Vanessa Aronson
4:14:24
Good afternoon, everyone.
4:14:26
My name is Vanessa Aronson, and thank you to the chair council member, Julie Bannon.
4:14:30
And the members of this committee for convening today's hearing.
4:14:33
And thank you for allowing me to testify remotely.
4:14:36
I live and work on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, and although I live and work in New York, I've actually spent a lot more time in local hotels than the average New York City resident.
4:14:45
In my former capacity as the US foreign service officer leading multilateral negotiations on food security topics of the UN and in my current capacity as a leader at a large national nonprofit that has thousands of employees across the United States but our headquarters here in New York City where we frequently gather for important conferences and meetings.
4:15:06
I fully support intro 991b, the state who tell that, because I want to ensure that I, that when I, My family or my teammates are staying in New York hotels that we are safe, and that the workers in New York City hotels are safe and are protected from predatory bad actors.
4:15:23
This includes the panic buttons and requiring information on hazardous chemicals in the workplace.
4:15:28
And the fact that this is not norm across the industry is shocking.
4:15:32
As a community member, I find a concerning that in just the past 5 years, the NYPD reported over 14,000 quality of life complaints This demonstrates to me that the status quo is not tenable.
4:15:45
Intro 991 is supported by 36 council members, 2 bureau presidents, the BPA, 5 district attorneys, and the state attorney general.
4:15:52
And this all highlights just how critical the bill is.
4:15:55
And it also highlights key worker protection issues, which is something that council member Menin has consistently championed, including in her former role as the commissioner for consumer and worker protection.
4:16:05
Similar legislation, licensing hotels already exists in many major cities across the country, including my hometown of Chicago.
4:16:12
And it's clear that this is the norm for the hotel industry elsewhere where bad actors are addressed through regulation, and we need that here.
4:16:19
I urge the city council to support the legislation and to pass intro 991 b.
