September 17, 2007
MTA Forms Green Team To Develop Sustainability Plans
The MTA announced today that it has formed a Sustainability Commission to create a "sustainability master plan" by Earth Day of next year. MTA Executive Director Elliot Sander said, "The MTA’s public transportation network makes the entire New York region sustainable, but in the era of climate change we have a responsibility to go even further. The commission will build on the exciting green initiatives we’ve already completed to make sustainability a permanent part of the MTA’s DNA.”
According to the press release, the 18-person commission (see who the members are after the jump; it includes people from environmental organizations and city agencies) will ask questions like:
- What targets and goals should be set for reducing the MTA's ecological footprint – CO2, other greenhouse gas emissions, water, waste, consumption of materials? And what strategies should be employed to achieve these goals?
- As the nation and world experiment with carbon trading or carbon taxes, what role should the MTA play and how can it capitalize on the massive carbon savings the MTA produces by operating its public transportation network?
- What role can the MTA play in promoting smart-growth strategies and transit-oriented development?
- How does the MTA work with its state and local partners to harmonize its sustainability agenda with the sustainability goals of the municipalities in and around its 5,000-square-mile service territory?
The commission will have its first meeting on Wednesday. Environmental group Riverkeeper's president Alex Matthiessen, one of the members, suggests that ideas could include green rooftops on bus depots and buildings to absorb water during rainstorms (to prevent subway flooding) and wind power at railyards.
MTA Sustainability Commission members are:
Jonathan F. P. Rose (chair), Jonathan Rose Companies, LLC; Rohit Aggarwala, NYC Office of Long-Term Planning and
Sustainability; Julie Belaga, CT League of Conservation; Marcia Bystryn, NY League of Conservation Voters; Peter Cannito, MTA Metro-North Railroad; Cecil Corbin-Mark, WE ACT for Environmental Justice; Jonathan Drapkin, Mid-Hudson Pattern for Progress; Robert Fox, Cook + Fox Architects; Emil Frankel, independent consultant; Ashok Gupta, Natural Resources Defense Council; Sarah Lansdale, Sustainable Long Island; Kevin Law, Suffolk County; Emily Lloyd, NYC Dept. of Environmental Protection; Alex Mathiessen, Riverkeeper; Janette Sadik-Khan, NYC Dept. of Transportation; Ned Sullivan, Scenic Hudson; Michael White, Long
Island Regional Planning Board; Robert Yaro, Regional Plan Association.
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love that pic
would love to see that happen
not likely but one can dream
NYC is a industrial wasteland...all that money and there is no public spaces that reflect the wealth...
Hopefully not only private gardens but public green sapces are developed...how far is NYC from europe in all matters regarding nature
nyc and the usa is far far behind in many categories
greatest country on earth, greatest city on earth
i think not
The problem with the commenters on here is that most fail to propose anything concrete to improve what they find to be a problem. Others see issues in a vacuum without any consideration for competing issues.
So, #2 and #3: If there should be more greenspace, where do you propose we find it? Is there some huge amount of city-owned undeveloped land that we don't know about? Would you support a tax-increase for the city to buy land from the private sector? Would you support the city taking private property by emminent domain for public greenspace? If the city were to acquire private property and condemned residential property to make room for greenspace, would you be willing to pay more in rent because the supply of housing has been reduced?
I would love for there to be more greenspace in New York, but personally I'm not in favor of any of these proposals.
There is actually more undeveloped space in the city than you might think. The parking lots south of Delancey near the Williamsburg Bridge were once affordable housing. That space could be a park, or affordable housing once again. There are 2 decommissioned airports within the city limits. I guess Floyd Bennett Field is part of the Gateway National Recreation Area, so it's off limits to development, but it could be more of a park, I'd bet. North Brother & South Brother Islands, in the East River near Rikers, are completely abandoned. There's still space in Brooklyn (abandoned buildings on Morgan Avenue), Queens and the Bronx too.
As for eminent domain, I'd rather the government used it for parks than for private development (e.g. Times Square, Atlantic Yards, etc.) although I am not a fan of it in general. I'd also rather see parks than atrocities like Richard Meier's horrible glass towers in the West Village.