Avilés holds presser on last-mile warehouse bills, by Brian Abate

Council Member Alexa Avilés spoke at City Hall Park on February 16 about the unchecked growth of last-mile delivery hubs and three new bills she will be introducing to deal with them.

The three bills are co-sponsored by Council Members Jennifer Gutiérrez, Sandy Nurse, Selvena Brooks-Powers, Julie Won, Shahana Hanif, and Lincoln Restler as well as Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, and Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso.

Red Hook is home to some new last-mile warehouses which means extra truck traffic in the neighborhood leading to traffic and health/environmental concerns.

The bills include:

Intro 923: A Local Law mandating a study on the impact that truck and delivery traffic generated by last-mile facilities have on local communities and infrastructure.

Intro 924: A Local Law requiring the Department of Transportation to study street design as a means to limit or reduce the use of commercial vehicles in residential neighborhoods.

Resolution 501: A resolution calling on top maritime importers to NYC ports to commit to making the City’s streets greener by reducing traffic and using marine vessels for last-mile deliveries.

“So long as we fail to regulate these facilities, we are missing out on more sustainable economic development opportunities while subjecting only some to suffer the health and environmental impacts of increased traffic, noise, and air pollution,” Avilés said.

“This issue is not ‘too complex’ to be addressed, as some have tried to tell us. We have solutions and we are urging the administration and Department of City Planning to act.”

For years Jim Tampakis of Red Hook’s Tamco Mechanical, has been pushing for last-mile warehouses to start relying more on the waterfront rather than trucks and that is one of the solutions that Avilés called for New York City to use.

“Taking full advantage of the waterfront would make a huge difference,” said Avilés in response to a question about the issue.

Amazon, which has two new facilities in Red Hook, and may open a third, understands the importance of greening their delivery system, both in terms of the environment as well as the good public image they need to have to keep their customers shopping. Amazon has a long term plan to electrify their delivery fleet. “We started making deliveries with the electric vehicles from Rivian in August, and my team has had nothing but good things to say about the vans,” said Julieta Dennis, an Amazon Delivery Service Partner and owner of Kangaroo Logistics. “The safety features, like the automatic emergency braking and 360-degree cameras, are game changers, and the drivers also love the overall comfort of the vehicle.”

Amazon pledged to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2040 by using more of these electric vehicles and also wants to have 100,000 of these electric vehicles on the road by 2030. The US Post Office just made a similar pledge regarding their fleet.

The use of electric vehicles is relevant to two bills that Avilés helped introduce in September. They are:

Intro 707: A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to air quality monitoring at designated “heavy use” thoroughfares.

Intro 708: A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to redesigning the truck route network to improve safety and reduce traffic congestion and emissions.

Intro 707 has 42 council member sponsors while Intro 708 has 40 council member sponsors.

“Intro 707 actually had a hearing this December and was laid over by the Committee on Environmental Protection, so we’re still waiting to hear when a vote will be scheduled,” said Avilés’ Communications and Organizing Manager James Neimeister.

“However, we are very excited that Intro 708 which is assigned to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure is set to have a hearing on April 11, at 10 AM.”