Pols to city: Declare climate emergency
BY ALEJANDRA O’CONNELLDOMENECH
On June 24, Councilmembers
Ben Kallos and Costa Constantinides
called on the city to declare
a climate emergency as a crowd
of activists waved signs and cheered on
the steps of City Hall under the blistering
sun.
“Climate change is real and we see
the effects of the climate change everywhere,”
said Kallos, whose district
includes the Upper East Side, East
Midtown, Roosevelt Island and El Barrio
in East Harlem. “Yet there are still
climate-change deniers, including President
Trump.”
An eruption of boos from members
of the groups Sunrise, Extinction Rebellion,
350 Brooklyn, Indivisible and
Rise and Resist followed the politicians’
mention of the president, who
has weakened efforts to mitigate the effects
of climate change. In 2017, Trump
announced he would withdraw the
country from the Paris climate accord .
During his time in offi ce more than 80
environmental rules and regulations
have been rolled back. This March the
president took to Twitter to retweet a
quote from Patrick Moore of “Fox and
Friends” denying the existence of climate
change.
According to the councilmember,
this is what makes the resolution, cosponsored
by Constantinides, chairperson
of the Council’s Committee
Teenage environmental activist Xiye Bastida-Patrick spoke about her
family’s experience during a drought brought on by climate change in
front of activists and Councilmember Ben Kallos.
on Environmental Protection, critical.
Speaking the words forces climate deniers
to face the reality that humans
need to take quick and large-scale action
to mitigate climate change before
rising temperatures cause fl ooding,
famine and drought, the councilmembers
and advocates said. The environmental
effects are all too real for high
school student Xiye Bastida-Patrick,
PHOTO BY ALEJANDRA O’CONNELL-DOMENECH
17, one the City Hall protesters.
Originally from Toluca, Mexico,
Bastida-Patrick’s family came to New
York six years ago after a drought and
subsequent heavy rainfall destroyed
crops. According to her, the resulting
fl uctuating increase in food prices was
too great a burden for her parents.
“An avocado in Mexico would be
what? Fifty cents? Then it would be 5
dollars,” said Bastida-Patrick, who is
an active member of Fridays for Future
and Peoples Climate Movement. “We
couldn’t afford that.”
On June 16, New York State passed
the Climate & Community Protection
Act, which calls for the adoption of the
country’s most ambitious climate targets,
such as reaching 100 percent carbon
free electricity by 2040 and economy
wide, net zero carbon emissions
by 2050. This April, the City Council
passed Constantinides’s Climate Mobilization
Act, a package of bills meant
to mitigate the amount of greenhouse
gases emitted from city buildings.
But for Kallos and the activists, the
state’s goals and timetables are insuffi
cient. He feels New York City should
work to achieve net zero greenhouse
gas emissions in 10 years or less.
“I believe that we as humans must
act across all sectors on a level that we
haven’t seen since World War II in order
to prevent a sixth mass extinction,”
he said. The councilmember added
that, in addition to reaching net zero
greenhouse gas emissions within a decade
or less, the city should establish a
Climate Resiliency Department, plus
implement mechanisms for “participatory
democracy in deciding a path forward.”
If the resolution is passed, New York
City would join a growing list of cities
and countries that have declared a climate
emergency.
200 Amsterdam tower gets permits, again
BY ALEJANDRA O’CONNELLDOMENECH
Construction on the contested Upper
West Side skyscraper at 200
Amsterdam Ave. will continue.
On Tues., June 25, the Board of
Standards and Appeals upheld its 2018
ruling allowing developers to build the
668-foot tower at Amsterdam Ave., in
Lincoln Square.
Manhattan Borough President
Gale Brewer called 200 Amsterdam
“an affront to the Zoning
Resolution,” adding, “I am extremely
disappointed that the B.S.A. voted to
uphold their support for the project.”
Opponents of the tower, which include
some Upper West Siders, Brewer,
Councilmember Helen Rosenthal, Assemblymember
Linda Rosenthal, the
Committee for Environmentally Sound
Development and the Municipal Arts
Society, argue that the development
violates city zoning law by use of what
critics call a gerrymandered lot.
“The reluctance to follow the letter
of the zoning is astounding, especially
when the Department of Buildings has
acknowledged that the zoning lot is
A design rendering of the top of the planned residential tower at 200
Amsterdam Ave.
problematic. I hope that the forthcoming
proceedings will bring some muchneeded
vindication,” Brewer added.
“The B.S.A. and this administration
are well aware that a majority of the
City Council and all elected offi cials
representing the Upper West Side oppose
this site’s use of gerrymandered
lots — yet we have absolutely no say
over a project in our own community,”
said Rosenthal. ” I wholeheartedly support
Olive Freud and the Committee for
Environmentally Sound Development’s
plan to fi le an immediate appeal with
the New York State Appellate Court,
and I urge all concerned parties to support
the Committee’s efforts.”
On March 15, Justice M. Franc Perry
overruled the city’s decision to grant a
permit for the building, and ordered
the B.S.A to reevaluate the permit. But
developers SJP Properties and Mitsui
Fudosan continued constructing the
tower. The Municipal Arts Society even
fought for a temporary restraining order
to halt construction but was unsuccessful
during a hearing on a potential
injunction on April 30.
The developers stand by their argument
that the decision is lawful.
“The zoning for 200 Amsterdam has
been consistently interpreted for more
than 40 years,” SJP Properties said in a
statement. “Three completed buildings
on the same block have the exact same
zoning.”
The developer added that the opposition
to 200 Amsterdam Avenue is “unconscionable.”
Construction on the tower is set to
be completed by this summer with
units expected to be up for sale starting
in the fall.
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