At a City Council hearing today, New York City Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams pushed the Adams administration for answers, accountability, and future reforms in response to the outbreak of Legionnaires’ Disease that killed seven New Yorkers this summer in Harlem. He focused on the impact of agency staffing reductions which limit the number of safety inspections, as well as the prevalence of these kinds of incidents in Black and brown communities. His office recently held a town hall in Harlem on the dangers of Legionnaires' and the potential solutions to prevent additional outbreaks.
“While the Legionnaires' outbreak has been declared over, I am concerned that the current enforcement around inspections for city cooling towers is not enough…In 2017, the first year of inspections, the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) inspected 5,200 cooling towers, issuing over 48,000 violations. In 2022, 4,400 inspections were conducted and this year, as of June, the department is on track to complete fewer than half that number. Like many other city agencies, DOHMH faces staffing shortages that drastically impacts its ability to carry out the full breadth of its responsibilities, but a shortage of inspectors is only one side of the issue.”
He noted that 40% of cooling towers have not been inspected since 2023, including those involved in the outbreak, and pointed to potential complacency, saying “With temperatures rising in the summer, we cannot afford to be complacent on this matter, and I do want to be clear, I believe complacency was part of the issue. Whether on inspectors, the number of inspections, the way it was communicated, or other parts, and we have to find where complacency was, so we can try to fix it.”
Public Advocate Williams called for the passage of Intro 434, which would further strengthen our city’s water maintenance systems in large buildings and our enforcement of testing and inspection, and noted that he has proposed and hopes to advance additional legislation to raise the impact of fines. In the interim, he called on the administration to be proactive.
“Our city’s public health cannot be gambled on,” he said, “Especially at a time when the federal government is cutting necessary research and promoting dangerous ideologies out of step with proven scientific data.”
His full statement as delivered is below. More on the office’s town hall and recommendations is available here.
TO THE NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL COMMITTEE ON HEALTH
SEPTEMBER 19, 2025
Good afternoon,
My name is Jumaane D. Williams, Public Advocate for the City of New York. I want to thank Chair Schulman and the members of the Committee on Health for holding this important hearing today and allowing me the opportunity to testify. I’d also like to thank my staff, especially my Infrastructure and Environmental Justice team as well as the Policy Team and our Community Advocates for all their hard work in bringing together the town hall my office hosted last month on this topic. It was a truly collaborative effort and a way to speak directly to the concerns of the community, answer their questions and share information. I thank all my colleagues in government who were there. Finally, I’d like to thank DOHMH and Commissioner Morse for sending representatives to the event. Their expertise is deeply valued and appreciated.
While the Legionnaires' outbreak has been declared over, I am concerned that the current enforcement around inspections for city cooling towers is not enough. Under the 2015 law, which was implemented after an outbreak that killed 15 individuals, all building owners must register their water cooling towers with the city and propose a maintenance plan to the city every three months to prevent and control the growth of Legionella. In 2017, the first year of inspections, the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) inspected 5,200 cooling towers, issuing over 48,000 violations. In 2022, 4,400 inspections were conducted and this year, as of June, the department is on track to complete fewer than half that number. Like many other city agencies, DOHMH faces staffing shortages that drastically impacts its ability to carry out the full breadth of its responsibilities, but a shortage of inspectors is only one side of the issue.
I believe the current level of fines —$1,000 for a first offense, $2,000 for each additional offense— is not enough. Stricter enforcement calls for higher fines and with increased agency capacity to inspect cooling towers and more regular inspections, future outbreaks like this could be prevented. With temperatures rising in the summer, we cannot afford to be complacent on this matter, and do I want to be clear, I believe complacency was part of the issue. Whether on inspectors, the number of inspections, the way it was communicated, or other parts, and we have to find where complacency was, so we can try to fix it.
Forty percent of all city cooling towers — including those within the five affected ZIP codes in Harlem — have not been inspected since 2023. This administration has spent the past four years cutting funding for agencies and in addition to a pandemic-era hiring freeze that left many city agencies understaffed as workers retired early and many left the workforce due to rushed “return to work” orders, DOHMH has also been subject to a ‘2 for 1’ hiring policy which requires two resignations for every one hire. Our city’s public health cannot be gambled on, especially at a time when the federal government is cutting necessary research and promoting dangerous ideologies out of step with proven scientific data.
I call on the City Council to not only push forward with Int. 434, which would further strengthen our city’s water maintenance systems in large buildings and our enforcement of testing and inspection, but also on the administration to lift the agency’s current hiring policy which forces it to choose between inspectors and other crucial public health personnel. We need more inspectors and better enforcement of our laws. As such, my office has submitted a bill that would raise the level of fines, but while that legislation makes its way through bill drafting, we must take proactive steps to ensure that outbreaks like this one do not happen again and I believe the policy changes proposed by the Commissioner are a good first step.
I would be remiss if I didn’t add my voice to the frustration that any time these things seem to be happening, it happens in particular communities – Black and brown, it has happened in Harlem multiple times, the Bronx – which means, we should come to expect that it may happen and be proactive in trying to prevent it, not reactive when it occurs. Hopefully we can figure out why that didn’t happen here, and prevent it from happening again, in honor of the people that we lost and the people who are still concerned.
Thank you.
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