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Council member questions pause on residential organic waste fines
0:15:54
ยท
93 sec
Council Member Shaun Abreu questions the decision to pause fines for buildings with fewer than 30 units regarding organic waste collection. He expresses confusion about the sudden change, given the recent press releases about successful compost distribution and the number of tickets already issued.
- Abreu highlights the inconsistency between the pause and the previous preparations for citywide rollout
- He asks about who made the decision and why it was made
- The council member emphasizes the resources and time spent on educating constituents about the program
Shaun Abreu
0:15:54
Thank you commissioner.
0:15:55
I would also like to acknowledge council member Zhuang for for joining us today's hearing.
0:16:06
Mister commissioner, last week we learned that the Adams administration would be pausing fines for buildings with fewer than 30 units saying that resources would be allocated to education and outreach citing resident confusion.
0:16:20
But just a few days prior, DSNY issued a press release announcing a third site in Astoria to distribute free compost to residents which noted the overwhelming demand and record amount of compostable material collected.
0:16:34
DSNY also reported that over 4,000 tickets had already been issued in the first two weeks.
0:16:39
It seemed as though y'all have y'all had been ready and prepared to to issue fines.
0:16:45
We had spent you know months preparing for the the effective date of of curbside composting going into effect.
0:16:54
We spent a lot of resources and time telling our constituents that this was happening and two weeks later all of a sudden you know I felt like everything was pulled from under.
0:17:04
Can you please speak to the decision that that was made?
0:17:08
Was it made by the department?
0:17:10
Was it made outside of the department?
0:17:12
It just doesn't make sense especially given you know the council's push for you know composting education and outreach and the administration having testified last year that it had all the resources it needed for a citywide rollout.
Javier Lojan
0:17:27
Sure.