While the Mayor’s State of the City Address recognizes the opportunities acting on climate change offers for our economy, it was short on the kind of large-scale initiatives we need to tackle the increasingly urgent climate crisis. We applaud the mayor for including $100M for a climate innovation center and a forthcoming green economy action plan to support 400,000 jobs by 2040, which will help solidify the city as a leader in developing green technologies and careers. We are pleased the mayor committed to advancing sustainable delivery practices and creating safer conditions for delivery workers and all New Yorkers who choose e-bikes and other micro-mobility options. And we are thrilled that the mayor secured $450 million in federal grants and is advancing resiliency efforts, which is very good news for the city in this age of extreme weather. Finally—and much to the dismay of the city’s rat population—we fully support the mayor’s expansion of DSNY’s waste containerization program.
We look forward to working with Mayor Adams and the City Council to adopt these policies while at the same time we will strongly advocate that they do much more to address the climate crisis and invest in our parks.