District 33

Climate Action Roadmap

INTRODUCTION

The climate crisis is not a far-off threat—it’s happening now. The livelihoods of New Yorkers are at risk when our homes flood, our apartments overheat, and our businesses are destroyed by extreme weather events. Our leaders have waited so long to address the climate crisis, and mitigated so little, that moderation will fail us. 

I represent a waterfront district that could be deluged when the next big storm hits, a risk many New Yorkers face as climate-caused weather events become more frequent. Action is urgently required and our district and our great city are positioned  to lead the way towards a green future.

When I ran for office, I made it clear my top priority was to decrease our dependence on fossil fuels and put our community on a path toward carbon neutrality. This is our plan to do that.

In the face of climate chaos, there’s no alternative to aggressive approaches. My office has outlined a roadmap that is both ambitious and feasible, with a focus on making the greatest impact we can from our position in the City Council. Our plan consists of specific actions we can take in our district and at City Hall to advance five major goals that are rooted in climate justice and can lead us toward carbon neutrality:

  1. Reduce building emissions, New York City’s greatest source of emissions

  2. Curb vehicular emissions by reimagining our streets for alternative modes of transportation and activating our waterways

  3. Expand green spaces and green infrastructure to mitigate extreme heat 

  4. Truly achieve Zero Waste, by diverting garbage from landfills and supporting alternative streams like compost and e-waste recycling

  5. Prepare for changes to our climate with a surge-ready shoreline and resilient neighborhoods

The climate crisis will continue having the deepest, most immediate impact on Black and brown working class neighborhoods across our City. It’s critical that we work together as a community to protect each other from the impacts of the climate crisis through organizing and education campaigns.

Our roadmap is also a call to action to join the organizing initiatives our office is driving and to get involved with some of the leading community based organizations doing great work on the ground in our neighborhoods. Sign up to join our climate initiatives!

 

  1. REDUCING BUILDING EMISSIONS

Urban living is one of our most effective tools to reduce our impact on the environment: when people live close to each other, in multi-family buildings, emissions are reduced through more efficient utilities and construction. But in New York City, buildings currently produce 66% of emissions.

We must do more to further the efficiencies of urban living by upgrading our buildings (both private and public), pivoting to renewable energy sources and storage, and implementing environmentally friendly construction practices. These essential upgrades will also create tens of thousands of green jobs, which we will keep local and union.

Building Energy Efficiency & Clean Community Power

Climate Mobilization Act (Local Law 97)
In 2019, the City Council passed landmark legislation to limit carbon emissions from buildings. This law applies to buildings over 25,000 sq. ft. and will reduce total building emissions by 40% by 2030. The most consequential action we can take to combat the climate crisis locally is to successfully implement this measure and strengthen and expand it where feasible. We will energetically advocate in the budget process for necessary oversight resources to be allocated that will facilitate compliance and we will vigilantly push back against any potential weakening, rollbacks, or delays of this vital legislation.

If you are a large building owner and need technical assistance or more information about financing and utility incentives to help you meet the efficiency requirements of LL97, check out the NYC Accelerator.

Proactive Upgrades in District 33
We will partner with NYC Accelerator to help every large building in our district access low cost PACE financing for environmental upgrades and other tools to get ahead of the curve and fully comply with Local Law 97 before 2030.

Expand Local Law 97 to Cover More Buildings
As we work to bring large buildings in District 33 into compliance with Local Law 97, we also need to look to the future and will support legislation to expand the law to cover buildings 10,000 square feet and larger.

Expand Solar Roof Coverage
New York City’s rooftops can either absorb sunlight, contributing to extreme heat also known as the urban heat island effect, or they can convert the sun’s rays into electricity through green or solar roofs. Solar panels are currently only permitted to cover portions of a roof. We are sponsoring legislation to safely expand allowable solar coverage to maximize the benefits of photovoltaic roofs and generate clean energy.

Allow In Home Battery Storage
Right now, there are far too limited ways to store solar energy to maximize collection for hours of the day when the sun is not producing energy. But there’s a simple solution: energy storage batteries. They allow buildings to keep electricity flowing even when the sun isn’t shining. It’s time to establish safe guidelines for allowing in-building energy storage, and we are sponsoring legislation to make it happen.

Neighborhood Battery Storage Hubs
Battery energy storage makes it possible to provide clean energy even when there is no sun or wind. Neighborhood hubs, which store large amounts of batteries, can provide flexibility to the power grid, deploying the batteries to meet peak demand, thus eliminating the need for polluting peaker plants. To achieve this, we can leverage publicly owned sites, like the Brooklyn Navy Yard, as new battery storage hubs to sustainably power our neighborhoods.

Heat Pumps
The future is electric, and one of the promising models for sustainably heating and cooling our homes are heat pumps. Heat pumps are electric machines that can both heat and cool buildings, and are far more efficient than existing heating systems, which account for approximately 42% of the city’s emissions, far more than air conditioning. But right now, New York City has stricter regulations on heat pump installations than other jurisdictions. We are sponsoring legislation to allow for the safe, external installation of heat pumps to unlock this powerful technology.

Home Weatherization
When homes are insulated against temperature extremes, residents use less energy heating and cooling their homes. We are going to make it easier for homeowners and tenants to weatherize their homes across our district. By implementing heat system and appliance upgrades, replacing doors and windows, and enhancing insulation, weatherization programs can reduce emissions and save money for residents. We will launch a district wide organizing campaign that will educate residents of the 33rd about resources and support to help drive down our largest source of emissions - our own buildings.

Induction Stoves
Last year, the City Council passed a ban on gas hookups in new buildings, which will shift energy usage to our increasingly clean electric grid. Many New Yorkers are unaware of the technical improvements that have been made to electric induction stoves, making them not only the sustainable choice, but a great cooking option. We are going to continue to educate neighbors across our community about induction stoves to encourage retrofits.

Community Solar
We will ​​work with solar developers, community organizations, and neighbors to identify sites across the 33rd District for community shared solar projects, especially affordable housing developments where low-income residents can benefit first from less expensive, more sustainable energy.

Sustainable Construction
For better or worse, District 33 is home to plenty of construction. In fact we have had more new housing built in our district over the past decade than any other in New York City. Much of the focus on limiting the impact buildings have on the climate has centered on operational emissions, but construction materials have significant impact and provide further opportunity to make progress toward sustainability.

Mass Timber
Structural timber (or “mass timber”) construction presents an exciting sustainable alternative to damaging processes like cement production, and we need to do everything we can to safely expand its use in new construction. We will support legislation to allow safe wood construction for buildings up to 18 stories tall, from the current limit of 8 stories.

Sustainable Concrete
Last year, the State legislature passed LECCLA, a new law that will set emissions standards for concrete, which accounts for roughly 8% of global carbon emissions, due to cement production. Now, the New York City government, with a $12 billion capital budget, needs to lead by example and drive the market. We will support legislation to require a sustainable preference when procuring concrete for City construction projects.

Embodied Carbon Caps
We need to expand the Green Buildings Act to cover construction materials, not only operational emissions, and the first step to doing that is establishing a baseline, which we will do by supporting legislation to require new buildings of a certain size to measure their embodied carbon—the climate cost of the materials used in construction. We can then cap the carbon levels of new building construction.

Public Buildings

Upgrading NYCHA
The climate crisis most deeply impacts vulnerable communities and intersects with all of the most pressing issues of this moment, including housing. Twelve thousand of our neighbors in the 33rd Council District are living in unacceptable conditions in seven NYCHA developments. The largest development is Gowanus Houses, which still has unfinished capital work to repair damage wrought by Superstorm Sandy over ten years ago. We will push for City, State, and Federal funding for NYCHA apartment upgrades, including energy efficient stoves, comprehensive weatherization, and utilization of heat pumps.

NYCHA has committed to electrifying buildings by 2050 as part of its effort to fulfill the requirements set forth in the Climate Mobilization Act. We will hold NYCHA accountable that these new green jobs to transform our developments go to NYCHA residents.

Carbon Free and Healthy Schools
With over 30 school buildings across our district, we are working to achieve carbon free schools by investing in retrofits that include solar and green roofs to create safe and healthy school environments. Prioritizing making our schools carbon free is critical for the well being of our young people, the workers in our schools, and our whole community.

 

2. REIMAGINING OUR STREETS

Transportation is our second largest source of emissions representing over 30% of emissions in New York City. We can, and indeed must, reduce personal car ownership and truck traffic in our communities by investing in more reliable and efficient mass transit, a truly protected network of bicycle lanes to enhance safety, and alternative freight infrastructure. This issue is particularly important in the 33rd District, which is home to a large section of the Brooklyn Queens Expressway and serves as gateway to Manhattan, Queens, and beyond for much of Brooklyn.

Open Realm Planning

Our office strongly supports the development of two new open realm plans in Downtown Brooklyn and North Brooklyn that will prioritize people first on our streets. The time has come to reimagine our streetscape as more than just a place for cars. When we undertake holistic neighborhood planning, we can achieve more accessible pedestrian areas, better connectivity between parks, public plazas, and open streets, and dedicated cycling and bus lanes.

Our office will partner with the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership to advance public realm planning in Downtown Brooklyn that includes a redesign of the bus network, truly protected bike lanes on Adams, Schermerhorn, and other key streets, and increasing the successful shared street model to have more dedicated pedestrian space.

In Williamsburg and Greenpoint, we are supporting a coalition of community based organizations, including North Brooklyn Parks Alliance, Newtown Creek Alliance, El Puente, and North Brooklyn Neighbors to pursue a 197-a style public planning and community engagement process to expand open streets and make them permanent, realize new public plazas and park spaces, and enhance connectivity between them.

Protected Bike Lane Network

Biking is a green method of transportation that we should be encouraging more New Yorkers to embrace, but we need to make it safer. As an avid cyclist, I understand all too well the tragically unsafe biking conditions on our streets. We can change that, and all it requires is political will to secure resources to realize the Streets Master Plan and build the network of truly protected bike lanes that our community is demanding.

The 33rd Council District includes six bridges, so a protected network of lanes in our district enhances safety for every Brooklynite making their way to Manhattan and Queens. While we are fortunate to have safe, protected lanes on each of our bridges, the approaches to bridges are a whole different story. From McGuinness in Greenpoint by the Pulaski Bridge to Adams Street by the Brooklyn Bridge to the perilous Manhattan Bridge entrance at Sands and Jay, we are pushing for consistently safe access to each of our six bridges.

While strides are being made toward a network of truly protected lanes, there are numerous pain points around our district that we are prioritizing for improvement. Intersections like Fourth Avenue and Atlantic are desperately in need of redesign and we are pushing to see urgent safety improvements here and other key areas around our district.

Some of our most well-traversed bike lanes, like the Brooklyn Greenway along Kent Avenue in Williamsburg and Greenpoint, are in poor condition. We will push to secure the needed capital investments to ensure our bike lanes can safely, smoothly, and efficiently move riders.

Streamline Bike Lane Approvals

Because of outdated law, it takes longer to get a few blocks of a bike lane approved than a “Major Transportation Project” like a new bus lane. The current process even includes a mandatory 45-day waiting period during which nothing happens. I am sponsoring legislation to streamline bike lane approvals so members of the public and community boards can give substantive feedback and then the city can move forward to install this life saving infrastructure.

Public Transportation

Our public transportation system is the lifeblood of our City. We need to expand and invest in every type of transit, not only to serve people, increase safety and accessibility, and diminish pollution, but also to discourage the use of personal cars. No one wants to live in a New York City clogged by traffic, and the climate crisis demands that we provide New Yorkers with high-quality alternatives to personal vehicles and trucks.

Buses

Bus Rapid Transit for the Brooklyn Waterfront
Increasingly, Brooklynites are living, working and hanging in Brooklyn, but our mass transit system remains entirely too Manhattan-centric. We need better intra-Brooklyn connectivity, especially along the Brooklyn waterfront from Downtown Brooklyn to Greenpoint, and bus rapid transit is the best, most cost effective, and efficient way to do it. We will take the stale BQX plan and advocate for a vision of bus rapid transit to better meet our community’s transit needs.

Busways
The 14th Street busway is a model for prioritizing public transit by dedicating space for buses over individual cars. Unfortunately too many buses move like molasses through New York City congestion. We need to replicate the success of the 14th Street busway across our district. We will work to make the envisioned Jay Street busway real and partner with community members and DOT to achieve more busways in, around, and through the 33rd.

Camera Enforcement
The DOT and MTA have piloted a bus lane enforcement program using cameras mounted on buses, to ensure cars don’t park in the bus lane and interfere with our buses. We will push to get cameras on each and every bus to hold inconsiderate drivers accountable for slowing down our bus riders.

Subways

We are fortunate to have more subway stations in our district than any Council district outside of Manhattan, but too many of these stations fail to reliably serve subway riders. We need to prioritize targeted investments in our subways to improve safety, enhance ADA accessibility and improve cleanliness.

York Avenue F Station
The York Avenue F Train station is overburdened. The residential and working populations in DUMBO have exploded, but there is just one narrow tunnel and entrance for subway riders to get in and out of the York Street station. The safety of daily commuters and the potential growth of the DUMBO community depend on expanding capacity at this station. We will do whatever it takes to swiftly secure capital investments to address the unacceptable conditions at York Street.

High Street Stop
The High Street A/C Train station is one of the deepest train stations in New York City, but it is plagued by consistent escalator problems. We will work with the MTA to install brand new state of the art escalators to ensure seniors, parents with strollers, people with disabilities, and all subway riders can reliably get in and out of the station.

G Train
As Assembly Member Emily Gallagher accurately proclaimed, we deserve better than “the stubby little G train cars.” We can’t let the G Train go ignored by the MTA just because it is the sole subway line that avoids Manhattan. We are fighting for more frequent service and standard sized trains to make this Brooklyn-Queens line a more reliable option for commuters who depend on it everyday.

Ferries
With six ferry piers, District 33 has more NYC Ferry docks here than any other New York City Council district. Activating our waterfront not only diverts car trips, it integrates mass transit into our coastal city by activating our shorelines and encouraging investments into vital resiliency initiatives. However, the lack of integration with MTA subways and buses makes commuting by ferry too expensive. With a new Governor, Mayor and MTA leadership, we have a fresh opportunity to realize fare integration, so your OMNY payment method can finally get you on the ferry, with free transfers to buses and subways. To reduce the costs of fare integration, we should develop split level pricing between City residents and tourists to generate additional revenue to help subsidize the cost for commuters.

Car, Truck & Delivery Infrastructure

Reimagining the BQE
The most urgent infrastructure project in District 33 is the crumbling triple cantilever portion of the BQE. No Band-Aid solutions will do. We have a generational opportunity to transform this antiquated relic into green infrastructure that can help mitigate the climate crisis, instead of adding to it. We can and must seize this opportunity to reduce car and truck traffic in our community, while expanding green spaces, improving connectivity between areas long severed by this highway, like Brooklyn Heights and Brooklyn Bridge Park, and enhancing air quality and public health for residents living on top of an interstate highway.

Traffic Calming on Key Corridors
Too many avenues in our community function as highways. These streets are dangerous for pedestrians to navigate, bad for the health of our communities, and urgently require comprehensive traffic calming measures. McGuinness in Greenpoint and Atlantic Avenue in Boerum Hill and Brooklyn Heights are such highways that divide our communities. We have lost too many beloved neighbors to traffic violence on these streets. Accordingly, we support the proposal for a road diet on McGuinness Boulevard to reduce the number of lanes of traffic, while mitigating congestion and ensuring that industrial and manufacturing businesses can continue to thrive in our community. We are pursuing traffic calming measures on Atlantic that will improve safety, increase foot traffic for local businesses, and enhance access to Brooklyn Bridge Park.

Eliminating Parking Requirements
While New York City has lifted parking requirements in new affordable housing developments, market rate developments mandate new off-street parking spaces, even in super transit rich areas. In coordination with Borough President Antonio Reynoso and Council Members across the borough, we have directed developers applying for rezonings to file necessary paperwork to lift parking requirements and invest in the affordable housing and dynamic retail storefronts our communities want.

The Blue Superhighway
With the explosion of e-commerce deliveries, we need to rethink how we bring freight into and through NYC in more sustainable ways. The new last mile facilities are a major concern for air quality and street safety. I am a strong proponent of expanding cargo bike infrastructure to reduce truck traffic and we are encouraging local businesses to expand cargo bike operations. Additionally, we are working with DOT to increase prevalence of commercial delivery zones to mitigate idling and congestion. Ultimately, we need to invest in waterborne freight infrastructure to reduce truck traffic, and the 33rd is a natural place to do it. We are surveying publicly owned land across our waterfront district to identify prime locations for reinvigorating our formerly working waterfront and expanding or building new marine freight facilities.

City Fleet
The fleet of vehicles owned by New York City has grown by nearly 1,000 cars over the previous mayoral administration. This is environmentally indefensible. In conjunction with rampant placard abuse, this has made our streets less safe. We can shift City workers out of City cars and into public transit and ebikes. As we shrink the City fleet, we should prioritize electric vehicles and phase out gas guzzlers like SUVs. We will sponsor legislation to make this happen, as well as make every effort to eliminate SUVs in City contracted and regulated fleets.

 

3. GREEN SPACES & GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE

Our community has grown more than any other Council District in New York City over the past decade. Neighborhood rezonings came with commitments for multiple new parks that have been stuck in bureaucratic limbo for over 15 long years. Our promised parks should have opened years ago on Box Street in Northern Greenpoint, at Bushwick Inlet Park in Williamsburg, and on Willoughby in Downtown Brooklyn. I am committed to do whatever it takes to get our promised parks immediately built.

Across our neighborhoods, we must invest more in our parks to maintain their quality. In addition to dramatically increasing City funding for parks to at least 1% of the City budget, I will also help organize, support, and sustain our Parks Friends groups composed of committed neighbors who make our green spaces better day in and day out. When the Parks Department and our community are working together, we can deliver the green spaces that Brooklynites deserve.

City Funding for Parks

Asphalt and concrete surfaces drive the “urban heat island effect” contributing to climate chaos and making our summers increasingly unbearable. We need citywide investment to reverse this effect. I am fighting for the Parks Department budget we deserve with at least 1% of funding citywide going to our parks, which is much less than most large American cities.

District 33 Park Expansions

We are laser focused on securing long promised park spaces and converting asphalt and concrete spaces into permeable park spaces that make our community greener and more resilient.

Bushwick Inlet Park
The centerpiece of the Williamsburg-Greenpoint waterfront rezoning is the planned Bushwick Inlet Park. This 27 acre waterfront park, which is nearly the same size as Fort Greene Park, will eventually be one of the great public spaces in New York City. From the demolition of Citi Storage facility to the remediation of the various parcels to fully funding the remaining construction of the park, Bushwick Inlet Park is my top capital funding priority.

Box Street Park
More than 15 years ago, the MTA CEO committed to relocate their Emergency Response Unit from the Greenpoint waterfront to make way for park space. There has been no movement to relocate these vehicles all these years later, but we will finally find a new home for the ERU, so we can open our long promised Box Street Park.

Columbus Park
Columbus Park, the center of Brooklyn’s civic downtown, is a vast concrete expanse. We will initiate a visioning process for turning Columbus Park green and resilient, activate this area with more programming, and strive to emulate the dynamism of Cadman Plaza across toward Borough Hall.

McCarren Asphalt
We are working with community groups to establish a plan to make the asphalt section of McCarren park a permeable surface to equip the neighborhood for stormwater resiliency. This area is ripe for more active park programming.

Abolitionist Place
This long promised park from the Downtown Brooklyn rezoning should provide the sole green oasis in the heart of the neighborhood. We will push to get this park opened as soon as possible.

Trees

There is no more consequential investment in tackling the climate crisis than trees. We must prioritize expanding our tree canopy and improving tree health and maintenance. Trees are vital for enhancing air quality, managing stormwater, and reducing urban heat island effect. We strongly support planting one million new trees across the five boroughs and will plant many thousands of new trees in District 33. In addition, we are recruiting citizen pruners, investing in new tree guards, and expanding care and maintenance for trees in our community.

Green Infrastructure

From green roofs to expanding tree pits with rain gardens to permeable paving our streets and expanding infiltration systems and stormwater green streets on our sidewalks - we are committed to maximizing green infrastructure across District 33. We will dedicate funding from our District 33 discretionary funds, advocate for dramatically expanded capital allocations by the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, and increase requirements on private developers and property owners to make their rooftops, backyards and front yards as green and permeable as possible.

 

4. WASTE

Compost

Over one third of our waste is organic material, but before composting programs were interrupted by the pandemic, only 5% of that food waste was getting composted. Composting reduces the methane pollution caused by sending food waste to landfill and saves the city money by eliminating high export costs.

Mandatory Curbside Composting
The curbside compost pickup program has been restored across almost all of District 33, and I will fight through the budget process to expand it to the rest of our city. Ultimately, composting needs to be mandatory, paired with a robust public action campaign, to increase participation so we can make real progress toward diverting waste from landfill. I will support legislation to do just that!

Community Organics Drop-Off
To bridge the gap as we work toward universal curbside compost pickup, I am supporting the Community Organics and Recycling Empowerment (CORE) Act, which would require three compost drop-off sites in each community district. Community drop-off sites were a popular option before the pandemic, and while some have returned, there are fewer options for New Yorkers looking for a place to take their food waste.

Community Composting Facilities
We have an opportunity to convert the former Department of Sanitation facility on Newtown Creek into a community composting facility, so our compost can be processed right here in District 33, reducing truck miles and contributing to the city’s transition towards organics diversion.

Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Methane Project
Driving down the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment plant’s methane emissions is critical to decreasing greenhouse gas emissions, reducing organic waste sent to landfills, and improving local air quality in Greenpoint. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas more than 25 times more powerful than carbon dioxide. Newtown Creek is the largest wastewater treatment plant in New York City and is the recipient of about 1 in 6 toilet flushes by New Yorkers. Nine years ago, National Grid and the NYC Department of Environmental Protection announced a plan to add organic waste to the sludge generated by the facility to redirect the methane produced to heat 5,200 local homes. This project has been stuck in limbo for too long and we are going to push the parties involved to get it done as soon as possible, which will have the equivalent benefit of getting 19,000 cars off the road!

Electronic Waste

Electronics make up less than 1% of our waste stream, but they have an outsized environmental impact when sent to landfill. State law prohibits including e-waste in trash or recycling, which can result in a $100 fine in New York City. While the amount of e-waste entering landfill has decreased, improved public education and expanded recycling options could help divert more of this particularly damaging material. The CORE Act would also allow e-waste drop off at community sites, and I will work to identify potential sites as well as support the expansion of curbside pickup programs.

 

5. A RESILIENT DISTRICT

Climate Adaptation Plan

My Brooklyn colleague Justin Brannan passed Local Law 122 of 2021 requiring the Mayor to release a plan for our shoreline by September 2022. I will push City Hall to ensure we embrace the most ambitious, forward-thinking approach to a resilient city, with special attention to our shoreline in District 33.

Community Based Emergency Planning

As extreme climate events become more frequent, it’s necessary that we help neighbors access resources like free air conditioners or cooling centers and have systems to check on each other. Heat vulnerability and other impacts of the climate crisis are more likely to impact Black and brown New Yorkers. Greenpoint and Williamsburg especially score poorly on the heat vulnerability index, and our neighbors in NYCHA will be more at risk due to advanced age, chronic health conditions, and other social and environmental factors. Community based emergency planning to check on neighbors is an important part of climate crisis resiliency planning.

Natural Shoreline

District 33 is a waterfront district. Wherever feasible, we will replace our concrete seawall with a natural shore that aids in clean stormwater drainage–a solution Brooklyn Bridge Park is already successfully modeling. We are also partnering with community groups and the Department of Transportation to open up access to the waterfront at as many street ends as possible.

Stormwater Management

Stormwater is the leading cause of water pollution in New York City. Every block of our 8000 miles of streets represents an opportunity to introduce permeable surfaces and prevent storm runoff. We are pushing the expansion of bioswales, green medians, and tree pits, and will seek out opportunities to use capital funds to green our streets. District 33 is home to the Greenpoint Green Roof Corridor, and we are supporting the expansion of this model so local ecology can thrive and emergency weather events will wreak less destruction.

Leveraging Federal Infrastructure Dollars

The Federal Infrastructure, Investment, and Jobs Act will provide much needed funding to update our city’s aging infrastructure, from public transportation to roadways and bridges. We must not use this funding to lock in outdated urban design that paves over natural surfaces and makes city dwellers car dependent. I will use my oversight capacity to ensure every dollar spent in District 33 furthers the goals of a resilient district.

 

CONCLUSION

The time for action was yesterday. We have produced this roadmap to plainly lay out our ideas and strategies to tackle the climate crisis with alacrity. 

Already, we know that the impact of climate chaos is being felt by the most vulnerable among us. We know that it will take deep commitment to our neighbors to protect each other in crises and build a more sustainable City together. 

We also know the greatest sources of local emissions, and we understand how to drive them down. We have the political will and the commitment to doing the hard work of organizing block by block and neighborhood by neighborhood and stakeholder by stakeholder to realize this plan across our communities and in City Hall.  

Our goal is to use every tool the New York City Council has available to ensure that every neighbor and business understands how we can work together to collectively drive down emissions. 

There’s no doubt that we need swift, meaningful action from our federal government to rein in the corporate polluters driving the climate crisis, but there’s no reason to wait for them. District 33 can be a model for our City and for communities across the country to address the climate crisis at a local level.