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Q&A
Council Member Farías questions DSNY on chronic dumping, cameras, and budget allocations
1:51:46
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4 min
Council Member Amanda Farías engages in a Q&A session with Department of Sanitation officials, focusing on issues of chronic dumping in industrial zones, the placement and funding of surveillance cameras, and budget allocations for these initiatives. The discussion highlights the challenges in balancing capital and expense budgets for camera installations and maintenance.
- DSNY confirms that industrial business zones (IBZs) are prime locations for camera placement to combat illegal dumping
- The department faces challenges in securing ongoing expense funding for camera maintenance, often having to reallocate internal resources
- Council Member Farías expresses concern about the lack of a comprehensive long-term plan for camera installations and corresponding budget increases
Amanda Farías
1:51:46
Thank you chair.
1:51:47
Thanks folks for coming.
1:51:48
Sorry I came in halfway through your answering council member questions, so if any of these were already repeated please let me know.
1:51:55
I just want to talk about the addressing of issues around chronic dumping, I've already heard a couple of the members bring it up, and if there's any supplemental services for areas in our districts around our IBZs and how that's tackled.
1:52:12
And then I have a question just on DSN wide cameras.
1:52:16
For example, they typically have to be coupled with expense dollars when we place them in our communities.
1:52:22
Can you folks talk more about how you're looking at expanding your expense budget every cycle to meet the requirements that or at least to meet us on our side where we're at on placing cameras throughout our districts.
1:52:37
You know I have several areas that have been recommended to me that the district has recommended that you folks agree with needing cameras, but my minimal expense budget that's at capacity can't also give the capital and meet you at the expense item.
1:52:54
So if we can have just a dialogue around how we're tackling that and if every budget you are asking the administration for more expense and it's not being met.
1:53:09
And the manufacturing and IBZ zones and if we have supplemental services or what's the how how are we tackling those areas?
1:54:31
Yeah, mean my question is how are you tackling that in your annual budget asks to the administration?
1:54:36
If every single one of us gave for example $85,000 for five or six cameras and we took care of the capital receipt, how were you, I mean none of us here can empty out like our greener NYC pot to give you expense.
1:54:53
Maybe we could one year but consistently probably not every year since a majority of us are also using you know supplemental sanitation services to take care of our streets and our you know our corridors and our neighborhood corridors.
1:55:09
So my ask is what's the work or what's the maybe lack of response from the administration on expanding your expense so we can take care of half of the receipt and the other half could be taken care of?
1:55:33
And do you folks have a maybe like a you know how we have capital plans saying like over five years we're gonna try to tackle x amount of things you folks have on that side, like we'd like to have cameras over the next five years in these 50 locations so the expanded expense budget or discretionary budget has to go up this amount?
1:55:57
Those conversations happened with the administration?
1:56:07
Okay.
1:56:08
So it's just necessarily it's not necessarily being met as like an internal plan over a course of period of time.
1:56:15
It's like case by case basis where you folks find the need, then you readapt your resources to move expense dollars.
1:56:23
Got it.
1:56:24
Thank you.
1:56:24
Thank you, chair.
Javier Lojan
1:53:04
Right.
1:53:04
So your first question was about illegal dumping and
1:54:05
seeing Yeah.
1:54:06
Then a question about the expense budget the Centennial would take.
1:56:23
Yes.
Joshua Goodman
1:53:25
Nice to see you, majority leader.
1:53:26
The IBZs specifically are a good example of the kinds of places where we look at for camera placement.
1:53:32
The program is not specific to them, but they absolutely meet a lot of the criteria.
1:53:37
You know, so much of the problem with illegal dumping is that crooked contractors, people from out of town, see these areas that they perceive as out of the way.
1:53:46
No one comes here.
1:53:47
It's industrial.
1:53:48
There's nobody here at night.
1:53:49
But obviously it's not out of the way.
1:53:50
It's somebody's neighborhood.
1:53:51
It's my neighborhood or your neighborhood or somebody else's neighborhood.
1:53:54
So while we don't target them in particular, you are right that they hit the criteria of the kinds of places that often incidentally get cameras.
1:54:04
And are you
Joseph Antonelli
1:54:10
Yeah.
1:54:10
I think the challenge that we have is that when a camera gets funded, the total cost of a camera over five years is $31,000 but only $15,000 of that is capital and the other $15,000 is expense.
1:54:24
So it is challenging for us when we receive that one time capital funding and then we don't receive anything in the out years for the expense.
1:55:24
And to date we haven't received any additional funding for that, so each year we do have to, you know, reallocate our internal resources to to pay for those ongoing costs.
1:56:00
I mean we have disclosed the ongoing costs.
1:56:03
We do that as a regular part of our when we purchase cameras.