Metropolis Council Speaker Julie Menin
Credit score John McCarten/NYC Council Media Unit
In my first month as Metropolis Council speaker, I’ve had extra conversations than I can depend: on sidewalks, in small companies, at neighborhood occasions, and sure, on the subway. And it doesn’t matter what borough I’m in or who I’m speaking to, the questions are inclined to sound fairly related.
How can we make New York reasonably priced once more? How can we get a metropolis authorities that really works? How can we maintain jobs and alternative right here? What’s the function of the Metropolis Council?
These are the best questions. And so they deserve actual solutions and options.
That’s why I needed to begin this month-to-month column. I need to communicate straight with New Yorkers about what your Metropolis Council is doing, why we’re doing it, and the way it impacts your day by day life. Governing shouldn’t really feel distant or unattainable to observe. It needs to be clear, formidable, and grounded in actual life.
This is a vital second for our metropolis. New York has all the time been outlined by renewal—by our capacity to confront onerous truths, adapt, and are available again stronger. I’ve seen that firsthand.
After 9/11, Decrease Manhattan was devastated. Small companies had been decimated, together with my very own. Households left. And many individuals doubted whether or not downtown would ever actually come again. Working alongside neighborhood leaders, the enterprise neighborhood, and different stakeholders, we made a selection: we leaned into resilience as an alternative of concern. Collectively, we helped revive Decrease Manhattan and confirmed what’s potential when authorities and the non-public sector work hand in hand.
That very same spirit of renewal is guiding the Council right this moment.
This week, I laid out a set of priorities centered on affordability, financial progress, and alternative – knowledgeable straight by these early conversations I’ve had with New Yorkers throughout town.
Affordability remains to be the defining problem of our time. Whereas rising rents and grocery costs dominate headlines, among the greatest price drivers are hidden in plain sight, particularly insurance coverage. New Yorkers pay way over the nationwide common for well being, dwelling, small enterprise, and auto insurance coverage, and people prices ripple throughout our economic system.
So right here’s what we’re doing about it. The Council is advancing laws to create a brand new Workplace of Insurance coverage Accountability. The objective is easy: convey transparency to pricing, assist individuals navigate unfair practices, and rein in extreme prices that damage households, small companies, and metropolis authorities alike.
Housing is one other pressing precedence. We will’t remedy the housing disaster by ready for personal proposals to trickle in. As an alternative, the Council is pursuing a proactive method in main neighborhood planning efforts, specializing in city-owned and underutilized websites like public libraries, and aligning growth with infrastructure, transit, and neighborhood wants. This method permits us to construct extra reasonably priced housing, whereas strengthening neighborhoods and creating jobs.
Financial progress and workforce growth are inseparable from affordability. Too many New Yorkers are struggling not simply with the price of dwelling, however with entry to secure, well-paying jobs. The Council is elevating workforce growth from a patchwork of applications to a central financial technique. We’re strengthening pipelines into rising industries, supporting small companies, and guaranteeing that public investments translate into actual job alternatives and wage progress. A metropolis that works should be a metropolis the place individuals can construct careers and futures.
We’re additionally considering long-term. A decade in the past, solely a fraction of New York Metropolis college students had school financial savings accounts—a stark instance of the racial wealth hole. By way of NYC Youngsters RISE, a program I created years in the past, greater than 340,000 public faculty college students now have one. Now, we’re launching NYC Future Funds to construct on that basis.
By increasing these investments, we’re serving to households construct belongings and giving youngsters an actual shot at financial mobility. Greater training stays one of many strongest pathways to alternative, and guaranteeing each little one has a stake of their future is each sound coverage and good planning for our metropolis.
Our cultural establishments are one other cornerstone of New York’s success. Arts, tradition, and main occasions just like the World Cup are usually not luxuries; they’re financial engines that help jobs, tourism, and international competitiveness. From movie and tv to museums and performing arts, investing in tradition means investing in New York’s identification and financial vitality.
As we work to construct a stronger future, we should additionally confront hate and division wherever they seem. Antisemitism, like all types of hate, undermines our shared values and sense of security. That’s why the Council has superior a five-point motion plan centered on training, accountability, neighborhood partnerships, and public management. We’ll work consistently to fight all types of hate and make it clear that we received’t tolerate a metropolis the place anybody feels intimidated or in danger.
This column will likely be an area for transparency and accountability. Meet me right here as soon as a month, and I’ll maintain you up to date on what we’re engaged on and why it issues to you.
It is a new chapter for our metropolis. And collectively, we’re prepared to put in writing it.
Julie Menin is the Speaker of the New York Metropolis Council.
