TESTIMONY
Lena Fry, Compost Coordinator at Grow NYC Workers Collective, on the Threats to Community Composting in NYC Due to City Defunding
1:47:32
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125 sec
Lena Fry testifies on the significant impact of defunding community composting services in NYC on union jobs and accessibility.
- Fry introduces herself as a compost coordinator for over 4 years, highlighting her dedication to making NYC a cleaner, more resilient city.
- She shares the threat of unemployment for her and her coworkers due to the city defunding Grow NYC's contract, emphasizing this as a recurring challenge.
- Fry advocates for the essential role of community composting in providing access where brown bin or curbside services are inadequate or unavailable.
- She calls on the city council to fully restore funding to save union jobs and ensure the sustainability of community composting.
- Fry emphasizes that community composting funding should not rely on private donations but be secured through legislative action to ensure its continuation regardless of city budget fluctuations.
Lena Fry
1:47:32
Yeah.
1:47:32
Hi.
1:47:33
Good morning, Chair by you and and counsel.
1:47:36
Thank you for this opportunity to speak.
1:47:37
My name is Lina Fry, and I am a proud member of the Grow NYC Workers Collective.
1:47:42
Representative by RWDSU.
1:47:44
I have worked as a compost coordinator at Grow NYC for over 4 years, and it is a job that I love.
1:47:50
I feel so much pride because while this work is literally dirty, the services that we provide to New Yorkers make this city a cleaner, healthier, and more resilient place to live in work.
1:48:00
Because the city defunded Grow NYC's contract, me and my union coworkers will be unemployed as of May 20th.
1:48:06
This is the second time that we have faced this.
1:48:09
This is the second time in just 3 months that I have sat here and testified for the city to let me and my coworkers keep our jobs.
1:48:17
To let us keep providing vital services to communities across the Five boroughs.
1:48:20
I will not sit back and let my coworkers and I lose our jobs without a fight and I'm asking for the city council to do the same.
1:48:27
The work that we do along with our partners at the New York City compost project is distinct and complementary the existing DSNY services.
1:48:35
Our work makes composting accessible to people who do not have brown bin service as millions of New Yorkers do not.
1:48:42
Our drop off sites can be used by people without smartphones and for those of us who live in areas without a single smart band within miles like myself.
1:48:53
Every week, I speak to people whose landlords refuse to participate in the curbside service, preferring to risk a future menial mine, and to those whose large apartment buildings have just one single ban, which is woefully insufficient.
1:49:07
For these countless New Yorkers, community composting is their only option.
1:49:13
The council must fully restore funding to this essential program in order to save union jobs and livelihoods.
1:49:19
We should not rely on private donations to fund basic, inexpensive, and popular city services.
1:49:25
Funding the community compost must be mandated through legislative inflation to ensure it can thrive beyond the opaque pendulum swing of city budget contracts, which we fight for year after year.
1:49:35
Thank you for your time and consideration.
