In the ongoing effort to make New York a greener city by 2030, the city launched its Cool Roofs Program at LaGuardia Community College yesterday, encouraging building owners to coat their roofs with a reflective white paint. The color will reflect heat instead of absorbing it like dark roofs, which would mean lower energy bills as cooling is far more expensive and energy-consuming than heating. Con Edison Vice President Saddie L. Smith said in a press release, “This program is another example of our and the Mayor’s commitment to fighting global warming and making the world’s greatest city a more comfortable, pleasant place to live and work.” The city's goal is to coat 1 million square feet of rooftops by August. more ›

Mayor Bloomberg will be in Times Square today, to celebrate Earth Day (which is 40 years old) with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, City Council Quinn, and others, including a virtual Vice President Al Gore. Which makes it perfect timing to look back at Earth Day 2007, when the mayor announced PlaNYC 2030, his list of 127 initiatives for the city to achieve sustainability by the year 2030. (Hey, the Mayor's Office Tweeted this morning, "Welcome to NYC, where every day is Earth Day.") And, for what it's worth, that 2007 speech is also the one where he broached the topic of...congestion pricing. more ›

Yesterday, the City Council passed legislation "to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from existing government, commercial, and residential buildings." Mayor Bloomberg praised the Council's work and said, "By requiring buildings to conduct energy audits and improve their energy efficiency, the Greener, Greater Buildings Plan will reduce the city’s total greenhouse gas emissions while creating thousands of jobs and dramatically reducing annual energy costs. I thank Speaker Quinn and the members of the City Council for their efforts to make New York a greener, more sustainable city.” more ›

This morning Mayor Bloomberg and Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz held court at McCarren Park Pool for a groundbreaking ceremony. Over the past few years the pool has come back to life with JellyNYC's concerts (now still in search of a new home with help from Senator Schumer) — but soon it will return to being a community pool, thanks to Bloomberg's $50 million PlaNYC renovation. Today he promised he'd be the first to take a dip when the project is done, but so did Marty. Who will make the first splash?! We'll have to wait til 2011 to find out... more ›

The Post is outraged over what it costs for school playgrounds to be open and closed: "The city plans to spend up to $14.5 million a year to have school custodians simply lock and unlock schoolyard gates." more ›

The NY Post checks in on the greening of New York's yellow cabs. By October 1st around 2,500 of the 13,227 will need to be hybrid, but word is that there's a shortage of the vehicles -- the president of the Metropolitan Taxicab Board of Trade said "there will not be enough to sustain this mandate." While he has asked the city to extend the deadline due to the "availability crisis," cabbies who have made the switch are still noting that they do not feel as safe in the cars. more ›

Mayor Bloomberg has announced a plan that will require better fuel efficiency for city's TLC-run black cars; the change is part of the broader PlaNYC initiative and follows in the tread marks of the new hybrid yellow cabs. more ›

A new Quinnipiac poll reveals that people may support congestion pricing - if they get something in return. And that something is better mass transit. more ›

Mayor Bloomberg continued his whirlwind tour through Asia yesterday with a stop in Bali, Indonesia to talk to United Nations officials about the global effects of climate change. This is after a foray to China, that brought to mind Ed Koch's Beijing inspiration for bike paths in NYC to The New York Times' Clyde Haberman. Like NYC, Bali was the victim of a devastating terrorist attack that killed and injured hundreds of people. more ›