Public Advocate Jumaane Williams gives opening statement

Thank you very much, Mr.

Chair.

First, this chair still fits very well, so it's been a while since I've been here.

Morning, as mentioned, my name is Jermaine Williams, Papa Garrett for the City of New York.

I want to thank Speaker Menon, Majority Leader Abreu, Chair Epstein, Chair Felice, and the members of this community for holding this important hearing and allowing me to give this opening statement in the middle of the hearing.

I appreciate it.

Our city is in the midst of a major transportation transition as more and more New Yorkers utilize electric bikes and similar vehicles.

We are responsible as lawmakers to update the regulations that shape the operation of our streets accordingly.

Unfortunately, despite legal reforms and significant infrastructure investments, including roadway redesigns in recent years, our streets are still unacceptably dangerous.

City data indicates that there have been over 15,000 vehicle collisions in 2026 so far, resulting in over 90 deaths.

One of these horrific incidences took the life of a teenage boy riding an electric bicycle right in front of my office this summer.

I commend the Council for spotlighting this issue and for the many pieces of legislation that members have introduced to improve this dire situation.

It is vital that the city appropriately regulate electric bicycles and similar vehicles as their popularity continues to grow.

At the same time, I do want to highlight that only 16% of the vehicle collisions causing injuries or death this year so far have involved micro-mobility vehicles in any capacity.

In 2025, New York will be 42 times.

more likely to be injured by a car than by a micro-mobility vehicle, and 35 times more likely to be killed.

I mention that not because any harm is more than the other.

I want to recognize all of the harm.

I only mention that because any time we try to do any kind of change to car culture, the pushback is severe.

And so I just want to make sure we're clear about that.

My office has reviewed the administration's recently released Vision Zero reimagined report, and I believe it provides a foundation for further opportunities to strengthen the city's Vision Zero efforts.

And I thank the Council for the Vision Zero data analysis released in August and Speaker Menon and Majority Leader O'Brien for their commitment to holding a Vision Zero hearing this fall.

I hope that the Council will pass the micro-mobility legislation and many of the legislations here.

I know there's not a lot of time, but I'm going to submit this into the record of feelings that we have on many of the pieces of legislation that is here.

I do want to highlight Councilwoman Wan's universal daylighting bill, Intro 511, which I think is extremely important for preventing both car and micro-bill vehicle collisions.

I do want to say, having lived and born and bred in this city for 50 years, I just want to be clear, and I say this all the time, when I'm walking as a pedestrian, I'm very angry at the bicycles and the cars.

When I'm on my bicycle riding around, I'm very angry at the pedestrians and the drivers.

And when I'm driving my car, I'm very angry at the bicyclists and the pedestrians.

And so I just say that because it is very true that we are all here.

human and just make sure that we understand that we all have a part to play in keeping everybody safe and that's important without ignoring that there are people who unfortunately violate the laws that includes

our bicyclists and and people on illegal mopeds that we do have to get off the street so i want to work with everyone here to make sure that we're doing this with a lens

of humanity, of everyone, and preventing everybody from being harmed.

And so I appreciate the opportunity to speak.