David Yassky
33rd Council District, Brooklyn
New Dem of the Week: David Yassky
The Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) names David Yassky New Dem of the Week for his hybrid taxicab fleet legislation. Following is the DLC announcement.
In order for the United States to create a cleaner and more energy-secure future, we must not only encourage new alternative energy production, but also create incentives for businesses and individuals to integrate these new resources into their daily lives. In particular, the use of hybrid vehicles or home-grown biofuels holds enormous potential to help reduce America's dependence on oil.
New York City Council Member David Yassky recently wrote legislation that was passed by the City Council and approved by Mayor Michael Bloomberg that will create incentives to convert the entire New York City taxicab fleet to clean-burning hybrid vehicles in the next five years.
"This bill will give cab owners a powerful incentive to convert to clean-air vehicles," Yassky said. "With this new technology available and affordable, and this incentive in place, there is no good reason to keep hybrids out of the taxi fleet. For the nearly one million New Yorkers living with asthma, the bill we passed today is a breath of fresh air."
For the better part of the past decade, all of the New York City boroughs have received failing grades for monitored air quality and have had the worst asthma rates in the country, according to the State of the Air Report produced by the American Lung Association. One of the key contributions to the City's poor air quality are the 13,000 NYC taxicabs which account for 10 percent of all cars in Manhattan and more than one-third of the motor vehicle emissions in Midtown and Downtown.
Under Yassky's new law, cab owners that agree to convert to hybrid vehicles will be able to hold onto their cabs for a significantly longer amount of time, saving them thousands of dollars in replacement costs. Under current law, taxicab owners who own their own vehicles are required every five years to exchange their cars for newer models. And those cabs that are used by multiple drivers must replace their cars every three years.
Yassky's legislation builds on the success of a pilot program, initiated in 2003, allowing the city to issue 81 taxi medallions (NYC taxicab licenses) that could only be used for fuel efficient vehicles. In 2005 the city issued 250 more. Yassky's new law speeds up this conversion and will produce approximately 1000 yellow hybrid taxicabs by October 2008, 4000 by 2009, and so forth until the whole feet has become hybrid by 2012.
New York City's taxicab force currently puts 14,941 tons of carbon dioxide into the air each day. With these new incentives, New York City has taken an important step toward helping achieve a cleaner, healthier, and energy-secure future for its citizens.
May 31, 2007
About the DLC. The Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) leads the New Democrat movement, a national network of elected officials and community leaders whose innovative ideas are modernizing progressive politics for the 21st Century.
Comments
Post a comment
© 2008 David Yassky. All Rights Reserved.
