![\"City](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/53588231235_4de43d501b_k.jpg\" "\\"Speaker")
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City Council Member Shaun Abreu.<\/p>\n
Credit John McCarten\/NYC Council Media Unit<\/p>\n
As new City Council Speaker Julie Menin<\/a> names her leadership team and committee chair assignments on Thursday, two sources confirmed to amNewYork that she is set to appoint Council Member Shaun Abreu as the legislature\u2019s new chair of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.<\/p>\n Menin is expected to appoint Abreu \u2014 a close ally and fellow Manhattan council member \u2014 during the first stated meeting she will preside over on Jan. 15, according to two sources close to the speaker. The anticipated move was first reported by the Daily News<\/a>.<\/p>\n Abreu will replace Council Member Selvena Brooks-Powers (D-Queens), who has chaired the committee over the past four years and made an unsuccessful bid for speaker in the race ultimately won by Menin. Brooks-Powers appeared to want to keep the role. She had penned a letter to Gov. Kathy Hochul in December, calling on he state\u2019s top executive to devote more state funding<\/a> to offset future planned subway and bus fare hikes.<\/p>\n As of Thursday morning, it was unclear what Brooks-Powers\u2019 next committee assignment would be. A source with knowledge of the situation told amNewYork that everyone who ran for speaker, including Brooks-Powers, would get a committee chair assignment; the full slate will be released by Menin this afternoon.<\/p>\n Menin spokesperson Jack Lobel declined to comment.\n<\/p>\n The council Transportation Committee plays a critical role in conducting oversight of the city Department of Transportation, as well as other transportation-related agencies.\n<\/p>\n Abreu could prove an important ally for Mayor Zohran Mamdani on the council, as Hizzoner made improving city bus speeds<\/a> one of the central focuses of his winning campaign. He endorsed Mamdani and campaigned with him throughout the heated general election.<\/p>\n Danny Pearlstein, Riders Alliance\u2019s policy and communications director, said Abreu\u2019s likely selection is a \u201cvery wise choice\u201d by the speaker.\n<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re eager to work closely with Chair Abreu to save riders time and win much faster buses,\u201d Pearlstein told amNewYork. \u201cHis district overwhelmingly depends on public transit.\u201d<\/p>\n Abreu, who previously chaired the body\u2019s Sanitation Committee, has led its side of the city\u2019s efforts to get piles of black garbage off of city streets and into lidded containers \u2014 an initiative embraced by livable streets advocates. Pearlstein called Abreu a \u201csteadfast leader\u201d on the issue.<\/p>\n Manhattan Community Board 9, which overlaps with Abreu\u2019s West Harlem district, played host to the city\u2019s first trash containerization pilot<\/a>. The program launched in 2023<\/a> with the city\u2019s Sanitation Department devoting several parking spots over 10 residential blocks to large-wheeled trash containers.<\/p>\n Under the pilot, CB9 was the first community board to reach a 100% containerization requirement<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n Former Mayor Eric Adams then scaled containerization across the city, with all city businesses and residential buildings with nine or fewer units already required to place their refuse in secure lidded bins<\/a>. Abreu sponsored the council legislation that instituted those rules.<\/p>\n