NYC Going Green!

Mayor Bloomberg announced his plan to make the city a cleaner, greener place and I must say a lot of it makes sense. The congestion pricing may be a topic up for discussion, but one million new trees is undebatable. The mayor wants to see a 30 percent reduction in New York's carbon output by 2027. Out of the many ideas put forward, adding a tremendous amount of green, leafy goodness within ten years is a smart, relatively low-cost solution that helps cool the city and reduce pollution.

Funding for this program will be around $37 million, up from the current $11 million. The city's goal is to put a tree in every place possible in order to reduce the sun's effect on pavement. Anyone who walks in the city in July and then goes out to the countryside definitely knows the difference that the concrete can make. Covering that up will go a long way to reducing temperatures in the brutal summer months.

The real hot story in all of this is the congestion pricing. Adding another tax to the heavily burdened New Yorker's plate is the main objection, especially since it is easier for the more wealthy businessmen to drive into the city than the guy in his station-wagon. On the flip-side, those funds (estimated to be about $500 million a year) will go to improvements in mass transit. Adding another rail line across the Hudson and improving other structures to increase efficiency is a no-brainer as long as you have the funds.

I don't drive so to me personally, I could care less about paying the fees. For those that would have to however, it may be a slightly draconian measure that would force the not-so-well-off to use more mass-transit. It would be great if the Wall Street elite would leave their limos at the PATH, but that is just wishful thinking. The key is to reduce vehicle trips on the bridges and tunnels so traffic and pollution is cut.