{"id":975359,"date":"2020-02-28T09:06:16","date_gmt":"2020-02-28T16:06:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=959526"},"modified":"2020-02-28T09:06:16","modified_gmt":"2020-02-28T16:06:16","slug":"a-few-minutes-with-billy-idol-new-yorks-new-ambassador-for-parking-violations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu\/music-news\/a-few-minutes-with-billy-idol-new-yorks-new-ambassador-for-parking-violations\/","title":{"rendered":"A Few Minutes With Billy Idol, New York\u2019s New Ambassador for Parking Violations"},"content":{"rendered":"
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When the City of New York decided to initiate a new campaign to prevent trucks and buses from idling, they knew it wasn\u2019t exactly the sexiest or most pressing issue New Yorkers face.<\/p>\n

A new program unveiled Thursday encourages NYC residents to take cellphone footage of any idling vehicles and report them to the Department of Environmental Protection<\/a> \u2014 and receive 25 percent of the fine as a reward.<\/p>\n

But armed with a love of Eighties hits and puns, the department\u2019s marketing team cold-called a representative for Billy Idol<\/a> to see if the rocker and environmentalist would lend his name to the cause. The result: \u201cBilly Never Idles. Neither Should You\u201d<\/a> in which the \u201cWhite Wedding\u201d singer advocates for a cleaner (and snitchier) New York.<\/p>\n

The singer\u2019s likeness will appear on billboards, television and radio ads throughout the city alongside social media posts. Idol joined Mayor Bill DiBlasio at a press conference on Thursday<\/a> to kickstart the city\u2019s \u201cWar on Idling,\u201d with the mayor quoting \u201cEyes Without a Face\u201d and other Idol songs before the singer himself himself led the crowd in a \u201cBilly never idles!\u201d<\/a> chant. We needed to learn more.<\/p>\n

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So besides the wordplay, how did this happen?<\/strong>
There was a lady in the DEP here in New York who was a fan. The mayor\u2019s a fan. But I think it was the I-D-L-E and I-D-O-L that sparked the idea that we could have fun with that and at the same time make an important statement for New York and its healthy climate.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the important statement?<\/strong>
For starters, I lived in Long Island when I was very young; those were my first memories of America. I came back to America in the Eighties and had my massive success coming out in New York. This city really means a lot to me and the idea that I could give back in some way for such a good cause, it was such a great idea. Obviously, the air quality [in New York] is loads better than it was when I lived here but car idling is a major contributor to air pollution and that\u2019s just not healthy.<\/p>\n

Was this even an issue when you lived here in the Eighties?<\/strong>
New York was bankrupt around 1979 and was starting to climb out of that by the late Eighties and they were much more concerned with the finances of the city. They were just grappling with getting the city back up on its feet so I can imagine a lot of these questions came into play after I left New York. I know they cleaned up the air to a certain degree and I can understand wanting to take it further with the idling. And Billy never idles!<\/p>\n

You live in Los Angeles, the epicenter of U.S. pollution. Why are you picking on us?<\/strong>
Well, that\u2019s another reason it made sense to me. The traffic at certain times of the day doesn\u2019t move. The amount of cars on the road has tripled since the Eighties; since I\u2019ve been riding motorcycles, you really notice the density of the traffic. That many cars, in the end, has been the cause of massive problems.<\/p>\n