Website Comment Summary
Comments repeatedly recognize the importance of this goal and suggest diverse policy ideass to address air pollution concerns. Several comments address more than one of the "10 Goals," particularly the climate change and the congestion goal. Most comments suggest policy options that can be directly achieved at the city level, including retrofits of city vehicles, tree-planting initiatives, and congestion pricing.

Numerous comments encourage air quality improvements through expanding existing urban forestry or "greening" initiatives for purposes of reducing air pollution or decreasing the urban heat island effect. Many combine a tree-planting focus with advocacy for green roofs, frequently concentrating on the heat island impacts rather than specific air quality improvements. To accomplish these broad goals, comments encourage enhancements to the existing DPR Greenstreets program, the creation of additional parkland, and tougher ordinances to require landlords to plant and maintain trees in front of their properties.

Many other comments focus on reducing traffic and/or overall car use in order to accomplish air quality goals. Echoing a dominant recommendation of the congestion goal, many advocate the imposition of a congestion or pollution charge, channeling revenues toward strengthening mass transit systems or subsidizing transit use in underserved neighborhoods. Additional suggestions along this theme include promoting cycling as a transportation alternative, prohibiting traffic at particular times or in particular neighborhoods, and more effectively targeting illegal idling and inefficient delivery-vehicle behavior.

From a transportation angle, many comments propose specific city government initiatives that would help reduce the city's contributions to overall air pollution. Many comments specifically encourage the upgrade or replacement of polluting city vehicles, especially school buses and sanitation trucks. Others encourage the city to promote and require the development of hybrid and hydrogen vehicles and cabs, which could be a gradual process in order to make the transition more feasible. Finally, multiple comments suggest that the city reconsider its own parking permit policies to support additional public transit use, and recommend that the city set its own vehicle efficiency and emissions standards.

Town Hall Comment Summary
Decrease Vehicular Emissions and Pollutants
More than half of the suggestions for improving air quality addressed the need to reduce vehicular emissions and pollutants. The most common category of ideas relate to increasing the use of alternative vehicles and fuels, such as: incentivize/mandate taxis, buses and city fleets to be electric or other hybrid vehicles; support biodiesel; encourage pedicabs and other "non-motorized transport;" and designate "sustainable vehicle lanes." Other common suggestions involved promoting biking and walking with improved bike and pedestrian infrastructure, encouraging or mandating less-polluting trucks, enforcing idling laws, facilitating mass transit use, and discouraging driving through decreased parking availability or "car free days in certain areas." A few calls were made to tax "gas guzzlers," SUVs, and SUV limos.

Plant More Trees and Protect Open Space
Participants from all boroughs also strongly supported increasing the City's tree canopy and open space, with suggestions including: provide tax credits for planting trees, promote green roofs (such as "on all city buildings") and green streets, and "build more open space, protect it from development."

Miscellaneous
Common miscellaneous comments included: increase recycling and conservation, "encourage alternative forms of power," expand the Green Building Law, and increase air quality monitoring (including mobile emissions testing). Individual ideas included: "focus resources on worst neighborhoods first," "implement a gas tax and dedicate funds to health care," and "work with neighboring states to clean our downwind air."

Community Leader Comment Summary
Decreasing Emissions and Pollutants Caused by Transportation Modes
Community leaders provided numerous suggestions for decreasing emissions and pollutants from personal and freight transportation modes. Numerous comments were directed at reducing car use with tactics such as congestion pricing, increased gas tax and parking fees, incentives for hybrids and surcharge for SUVs, "car-free streets and districts (on weekends)," and "discourage city employees from driving, no free parking." With respect to commercial traffic and freight transport, there were several suggestions for truck/freight emissions reductions, enforcement of idling rules, and promotion of modes other than trucks (e.g., rail, ferry) to move freight. Many comments also expressed continued support for mass transit usage as well as cleaner fuel and engines for city buses.

Groups from the Bronx, Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan also addressed highway construction issues, which varied from "stop building highways" to suggestions regarding specific highways such as "deck over the BQE" or "charge tolls on Cross Bx Expressway to reduce emissions."

Individual notes were made to "separate bike and vehicle lanes" and to "ban recreational helicopters."

Plant More Trees
Outer borough leaders shared the sentiment to "plant trees everywhere." Specific, individual suggestions included: "do a tree census," "more green roofs," and "better maintenance of existing trees."

Address Asthma Issues
Several community groups raised the need to address asthma concerns. Individual suggestions included: address "existing and future asthma risk in EIS process," solve childhood asthma problems, create tougher asthma standards, and clean up rat and roach problem.

Miscellaneous
Community groups in Lower Manhattan encouraged the use of wind energy and biofuels as cleaner energy sources. Bronx community groups added that environmental laws should be enforced to reduce pollution, schools and hospitals should not be sited near pollutions sources (e.g., highways), and improved air quality monitoring should lead to greater resources and focus on the most polluted areas.