by: Kate Soto
Event: Mayor Bloomberg’s Plan for NYC 2030 New York New Visions: Exploring Implementation
Location: Center for Architecture, 05.07.07
Speakers: Ariella Rosenberg and Laurie Kerr, RA — Long Term Sustainability Respondents, Mayor’s Office of Planning and Long Term Sustainability; Ethel Sheffer — President, American Planning Association NYC Metro Chapter; Bruce Fowle, AIA, LEED AP — FXFOWLE Architects; Jeffrey Zupan — Senior Fellow, Transportation, Regional Plan Association; Rick Bell, FAIA — Executive Director, AIANY
Moderator: Ernest Hutton, Assoc. AIA, AICP — New York New Visions
Organizers & Sponsors: New York New Visions; AIANY Housing Committee; in conjuction with the AIANY Planning & Urban Design Committee; AIANY Transportation & Infrastructure Committee; and AIANY Committee on the Environment (COTE)
Courtesy nyc.gov
Panelists representing New York New Visions — a coalition of major design and planning organizations — expressed much enthusiasm for plaNYC 2030, although many were concerned about the plan’s longevity after Bloomberg’s mayoral term ends. The many improvements throughout the city over the last 30 years have inspired the mayor to aim high environmentally. With a goal to boost livability and sustainability, his unprecedented plaNYC 2030 targets land, housing, green space, water, air, transportation, and energy.
As an additional 900,000 residents are expected by 2030, there’s a demand for smart planning. To accommodate the 265,000 new housing units needed, more efficient use of government land, revitalized brownfields, and even decking over unused railways and highways are a few of the 127 proposals on the boards. Furthermore, 99% of New Yorkers will live within a ten-minute walk from a park and a subway entrance if the mayor has his way; a public plaza will be incorporated in every community, and one million new trees will be planted by 2017. All of the revenue from congestion pricing will be used to improve mass transit. In addition to these initiatives, panelists suggested the city implement a monitoring system to analyze progress that would be regularly disclosed to the public.
Without mitigation, the city’s annual energy bill will increase $3 billion by 2015, not to mention the effects on air quality and global warming. New York’s aging grid can’t handle 21st century demands, and many of the issues addressed in plaNYC are relevant globally as well as locally. If all goes well, New York has hopes of being not only the nation’s safest, but also its first truly sustainable city.
Kate Soto is a Brooklyn-based writer and editor.