Washington Heights, NY – Today, Councilmember De La Rosa joined the owners of Hudson View Gardens, a co-op building in Washington Heights, and climate advocates to urge Mayor Eric Adams to implement Local Law 97, the city’s landmark climate law. Residents and owners of Hudson View Gardens support Local Law 97 and are eager to reduce fossil fuel use at their building.

Speakers urged Mayor Adams to fully implement and enforce the law, rather than weaken it, as the real-estate lobby desires. When fully implemented, Local Law 97 will lower energy costs for city residents, while creating good-paying jobs, decreasing pollution, and protecting lives.

“Tomorrow is Earth Day, which should serve as a reminder that we are capable of meeting our climate goals and leading climate justice fights with proper enforcement of Local Law 97. We must limit the purchase of Renewable Energy Credits (RECs), enforce pollution limits and penalties, and augment existing programs to pay for NYCHA and working-class owners to upgrade to high energy efficiency,” said Council Member Carmen De La Rosa, Chair of the Civil Service & Labor Committee. “Lenient policies do not foster radical change. There’s a real opportunity to create thousands of green jobs and improve the quality of life of our environmental justice communities. If any place can do it, NYC can.”

Phil Aroneanu, owner at Hudson View Gardens, said, “Climate change is the existential crisis of our time – if we fail to confront it, we’ll face more record-breaking heatwaves, more Hurricane Sandy’s, and worse quality of life. By electrifying our buildings and cutting emissions rapidly, we can ensure that kids like my 5 year old can live, breathe, work and play in a safe, healthy and just city. Our co-op wants it. New Yorkers want it. Mayor Adams needs to make sure all of us – including big Real Estate firms – are responsible for cutting emissions.”

Passed in 2019, Local Law 97 requires large buildings like Hudson View Gardens to reduce their energy usage and emissions, which will help New Yorkers save money over time and enable the city to fight climate change more effectively. Fossil fuels used to heat, cool, and power buildings generate about 70% of the city’s climate-heating pollution and kill an estimated 1,000 New Yorkers per year from respiratory and other health problems. Cleaning up New York’s buildings through energy efficiency and replacing fossil fuel equipment will create thousands of jobs across the city.

“I am delighted to join New York City Council Member Carmen De La Rosa and Local Law 97 to kick off this weekend’s Earth Day celebration,” said Congressman Adriano Espaillat (NY-13). “We have no more precious civic duty than taking care of the planet we call home, and I am proud to use this annual recognition to expand our green climate agenda to provide clean air, water and other natural resources while ensuring environmental justice for all communities, here at home and abroad.”   

“I am proud to join Council Member De La Rosa and our community leaders in celebrating Earth Day and championing Local Law 97, NYC’s Green New Deal for Buildings. This vital legislation paves the way for Manhattan to become a national leader in greening buildings, creating thousands of jobs, and substantially reducing air and climate pollution. We urge City Hall to stand with our communities and the environment, rejecting attempts by developers to undermine enforcement and exploit loopholes. United, we can create a lasting, positive impact on our city and set an example for the nation,” said Manhattan Borough President, Mark Levine.

“Local Law 97 is a critical step in our City’s ongoing efforts to combat climate change,” said Council Member Pierina Sanchez, Chair of the Housing and Buildings Committee. “As we work to meet our climate goals, we must prioritize workforce development and job creation through the retrofitting and construction of buildings with greening infrastructure. This work not only helps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions but also improves the health of New Yorkers, advances the green economy, and delivers true environmental justice. With over 70% of our emissions stemming from buildings, we have a duty to ensure the regulation and implementation of Local Law 97, and to work expediently and aggressively to meet our climate goals.”

“From Local Law 97 to our ban on gas in new buildings, New York City is at the forefront of moving off fossil fuels. These bold policies are driving a much-needed tidal shift in the industry, reducing the climate-warming pollution from the buildings where we live, work and play, while creating good jobs for New Yorkers,” said Food & Water Watch Volunteer Jon Pope, and principal contractor at Jon Pope Construction. “It is imperative that Mayor Adams embrace this shift, and defend Local Law 97 from the real estate lobby that is lobbying to gut it. Mayor Adams must fully implement and enforce Local Law 97.”

“New York City is leading national climate policy with Local Law 97.  We know this law is necessary to improve the health of our communities, create tens of thousands of jobs, lower energy costs, and decrease pollution throughout the city, including here in Washington Heights,” said Natasha Elder, Regional Director of Equity and Resiliency Projects with NYPIRG. “Even though the real estate lobby is pushing to weaken the law, New York City tenants and homeowners are beginning to see the real benefits of Local Law 97.  The Mayor and his administration must fully support and implement Local Law 97.”

“Local Law 97 is a landmark climate policy that must be correctly implemented,” said Shiv Soin, Co-Executive Director of TREEage, a youth climate organization with 250+ student members across the city. “Mayor Adams and the Department of Buildings must ensure the law isn’t weakened, despite pushes from big real estate. Young New Yorkers are the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and actually addressing this crisis means tackling the biggest source of emissions: buildings. We are proud to stand in partnership with Council Member Carmen de la Rosa, New York Communities for Change, WEAct, Food and Water Watch, and other partners to ensure the law is implemented and enforced.”

“Mayor Adams has a choice: he can side with working New Yorkers for jobs, pollution cuts and lower utility bills. Or he can side with the real estate lobbyists. He should fully implement and enforce Local Law 97, the world’s most important climate and jobs law,” said Lucas Sanchez, Co-Executive Director, New York Communities for Change. 

“Many Jewish New Yorkers are currently observing a time in between the harvest festivals of Passover and Shavuot, during which we historically acknowledged both the presence of the wheat crop and its fragility with a daily blessing. It is on Shavuot when we can finally delight in the harvest’s first fruits,” said Talia Kaplan, Jews for Racial and Economic Justice. “ Right now, we are similarly in a liminal period in our city, between the passage of LL97 and its enforcement We need our elected officials to help us reach the moment when we can rejoice over clean air, reduced energy bills, thousands of jobs for New Yorkers.”

“The passage of the landmark Local Law 97 of 2019 was a significant step in reducing New York City’s building pollution,” said Marileidy Pimentel, Bilingual Community Organizer, WE ACT for Environmental Justice. “Burning fossil fuels in buildings contribute 71 percent of the city’s greenhouse gas pollution, which causes climate change. This pollution also causes health issues such as respiratory and cardiovascular illness. And both climate change and air pollution disproportionately harm communities of color.”

Photos available here.

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