The Greening of the Big Apple

Posted by Don Hazen, AlterNet at 9:59 AM on June 20, 2008.

The Streets Belong to the People

Yes, the New York State legislature scuttled Mayor Bloomberg's bid for Congestion Pricing -- which is another way of saying paying tolls to be able drive into overcrowded Midtown Manhattan -- but that isn't stopping various of the city's political players from trying other tactics to make the city greener and more livable. NYC's charismatic and innovative Transportation Secretary Janette Sadik-Khan, with support from her boss Bloomberg, of course, is creating a major car-free zone that will stretch for 6.9 miles from the Brooklyn Bridge to Park Avenue and up the East Side, on three Saturdays during the dog days of August, clearing the way for a giant strolling mall -- do I hear European cities anyone? Check it out on August 9, 16, and 23.

Of course this is labeled an experiment, but one guesses even the most hardened of New Yorkers are going to take to the idea that the streets belong to the people, at least some of them, some of the time.

And the idea that Broadway -- the diagonal street that messes up the Manhattan street grid, and once was an Indian path -- might one day become a pedestrian mall, is extremely exciting for the urban planners and enviros of NYC.

Imagine the possibilities!

We Love Tap Water!

Getting greener, the New York City Council has gotten the tap water religion, and will join a number of cities in no longer buying bottled water -- in this case for its downtown offices. Meanwhile, the National Conference of Mayors meets this weekend in Miami and will be voting on a resolution encouraging all U.S. cities to stop spending taxpayer dollars on bottled water. Not surprisingly, major bottlers like Coke, represented by the American Beverage Association, have hired a team of lobbyists to defeat the resolution.

A key activist group, Corporate Accountability International, explains in their Think Outside the Bottle Campaign that bottled water costs 4,000-10,000 times more than tap water, while the plastic bottles end up in landfills. In addition, making and transporting bottled water creates a major carbon footprint.

Seems insane, but the bottled water industry behemoths -- Nestle, Coke, Pepsi -- have succeeded in scaring people into thinking that tap water isn't safe and healthy, which in virtually every case it is. And as it turns out, Mayor Bloomberg demands only "New York's finest," when in restaurants. Good for you Mr. Mayor.

How About Street Air Conditioning?

But on one NYC greening issue, success is still elusive. Walking around town on a warm day, one often feels blasts of cold air while walking past the open doors of stores. Well, think about that in terms of wasted energy. The stores' owners are air conditioning the street -- it's like leaving the gas pumps pumping after the tank is full, as one enviro put it.

Stepping up, Westside activist and City Council member Gail Brewer has proposed legislation that would provide for a $200 fine for leaving doors and windows open while blasting the AC. But this bill is stuck. Why? It seems, as Clyde Haberman notes in the New York Times, "the Bloomberg administration, despite its own ample "green" talk, has shown scant interest in telling businesses what to do."

Hey Mayor, how will you feel during the next Con Ed. energy crash? You could save a lot of BTUs by shutting those doors.

Don Hazen is the executive editor of AlterNet.