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Council Member Brewer discusses Intro 563 on public water access and Intro 564 on government social media archives
0:11:44
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3 min
Council Member Gale A. Brewer presents her remarks on two bills: Intro 563, which aims to expand public access to drinking water, and Intro 564, which proposes creating a government social media archive. She emphasizes the importance of free water access and the need for proper archiving of government social media accounts.
- Brewer highlights the necessity of water bottle filling stations in public buildings to promote healthy drinking habits and reduce single-use plastics.
- She discusses the support for Intro 563 from various organizations and acknowledges the cost implications.
- For Intro 564, Brewer explains the importance of archiving social media accounts of city agencies and elected officials for future reference and transparency.
Gale A. Brewer
0:11:44
Thank you very much.
0:11:46
I've been at 2 meetings already today, so just wanna let you know.
0:11:51
I'm calling about intro 563, which is expanding public access to drinking water.
0:11:56
I bring this to your attention based on my friend who has passed.
0:11:59
Richard Murphy.
0:12:00
He was a commissioner under mayor Dick kids.
0:12:03
And he always said that every young person in New York, in schools in particular, should get a water bottle, and there should be water billing stations everywhere because you cannot tell young people not to drink soda if there's no water available.
0:12:18
Everyone has a right to free water no matter where they are or what season it is.
0:12:23
Drinking fountains are often inaccessible, even in the schools, and it's even harder to tell people don't buy sugary drinks or single use plastics if they can't access free water.
0:12:36
Intro 563 would require the Department of Citywide Administrative Services to make water bottle filling stations open to the public in city buildings, fire stations, police stations, and so on.
0:12:50
This bill is supported by the NRDC Natural Resources Defense Council, the League Ocanto, Asian voters, and Peggy Shepherd, and the bow and those wonderful folks in Harlem.
0:13:03
They're not able to be here today, but they have submitted written testimony.
0:13:09
I know this cost money.
0:13:10
But not a lot.
0:13:11
And I would think very hard about making sure that we have free water available.
0:13:18
Right now, it's either in the place where you work or whenever the Department of Environmental Protection haranged correctly, the fire hydrants and porsa station with very far and few between.
0:13:34
Into a 564 government social media archive, and I know that the commissioner, wonderful commissioner of Doris, is here, Social media posts and websites are official government records as defined by the city charter, and Doris, department of records, maintains a publicly accessible archive of official social media accounts used by city agencies.
0:13:58
While some accounts like at NYPD chief of department are carried over from one administration to the next, Others are unique to the individual who occupies a position such as at NYPD, CAS.
0:14:17
Intro 564 would require city agencies to submit to Doris and names of all of their social media accounts so that none of the left out of the archive.
0:14:27
It would also require certain elected officials submit the names of their accounts to Doris.
0:14:33
Specifically, the mayor, Controller, public advocate, East Row President, and East Member of the Council.
0:14:39
Doris has submitted testimony in support of this bill, and if they have any suggestions, they're all welcome.
0:14:46
I wanna say I'm a real advocate for archives in our city.
0:14:50
I have to say a lot of elected officials leave.
0:14:53
I won't mention them.
0:14:54
I have their list.
0:14:55
And do not submit their papers.
0:14:59
I have all my papers submitted from 22 years of being in the city council, and, I do think that it is really important for our future to have quality archival material.
0:15:13
Thank you very much, Mister chair.