How 9/11 changed NYC Council Speaker Julie Menin's life and set her on a path to politics

Before Julie Menin was New York City Council Speaker, she was an attorney and a small business owner in Lower Manhattan. But the 9/11 attacks changed her trajectory.

Menin lived downtown and owned a restaurant called Vine, across from the New York Stock Exchange. She said she thought she would be a lawyer and business owner for the rest of her life.

Then came Sept. 11, 2001. Menin recalled the days after the attack. Not only was she forced out of her restaurant, she was forced out of her home. 

Menin remembers her husband insisting they leave the area because it wasn't safe, but she couldn't find her mother and refused to go without her.

Eventually her mother returned, covered in the white, grayish ash, which engulfed the area.

"When the second tower fell, every single window here, every single one was blown out. The glass shards were everywhere," she said. "I mean, you couldn't even see."

Menin said it was horrifying knowing that people were trapped, and some weren't going to come out. 

The New York Stock Exchange made the decision to reopen the Monday after the Sept. 11 attacks, so Menin also tried to reopen her restaurant. 

"We couldn't get food deliveries. Most of our employees couldn't come back to work," she said. "I thought it was important to try to reopen for the sake of showing that the terrorists were not gonna bring us down."

She said the air was also unhealthy to breathe, despite government officials saying it was safe.

Vine was badly damaged and was ultimately forced to close. 

"This whole area was shut down at that point," she said. "In those months and years after 9/11, almost all the small businesses on the street went out of business. They couldn't survive."

After the tragedy, Menin transitioned to a life of activism and politics, though at the time, she knew nothing of government or community boards. 

She started the nonprofit Wall Street Rising to help revitalize Lower Manhattan's economic and cultural life after the attacks. 

"It was rising from the ashes," Menin said. "The idea that we were not going to be defeated."

The council speaker said she believes focusing on the arts and local schools was key in rebuilding. 

Now, the downtown population has more than doubled since before 9/11 and is home to more than 80,000 residents. 

"I hope when we look back at what happened on 9/11, we will remember the unity. I've never really felt the city so unified as it was in the months and even the years after 9/11," Menin said. "It was our city that had been attacked. It was our way of life, our freedoms, the things that we celebrate and that our country is built on."