| Releases
& Statements
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 30, 2007
Contact: John Collins, Press Secretary
(212) 669-4193; (917) 496-4587
Release #: 019-2007
Public
Advocate Gotbaum, Experts Unveil Coordinated Response to 2030
Plan
- Public Advocate Also Announces Citywide
Conference to Give New Yorkers Ownership of plaNYC -
MANHATTAN
– With Mayor Bloomberg leaving office in less than three
years, New Yorkers must take an active role in creating a sustainable
city, Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum said today. To keep New Yorkers
engaged in the process, Public Advocate Gotbaum and leading experts
released Twelve for 2030, a coordinated response to the 2030 proposals,
including recommendations to expand access to commuter lines,
attract “green” businesses and jobs to the city, and
create incentives to protect affordable housing.
Public
Advocate Gotbaum also announced she will work to convene a citywide
conference in the Fall of community leaders, experts, advocates
and labor representatives to discuss ways to reach the goal of
a more sustainable city.
Public
Advocate Gotbaum said, “The release of the Mayor’s
plan is a first step, not the last stop. New Yorkers need to know
that they own this plan – and that they have a vital role
in turning its proposals into realities. This coordinated response
continues the dialogue with New Yorkers and moves us closer to
our goal of a cleaner, greener city.”
Public
Advocate Gotbaum called on a group of eleven experts and organizations
last week to review and comment on the 2030 plan. The group produced
a series of additional proposals to build a sustainable city by
2030, including:
-Direct
resources toward maintaining existing affordable housing stock
and creating incentives and regulations to ensure that it does
not turn over to market rate;
-Create
a task force to attract and retain "cleantech" businesses
and jobs that will design and build new energy technologies for
meeting carbon reduction goals;
-Create
more stations to make commuter rail lines that pass through New
York City more accessible to New Yorkers; and
-Make
environmentally friendly strategies, such as green roofs, street
trees, and green streets, a central part of the pending Long Term
Control Plan for reducing sewage overflow into city waterways.
Transportation
Alternatives, the Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development,
the Nature Network, New York Climate Rescue, New Yorkers for Parks,
Sustainable South Bronx, Cloud Institute for Sustainability Education,
and the Baum Forum, along with transportation and urban planning
experts Tom Angotti, Robert Paaswell, and Andrew Albert all submitted
responses.
Public
Advocate Gotbaum also plans to talk with labor representatives,
community boards, civic associations and business and community
leaders throughout the city about how to improve and move the
2030 plan forward.
Click
here to read "Twelve for 2030"
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