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City Council Speaker Menin Skips Mamdani's 9/11 Document Release Despite Praise for Her Advocacy
By Sahalie Donaldson, Jeff Coltin
New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin was noticeably absent from Mayor Zohran Mamdani's Tuesday morning press conference announcing the release of long-sought documents on air quality around the World Trade Center following the Sept. 11 attacks, even as several speakers at the event praised her efforts on the issue.
Henry Robins, a spokesperson for Menin's office, told City & State that while the Mamdani administration had briefed Menin last week on the planned document release, she was not invited to the City Hall announcement. A City Hall spokesperson disputed this account, saying Menin had been invited along with Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal and Rep. Jerry Nadler. Robins maintained that Menin's team never received an email invitation.
Hoylman-Sigal confirmed he also did not receive an invitation, calling the omission unexpected. "I did not receive an invite," he said. "But the mayor has been diligent in including me about Manhattan events. They invite me to the opening of a jam jar. So I firmly believe this was an administrative oversight."
Menin's absence stood out given her extensive history with the issue. A lower Manhattan resident and restaurant owner who witnessed the attacks firsthand, she later founded the nonprofit Wall Street Rising, which helped revitalize the downtown business community. Menin has said her mother died of cancer she attributes to 9/11-related exposure. As an elected official, Menin has pushed for full disclosure of city records on toxins in the air after the attacks and helped secure funding for the Department of Investigation to complete a long-delayed report on the matter.
Council Member Gale Brewer, who sponsored legislation funding the DOI investigation, was the only City Council member present at Tuesday's announcement.
The documents, released through a public online portal, come after years of demands from first responders, elected officials and families of those affected by 9/11-related illnesses for greater transparency about what the city knew regarding environmental hazards at the time. Previous mayoral administrations had declined to release the information.
"People got sick because the leaders they trusted lied and told them they were safe to breathe in the toxic air," Mamdani told reporters, without naming specific individuals.
The relationship between City Hall and the City Council under Menin's leadership has grown strained in recent weeks over issues including the rollout of the pied-à-terre tax and communications involving social media influencers, with Mamdani's team viewing some council actions as unfair and performative. That tension comes as New York prepares to mark the 25th anniversary of 9/11, a period of heightened scrutiny and emotion.
Mamdani has recently faced criticism, much of it rooted in Islamophobia, urging him to skip the World Trade Center commemoration ceremony. Asked about these calls during a Tuesday interview on CNN, Menin offered only a general response, saying "elected officials should be there" and that focus should remain on families who lost loved ones. "This is a day where hopefully we can put politics aside and try to focus on the remembrance … and the kindness of strangers," she said.
Robins pointed out that Menin has previously defended Mamdani, describing attacks on him as "absolutely inappropriate."
Robert Gottheim, chief of staff to Rep. Nadler, said he was uncertain whether Menin had been invited to the event but confirmed that Mamdani's Corporation Counsel, Steve Banks, briefed a small group of elected officials—including Menin and Nadler—last Thursday about the planned document release. "The Mamdani administration deserves a lot of praise for what they're releasing," Gottheim said. "I don't know why (Menin) wasn't involved … Maybe it was an oversight. I can just say that Julie Menin has been instrumental in having these records released."