Mayor's Press Office HEADLINES SHOW RAMPANT CORRUPTION, DISARRAY IN NYC SCHOOLS WITHOUT ACCOUNTABILITY OF MAYORAL CONTROL

Before Albany granted New York City control over our own schools, accountability was so limited that patronage, chaos and corruption were allowed to run rampant. The lack of oversight allowed:

·         jobs to be sold

·         for people to hold jobs they didn’t show up to for years on end

·         money to be stolen directly from schools

·      school board members openly admitting they would never send their children to schools in the districts they represented

·     the hiring of drug dealers and gang members, including as school safety officers

The headlines and excerpts below – only a small portion of the scandals that plagued schools before mayoral control – make clear why New York City schools need mayoral control and the accountability it provides.

For School Districts Sullied By Corrupt Past, New Doubt (New York Times)

Excerpt: When investigators charged last week that teachers and principals in 18 of New York City's 33 school districts had helped students cheat on standardized tests, it came as no surprise to veteran school officials that several of the implicated districts had long histories of corruption.

After the city school system was decentralized in the 1960's to give more control to community school boards, the hiring of school administrators and even teachers in those districts became a highly politicized process, with some board members serving as unofficial proxies for neighborhood political leaders who used them to dole out patronage jobs and other favors.

Patronage hiring has been less common since 1996, when the State Legislature took away the hiring powers of the community school boards and broadened the powers of the schools chancellor. But even with increased power, Chancellor Rudy Crew has had difficulty rooting out corruption in the city's 1,100 schools.

SCHOOL LEASING SCANDAL GROWING (Daily News)

Excerpt: The Board of Education leasing scandal expanded yesterday as investigators focused on two new multi-million dollar deals involving a school official who quit and then got huge fees for managing the projects. Officials said probers are examining records on Bronx and Brooklyn renovation jobs totaling more than $11 million each.

AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE LATIN KINGS: No tolerance for gangs in our public schools (New York City Special Commissioner of Investigations for the New York City School District) 97

Excerpt: Our findings make clear that as a member of the Latin Kings, Officer Roman faces an irreconcilable conflict between his loyalty to the Kings, on the one hand, and his duties as a school safety officer on the other.

SCAM COST BD. OF ED. 6M: PROBE (Daily News)

Excerpt: A Brooklyn rabbi stole $6 million from the Board of Education by putting 81 no-show employees on the board payroll in a 20-year scam that benefited his religious school, Special Schools Investigator Ed Stancik charged yesterday. Rabbi Hertz Frankel principal of the 4,000-student Beth Rachel all-girls school in Williamsburg pleaded guilty last Friday to a felony charge to commit mail fraud.

FRAUD AND INCOMPETENCE: WHY IT TOOK TWO YEARS TO REPLACE FOUR WINDOWS AT P.S. 55 (New York City schools Special Prosecutor)

Excerpt: Mulukuntee Krishnappa entirely abandoned his duties as the DSF inspector assigned to the window installation portion of the P.S. 55 contract. Indeed, he concealed this dereliction by submitting fraudulent documentation. Without ever inspecting the site, he approved final payment, and misrepresented that the work was timely, satisfactory, and performed by the contractor.

EDITOR'S NOTE:

To the five bulleted items to which highlighted excerpts are given, as a former member of the Chancellor's Parent Advisory Committee I can reply to all five items.

The one main thing left out by Mayor's press office is that of student performance which has virtually remained the same during Mayoral Control as to before Mayoral Control. It is interesting that the United Federation of Teachers said that during the Bloomberg administration, but has done an about face under a mayor the union now supports for re-election. 

1 - The New York Times article only mentions Bronx School Districts 9 and 12. In district 9 there was a scandal by IBM to the tune of millions of dollars for a tracking system which was faulty, and brought out by the school board who had to be removed at all costs.

  

2 - This is the same time that the Croton Water Filtration Plant is proposed for the Jerome Park Reservoir at a cost of $600 million dollars. Mayor Giuliani would later say that he expected this project with cost overruns would cost $800 million dollars. Under the same administration Mayoral Control was given the cost of the Croton Water Filtration plant projected cost is now over three billion dollars and still growing.

3 - Gangs in the public schools Oct. 1997- The process of hiring employees failed the school system, and hopefully more safeguards were put in place that are not mentioned. Gangs are still prevalent in the public schools if not more than the report date. Police issues were not under control of school board members, and after school programs were gutted in the late 1990's and early 2000's if not more so under mayoral control. 

4 - Scam stealing $6 million dollars - this was done at a private school not under the jurisdiction of a school board, and should have been monitored better by the State Education Department.

5 - Fraud and incompetence on window replacement. Either the central or local school boards inspected work done by contractors, or had oversight of contractors or sub contractors. That was the job of the Division of School Buildings, to be replaced by the School Construction Authority. 

The old Board of Education voted on contracts one at a time so that any information could be heard about any contract that was to be awarded. At one such meeting Item seven was a contract for $50,000 dollars to repair the windows at Jamaica High School. A few items later was a contract to replace the windows at Jamaica High School. I said why is the board spending $50,000 dollars to repair windows that they are replacing a few months later. BOE President Bill Thompson agreed, and thanked me for noting that. 

With the Panel For Educational Policy contracts are lumped together as a group to vote on so it is almost impossible to find out what the PEP is voting on.

STATEMENT FROM NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL MEMBER RITCHIE TORRES ON APPOINTMENT OF LYNNE PATTON AS HUD REGION II ADMINISTRATOR

  “I am disappointed with Lynne Patton’s appointment to Regional Administrator of HUD’s Region II. Ms. Patton has no government experience nor demonstrated interest in the issues facing the public housing stock in New York,” said Council Member Ritchie Torres. “At a time when NYCHA has been starved of $17 billion dollars in capital funds from HUD, we need HUD to seriously consider the plight of the hundreds of thousands of NYCHA residents and Section 8 voucher recipients. Appointing Ms. Patton to this role shows HUD is not taking this funding crisis seriously.”

Ritchie Torres is a New York City Council Member representing District 15, and is the Chair of the Committee on Public Housing. Housing and Urban Development (HUD)’s is the Region II encompasses New Jersey and New York. The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) is the largest housing authority in North America, relies on federal funding through HUD to operate and maintain its buildings.

EDITOR'S NOTE:

To correct Councilman Torres, Mayor Bill de Blasio answered my question as to why NYCHA residents have to wait over five years for replacement stoves and refrigerators that the NYCHA system has been starved of $18 billion dollars by the federal and state governments. He added that he hopes to receive $7.3 billion dollars this fiscal year from the federal government, not saying how much the state would invest into NYCHA houses. 

The mayor wold be investing $1 billion dollars of city monies over the next ten years to repair roofs of NYCHA buildings. 

21 MEN INDICTED IN MASSIVE CIGARETTE SMUGGLING SCHEME AFTER INVESTIGATION BY BRONX DA, NYPD, NYS TAX DEPT., HOMELAND SECURITY INVESTIGATIONS

Nearly 10,000 Cartons Seized, Alleged Tax Fraud is $20 Million Cheap Cigarettes Sold in Stores Citywide, Undercutting Law-Abiding Merchants 

  District Attorney Darcel D. Clark, New York City Police Commissioner James P. O’Neill, and New York State Department of Taxation and Finance Acting Commissioner Nonie Manion today announced that a joint investigation has resulted in two indictments charging 21 men with trafficking hundreds of thousands of cartons of cigarettes from the South to New York City, evading more than $20 million in taxes and reaping millions of dollars in proceeds. 

   District Attorney Clark said, “This criminal enterprise not only allegedly cheated the state and city out of taxes, but undercuts mom-and-pop stores that serve our neighborhoods. Law-abiding businesses cannot compete with stores illegally selling untaxed, cheap cigarettes down the block. We want to extinguish this type of criminal activity, and we will pursue nearly $17 million in profits from the defendants.” 

  Commissioner O’Neill said, “Unraveling this fraud, both the smuggling of untaxed cigarettes and where the proceeds travel, is important to keeping our City safe. Thank you to the NYPD's Intelligence Bureau detectives and our partners whose work resulted in today's charges." 

   Acting Commissioner Nonie said, “Joining forces with our law enforcement partners, the Cigarette Strike Force helped take down this massive tobacco smuggling ring, part of our relentless effort to stop the flow of illegal cigarettes into New York. Those dealing in contraband cigarettes are stuffing their pockets at the expense of their local communities. We'll continue to work diligently to see that these criminals face justice."

  Homeland Security Investigations New York Special Agent in Charge, Angel M. Melendez said, “The alleged criminals in this case tried to circumvent New York state and city taxes by trafficking in cigarettes from other states for sale here. They later laundered those proceeds using local businesses as part of their scheme. It is because of law enforcement partnerships and through joint investigations that we were able to locate and arrest the players in this criminal organization and bring them to justice.” 

   District Attorney Clark said 13 of the defendants have been arrested since June 8, 2017 throughout the Bronx, Westchester and New Jersey; 12 of whom have been arraigned before Bronx Supreme Court Justice George Villegas. They are due back in court on July 5, 2017. Others were arrested in Virginia and North Carolina and four remain at large. If convicted of the top count of the indictments, most of the defendants face 8 1/3 to 25 years in prison.

  In one indictment, 17 defendants are charged with Enterprise Corruption, and variously charged with first-degree Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument, second, third and fourth-degree Money Laundering, Cigarette and Tobacco Products Tax and fifth-degree Conspiracy. 

 The second indictment charges four defendants with first and second-degree Criminal Tax Fraud, second, third and fourth-degree Money Laundering, Cigarette and Tobacco Products Tax, fourth-degree Conspiracy.

  According to the 15-month investigation, the defendants purchased about 5,000 cartons of cigarettes a week in North Carolina and Virginia for about $50 per carton ($5 per pack) and drove them to the Bronx. A carton retails for about $130 in New York City. The defendants sold them to distributors who then sold them to bodegas and delis, where a pack of cigarettes sold for about $8 a pack, instead of $13. 

  The criminal enterprise included Shareef Moflehi, 30, Omar Jhury, 26, and Hector Rondon, 44. Saleh Ali Qasem, 34, was identified as the lead defendant in the second indictment. Investigators who went to Rondon’s Bronx home to arrest him found a trap door in the floor of his bedroom, leading to a crawlspace in the foundation of the house, where they found Rondon.

  District Attorney Clark also announced that her Office filed two civil forfeiture lawsuits against the defendants. The first is against Shareef Moflehi, et. al for $15,210,000.00, representing the proceeds of the defendants’ cigarette-based money laundering enterprise. Three houses which were used as instrumentalities of the crime or purchased with the illegal proceeds will be seized, including one in Mount Vernon, Westchester County purchased recently by Moflehi for $675,000 in cash. 

 The second lawsuit is against Saleh Ali Qasem, et al. for $1,757,945.00. This sum represents the proceeds of the defendants’ cigarette based money laundering operation. Two houses will be seized.

  District Attorney Clark thanked Assistant District Attorneys Mary Jo Blanchard, Counsel to the Investigations Division, and William Zelenka, Chief of the Economic Crimes Bureau for their assistance in this case, as well as Danielle Jackson, and Audrey Manaiza of the Investigations Division, and members of the NYPD DA Squad and Detective Investigators from her Office. 

  The civil action is being litigated by Assistant District Attorneys Cristina Paquette and Jennifer Shaw of the Asset Forfeiture Unit under the supervision of Lisa Waller, Deputy Chief of the Civil Litigation Bureau.

  District Attorney Clark also thanked the NYS Tax Department’s Criminal Investigations Division; the NYPD Intelligence Division, particularly Detectives Jonathan Dubroff and Joseph Petrosino, Sergeant Robert Byrne and Lieutenant Joseph Sullivan; Homeland Security Special Agent Abe Jardines, and Lieutenant Henry King of the Rocky Mount, NC Police Department. 

  An indictment is an accusatory instrument and not proof of a defendant’s guilt.

DEFENDANTS 

NOMAN ALBAHRI, 36, 1875 Gleason Ave, Bronx 

SAMIR HOSIN, 29, 98 Ridgewood Ave, Bronx 

OMAR JHURY, 26, 49 N. 10th Ave, Mount Vernon 

JAMAL KARKAT, 26, 1735 Hobart Ave, Bronx 

TAHIR KASTRATI, 50, 1723 Colden Ave, Bronx 

HECTOR RONDON, 44, 826 A Leland Ave, Bronx 

SHAREEF MOFLEHI, 30, 121 Stephens Ave, Bronx, & (recently) 369 Westchester Ave, Mount Vernon 

PAZAL MOHAMMED (AKA JOHN), 30, 28 Bobwhite Plain, Hicksville, NY 

ABRAHAM SHARHAN (AKA IBRAHIM), 34, 4165 Grace Ave, Bronx, 63 Sherwood Ave, Yonkers, NY 

YASSER SUFYAN (AKA MALIK), 31, 191 Bennett Ave, Yonkers, NY 

AMMAR SHAMAKH, 33, 101 Vincent Drive, Clifton, NJ 

NAGIB MOHAMED SHARIF ALI, 39, 3746 Riverside Drive, Raleigh, NC 

SHAHER DAHJAT DARI (AKA BOO BOO), 28, 1269 Waterloo Drive, Rocky Mount, NC 

MAEEN M. ALSAYIDI, 34, 11 East 2nd Street, Clifton, NJ 

OMAR NASSER, 22, 508 Woosdwalk Lane, Rocky Mount, NC 

ILYAS MAMUN, 47, 3459 Dekalb Ave, Brooklyn, NY 

ABDUL WAHED SALIM (AKA AMIGO), 32, 207 Maddux Drive, Pikesville, NC 

SALEH ALI QASEM, 34, 1025 Underhill Ave, Bronx 

MOHAMED SIDI AMAR, 39, 300 Addison way, Petersburg, VA 

YAHI OULD CHEBIH, 36, 29 Craterwoods Court, Petersburg, VA 

TAHIR OULD ELY LEMINE, 39, 169 Craterwoods Court, Petersburg, VA

Council Member Rodriguez Announces Legislation to Prevent Cars from Jumping onto Sidewalks, Less than One Month Following Times Square Attack

Council Member Rodriguez & Transportation Alternatives' Paul Steely White Announce Legislation Expanding Use of Safety Bollards at Schools, Pedestrian Plazas and Along Unsafe Corridors

  Less than one month after a driver killed a young tourist and injured 20 pedestrians in Times Square, Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez announced legislation to take action and prevent similar tragedies. The legislation would require widespread installation of safety bollards by NYC DOT, like the one that stopped the Times Square driver from taking more lives. The focus would be schools, pedestrian plazas and priority safety corridors, as determined by DOT. 

Council Member Rodriguez stood today with Paul Steely White, Executive Director of Transportation Alternatives and Council Members Menchaca and Levine to announce the legislation. It will be introduced next week on June 21st and will have a public hearing on June 22nd, where NYC DOT is expected to testify.

"Whether a driver has the intention to kill or not, pedestrians must be safe on our sidewalks and plazas," said Council Transportation Chair Ydanis Rodriguez. "Bollards have proven they can save lives, as we saw in the Times Square attack less than a month ago. This bill will expand their use to more parts of our city to prevent avoidable tragedies."

"Since 2014, 40 New Yorkers have been killed by curb jumping drivers," said Paul Steely White, Executive Director of Transportation Alternatives. "Sidewalks should be the safe-havens and Council Member Rodriguez is taking a proactive approach to protect pedestrians by encouraging more widespread use of bollards. This is a valuable safety feature in crash prone areas and we are proud to support its passage through the City Council."

"The safety of New York City's residents and visitors is the most important responsibility we have as a City government," said Council Member Ben Kallos. "By not waiting for another tragic incident to occur and installing protective bollards near pedestrian plazas and walkways right away we are deterring another situation involving a vehicle being used as a  weapon from occurring and minimizing the effects of a possible incident. Thank you to Transportation Committee Chair Ydanis Rodriguez for his leadership and foresight on this very important issue."

The legislation is also a response to the recent and troubling frequency of vehicles being used as a weapon of choice in terror attacks around the world. As New York City remains a perpetual target for terrorist activity, fortifying our most vulnerable points where pedestrians gather in large numbers is a key goal of the legislation. 

Immediately following the press conference at City Hall, an SUV was in a crash that caused it to jump the curb at 38th Street and 9th Avenue in Manhattan. The number of instances where this occurs has reached an alarming rate and shows that pedestrians need protection not just from deliberate attacks but unintentional crashes as well. Council Member Rodriguez visited the scene following the press conference.

EDITOR'S NOTE:

We agree 100 Percent with the above statements, however there are several items that have been left out be it purposely or by accident.

1 - Has the City Council and especially Traffic and Transportation Committee Chair Rodriguez looked at the way streets are being milled by some outside contractors who leave broken sidewalks that have not been repaired by the DOT in over one year and some months. I would be happy to show Councilman Rodriguez exactly where this has happened. Yes a car jumped the broken curb onto the sidewalk into two storefronts only to be stopped by a metal gate post. It was a good thing this happened in the summer when school was out, or many school children might have been in that exact spot.

2 - Have the above realized that there are less police on the streets, and are giving out less moving violations. This has been city policy since the use of Speed Cameras has begun. A camera can not do what a police officer in a police car can do.

3 - Where would any new safety bollards be placed on the sidewalk?

4 - Would they only be placed in the important sections of Manhattan, and not in the other four boroughs?

5 - Would these safety bollards be placed in residential or only business areas?

6 - Has there been a study done by the DOT as to the street design or redesign which may of lead to even one of the 40 fatalities?

7 - With electric bikes having the capacity now to go over the stated NYC speed limit of 25 MPH how are pedestrians going to be protected from these and other bikes capable of injuring or even killing several people as bikes will be able to go in and out of the safety bollards and on sidewalks as many do? 

8 - Why is the city council not looking into regulating electric bikes, as to registration of the bike, insurance requirements, and even licensing of the riders?

I am sure that there are many more questions, but these few came to mind. Just placing more safety bollards would be the quick fix, but trying to look at the whole problem was probably not done.

100,000 GOOD-PAYING JOBS:

MAYOR DE BLASIO RELEASES 10-YEAR PLAN TO INVEST IN NEW INDUSTRIES, RAISE WAGES, TRAIN NEW YORKERS, STRENGTHEN MIDDLE CLASS

“New York Works” invests in Cybersecurity, Freight, Life Sciences, Virtual Reality, Culture, Tech, Manufacturing, Apprenticeships

  Mayor Bill de Blasio today released New York Works, a series of 25 initiatives to spur 100,000 jobs with good wages over the coming decade. To combat economic inequality, grow the middle class and adapt to ever-changing technology, the City will invest in industries with high wages and job potential, focusing on jobs that pay at least $50,000 per year or offer a clear path to that salary level.

The de Blasio administration will invest heavily in technology, particularly cybersecurity (30,000 jobs); life sciences and health care (15,000 jobs); industrial and manufacturing (20,000 jobs); and the creative and cultural sectors (10,000 jobs). It will support those sectors with physical space to expand, tax incentives to promote growth, business development investments for early-stage companies, and workforce training to connect New Yorkers to good jobs. These strategies will be supported by City actions to spur millions of square feet of new commercial office space (25,000 jobs).

“We have to take economic inequality head-on, and that means raising wages and launching more New Yorkers into the middle class. These are the fast-growing, high-paying industries that represent the future of our city, but only if we invest now in the places, the workforce and the infrastructure to compete,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Its 25 initiatives include:

·         Establishing NYC as the next global hub for cybersecurity through a $30 million investment in training New Yorkers, academic R&D labs, and the first business ‘accelerator’ dedicated solely to early-stage cybersecurity firms in New York City. The programs will directly create 3,500 good-paying jobs and catalyze another 6,500 in the industry.

·         Freight NYC, a multi-pronged strategy for a citywide freight network that will create 4,000 good-paying industrial jobs by building more shipping and distribution infrastructure to connect NYC to the nation’s ‘Marine Highway,’ reducing regional truck traffic on our roadways and costs for NYC businesses and consumers.

·         Doubling the number of CUNY’s Computer Science graduates to 2,000 per year within 5 years by investing in faculty, real world experiences for students through internships and work/study programs, and improved career advising. The shortage of trained, ready-to-work talent remains a significant challenge to the growth of NYC’s tech ecosystem, and increasing qualified candidates will enable local tech firms to fill positions faster and open up new career paths for New Yorkers.

·         Appointing NYC’s first Nightlife Ambassador, a senior-level administration official tasked with supporting the nightlife and live music industry—a vital component of keeping NYC a creative and cultural capital.

·         NYC’s first Digital Health Lab, a $5-million product testing ground for healthcare and tech companies ready to bring their products into a clinical setting that models real-world patient interactions, record-keeping terminals and consultations. More than 850 jobs will be generated by new and growing companies using the facility.

·         Building the nation’s first Augmented and Virtual Reality Lab, a $6-million investment to position NYC as the center of this growing industry and provide space for its innovators to start and grow companies.

·         Apprentice NYC, a new employer-partnership model that will provide 500 New Yorkers with good jobs in sectors that include tech, healthcare/life sciences, and industrial and manufacturing.

·         Office Anchor, a new initiative to spur commercial buildings in the outer boroughs by leveraging City agencies as anchor tenants. An upcoming RFP for commercial development in East New York will include 250,000 square feet sought by the Human Resources Administration.

MAYOR ANNOUNCES PROGRAM TO HELP CURB EFFECTS OF EXTREME SUMMER HEAT

Launches new $106 million Cool Neighborhoods NYC program, expanding the Administration’s aggressive climate resiliency agenda

  Before the hottest days of the summer arrive, Mayor de Blasio is announcing the launch of Cool Neighborhoods NYC, a new $106 million program designed to curb the effect of extreme heat, and protect against the worst effects of rising temperatures from climate change. This comprehensive city program will involve proactive and reactive measures in heat-sensitive neighborhoods to help mitigate the threat to public health from the urban heat island effect exacerbated during summer months.

“Climate change is a dagger aimed at the heart of our city, and extreme heat is the edge of the knife,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “This is a question of equity; hotter summers, exacerbated by climate change, are a threat that falls disproportionately on communities of color and the elderly. We are answering that question with programs designed to protect the health of New Yorkers, expand our city’s tree canopy, promote community cohesion, and more.”

Every year, hot summers cause dehydration, heat exhaustion, and heat-stroke – all outcomes that disproportionately impact older adults and vulnerable populations. Extreme heat kills more New Yorkers than any other extreme weather event, and leads to an average of 450 heat-related emergency department visits, 150 hospital admissions, 13 heat-stroke deaths, as well as 115 deaths from natural causes exacerbated by extreme heat.

Rising temperatures, more frequent and longer-lasting heat events threaten the New York’s livability. The New York City Panel on Climate Change (NPPC) projects up to a 5.7°F increase in average city temperatures and a doubling of the number of days above 90°F by the 2050s. The NPCC also projects that heat waves in the city will increase in intensity and duration.

Cool Neighborhoods NYC is a comprehensive resiliency program aimed at reducing these heat-related health impacts and deaths, by lowering temperatures in heat-vulnerable neighborhoods, strengthening social networks, and improving quality of life for all New Yorkers. The program expands the City’s current heat reduction efforts, like NYC °CoolRoofs, and adds new initiatives like Be a Buddy NYC, and providing climate risk training for home health aides. The City will also work with health departments and other stakeholders across New York State to support an

expansion of the Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP) to assist qualified households in paying utility bills related to the operation of air conditioners.

As part of Cool Neighborhoods NYC, the City announced an $82 million commitment to fund street tree plantings in neighborhoods in the South Bronx, Northern Manhattan, and Central Brooklyn. These areas have been identified as disproportionately vulnerable to heat-health risks, according to the City’s Heat Vulnerability Index, which combines metrics proven to be strong indicators of heat risk.  The City will also invest $16 million to support planting trees in parks and an additional $7 million to support forest restoration across the five boroughs. The City has identified a priority list of 2.7 million square feet of private- and public- roofs in the heat-vulnerable areas of the South Bronx, Central Brooklyn, and Northern Manhattan to conduct strategic outreach to owners and target the successful NYC °CoolRoofs program over the coming years.

Additional key Cool Neighborhoods NYC components include:

Launching Be a Buddy NYC: The City is launching a two-year, multi-stakeholder pilot to promote community cohesion. Through partnerships with community-based organizations, Be a Buddy NYC will develop and test strategies for protecting at-risk New Yorkers from the health impacts of extreme heat in the South Bronx, Central Brooklyn, and Northern Manhattan.

Partnering with home health aides: The City, in partnership with three home care agencies, will promote heat and climate-health information and engage home health aides as key players in building climate resiliency. The agencies will use their continuing education curriculum to educate nearly 8,000 home health aides on climate-related risks and to recognize and address early signs of heat-related illness.

Partnering with news reporters: The City will host a workshop and will conduct outreach to health and medical reporters and meteorologists to improve the way that New Yorkers receive crucial information about heat and the protective actions they need to take to stay safe indoors, and to encourage caregivers and social contacts to check on vulnerable neighbors, friends and family.

Collecting innovative data: The City will invest in the collection of baseline neighborhood-level temperature information to assess current risk, more effectively target new initiatives in the most heat-vulnerable neighborhoods, and in the long-term, provide baseline data to accurately measure the impact of interventions. 

Cool Neighborhoods NYC is led by the Mayor’s Office of Recovery & Resiliency and will be implemented in partnerships with NYC Parks, the Health Department, Small Business Services, Emergency Management, and members of the private sector.

“Adapting New York City for the risks of climate change is one of the great challenges of our time,” said Daniel Zarrilli, Senior Director for Climate Policy & Program and the Chief Resilience Officer for the NYC Mayor’s Office. “Higher temperatures and frequent heat waves, in addition to storms and rising sea levels, present an enormous challenge to the city and its most vulnerable residents. That’s why today’s commitment to the Cool Neighborhoods NYC program will ensure New Yorkers have the tools to better protect themselves and their neighbors from rising temperatures.  This unprecedented investment in heat mitigation is a critical part of our OneNYC program to ensure that New York City is ready for the risks of the future.”

“As we observe high temperature records being broken year after year, the City must take action against the growing threats we face from climate change and extreme heat,” said Jainey Bavishi, Director of the Mayor’s Office of Recovery and Resiliency. “Heat kills more New Yorkers than any other natural hazard, and Cool Neighborhoods NYC is a crucial step towards reducing heat-related health impacts and deaths in neighborhoods at the highest risk. Through a combination of targeted new investments, stronger community partnerships, and innovative new initiatives, we are delivering on our OneNYC commitments to build a more resilient and equitable city.”

“A tree planted today is a promise made to tomorrow – and as stewards of an urban forest 2.6-million trees strong, NYC Parks is focused on making good on the promise of a sustainable future. In the coming decades, a strong and healthy tree canopy will provide crucial protection against a warming climate. Cool Neighborhoods NYC gives us the resources we need, providing more than $100 million for strategic street tree and park tree planting,” said Mitchell Silver, NYC Parks Commissioner

“As global temperatures keep rising to record highs each year, New Yorkers are more vulnerable to extreme heat," said Health Commissioner Dr. Mary T. Bassett. “In our city, most heat-related deaths happen behind closed doors in homes without air conditioning. These deaths are preventable.  The evidence-based actions our city is taking in the face of a changing climate are needed more than ever in the absence of federal leadership. Cool Neighborhoods NYC is a wonderful example of how local government, communities and residents can work together to make all New Yorkers safer today and in the future.” 

“As temperatures rise during the summer months, the Cool Neighborhoods NYC initiative is helping combat extreme heat and reducing our carbon footprint,” said Gregg Bishop, Commissioner of the NYC Department of Small Business Services. “As part of this initiative, our successful NYC °Cool Roofs program is installing reflective coatings on millions of square feet of roofing across the city. These coatings lower building temperatures, reduce energy consumption, and help cut carbon emissions.”

“Extreme heat is deadly, and our dense urban environment that traps and absorbs heat creates a dangerous situation for vulnerable New Yorkers,” said NYC Emergency Management Commissioner Joseph Esposito. “The new programs included in Cool Neighborhoods NYC will help reduce the risks from extreme heat, and New Yorkers can also help us beat the heat this summer by taking preparedness steps like drinking lots of water and checking in on family members, neighbors, and friends when temperatures rise.”

“New York City is investing $1.5 billion to build green infrastructure across the five boroughs that will improve the health of local waterways while also cleaning the air and lowering summer temperatures,” said Vincent Sapienza, Acting Commissioner, Department of Environmental Protection.  “Importantly, the increased tree canopy and vegetation in our green infrastructure will improve air quality in neighborhoods with less than average street tree counts and higher than average rates of asthma among young people.”

“The Cool Neighborhoods NYC plan to have home health aides identify at-risk older adults is a wise decision that will save lives, as many olders without air conditioning may choose to stay home during heat emergencies rather than go to cooling centers. The plan exemplifies how we can tap into this existing network of aides to better identify and address heat-related illnesses,” said Department for the Aging Commissioner Donna Corrado.

March With Us: LGBT Pride March w/ Me & Danny O'Donnell

June is Pride month. One year after the Orlando massacre, and in the era of Donald Trump, it is important that we reinforce our unity and diversity and celebrate our pride at the 2017 Heritage Pride March.

We are excited to be marching with Assembly Member Danny O'Donnell, a major leader in the LGBT community and key figure in getting Marriage Equality passed in New York State. 

On June 25, 2017, we will march with Assembly Member O'Donnell, in the Lead Section starting at 10:00 AM. We'll be located at 41st Street between Madison and 5th Ave. See Below for more Details:

City Council to hold Oversight Hearing on the Threat of Beach Erosion in NYC

  As New York continues to grapple with the effects of global climate change,Council Members Mark Levine and Mark Treyger will hold a joint oversight hearing to address the persistent issue of beach erosion in NYC. Among those set to testify are representatives from the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation and the Mayor’s Office of Recovery and Resiliency, in addition to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

New York City’s 578 miles of highly urbanized coastline, including the 14 miles of beaches managed by the City’s Parks Department, makes the City particularly vulnerable to beach erosion which has already caused billions of dollars in damage to both the City and its citizens. According to the latest research, the average erosion rate for NYC Beaches on the south shore of Long Island is between 1 and 2 feet per year. Though that erosion rate is comparatively lower to the rest of East Coast, the City’s south shore tends to experience significant long-term erosion during major coastal storms. Hurricane Sandy for example displaced approximately 1.5 million cubic yards of sand from along the coast and into backyards, basements and City streets when it devastated New York in 2012. To assess the issue, the joint oversight hearing will examine:

·         How beach erosion is tracked and the current condition of the City’s beaches

·         The various causes of beach erosion

·         What short and long term measures can be taken to address the issue

·         The work that various government entities have already undertaken to renourish New York City beaches and manage future erosion

·         How vulnerable the City and its beaches are to another major coastal storm

·         The impact of state and federal funding for restoring and preserving NYC’s beaches