Every year, NYLCV reviews the NYC Mayor’s Executive Budget and sets budget priorities that help advance New York City’s sustainability agenda.

Along with Sustainable Westchester, we recently presented a Gold Certificate recognizing the Town of Bedford in Westchester for being a leader in greening the town’s municipal fleet of vehicles pursuant to our Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Pledge.

State Senator Jessica Ramos and Assemblywoman Nily Rozic introduced legislation to legalize the use of electric bicycles and scooters across New York State. This legislation would create official classifications for e-bikes and e-scooters, while still allowing local authority over streets and sidewalks by letting municipalities decide whether or not they want to integrate these low-emission transit options into their transportation networks.

In December 2018, most of the Transportation and Climate Initiative states committed to developing a clean transportation policy by the end of 2019. But New York was not part of that commitment. NYLCV joined other advocacy groups in Our Transportation Future to press for New York to act and advocate for the best approach to address emissions from the transportation sector.

The Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) is embracing solar power in a new initiative that will help fight greenhouse gas emissions and give the authority a new income stream to improve public transit. It plans to lease more than 10 million square feet of its rooftop space to solar power generating companies.

As more school districts are looking to electrify their bus fleets, they are struggling to afford the costs associated with electric school buses. One solution is the Pay As You Save system. The model would allow utilities to invest in the charger and battery for a bus.

Last weekend, the New York State Legislature and Governor Andrew Cuomo finalized a progressive state budget for Fiscal Year 2020, establishing several important environmental policies including congestion pricing in Manhattan, a ban on carry-out plastic bags, and legislation to reduce food waste in New York.