NEW YORK CITY-Notices continue to stream out of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s office regarding the city’s PlaNYC initiative, announced in 2006 to effect comprehensive improvements to areas such as air quality by 2030. Yesterday, the mayor’s office announced a partnership between cruise lines and several government agencies, including the New York Power Authority, that will allow cruise ships to draw upon the city’s power supply, rather than leaving their diesel engines idling.

The improvements to the air quality in Red Hook, where the cruise ship terminals are located, are welcome news. “This is something that our community has been lobbying for for years and we’re thrilled that the mayor has embraced this as sound public policy,” Craig Hammerman, district manager of Community Board Six in Brooklyn, tells GlobeSt.com.

Hammerman expresses both relief and frustration, citing the elements that had to come together for the deal to go through. “It’s been a fairly frustrating situation to be in as a community that welcomed a new cruise ship harbor six years ago,” Hammerman says. “But there were so many different elements to this that had to be put in place.”