Jonathan Robidoux opposes 561-A and shares daughter's asthma inhaler

Okay.

Hi.

My name is Jonathan Robidoux.

I'm here to speak against Intro 561A.

I have three young daughters.

My oldest daughter, Clementine, has asthma.

This is one of her albuterol inhalers.

As an asthma sufferer yourself, Chair, I'm sure you recognize this.

Yeah, I got my inhaler with me.

She needs this inhaler every day to get through either field hockey practice or dance class.

I can't describe how horrified and helpless it makes you feel to have your child tell you that they can't breathe or that it hurts to breathe.

An estimated 60,000 children attending New York City public schools have active asthma that may require an inhaler.

You wouldn't believe how hard it was to get Aetna to cover this thing.

I spent a lot of time on the phone with them to get this covered.

That means there are over 100,000 parents in the city today worrying about how their child is going to breathe and how they are going to pay for it.

Every day in the city, I find trucks idling in excess of three minutes for no reason, and I report them.

Everybody knows that vehicle emissions contribute to childhood asthma.

These trucks are choking our children with their fumes, and the Citizens Idling Complaint Program gives us a way to fight back and make a positive difference.

Intro 561-A will take that away and tell all those parents that they and their children don't matter.

It cynically discourages and punishes participation in the idling program, just as Intro 48 hopes to foster it.

Intro 48.

would help expand the program to environmental justice communities.

In my view, for these reasons, and because of the various loopholes 561 creates, I believe that it is unsalvageable.

I just wanted to also make clear that, like he said too, nobody is getting a repeat offense before a first offense is adjudicated.

That's not actually true.

So if you have a situation where the violation happens and then the thing gets sent to the wrong address and then it's sort of like a default thing, the person doesn't show up.

I guess what I mean is if I'm...

I'm just saying that there are occasions where that does happen.

And they can reopen it and re-adjudicate it.

But I just wanted to make really just clear, like, if I went out there now and I got the same truck, like, three times on my way to the subway, like, was moving down the block.

When DEP would issue, got around to those, issued those three summons from today, they would all be first offenses.

It would not be like one, two, three.

Right.

I just wanted to.

No, it's a fair point.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Fair point for sure.

If you don't mind, can I share something with you that, you know, my own daughter that has asthma, whatever, she had difficulty, you know, I have one.

So I have the ability to, like, take the big breath or whatever.

But you know these little tube things that you...

Yeah.

And so then they can just draw it in slowly, and it's a lot easier for kids to do that.

I know.

It doesn't cost a lot of money.

She gets it on her tongue.

You know what I mean?

You get, it's this little, you hook that thing into the tube.

And then she's at the other end of it.

And then she just kind of like breathe normally.

And you get like, you know, it goes like deep into the lungs.

Because if she just, you're just going to get it like up here.

I know.

She's still like kind of getting used to it.

Right.

And trying different ways.

I would recommend this tube thing, you know.

And so any pulmonologist would know that.

Thank you.

I appreciate that.

No, yeah.

It worked a lot.

You know, it worked really well for my daughter.

Hope you don't mind.

I just thought I'd mention that.

Oh, of course.

Thank you.

Please.