Overview
- Council members voted 51-0 to elect Menin speaker, and she named a senior team including Miguelina Camilo as chief of staff and Simone A. Jones as deputy chief of staff and chief equity officer.
- Menin said she called Mayor Zohran Mamdani after he rescinded antisemitism-related executive orders; the mayor has since reestablished the Office to Combat Antisemitism and directed an NYPD review of worship-site security.
- She plans to pursue legislation creating protest buffer zones around houses of worship and schools and emphasized the Council’s role as a co-equal branch.
- Menin’s priorities include reining in no-bid contracts, reducing health-care costs, building more affordable housing on public sites such as libraries, backing universal child care, and easing burdens on small businesses.
- The Council faces decisions on whether to override 19 vetoes from former Mayor Eric Adams within 30 days and heads into difficult budget negotiations that will probe alignment on public safety and other initiatives.