Rivera, Powers Chin Involve Community In East Side Coastal Resiliency Project
City Council Members Carlina Rivera (D-East Village, Gramercy Park, Kips Bay, LES, Murray Hill, Rose Hill), Keith Powers (D-UES, Carnegie Hill, Yorkville, Central Park South, Midtown East, Times Square, Koreatown, Stuyvesant Town, Peter Cooper Village, Waterside Plaza, Tudor City, Turtle Bay, Murray Hill, Sutton Place) and Margaret Chin (D-Battery Park City, Civic Center, Chinatown, Financial District, Little Italy, LES, NoHo, SoHo, South Street Seaport, South Village, TriBeCa & Washington Square) are teaming up to help the community learn about and have more input into the East Side Coastal Resiliency Project (ESCR).
The ESCR is the first major storm resiliency project in Manhattan since Hurricane Sandy – perhaps the largest of its kind ever in New York City.
It will include the construction of a raised East River Park and additional barriers that would act to defend against storm surge and prevent Sandy-like devastation to public and private housing and small businesses along Manhattan’s East Side. ESCR spans three Council Districts and two Community Boards as it runs from Montgomery Street to East 25th Street.
As conversations elected office, agencies, and stakeholders continue during the city’s public land use review process (ULURP), the lawmakers are encouraging all members of the public to attend two open houses.
The open Houses are slated from 4-8 p.m., today, May 14, and tomorrow, May 15 at the Lower East Side Girls Club, 402 E. 8th Street (at Avenue D) in the East Village.
Brewer, Kallos, Hoylman Help Put Trump On Notice
Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, City Council Member Ben Kallos (D-UES, Yorkville, Lenox Hill, Carnegie Hill, Roosevelt Island, Midtown East, Sutton Place, East Harlem) and State Sen. Brian Hoylman (D-Clinton/Hell’s Kitchen, Chelsea, Greenwich Village, UWS, Midtown/East Midtown, Columbus Circle, Times Square, Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village, the East Village, LES) yesterday joined with Mayor de Blasio to put President Trump on notice for the millions of dollars his properties will owe under new climate change legislation that requires large buildings in New York City to dramatically cut their greenhouse gas emissions.
The law, a world-first, takes effect on May 17 and is a central component of the city’s Green New Deal that is expected to create new jobs and build a fairer and healthier city for all New Yorkers, making the city carbon-neutral by 2050.
Across New York City, Trump owns at least 8 large buildings that do not meet 2030 emissions levels under the law. These dirty, inefficient buildings pump approximately 27,000 metric tons of greenhouse gases into our air each year, the equivalent of 5,800 cars. If Trump does not clean up these buildings, he will owe approximately $2.1 million in fines every year starting in 2030.
“Our message is loud and clear,” said Mayor de Blasio. “We’re tackling climate change head-on with NYC’s Green New Deal and are the first city in the world to require all big buildings to cut their emissions, with the goal of a carbon neutral city by 2050. President Trump – you’re on notice. Your polluting buildings are part of the problem. Cut your emissions or pay the price.”
“Donald Trump is wreaking havoc on our planet, from Washington D.C. to New York City. This bold initiative from Mayor de Blasio and the City Council will deliver a clear ultimatum to our climate denier in chief: cut your emissions or pay the price. Washington won’t solve our climate crisis, so New York must take action, including against the Trump International Hotel in my Senate district. I’m grateful to Mayor de Blasio and the New York City Council for their leadership in regulating building emissions and I’ll continue to work with my colleagues in Albany to fight for climate justice,” said State Senator Brad Hoylman.
“America’s progressive cities have been left to fend for themselves and to lead when it comes to implementing policies combating climate change,” said Kallos. “New York City’s Green New Deal is the exact kind of legislation the rest of the country, beginning with the federal government should be working to replicate. This is not the time for climate change deniers to spew their theories and attack this forward-thinking package of legislation. Thank you, Mayor De Blasio, for his commitment to these new laws which will push New York City in the right direction on climate change despite whatever the federal government is doing.”
“The rest of the country looks to New York City to lead—especially on topics as dire as combating climate change,” said Brewer.
Maloney Asks Postmaster General to Investigate Fake Census Mailer from RNC
U.S Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-East Side of Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn), chair of the House Census Caucus along with U.S. Reps. Wm. Lacy Clay (D-MI) and Frank Pallone (D-NJ), last week, sent a letter to Postmaster General Megan Brennan requesting that she consider an investigation into a reported mail piece from the Republican National Committee appearing to be from the US Census Bureau.
In the letter they write, “We believe that the RNC mailing is a cynical attempt to use the good name of the census for partisan political purposes, misleads recipients, and is a clear violation of federal law intended to preserve the integrity of official government business.
“Additionally, we believe no political organization, regardless of party affiliation, should exploit or endanger the established reputation of the census for political purposes. We hope that the United States Postal Inspection Service will consider an investigation into this matter.”
The full text of the letter is available here.
