REMARKS
Julie Menin explains her vote on the NYC budget
1:15:00
·
104 sec
Council Member Julie Menin expresses gratitude for the work on the budget and highlights key restorations and additions, including $2 billion for affordable housing. She criticizes the need to focus on restoring cuts rather than growing services and announces the creation of a municipal office of health care accountability.
- Menin emphasizes the unacceptability of spending time and resources on restoring cuts instead of growing critical services.
- She highlights the addition of $2 million to create the nation's first municipal office of health care accountability, which aims to protect consumers and save the city $2 billion annually.
- Menin discloses her associations with entities funded in the budget, including the National September 11th Memorial Museum and the Theater and Dance Alliance.
Julie Menin
1:15:00
I wanna thank the speaker and finance, Cher Brandon, and the finance team as well as Jeremy John, Faiza Ellie, and my colleagues for their incredibly hard work over these past few months.
1:15:11
I'm pleased to see that $2, 000, 000, 000 has been added for affordable house in 1 of our most urgent needs in the city, as well as a restoration of cuts and libraries, cultural organizations.
1:15:22
Education composting and other issues.
1:15:24
But I do wanna say it is totally unacceptable that we have been forced to spend our energy, our time and our resources simply on restoring cuts rather than focusing on growing critical and key services to protect New Yorkers.
1:15:41
And I fervantly hope that that dynamic will change moving forward.
1:15:46
I do also want to take a moment to highlight that $2, 000, 000 was added to create the nation's first municipal office of health care accountability.
1:15:55
I'm incredibly proud of that.
1:15:57
That office will not only protect consumers by disclosing the price of every single medical procedure at every single hospital.
1:16:05
But equally importantly, it will save the city $2, 000, 000, 000 a year by finally harnessing our city's purchasing power to drive down skyrocketing a health care cost.
1:16:17
And I hope that that money in future years will be able to be utilized for education, affordable housing, and other urgent needs.
1:16:25
I want to disclose on the record that the National September 11th Memorial Museum is funded in the budget we are adopting, and I'm associated with that entity I also wanna disclose that today, theater, and dance alliance is funded in the budget we are adopting, and my child is associated with that entity.
1:16:42
And with that, I vote I.
1:16:43
Thank you.