NYC

NYC Copies Bogota

- Adam Clare

This August Manhattan will experience something that Bogota already does on a regular basis – main streets being turned into pedestrian and bike lanes. I like it when municipalities respect forms of transportation that don’t pollute.

“We anticipate that hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers and visitors will take advantage of streets temporarily opened for recreation,” said Mayor Bloomberg. “We hope the Summer Streets experiment will become as much a part of the New York experience as strolling the Coney Island boardwalk, participating in the 5-borough bike tour, or listening to the Philharmonic in the park.

New Yorkers Last Longer

- Adam Clare

New York is a healthy place to live – that may come as a surprise to people who remember New York being a cesspool of yesteryear. New York amgazine has an article on why New Yorkers last longer and how as whole New York breeds a healthy lifestyle.

Things Are Good readers should know that cities as a whole are becoming more attractive to live in for health reasons. The more urban the better. Cities are more walkable than suburban and rural areas and they provide more opportunities for innovation and progress.

From the New York magazine article:

The health difference was shockingly large: A white man who lived in a more urban, mixed-use area was fully ten pounds lighter than a demographically identical guy who lived in a sprawling suburb.
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Interestingly, urban theorists believe it is not just the tightly packed nature of the city but also its social and economic density that has life-giving properties. When you’re jammed, sardinelike, up against your neighbors, it’s not hard to find a community of people who support you—friends or ethnic peers—and this strongly correlates with better health and a longer life. Then there are economies of scale: A big city has bigger hospitals that can afford better equipment—the future of medicine arrives here first. We also tend to enjoy healthier food options, since demanding foodies (vegetarians and the like) are aggregated in one place, making it a mecca for farm-fresh produce and top-quality fish, chicken, and beef. There’s also a richer cultural scene than in a small town, which helps keep people out and about and thus mentally stimulated.

New York to Power Buildings Using Renewable Energy

- Adam Clare

Mayor Bloomberg shows no sign of slowing down his drive to reduce New York City’s carbon emissions, which is of course a good thing. He’s now set to announce that municipal buildings in NYC will switch to solar power and move from dirty regular oil to a less-damaging biodiesel. Other mayors (and North American federal leaders!) should follow NYC’s example of emission cutting.

On Monday, Bloomberg said the city will issue a request for proposals for a pilot program to install solar panels on city-owned buildings in hopes of generating 2 megawatts of solar capacity _ offsetting about 320 tons of emissions per year, equal to taking more than 50 U.S. cars per year off the streets. The city will not pay for the installation but will buy electricity from the provider.

Green Cabs Start to Appear in NYC

- Adam Clare

When news first broke about all those yellow cabs going green in New York City I was pretty excited. Now they are being rolled out and all the yellow cabs in NYC will have to be green by 2012! They taken a good initiative and made it better.

“There’s an awful lot of taxicabs on the streets of New York City obviously, so it makes a real big difference,” said Bloomberg. “These cars just sit there in traffic sometimes, belching fumes; this does a lot less. It’s a lot better for all of us.”

There are currently eight vehicles on the city’s “approved” list when it comes to hybrid vehicles to be used as yellow cabs: the Ford Escape Hybrid; the Honda Accord Hybrid and Civic Hybrid; the Lexus RX400h; the Saturn Vue Green Line; and the Toyota Highlander Hybrid, Camry Hybrid and Prius. As more manufacturers roll out fuel efficient hybrids, the number of possible candidates is sure to increase. Vehicles like the Saturn Aura Green Line and rumored Ford Fusion hybrid are likely to join the list.

New York to Plant One Million Trees

- Adam Clare

New York City is considered a place of glass and concrete (with a park in the middle) and Mayor Bloomberg is looking to add trees to the mix. On Earth Day, Bloomberg proclaimed that one million trees will be planted in the city by 2017. At first I thought that the trees would go in Central Park and in the surrounding parks in the burroughs, particularly Staten Island; indeed, trees will be placed all over.

Bloomberg, whose second term expires at the end of 2009, has a goal of reducing New York City’s carbon emissions by 30 percent over the next two decades. He has said that the population is likely to grow by another million in that time – up from 8.2 million today – and that the city needs a plan now to deal with the strain on infrastructure and the environment.
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For the next 10 years, the city will plant 23,000 trees each year along city streets, to reach a goal of having a tree in “every single place where it is possible to plant a street tree,” Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff said.

The remaining will be planted in parks and public lots, while the private sector will also be encouraged to plant trees on their properties as well.

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