Document bye6L3kBMVzX82kKX4aRZbe90

FILE NAME: New York State & NY Times (NY) DATE: 1971 Apr 24 DOC#: NY028 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: NYT Letter to Editor - Pollution War-City on the Offensive Pollution W ar: City on the Offensive ROBERT N. RICKLES New York Times (1857-Currentfile); Apr 24, 1971; ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851 - 2002) pg. 28 Letters to the Editor Pollution War: City on tHe Offensive To the Editor: Contrary to the suggestion of your April 14 editorial, "Mr. Aurelio's Image," the Department of Air Re sources does not practice government by image-making. We are attacking air pollution from a multitude of sources on many levels. . The initiative on automotive sources does not mean we have "downgraded" the "upgrading of incinerators" and oil burners. Approximately 60 per cent of our staff of 260 continues to be de voted to enforcement of . upgrading laws. With the final denial by the United States Supreme Court of the landlord's challenges t the law, we are now making rapid progress. Eleven violating incinerators have been sealed, with more on the way. Many hundreds of contracts for new refuse compactors have recently been signed. Ask any major landlord or public agency wheth er there's been any let-up in pressure to get this job completed by the end of 1972. In addition, a new industrial pollu tion task force has opened a drive on the 6,000 industrial polluters in the city. Over sixty notices to seal equip ment have been issued. If the City Council acts rapidly on the pending air-pollution control code, the greatest reductions to date of sulfur dioxide will occur this fail, and controls will be placed on important contributors to photochemical smog and other pollutants, such as lead and asbestos. The exhibit a t the Automobile Show was never intended to convey an ad ministration image but rather to intro duce new segments of the public to a different way of looking a t the use of urban space and the role of the car in the center city and to inform them of the city's leadership in developing iow-pollution vehicles for urban use. The exhibit was a first step in building apparently still needed public support for major traffic restrictions. This education process will continue throughout the next six months, open ing the public's eyes to the true cost of midtown traffic congestion, in terms of noise, air pollution, litter, time lost, threats to personal safety, sacrifice of valuable urban space, inefficiency of delivery of goods and the creation of barriers to personal communication, which is what a city is all about When this is more generally understood, the plans of those of us who dream of a more human city will be able to be translated into reality. Robert N. Ricki.es Commissioner, New York City Department of Air Resources New York, April 14,1971 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.