Josh Bisker opposes 561-A and warns it ruptures public trust

Hello.

Thank you for being here.

I'm dedicating my testimony to my beloved neighbor, Ms.

Pam Bino, who is permanently disabled from the asthma that she developed after moving here from Barbados.

My name is Josh Bisker.

I'm a former delivery driver, a longtime participant in the Citizens Air Complaint Program, and a born New Yorker who has had asthma since childhood.

I have the expertise to comment on today's bills, and their stakes are deeply personal.

Intro 561A will effectively destroy the Citizens Air Complaint Program.

It will protect corporate polluters with legal loopholes, hamper city agencies from holding them accountable, disincentivize public participation, and possibly retroactively void a vast number of outstanding complaints.

I studied behavioral economics.

Yeah, we did the void complaints thing.

I know, I know, I know.

I'm sticking to my...

Okay.

I studied behavioral economics in urban planning at Hunter College, so I understand that the current air complaint program ingeniously pairs up two financial incentive mechanisms.

Penalties for idling get corporations to stop polluting.

Rewards from those penalties get members of the public to contribute complaints.

561A throws a wrench into both mechanisms.

It effectively rewards polluters for having polluted so much that they gummed up the system and punishes citizens for having participated so avidly.

The lesson is that more polluting wins more allowances.

for polluting, yet more participation is a waste of the public's time and effort.

561A encourages polluting and ruptures the public's trust in our government.

All future city programs asking the public to participate in oversight will suffer.

And in the meantime, the city, possibly, forfeits tens of millions of dollars in corporate environmental fees.

I once felt hopeless about the FedEx trucks that idled on my block every day, spewing out toxic fumes onto our stoops.

Then the idling program empowered me to fight back.

I've seen the difference every day for years.

Better air for my neighborhood, better health for my neighbors, and a chance to sit outside with Miss Pam.

Now, Inter 561 and its fellows 11, 562, 869 promise to end all of that, put these bills to bed.

I'm really grateful for your interest in ending air pollution by improving the idling program, but I'm here to tell you that only 48 of today's docket will do so.

Please.

Kill this bill and its cousins forever.

Thank you for your compelling testimony.

Appreciate it.

You bet.

Next.

Next witness.