Transcript: Mayor Adams Signs Bill Paving Way for Electrification of All City Government Vehicles

October 23, 2023

First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright: Good morning! Good morning. The sun is on our side, knew we were going to do this great announcement today. I am First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright, and it is an absolute pleasure to join you all today at Ravenswood Houses. Someone asked, why do this here? Why do this at NYCHA? And what we want to make sure people appreciate is that whenever there is a climate disaster emergency from wildfire smoke to record rainfall events, it's communities like this that get hit the hardest.

And that's why this administration is prioritizing NYCHA and communities that surround NYCHA to really focus our sustainability efforts, because equity is at the heart of what we do, and environmental justice is a priority for this administration. And we know in order to achieve it the city has to lead by example and make sure that all of our efforts are touching and reaching all New Yorkers. And so with that, I'm proud to introduce Mayor Eric Adams who's going to make an important announcement.

Mayor Eric Adams: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much, deputy mayor and the entire team here. Really excited to see the council delegation who really see this as an important issue. And I think the deputy mayor indicated that these communities are often hit the hardest, but historically they have been often ignored. And we believe that diversity and equity is at the heart of this administration.

And we have some great partners here, Keith, Councilman Powers, who has really leaned in some of these important issues. And thanks so much for being a real partner around these issues and concern. You have one fan in the back who's clapping for you. You know?

And Councilwoman Rivera representing many parts of the area, lower East Side. I remember we did the whole wall building project, she was there. The park where she's looking at it and renovating with the whole idea of how do we deal with the storm waters and the increasing tides, and so I was happy to have her here as well. And Councilwoman Won, you know, this is your area, this is your community and you fight hard on behalf of the residents here.

So, it's really, it's good to see on all parts of our city to have our council, our people who are here and know the importance of this. And we have a great team here, as the deputy mayor indicated, with our amazing commissioner at DCAS, who so much is responsible for our city fleet and many of the things that we do on the ground on how do we stay focused on this actual implementation. And idealism can't collide with realism, and realism is when you can operationalize those things that you visualize. And no one does it better than what you're doing over at DCAS, I want to thank you so much.

New York City is… We all charge up. We believe that our municipal fleet is paving the way to a greener and more sustainable city, and today we're really excited we are supercharging the decarbonization of our transportation sector with Intro. 279. This bill requires that by 2038 our whole municipal fleet will be on track to transition to electric vehicles. And so I want to be clear that the entire New York City fleet is going to have zero emission by 2038.

And as I indicated, real thank you to Councilman Powers for fighting to get this bill passed. We're going to be signing this this afternoon. Zero emission vehicles mean cleaner air for all New Yorkers, fewer greenhouse emissions and cost savings on fuel and maintenance. Just a real win‑win, and we are putting New York City in the driver's seat not to sit on the sidelines but actually participate in how we clean our environment by using our vehicles.

But we are, once again, leading the nation in showing that city government is where progress can be made and where progress happens. New York City is already ahead of schedule on meeting our electric fleet transition goals. Last fall, we met our 2025 goal in the New York City Clean Fleet plan three years earlier. New Yorkers… That deserves a hand clap also.

New Yorkers are now served by a fleet of close to 5,000 electric vehicles — 4,900, to be exact — and earlier this year we announced funding to take an additional thousand fossil fuel vehicles out of our city's fleet. Just last week, we announced all New York City shared rides will be zero emission or wheelchair accessible by 2030. These are amazing goals that we're not only talking about that are far off but that we are accomplishing right here and now.

This is really part of the Get Sustainability Done Plan, and our administration is really leaning into it. But we are just getting started. Today we also want to announce another green transition goals that we're meeting today. We are breaking new news this afternoon. We know that we can't meet our fleet transition goals if we don't invest in charging infrastructure, and we can't make a real just transition unless we invest in communities most impacted, as the Deputy Mayor stated, by environmental injustice.

That's why I am proud to announce that solar carports are coming to NYCHA properties. NYCHA historically is the last to get any innovation; not today, they are the first to make sure we rolled it out. Four solar carports are being installed at NYCHA public housing parking lots throughout the city, including one right here in Ravenswoods. Your city council lobbied us hard to make sure we got it done.

The solar carports will help provide clean, renewable energy for NYCHA vehicles; and, we're also introducing an election vehicle car sharing system for NYCHA staff — some of them that are here now, you guys are going to have green cars — so the men and women who power our public housing system and city can get to work in a sustainable fashion.

This is what environmental justice looks like and this is how we commit ourselves to it. We're building out our infrastructure that will benefit both city workers and everyday New Yorkers and the communities that they provide services in. So, really want to thank the entire team in general, but specifically want to really thank our commissioner, Commissioner Pinnock for moving this ahead, taking the vision and actually implementing and operationalize. Job well done. Thank you. Thank you so much, deputy mayor.

First Deputy Mayor Wright: Thank you so much, mayor. And just to underscore a couple of things. These are communities that are often most impacted by asthma, so the more electric vehicles and reduction of emissions, the impact that will have on our young people and families. And a lot of people with electric cars, you know, it's not just in certain neighborhoods where you'll have access to it but it's in every neighborhood, so we're really proud of that.

Next up, I want to introduce really one of the most phenomenal commissioners that we have. As the mayor said, whenever… She's a very goal‑oriented person. We all have specific measurable goals. Whenever there's one set for Dawn, she just crashes through and creates new heights. So, really pleased, she's one of the most innovative people that we have on our team, and she is leading this effort to really get the city to be the greenest city on the planet. Dawn Pinnock.

Commissioner Dawn Pinnock, Department of Citywide Administrative Services: Thank you so much, First Deputy Mayor Wright. It is an honor to be here with you today and an honor to work alongside you every day. I am overjoyed to be here and celebrate this monumental win for our city, for New Yorkers and for the environment. I'd like to start by thanking Mayor Eric Adams, who has been an unwavering champion. And yes, we do have many goals, but we're going to crush it, so he's been an ally, an advocate for us as we've worked to reimagine and improve the city's fleet from a safety and a sustainability perspective.

I'd also like to thank our colleagues at NYCHA including Chief Executive Officer Lisa Bova‑Hiatt, City Council Majority Leader Powers; and of course, my agency's deputy commissioner for Fleet Management, Keith Kerman, who has been… Yes, please.

Let's clap for Keith. While I would love to take full credit, I will not, because Keith is an absolute visionary. His approach to the innovation of the city's fleet has been astounding. If you talk to Keith for a few minutes, you will see that his energy is contagious and there's no one more, in this city, who's more committed to a cleaner, greener, safer fleet than Keith Kerman.

And today, we aren't just here celebrating one victory, but three. We are officially signing into law our accelerated plan to transition our fleet to all electric, and we're also ensuring that our transition is coupled with preparation and planning. Growing our electric fleet means we also grow our infrastructure. We already operate the nation's largest charging network with 1,800 ports, and we are proud to expand that work to include NYCHA housing developments throughout the city.

The addition of the solar carports will provide access to renewable energy to power the vehicles that support these vital complexes. We are building on our shared commitment with NYCHA and ensuring that we do so in ways that minimally impact the environment. It is why we have also expanded electric vehicle car sharing with NYCHA, so that employees can reserve cars, increase their mobility with efficiency and with care while protecting the vulnerable populations they serve.

I am proud to partner with NYCHA and move the needle on environmental justice for all. We are excited to drive into our cities all electric future. Thank you.

First Deputy Mayor Wright: Thanks so much, Commissioner Pinnock. Next, we're going to hear from Majority Leader Keith Powers, whose real vision helped us get to this place. Majority Leader.

City Councilmember Keith Powers: Thank you. Thank you. And welcome. Nice to see everyone here today. I want to thank and start by thanking the Mayor and his team, because when we set out to do this bill and try to get this passed into law, his team didn't fight with us or tangle with us, they said, let's figure this out and how we can get it done. And we deeply appreciate that partnership and that attitude about how to make sure our city's long‑term future is in good hands.

Today, we're solving a major milestone with the passage of Intro., well, the signing of Intro. 279, which will literally drive down New York City's carbon footprint over the next 15 years. With this legislation, New York City will become the largest municipality in the country to require the conversion of its fleet to zero emission vehicles, a very, very big deal.

We introduced this bill just last year with Councilmember Rivera — I want to thank her for her partnership and sponsorship on it — to address something that is hurting us and we don't always realize it. Our city right now, motor vehicles could make up 20 percent of our overall greenhouse gas emissions, and New York City itself has a lot of vehicles. We have over 30,000 vehicles operated and owned by the city itself.

And that's why we're here today. We are helping to scale up the use of electric vehicles, lower cost and increased demand and simply put, New York City is leading by example. This will honor our commitment to a greener future by laying out a series of new and ambitious and accelerated milestones to transition our city's fleet to zero emission vehicles, and it starts in 2025, so we are not far away from the beginning of this very ambitious and accelerated process.

I want to thank lots of folks are here today for their partnership and helping us get this to the finish line. I want to start by thanking the Sierra Club. We have Ben Jealous, who is here, but also Wayne and the whole team at the Sierra Club who pushed very hard from right when we introduced this bill and helped us get lots of sponsors on the bill and make sure that we could move it along. So, thank you to you guys for your partnership.

I want to thank the Central Labor Council and our folks in labor, because in this bill is actually some protection for the folks who work in our workforce right now to make sure they don't lose their jobs, make sure they have the appropriate training and make sure that as we accelerate and we transition that we include folks from our workforce. And it's really important and a shared goal of all of us here.

I want to thank my colleagues, I want to thank...he's not here, but the Chair Jim Gennaro who was a great supporter and champion of this when we got this through his committee and to a vote. I want to thank South Bronx Unite, Union of Concerned Scientists. I want to thank from my staff Brad… I see who all from City Council's here, Brad Reed who worked to negotiate this. He had Covid while he was negotiating it. He was home. He was at home. But I also want to thank Ben and Haley and Isaac from my staff who really worked tirelessly.

I think this is a really big day for New York City. We are going to set the mile marker now for other cities, and we will watch them now follow suit, and that is the great thing about being in New York City, is we lead the way. So, thank you to Mr. Mayor, thank you to everyone for making this signing happen today.

First Deputy Mayor Wright: Thank you, Majority Leader. And as you said, this is a big step generally, and so our next speaker represents a global organization, the Sierra Club. I just do want to say one word about Ben Jealous. He's always been a fighter for equity and for the people. I remember him, we actually went to college together, mayor. We got arrested together while we were protesting for the people. So, he used to be the head of the NAACP, and he continues to fight the fight globally for environmental justice. So, Ben Jealous…

Ben Jealous, Executive Director, Sierra Club: Thank you. Thank you, first deputy mayor. And you know, Mayor Adams, at the end of the day it's the strong women in our lives who keep us in line. Your first deputy mayor, very good job, sir. Very, very good job, sir.

This is a big deal. This is a big deal for New York, this is a big deal for the country. And it sends a signal to the world that we are intent in getting our country back in the lead in carbon emissions. And it's a big deal for the people of the city.

As the first deputy mayor hinted at, I started my career as an organizer in Harlem. And I've been working in public housing projects like this one in Harlem, twins but taller. And the amount of street level air pollution that's going to be removed from the city because of this is a big deal. It's fewer kids with asthma. It's fewer seniors dying prematurely from respiratory and cardiac events. That's what it means for the people of the city.

I really want to take that just a heartfelt moment to thank the mayor for his leadership, to thank Leader Powers for his leadership. I teased him when we were going into the bill's...going into the vote that, "he has the Powers and I'm Jealous."

But more than anything, I'm appreciative of all the city leaders here including Administrator Carmen for just doing the hard work that allows us, as she and I were doing with mayors from around the country down at the Bloomberg Institute in D.C., to say this is possible, you can do it, we've worked it out with the unions, here's an example.

As head of the Sierra Club, I'm grateful to be joined today by two great New Yorkers who are former club presidents, Mr. Ramón Cruz the first Latino to ever head the Sierra Club, just stepped down as president, thank you...

And one of the great women leaders of the club, Loren Blackford, our past club president, also a New Yorker. But more than anything today we are proud of our volunteers here on the ground, and we are proud of our partners — partners like South Bronx Unite, the Union of Concerned Scientists, New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, and local volunteer leaders like our New York City group president Karl Palmquist and his vice president Wayne Arden, and our leader of the Atlanta chapter, Robert Jones. Thank you for really pushing the city to do the right thing and working so well with your neighbors.

Sierra Club is focused on all 50 states, and we're grateful to New York for once again leading the way. This is what should happen in New York City. New York City should be on the cutting edge; and again, Mayor Adams, thank you for putting the city on the cutting edge of fleet conversion. As you said, it's a win‑win‑win: it will cost less money, it will clean the air for the people and it will help us save this planet. God bless you, sir.

First Deputy Mayor Wright:  Last but not least we have one of our colleagues in city government, Joe D'Amato, who's the deputy director of Fleet Services at NYCHA. When you heard the part about employees being able to use car sharing, New York City has more employees than any employer by, you know, an exponential amount. So, 300,000 people strong, so this, again, is a big deal. This sets an example for the city and the country of what we can do to continue to work innovatively to reduce emissions. So, Joe, I’ll call you up.

Joe D’Amato, Deputy Director, Fleet Services, NYCHA: Thank you. Thank you very much. So, I'm honored to be here today on behalf of the New York City Housing Authority to speak a little bit about the expansion of our partnership with DCAS. First, I'd like to thank the Mayor for leading the way in your efforts and continue to support to electrify the city's fleet by signing Intro. 279‑A today, further ensuring that New York City continues to remain a global leader in fleet sustainability. Thank you.

Additionally, I want to extend gratitude to DCAS Commissioner Pinnock and the city's chief fleet officer, Keith Kerman — and deputy commissioner — Keith Kerman and your team for your willingness and enthusiasm to include NYCHA in the highly successful inter‑agency EV car sharing program, as well as special thanks to our NYCHA staff who worked diligently with our DCAS counterparts to bring this program to NYCHA.

The EV car sharing program offers NYCHA a practical solution to enhance our operations and promote and increase efficiency. It allows us to optimize our vehicle resources by ensuring that they are used to their full potential, improving asset utilization and aiding in the rightsizing of our NYCHA fleet of vehicles. This, in turn, leads to reduced costs associated with maintaining an oversized fleet of vehicles that may sit idle for most of the time. By allowing for the need of fewer vehicles, the program contributes to our shared social responsibility goals and our collective commitment to sustainability.

Additionally, utilizing solar carport chargers — like the one right here at our beloved Ravenswood houses — offers the use of clean and renewable energy completely independent of the energy grid, eliminating the need for infrastructure investments and the costs and disruptions associated with those projects.

Inclusion in this program will provide NYCHA staff with a flexible and convenient transportation solution where the NYCHA staff will be able to easily access and share vehicles on demand based upon the timing of their specific transportation needs right through an app on their cell phone or through a web portal on their desktop with the ability to unlock, use and then lock the vehicle through the use of Bluetooth.

Through our expanded partnership with DCAS, NYCHA's been able to deploy solar carports at four NYCHA campuses to date with plans to deploy over a dozen more in the very near future across all five boroughs. The program provides NYCHA staff across our city the convenient resource to forecast and better plan their transportation needs so they can more effectively and more efficiently provide the essential services to and for our NYCHA residents who are always at the center of what we do here in NYCHA. So, thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Mayor Adams: Any questions before we do the signing? Great.

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