Julie Menin, who was named commissioner of Consumer Affairs by Mayor de Blasio in 2014, has now been tapped to oversee the city’s film and television industry.
BY YANNIC RACK |
A former chairwoman of Community Board 1 has been tapped to oversee New York City’s film and television industry — a municipal money-spinner that gets mixed reviews from residents of her old stomping grounds.
Mayor de Blasio announced on Feb. 2 that Julie Menin — who helmed CB1 from 2005 to 2012 — will take over as head of the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, which issues permits for location shoots across the city.
“Julie has shown time and again that she is a highly effective leader who has the skills and passion to get the job done for New Yorkers,” the mayor said in a statement.
Menin moves to the new job after nearly two years as commissioner of the Dept. of Consumer Affairs, where she launched projects including promoting the paid-sick-leave law, and the Small Business Relief Package, an initiative to reduce fines on businesses.
At the film office, Menin will oversee the film and television industry, and lead the administration’s outreach to digital content and distribution companies and the advertising industry, as well as working with Broadway and off-Broadway theaters.
In 2005, Menin was elected as chairwoman for CB1, where she helped lead Lower Manhattan’s rebuilding, shepherding through major land use projects. She left the board in 2012 and ran unsuccessfully for Borough President in 2013.
Her new appointment comes after a record year for the city’s filmed entertainment industry, which now contributes $8.7 billion to the local economy, an increase of over 20 percent since 2011.
“I am honored to take on this new role within the de Blasio Administration,” Menin said in a statement. “We have an unprecedented opportunity to drive economic growth with this new and expanded portfolio — from film to music, TV to advertising — and as Commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, I look forward to supporting the 130,000 New Yorkers who are employed through this industry and to strengthening the City’s engagement with the media and entertainment sector.”
Before her stint at CB1, Menin’s résumé included running her own restaurant and catering business in Lower Manhattan, which she opened in 1999, and a turn as host and co-producer of the cable news show “Give & Take.”
She also founded the group Wall Street Rising after 9/11, which helped hundreds of local businesses and organizations apply for government assistance programs to be able to stay in Lower Manhattan.
