New York City's mayor wants to turn the city green

On Earth Day, Mayor Michael Bloomberg introduced a plan for more green spaces, fees to drive in Manhattan, and improved mass transit.

from the April 23, 2007 edition

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The city's attempt to become part of the solution to limit the human imprint on the environment dates back to an analysis about two years ago when it was doing long-term planning, says Kathryn Wylde, CEO of the Partnership for New York.

"It started as sort of a real estate and planning session," says Ms. Wylde, but it quickly became an understanding "that growing urban centers are part of the environment and are responsible for 75 percent of the world's fossil fuel consumption according to the large city's climate group that we've been working with."

As New York looked at itself, it projected that the city of 8.2 million will add another 1 million residents in the next thirty years and an additional 750,000 jobs. "Clearly our infrastructure can't support it," says Wylde.

In addition, New York has a lot of expensive real estate, particularly in lower Manhattan, that could be threatened by rising sea levels. Some experts are already suggesting the city build a sea wall at the Verrazano Narrows Bridge to keep the ocean out.

Last October, Bloomberg set up a "Sustainability Advisory Council" to lay the groundwork and make suggestions. Among the major proposals are:

• A new emphasis on developing under-utilized land for housing. By 2030, the city hopes to add 265,000 new units of housing to accommodate another one million expected residents.

• The city will plant 210,000 new trees a year, a program that city hall officials say would make it one of the most ambitious reforestation programs in the nation's history.

• One of the most controversial proposals is for what City Hall is terming a "pilot" program to charge an $8 fee for cars and $21 for trucks entering Manhattan south of 86th Street. This would be similar to fees enacted in London, which tacked on even higher fees.

Under this program, the city would add more express buses prior to implementation. Then, once the streets are less congested, more people will take mass transit. The program, however, must be approved in Albany. The city estimates the mass transit improvements would cost $50 billion between now and 2030. Some of the money would come from congestion pricing.

• To get new and cleaner electrical generating capacity for New York, Bloomberg is proposing a new tax of $2 to $3 per month on all New Yorkers. City Hall aides insist that more efficient generating plants would save residents $220 per year by 2015. This will require approval from Albany.

• The city will try to craft tax changes to make solar power more viable and will expand its use of biodiesel.

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