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When Julie Menin was elected City Council Speaker late last year, it was seen as a move by centrist and conservative elements inside and outside city government to ensure that Mayor Zohran Mamdani had a check on his free-spending, socialist ways.
The thinking was that Menin, an Upper East Side councilmember—and a millionaire who owns multiple homes—would help represent the fiscal prudence demanded by the city's upper crust. And for her first few months as Speaker, she played the part. Even as the City faced a multi-billion dollar deficit, Menin railed against the idea of a new tax on the rich, raising property taxes for homeowners, and dipping into the city's rainy day fund.
But as City Hall secured billion after billion from the state, helped push through pied-à-terre tax on the rich, and trimmed some of the more egregious fat from the city budget, Menin changed her tune. Suddenly, the socialist mayor wasn't spending enough money on working people in New York City.