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.”
Those elements included $12 million from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to shore up the grid’s infrastructure to accommodate the increased demand—so that residents won’t face blackouts to keep cruise ship travelers comfortable during the warm weather months.
Another element was the cost breakdown. Hammerman says that of the 28 cents per kilowatt hour price, 16 cents will be paid by the New York Power Authority and the remaining 12 cents will be paid by the cruise lines themselves. The New York Power Authority didn't return a call by deadline confirming this breakdown.
Also out of the mayor’s office yesterday was a press release touting improvements to the air quality in Times Square, brought about as a result of the installation of pedestrian plazas. A spokesman for the mayor tells GlobeSt.com that a four-year update on PlaNYC will be coming out next week. Additional initiatives that have been announced recently include the green lease deal inked by law firm WilmerHale for five floors at 7 World Trade Center that Globe.St.com reported on last week.
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