DSNY testifies in support of Intro 75 on sidewalk cleanliness enforcement

So turning to the bills we have in front of us today, first, Intro 75, sponsored by Councilmember Nurse, would allow sanitation to conduct cleanliness enforcement for commercial premises during all posted business hours, or from

8 a.m.

To 7 p.m.

For businesses that don't have posted hours.

We strongly support this legislation, which we think will improve the cleanliness of our commercial corridors.

This addresses a longstanding issue that currently restricts our enforcement of dirty sidewalks to just two one-hour periods per day.

And for commercial properties, this limitation can prevent us from performing effective enforcement for some of the worst actors, those individual businesses that can mar the appearance of an entire commercial corridor.

This legislation would fix this historic wrong and allow for common sense and consistent enforcement during a business's posted operating hours.

Our goal, to be clear, is never enforcement for enforcement's sake, nor is it for the sake of revenue, for that matter, as well.

Our goal is and always will be to achieve compliance and cleanliness, particularly among repeat offenders.

And we thank the council for their action in the last few years to try to give us more tools in this area.

Our outreach and business engagement staff work closely with our partner agencies like SBS, our business improvement districts, chambers of commerce, and other stakeholders to ensure that education remains our first tool to achieve that compliance

and to give New York City businesses the information tools they need to comply with longstanding sanitation laws.

All property owners have a responsibility to keep their sidewalks and their properties clean, and DSNY is grateful to Councilmember Nurse and Chair Sanchez for their leadership in advancing this important bill.