Candidate Answers to JOLDC: Julie Menin for City Council District 5
Candidate Name: Julie Menin
Office Seeking Election for: New York City Council District 5
Campaign Website: https://juliefornyc.com/
1. Based upon your life experiences and accomplishments, why do you believe you are best qualified to represent your district?
I have brought my decades of experience as a three time Commissioner of three different city agencies to the New York City Council. Before being elected, I most recently served as New York City’s Census Director achieving a historic result where New York City finished number one of all major cities. I have also served as Commissioner of the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection and as Commissioner of Media and Entertainment.
Since starting my tenure with the New York City Council, I have passed over 17 bills including the groundbreaking Healthcare Accountability Act, advancing universal childcare in New York City, easing burdens on small businesses by instituting a one-shop-stop web portal for all city licenses, codifying the right to reproductive health services, and the Safe Hotels Act.
2. What LGBTQ organizations have you been involved with, either on a volunteer basis or professionally? What LGBTQ candidates have you endorsed?
I am a longtime ally of the LGBTQ community. I have marched in the Pride parade for over two decades. I have supported many LGBTQ organizations with discretionary funding including Drag Queen Story Hour and the American LGBTQ+ Museum. I have supported and endorsed various LGBTQ elected officials including Council Members Lynn Schulman and Erik Bottcher, Assemblymember Deborah Glick, Senator Brad Hoylman, and former Council Speaker Corey Johnson. I have employed many LGBTQ individuals including a current member of my Council staff.
3. If you receive our endorsement, do you agree to identify the Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club on all literature and electronic materials?
Yes
4. What press conferences, demonstrations, rallies and protests in support of LGBT issues, pro-choice legislation, racial justice, criminal justice have you attended, including rallies specifically against Donald Trump?
Last year, I wrote a letter to the Bohemian Benevolent & Literary Association asking they reconsider hosting Moms for Liberty. Hate has no place in New York City and this organization has been classified as a "far-right extremist organization" by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
In addition, I served as New York City’s 2020 Census Director and as Executive Assistant Corporation Counsel at the NYC Law Department working on the landmark Department of Commerce v. New York case decided by the Supreme Court of the United States. I was proud to join New York Attorney General Tish James at the Supreme Court for this critical challenge to stop the Trump Administration from adding a citizenship question to the census and we ultimately won that case at the Supreme Court.
5. In light of the upcoming Trump Administration’s war on women, the LGBTQ+ community, racial minorities and immigrants, what are your plans to organize and combat the Trump agenda?
I've been a regular attorney for over 20 years and worked on numerous regulatory litigation matters. We need to be utilizing every tool in our legal toolbox to push back against the Trump administration's cuts to federal funding for vital social service programs in our City. In addition, I formally served as an adjunct professor at Columbia, where I taught a course entitled When Cities Take the Lead which focused on how municipalities need to utilize their legislative and legal tools when the federal government deregulates.
I have attended countless rallies and events on these issues and I have stood up against the Trump Administration at the highest levels, fighting their attempts to undermine the census at the Supreme Court. We won that fight and ensured a fair, equitable Census for all New Yorkers.
6. Will you seek or accept endorsements of individuals who oppose LGBTQ+ and reproductive rights, such as Ruben Diaz Sr., Fernando Cabrera or Erick Salgado? Will you pledge to denounce their homophobia and anti-choice positions in the event you receive an endorsement from such individuals?
During my career, I have always been a vocal leader for the rights and dignity of all individuals, including the LGBTQ+ community. I am committed to fostering a society that values equality, respect, and inclusion and will continue to advocate for policies that protect all New Yorkers.
7. Do you support the unrestricted right to reproductive care and abortion?
Yes, I unequivocally support reproductive care and abortion and I am extremely proud that one of my first legislative achievements in the City Council was the passage of a bill that was part of a groundbreaking package of maternal health legislation. My bill codified the protection of reproductive rights in New York City by establishing an Office of Sexual and Reproductive health within NYC’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
8. Have you hosted, funded or otherwise supported Drag Story Hours in your community?
Yes, I have funded their programming in my Council District every year.
9. What proposals will do you support to increase the protection of immigrants and cement New York City’s status as a Sanctuary City?
New York City has some of the strongest sanctuary city laws in the Country. When I was commissioner of the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, I served as Co-chair with the NY Attorney General where we created an immigration services fraud task force to better protect immigrants from fraudulent and deceptive conduct by immigration services providers. The Council and my Committee in particular has oversight over DCWP who licenses immigration services providers so we need to ensure they are operating in a way that is not harming immigrant communities and I held a hearing on this topic in 2025.
It is imperative that we bolster worker protections for our immigrant communities. As Chair of the Committee on Consumer and Worker Protection, I sponsored and advocated with a labor coalition that included NYCLC to advance the Safe Hotels Act. This law prohibits subcontracting in larger hotels, which will ensure the hotel operator is accountable for what occurs on hotel premises, rather than shifting responsibility for day-to-day operations to a fly by night third party. This is imperative as it will help address some of the deplorable working conditions and wage theft that immigrant workers were experiencing with certain subcontractors and it will lead to a rise in wages for workers.
10. How will you represent the most vulnerable, including individuals experiencing homelessness and asylum seekers? Have you ever opposed any shelter in your district?
I have supported the Safe Haven Shelter on 91st Street in my district and have not opposed any shelters. It is critical that we build more supportive housing to assist the most vulnerable.
11. If incumbent, are you a co-sponsor of Resolution 2970, introduced by Council Member Shahana Hanif? If not yet elected, will you promise to co-sponsor the resolution? The text urges the NYS Legislature to pass the New York for All Act, which would ensure state and local resources are not used to facilitate federal immigration enforcement. If not, please explain.
I supported this resolution.
12. If incumbent, are you a co-sponsor of Resolution 2917, introduced by Council Member Crystal Hudson? If not yet elected, will you promise to co-sponsor the resolution? The text endorses the Access to Representation Act, which would establish a “universal right to counsel” for indigent New Yorkers who are subject to removal proceedings under federal immigration law. If not, please explain.
We must continue to partner with multiple Legal Support Centers across the City that offer New Yorkers free, safe immigration legal help.
13. Will you join our efforts to pass legislation mandating the review of sentences of incarcerated individuals over the age of 55 who have served in excess of 15 years to determine if they warrant release? The legislation is commonly known as the New York Elder Parole Bill.
Yes
14. Do you oppose the death penalty?
Yes
15. Do you support outlawing solitary confinement?
Yes, I was a co-sponsor of Intro 0549. Solitary confinement needs to end, however, there does need to be some accountability for individuals who harm staff and other detainees.
16. Do you commit to visit constituents who are incarcerated? Will you work to secure the release of individuals who have demonstrated sincere remorse, worked toward rehabilitation and are not deemed a threat to society?
Yes
17. Do you commit to working to change our penal system toward a restorative rather than a retributive model of justice?
NA
18. Do you commit to make applications for clemencies available to your constituency including a link to an application in a constituent newsletter? Will you submit it to our club?
Yes
19. Who did you support for mayor in the 2021 Democratic primary election?
I did not endorse a candidate in the 2021 Primary.
20. Which 2025 Democratic candidates have you removed from your consideration? Have you endorsed anyone? If so, who?
N/A
21. Do you support the renaming of the Ed Koch bridge and will you work towards the renaming including sponsoring such legislation?
Yes. I think it should go back to being named the 59th Street Bridge.
22. What are your plans to address rent affordability in NYC? Did you vote for “City of Yes”? If not, please explain.
New Yorkers need stable homes to be able to afford living in our city, and I voted for City of Yes which is a comprehensive housing plan with $5 billion of investments that creates roughly 80,000 new homes, which will help make housing more affordable.
23. What are your plans regarding short-term housing?
I am not a sponsor of Intro 1107.
24. Based upon your life experiences and accomplishments, why should we believe you would be a dynamic and progressive voice in elected office?
I have been a leading advocate on many causes both in my two decade career in public service and in the Council. As DCA Commissioner, I launched the paid sick leave and living wage law and led the expansion of the earned income tax credit returning $260 million to low-income New Yorkers. As the Commissioner of MOME I fought for gender equity in the industry and pioneered many initiatives that created opportunities in the film, television, and media industry for women. As Census Director I worked hard to ensure New York had the most successful count in the country by achieving a historic result where New York City finished number 1 of all major cities which delivered more federal funding for healthcare, transportation, and other critical services. I was also Executive Assistant Corp Counsel for the City’s Law Department where I represented the City in its lawsuit against the Trump Administration about the citizenship question on the Census. In the Council, I have continued that fight passing legislation to codify reproductive rights through the Health Department, passing a package of bills to advance Universal Childcare, licensing hotels and leading the charge to reign in excessive hospital pricing through the new Office of Healthcare Accountability.
25. What additional information would you like the Jim Owles club to consider when we are making our endorsement decision?
New York City has always led and should continue to lead the charge of progress towards LGBT equality. From the Stonewall Riots of 1969 to the passage of non-discrimination legislation and the creation of safer schools, New York City has been a strong leader at the epicenter of the LGBT equality movement. We are now faced with a challenging and dangerous time for the LGBTQ community and we need strong champions.
While I served as an adjunct professor at Columbia University, I led a class entitled Cities Take the Lead: When Local Officials Fill the Federal Policy Void. This type of approach is needed now more than ever to combat deregulationist federal policies on the environment, healthcare and other issues.
26. Are you a potential candidate for City Council speaker in the upcoming term? If so, what is your platform?
Yes, it is imperative that the next City Council focus on top priorities such as building affordable housing to properly address the city’s affordable housing crisis, enact universal child care and fighting the draconian cuts by the federal government.