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| SUSTAINABILITY What is sustainability? POPULATION How do you know our population will grow by almost one million more people? GLOBAL WARMING AND GREENHOUSE GASSES What is global warming? What are its effects? How does it directly affect NYC? What is carbon dioxide? What are greenhouse gases? Which other places have set a carbon target? What is it? What are the main sources of greenhouse gases? What is an urban heat island? What has the City already done? WATER QUALITY AND WETLANDS What do we need to do about water quality? What is a CSO? Why is it a problem? CONGESTION Are you working with the MTA? The Port Authority? Isn't it the MTA's fault that the subway is so crowded? HOUSING Will you have a new initiative for affordable housing? Will you be upzoning neighborhoods? TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE What is a state of good repair? What does it include? Does it include upgrading all stations to be handicapped accessible? ENERGY SUPPLY Will you be building more power plants? BROWNFIELDS How many brownfields are there? Where are they located? Can schools and other facilities be built on brownfields? EMPLOYMENT Don't we need to have a plan to ensure that the jobs exist? VISITORS How do you know that millions more visitors will come to New York? PROCESS Why have you not considered...schools...health...poverty? How will you be listening to New Yorkers? |
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| SUSTAINABILITY What is sustainability? Sustainable development is a concept that is often invoked but difficult to define. The Bruntland Commission memorably defined it in its 1987 report "Our Common Future" as "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." |
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| POPULATION How do you know our population will grow by almost one million more people? The Population Division of the Department of City Planning has done a detailed projection of the City's population. This analysis, done on the level of each borough, has taken into account the current age and sex breakdown of the population; birthrates by borough; immigration patterns (not based on origin); life-spans; and patterns of people moving out of the City. With this information, we strongly believe that the City's population will grow, primarily due to three factors: continued immigration; New Yorkers are choosing to stay in their city longer, rather than moving out to the suburbs or to another city; and finally, we are living longer. For these reasons, our population of school-age children will not increase dramatically, but we will have many more seniors. |
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| GLOBAL WARMING AND GREENHOUSE
GASSES What is global warming? What are its effects? How does it directly affect NYC? Global warming is the effect of increased carbon dioxide and certain other gases in the atmosphere. These gases have a "greenhouse effect" by which sunlight gets converted into heat and then trapped inside the earth's atmosphere, which raises its temperature - just as the glass in a greenhouse does. This impact has increased average temperatures worldwide; melted glaciers in both the Arctic and the Antarctic; and intensified hurricanes and other storms. Locally - as we have found in our work on PLANYC - it has already raised the sea level at Battery Park and increased summer temperatures, as measured right here in Central Park. What is carbon? What are greenhouse gases? Carbon dioxide is a by-product of burning energy. Certain types of fuel produce more and some produce relatively less - coal, for example, emits lots of carbon, but natural gas produces less. Methane is also a serious greenhouse gas, which is produced in landfills as they decompose and from sewage. Which other places have set a carbon target? What is it? Lots of places have set carbon targets; including Chicago, California, most European countries, and all of the 163 countries that signed onto the Kyoto accords. A carbon target means identifying how much carbon you create currently and working to reduce those emissions by a certain percentage. What are the main sources of greenhouse gases? We are still working on our inventory of all carbon created by New York City and its vibrant economy. But, in general, there are three main sources: fuel burned to make electricity, fuel burned for heat, and fuel burned in trucks, automobiles, and airplanes. What is an urban heat island? Scientists often mention the "urban heat island effect." They are referring to the fact that cities are often hotter than the surrounding areas because the asphalt in our streets and the concrete in our buildings retain heat. In contrast, areas like the suburbs that have more trees, more grass, and relatively less concrete tend to be cooler. For PLANYC, we have measured this effect here in New York and the City is generally five degrees Fahrenheit hotter on a summer day than the surrounding suburbs. What has the City already done? New York is already a world leader in the fight against global warming. First of all, we're the most energy-efficient city in America; the average New Yorker consumes less than half of the electricity of someone who lives in San Francisco and nearly one-quarter the electricity consumed by someone who lives in Dallas. Second, we've got the best transit system - and the highest usage. This is all the result of our density - because urban living is the most environmentally friendly way to live. More recently, we've also been a leader in green technology and green practices. We've replaced virtually every red and green stoplight in the City with highly energy-efficient, cutting-edge LED lights. The City government owns the largest fleet of hybrid fuel vehicles in North America. With our new green building law and our environmentally preferable purchasing law - products of our close collaboration with the City Council - we're now pushing even further ahead. |
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| WATER QUALITY AND WETLAND What do we need to do about water quality? DEP is currently working with the State to develop a long-term control plan to improve our waterway quality. In addition, we need to explore innovative best practices that will prevent stormwater that isn't polluted from entering the sewage system. What is a CSO? Why is it a problem? A "CSO" is a "combined sewage overflow." What that means is that most of New York City - like most older cities in the country - have a single, combined sewer system that handles sanitary waste as well as storm water. When it's not raining, sewage treatment plants can handle all of the sewage we produce and clean it up. But when it rains, the vast amount of rainwater that goes into the sewers exceeds their capacity, so some of it must be released into the rivers untreated. That's why sometimes, after heavy rain, we have to close beaches. |
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| CONGESTION Are you working with the MTA? The Port Authority? We have spoken with the MTA and the Port Authority as we have developed these challenges. Our projections are in many cases based on their own work. We look forward to working closely with them, and with other agencies in the region, to develop solutions to the challenges ahead. Isn't it the MTA's fault that the subway is so crowded? In many cases, no. They've announced that they'll expand service on the L train, which is crucial, and on the G train, which currently has infrequent service. But the Lexington Avenue line there's simply no more room to put more trains, longer trains or more riders. The only way to solve that problem is to build the Second Avenue line, which depends on figuring out how to finance it fully. Only the first phase - on the Upper East Side - currently has any financing at all. |
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| HOUSING Will you have a new initiative for affordable housing? Will you be upzoning neighborhoods? We are looking for ideas for solutions; we have not decided anything. The Bloomberg Administration's affordable housing plan provides a solid start to get us to 2013. But over the long term, if we don't address the overall supply of housing, we'll never really address the housing shortage. That means we'll continue to work with communities to develop thoughtful, neighborhood-focused plans to accommodate the city's growing population. This would include upzonings where appropriate, while ensuring that neighborhood character and quality of life concerns are addressed. |
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| TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE What is a state of good repair? What does it include? Does it include upgrading all stations to be handicapped accessible? A "state of good repair" is a somewhat technical term. It means, generally, that there's no deferred maintenance: no leaks left unrepaired; that painting is done on a regular basis; that there aren't any obsolete parts of the system that can't be replaced easily. It doesn't include handicapped accessibility at all stations, but it does include achieving accessibility at the 100 most important ones. Anything beyond that is not included in the definition of "state of good repair" - but there are clearly more improvements that should be made. |
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| ENERGY SUPPLY Will you be building more power plants? Not necessarily. There are lots of options for how we ensure that we have a clean and reliable source of energy. We could find ways to reduce our overall electricity consumption - whether by using more efficient compact fluorescent lightbulbs or installing more efficient air conditioners. We could repower existing plants with more efficient, higher-output, and less-polluting generators. We could draw in more electricity from outside the city by building new transmission lines. And new technology - already in service - means that many buildings can cost-effectively install small, efficient, and environmentally-safe generators to provide their own power on-site. |
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| BROWNFIELDS How many brownfields are there? There is no definitive list of brownfields because the definition of "brownfield" is subjective. The definition includes sites with known contamination and sites that are suspected of being contaminated. We do know that at least 1,700 acres of land in the City are enrolled in various state programs to address contamination at least on parts of the site. We also know that many other sites are contaminated to varying degrees, and that there are other sites out there - former dry cleaners, former factories where chemicals were used, sites created with fill material, etc. - that may also be contaminated. Where are they located? There are brownfields in all five boroughs. Many are located near waterways and in current or former industrial areas. Can schools and other facilities be built on brownfields? If a site is cleaned to a high enough standard, it can be used for virtually any use, including schools. A site's planned use generally drives the level of clean-up done and how exposures are prevented. |
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| EMPLOYMENT Don't we need to have a plan to ensure that the jobs exist? Our projections of roughly three-quarters of a million new jobs in the five boroughs by 2030 are based on existing and long-term trends. New York has a diverse economy and continues to attract businesses drawn by its tremendous labor pool, its business services and networking, and its global prestige. We must continue the kind of support that the Economic Development Corporation and the Department of Small Business Services provide to assist businesses in various sectors. Our main challenge will be to provide the space for businesses to locate - as we have done in areas from the far West Side to the Industrial Business Zones. We must also ensure that the City's quality of life remains as good as it is today - or better. |
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| VISITORS How do you know that millions more visitors will come to New York? In the 15 years since 1991, we nearly doubled our annual visitors from 23 million to 44 million. We expect to reach 50 million visitors by 2015, or sooner; even at modest growth rates thereafter, it is likely we would get above 60 or 62 million by 2030. After that, we begin to run into challenges caused by capacity constraints at our airports and limits on the number of hotel rooms that we can reasonably expect to be developed in the City. |
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| PROCESS Why have you not considered...schools...health...poverty? We view this effort as building on, not replacing, the other major projects that the City has undertaken already. Obviously, New York has many long-term needs: continuing to keep crime down and preventing terrorism; continuing our work to improve the schools and expanding capacity; addressing poverty by providing more opportunities through our Commission for Economic Opportunities; continuing to assist specific industries through our work at the Economic Development Corporation. This effort is intended to address new challenges for New York. Specifically about schools, our population projections suggest that our school-age population will not increase significantly over what it is today. This doesn't mean that we don't need more capacity now, and certainly some neighborhoods may need more schools. We intend to address those needs through the planning processes at the Schools Construction Authority. But it does mean that we don't face a Citywide school capacity crisis for 2030, which is why we haven't identified it as one of our sustainability goals. How will you be listening to New Yorkers? This Web site provides an opportunity to give feedback and ideas on every goal the city has announced for 2030. You can also call 311 to give your ideas or write to City Hall. Also, the city will be hosting meetings across New York with communities, elected officials, and other groups. Check out our calendar under "ACTIONYC" for details of events as they get scheduled. |
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