Thank you to the Fire and Safety Management Committee Chair Council Member Joanne Ariola for the opportunity to submit written testimony.
My name is Faiza Azam and I am the Climate and Labor Organizer for ALIGN: The Alliance for a Greater New York. ALIGN brings together labor, climate, and community for a more just and sustainable New York. We co-coordinate the Climate Works for All Coalition—a group of labor, community, student, parent, faith, and environmental justice organizations fighting climate change and inequality in New York City. Our campaigns move us towards an equitable economy, a resilient, livable and healthy climate, and prioritize justice for low income Black and Brown communities across New York City.
From devastating flooding to poor air quality caused by greenhouse gases, students, teachers, and faculty often are among those first impacted when a climate disaster strikes. Central to our work is our Green, Healthy Schools campaign, which primarily focuses on creating energy efficient public school buildings because New York City’s students, teachers, parents, and school staff deserve safe and healthy spaces to work, learn and play. Our campaign supported the passage of Local Law 99, important legislation that aimed to ensure NYC public buildings, especially school buildings, implemented rooftop solar panels up to 100 megawatts.
I am here today to advocate for the passage of Int 354, legislation that would require the Department of Citywide Administrative Services to identify city-owned energy storage lots for up to 300 megawatts of capacity by 2030 – especially for solar panels in NYC Public School Buildings. This legislation is necessary to support the increase in school buildings currently scheduled to be electrified and upgraded in the coming year. This is our coalition’s long term vision for Green, Healthy Schools.
We are proud to stand with labor on this issue and engage union membership in this plan. We see workers, from teachers to nurses to janitors, mobilizing for Green, Healthy Schools, public solar and energy storage. New York City residents work in presently poor building conditions every day, and they deserve to make a living without putting their health at risk. Int 354is an investment in the New York City workforce, New York City students, and New York City families. We strongly urge this bill’s passage in order to make the City healthier and more resilient while creating thousands of union, family sustaining jobs and saving the city in energy costs.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Faiza Azam