Public Employee Press

Environmental team debates PlaNYC 2030

By JANE LaTOUR

The New York City Apollo Alliance — part of a national movement that links job creation, environmental stewardship, and energy independence — held a forum on June 6 to provide an overview of Mayor Bloomberg’s PlaNYC 2030.

The plan focuses on five dimensions — land, air, water, energy, and transportation — to enhance the environment of New York City.

Ariella Rosenberg Maron, of the Long-term Planning and Sustainability Office, laid out the basic design and goals of the plan. Rather than try to describe all 127 separate initiatives, Maron explained the plan’s 10 major goals and elaborated on the multilayered programs designed to implement them.

Each of the 10 is a visionary, far-sighted objective. Goal number 2 is for New York to “achieve the cleanest air quality of any big city in America.” The logistics involve power plants, buildings, transportation, lobbying state and federal agencies, planting 1 million trees and launching the largest local air quality study in the United States.

Ed Ott, executive director of the city’s Central Labor Council, provided input early in the process. He said the plan reflects the goals of the Apollo Alliance and “talks about many of the things we’ve been talking about for years. Goals such as having every New Yorker live within 10 minutes of a park, are taken straight from the environmental justice movement.”

The critical point, stressed Ott, is that to be part of the solution and offer input, labor has to be present at the table.

“Government has a role in planning how society should be organized, and the people should be part of that discussion,” he said. “This administration deserves credit for making this happen,” said Ott.

Workforce Development Institute Executive Director Ed Murphy noted that the next step is to keep an eye on the specifics as the plan moves forward in the legislature and in front of the authorities and regulatory bodies that need to be brought on board, such as the Public Utilities Commission.

Labor, business and environmental justice community groups offered comments in response to the ambitious initiative which aims to set New York City on the road to becoming a model for a green and sustainable urban environment. Gouri Sadhwani and Linda Nelson of SEIU Local 32BJ and Howard Styles of Operating Engineers Local 94 spoke about the training they are providing for their members in order to participate in the goals of the plan.