Speaker Menin on release of city's 9/11 environmental toxin reports and $4M DOI funding
Menin discusses her advocacy for the full release of the city's 9/11 environmental toxin reports, the commitment secured from Corporation Counsel Steve Banks, the new public portal launched this week, and $4 million in budget funding for the Department of Investigation to complete its report on the files.
And so as someone who lost my own mother to a 9-11 related cancer, I have long advocated for a full release.
of the city's 9-11 environmental toxin reports.
During the advice and consent hearing of Corporation Council Steve Banks, we secured his commitment to release the 9-11 files.
I also want to thank Councilmember Gail Brewer for her great work on this.
She has been a champion.
On the release of the files as well.
So I was extremely pleased that this week the administration launched this new portal so that the public can finally view these records.
New Yorkers deserve a full accounting of what the city knew
what might have been withheld from the public, and how their actions impacted first responders, downtown residents, and survivors.
To that end, the Council also secured in the budget $4 million in funding for the Department of Investigation to complete and release its Council-mandated report on the files, another critical step towards transparency and accountability.
The families of victims have questions.
We do as well.
And while the answers alone cannot bring back the lives we lost on that day, and look, I want to say over 9,000 people, more than
those died on 9-11, have now lost their lives to a 9-11-related cancer or illness, the city has an obligation to tell the whole truth, which is exactly what New Yorkers expect and deserve.