Metropolis Council Member Shaun Abreu.
Credit score John McCarten/NYC Council Media Unit
As new Metropolis Council Speaker Julie Menin names her management workforce and committee chair assignments on Thursday, two sources confirmed to New York News that she is about to nominate Council Member Shaun Abreu because the legislature’s new chair of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
Abreu will change Council Member Selvena Brooks-Powers (D-Queens), who has chaired the committee over the previous 4 years and made an unsuccessful bid for speaker within the race in the end received by Menin. Brooks-Powers appeared to wish to maintain the function. She had penned a letter to Gov. Kathy Hochul in December, calling on he state’s high government to dedicate extra state funding to offset future deliberate subway and bus fare hikes.
As of Thursday morning, it was unclear what Brooks-Powers’ subsequent committee task could be. A supply with information of the state of affairs informed New York News that everybody who ran for speaker, together with Brooks-Powers, would get a committee chair task; the total slate will likely be launched by Menin this afternoon.
Menin spokesperson Jack Lobel declined to remark.
The council Transportation Committee performs a vital function in conducting oversight of town Division of Transportation, in addition to different transportation-related businesses.
Abreu may show an vital ally for Mayor Zohran Mamdani on the council, as Hizzoner made enhancing metropolis bus speeds one of many central focuses of his successful marketing campaign. He endorsed Mamdani and campaigned with him all through the heated basic election.
Danny Pearlstein, Riders Alliance’s coverage and communications director, stated Abreu’s possible choice is a “very wise choice” by the speaker.
“We’re eager to work closely with Chair Abreu to save riders time and win much faster buses,” Pearlstein informed New York News. “His district overwhelmingly depends on public transit.”
Abreu, who beforehand chaired the physique’s Sanitation Committee, has led its facet of town’s efforts to get piles of black rubbish off of metropolis streets and into lidded containers — an initiative embraced by livable streets advocates. Pearlstein known as Abreu a “steadfast leader” on the problem.
Manhattan Neighborhood Board 9, which overlaps with Abreu’s West Harlem district, performed host to town’s first trash containerization pilot. This system launched in 2023 with town’s Sanitation Division devoting a number of parking spots over 10 residential blocks to large-wheeled trash containers.
Underneath the pilot, CB9 was the primary group board to achieve a 100% containerization requirement.
Former Mayor Eric Adams then scaled containerization throughout town, with all metropolis companies and residential buildings with 9 or fewer models already required to position their refuse in safe lidded bins. Abreu sponsored the council laws that instituted these guidelines.
The lawmaker additionally handed a invoice in November requiring all residential buildings with 31 or extra models to get rid of their waste in giant on-street bins, which the Adams administration dubbed “Empire Bins.” Buildings with between 10 and 30 models can select between the Empire Bins and smaller on-sidewalk containers.
With Abreu taking on the Transportation Committee, Metropolis & State reported that Menin plans to nominate newly sworn-in Council Member Justin Sanchez (D-Bronx) as the brand new Sanitation Committee chair.
