Julie Menin is the Chairperson of Community Board 1[1] in Lower Manhattan, New York City and a frequent writer, blogger and television news commentator. A former regulatory attorney with special interests in environmental, FTC and FDA law, Menin was elected to CB1 in a 2005 special election and re-elected to three successive two-year terms in 2006, 2008 and 2010. As chair of CB1, Menin has worked on numerous land use and zoning issues, leading a successful campaign to build new schools in her district, including New York's first "green" school.[2]
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Menin became active in New York City politics when she founded and became president of Wall Street Rising, a non-profit organization created in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks to restore "vibrancy and vitality" in Lower Manhattan.
In 2002, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg appointed Menin as a Redistricting Commissioner to help in redrawing the new boundaries of the NYC City Council.
In 2003, she was appointed to serve on the jury for the World Trade Center Site Memorial Competition.
She currently serves on six government and civic boards including the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, The World Trade Center Memorial Foundation, Citizens Union, The Downtown Alliance, The Municipal Art Society, and The Women's Campaign Forum.
She is also host of the NBC interview show Give and Take which is seen around the country on NBC's 24 hour cable channel and online at www.juliemenin.com. On the show, Julie speaks to newsmakers, politicians and entertainers in candid conversations about their careers and the issues of the day. The show launched in the fall of 2009.
On January 16, 2010, She wrote an op-ed for the New York Times arguing that the trial of 9-11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed should be moved out of Lower Manhattan.[3] She led the charge to move the trial out of New York City,[4] resulting in the Obama Administration backing out of New York City [5]
On May 25, 2010, the Lower Manhattan Community Board 1, which she chaired, voted 29-to-1, with 10 abstentions in a non-binding advisory vote backed part of the plans for Cordoba House to be built on a site near Ground Zero. The endorsement related only to "the important community facilities [the project] will provide," and the resolution indicated that the board "takes no position regarding the religious aspects or any religious facilities associated with either the Cordoba Initiative or the Cordoba House Project." Menin supported deletion of references to the building as a mosque and interfaith center that were in an earlier draft of the resolution, saying: "I personally was uncomfortable with the language that talked about the religious institution. I believe it's not the purview of a city agency to be weighing in on the siting of any religious institution, be it a mosque, synagogue, or church." The vote did not have any binding effect.[6][7][8][9][10]
On August 30, 2010, she wrote an op-ed for the New York Daily News suggesting that an interfaith, nondenominational center be built on two floors of the project. This would be modeled after the Pentagon Interfaith Chapel in order to bridge the divide.[11]
She has been a frequent critic of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (on whose board she sits) and exposed that the agency was sitting on over $200 million.[12][13][14][15] She battled Con Edison in 2010, who tried to lay claim to the $200 million of LMDC funding when Con Ed threatened to raise all New Yorkers rates by $50 if she did not back down.[16] Menin then wrote the Public Service Commission demanding that they investigate Con Ed for illegally threatening to raise rates.[17] She prevailed and the $200 million was allocated to Lower Manhattan as she had advocated.[18]
On October 26 2011, Menin led Community Board 1 to a 33-3 vote in favor of Occupy Wall Street's First Amendment right to protest, and opposed the use of force by the city of New York, and at the same time urged the city to address some of the quality of life issues for restaurants and small businesses adjacent to the site, saying "the two were not mutually exclusive." This approach was praised in a New York Times editorial as a "good approach."[19] [20]
A contributing blogger to the Huffington Post, Menin has also written op-ed pieces for the New York Daily News, Gotham, and Downtown Express. Menin has also been a frequent guest commentator on politics and law for CNN, Fox National, CBS, NBC, NPR and has appeared on CNN American Morning, CNN Situation Room, NBC Today Show, CBS Early Show, Larry King, The O'Reilly Factor, Hannity & Colmes, and other shows.
In the fall of 2009, Menin recently launched her own talk show, Give and Take, which airs on NBC's 24-hour cable network in major markets around the country.
Give and Take is an in-depth interview program that explores current events and features prominent figures from a wide variety of fields including business, law, politics, science, medicine, and the arts. Through one-on-one interviews and panel discussions, the program also examines today’s major headlines and newsmakers.
Guests who have appeared on Give and Take include: MSNBC "Morning Joe" co-host Mika Brzezinski, former New York Governors George Pataki, Eliot Spitzer and David Paterson, Newark Mayor Cory Booker, MSNBC hosts Ed Schultz & Dylan Ratigan, Dan Rather, Reverend Al Sharpton, former Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge, Author and foreign correspondent David Rohde who was kidnapped and held by the Taliban, former New York Banking Superintendent Diana Taylor, Lou Dobbs, Paola Antonelli (curator of Architecture and Design for the Museum of Modern Art), Marci Klein (Producer of “Saturday Night Live” and “30 Rock”), entrepreneur Liz Lange (founder of Liz Lange Maternity), and “Today Show” nutrition expert Joy Bauer.
A magna cum laude graduate of Columbia College, Columbia University where she received her BA in political science, Menin received her law degree from Northwestern University School of Law before working as a Senior Regulatory Attorney at Colgate-Palmolive and a regulatory attorney at Wiley, Rein & Fielding in Washington DC.
Menin was recently named by City Hall newspaper as one of the "40 Under 40" political stars in New York politics, and was named by the New York Resident as one of the "Top 100 New Yorkers" and received the Women's Campaign Forum's "Rising Star" Award. She has received the National Association of Women Business Owners Community Service Award, The ACE Civic award, The Women's Club of NY "City Spirit Award", Manhattan Youth's Community Service award, and 2010 NY League of Conservation Voters, and others.
Julie Menin received the Citizens Union 2011 Civic Leadership Award. www.citizensunion.org
She has three young sons and resides in New York with her husband Bruce.