Your guide to NYC's public proceedings.
PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Julie Stein, Executive Director of Union Square Partnership, on Waste Containerization Costs
3:33:43
ยท
129 sec
Julie Stein, Executive Director of Union Square Partnership, testifies about the challenges Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) face in implementing new waste containerization rules. She highlights the significant costs involved and requests financial support from the city to comply with these new requirements.
- Estimated upfront cost of at least $100,000 for Union Square Partnership to purchase recommended containers
- BIDs operate on fixed budgets and cannot easily increase assessments to cover these one-time expenses
- Requests funding in this year's budget to support BIDs in acquiring the recommended waste containers
Julie Stein
3:33:43
This is Salon.
3:33:44
Hi.
3:33:46
Good afternoon, Roryu and members of the sanitation committee.
3:33:49
My name is Julie Stein, and I'm the executive director of Union Square Partnership, the business improvement district for Union Square and Fourteenth Street.
3:33:55
I appreciate the opportunity to testify today about the Department of Sanitation's new rules on waste containerization and the cost of implementation.
3:34:02
As you know, bids play a critical role in maintaining the cleanliness of our sidewalks and public spaces.
3:34:08
We shared the city's goals of creating clean, livable and vibrant streets.
3:34:11
However, this transition requires resources.
3:34:13
Right now there's no dedicated funding to support bids in meeting the new waste containerization requirement for the public trash that we bag even though doing some comes with significant upfront costs.
3:34:22
For us to purchase the recommended city bins or metro store containers and the container protection elements for our district, we estimate an upfront cost of at least $100,000 This is a substantial cost for our organization, a medium sized bid, and we know many other medium and small bids face similar financial hurdles.
3:34:39
Bids operate within fixed budgets and cannot simply increase our assessment to cover one time expenses like this.
3:34:44
In fact we cannot increase our assessment at all without a legislative process that can take up to two years.
3:34:49
With the rule only finalized at the March 2025 for implementation in August just five months later or even at the end of this calendar year, these new costs for the recommended city bins or metro store containers do not conform with our funding process.
3:35:03
That means that the city is asking us to play a zero sum game, cutting funding for other critical services that we provide in order to make this investment in the recommended waste containers.
3:35:11
The only relatively budget friendly option for my organization is to buy tilt bins or tilt trucks which are not the state of the art management solution that any of us are seeking.
3:35:20
And the council has already acknowledged the hardship of waste containerization to property owners with the passage of council member Salam's bill to provide funding for containers with secured lids for small residential buildings.
3:35:31
While we are called a business improvement district, the members who pay our assessment also include residential property owners like the ones the council considers worthy of financial relief related to these rules.
3:35:40
To ensure the continued ability for bids to provide the range of services specified in our district plans, we ask for the council or the administration to include funding in this year's budget to support bids acquiring the recommended waste containers.
3:35:51
Thanks so much.