News
After the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, city-dwellers everywhere realized the importance of outdoor spaces. In New York City, the most densely populated city in the US with over 27,000 people per square mile, people realized the need for more space for outdoor activities. Thus, New York unveiled the Open Streets program during the pandemic in the spring of 2020 where the need for outdoor space was at its peak
Learn More
News
New York City’s parks serve as a peaceful respite from the bustle of urban life. They’re home to sporting events, concerts, and community gardens. But these park safe havens may contain a hidden danger — a recent study found high levels of lead in the soil of several NYC parks, surpassing the EPA’s soil cleanup value of 400 milligrams of lead per kilogram of soil. Soil samples from Long Island City in Queens and Greenpoint in Brooklyn averaged 540 mg/kg and 450 mg/kg, respectively.
Learn More
On June 15th, the City Council Committee on Sanitation and Solid Waste Management held a hearing on Intros 244, 274, 275, 280 and 281, various promising bills centered around composting that may significantly reduce waste in New York City and resultantly bring about local and climate benefits.
Learn More
As a leading source of greenhouse gas emissions in New York, dirty transportation damages public health, accelerates climate change, as well as concentrates pollution in low-income communities and communities of color. Thus, there is an imminent need to promote aggressive action on cleaning up the transportation sector in order to protect public health, advance environmental justice, and achieve New York’s goal of net-zero emissions by 2050. Electric vehicles are a pathway to that.
Learn More
On June 13, NYC’s budget for the fiscal year of 2023 was voted on and passed 2 weeks ahead of schedule. There are a number of key takeaways from the budget regarding implications on the parks, transportation, sanitation, and building energy and emissions sectors – all of which are important to protecting the environment of NYC and the climate at large. While some of our priorities were not met, the results of this year’s budget are generally positive.
Learn More
The New York Legislature wrapped up its 2022 legislative session on the weekend of June 3rd, leaving Albany for the year after passing several important bills that were part of the NYLCV’s 2022 State Policy Agenda.
Learn More
News
It’s rare to see borough presidents working together, but there is one initiative that all five can get behind– trees. In February, Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine introduced a new project alongside Vanessa Gibson of the Bronx, Antonio Reynoso of Brooklyn, Donovan Richards of Queens, and Vito Fossella of Staten Island. They are calling on Mayor Adams to plant one million new trees by 2030.
Learn More
Nine days after the joint press rally between the NY League of Conservation Voters, Riders Alliance, and Transportation Alternatives, the City Council, Senate and Assembly have passed a bill to expand the operating time on city speed cameras to include nights and weekends for three years. This news comes on the heels of the “potential fourth straight year of increasing traffic fatalities in NYC- a first since 1990,” showing we need enhanced pedestrian safety measures now more than ever. At the rally more than thirty people stood up for the principle that New York City should be able to control how it deploys traffic cameras on its streets. Many attendees held signs and pictures of loved ones lost to traffic violence and shared heartbreaking stories of loss and grief caused by reckless driving. Speakers included state legislators, New York City Council members, DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez, and street safety advocates, all of whom criticized, pushed, and rallied in support of the bill.
Learn More