Environmental Protection & Progress Agenda: 100% Clean Energy Economy & More Resilient Neighborhoods
2 min readApr 21, 2021
- Here Comes the Sun: Over the next 10 years, equip every school and public building with solar panels, provide tax rebates to home and co-op/condo owners for every square foot of solar panels installed on their property, and require developers to include solar panels on any construction projects that need NYC zoning changes or approval.
- Doing the Electric Slide: NYC must transition to a zero emission fleet by 2040. To do so, all city cars must be replaced with electric vehicles, first through incentives, and then within 10 years as a requirement. Any business that has a contract or concession agreement with the city that includes the transportation of good/services must switch to zero emission vehicles as a condition of their application approval or renewal. Last, we must require all commercial shopping centers to include spaces for electric vehicle charging.
- Waterfront Return & Restoration: Conduct a district-wide survey of city-owned waterfront property, and require the city to clean it up and make it publicly accessible. This would include planting Eelgrass and Oysters to create natural barriers to waterfront erosion and having the city enter into leaseholder agreements with local environmental groups to care for the property.
- Invest in Parks: Increase funding for Parks Department services with a focus on clean-up, maintenance, and restoration of all playgrounds and open spaces. Offer tax credits to local businesses that agree to “adopt-a-park” and cover the costs of maintenance and improvements.
- Go Retro: Offer property tax credits and zero interest loans to residential property owners that upgrade their properties with clean energy repairs and emission reduction retrofits.
