Category: Sustainability

Announcing the Winners of the Seaport Community Mural Project!

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My office and the New York City Emergency Management (NYCEM) are pleased to announce the winning designs in our Seaport Community Mural Project. These designs will be applied to structures that are part of the Interim Flood Protection Measures (IFPM) program, which will be installed along South Street in Manhattan’s South Street Seaport neighborhood. Below are the winners. Andrea Bass, New York, NY: Brenda Berkman, New York, NY: Ebony Bolt,… Read more

Protecting the East Side from climate change

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Public Hearing on East Side Coastal Resiliency Climate change and sea level rise threaten the safety and prosperity of New York City. We have to think big—and act fast—if we’re to have any chance of blunting its effects. That’s why, after holding a public hearing in July and considering hours of community testimony, I supported the city’s East Side Coastal Resiliency (ESCR) project, with many conditions, in my formal ULURP recommendation. Developed as part of a… Read more

Help your neighborhood recycle more! Join the Manhattan Paper Recycling Challenge.

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100% of the paper that Department of Sanitation trucks collect in Manhattan’s is barged to Pratt Industries’ recycling mill on Staten Island where the paper is “pulped” and then used by their corrugated plant nearby and fabricated into new paper products, resulting in a rare sustainable “closed loop.” (Approximately 15% of NYC pizza boxes are made right there!) But the plants have excess capacity—so Pratt Industries, the plants’ owner, is… Read more

Single-use plastic bags banned as part of budget deal

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a hand holding plastic bag walking in the street As part of the new budget, state leaders passed a ban on single-use plastic shopping bags at most retail and grocery stores (restaurants are exempted). A provision was created for localities to impose a 5¢ fee on paper shopping bags, with revenue to be split 60-40% with the state environmental fund and the locality. (Council Members Brad Lander and Margaret Chin are sponsoring the paper bag fee for New York… Read more

Brewer distributing free reusable bags for Earth Day

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Gale holding a mbpo reuseable tote bag NEW YORK – Manhattan Borough President Gale A. Brewer announced that for Earth Day, which falls on Sunday, April 22, her office will be distributing reusable grocery bags for free at greenmarkets and grocery stores around Manhattan. In addition, Brewer’s office will distribute reusable bags on Saturday, April 21 at the Car-Free New York Day event in Washington Heights on St. Nicholas Avenue near West 183rd Street. New Yorkers throw… Read more

Brewer and Citizens Committee for NYC announce $22,740 in grants for community composting and highlight program’s success with visit to Lydia’s Magic Garden in East Harlem

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member of CItizen's Committee displays a bike Site tour shows off new program building bicycle-carried buckets for coffee composting and planned three-bin garden composting system NEW YORK – Today, Manhattan Borough President Gale A. Brewer joined the Citizens’ Committee for New York City and the Manhattan Solid Waste Advisory Board (SWAB) to announce 36 Community-Scale Composting Grant awards for community garden programs across the city in 2017. In a site tour following the announcement, members of Lydia’s… Read more

Brewer Announces $26 Million in Borough Capital Awards, Doubles Commitment to Urban Agriculture With $2 Million for School Hydroponics, Green Roofs, and Gardens

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NEW YORK – Manhattan Borough President Gale A. Brewer today announced a slate of capital funding awards supporting the borough’s schools, parks, libraries, and community-based nonprofit organizations. The awards included $2 million supporting urban agriculture in public schools, funding facilities like in-school hydroponics labs and rooftop gardens. The awards were included in the city’s budget for the Fiscal Year 2017, which began on July 1. “Whether we’re adding hydroponics labs… Read more

Brewer, Manhattan Borough Board Call on City to Erect Zero Net-Energy Building in Manhattan, Endorse ‘Passive House’ Green Building Standards for Incorporation in Building Code

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Video of the Borough Board meeting is available here, and the Borough Board resolution can be viewed here. At a meeting led by Manhattan Borough President Gale A. Brewer, the Manhattan Borough Board adopted a resolution endorsing ‘passive house’ building standards for ultra-energy efficient buildings and called for the city to undertake construction of a public project in Manhattan that complies with passive house standards. “Manhattan is the… Read more