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Q&A
Council Member Ariola discusses composting law, lot cleaning, and sanitation budget with DSNY Commissioner
1:41:56
·
3 min
Council Member Joann Ariola engages in a Q&A session with Acting Commissioner Javier Lojan of the Department of Sanitation. They discuss the implementation of the composting law, budget allocations for lot cleaning and targeted neighborhood task forces, and the importance of maintaining clean districts. Ariola emphasizes the need for increased funding and staffing for sanitation services.
- Ariola expresses concern about the mayor not including funding for the recently passed composting law (Intro 1126) in the budget.
- Discussion reveals a significant reduction in sanitation worker positions for lot cleaning and targeted neighborhood task forces.
- Ariola highlights the importance of supplemental funding for extra basket pickups and praises the department's collaboration with BIDs and CBOs.
Joann Ariola
1:41:56
Thank you so much, chair.
1:41:58
Thank you so much, commissioner.
1:41:59
Thank you for being so valuable and your team being so accessible.
1:42:03
I really appreciate all the work they do in my district.
1:42:06
I wanna just continue what councilmember Salam was saying because this this program, this intro 11/26 is really limited to star participants.
1:42:16
So I think the number is much less.
1:42:19
And and so, you know, when it goes into effect in in April, and yes, it's gonna take a little bit of, you know, working working up and getting some numbers, but it is it is a law now.
1:42:29
It's no longer an intro.
1:42:30
It's a law.
1:42:31
And it's a law that has to go into effect.
1:42:33
Right.
1:42:33
And I think it's much less than than, in fact, the council estimated it at 10.7.
1:42:38
It was very disheartening to see that the mayor did not put that in his budget because these are his taxpayers, these are his voters, and it should be done.
1:42:46
So that's just my soapbox.
1:42:49
The other thing is when we talk about lot cleaning and and the the targeted neighborhood task force, which is terrific.
1:42:58
But I see the numbers that are here and you say that they're lower than they were in the past.
1:43:03
At its peak, what were you getting in budgeted amount for these particular initiatives?
1:43:18
Mhmm.
1:43:19
And how many what was the money, the dollar amount?
1:43:38
And now it's 60?
1:43:40
50 seven.
1:43:44
So what I didn't see mentioned here was graffiti.
1:43:46
Does that include graffiti removal still?
1:43:56
Okay.
1:43:56
And in being a council member that does provide funding for extra basket pickups, especially along Jamaica Avenue, it does make a difference.
1:44:05
And I can see you could see why we'd have to supplement because of the deficits that you're you're seeing in your budget and in your headcount to get the job done.
1:44:15
And that's why you have the backlog that you do, so it's understandable.
1:44:18
So we have to really push on the administration to really increase your budget, increase your staffing, to make sure you have all the capabilities you need to do a good job.
1:44:29
Because when you go into a district, if it's dirty, people don't wanna move there, they don't wanna stay there, they don't wanna send their children to school there, and that's not something that that we we want for our districts.
1:44:40
But, the extra pickups that we that we do provide through funding, that helps quite a bit.
1:44:48
I'd also like to echo a number of my colleagues in saying, I'm happy that you're working with the bids and the CBOs because we would hate to lose them.
1:44:57
They really do pick up a lot of slack.
1:44:59
They do a lot of work, and it is a great program for reenter entry into the workforce.
1:45:05
So anything you can do to to help them, then great.
1:45:08
Thank you so much for the time.
Javier Lojan
1:43:11
So for lock cleaning, the head count previously was 76 sanitation worker positions.
1:43:23
I'd have to get back to you on the dollar amount, but it was 76 positions.
1:43:32
And the TNT, the higher positions were 141 sanitation worker positions.
1:43:39
And it's down to 57.
1:43:48
Yes.
1:43:49
Graffiti is actually in EDC's budget, so that was funded, for the next fiscal year.
Shaun Abreu
1:45:09
Thank you.
1:45:10
Thank you.
1:45:11
Councilor Merrang?