Dinowitz begins remarks on quality of life and 311
Councilmember Eric Dinowitz thanks the chair and recounts COVID-era wellness calls where seniors raised quality-of-life issues like noise and sidewalk cracks, showing these concerns persist even during crises.
I'll now turn to Councilmember Dinowitz to deliver his opening remarks.
Lynn also reached.
We weren't sure who you were going to call first.
Oh, I'm sorry.
Thank you, Chair, for the hearing and for hearing my bill.
Of all the issues we face in our city, the one that rises to the top time and again is quality of life.
And I'm often reminded of this because...
During COVID, during the height of when there was fear surrounding all of us.
And I was doing, before I was in office, doing wellness calls to our older adults.
I started out these calls expecting to hear the tragic stories of people losing loved ones, being afraid to go out to get eggs and milk.
And the vast majority of my calls really were about quality of life, were about the noise or about the cracks in the sidewalk.
They wanted to go out for a walk and the cracks in the sidewalks were preventing them from safely doing that.
You know, illegal dumping places.
So, you know, I think about this because at the height.
Of when fear and death was permeating our city, quality of life still rose to the top as this critical issue for many New Yorkers.