Upper Green Side

Understanding PlaNYC 2030 at the Community Level

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Upper Green Side applauds the Bloomberg Administration’s focus and leadership on environmental issues through it’s PlaNYC 2030 initiatives. On May 7th the Upper Green Side board unanimously voted to support the Mayor’s PlaNYC 2030 initiatives including congestion pricing.

The entire plan is staggering both in the array of issues and the time scale involved. It is expected that much of this will probably be modified over time as different stakeholders provide more specific input at their community level. That is why it is so important for local community members to make sure that when these initiatives are implemented in our community that they not only achieve the desired environmental and sustainability goals, but also fit the needs of the community to improve quality of life.

Upper Green Side is committed to making sure that local environmental voices are heard as the PlaNYC initiatives are rolled out at the community. This month, instead of having our regular monthly meeting, we are inviting all our members to attend a information session on PlaNYC hosted by Citizen’s Committee for NYC.

Wednesday, May 30, 2007, 6:30 PM
Citizen’s for NYC offices
305 Seventh Avenue, between 27th and 28th 15th Floor
New York, NY 10001

We hope everyone concerned about environmental issues at the community level can come out to learn more and see how we can make a difference in shaping PlaNYC in the Upper East and West Sides - in making them both Upper Green Sides!

Upper West Side Electronics Recycling Event

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There’s an upcoming Electronics Recycling event on the Upper West Side, where you can drop off your unwanted or broken electronics for recycling.

Date: Saturday, May 12, 2007
Time: 10 am - 3 pm
Location: Cathedral of St. John the Divine - Cathedral North Yard Gate - 112th/113th Streets on Amsterdam Avenue

What’s Accepted:

• Computers, Monitors, Printers and Toner Cartridges, Keyboards, Mice and Cables
• TVs (no wooden consoles please, only plastic cases), DVDs and VCRs
• Fax Machines, Cell Phones and Pagers
• Stereo and other Electronic Equipment

Not Accepted: Household Appliances and Cameras

Receipts will be available for tax purposes. This event is being organized by Per Scholas, who have been reconditioning and recycling E-Waste since 1999. In addition to making low-cost computers available to children and adults who cannot afford a new computer, Per Scholas also trains local youth for full-time jobs as computer technicians. They ask that you make a small voluntary contribution of $1 per piece of equipment in order to defray transportation and processing costs.

For more information call Per Scholas: (718) 772-0651

UGS Makes Team Effort for Streetfair Success

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Today, Upper Green Side was given a booth at the Church of the Holy Trinity’s MayFair street festival. They had live music, good food, lots of interesting vendors and an all around wonderful atmosphere.

This day was truly a team effort by Upper Green Side volunteers. Jane made all the phone calls to reserve the place at the streetfair. Sarah arranged for the brochures to be printed in time. She brought them to Alex, who delivered us her table for us to use for the day along with the brochures. I manned the booth from 9-12.

Then Emily and Jodi joined me at from noon until 2pm. We talked to Frank, who is a super at a nearby building about all the energy efficiency changes he’s made in his buildling. Then Michelle helped out from 2-4pm. Finally, Dave and Karen (with her dog Brisztow) covered us through the home stretch until we cleaned up at 5pm.

Upper Green Side gave out all of our 120 copies of our new color brochure, a hot commodity. We also distributed over 50 bike maps, 100 Bike Month Calendars and 100 of the Sierra Club’s energy efficiency pledge cards.

Even more important than the numbers of flyers we distributed was all the interesting conversation we had with local people about everyday environmentalism. Many people proudly announced the changes they had made in their lives to be more environmentally friendly, like replacing their old incandescents with cool and efficient compact fluorescents.

Thanks to everyone for making today such a great success.

Pedestrian and Bike Safety Forum - May 1st 7pm

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Community Board 8 will be sponsoring a forum to discuss ways to improve pedestrian and cyclist safety. They will have a panel of experts presenting their ideas on this topic. Upper Green Side will present some of the results of our transportation survey which showed strong support for reducing the number of cars, installing bike lanes and increasing pedestrian safety at intersections and elsewhere.

When:
Tuesday, May 1, 2007, 7:00 PM
Where:
NY Blood Center
310 East 67th Street (Bet. 1st & 2nd)
New York , NY 10028

Please come to support walking and biking as pollution free alternative transportation modes.

UGS Joins Sierra Club’s Cool Neighborhoods Effort on West Side

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Upper Green Side will be hosting it’s first meeting on the Upper West Side to help the New York City Sierra Club Chapter kick-off it’s “Cool Neighborhoods” campaign to encourage local residents to reduce their personal energy consumption and greenhouse gases and form the nucleus of volunteers for an Upper Green Side chapter on the Upper West Side.

Monday May 7th at 7pm
Cosi - 2160 Broadway corner of 76th Street
Downstairs Eating Area
Continue reading UGS Joins Sierra Club’s Cool Neighborhoods Effort on West Side…

Mayor Bloomberg’s Sustainability Plan

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Mayor Bloomberg has announced a new sustainability plan to make NYC more environmentally friendly in a bold initiative that will define his last two hundred days in office.

I make this promise to you: I will not spend my last 984 days in office pretending that all is fine and leaving these challenges to the next mayor, who may well pass them off to his or her successor. And we – the residents of a city that is a beacon to the world – will not abdicate our responsibility to that world. That’s not leadership. Leadership is about recognizing challenges and seizing opportunities. And we are going to seize this opportunity – to lead the way forward and create the first environmentally sustainable 21st century city.

I highly recommend reading through the speech or the whole report if you get a chance or you can focus on a few of the different sections on Land, Water, Transportation, Energy and Air.

There are many innovative ideas from congestion pricing, to planting a million new trees to cleaning up contaminated land, significantly reducing sewage output into our rivers and harbor and making a goal of reducing greenhouse gases by 30% by the year 2030, all while the city adds another million people.

It’s an ambitious plan that deserves thoughtful study by all levels of government to bring to fruition. For the rest of us, this is yet another reason to believe that all our hard work in raising awareness of the issues is making a difference. But the Mayor or any government agency cannot build a sustainable society through law and administrative procedures alone. It will take a dedicated public effort to make sure that we achieve the goals of this initiative.

Electronics Recycling & Clothing Donation Event

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There’s an upcoming Electronics Recycling & Clothing Donation event, where you can drop off your unwanted or broken electronics for recycling, and your gently used clothing and linens for donation. Free for NYC residents.

Date: Sunday, April 22, 2007
Time: 8 am - 2 pm (rain or shine)
Location: Union Square, North Plaza

Acceptable electronics: computers & laptops, monitors, printers, scanners, keyboards & mice, TVs, cell phones.

Acceptable clothing & linens: pants, dresses, shirts, sweaters, shoes, handbags, belts, blankets, towels, sheets, curtains, tablecloths. Only donate clean, gently used clothing & linens. Place donated items in plastic bags and tie securely to avoid moisture contamination. Tax-deduction receipts will be available from Goodwill upon request.

For more info on other events and recycling options, visit NYCWasteLe$$ or call 311.

Help Us Find Homes for Trees

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How can you place a price on something as beautiful and majestic as a tree in the midst of our urban environment? “Priceless” many would say about the trees out their doors and windows that have been constant companions over the years.

The Parks Department has a more precise answer as reported in the NY Times:

$122 million in annual benefits from the 592,130 of NYC’s street trees from higher real estate values to lower Summer cooling costs and of course the carbon that they sequester from the atmosphere. That’s over $200k per tree.

Another way that the Parks Department has calculated the value to the city is the Return On Investment of tree planting and maintance on city streets. The ROI is $5.60 per dollar spent on street trees.
Continue reading Help Us Find Homes for Trees…

Roosevelt Island Queensboro Bridge Access?

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Roosevelt Island’s Old Connection to the Queensboro Bridge (Elevator Building 1916)

Last night, representatives from the Roosevelt Island Residents Association (RIRA)and the Roosevelt Island Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) made a presentation to Community Board 8 to physically connect Roosevelt Island to the Queensboro Bridge pedestrian and bike path. This is not a new concept. There used to be electric trolleys going over the Queensboro bridge and there was a stop at Roosevelt Island halfway across the bridge. People would then walk across to a building that had a number of elevators. These elevators were so big that they could fit trucks and automobiles that supplied the island.

The Transportation Committee unanimously approved the recommendation of the RIRA to recommend that the city conduct a feasibility study of pedestrian access to the Queensboro bridge and determine how evacuation of the island could be enhanced by this.

Below is the speech that was given by Ellen Polivy, President of the RIRA and a new member of Community Board 8.
Continue reading Roosevelt Island Queensboro Bridge Access?…

Interview with Upper Green Side Founder, Glenn McAnanama

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About a month ago, I was interviewed by a few videobloggers, Ryanne and Jay. This short seven minute video shows my responses to a wide variety of questions about neighborhood organizing, running efficient meetings and personal steps I’ve taken to make my lifestyle more environmentally sustainable. Feel free to add your own comments below here about what you’ve done to make your life more sustainable.

Check out this other great interview with local eco-entrepreneur, Eugene Lee, owner of Rolling Press.