waterways stating, "The water along our shoreline is cleaner than it has been in generations – but we want it cleaner still, so that we can fish, swim, and enjoy the rivers that have always been the City’s most distinctive feature." JBFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 21, 2006
MAYOR BLOOMBERG ANNOUNCES CREATION OF OFFICE OF LONG-TERM PLANNING AND SUSTAINABILITY
New Office and Advisory Board to Create Agenda to Make New York City an Environmental Leader and Guide City Efforts Towards Environmentally Sound Future
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg today announced a series of initiatives to move forward the Administration’s plans to create an ambitious environmental agenda for New York City and its municipal government. The key components of the plan include the creation of the Office of Long-term Planning and Sustainability within the Mayor’s Office of Operations; the undertaking of a major greenhouse gas inventory for City government and the City overall; the appointment of a Sustainability Advisory Board to advise the City on environmentally sound policies and practices; that Douglas I. Foy, former Massachusetts Secretary for Commonwealth Development, will serve as a special advisor on sustainability; and the creation of a new partnership with the Earth Institute of Columbia University to provide the City with scientific research and advice on environmental and climate change-related issues.
The announcement took place during a visit with California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to Bloom Energy in Sunnyvale, California, where the Mayor and Governor talked about the State of California’s groundbreaking sustainability initiatives. Prior to the announcement, the Mayor and Governor toured the facility, which manufactures fuel cells that generate power by converting hydrogen into electricity and produce only water as exhaust.
“Sustainability is all about ensuring that economic growth and development today is compatible with the ability of our children and grandchildren to meet their needs in the future,” said Mayor Bloomberg. “To that end, in May I made a pledge to the New York League of Conservation Voters to establish the Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability, and create an advisory board comprised of New York’s leading experts, activists, and businesspeople in this field to set goals, and help shape and guide the City’s sustainability agenda.
“Like California, New York City has a long tradition of leadership in environmental protection - from creating the largest municipal park system in the nation, to pioneering water conservation, to banning second-hand smoke in public places. Now, we intend to make New York City a national leader in meeting the challenge of making ours an environmentally sustainable city. To make New York a truly sustainable city, we need a bold plan to use our land in the smartest way possible – not only by developing areas ripe for growth, but also by cleaning up brownfields so that no piece of New York City is too contaminated to be used for employment, housing, or recreation. The water along our shoreline is cleaner than it has been in generations – but we want it cleaner still, so that we can fish, swim, and enjoy the rivers that have always been the City’s most distinctive feature. We’ve made great strides in cleaning up our air but we still have too much pollution. And the constant threat of global warming means that we have to think about the urban heat island effect that makes our summer days even hotter than the greener areas around our City.”
Read more:
http://www.nyc.gov/portal/site/nycgov/menuitem.c0935b9a57bb4ef3daf2f1c701c789a0/index.jsp?pageID=mayor_press_release&catID=1194&doc_name=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nyc.gov%2Fhtml%2Fom%2Fhtml%2F2006b%2Fpr335-06.html&cc=unused1978&rc=1194&ndi=1
Watch Video of Announcement with Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Schwarzenegger
http://www.nyc.gov/html/om/html/2006b/media/pc092106-la300k.asx
Columbia University's Earth Institute
http://www.earthinstitute.columbia.edu/news/2006/story09-22-06.php
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