Major accomplishments by City Council speakers from the past two decades

The New York City Council elected its seventh speaker last week, sealing the already airtight deal for Manhattan Council Member Julie Menin. Menin is marking some firsts in the relatively short history of the council’s leadership role: She’s the first Jewish City Council speaker, and the first to lock up her winning coalition in November.

For as long as City & State has been publishing, we’ve been reporting on the council’s leaders. Here’s who else has led the body over the past 20 years.

Adrienne Adams

Speaker: 2022-2025 

Represented: District 28, Queens

When did she have the votes?: Dec. 17

What was her council known for?: Passing the City of Yes rezoning with Mayor Eric Adams’ administration. Passing a ban on solitary confinement, expanding housing vouchers and increasing police stop reporting in spite of the Adams administration.

Relationship to the mayor: Warm, turned frosty, turned ice-cold. The two politicians grew up together in Southeast Queens, graduated from the same class at Bayside High School and shared a strain of moderate politics. But as Mayor Adams leaned right in his tumultuous term, Speaker Adams led a distinctly more progressive body that put her at ideological and political odds with the mayor. Speaker Adams went from endorsing Eric Adams in 2021 to running in the Democratic mayoral primary to replace him in 2025.

Corey Johnson

Speaker: 2018-2021

Represented: District 3, Manhattan

When did he have the votes?: Dec. 20

What was his council known for?: Passing delivery worker protections during the COVID-19 pandemic, not exactly defunding the police during the Black Lives Matter protests, funding Fair Fares and getting the effort to close Rikers across the finish line.

Relationship to the mayor: Mayor Bill de Blasio didn’t endorse in the 2017 speaker race, but there were plenty of council members looking for a speaker who could stand up to the soon-to-be lame duck, and Johnson fit the bill. The relationship between the two sides of City Hall was typically icy, and further chilled by each man’s straying sights toward the ends of their respective terms. Johnson gave de Blasio flak for being MIA during his doomed presidential run, while Johnson’s own mayoral ambitions may have furthered an interest in setting himself apart from de Blasio in 2021.

Melissa Mark-Viverito

Speaker: 2014-2017

Represented: District 8, Manhattan and the Bronx

When did she have the votes?: Dec. 18

What was her council known for?: A progressive shift in the City Council, including getting the ball rolling on closing Rikers Island, regulating scheduling for fast food workers and retail employees, and empowering individual council members.

Relationship to the mayor: It’s easy to forget after the past couple speaker race cycles, but a mayor was once actually helpful in getting a speaker candidate elected. Then-Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio was an ally to Mark-Viverito in her 2013 speaker run, and the two maintained a mostly warm alliance throughout their overlapping tenures. The two still disagreed over plenty, as mayors and speakers are wont to do, but went out among the more cooperative relationships – too much so, some thought – of the past 20 years.

Christine Quinn

Speaker: 2006-2013

Represented: District 3, Manhattan

When did she have the votes?: Jan. 2

What was her council known for?: Passing paid sick leave and living wage legislation, restricting campaign finance donations, extending term limits allowing Mayor Mike Bloomberg a third term.

Relationship to the mayor: Bloomberg could also count Quinn as an ally. Like Mark-Viverito, Quinn faced criticism from Bloomberg’s detractors for being too close to him, though they had several high-profile battles, including fights over legislation like paid sick leave and implementing a living wage law.