Your guide to NYC's public proceedings.
PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Hayden Brockett, Founding Member of New York Clean Air Collective
3:15:20
ยท
3 min
Hayden Brockett, a founding member of the New York Clean Air Collective, testified in support of Intro 107 for improved air quality monitoring while expressing concerns about Intro 1130. He emphasized the importance of citizen enforcement in reducing emissions and improving air quality in environmental justice communities.
- Supported Intro 107 for its requirement of an important air quality study in New York City
- Raised concerns about Intro 1130, describing it as a "blank check" to the executive branch
- Advocated for strengthening the Citizens Air Complaint Program and increasing the number of air inspectors
Hayden Brockett
3:15:20
Great.
3:15:20
Thank you.
3:15:21
Thank you, council member Abiles, for your leadership on improving New York's air quality and chair Gennaro for holding today's hearing.
3:15:28
My name is Hayden Brockett.
3:15:29
We've met before, and I'm a founding member of the New York Clean Air Collective and a father and husband who participates in the Citizens Air Complaint Program.
3:15:37
We, as an organization and today, we share the goal of getting more polluting trucks off of our streets.
3:15:44
I'm testifying today to support the committee's good work on clean air legislation, in particular, intro one zero seven, which will require an important study of air quality in our city.
3:15:54
I am pleased to see that there are, I think, 41 members of the council who cosponsor it, and I urge the council to pass intro one zero seven.
3:16:03
We suffer from terribly poor air quality in New York, which unfortunately kills three thousand New Yorkers each each year.
3:16:10
As a participant in the Citizens Air Complaint Program, let me just address some incorrect information that commissioner gave the committee today about the impact of this program in the context of warehouses and environmental justice communities.
3:16:23
As I'm setting forth in my written testimony, the data actually show that our highly successful citizen enforcement program absolutely helps lower emissions today in environmental justice and disadvantaged communities.
3:16:36
And it is the this is crucial for the committee's last mile efforts because air, enforcement stops idling both at the warehouses and also at the point of delivery.
3:16:47
And council, member Holden, if you want to stop illegal 50 threes tomorrow, all you need to do is empower these citizen enforcers to report these trucks in the city.
3:16:57
I see them every day.
3:16:59
I saw three this morning.
3:17:00
I'm reporting gonna report one to DEP.
3:17:03
And if you can start issuing tickets today, if you give citizens the power to report these illegal trucks wherever they're they are in the city.
3:17:11
So intro one zero seven is a step in the right direction, but unfortunately, I have very serious concerns about the language of intro eleven thirty as
Robert F. Holden
3:17:18
it is being
Hayden Brockett
3:17:19
drafted.
3:17:19
Yep.
3:17:20
I know it's a work in progress.
3:17:22
But in its present form, it's a little more than a blank check written from the legislative branch to the executive branch, and that is not a good policy at any time.
3:17:31
But the city council should be writing the laws and not ceding its legislative authority to the executive branch.
3:17:37
I know it's gonna be a dialogue eventually, but it's especially troubling now in 2025 for the city council to make a gigantic and unchecked grant of power to this mayoral administration compromised as it is.
3:17:52
And so my that's my concern with 11:30 as it is drafted.
3:17:57
There are other additional issues that commissioner Eigerwala noted that there is not going to be an environmental review until 2026.
3:18:05
I'm not sure how a sequel review can even take place given that there isn't a rule in place at all.
3:18:11
There's just sort of a blank check-in there.
3:18:14
And I just would finally like to say that we should be strengthening the citizen air complaint program.
3:18:19
I was glad to see the commissioner talk about using some of the his budget to increase the salaries, and maybe the head count of the air inspectors.
3:18:28
That's great.
3:18:29
I think as the, earlier testimony indicated, the it's not gonna cost 40,000,000 to do the study that we need to get a clear idea of how polluted our air is.
3:18:41
Some of that money absolutely can be can go today, it sounds like, to increasing the number of air inspectors and their salaries.
3:18:51
So I just wanted to say thank you so much for this opportunity to testify and for your efforts to clear our air.
3:18:56
Thank you.