The City Council of New Rochelle recently passed a law to prohibit idling of vehicles for more than 5 minutes anywhere in New Rochelle:
[Added 9-21-2004 by L.L. No. 8-2004]
No person shall allow, cause or permit the engine of any motor vehicle to idle for more than five consecutive minutes while parking, standing, or stopping on public or private property in the City of New Rochelle, subject to the exceptions for heavy-duty vehicles set forth in Section 217.3 of Title 6 of the State of New York Codes, Rules, and Regulations.
The motivation for anti-idling laws comes primarily from concerns about air pollution, carbon-emissions, greenhouse gases and fears that humans are causing global warming. Despite or because of this, the New Rochelle School District wasted no time in printing and displaying “no idling” signs in front of public schools in New Rochelle.
A few thoughts on this. First, if the District were really concerned about motor vehicles idling in front of schools they could have created their own policy about vehicles on district property. So, why fail to act until the City passes a new ordinance in 2009 when vehicles have been idling in front of schools since the days of Henry Ford? Second, the District could have added a section to their bus contracts to prohibit idling regardless of the City ordinance. Third, there are already State and Federal laws in place so why did the District wait until the local law was passed.
More to the point, if the District were really concerned about children’s health why have they routinely failed to enforce anti-tobacco laws on school grounds?
One of the biggest jokes in the New Rochelle schools is the supposed concern about smoking. The district runs anti-smoking programs and Dr. Weiss, the district’s medical director, actually sits on a local board of the American Lung Association. Yet district employees at every school in the district routinely flout these rules and school administrators look the other way.
Previously we have reported how health teachers at New Rochelle High School gave away a T-shirt sponsored by a cigar lounge and a discount cigarette store as part of “health weeK” and how Isaac E. Young Middle School Principal Anthony Bongo was caught red-handed smoking a cigar.
It is not hard to find district employees smoking on school grounds. Yesterday I was at Albert Leonard Middle School around 1:30 PM and came across 2 janitors smoking cigarettes in front of the school, about 5 feet from a door to the building. A security guard was sitting in his car, a convertible, smoking a cigar. Now, I love a good cigar every now and then but I do not park my car in front of a school building and light up.
These district employees were all three encountered in a matter of minutes without any effort on my part of seek them out. They were directly in front of the entrance to the school. Anyone driving onto school grounds would have come within a few feet of them. I could smell the smoke as I drove by. If I can see they are smoking at the school so can everyone else and yet the administration does nothing.
Let’s be clear. Smoking on school grounds is prohibited under the New York State Clean Indoor Air Act (for a school the law does not differentiate between indoors or outdoors and specifies anywhere on school grounds) and under the New York State Pro-Kids Act of 1994:
The New York State Pro-Kids Act prohibits tobacco use in school buildings, on school grounds, and in any vehicle used by a school, such as school buses or vans.
New York State Department of Education is even more strict in that even displaying a tobacco product in a school (carrying a pack of cigarettes, walking with an unlit cigarette) is prohibited. Of course, these are also all violations of the school district’s code of conduct which prohibits smoking of any kind anywhere on school district property.
It is a good thing that cars are being discouraged from idling anywhere near children at the schools but there is far more risk to children from allowing adults to smoke on school grounds. Not only are they exposed to second-hand smoke but school district employees are role models so the district’s decision to allow staff to smoke on school grounds runs counter to the district’s professed goal of discouraging smoking.
New Rochelle Citizens Reform Club and idling legislation
Tn
The New Rochelle Citizens Reform Club was the group that pushed for this legislation. Actually they asked for a 3 minute idling law, but now with all the scientific evidence on health hazards especially for children, a one minute idling law would be more appropriate. When Kelly was Superiendent she had ordered all the buses not to idle. Unfornately the law is rarely enforced despite specific complaints made.