City Council

Thursday, June 11, 2026, 1:30 p.m. (New York City time), Council Chambers - City Hall

Video of the meeting

On the agenda

Roll-call votes

Documents

Summary

The New York City Council held a stated meeting on June 11, 2026, opening with an invocation by former Council Member Deborah Rose and, for the first time, hosting an alumni reunion of nearly 50 former council members. Speaker Julie Menin announced a new housing initiative to redevelop stand-alone public libraries with 100% affordable housing above them, called for $60 million in capital funding, discussed the Council's June 2026 economic and tax revenue forecast showing nearly $2 billion more than the Mayor's OMB projection, and outlined budget priorities including legal services for immigrants and a City FHEPS expansion. The Council voted on finance items including budget modifications and numerous Article 11 tax exemption resolutions sponsored by Council Member Linda Lee, and passed legislation including Intro 55-A (immigration know-your-rights signage), Intro 821-A (non-digital DFTA services), Intro 579-A (early childhood education outreach), and Intro 9-A (child care permitting study). All general orders items were adopted 50-0 except Intro 55-A, which passed 44-6. Council members also introduced numerous new bills and resolutions during general discussion, with repeated calls for a significant City FHEPS expansion in the upcoming budget.

Transcript

0:02 Common ground even when our

0:02 perspectives differ.

0:07 Strengthen our commitment t

0:08 ojustice, equity and the

0:10 dignity of every person.

0:14 Help us to remain mindful of

0:15 those who are struggling the

0:20 vulnerable, the marginalized

0:21 and those whose voices are dr.

0:26 Often unheard.

0:26 Bless the first responders

0:28 who protect our communities,

0:30 the educators who shaped

0:32 future generations that health

0:34 care workers who bring comfort

0:37 and healing and the countless

0:38 public servants and community

0:41 leaders whose daily life

0:43 sustains this great City as we

0:46 undertake the work before us

0:48 today. We be inspired by the

0:52 resilience, diversity and the

0:54 hope that defines New York

0:57 City, our actions reflect our

1:00 highest ideals and contribute

1:01 to the well being of all who

1:03 called this City home,

1:06 and we leave this chamber

1:09 having served not our personal

1:12 interests, but the greater

1:14 good

1:14 . God bless the New York City

1:17 council and go knicks. Amen.

1:28 Thank you. Thank you. I moved

1:29 to spread the invocation

1:30 delivered by the honorable

1:31 debra rolls on the record.

1:33 Thank you, debbie, for being

1:33 here with us today. I'll now

1:37 ask Council Member Shirley all

1:37 double for the adoption of

1:42 minutes. Good afternoon. I

1:43 make a motion that the of the

1:45 stated meetings of May 14 2026

1:49 May 20 2026 be adopted as

1:55 printed councilmember hank's

1:55 flicks make some.

1:56 Remarks. Thank you. Today. I

1:59 am pleased and I stand to

2:03 welcome former Council Member

2:04 deborah rose back into the

2:05 council chamber and thank her

2:12 for delivering today's

2:13 invocation as the first

2:16 african american woman elected

2:17 to public office on staten

2:25 island she made history and

2:26 help open doors for those who

2:30 would follow as someone who

2:31 has now had the privilege of

2:32 representing the north shore

2:33 and the 49 district. I

2:36 recognize the significance in

2:38 her service and the path she

2:40 helped to pave a proud staten

2:42 island native, a descendant of

2:44 historic Sandy ground

2:45 community Council Member rose

2:47 dedicated many years, 12

2:51 serving our borough and

2:52 advocating for her

2:53 constituents. I want to thank

2:55 Council Member rose and all of

2:58 the alums here today,

2:59 including former staten island

3:01 council members fred cirillo,

3:07 jimmy otto, diana ayala, with

3:11 that, I make a motion for

3:12 unanimous miss. Sorry,

3:13 unanimous consent to spread

3:15 the invocation upon the record

3:21 go knicks.

3:21 All right messages and

3:22 papers from the Mayor. None

3:25 communication from City,

3:26 county and borrow offices,

3:29 reconsider modification.

3:30 Referred to finance 79 ccrb

3:34 be appointment

3:35 . Received order printed and

3:36 filed

3:36 . Petitions of communications.

3:39 None. Land use call ups? None,

3:42 thank you will now have

3:42 communication from speaker

3:45 Julie Menin

3:45 . How exciting is this in the

3:49 chambers today. Five. Right?

3:53 Okay, well, before I begin

3:54 with what we're going t

3:55 odiscuss on the state of we

3:57 have for the first time ever

4:00 in City Council history

4:04 lhave nearly 50 former citymer

4:10 council members here for our

4:14 alumni reunion and so among

4:16 them are former commissioners,

4:18 controllers, former u. S

4:20 congress members as well as

4:22 current state senators current

4:24 state assembly members and we

4:25 are so grateful for their

4:27 service to our City in the

4:29 past and everything they have

4:31 continued to do since leaving

4:33 their post, I'm sure the arab

4:35 of nostalgia is very vivid and

4:37 plenty of fond memories

4:38 resurfacing and I just hope

4:40 that you're enjoying coming

4:41 back to the chambers and we're

4:42 going to make this an annual

4:45 tradition. All right, so first

4:46 of all I want to acknowledge

4:47 all of the members who

4:51 returned show. Okay, we get

4:52 everyone's if you if people

4:53 want to speak if they can just

4:54 go out to the rotunda, please

4:56 .okay, so I'm just going to

4:58 call every former council

4:58 member that it's here.

5:03 Ciao. Albanese, Henry berge

5:06 r, joe borelli

5:10 , state senator erik bottcher.

5:13 I'm going to call her because

5:15 she to this list our own Gale

5:17 Brewer, who are Gale. I want

5:28 special thank you. Because I

5:29 know you had so much of the

5:31 contact information for so

5:32 many of the members. So thank

5:37 you. Thank you, Gale. Okay.

5:39 I'm just so fernando cabrera,

5:44 a adolfo curry on.

5:48 Jr. Brad cirillo. I just saw

5:51 . Him walk in New York state

5:51 senator lena comrie caustic

6:04 content and

6:05 . Elizabeth crowley, steve

6:09 bren

6:10 , zia, tom. Dwayne is raphael

6:15 s banal mom commissioner

6:16 raffia. I spent. How did he

6:18 come Sunday. Okay, julissa for

6:20 paris. I know I saw her,

6:28 stephen diana ayala, manhattan

6:30 president, Virginia Virginia

6:35 fields. Can fisher conditions.

6:40 Come here, kat. Okay. Current

6:43 staten island bar president

6:47 vito

6:47 . Former New York state

6:50 senator martin jelen

6:53 . Former chair of the City

6:59 planning commission. Dan

7:01 garodnick. Crude. Um.

7:06 Then senate nina ceo.

7:12 Ari kagan, ben kale owes

7:26 steven kaufman, peter coup,

7:28 it's brad lander he's promised

7:29 list. I don't think I saw him.

7:31 Okay, not here. I know. I saw

7:38 her just.

7:39 Happened. Ah, john liu, New

7:40 York state senator john liu

7:43 where I didn't see him yet

7:44 . Okay. Former congress member

7:52 carolyn Maloney. I know I saw

7:53 her kristy mom! Arado form of

7:59 our president, ruth messenger.

8:07 Okay. Year former speaker

8:12 gifford.

8:12 Miller ha former

8:14 commissioner and former staten

8:16 island borough president jimmy

8:23 otto, former commissioner and

8:25 chair of the New York City

8:26 commission on human rights and

8:31 about mama fredricka perez,

8:36 current assembly member

8:42 keith Powers, assembly member

8:43 adam clayton powell, fourth.

8:48 I know I saw him. Dominic

8:55 recchia. Yes, and that

9:00 robinson, we acknowledge they

9:01 were of knowledge her again,

9:06 debbie rowe's rafael salamanca

9:14 .

9:14 Mark.

9:15 Traeger, jimmy baca

9:19 , peter vallone jr I see you.

9:21 Don't. Melinda katz, is I'm

9:22 here now? No, not here. Okay?

9:23 Okay, marjorie. Even vasquez

9:28 . I know. I saw him. Ed.

9:30 Wallace and very, very

9:32 special thanks to mark weapon,

9:34 who was so key in organizing

9:38 and amazing mark. Thank you

9:39 for helping the organize thi

9:42 sassembly member David.

9:45 Weapon

9:45 . Who? Ah, arena. Thank you.

9:52 Thank you and David. Yeah,

9:56 okay. Okay. Amazing. Thank you

9:59 . Okay? I oh, no. I had David

10:00 yes. Give okay? Yeah. Helen

10:02 foster. How many foster

10:08 acknowledges suddenly remember

10:11 David weapon. Okay. And then

10:13 did I leave anyone out before

10:16 I I did. Darlene Mealy. Mealy.

10:31 You. The marrow out. I'm

10:32 getting to them. I'm going t

10:34 oget some felt everyone all

10:35 right, I'm going to go. Former

10:38 chiefs of staff to the

10:40 speaker's office because

10:40 someone asked me. Well, wait a

10:41 minute, my chief of staff is

10:42 out there. Now. We invited the

10:44 former chiefs of staff. Ok,

10:46 they are who are here. Jason

10:50 . Goldman Banks

10:57 . Ramon martinez and shot me

11:03 .okay. I think I got everyone,

11:04 all right. Hopefully, I okay.

11:06 Well, we've just want to

11:07 tradition to foster increased

11:12 collaboration about the City

11:14 council and

11:14 . Keep it down in chambers

11:15 ,please. Thank you

11:17 , everyone's very excited.

11:18 It's is great. Okay, back to

11:23 business

11:23 . Earlier this morning, we

11:24 announced the next space of

11:25 the City Council's proactive

11:27 vision to address the

11:29 affordable housing crisis. Our

11:30 New initiative that we

11:31 announced this morning will

11:34 completely redevelop aging

11:37 stand alone public libraries

11:37 from the ground up while

11:40 building 100% affordable

11:43 housing on top. Counselor

11:46 murano, please meet yourself.

11:48 Thank you. Trouble? Okay? It's

11:52 a win win delivering state of

11:54 the art community library

11:56 spaces and creating homes tha

11:57 tnew yorkers can actually

11:58 afford to live in and that is

12:00 crucial for the development of

12:01 our city's economy, keeping

12:03 working class families in our

12:04 City while laying the

12:06 foundation to attract a

12:07 maintain New businesses and

12:08 the talent needed to lead them

12:12 to support the full

12:12 redevelopment of Eric initial

12:14 library sites were calling on

12:16 the administration to invest

12:19 $60 million in capital funding

12:20 and the upcoming City budge

12:22 tand we secure this investment,

12:24 we could unlock public private

12:27 partnerships that can deliver

12:27 the state of the art library

12:30 facilities at both half the

12:32 cost of gundro up construction

12:35 and equally importantly, devil

12:35 , the speed. It's just the

12:38 latest pillar of the council's

12:40 proactive agenda on housing,

12:42 which includes the

12:43 announcement we made last

12:44 month of our small lots

12:46 initiative to unlock as many

12:47 as 35000 New units of housing

12:51 and the launch of a New

12:52 council advisory group on

12:53 housing affordability to guide

12:55 these initiatives and come up

12:57 with New ones will have more

12:58 exciting initiatives to

13:00 announce in the coming weeks

13:01 now, turning to the budget on

13:04 Tuesday, the council released

13:05 its June 2026 economic and tax

13:09 revenue forecast, and we're

13:10 pleased to announce that it

13:11 estimated nearly $2 billio

13:14 nmore in tax revenue for fiscal

13:16 years 20 26 and 20 27, the

13:19 nprojected by the mayor's

13:20 office of management and

13:22 budget with these additional

13:24 resources we have the means t

13:27 ofund top council priorities,

13:29 including greater funding for

13:30 the college savings program.

13:33 Kids rise and expansion of the

13:35 fair fares discount program

13:38 for public transit and support

13:40 for expanding City febreze,

13:41 which has been a top priority

13:42 of the council. Obviously man

13:46 y, many more initiatives. We

13:47 are not going to name all of

13:48 them. We're just naming a few

13:50 here among some of the many

13:52 priorities we are calling for

13:53 is 81.5 million for

13:56 organizations that help make

13:57 it easier for our cities,

14:00 immigrant communities to

14:01 secure essential access t

14:05 olegal representation and

14:05 especially crucial at thi

14:06 stime of heightened fear and

14:08 great uncertainty yesterday on

14:10 that note, we rallied with the

14:11 New York immigration coalition

14:13 to demand greater protections

14:14 for on New yorkers are revised

14:17 financial projections will

14:19 also allow the City to set

14:22 aside a meaningful amount for

14:23 the rainy day reserves because

14:25 we've been financially prudent

14:27 since it started the budget

14:28 process, and we plan to stay

14:30 prudent through the end and we

14:31 know there are a number of

14:33 great variables and

14:34 uncertainties. So we want t

14:35 oensure that we're also putting

14:37 decide money for the rainy day

14:40 fund ahead of the world cup,

14:41 which is kicking off this

14:43 afternoon. How exciting we

14:48 wanted who? Yes

14:49 , we want to ensure that the

14:51 millions of visitors flocking

14:52 to our great City feels safe,

14:54 informed and confident that

14:57 they can avoid the scams that

14:59 target tourists, so on Monday

15:00 ,we announced that the council

15:03 is oversight and investigation

15:05 division found consistent

15:07 patterns of behavior that

15:08 sought to take advantage of

15:10 tourists, particularly when it

15:11 comes to illegal taxis,

15:13 pedicabs and ticket vendors

15:16 ,the findings and conclusions

15:18 of their investigation wer

15:19 eclear to crackdown on bad

15:21 actors we need stronger and

15:23 more coordinated enforcement

15:24 and informed source of common

15:26 scams. We must improve public

15:31 education, and yesterday we

15:31 unveiled to st co name ings

15:33 pele way in council members

15:35 chanel, Thomas henry's

15:36 district in queens and cherry

15:39 andre way and Council Member

15:40 of Virginia maloney's district

15:41 in manhattan. These were two

15:43 great events that was honored

15:46 to be at

15:46 . Why neither player

15:47 represents a team I'm rooting

15:47 for in the tournament shout

15:52 out team. This effort brought

15:52 the joy of the beautif gamule

15:53 from the stadium to the

15:54 streets of our great City in a

15:58 time. Where are sitting

16:00 country can feel more divided

16:01 than ever, sports seemed to be

16:03 one of the few things capable

16:05 of uniting people across all

16:08 divisions. We need to look no

16:09 further than to our very own

16:11 New York knicks as evidence of

16:15 the atmospheric transformation

16:16 in our City and I really hope

16:18 everyone watched the game last

16:24 night,

16:25 switching gears just over

16:26 two weeks ago on May 26 we

16:28 marked the end of I'd aldea

16:31 also known as the feast of

16:33 sacrifice, I hope that all who

16:34 celebrated had a blessed,

16:36 meaningful and reflective

16:39 holiday tomorrow. June 12 is

16:42 philippines independence day?

16:44 Yes, thank you.

16:46 Commemorating the country's

16:47 independence from spanish rule

16:50 June 12 it's also loving day

16:53 marking the anniversary of the

16:55 supreme court decision loving

16:56 v. Virginia, which ended laws

16:59 and allowed interracial

17:00 marriage in the united states.

17:05 Yep. June 14 is flag day when

17:06 we celebrate the adoption of

17:08 our national flag back in 777

17:13 June nineteenth is which

17:22 commemorates.

17:22 Which commemorates a day in

17:23 18 65, when people who are

17:25 enslaved in galveston, texas,

17:26 finally received news of their

17:30 emancipation a few days later

17:31 ,we'll be June 21 our nation

17:34 will celebrate father's day, I

17:35 hope you all have a meaningful

17:37 days celebrating the fathers

17:38 and father figures in your

17:40 life as well as remembering

17:42 those who are no longer with

17:46 us

17:46 . Also has an abundance of

17:48 month long celebrations for

17:49 communities across the five

17:50 boroughs. So we are so proud

17:53 to mark pride month and this

17:55 council is always committed t

17:57 ouplifting and supporting lgbt

17:59 I plus New yorkers who embody

18:01 the soul of our City happy

18:07 pride

18:07 . Is also black music

18:09 the widespread contributions

18:12 of black musicians whether

18:14 it's through gospel jazz, so

18:15 house or hip hop. It's also

18:19 caribbean american heritage.

18:22 Month.