Parks are one of the City’s most valuable assets and we must be investing in them in order to fight climate change, protect public health, and bolster the safety and wellbeing of our communities. Parks provide numerous resiliency benefits, increasing cooling by reducing the urban heat island effect and fighting flooding through capturing stormwater runoff. Parks also clean our air, and absorb climate-change causing pollutants and greenhouse gasses. Lastly parks provide safe open spaces for recreation, an aspect highlighted during the height of the pandemic. To ensure parks can continue to provide these benefits, we must be investing heavily in parks operations and maintenance.
Learn MoreThe New York City bus system is the largest in the nation, but also the slowest and most inefficient. An MTA bus has an average speed of 7.9mph, and spends 43% of its travel time sitting at traffic lights or bus stops. Outdated infrastructure and technology leads to constant delays and unpredictability that inconveniences those who rely on it every single day. Our bus system is in dire need of updates, especially as ridership bounces back to pre-pandemic levels. We must invest in making our buses faster and more efficient to ensure all members of our community can rely on them each and every day.
Learn MoreNearly one third of the waste New Yorkers produce is organic material. When this material ends up in landfills, it releases methane, a greenhouse gas 30 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Through an organized composting process, this food waste would be collected, broken down, and recycled into fertilizer for plants and farms. According to an estimate from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, eliminating food waste across the state would remove 120,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents from the atmosphere per year. That’s the equivalent of taking over 25,000 cars off the road.
Learn MoreOn March 22nd, NYLCV testified at the City Council Preliminary Budget Hearing for the Committee on Parks and Recreation, and advocated for allocating 1.0% of the NYC Fiscal Year 2023 Budget to parks. As part of his campaign, Mayor Adams made a commitment to allocating 1.0% of next year’s budget to parks. However, the newly announced Preliminary Budget revealed that not only is the administration going back on their promised 1.0% amount, but that they are cutting $60 million from the FY22 budget and removing 3,500 essential park positions. We are calling on Mayor Adams and the City Council to reverse the cuts that have been proposed and invest critical resources into our beloved parks and green spaces.
Learn MoreOf the thirteen bills, used to evaluate each Council Member in 2021, eight were passed. The Plastic Straw Ban, sponsored by Councilmember Rosenthal that passed in May 2021, reduces single-use plastics in our waste stream and helps save small businesses millions. Councilmember Constantinides sponsored two resiliency-focused bills to study wastewater treatment and renewable energy opportunities on Rikers Island—both of which passed in February of 2021. Councilmember Dromm’s diesel school bus phase out, a long term NYLCV priority that requires all city school buses be fully electric by 2035, finally passed in October 2021.
Learn MoreIn the last week, the City Council Committees on Sanitation and Transportation held hearings on clean streets and expanding vital sanitation services, and transportation equity respectively. The Sanitation Committee’s hearing covered key issues facing the New York region including eco-friendly waste management systems and composting programs, while the Transportation Committee’s forum addressed transportation infrastructure and traffic enforcement initiatives. At both of these hearings, NYLCV New York City Program Associate Carlos Castell Croke testified in support of expanding the city’s composting program as well as making transportation more equitable.
Learn MoreFollowing a record high level of turnover among City Council seats in addition to the Mayor, Comptroller, and four borough president seats being up for grabs since the implementation of term limits in 2001, there are new opportunities to make sustainability and environmental justice key priorities in the City. To ensure council members maintain their campaign promises of delivering crucial environmental policy, NYLCVEF, WE ACT and South Bronx Unite formed the Green Our City Now coalition. This coalition will hold elected officials accountable on their promises, by providing information and guidance on environmental policy priorities and tracking their environmental commitments.
Learn MoreNYLCV/NYLCVEF is thrilled to announce the joint venture team of Ørsted and Eversource as our 2022 honorees. We are delighted to recognize the companies’ leadership in the renewable energy space and look forward to continuing to partner with them to make New York a greener state.
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