Bills will allow multiple agencies to enforce idling rules, reduce allowable idling times around City schools

City Hall, January 28, 2009 – The New York City Council voted on legislation to reduce engine idling in front of schools and authorize additional city agencies to enforce automotive idling restrictions. With some of the highest child asthma rates in the country, these bills aim to reduce harmful pollutants emitted by idling engines on city streets.

In addition, as the final component of a construction safety legislation package announced last June by Speaker Quinn and her colleagues, the Council will also vote on bills to:

· Require general contractors and concrete and demolition subcontractors to register with the Department of Buildings prior to obtaining building permits; and

· Enable the Department of Buildings to require contractors to hire and pay for independent safety compliance officers for jobs with multiple safety violations or poor safety records.

Lastly, the Council will vote to authorize the continuation of health benefits to the family of Gennaro Montello, the Waste Water Management employee who was fatally injured in the line of duty earlier this year.

Restricting Idling in Front of Schools
To reduce the harmful health effects of car idling around City schools, the Council will vote to impose stricter idling limits around both public and private school facilities. According the Asthma Free School Zone, one in every four children in NYC has asthma, well over the national average. Under current law cars and trucks may idle for up to three minutes. With this legislation, the legal idling time will be reduced from three minutes to one minute. This bill does not apply to emergency service vehicles.

“New York City has one of the highest asthma rates among children in the country,” said Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn. “Today’s legislative actions take greater steps to improve air quality and public health by enforcing idling regulations and reducing idling – particularly around our city’s schoolchildren.”

“Idling a car isn’t just bad for the environment, it’s bad for a bystander’s lungs, too,” said Environmental Protection Committee Chair James Gennaro. “With young children especially susceptible to air pollution, it’s important that we take measures to address the problem. This legislation is a breath of fresh air for our schoolchildren.”

“Anti-idling laws have been in effect for many years, but unfortunately, excessive idling has become pervasive. Idling vehicles unnecessarily pollute the air,” said Councilmember John C. Liu, lead sponsor of the bill. “Intro. 631-A will help clean the air in the immediate vicinity of schools. It is not intended to simply reduce idling time from three minutes to one minute; it is intended to improve public awareness and behavior around our schools by essentially requiring that engines be shut off right away instead of being kept on for a few minutes. Especially around schools, engines simply should not be kept running for any length of time.”

Additionally, this legislation will require the Environmental Control Board to submit a written report to the City Council each year concerning the number of idling violations issued. The legislation will also require the Department of Finance to submit a report on the number of summonses issued for idling violations and the amount of penalties imposed.

Finally, this legislation encourages greater public awareness about City and State idling restrictions by requiring that applicants for licenses to operate for-hire vehicles demonstrate their knowledge of idling laws.

Idling Vehicle Enforcement
To further help reduce harmful emissions in New York City neighborhoods, the City Council will vote to specifically authorize the Department of Parks and Recreation and the Department of Sanitation to enforce idling restrictions in addition to those agencies currently authorized to enforce them.

“As a city, our asthma rate is through the roof,” said Councilmember David Yassky, lead sponsor of the bill. “We’ve got idling laws on the books, but there’s no one around to enforce them. Drivers keep their engines going because they know they’ll get away with it. This bill will significantly increase enforcement so that these laws do what they were designed to do.”

Additionally, the bill will allow for citizens to bring complaints against trucks for violations of the Air Pollution Control Code, including idling, in the same way that citizens can already bring a citizen’s complaint against idling buses.

Safety Registration Numbers
The Council will vote to require all general contractors as well as demolition and concrete contractors to obtain a safety registration number from the Department of Buildings in order to obtain building permits. The safety registration number will allow the Department to track contractor performance in order to identify those with patterns of non-compliance and poor safety records.

“City government will not sacrifice the safety of New Yorkers in the name of development,” said Speaker Quinn. “Today’s legislative solutions will ensure the people working on and around construction sites are as safe as possible.”

“We saw far too many New Yorkers lose their lives to accidents on construction sites last year,” said Housing and Buildings Committee Chair Erik Martin-Dilan. “While we will never really finish our work of construction sites safer, both of these bills exemplify the Council’s ongoing commitment to improving building safety in New York City.”

“Foremost, I want to thank the Speaker and my colleagues for their diligent work and support on this issue,” stated Deputy Majority Leader Leroy Comrie, lead sponsor of the bill. “Specifically, Housing Committee chair Erik Martin-Dilan and his staff, as well as Council Member Lew Fidler and our Counsel, Robert Newman. This legislation was introduced because of the Council’s concern about the quality of building construction, including renovations, and the overall performance of general, demolition and concrete contractors. We believe that this legislation will move our City in the direction of improving safety in this industry.”

With this more accurate data, the legislation will allow the commissioner of the Department of Buildings to require any contractor that has a bad safety record to create a plan to improve safety at its construction sites. Further, the law will require the Department of Buildings to study the data it obtains over twelve months and develop objective criteria with which to determine that a particular contractor’s record is so unacceptable as to require that their safety control number denied, suspended or revoked.

In 2007, 60% of incidents involving material falling from construction sites occurred during concrete operations and 7 of those incidents resulted in an injury or fatality. In 2007, demolition operations accounted for 49 incidents, resulting in 7 injuries and 3 fatalities.

Construction Safety Compliance Officers
The Council will also vote to enable the Department of Buildings (DOB) to require that contractors with multiple immediately hazardous safety violations or otherwise poor safety records hire and pay for independent Safety Compliance Officers to monitor instructions from DOB on how to improve safety at troubled construction sites. This legislation is another tool that DOB may use to keep construction and development safe and to keep it going.

“It just makes sense to have extra supervision on those construction sites that consistently flaunt the laws designed to keep New Yorkers safe,” said Councilmember Jessica Lappin, lead sponsor of the bill. “This bill gives the Department of Buildings a powerful tool to ensure that all construction in this city is conducted in a safe manner.”

The Project Compliance Officer will work on contract as an agent of DOB and must be must be a licensed engineer or architect with experience supervising construction projects in New York City, a licensed site-safety coordinator or manager or a special inspector. Immediately hazardous safety violations often indicate that contractors are not making public and worker safety their highest priority.

Health Benefits Granted to Family of Fallen EPA Employee
The Council will vote to amend the Administrative Code to authorize the continuation of healthcare coverage to the family of Gennaro Montello, a Department of Environmental Protection employee who was tragically killed in the line of duty at the Owl’s Head Waste Water Treatment Plant in Bay Ridge where he worked since 2001.