Adam Tomlinson opposes 561-A and describes daily truck idling
Tomlinson says he walks past the same idling trucks every day near schools, museums, and parks. He says drivers often turn engines off only briefly and urges the Council to amplify rather than restrict the program.
Mr.
Chairman, Committee Council, thank you for the time this afternoon to discuss this bill.
I contest Bill 561A.
On my way into work every day, I walk past schools, museums, buildings, parks, same trucks every day.
Half an hour earlier, same truck.
Half an hour later, same truck.
High capacity engines, diesel running.
You know, I'm the sort of guy, as you can imagine, I will knock on the window and let them know.
And I don't mind the response that I get.
They will turn it off, smile, I walk 10 paces on, and they smile and turn it back on.
Or they'll move slightly just to make sure and they'll chastise me.
Like I'm trying to be a representative member of my community.
I'm thinking about the children, the elderly and the vulnerable.
And these guys, they just think it's a joke.
It's not a joke.
So I really appreciate some of the reporting that our community has done, the movements that have happened to press on these people that don't take this environment seriously.
You know, they know exactly what they're doing.
They shouldn't be doing it, and they do it anyway.
We walked by two cars down on the way here that we're doing outside the park here.
It's 65 degrees.
It's beautiful.
Open the window, please.
You can smell the exhaust as you walk by.
You know, these children, elderly people, people with health conditions, they simply want to go about.
in their lives and they can't.
They can't have that wonderful environment that we expect for them.
I find this especially infuriating because my wife and I are expecting in February and I feel it's my obligation to come here and say we need to lean on the Mahada and I don't feel the bill really extends the impact.
I think it restricts the impact.
But there has been some really good feedback, and thank you so much for your clarification that we won't be six months and chopping off, because I think that should be held.
Anyway, I think it's a great program.
It should be amplified rather than restricted.
Thank you for your time today and to help us motivate drivers to do the right thing.
Thank you for being here, and congratulations to you and your wife.
Thank you very much.
What's that?
Oh, his name is on the paper.
Yeah, I got dyslexic handwriting, so that's an F minus.
No, no, no.
What's your name?
Adam Thomas.
Adam, Adam, yeah.
Adam, yeah.
There you go.
And if you want to see SUVs idling,
You should go to City Hall parking lot and see all the SUVs for like the deputy mayors that are sitting there idling and idling and idling and idling.
Wouldn't it be a good choice to amplify the program to include those vehicles?
I'm just saying it's something that I...
encounter.
I think that's a note, an idea.
Yeah, I know.
I knock on the windows.
I knock on the windows.
I bet you do.
Yeah, if it's not a cop.
If it's a cop.
Then I'm not going to go on.
But thank you so much for being here today.
Sir.