady. In fact, it wasn’t even intentional. It began after 9/11.
“I started a not-for-profit a couple weeks after 9/11 that was focused on rebuilding downtown, was focused on helping other small businesses and focused on the residents,” Menin said. Â
She was appointed to the local community board and the jury that picked the 9/11 memorial.
“It was really through those experiences that I started to get more involved,” she said.
Menin, 58, has worked in a number of capacities in and around New York City government. She was commissioner for the Department of Consumer Affairs and the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment.
In January, she received full council support for City Council Speaker, despite not receiving an endorsement from Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
“It’s an honor of a lifetime to serve as speaker of the New York City Council,” Menin said. Â
Combatting antisemitism
Menin recently brought attention to growing antisemitic hate crimes when she visited a Brooklyn playground defaced by swastikas, and earlier this week, there was a City Council hearing on a package of bills aimed at combatting antisemitism, part of her five-point plan to protect not only Jewish New Yorkers, but all communities across the city.
“We know that antisemitic incidents are 57% of all hate crimes, yet the Jewish population, we’re 10% of the city’s population,” Menin said.
The issue is “deeply personal,” she said.
“My mother and grandmother grew up in Budapest and survived the Holocaust there,” she said. “My grandfather was killed during the Holocaust just because he happened to be Jewish.”
Menin’s aggressive agenda
Restoring faith in city government is also a top priority for Menin.
“We need to build more child care facilities,” she said. “Rikers must close. Fifteen deaths just last year alone, wholly and completely unacceptable.”
She added, “The NYPD has an attrition rate between 8.25% and 10% a year, so that is a concern.”
When it comes to affordable housing, Menin said she wants to look at public library branches, city-owned land and vacant buildings.
“We in the City Council want to put out our own proactive vision on affordable housing,” she said.
She also wants to fill the roughly 20% staffing vacancies at city agencies, address sanitation complaints and eradicate no-bid contracts, which she says can save the city biollions of dollars.
It’s an aggressive agenda, but one Menin says she is ready to tackle, remembering how and why her journey began.
“If 9/11 wouldn’t have happened … I would not have entered political office, and I never in a million years thought I would run for political office,” she said. “It’s been an honor to serve in these various roles. I have felt this each and every day, the gratitude that I have to be able to be in public service.”
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