Julie Menin on Taxes, Mamdani, Trump — and Why She Reads Kundera

SHOW NOTESJulie Menin didn't plan on a career in politics. She started a nonprofit to help rebuild Lower Manhattan after 9/11, became a three-time city commissioner, ran New York City's 2020 census — finishing first among all U.S. cities and securing an additional $1.8 billion in federal funding for the next decade — and got elected to the City Council. In January 2026, her colleagues chose her as Speaker, making her the first Jewish speaker in the Council's history.In this conversation with Juan Manuel Benítez, Menin talks about the city's budget crunch (her answer on property taxes: a firm no), her relationship with Mayor Zohran Mamdani, the case of Rafael Rubio — a Council staffer who has been in ICE custody since January 12th — her five-point antisemitism plan, and her concern about the U.S.-Israel strikes on Iran. She also shares the story of her grandmother's escape from Soviet-occupied Hungary in the middle of the night, guided by a "miner" who knew where the bombs were buried along the border.Links and resources mentioned in this episode:📚 Milan Kundera — Julie's favorite author, whom she's been revisiting with her college-age son:The Book of Laughter and Forgetting The Unbearable Lightness of Being The Joke The NYPL has a great reading guide: Why Read Milan Kundera?🏛️ Museums Julie champions:The Tenement Museum — 103 Orchard Street, Lower East Side. Museum of Jewish Heritage — A Living Memorial to the Holocaust — Battery Park City. Juan Manuel Benítez Wants to Know is produced at Columbia Journalism School