{"id":4183,"date":"2009-02-13T13:44:08","date_gmt":"2009-02-13T19:44:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress-367309-1145705.cloudwaysapps.com\/?p=4183"},"modified":"2009-02-13T13:44:08","modified_gmt":"2009-02-13T19:44:08","slug":"nyc-mayor-bloomberg-says-turn-off-engines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/nyc-mayor-bloomberg-says-turn-off-engines\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC Mayor Bloomberg says Turn off Engines"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Bloomberg<\/a> was named one of Time magazine\u2019s most influential people of 2008, in large part due to his focus on sustainability. Since elected, one of Bloomberg\u2019s core missions as mayor has been to improve the city\u2019s environmental footprint and livability and discourage urban sprawl by making the city more attractive.<\/p>\n The city\u2019s new measure would further limit the time drivers can idle<\/a> their engines in school zones. The maximum idle time has been cut by the new law down from three to one minute.<\/p>\n Yet with the new law also comes a greater emphasis and latitude in terms of enforcement. Many states have similar no-idling laws, but the restrictions most often go unenforced by police and other officials.<\/p>\n Another law was signed to complement the new one-minute restriction, one that now authorizes sanitation and parks & recreation departments to prevent engines from idling unnecessarily.\u00a0 The old system allowed only city police and the department of environmental protection to kill wasteful running engines by ticketing their owners. NYC banned long-term idling in 1971.<\/p>\n The time restriction and enforcement laws were sponsored by city council members John C. Liu and David Yassky respectively.<\/p>\n Isabelle Bodmer Silverman is an attorney for the Living Cities program at the Environmental Defense Fund<\/a>. The mother of two authored a study entitled \u201cIdling Gets You Nowhere<\/a>,\u201d which delves into the adverse effects of engine idling.<\/p>\n \u201cWe applaud the mayor and city council for enacting these cost-free laws to improve air quality at the street level where our kids breathe, play and work,\u201d said Silverman, \u201cbut it won\u2019t mean a thing if the city doesn\u2019t enforce them.\u201d<\/p>\n The second new law seeks to curb that oversight.<\/p>\n