March 18, 2014
By Stephanie West
New York, NY — Mayor de Blasio has appointed Kathryn Garcia as the city’s Department of Sanitation Commissioner. Garcia will be charged with running the department that keeps New York City’s streets clean and safe.
A native New Yorker, Garcia is currently the Chief Operating Officer of the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, where she has overseen the operations of the Bureaus of Water Supply, Water and Sewer Operations, and Wastewater, with a combined staff of 4,000 employees, a $540 million expense budget, and a $1.9 billion four-year capital budget.
As head of day-to-day operations at DEP, Garcia developed and managed DEP’s performance program, H20Stat, which significantly decreased DEP’s response time to 311 complaints and street repair requests, and developed a number of DEP’s crisis management plans, including the Continuity of Operations Plan and a Water Contamination Response Plan. Garcia is committed to bringing her innovative approaches to sustainability to DSNY to help New York City reach PlaNYC’s goals, and will increase the city’s waste diversion rate through recycling, composting, and reuse programs.
“New York’s Strongest deserve the best. This is some of the toughest, most demanding work in our city—and Kathryn has what it takes to do this department and our city proud. From plowing streets to daily collections, our sanitation department will continue to deliver the services New Yorkers expect and deserve—even as we cut down on waste and make ours a greener, more efficient city,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “We are so grateful for the service these past two and a half months—and the 51 years prior—of our outgoing Commissioner John Doherty. His integrity, his spirit and his capacity for the superhuman have driven this department for decades. As I have time and time again this winter, I thank John for everything he’s done for this city.”
“This work can keep a city running or stop it in its tracks. It’s that critical. This is an incredible department, but we won’t rest on our laurels. I am committed to strengthening and expanding DSNY’s programs to deliver these critical services to every resident and business, in every neighborhood. We’ll do it consistently, effectively and equitably, and we will seek out every opportunity to do it better and more sustainably,” said incoming DSNY Commissioner Kathryn Garcia.
