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REMARKS
Council Member Restler's opening remarks and dedication
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Council Member Lincoln Restler opens the hearing by explaining he is temporarily chairing the committee due to Chair Gennaro's absence. He dedicates the hearing to the memory of Chair Gennaro's late wife, Joanne, who passed away nine years ago.
- Restler expresses well wishes for Chair Gennaro's recovery from an injury
- He highlights Gennaro's commitment to environmental stewardship and his impact on the city's sustainability
- Restler acknowledges learning from Gennaro and expresses privilege in being his colleague
Lincoln Restler
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and welcome to the fiscal year twenty twenty six preliminary budget hearing for the Committee on Environmental Protection, Resiliency, and Waterfronts.
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I am sorry to disappoint you all, but my name is not Jim Gennaro.
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I'm Lincoln Ressler, and this morning I'll temporarily be chairing the committee, as chair Gennaro could not join us today because he's unfortunately incapacitated due to injury.
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We very much wish him a speedy recovery.
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Chair Gennaro was intending to dedicate this hearing to the memory of his late wife, Joanne.
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Joanne passed away nine years ago today.
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She was a truly extraordinary partner to Jim and a loving mother of their daughter Christina who just turned 30 and is actually getting married this spring.
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Jim was a profoundly committed partner and caretaker to Joanne especially during the eight years through which she suffered a terminal illness.
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On behalf of Jim, I would just like to formally dedicate this hearing in Joanne's memory and our thoughts today are with him and Christina and his whole family.
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And I'll just say as a point of privilege, I didn't know Jim before coming to the city council, deeply about this committee and about being a strong environmental steward for the City Of New York.
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And over decades, as a council staffer, as chair of this committee on two different occasions, for now fifteen years in aggregate, He has had an outsized impact on the sustainability of our city and we're really fortunate to have his leadership here in the council.
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I've learned a lot from him and I'm very very privileged to be his colleague.