Meet the new City Council, City & State New York

The 51: District 5, NYC Media

Do you know who your City Council Member is? Find out in this series and hear interesting things about your district.

Julie Menin’s Early Days as Council Member, Our Town

For Menin, responding quickly — often to the unanticipated — is part of the job she signed up for. Of course, she has longer-term goals, too, that can’t be achieved overnight, like introducing a new school to District 5, which primarily encompasses a large swath of the Upper East Side. But on all fronts, in only her early days as a newly-minted Council Member, Menin has “hit the ground running,” as she put it, with her team.

51 Council Members in 52 Weeks: District 5, Julie Menin, The Brian Lehrer Show

Councilmember Julie Menin talks about her priorities for District 5, which includes the neighborhoods of Yorkville, Lenox Hill, Carnegie Hill, Roosevelt Island, Midtown East, Sutton Place, and El Barrio in East Harlem.

City Watch with Councilmembers Erik Bottcher, Julie Menin, WBAI 99.5 FM

On the February 13, 2022 episode of City Watch on WBAI 99.5 FM, Host Jeff Simmons talked with two of the newest members of the New York City Council – Erik Bottcher and Julie Menin, both of Manhattan.

East Siders Turn Out for Julie Menin Inauguration, TAPinto

New York’s East Side showed up in the hundreds at the 92nd Street Y this afternoon to attend the inauguration of Councilwoman Julie Menin (D-5).

Back in Person: The 2022 OTTY Awards, Our Town

For more than 20 years Our Town has proudly hosted the OTTYS – the Our Town Thanks You Awards – as a way to honor remarkable New Yorkers who make the Upper East Side, and our city as a whole, a better place to live and work.

Woman Is Fatally Shot While Pushing Baby in Stroller on Upper East Side, The New York Times

Vigil held for mother who was fatally shot on the Upper East Side, Spectrum News NY 1

New proposal would ensure all NYC families get child care, PIX 11

Menin, the sponsor of the proposed legislation, said that universal child care is about ensuring that all families have access to providers who are conveniently located, and have services that are within every families’ budgets. 

NYC Councilwoman Julie Menin to roll out several bills aimed at boosting child care, New York Daily News 

City Councilwoman Julie Menin plans to introduce several legislative proposals Thursday aimed at instituting universal child care in New York City.

Package of City Council bills aim to pave way for universal childcare, gothamist

Council member Julie Menin, who represents the Upper East Side, is sponsoring bills that would, among other measures, create a Childcare Advisory Board to oversee the planning and implementation of universal childcare, with the goal of making it easier to access for New York City families, regardless of their income.

NYC lawmakers pass universal child care bills, PIX 11

New York took a step closer to universal child care on Wednesday with the passage of five bills in the City Council. The Universal Child Care Act includes five bills ensuring quality child care, grants for struggling providers, tax abatement for new facilities and an online child care directory. This may take a few years to implement, but according to city council members, the goal is to have it done in under five years. 

NYC Council passes legislative package for universal child care, NY Post

The City Council just short of unanimously passed a legislative package of five bills on Wednesday for universal child care in the coming years. The Universal Child Care Act will establish an advisory board tasked with introducing a five-year plan to implement universal programs.

NYC Council, advocates blast DOE for delaying payments to early childhood programs, NY Post

Council members and advocates blasted the Department of Education on Wednesday for delaying payments to city-contracted early childhood programs — which are collectively owed millions of dollars in reimbursements, The Post revealed last month.

The First City with Universal Child Care (with Julie Menin), Lemonada Media – “No One is Coming to Save Us” Podcast

Gloria Riviera sits down with NYC Council Member Julie Menin to learn how New York became the first city in the United States to pass universal child care. Julie talks about running a campaign centered on child care, how she convinced her colleagues to vote for this bill, and what will happen now that it’s passed. Plus, they break down what each bill in her package will do, including creating a child care directory and online portal for local, state, and federal child care subsidies. Plus, Julie explains why her plan focuses on New York’s youngest kids, from 0-3 years old.

Helping NYC BIDs, big and especially small, New York Daily News (Julie Menin Op-Ed)

Small businesses are the backbone of our city, representing more than 200,000 businesses and employing in excess of 2 million workers. Historically, small businesses do not grab or seek the headlines. Rather, the hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers who provide what we need to live and enjoy our lives — the delis, pharmacies, salons, repair services, hardware stores, restaurants — toil away everywhere and yet are also somehow invisible. We as a city have too often turned a blind eye to the enormous stresses on these businesses. It is time for that to change.

Julie Menin Appointed Council’s Small Business Chair, Patch

City Councilmember Julie Menin was appointed chair of the body’s Committee on Small Business on Thursday, charging her with helping shepherd the city’s mom-and-pop-shops out of the pandemic.

Will Small Businesses Bounce Back?, Our Town

Julie Menin chairs Small Business Committee oversight hearing on COVID-19 challenges.

NYC’s minority- and women-owned businesses still falling short in obtaining city contracts, pols say, amNY

“From the small business committee perspective, I am interested in a productive conversation on how we can jumpstart the recovery of minority owned businesses and increase utilization rates of M/WBEs,” said council member Julie Menin. 

Business community to city: Make the NYC Business Portal better if you want us to use it, Crain’s New York Business

Proposed law would create web portal to ease application process for NYC small businesses, City & State New York

Dubbed the “One-Stop Shop Business Portal,” the legislation focuses on centralizing the submission and status-check of applications, permits and licenses of city businesses. Currently, business owners must navigate a cluster of different city agencies to locate such documents. The bill is sponsored by 38 of 51 Council members and was introduced by Council Member Julie Menin, chair of the Small Business Committee.

City Council passes bill aimed at helping small businesses, NY Post

The City Council passed a bill on Thursday aimed at shrinking the Big Apple’s “bureaucratic maze” of regulations required to open and operate a business.

City Council debates creating a new office to help small businesses go digital, Crain’s New York Business

The bill marks the city’s effort to “stop the hemorrhaging” of small businesses who have struggled to transition to online sales during the pandemic.

Council Member Julie Menin Demands OMNY Installation on Roosevelt Island Tram, Roosevelt Island Daily

Sign Petition To Bring The MTA OMNY Payment System To The Roosevelt Island Tram, Roosevelt Islander

City punts fix for ‘treacherous’ Queensboro Bridge bike and pedestrian path by another year, amNY

NYC councilwoman demands MTA fix ‘critical’ escalator for Second Avenue subway, New York Post

Councilwoman Julie Menin (D-Manhattan) fired off a letter Saturday to MTA Chairman Janno Lieber, ripping the agency for failing to make good on a promise to fix a massive escalator connecting the upper and lower levels of the East 72nd Street Q train station on Second Avenue.

DOT Commissioner Tours Dangerous UES Intersection with Council Member Menin, Upper East Site

Just weeks after calling on the NYC Department of Transportation to review and redesign the deadly intersections on the Upper East Side, Council Member Julie Menin gave DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez a walkthrough of some of the problem roadways— a first step in saving lives from preventable tragedies on our streets.

OMNY’s Delayed Rollout To JFK AirTrain Must Be Sped Up, Lawmakers Say, Patch

 The new “tap-and-go” payment system now operating in all New York City subway stations must be expanded to fill a glaring gap: the JFK Airport AirTrain, where the planned OMNY rollout has been plagued by delays, according to local lawmakers.

Local Leaders Say Subway Barriers are Needed, Call for a Pilot Project at Busy Stops, West Side Rag

 “We have a crisis of public safety right now in our subway system. We need to use every tool in our tool belt…and that includes installing these platform doors,” said Menin.

Council Member Menin Calls for DOT to Redesign Deadly UES Intersections, Upper East Site

Over the last two months, three Upper East Side intersections have become the scenes of horrific collisions that cut short the lives of four New Yorkers, including a Lenox Hill woman killed just blocks from her home. These tragedies were preventable, says Council Member Julie Menin, who is now calling on the Department of Transportation to review and redesign the deadly intersections in an effort to save lives.

Hospital Transparency

Exorbitant hospital prices have NYC Council member poised to clamp down with several bills, Daily News

The high price of hospital care is in the crosshairs of several new bills City Councilwoman Julie Menin plans to introduce in the coming days — including legislation that would hit hospitals with stiff financial penalties if they don’t provide the city with pricing data that’s now nearly impossible for the public to access.

Show the real prices of NYC hospitals, Daily News

New York City Councilwoman Julie Menin plans to reverse runaway health-care costs by addressing their largest driver: hospital prices. Last week, she announced plans to introduce a series of bills to unleash price transparency at New York City hospitals, empowering consumers to reduce costs through choice and competition.

NY Jewish councilwoman urges forceful response to rise in antisemitism, Forward

A Jewish New York City councilwoman is calling on her colleagues to speak out more forcefully against antisemitism and increase awareness of the Holocaust amid a rise in antisemitic incidents across the city.

NYC politicians share tools to fight rising antisemitism, The Times of Israel

City Council member Julie Menin, who represents the Upper East Side, hosted a virtual “Antisemitism Town Hall” Wednesday night that featured remarks by US Senator Charles Schumer and fellow Council member Eric Dinowitz.

Manhattan residents want solutions to trash problems, Spectrum News NY 1

City Council Member Julie Menin recently announced she would allocate $120,000 from her office’s budget to fund added pickups across the Upper East Side. 

Busy, Dirty Upper East Side Corridor Finally Gets Trash Cans, Patch

The busy East 86th Street corridor finally has mid-block litter baskets following a decade-long push, Councilmember Julie Menin announced.

Upper East Side Councilwoman Funds More Frequent Litter Bin Pickups, CBS

A New York City lawmaker and the Department of Sanitation are teaming up to clean up the curbs. Councilwoman Julie Menin says overflowing trash bins are a top complaint in her district.

DSNY ramping up Upper East Side trash collection after complaints, CBS

Menin joined DSNY Commissioner Jessica Tisch to announce an initiative to help clean up the neighborhood, saying $235,000 from the city budget will go to:

• Increasing litter basket picking in the neighborhood to four times a day, three days a week
• More frequent sidewalk cleaning
• More funding for rat mitigation

Menin calls on GoPuff delivery service to halt its hazardous business practices in Upper East Side, amNY (The Villager)

Following an outpour of complaints from Councilmember Julie Menin’s Upper East Side constituents regarding the dangers that the GoPuff’s delivery service drivers are posing on their community, Menin took action on Tuesday directly addressing the CEO and founders of the company to express her concerns and demand action.

Grocery app Gopuff snubs traffic laws delivering snacks in NYC, New York Post

Councilmember Julie Menin sent a letter to [Gopuff’s] co-founders and CEOs, Rafael Ilishayev and Yakir Gola, to complain about “Gopuff delivery vehicles remaining double parked for lengthy periods of time, trapping residents’ cars until delivery drivers finally come to move their vehicles.”

New Report Shows Alarming Rise in Drivers Running Red Lights, Urgent Need for Albany to Grant City of New York Home Rule Powers To Make Streets Safe, Transportation Alternatives

“Our city has seen a devastating trend of increases in traffic deaths over the past few years and so far 2022 is on pace to be even worse,” said City Council Member Julie Menin. “I wholeheartedly support home rule for New York City on traffic issues so we can expand our red light camera program and make it more effective. Red light cameras and other initiatives such as intersection redesigns are both critical steps in helping to make our city’s streets safer and stem this crisis of traffic violence.”

FreshDirect trucks flout road rules, causing traffic headaches, NY Post

Council Member Julie Menin, who represents the Upper East Side, told The Post that these practices by FreshDirect “creates safety issues for pedestrians, for cyclists, for vehicles, in addition to causing environmental concerns” and recently introduced a bill to increase penalties for idling trucks.

Council Votes on Historic Abortion and Reproductive Health Care Rights Legislative Package, New York City Council

Today, for the first time in the history of the Council, the legislative body votes on a “NYC Abortion Rights Act” bill package to safeguard abortion and advance reproductive health care in the City.

Following Supreme Court Decision Overturning Roe v. Wade, New York City Council Women’s Caucus Unveils Legislative Package on Abortion and Reproductive Health Care, Announces Support for State Constitutional Amendment, New York City Council

Women Council members also announce intention to provide city funding for abortion care and support services

New York Politicians on the End of Roe v. Wade, Our Town

UES District 5 Council Member Julie Menin

“Today’s #SCOTUS ruling is a horrific affront to all. Today will go down in history as the day women no longer have control and agency over their own bodies. I am devastated that my daughter, and daughters across this country are growing up in this new reality.”

Pink Tax, Julie Menin’s Twitter (@JulieMenin)

“I testified before Congress today about the #PinkTax. A study I led as @NYCDCA commish found that women are paying 1,000s of $$ more to purchase similar products as men. Our study showed women are being charged more than men 42% of the time for essentially the exact same product.”

Upper East Side Got Millions In New NYC Budget: Here’s Where It’ll Go, Patch

The record-high $101 billion budget passed by the City Council on Monday includes millions of dollars flowing to the Upper East Side for new park restrooms, library improvements, school renovations, and other projects.

UES Votes To Revamp Schoolyard, Bolster Library Tech and Refresh Carl Schurz Park Paths, Our Town

Council Member Julie Menin announced on Monday the results of her first go at participatory budgeting, a process which allows community members to vote on projects they’d like to see funded.

Bathrooms, Park Fixes: These UES Projects Won Menin’s Budget Bucks, Patch

On Monday, City Councilmember Julie Menin announced the six winners of her office’s participatory budgeting program, which gave residents the chance to decide how to spend about $1 million on neighborhood projects.

Ugly Lawn In UES Park Will Get Green Upgrade, City Says, Patch

An unsightly lawn in an East Side park will be greenified through new grass plantings and irrigation work, city officials announced Friday, heeding a demand by neighborhood advocates to fix up the drab space.

East Side Gets Newly Expanded Community Garden Amid Green Space Push, Patch

A monthslong push to get more green space for the park-starved Upper East Side has now borne fruit, in the form of a spruced-up and enlarged community garden.

While NYC Cuts Curbside Composting, the UES gets New Food Scrap Drop-off Site, Upper East Site

Despite promises to expand curbside composting across the city, Mayor Eric Adams is proposing to cut the service as a cost saving measure. To fight the effects of the cuts, City Council Member Julie Menin is teaming up with Asphalt Green and Grow NYC to bring a new site to drop off food scraps for composting to the Upper East Side.

Nonprofit organizations partner with Councilmember Julie Menin to bring more composting to Manhattan’s East Side, amNY (The Villager)

The office of Councilmember Julie Menin has partnered with nonprofit organizations GrowNYC and Asphalt to call on the city to create a composting site on the East Side of Manhattan.

Barricades Come Down In UES Park After Yearlong Blockade, Patch

Menin organized the sit-down in response to a slew of complaints she had received about the barricades, according to her office, which shared a handful of examples.

New Coalition Launches to Support Ukraine, TAPinto

Councilwoman Julie Menin (D-5) said that what is happening in Ukraine is very personal to her. Menin’s mother and grandmother hailed from Hungary and while they were lucky to survive The Holocaust, they then were subjects under Russian rule in Hungary after Russian armies drove the Germans back to Berlin in World War II.

Council Members Seek City Oversight for Fast-Grocery Services, The City

City Council members on Thursday introduced a trio of bills that seek to regulate rapid grocery delivery apps such as Gorillas, Getir and Gopuff — and their storefronts known as “dark stores” — and promote delivery worker safety.

Fast-delivery apps face NYC crackdown over ‘dark stores,’ worker safety, New York Post

The first bill, from Upper East Side City Council Member Julie Menin, would require the apps’ storefronts — often known as “dark stores” — to be licensed and regulated by the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection. The agency, which Menin herself previously led, would have the authority to revoke licenses for misleading advertising or deceptive trade practices, among other violations.

Manhattan NYCHA developments to get free broadband; NYC Councilwoman Julie Menin wants program to expand citywide, New York Daily News

Residents in two Upper East Side public housing complexes will be eligible to receive what will essentially amount to free broadband under a new program Councilwoman Julie Menin is set to unveil Wednesday.

NYC now allows donors to help kindergartners save for college, New York Daily News

Friends, family, and anyone else who wants to put money towards the college education of New York City public school kids can now donate to students through NYC Kids Rise, a program designed to even the playing field for college savings.

City Councilmembers urge Mayor to address baby formula shortage, amNY

New York City Councilmembers Julie Menin and Lynn Schulman along with 28 other members of the NYC Council’s Women’s Caucus penned a letter to Mayor Eric Adams, demanding that his administration address the current infant formula shortage.

UES Lawmaker Calls for Simple Fix after Swimmers were Booted from Nearly Empty Pool, Upper East Site

City Council Member Julie Menin is wading into the debacle that had swimmers at an Upper East Side public pool furious this week, after they were booted from the nearly empty pool, first reported by Upper East Site. While the Parks Department blames the problem at John Jay Park on a nationwide lifeguard shortage, Menin has a simple solution to fill the hundreds of open positions— pay them more.

Upper East Side High School Celebrates New Gym After Pushing City, Patch

Three years after students launched a petition for a new gym at Eleanor Roosevelt High School, officials gathered Friday to officially unveil the new $6.5 million facility.

UES School Finally Getting Rooftop Play Area After Yearslong Campaign, Patch

But things will soon change: the new $101 billion city budget, passed by the City Council late Monday, includes $4 million in mayoral funding and $1.5 million allocated by City Councilmember Julie Menin to make the rooftop playspace a reality.

Pop-up COVID testing lab in NYC breaks promise of next-day results, New York Daily News

“This is a very stressful time for New Yorkers dealing with COVID,” Menin told the Daily News. “The idea that you think you’re going to be getting your test result the next day and you simply don’t hear anything or you get it back weeks later is absolutely unconscionable.”

UES Rallies Behind The Knickerbocker Greys, Our Town

A fiery Community Board 8 Youth, Education and Libraries Committee meeting shattered attendance records of recent memory on Thursday evening, drawing in a crowd of over 180 New Yorkers and an outpouring of testimony on the highly contentious future of the Knickerbocker Greys, an after-school drill program for kids.

Safety Fears On East River Esplanade As Promised Cameras Never Appear, Patch

City Councilmember Julie Menin laid out the issues in a letter sent last week to the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications, which runs the 311 system, saying her constituents have been unable to report problems like sinkholes and sanitation issues on the Esplanade.

Doordash Resumes Food Delivery Service To Roosevelt Island Thanks To Request From Local Resident And Constituent Services From NYC Council Member Julie Menin Working With Department Of Consumer And Worker Protection – Local Restaurant Helped Too, Roosevelt Islander

Here’s an example of NYC Council Member Julie Menin providing constituent service to a Roosevelt Island resident, helping a local business and working with the municipal bureaucracy to solve a problem and improve the food delivery quality of life on Roosevelt Island.

East Side Street To Bear Name Of Beloved Bar Owner Jimmy Neary, Patch

The corner of East 57th Street and First Avenue will become known as Jimmy Neary Way under a bill expected to be passed by the City Council on Thursday, which will also “co-name” more than 70 other streets around the city.

Ugly UES Construction Site To Get Artsy Makeover By Local Students, Patch

 A torn-up street that has blighted several Upper East Side blocks for nearly seven years will soon get a little less ugly, thanks to the artistic efforts of some local kids. Now, Menin says a short-term solution is in sight: the lawmaker has enlisted around 50 fifth-graders at nearby P.S. 183 to create artworks on panels that will be affixed to the construction site this fall.