Valerie Mason of Community Board 8 criticizes city's initial response
Valerie Mason, chair of Manhattan CB8, says the city's initial response was not rapid or aggressive until local electeds pushed for immediate decontamination. She recommends drone surveys for unregistered towers, mobile testing units, and landlord notification requirements.
Good morning.
Good morning, members, and thank you for holding this hearing.
I'm Valerie Mason, and I'm the chair of Manhattan Community Board 8, which encompasses the Upper East Side, and most notably for purposes of this hearing, and unfortunately, the locus of this summer's Legionnaires outbreak.
I want to acknowledge and send the sympathies of Community Board 8 to the families who lost loved ones and our gratefulness to our health professionals that facilitated the recovery of 83 more New Yorkers.
I know more about Legionnaires than I ever thought I would.
I want to thank the City Council for passing legislation last year in response to the 2025 outbreak
that set up the framework that should have, if followed by this administration, reduced the number of non-compliant cooling towers.
In addition to the cooling tower outbreak, we had three separate cases of in-building Legionnaires in my district this year.
We need to come to grips with the facts that Legionella bacteria is here to stay, and with temperatures rising every summer, the conditions that we saw this summer could very easily be a regular occurrence.
The city, in its press release yesterday, is lauding itself for, quote, its rapid and aggressive response.
I just want to go on record and say that I was in the room and that initially the city's response was not going to be rapid and aggressive.
It was at the urging of our local elected, some of whom are in this room, that the city changed its initial posture
not to wait two weeks for cultures to grow, but to get out there and start decontamination if a cooling tower preliminarily tested positive for Legionnaires.
We need to be more proactive, not reactive.
I saw the mayor's announcement of so-called sweeping measures.
They don't seem very concrete to me.
Based on what I experienced this summer in my community, my recommendation for identifying unregistered cooling towers is not, quote, developing synergies between the health department and the Department of Buildings.
If you want to identify unregistered cooling towers, fly drones over the top of buildings.
As for public education and transparency, an online tower lookup sounds great, but many New Yorkers do not have access or feel comfortable on the web.
They should have as much information as those who are comfortable with it.
If you live or work in a building with a cooling tower, your landlord should be required to notify you.
New Yorkers are some of the most vigilant people on earth.
I know if they know what the reporting requirements are, they will make sure that their landlords are following them.
People were very concerned on the Upper East Side.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
People should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
should go outside, whether they should leave the city until the cluster was over, should they meet their 87-year-old friend for lunch in one of the affected zip codes.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
These were the kinds of questions we were getting.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
When a cluster is identified, the city should set up mobile units for free testing.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
Many people can't afford to go into an urgent care, even if they think they have the initial symptoms.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
The quicker people are diagnosed, the better.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
And let us not forget about the other type of Legionnaires, the in-building kind, where residents can't shower or use hot water.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
The city should put in...
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
And infrastructure to have some type of on-call arrangement for mobile shower units.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
These situations can last a long time, and New Yorkers can and should be cared for by their government.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
During the previous major Legionnaires outbreaks, Mayor de Blasio personally visited the affected Bronx communities.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
He was at Lincoln Hospital.
Last summer, Mayor Adams was in Harlem to distribute information and speak with residents.
They should have as much information as those who are comfortable with it.
If you live or work in a building with a cooling tower, your landlord should be required to notify you.
As of today, there has been no outreach by our mayor to this affected community, although he lives in it.
New Yorkers are some of the most vigilant people on earth.
He did not attend any of the town halls nor attend any of our community board meetings, either in person or via Zoom, to find out what was happening in our community.
I know if they know what the reporting requirements are, they will make sure that their landlords are following them.
People were very concerned on the Upper East Side.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
I'm so disappointed and troubled by this, and I hope you will be.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
We look to our government to protect us on these basic issues of public safety and health, and we've been failed here.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
And I appreciate all your efforts to do more, because as New Yorkers living in the greatest city on earth, we deserve the best, and we are not getting it.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
Thank you.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
Thank you, Ms.
Mason.
Appreciate your testimony.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
Appreciate both of you.
Thank you.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
Now I'm going to read, we have some statements from other electeds, some of whom have legislation before us.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
They should have as much information as those who are comfortable with it.
I'm going to read a statement.
If you live or work in a building with a cooling tower, your landlord should be required to notify you.