Speaker Menin taps Manhattan’s Shaun Abreu as next City Council Transportation chair

As new City Council Speaker Julie Menin names her leadership team and committee chair assignments on Thursday, she appointed Council Member Shaun Abreu as the legislature’s new chair of its Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.

Menin tapped Abreu — a close ally and fellow Manhattan council member — head of the first stated meeting she will preside over on Jan. 15. The move was confirmed to amNewYork by two sources close to the speaker, after it was first reported by the Daily News, ahead of the official announcement.

During a news conference announcing the new roles, Abreu said he would bring a “people first approach” to the city’s streetscape.

“Our city has 6,300 miles of roadways and 12,000 miles of sidewalks,” Abreu said in a statement. “Every mile should be safe, well-maintained, and designed for the New Yorkers who use them every day.”

Abreu will replace Council Member Selvena Brooks-Powers (D-Queens), who has chaired the committee over the past four years and made an unsuccessful bid for speaker in the race ultimately won by Menin. Brooks-Powers appeared to want to keep the role. She had penned a letter to Gov. Kathy Hochul in December, calling on he state’s top executive to devote more state funding to offset future planned subway and bus fare hikes.

While Brooks-Powers will no longer be Transportation Committee chair, Speaker Menin assigned her to chair the Criminal Justice Committee instead.

Menin said she shook up the committee chair assignments in order to have “fresh, bold leadership” in the latest iteration of the council.

“This is about competency, it’s about city services, it’s about making sure government works for New Yorkers,” Menin said.

The council Transportation Committee plays a critical role in conducting oversight of the city Department of Transportation, as well as other transportation-related agencies.

Abreu could prove an important ally for Mayor Zohran Mamdani on the council, as Hizzoner made improving city bus speeds one of the central focuses of his winning campaign. He endorsed Mamdani and campaigned with him throughout the heated general election.

“People across the five boroughs are excited by ideas like fast and free buses because they speak to a pressing need for making our city more affordable and easier to get around,” Abreu said. “Solutions like that are ahead.”

Danny Pearlstein, Riders Alliance’s policy and communications director, said Abreu’s likely selection is a “very wise choice” by the speaker.

“We’re eager to work closely with Chair Abreu to save riders time and win much faster buses,” Pearlstein told amNewYork. “His district overwhelmingly depends on public transit.”

Pearlstein also applauded Menin for appointing Council Member Crystal Hudson, who was the other leading City Council speaker candidate, as chair of the General Welfare committee, which oversees the city’s Fair Fares half-priced transit fare program.

Abreu, who previously chaired the body’s Sanitation Committee, has led its side of the city’s efforts to get piles of black garbage off of city streets and into lidded containers — an initiative embraced by livable streets advocates. Pearlstein called Abreu a “steadfast leader” on the issue.

Manhattan Community Board 9, which overlaps with Abreu’s West Harlem district, played host to the city’s first trash containerization pilot. The program launched in 2023 with the city’s Sanitation Department devoting several parking spots over 10 residential blocks to large-wheeled trash containers.

Under the pilot, CB9 was the first community board to reach a 100% containerization requirement.

Former Mayor Eric Adams then scaled containerization across the city, with all city businesses and residential buildings with nine or fewer units already required to place their refuse in secure lidded bins. Abreu sponsored the council legislation that instituted those rules.

The lawmaker also passed a bill in November requiring all residential buildings with 31 or more units to dispose of their waste in large on-street bins, which the Adams administration dubbed “Empire Bins.” Buildings with between 10 and 30 units can choose between the Empire Bins and smaller on-sidewalk containers.

With Abreu taking over the Transportation Committee, Menin appointed newly sworn-in Council Member Justin Sanchez (D-Bronx) as the new Sanitation Committee chair.