Duke opposes 561-A and warns 11-A would hurt small businesses

Good afternoon.

My name is Duke.

I moved to New York a few years ago, and I personally witnessed the success of the Citizen Air Complaint Program.

The program empowers everyday New Yorkers to hold major corporations like Amazon, Verizon, and Con Edison accountable for illegal idling, and it gives citizens a voice in protecting our air quality.

Unfortunately, Intro 561A threatened this progress.

First, the proposed diesel regeneration exemption could create a loophole that is extremely difficult to verify.

Second, the 60-day window you just mentioned.

Thank you.

The third one, reducing incentives would discourage participation and weaken enforcement.

Instead, we should help DDP process complaints more efficiently, not making citizen enforcement more difficult.

I'm also concerned about Intro 11, which would increase idling penalty to as much as $7,500.

While support strong enforcement against repeat offenders, such penalty could be financially devastating for small businesses and independent contractors.

We need strong enforcement, but we also need fairness and proportionality.

The real problem is illegal ID.

not the citizens who report it.

I respectfully urge the council to reconsider both bills and preserve the effectiveness of the citizen air complaint program.

Thanks for your time.