The City – Brooklyn Council Member Shahana Hanif will introduce a bill Thursday that would, in effect, force the Bronx Zoo to give up custody of New York City’s two remaining elephants, Happy and Patty.

“No other City has passed legislation to ban elephant captivity, and I’m proud New York City will be the first,” Hanif, the co-chair of the Council’s Progressive Caucus, told THE CITY in a statement.

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Daily News – “One of the struggles we’ve had of course is that many of our asylum seekers haven’t been able to work, and this program really gives an opportunity for folks to begin working,” said Councilwoman Shahana Hanif (D-Brooklyn) at a budget hearing Monday. “It’s a bit troubling to not see funding allocated for FY24.” [Read More]

NY1 – “That’s concerning to know,” said Councilwoman Shahana Hanif, whose district includes sizable numbers of Spanish, Yiddish, Russian and Urdu speakers. “The priority should be that community board meetings, which I consider the gateway to local democracy, are equipped with robust interpretation resources.” [Read More]

Daily News – Council Member Shahana Hanif (D-Brooklyn) warned against the criminalization of delivery workers in the rollout of the new bills.

“Workers cannot be on the sidelines of policy conversations that directly impact them,” Hanif said. “The implementation of this package and future legislation needs to ensure that delivery workers are not penalized far too many times.” [Read More]

Daily News – The new legislation, expected to be introduced by Brooklyn Councilwoman Shahana Hanif, would require all current and future migrant relief centers to comply with all provisions of the right-to-shelter ordinance.

“[The bill] I am introducing today will ensure every facility that houses asylum seekers has the highest humanitarian standards. In one of the richest cities on Earth, we can do better than warehousing people,” said Hanif, a Democrat who is chairwoman of the Council’s Immigration Committee.

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Gothamist – “I met that with suspicion… as we’ve seen over the last several months now, these have become facilities where families are living for weeks on end and months on end,” said Councilmember Shahana Hanif, who introduced the bill challenging conditions at migrant shelters on Thursday. [Read More]

NY1 – “New Yorkers have been calling to disband the SRG for many, many years. So from the NYPD, this is absolutely unacceptable. This council is watching,” said Councilmember Shahana Hanif, who represents parts of central Brooklyn. [Read More]

Gothamist – While Shechtman argued that any misconduct evidenced in the referenced emails wouldn’t occur today, advocates say they fear ongoing collusion between the DOC and ICE. Councilmember Shahana Hanif, who chairs the Council’s Immigration Committee and introduced the emails in her questioning, said that they revealed a “xenophobic culture.” [Read More]

AMNY – “The Mayor’s plan for involuntary hospitalization is not a solution to our City’s homelessness crisis,” Brooklyn Councilmember Shahana Hanif (39th District) said. “If anything, it simply creates a revolving door for unhoused New Yorkers to cycle in and out of our overcrowded hospital system, never truly receiving the help they need. I’m glad our Council is fulfilling our oversight responsibility to investigate this legally dubious and inhumane directive.” [Read More]

Documented – City Council member Shahana Hanif, who sits on the council’s Women’s Caucus and has been one of the leading figures in the council to strengthen the City’s commitment to ensuring access to abortion, said she was “appalled” to learn that one of her colleagues used city funds to support anti-abortion groups. [Read More]