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Q&A
Council Member Carr questions Director Jiha on road resurfacing and e-waste programs
1:44:50
·
4 min
Council Member David M. Carr engages in a Q&A session with Director Jacques Jiha, focusing on two main topics: road resurfacing and curbside e-waste collection in New York City. Carr inquires about increasing the lane mile target for road resurfacing and restoring the e-waste collection pilot program in Staten Island.
- Carr advocates for returning to the pre-pandemic target of 1,300 lane miles for road resurfacing, up from the current 1,100 miles.
- Discussion on the curbside e-waste collection program reveals concerns about its efficiency and equity across different boroughs.
- Director Jiha commits to further discussions with relevant departments to address these issues.
David M. Carr
1:44:50
Thank you, Chair, Director.
1:44:52
Good to see you and your team as always.
1:44:53
Thanks for being here and answering our questions.
1:44:56
I want to talk about road resurfacing.
1:44:58
In the fiscal year 2024, the mayor's preliminary management report indicated that DOT surfaced eleven seventy seven lane miles that fiscal year including bike lane miles.
1:45:10
It shakes out to about $200,000 a mile, just a little under that.
1:45:15
And in the preliminary budget response, the council asked for an additional $40,000,000 for road resurfacing in order to return us to the 1,300 lane mile budgeted target that we used to have prior to fiscal year twenty twenty.
1:45:29
And as we've discussed in the past, that was reduced to 1,100 lane miles because of the fiscal realities induced by the pandemic.
1:45:37
We're many years removed from that now, and I'm wondering why we have not returned to the 1,300 lane mile target given that it is an imperative.
1:45:44
I think anyone who uses our roads, whether it's a cyclist or a driver, can tell you that or a bus commuter for that matter.
1:45:50
And we'd like to know what increase, if any, has been in the executive plan for lane miles And is it in capital or expense funding, if so?
Jacques Jiha
1:46:00
Yeah.
1:46:00
We are baseline funding for 1,100 miles hundred miles lane miles in the and 50 bike lane miles in the a few years ago.
1:46:14
Again, it's a capacity issue from what we understand based on our discussion with DOT.
1:46:27
They have a capacity issue in terms of the labor.
1:46:34
They have a bunch of challenges that they have to address, materials and equipments.
1:46:42
But again, we will I'll have a conversation with them again, okay, to see, you know, whether or not these things, those constraints can be addressed.
1:46:56
If they can be addressed, we will have a discussion.
David M. Carr
1:46:59
I think they can because when Commissioner Rodriguez and DOT testified here, I asked them this question and they indicated a capacity and a willingness to return to the 1,300 lane mile standard.
1:47:09
I think if we commit to that even in the out years, then it makes their planning processes easier.
Jacques Jiha
1:47:14
I'll have a discussion with them.
David M. Carr
1:47:15
Appreciate that.
1:47:16
I'd like to move on to curbside e waste.
1:47:19
That was previously a pilot program that we had in Staten Island for the pickup of electronic waste, which can no longer be landfilled unlike the rest of the city or large parts of it.
1:47:30
We do not benefit from the e cycle program, which services buildings with at least 10 units or more.
1:47:36
And it's a $3,500,000 program that was cut in the last fiscal year.
1:47:41
And I'm asking that it be restored.
1:47:43
Is that something that can be explored as we reach the conclusion of this year's budget process?
Jacques Jiha
1:47:49
Yeah.
1:47:49
The challenge we have is the efficiency of that program.
1:47:53
Again, I'll have a discussion again with the commission the sanitation commissioner.
1:47:59
But the challenge we had was we collect very little tonnage out of this program.
1:48:08
Know, Ken, you wanna add to it?
1:48:10
But is it
Justin Brannan
1:48:10
is it a
David M. Carr
1:48:11
Well, I think I think that was true because originally the program was supposed to be expanded.
1:48:15
You had another casualty of the COVID budget situation.
1:48:18
Yeah.
1:48:18
And I think if we had scaled up as we intended to the other boroughs, we would have gotten to the tonnage needed.
1:48:23
And so I think the first step towards getting back to a citywide program is restoring the pilot in Staten Island.
Justin Brannan
1:48:30
The tonnage has been really low on that program, and the efficiency is to have the drop off sites, right, which we've done.
1:48:41
And my understanding is that there are drop off sites available on Staten Island so that we can pick up this waste in a in a more efficient manner.
David M. Carr
1:48:51
Well, there are drop off sites, but the again, it's a question of equity.
1:48:56
Right?
1:48:56
You have a program in which there is pickup service for higher density communities and you have lower density communities across the five boroughs that are not getting the benefit of that service.
1:49:07
So I think to say like, oh, well, just drop them off in the one site we have in Staten Island where they can be dropped off.
1:49:12
And I know there's pop up events, but it's really not sufficient to meet the need.
1:49:16
So if the issue is efficiency, then let's talk about actually scaling the program up citywide like was actually intended rather than not restarting it at all.
Jacques Jiha
1:49:26
Okay.
1:49:27
As I said, we'll have a conversation with
David M. Carr
1:49:28
the commissioner.
1:49:29
Thank you, director.
1:49:30
Thank you, chair.