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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Hayden Brockett, Founding Member of New York Clean Air Collective on Air Quality and Citizens Air Complaint Program
3:38:20
ยท
3 min
Hayden Brockett, a founding member of the New York Clean Air Collective, testified in support of higher wages for DEP workers and increased staffing for air quality complaint reviewers and inspectors. He emphasized the importance of the Citizens Air Complaint Program in addressing air pollution and generating revenue for the city.
- Brockett criticized Mayor Adams' budget for keeping DEP headcount flat and not providing living wages for some workers.
- He highlighted that air pollution kills 3,000 New Yorkers annually and stressed the need to stop vehicle idling.
- Brockett argued against cutting or capping the Citizens Air Complaint Program, stating it would lead to dirtier air and lower city revenues.
Hayden Brockett
3:38:20
very much.
3:38:21
Thanks.
3:38:23
Thank you, councilmember Ressler, for chairing this hearing today, and thank you in absentia to chair Gennaro and for you and your staff's leadership on improving New York's air quality.
3:38:33
Thank you.
3:38:34
My name is Hayden Brockett, and I'm a founding member of the New York Clean Air Collective, the NYCAC.
3:38:40
I'm a father and a husband who lives in Manhattan, and I participate in the Citizens Air Complaint Program.
3:38:46
I took time off from work today to be here because our organization, our nonprofit organization, supports higher wages for DEP workers and higher head counts for DEP complaint reviewers and air inspectors.
3:38:59
Sadly, the ADAMS' own budget, and request I should say, keeps its head count flat and mayor Adams' budget doesn't pay some of its workers a living wage.
3:39:09
And as I know you noted, chairwrestler, that's a problem.
3:39:14
As you know, we suffer from terrible air quality in New York which kills three thousand New Yorkers each year.
3:39:21
That means that more than one in twenty deaths this year in New York will be caused by air pollution.
3:39:27
And as someone who participates in the citizens air complaint program, I experience firsthand how every day air pollution from trucks and buses, particularly around our schools, and parks poisons our citizens.
3:39:38
Idling needs to stop.
3:39:40
Full stop.
3:39:42
Me make three points about some of the incorrect information put forth today about the budget impact of the CACP.
3:39:47
First, this program is working well.
3:39:50
When the city faces a climate crisis and multiple air quality emergencies as we saw with wildfire last year's, this program represents about 95% of air code enforcement and about 66,000,000 collected by the city.
3:40:05
That's because although this council banned idling fifty years ago, that law went completely unenforced for decades.
3:40:12
The council, however, has changed that because in 2018 that opened up Citizens Air Enforcement and the citizen air complaints filed last year, a 40,000 of them are a victory both for the city council and for our clean air.
3:40:24
And I just would like to say this is tangible work to protect our environment and stop clean climate change as Anais mentioned.
3:40:32
On the budget, make no mistake, this program increases city revenues because for every dollar paid as a reward to a citizen reporter, the city collects at least $4 more in revenue.
3:40:42
This program is thus in itself a huge revenue positive even before you account for the program lowering air pollution and associated health and hospital costs, which are the real goals.
3:40:53
DEP's reviewers get a huge chunk of the credit for this and they deserve higher pay.
3:40:58
Citizen participants likewise deserve fair compensation for this serious work.
3:41:02
And chair Wressler, if the council caps or cuts this enforcement, you're only gonna get dirt ier air and lower city revenues and it's that simple.
3:41:12
To cut this program is just as dangerous as cutting the IRS budget to save money.
3:41:17
Now that's an idea that's popular in Washington DC, but New York City should reject such what I consider backwards thinking.
3:41:23
Second, I think it's absolutely cynical to try and pit noise enforcement against air quality enforcement.
3:41:28
As you noted, we can walk and chew gum at the same time.
3:41:31
Chair Ressler, the council already, I will point out, has built in existing safeguards to the law if DEP cannot handle the volume of complaints, as the commissioner acknowledged.
Lincoln Restler
3:41:40
Thank you, sir.
3:41:41
Just ask us to wrap up if you don't mind.
Hayden Brockett
3:41:42
No problem.
3:41:43
So I would just say there's no need to cut air quality to enforce our noise laws.
3:41:47
And I think as you acknowledged, that's a budgetary choice by the Adams administration that hurts our environment.
3:41:53
Thank you so much for your time.
Lincoln Restler
3:41:54
Thank you.