NYC Council Elections 2021: Julie Menin Seeks UES Seat

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Voters in New York City's 5th Council district, which includes parts of the Upper East Side and Roosevelt Island, will see seven names on their ballots when they vote in the June 22 primary election.

One of those names will be Julie Menin, the city's outgoing census director, former city commissioner and Community Board 1 chair who is among the Democrats seeking to replace term-limited incumbent Ben Kallos. (Kallos is running for Manhattan Borough President.)

Patch reached out to all candidates in the election to create these profiles. Menin's responses are below.

Position Sought

City Council

Party Affiliation

Democrat

Neighborhood of residence (i.e., East Village, Astoria, etc.)

Upper East Side

Family

I am a third generation resident of the district, as my mother and grandmother came here as Holocaust survivors from Hungary, and my mother grew up here. This is the community where I am raising my four school-age children, who are the apple of my eye.

Does anyone in your family work in politics or government?

No

Education

Columbia University, B.A. magna cum laude | Northwestern University School of Law, J.D.

Occupation

Attorney (20+ years), Commissioner of three city agencies (see below), Adjunct Professor at Columbia University (2017-current)

Previous or Current Elected or Appointed Office

Commissioner of the Department of Consumer Affairs, NYC Census Director, Commissioner of Media and Entertainment, Redistricting Commissioner, Executive Assistant Corporation Counsel - NYC Law Department

Campaign website

https://juliefornyc.com/

Why are you seeking elective office?

New York City is in crisis right now. We need strong, experienced leaders who know city government inside and out to hit the ground running on day one. I’ve served as Commissioner of the Department of Consumer Affairs, Commissioner of Media and Entertainment, City Census Director and held a senior role at the NYC Law Department. I want to utilize my two decades of experience in city government to help our community and our city recover.

The single most pressing issue facing our (board, district, etc.) is _______, and this is what I intend to do about it.

My number one priority is fighting for a full and equitable recovery. New Yorkers are hurting right now. Small businesses are closing left and right. Lack of action around public safety threatens to derail our recovery. We need strong, experienced leaders who can hit the ground running on day one, and as someone who has served as Commissioner of three NYC agencies, I am the only candidate with city government experience, which is critical given this crisis.
I would focus on public safety, connecting small businesses to federal grant money and addressing the retail vacancy crisis, keeping our schools fully reopen, improving sanitation in the district, building more affordable housing and creating new programs to keep people in their homes, addressing the unacceptable backlog of repairs at NYCHA, and utilize my experience as Commissioner to launch new initiatives creating thousands of new jobs.
Public safety is integral to achieving a full recovery. I do not believe that we need to choose between meaningful criminal justice reform and public safety. Our goal should be to ensure everyone feels comfortable in their communities and that we have true accountability. In the short term, that requires increased police presence in our subways while also enacting new measures to create real accountability.
We must keep our schools fully reopened. As the education candidate with the track record of having built three new public schools and having launched NYC KIDS RISE (a public/private partnership that has created over 13,000 college savings accounts for public school students), I can lead on these issues. That is why I have received the endorsement of both the teacher’s union (UFT) and CSA (union representing principals and administrators).

What are the critical differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?

I believe there are four critical differences between myself and my opponents.
First, I am the only candidate in this race with city government experience. We need to elect leaders who have the deep level experience to hit the ground running immediately. I have worked at all levels of city government, including serving as Commissioner of three city agencies and as a seven year Community Board Chair. As Commissioner of the Department of Consumer Affairs, I implemented the Paid Sick Leave and Living Wage laws, increased consumer relief by 70%, and lowered punitive fines on small businesses by one third. As Commissioner of Media and Entertainment, I launched numerous initiatives to increase economic opportunities for women in the creative sectors, negotiated the deal that brought the Grammys back to NYC, created thousands of jobs, presided over a $9 billion creative sector for the city, launched the nation’s first Freelancers Hub, and built the country’s first municipal VR/AR lab. As the city’s Census Director, we beat almost all other major cities to deliver billions for public education, healthcare and affordable housing for our city. Additionally, I teach about NYC government as an adjunct professor at Columbia. Our city needs action today. I have laid out detailed plans and a clear vision for how to move our community and city forward.
Second, there are real policy differences between myself and my opponents. We need to address public safety. We must of course address meaningful criminal justice reform, but with rising crime and subways that many are concerned to ride, as well as the urgent need to bring tourism back, we have to focus on public safety. I also believe we should expand our Gifted and Talented programs (not eradicate them) and bring them to a wider audience throughout the city.
Third, on one of the key issues affecting our district, education, I am the only candidate with real experience addressing education issues. I have been a passionate advocate for our public schools for decades, leading the charge to open three new public schools, including the city’s first green school. I also founded NYC KIDS Rise while serving as Commissioner of the Department of Consumer Affairs, which is now the nation’s largest municipal Child's Savings Account. This public/private partnership has seeded over 13,000 students with a college savings account.
Finally, on a personal level, I am the only candidate running that has long term family roots in this district (as a third generation resident) with my grandmother and mother both coming here to this district to live as Holocaust survivors. My mother was raised as a child in the district, my father still lives in the district and I am raising my children here.

How do you think local officials performed in responding to the coronavirus? What if anything would you have done differently?

There was a lack of coordination between the city and state—specifically the Mayor and Governor—on how to handle COVID. There has been conflicting guidance from the city and state on everything from schools, to small businesses, to closure rules, to even the reopening. The levels of inequity in our vaccination efforts are inexcusable: just 46% of East Harlem has received at least one dose, but just a few blocks south in the Upper East Side, that number is 68%.
Council Member Ben Kallos was a stalwart leader for our community. However, the city’s failure to utilize and fund community-based organizations as part of our pandemic and vaccine-related outreach campaigns is tragic as those are the trusted voices that can overcome vaccine hesitancy. I would have immediately deployed the network of community based organizations that the city used in the census to address these issues.
To help small businesses, we need to hold the Department of Small Business’ feet to the fire to get them to help more small businesses access the federal PPP grants. I have individually helped many businesses access these grants, but we need the city to step up with an aggressive plan to aid struggling small businesses, and we need to lower fines across all city agencies and institute a single city portal for all licenses and permits to aid small businesses.

Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform.

We must keep our schools fully reopen. We must invest in our schools, ensuring that every student has access to safe, clean facilities and appropriate classroom sizes, with modern day technology, and classrooms. We have to once and for all tackle the inequitable digital divide, where one third of New Yorkers lack access to broadband. Every student should receive arts and music education and no one should be forced to have lunch at 10:15 am. As Commissioner of the Department of Consumer Affairs, I created NYC KIDS RISE, providing 13,000 low-income kindergarteners with college savings accounts. If elected, I will push to bring this initiative city-wide.
I will fight for a Green New Deal for CUNY that would both make it free for all in-state residents and provide it with sorely needed resources. As Commissioner of Media and Entertainment, I launched multiple initiatives to modernize our city and make our future more environmentally friendly. I am proud to be endorsed by the New York League of Conservation Voters, and if elected, I will continue to lead on green issues and focus on fixing and expanding our Esplanade and parks.
Similarly, I am honored to be the only candidate in this race endorsed by the National Organization of Women - NYC. Throughout my career, I have fought for gender equity, from spearheading the seminal Pink Tax study that led directly to a ban on charging women more for comparable products to creating the nation’s first municipal Women’s Film, Theatre and Music fund to give direct grants to women creatives, creating space for them in an otherwise difficult-to-enter space. On the City Council, I will continue to fight for universal childcare and the elimination of the pay gap to lift up and empower women.

Do you support or oppose the New York Blood center’s proposed tower and rezoning? If you oppose it, should it be scrapped entirely, or just revised?

I oppose this project and it should not be approved in its current form. The city should not approve a mid-block rezoning that creates precedent for the city.

Ben Kallos worked to bring a Safe Haven shelter to the district — would you have done the same, and would you do so again for another shelter, if elected?

We must build supportive housing for the homeless, but we must also constantly engage the surrounding community in these decisions. If elected, I would commit to a collaborative community-centered process to ameliorate our current homlessness crisis.

While police statistics show crime mostly dropping on the Upper East Side, many residents report feeling less safe in the neighborhood than they used to. Why do you think this is, and is adding more police the way to solve it?

City-wide in April, murders were up 15.8% as compared to last year and shootings were up a startling 166.1%. Hate crimes are up 73% this year to date. In our neighborhood, we’ve had recent anti-semitic incidents such as the attack on Saba’s Pizza. Many residents have indicated to me that they do not feel comfortable riding the subways, and I believe that we should increase the police in the subway system so that people feel safe and so that we bring back tourism. Not only do 25% of revenues for restaurants and bars come from tourism, but it fuels our city’s economy allowing us to build more schools, affordable housing and parks and other critical needs.

We must address public safety so that people feel safe in their communities and have meaningful criminal justice reform--these two are not mutually exclusive. To achieve true public safety, we must address the rise in gun violence and crime without going back to the draconian practices that were used in the past.

What single policy would you advocate for to make housing more affordable on the Upper East Side?

We need to once and for all reform our ULURP process to truly build affordable housing in every community.

Would you push to add more bike lanes in the district?

We should build protected bike lanes, with meaningful community input. To encourage cycling in a safe manner that protects both pedestrians and cyclists, we need to focus on both protected bike lanes and increasing enforcement of bike and traffic laws. My father who lives in the district and is in a wheelchair has had many close calls, as have so many residents in the district and we need to ensure that bike and traffic laws are followed to increase pedestrian safety.

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?

In my over two decades in public office, I have had a stellar track record of getting things done. I led the charge to create three new public schools, including the city’s first green school, launched the Paid Sick Leave law, created over a dozen programs aimed at addressing gender inequities, and instituted zoning reforms that created new affordable housing and limited big box stores who were pushing out small businesses in the neighborhood. I played a leading role in the rebuilding efforts after 9/11 as the seven year Chair of Community Board 1 and helped direct over $3 billion to new and revitalized green spaces and waterfronts and other critical needs throughout Manhattan.
I have used my positions to launch a first of its kind program to encourage sustainability in film production, help unionize car washers, slashed overly-burdensome fines and regulations, and much more.
And, as Director of the City’s Census efforts, I directly took on Trump, joining a lawsuit challenging his effort to put a citizenship question on the Census. We won that case and along the way built an unprecedented community outreach apparatus that propelled our Census response rates to beat almost every major city across the country, securing billions for healthcare, our schools, and more.

The best advice ever shared with me was:

There’s no better skill than being a good listener. Throughout my time in public office, nothing has proved more useful than listening to stakeholders and constituents and being able to respond directly to their needs.

What else would you like voters to know about yourself and your positions?

This district is where my mother was raised after fleeing Hungary and surviving the Holocaust and where my family rebuilt their life, and today, it is where I am raising my own children. I love this neighborhood, I love this city, and I have dedicated my life to fighting on behalf of New Yorkers. This past year has been hard for all of us, but New York is tough. New York will recover, but to get there, we need decisive action from experienced leaders. With a new mayor and 35 open city council seats, it is imperative that we elect people who know how to navigate City Hall, cut through the bureaucratic red tape, and hit the ground running to enact a bold agenda.
I have the broadest and most diverse coalition of supporters because of my two decade track record of getting things done, whether it was helping to implement the city’s municipal ID program, mandating life saving EpiPens on all city and state ambulances, or growing our film and TV industry to record heights to create thousands of new jobs, winning record settlements from predatory corporations, facilitating re-zonings to allow the construction of affordable housing, and helping make our city better prepared for future storms through revitalizing our waterfronts. I have the experience and track record to deliver. My endorsers include:

Elected Officials:
Congressman Jerry Nadler, Congressman Adriano Espaillat, Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez, State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, Former Governor David Paterson, Former Comptroller Carl McCall, Former Public Advocate Mark Green, Assemblyman Robert Rodriguez, Former City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, City Councilwoman Diana Ayala, City Councilwoman Carlina Rivera.
Labor: The United Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO NYC Central Labor Council, Doctors Council SEIU, the National Organization of Women - NYC, the New York League of Conservation Voters, LIT, Communications Workers of America, District 1, SEIU 32BJ, The Hotel Trades Council, AFSCME District Council 37, New York State Nurses Association, Freelancers Union, Teamsters Local 237, Theatrical Stage Employees Local One, Teamsters Local 831 - Uniformed Sanitationmen’s Association, #LaborStrong2021 Coalition, American Federation of Musicians - Local 802, Teamsters Local 817, CUNY Professional Staff Congress, New York Metro Area Postal Union, RWDSU, The Council of School Supervisors and Administrators, UNITE HERE! Local 100, the 504 Democratic Club, Lexington Democratic Club, Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club, Upper East Side District Leader Cory Evans, Upper East Side District Leader Jake Dilemani, Upper East Side District Leader Eric Spencer, E. Harlem District Leader Harry Rodriguez, E. Harlem District Leader John Ruiz, E. Harlem District Leader Peggy Morales, E. Harlem District Leader Eddie Gibbs, Midtown District Leader Louise Dankberg.
Community Leaders:
Co-Founder of the Holmes-Isaacs Coalition Saundrea Coleman, NYCHA Advocate Sandra Perez, President of the East River Fifties Alliance Lisa Mercurio, President of the Lexington Democratic Club Matt Walsh, Co-Administrator of UES MOMMAS Tiffany Ma, Vice President of the East 86th St Association Andrew Fine, President of the Lexington Houses Tenant Association Christina Johnson, President of the 333 E 66th St Corporation Dr. Ellyn Berk, Vice President of the Lexington Democratic Club Stephanie Knepper, Treasurer of the Lexington Democratic Club Mark McKew, Former Chair of Community Board 6 Molly Hollister, Eastern Executive of the Directors Guild of America Neil Dudich, East River Fifties Alliance Leadership Committee Member Melissa Mittman, CD 5 UFT Leader Farrah Alexander, Roosevelt Island Community Advocate Patricia Ricketts, CD 5 UFT Leader Gloria Winograd, Former President of the East River Democratic Club Alec Hartman, Former District Leader Lisa K. Pass, Former President of the Lenox Hill Democratic Club and Former District Leader Karl Seidenwurm, Board Member of the E 86th St Association Orah Massarsky, Former District Leader and Former President of the Lenox Hill Democrats John Halebian, East River Fifties Alliance Leadership Committeemember Jennifer Crandall, Community Leader Letty Simon, 315 E 68th St Board Member Martin A. Bell, Esq, Community Leader May Malik, Community Activist Gayle Baron, Adjunct Professor at NYU Langone Dr. Elizabeth Hale, Adjunct Professor at NYU School of Medicine Dr. Julie Karen, Roosevelt Island Advocate Katina Navab, Community Leader Jan Llanes, Community Leader Daniel Kraus, Arts Advocate Rachel Kraus, Community Leader Deepti Mittal, Community Activist Karen Lawson, Arts & Cultural Leader Carl Goodman, Roosevelt Island Arts Advocate Aphrodite Navab, Community and Education Leader Elizabeth Rose, Owner of Trinity Pub Gene Lennon, Healthcare Advocate Dr. Ali Navab, Not-For-Profit Leader Cathy Blaney, Not-For-Profit Leader John McCormick, Sutton Neighborhood Leader EveAnn Cassis, Parks Advocate Claire Mann, and many more.
I hope to earn your vote on June 22nd. Go to juliefornyc.com to learn more or get involved.