Environmental justice: Our vision for a sustainable and resilient district
Every New Yorker deserves the ability to move, to live, to thrive. Alexa is running for City Council to protect these basic, necessary human rights and freedoms. If you’ve spent even a moment in District 38, you know that it is lively and bustling — with awe-inspiring vistas, a park that overlooks our beautiful city, and good neighbors, who interact with our city’s streets, buildings, trees and waterfront every day as they work, raise families and take care of one another. Alexa will preserve our district’s vibrancy by fighting for environmental justice that includes good, clean jobs — so that every District 38 resident can count on reliable public transportation, dignified and sustainable housing, clean air to breathe, and community ownership of our land and resources.
Climate change is hitting frontline communities like ours hard and fast. The Red Hook Houses, the largest public housing complex in Brooklyn, have never recovered from Superstorm Sandy nor preceding decades of divestment. NYCHA has been unable to address appalling conditions, at times leaving residents stuck with toxic mold, no heat, no water and no means to cook. And all of us suffer from poor air quality, whether from traffic along the Gowanus Expressway or from cruise ships idling at Brooklyn Cruise Terminal. Environmental racism is not a coincidence — it is a product of a capitalist system that puts profit before people and sells out our fresh air, water and health to private interests.
As District 38’s next City Councilmember, Alexa will prioritize community-driven land use with a vision for resiliency and good, green jobs, in partnership with the District’s long-standing neighborhood leaders. Industry City’s vision for the Sunset Park waterfront was wrong for the working-class people of our district. We need a community plan that ushers in a just transition for workers and the planet. Residents of our district walk or take public transit more than the average New Yorker, and more of them work in local retail corridors and in manufacturing and light industrial firms along the waterfront. Workers in sectors servicing the building trades, like those along the waterfront, are more likely to earn higher wages and have union benefits, and we must prioritize creating good jobs like these for workers without a college degree. As major companies explore investments along the Sunset Park and Red Hook waterfront, and the City’s landmark energy efficiency law draws new investment in existing construction and light manufacturing firms, we must compel firms, the City and the State to respect their workers and judge new development based on whether or not it delivers racial, environmental and economic justice, maximizing community leverage in a citywide land use process.
According to the Climate Justice Alliance, whose work informs this platform, “Just Transition must be liberatory and transformative. The impacts of the extractive economy knows no borders. We recognize the interconnectedness of our communities as well as our issues. Therefore, our solutions call for local, regional, national and global solidarity that confronts imperialism and militarism.”
Our vision for a better future, for people and planet, means ensuring all of us can move, with free and reliable public transportation and streets that are safe for pedestrians and bikers. Our district must be a place where people can live. We need sustainable and dignified housing, and we need our next Councilmember to listen to NYCHA residents and respond to their needs. We deserve a city where all people thrive, and we will build it by fighting for good jobs and union jobs. We will return the district — from the power grid to the parks — to the people, ensuring a future with good jobs, breathable air, dignified homes and safe streets for us all.
Freedom to move
Every New Yorker deserves the freedom to move around their city. Our current transit system, once a source of great pride, is not only crumbling and unreliable, it also fails to serve many parts of the city. Black and brown, working-class neighborhoods like ours are chief among them. We demand a transit system that serves every New Yorker, dramatically reducing carbon emissions from car traffic and giving everyone the opportunity to move freely about their city. We also demand a city where bikers, including the delivery workers who rely on bikes for their labor, can safely travel to where they need to go.
Electrify MTA buses and increase bus service. In District 38, our roads are narrow and may not always accommodate bus lane infrastructure in the ways other parts of Brooklyn or the City can; however, we can increase the frequency and reliability of using the bus by expanding bus service. For example, B63 services a lot of young students, and the bus can be too crowded for people to use. We need more buses along the B63 route, to accommodate the number of riders who depend on them.
Bus routes in District 38, like the B63, received a D for speed and a D for reliability from Turnaround, an organization that advocates for improving the bus system. Improving bus service will mean easier commutes, less traffic and lower emissions.
Expand raised boarding platforms, bus shelters including benches and real-time bus status displays throughout the full bus network.
Citywide, initiate a massive expansion of protected busways, especially outside of the central business districts. More busways will allow us to increase service, adding more frequency. To do this, we can utilize pilot programs using portable street treatments like barriers, planters and precast curbs to rapidly expand, gather information, learn and improve our buses.
Say no to the Brooklyn Queens Connector (BQX), a light rail project that would connect trendy areas of Brooklyn and Queens, but doesn’t prioritize working-class communities.
Deny all public funding and bond issuing for the BQX project, which prioritizes commuting for neighborhoods with high real-estate value.
Improve bike lanes with protective concrete barriers and other infrastructure that will protect all riders, including the delivery people who risk their lives to provide an essential service. Additionally, provide the New York City Sanitation Department with adequate funding and appropriate equipment to maintain and clean bike lanes.
The bike lanes on Sunset Park’s 4th Avenue are a major artery for commuters and delivery people. To make them truly safe for bikers, we must massively expand bicycle infrastructure by funding the Regional Plan Association’s (RPA) Five Borough Bikeway plan and create the backbone for a citywide network of protected bicycle infrastructure, a vital component of prioritizing sustainable transport. Fourth Avenue is unsafe. It needs to be revisited and completed — with appropriate signage, fixing the concrete and correcting apparent design problems.
Take city control of Citi Bike, expanding it with necessary street infrastructure to working-class neighborhoods that its current for-profit operator has neglected. We need community input to ensure that Citi Bikes are where they’re supposed to be, so that they don’t create abrupt and serious bottlenecks and problems for working people who need to find parking. Integrate Citi Bike with the MTA bus and subway fare and transfer system. Explore integration with LIRR and MNR transfers.
Add more bicycle types to Citi Bike for riders of varying abilities and needs (cargo, adaptive cycles, kids’s bikes, etc.)
Design all new bike lanes to accommodate the newly legalized cargo e-bikes, a low-carbon impact way to move goods around the city.
Push for progressive fares.
Mass transit is the lifeblood of NYC; it should be free for everyone, including NYC public school students, and run democratically. Until then, we must implement progressive fare models under city purview, such as expanding Fair Fares, making some or all buses free, and exploring new programs similar to the Atlantic Ticket.
Our district has way too much truck traffic. As a requirement to do business in our neighborhoods, all medium and heavy-duty vehicles should be electrified.
Use the land use process to scrutinize plans for new distribution centers and hold big corporations accountable
Freedom to live
Green New Deal for NYCHA
The Green New Deal means fighting climate change while creating millions of good-paying, union jobs and prioritizing working-class neighborhoods and communities of color.
The City Council has limited power over NYCHA. However, our Council can advocate for and demand a Green New Deal at the state and federal level. A Green New Deal for the New York City Housing Authority would mean making dramatic improvements to our current public housing, and building thousands of new, carbon-neutral units. This is critical for the Red Hook Houses, the largest NYCHA development in Brooklyn. Together, we can create over 300,000 union jobs over 10 years, generate billions of dollars for the local economy and, most importantly, prioritize housing all New Yorkers. In this process, Alexa will fight for and with NYCHA residents in Red Hook, who have suffered from decades of neglect.
Demand services from NYCHA, and also leverage city services outside of NYCHA, to support and serve our public housing residents.
Ensure that all retrofitting and repair jobs prioritize hiring NYCHA residents with union labor. Section 3 requires that when federal money is used for NYCHA projects, where possible, our public housing neighbors are hired for such jobs. However, this is woefully enforced. The City can be effective in monitoring and demanding that Section 3 be followed.
Address immediate issues created by the FEMA funded Recovery and Resiliency project which include addressing safety concerns related to fencing and lighting; heat island impacts; and mitigation of particle pollution from the construction and dirt mounds.
NYCHA must construct necessary shade structures to mitigate heat, a direct result of the massive tree removal on the campus. Such structures also offer residents places to socialize and enjoy the outdoors.
Expedite repairs and provide funding to address residents’ most pressing health and safety needs, including mold removal and heat provision.
Prioritize refurbishing and “greening” the Red Hook Houses, which need extensive maintenance and retrofits to guarantee safe housing with consistent heat, cooking gas, hot water, electricity and internet.
Install modern, energy efficient appliances with lower maintenance and health costs in existing units.
Implement retrofits that phase out oil and natural gas and set the stage for decarbonization.
Transition Away from Fossil Fuels, Toward Renewable Energy
As one of the largest cities in the world, New York must become a world leader when it comes to decarbonization. While the city’s goal of reaching carbon neutrality by 2050 is a step in the right direction, the reality is that the climate crisis has already begun, and we are already feeling the effects in Sunset Park and Red Hook. The City government must act boldly and creatively to fund and enact policy recommendations, outlined by the Climate Works for All Coalition in the Climate And Community Stimulus platform, and end New York’s dependence on fossil fuels.
No more polluting infrastructure in the district, period.
Fully fund and implement Local Law 97 and require all new buildings be net-zero carbon.
Transition away from natural gas and fossil-fuel dependent steam.
Ban natural gas hookups in all new construction and gut renovations.
Provide assistance to low-income households buying energy-efficient appliances, induction stoves, and retrofits.
Ban all new or replacement oil and gas infrastructure within the city.
Enact a binding plan to retire existing, polluting, large-scale oil and gas infrastructure, including decommissioning of PEAKER plants
Support public development of solar, wind and wave energy, and renewable heat pumps.
Remove restrictions which hinder the development of clean, renewable energy sources, like fire codes which restrict the installation of battery storage.
Invest in and expand community-owned renewable energy projects, like the Sunset Park Solar Cooperative and Resilient Red Hook’s community microgrid.
Ensure that the City follows through with its obligation to support Renewable Rikers, which the Council voted on in early 2021. Renewable Rikers would replace the jail on Rikers Island with a solar array, battery storage and a wastewater treatment plant. For true justice for our communities, Alexa will fight to also support the permanent closure of the Rikers Island jail complex and demand an aggressive and actionable plan for decarceration, release and rehabilitation, while also looking to see how to positively use the land in which Rikers once stood.
Take control of New York City’s power grid from the for-profit monopoly of Con Ed and give it to the people. Push for the State Legislature to pass a Public Power agenda.
Invest in publicly-owned, renewable energy jobs by passing the Build Public Renewables Act at the state level.
Take control from Con Ed and National Grid, the companies whose boards are responsible for the price-gouging, blackouts and brownouts, and other inequities that come with a privatized, commodified power grid, and municipalize New York City’s power.
Require cruise ships docked at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal to use “shore power,” turn off their idling engines and plug into the on-shore grid. This will eliminate a major source of carbon emissions and improve the air quality of our district.
Freedom to thrive
More green spaces don’t just make our city prettier; they can also lower our carbon footprint and defend us against flooding. To make our city more livable, more sustainable and more equitable, we must allocate at least 1 percent of the City budget for the Parks Department. This money would support the much-needed operations and maintenance to ensure our parks are safe, clean and accessible. Critically, the Parks Department’s funding and work must prioritize Black and brown communities, where unemployment is highest and green space is inaccessible and/or inadequate.
Create an inter-agency sidewalk maintenance and improvement corps, which can span the Departments of Sanitation, Parks and Recreation, and Transportation. This will create new union jobs to make sidewalks ADA compliant, and improve their resilience.
Improve and expand equitable waste-management practices, both across the district and citywide.
Fully fund composting and require it citywide, while educating residents and investing in borough-based composting sites.
Support all district public schools, among all public facilities, to move toward zero waste.
Significantly Increase the number of trash cans throughout the district and trash pick-up in high traffic areas.
Support the full implementation of the Commercial Waste Zones.
Support the local development of Barcelona-style superblocks, an urban planning design which restricts cars to certain streets, frees up streets for public spaces and promotes equitable access to green spaces.
Expand and make permanent the city’s successful COVID-era Open Streets program, especially in Black, brown and working-class communities that continue to have disproportionately fewer open streets — and more traffic violence. Open Streets should be fully implemented and adequately funded.
Prioritize expansion in neighborhoods without access to open green space, working with community members to choose pilot sites. There are only two Open Streets in Sunset Park, along with a smattering of block-sized Open Streets in Red Hook, compared with large stretches of Broadway in Manhattan and long, intersecting streets at the heart of Williamsburg.
Ensure Open Streets are municipally operated, outfitted with public seating and include accessible bathrooms.
Massively expand our urban forest, both in the district, and citywide.
District 38 still has blocks without even one tree. Trees are one of the greatest single investments our city can make to combat climate change while supporting the health and well-being of residents. We should invest in intergenerational programs to support tree stewardship and maintenance of our green spaces.
Build more parks and open space, while ensuring existing neighborhood parks are clean and safe.
Although New York City has recently begun investing in renovating neglected parks across the city, park maintenance remains woefully underfunded. Parks in affluent neighborhoods have private conservancies to help maintain them, while parks in working-class neighborhoods face litter, crumbling sidewalks and equipment, and a lack of facilities. Growing the workforce will create jobs while addressing this disparity.
Water fountains are critical infrastructure for the unhoused, and they benefit the entire community. Upgrade all water fountains to make them freeze-resistant so they can stay on all year, following the example of Prospect Park.
Access to fresh, affordable food is a critical need, further magnified by the pandemic. We must support community-led sustainable food systems that ensure all our neighbors have access to the nutrition they need.
Strike all parking minimums from city zoning. These minimums are a gift to the fossil fuel industry — it’s time we let communities plan their development according to their needs, in coordination with DOT transportation and accessibility experts.
Resilience
District 38 understands the threat of climate change, particularly when it comes to severe storms and flooding. We are still feeling the effects of Superstorm Sandy, and as we recover we must also protect ourselves from future storms. Alexa understands what’s at stake and recognizes that this challenge is also an opportunity for our district and our city to demonstrate what a green, resilient and prepared future looks like.
Give neighbors ownership of their resilience and preparedness plans.
Designate Sunset Park New York City’s first Green Resilient Industrial District.
Designate space and submit Requests for Proposals for green industries.
Retrofit all businesses in city-owned properties and develop programs that assist businesses in greening operations and practices.
Provide workforce training in green building trades, offshore wind and vehicle electrification and community engagement and training.
Advocate for government commitments to provide technical and financial support for Sunset Park business and property owners to reduce their carbon emissions.
Invest in nature-based coastal resiliency that protects communities from extreme weather events.
Change the NYC property tax code to require developers in Flood Zones 1 and 2 who benefited from tax breaks and city subsidies to pay a “resiliency tax,” which would pay for necessary coastal resiliency improvements in their respective flood zones.
Use rain gardens, porous paving materials, and other means of upgrading our infrastructure to lessen the threat of floods.
Open the waterfront so that it is useful to those who need it. According to PortSide New York, the City, “found a way to mandate ‘public access to the waterfront’ when property is re-zoned,” but did not create a way to use the waterways themselves. Those who use the waterfront and its waterways — the working-class neighbors who live and work there — should be the first to propose plans for those areas.