NEW YORK—Julie Menin has interviewed many high-profile figures in politics, entertainment, and the media as former host of NBC’s “Give and Take.” On Tuesday morning at Sarabeth’s Kitchen on Greenwich and Jay streets in Tribeca, Menin sat on the other end of the microphone to tell about her journey through New York’s political world.
As chair of Community Board 1 in Lower Manhattan, she has been at the center of 9/11 rebuilding, Zuccotti Park protests, and ground zero mosque debates. She started filling her campaign coffer in November to run for Manhattan borough president in 2013.
“I grew up in Washington, D.C., which by its nature is obviously a political place to grow up, and I majored in political science at Columbia, but I would have never thought this is the trajectory I would go in,” said Menin.
First an attorney, then a caterer, her career in the public sphere began unexpectedly on Sept. 11, 2001.
Her neighborhood lay in ruins following the 9/11 attacks and a mass exodus left an even larger void. She lived only a couple of blocks from the towers, but as others migrated, Menin began rebuilding. She mustered together 30,000 of her neighbors in a nonprofit group called Wall Street Rising.
Its first order of business was to bring business back. A dining initiative boosted restaurant business in the area 400 percent and hundreds of stores participated in a discount card initiative that brought shoppers back to Lower Manhattan.
Menin says growing up with her mother’s stories of Holocaust hardships helped her remain calm through rough seas. Her mother lived in a cellar in Hungary for several years during the war. She stayed in hiding with Menin’s grandmother, but most of her family didn’t make it.
