Robin Warren opposes 561-A and describes daughter's asthma

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon.

My name is Robin Warren.

I am a New York City resident and a mother of two school-aged children.

I'm here to respectfully urge you to reject Intro 561A.

It is deeply exhausting to watch the steady erosion of common sense protections that keep our communities safe.

Around the country, we are seeing bedrock environmental laws weakened, vital scientific research sidelined, and basic public safety measures scaled back.

Today, this council faces a defining choice to replicate that pattern of erosion or to use its power to preserve what keeps us safe.

Our family discovered the Citizens Air Complaint Program through the New York Times, out of sheer desperation.

As my husband, a naturalized U.S.

Citizen from Kolkata, India, and I struggled to manage our young daughter's acute asthma, we know firsthand that this program works.

For decades, anti-idling laws went unenforced.

The Citizens Air Complaint Program changed everything, empowering everyday citizens to hold commercial polluters accountable.

The city's own data shows that New York idlers waste over $28 million in fuel every single year.

While commercial fleets make up just 6% of our traffic, they generate over half of our dangerous tailpipe pollution.

This program is the only real shield our neighborhoods have.

Intro 561A breaks what is working.

It creates an unverifiable loophole that lets diesel trucks idle indefinitely, while slapping an unworkable 60-day deadline on a backlogged agency.

This opens the door for the city to dismiss 170,000 pending violations.

And lets commercial polluters off scot-free.

It really doesn't.

We've been through that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

The corporate...

No, no, no.

Your time is, you know, like your time is completed.

Next witness.

Thank you for listening, sir.

You bet.

Can I take this, please?

Yes.

Thank you.