PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Samara Swanston, Former NYC Council Legislative Attorney, on the Citizens Air Complaint Program
1:35:23
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124 sec
Samara Swanston, a former NYC Council Legislative Attorney, testifies in support of the Citizens Air Complaint Program and opposes Intro 941. She emphasizes the program's success and the need for its protection and expansion.
- Swanston helped draft Local Law 58 in 2018, which expanded citizen reporting of illegal idling
- She supports Intro 5 and Intro 291, which aim to protect and expand the program
- Swanston argues that the program is working as intended, with citizen idling violations increasing from 16 in 2018 to over 77,000 in the previous year
Samara Swanson
1:35:23
Hi.
1:35:24
Good afternoon.
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My name is Samara Swanson, and I recently retired from the city council after more than 17 years as legislative attorney on this very committee.
1:35:36
In 2018, I helped draft local law 58 which expanded access for citizens to report illegal idling and to be paid 25% of the fines, which is the correct and bare percentage for this important work.
1:35:53
Together with council member Helen Rosenthal and George Pecanham, we set the groundwork for today's hugely successful program Let me be clear.
1:36:08
The program is working exactly as we intended in 2018.
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I'm here today because I uphold 941 and I support 2 very important bills.
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Intro 5 and intro 291.
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We need to protect the citizen complaint air program and expand it even further.
1:36:32
Intel 941 threatens this crucial program, and Intel 941 needs to be stopped.
1:36:41
Let me address the elephant in the room.
1:36:45
Money.
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1st, But big companies are paying 1,000,000 of dollars and fines, and they don't like it.
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2nd, some try to complain about individual citizens making a lot of money from the program.
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To those people, I say so what?
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Last year, there were over 77,000 citizen idling violations issued, up from 16 in 2018.
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Up from just 16.
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Each one rep represents a truck or bus polluting our air.
1:37:26
Who who am it?
