Your guide to NYC's public proceedings.
AGENCY TESTIMONY
Implementation of Queens Central zone
0:10:42
·
3 min
The Queens Central zone, covering Corona, Elmhurst, and Jackson Heights, was the first of New York City's 20 non-exclusive commercial waste zones to be implemented.
- Inspections began on September 3, 2024
- DSNY has issued 97 notices of violations for vehicle and driver safety issues
- The implementation process was intensive, involving multiple visits to businesses and significant outreach efforts
- No complaints about service or billing have been received from businesses in the zone
Javier Lojan
0:10:42
In January, after years of planning and months of outreach, the first of New York City's Twenty non exclusive commercial way zones came online in Corona, Elmhurst, and Jackson Heights.
0:10:52
Since inspections began in that zone on 09/03/2024, DSNY has issued a 97 notices of violations for vehicle and driver safety issues like spillage, unregistered vehicles, and street obstructions, as well as two company company level notices of violations to Carter's who had too many violations by the drivers.
0:11:11
Each of those carry fines of $2,500 with penalties that increase if the issues continue.
0:11:17
A new standard of oversight has arrived in the commercial carton industry with the Bureau of Commercial Waste leading the way through advanced technology and data driven enforcement strategies.
0:11:26
Any updates to safety regulations will be informed by the work of the safety task force created under the law.
0:11:32
Local law one ninety nine outlines 11 members of this task force including four individuals appointed by the city council as a whole and one appointed by the council speaker.
0:11:41
I would like to remind the council that despite often expressing concern about the success of this program, this body has at this time has not filled two of these five seats.
0:11:50
Mayor Adams mayor Adams appointees represent a broad range of policy knowledge and professional experience and the administration would welcome the opportunity to collaborate with council appointees as dictated by law.
0:12:01
On safety, enforcement, and customer sign ups, Queen Central has seen a successful launch.
0:12:06
Incredibly, not a single one of the thousands upon thousands of businesses in the zone has made a complaint to the s and y of any issues with service or billing, but the Bureau of Commercial Waste learned a tremendous amount during its first of its kind implementation that will be useful for the future zones.
0:12:23
In the past, advocates had called for DSNY to launch the entire city at once, having led the rollout of the first zone, I can tell you I am incredibly thankful that we did not do that.
0:12:34
Traditionally, data about commercial waste generation in New York City has been extremely limited and there was so much to learn during this process about the needs of businesses, the capacity of Carter's, and the relationship between the two.
0:12:46
This first zone implementation was an extremely intensive process.
0:12:50
The SMY in house and contracted outreach staff visited some businesses eight to 10 times to discuss the specifics of the program and significant resources went into making sure that these conversations could take place a diversity of language with full cultural competence.
0:13:05
Carter's also engaged in outreach as they pitched their services with all Carter advertising approved by DSNY.
0:13:14
Beyond outreach, both DSNY and the Carter's also needed to make substantial operational updates with the Carter's producing reams of new data and our team reviewing it in great detail to inform both future implementation and enforcement.
0:13:27
And that's to say nothing of the businesses themselves, many of which were thinking about their waste generation in a real way for the first time.
0:13:34
While the online portal at nyc.gov/commercialwaste is extremely intuitive and easy to use, the laundromat or the coffee shop still needs to take time from the real work of running their business to make these decisions.
0:13:47
When a business failed to make this decision, DSNY made assignments as necessary that prevented any lapse in service, a remarkable example of what government can do.
0:13:56
However, I must emphasize that if this implementation had been rushed, if we had been spread thinner, if the Carter's had not been given the time to do this right, it absolutely would have failed and the entire program might have fallen apart.