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Andrew Yang is selling himself as an ideas man.
But more than once now on the trail he’s offered up notions that landed with a deafening thud.
Transportation watchers we talked to said arguments against mayoral control of the city trains have only become more pronounced since the 2017 “Summer of Hell.” The idea was championed by Council Speaker Corey Johnson now running for city comptroller who was plotting his own mayoral run at the time.
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Five leading New York City mayoral candidates hoped to boost their environmentalist credentials as they talked about their green plans in an Earth Day video released Thursday night by the New York League of Conservation Voters.
“The next mayor has a monumental task. We cannot afford to wait anymore on climate change. We must act,” NYLCV President Julie Tighe said to open “A Greener City Hall: conversations with NYC Mayoral candidates.” “That means increasing the amount of recycling we do. That means protecting our world class drinking supply and keeping it clean. That means greening our transportation sector and investing in resilience infrastructure to protect our communities from flooding and from the impacts of heat.”
Drew Angerer via Getty Images
New York is reviving multiple programs cut during the pandemic, including curbside organics service, but it is not yet taking the steps many elected officials and advocates believe are necessary to achieve the city s 2030 zero waste goal.
This morning, Mayor Bill de Blasio and the Department of Sanitation (DSNY) announced residential curbside organics service will return earlier than anticipated after being suspended due to 2020 budget cuts. Residents in areas that previously had the program can sign up in August, with service resuming in October. The number of neighborhood dropoff sites will also double, to more than 200, and DSNY will pilot smart compost bins that residents can open with an app. Organics collection will also return to nearly 1,000 schools.
Dive Brief:
Extended producer responsibility (EPR) bills for packaging are among the top priorities for lawmakers in New York and Maine, panelists said at the Plastics Recycling Conference April 7.
New York Sen. Todd Kaminsky said he thinks his EPR bill has a fair chance of passing before the state’s legislative session ends in June, even though environmental groups such as the New York League of Conservation voters said they were disappointed the bill was not included in the recently passed state budget.
Maine Rep. Nicole Grohoski, who is drafting a similar packaging bill she plans to introduce soon, is already promoting the measure as a way to increase the state’s recycling rate. The Natural Resources Council of Maine (NRCM) anticipates a rival bill, possibly backed by packaging industry group AMERIPEN, also could be introduced soon.