The greening of Yonkers

While the song written by Joe Raposo that originally was sung by Kermit the Frog and later covered by Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra and a host of others proclaims as the title says “It’s Not Easy Being Green,” the City of Yonkers might very well have done a slight rewrite so it can be heard crooning, “It’s not easy being green and we’re really working at it.”

Becoming greener has become baked into the philosophy that drives the Spano Administration, as Mike Spano seeks his fourth term as the city’s mayor. Spano won 68% of the vote in this summer’s Democratic primary for mayor. Spano is due to face Republican Councilman Anthony Merante in November. Development, taxes, education, crime, the political environment and the actual environment are among the issues

“Our environmental action plan, with which we’re looking to achieve zero emissions by 2050 is doing our part in terms of dealing with the effects, the climate effects, of global warming,” Spano told the Business Journal. “We all know that Yonkers itself can’t solve what’s happening in the world but certainly if we want to see a positive change I think that we all have to take it personally, each and every community across this country. We’re doing our part to make sure we do what we need to do here, locally.”

Spano said that Yonkers is serious about reducing its carbon footprint and is making special efforts to address parts of the city where there have been what he described as “environmental injustices” over the years.

“It’s about making sure that our kids have open space, making sure that they have cleaner air, and making sure that we are also putting the infrastructure in place,” Spano said. He noted that during one of the recent strong storms that were energized by global warming the southwest section of Yonkers recorded three inches of rain in 90 minutes, resulting in flooding of streets and buildings when the stormwater system was overburdened.

“There isn’t a lot that we can do with our current drainage system with that type of rain and it had an impact,” Spano said. “We had our police department, we had our fire department, we had people dealing with flooding in that short period of time. It’s going to require a lot of infrastructure work.”

Spano said that the city’s new Climate Action Plan outlines various steps the city plans to take to deal with today’s environmental issues and promote a greener future. The idea its to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions while improving the health of residents, enhancing the natural environment, creating new jobs and strengthening the economic viability of local businesses.

The 158-page plan took a year to create. It calls for creating incentives for green businesses to operate in Yonkers, assisting existing business in reducing their carbon footprints, and starting a green jobs training program. The plan calls for the city to plant at least 5,000 new trees by 2050 in parks, community spaces and other public places. Programs would be developed to help deal with flooding in sections of the city. The plan calls for the city to promote increased energy efficiency in all public and private buildings and expand the use of renewable energy sources.

Under the plan, by 2050 the city government would completely eliminate its greenhouse gas emissions, switch all vehicles in its various fleets to electric power and reduce by 50% the effects of heat islands, which are areas in the city where heat builds up due to the prevalence of pavement and buildings.

It’s not as if the city is using the plan to kick actual progress in addressing environmental concerns down the road. In May 2017, the city was recognized by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) as a Designated Clean Energy Community and cited for providing training to employees on energy code enforcement, developing a standard solar permit application, investing in alternative fuel vehicles and infrastructure for its fleet and converting streetlights to energy-efficient LEDs.

The city has adopted the state’s Unified Solar Permit system, designed to cut through a lot of the red tape and expedite issuance of a combination building and electrical permit for small-scale photovoltaic installations capable of generating up to 12,000 watts. From 2012 to the present, Yonkers has decreased municipal energy use by 26% and decreased its oil consumption by 13%.

It also brought in Sustainable Westchester to offer Con Edison customers in Yonkers the opportunity to sign up for electricity generated using renewable sources.

On Sept. 14, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced that Yonkers would benefit from more than half of the just over $11 million in federal funds that would be coming to the Hudson Valley to plant thousands of new trees and expand youth education and job training programs. Yonkers will get $1 million directly for tree planting while about $5.5 million would go to the organization Groundwork Hudson Valley to create a new forestry program for high school students in the city’s Barack Obama School for Social Justice.

“It will certainly have an impact. Yonkers is a Tree City USA, has been for over 30 years,” Spano said. “When we take down trees we put trees back. In a city like Yonkers you need to have shade; you need to have a healthier environment and trees provide that. In an urban center that’s exactly what we need.”

Spano pointed out that Yonkers has more than 200,000 people in 18 square miles and development has brought in more people and will continue to do so, which keeps environmental issues front and center.

“You use a carrot and a stick. Do we beat the developers over the head or do we try to kind of work with and partner with the developers,” Spano said. “There is a sweet spot there. We have no doubt that being green is a little more expensive, but it certainly is social responsible. We want that. We want developers to be socially responsible. But, we have to remember that they’re looking at their bottom line as well. We don’t want them to stay away from Yonkers. We want them to come to our city. And, we’ve been successful. And, we’re doing it on our own. We’re building a green school, the Sonia Sotomayor School. It’s the responsible thing to do and we’re doing it right here in Yonkers.”