Williams on racial equity plan and previous disparity assessments

Okay, so one short-term racial equity goal was actually to review critical fine and fee-based programs by 2028 for potential racial and ethnic disparities.

So,

Why was this selected as DOT's only short-term goal, and were any other short-term goals considered?

Because this, as you see the theme, right?

Like if you have these fee-based programs, red lights, speed cameras, and then you yourself and the racial equity plan said that you're going to review these programs, right?

Right.

You want to understand.

You want some tangible information that supports our statement that they're not predominantly in one neighborhood.

Yeah, and then in your own racial equity plan that you submitted, you all said that you were going to review.

The fine and fee-based programs.

And what do you mean by that?

Do you mean just the automated enforcement programs or other things maybe like outdoor dining?

I mean, we don't have a whole lot of fine and fee-based programs, to be honest, and those that we do have, a lot of times the fees are stipulated in the legislation,

or the fees are the same across the board, irrespective of...

Of the neighborhood or they may be graduated more based on where there's more demand, things like outdoor dining.

So yeah, I mean, I was saying we don't have a lot of fine and fee-based programs.

Many of them, those costs are already stipulated.

So there's not a lot where we're really, we have discretionary

costs, but I'm

I'm not sure if that's answering your question.

I mean, we just wanted to know what critical finance fee-based programs were, because that's what you all put in the racial equity plan.

Okay, I'll just ask one more question and come back for a second round.

My understanding is that DOT has previously found no racial or ethnic disparities with respect to its automated enforcement programs, as well as many other DOT programs.

Were those previous assessments insufficient or inaccurate?

Because I don't, it doesn't seem like anybody on this dais has any idea of the racial equity plan that you put forward.

So you all said that you wanted to review the fine and fee-based programs, right, as a means of determining whether or not there are any disparities based off of race and ethnicity in New York City.

But previously, DOT has said that you didn't find anything.

And so the question is, is it that what you might have assessed in the past was inaccurate, which is why you are now suggesting that this should be something to review?

Just want to understand again and also based off of like both community and council members who have said repeatedly that they feel like the cameras specifically are located in primarily communities of color.

So council member for every every program, I think we want to continually be checking year after year that nothing is going astray.

And we're not enforcing or providing anything in a way that's hurting one community over another.

So if there seems like there's a contradiction there, it's just that we want to keep checking year after year.

Yeah, my understanding is that the previous assessments did not find disparities, but these programs are always changing and dynamic, so we do assess them on a regular basis.

Absolutely.

Okay, round two.

If we could actually switch the clock to two minutes, because I know we're pressed up for time.

But for round two, we have Council Member 1, Wong, and then Epstein.