City Council

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

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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.