Green Guru Network

Yonkers Green Policy Task Force

City Establishes Hotline for Reporting and Increased Penalties for Lawbreakers

YONKERS, NY - December 14, 2012 - Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano launched a new "It's Dumb to Dump" anti-dumping program last week, part of the Mayor's Clean Streets Initiative, targeting those who illegally dump their garbage in the city.  The new effort includes increased fines and the launch of a dumping hotline for residents to report any signs of illegal activity.

"The name of this program says it all, it's simply dumb to dump," said Mayor Spano. "Illegal dumping isn't just an eyesore, it's a health and environmental hazard and it's offensive to all who live and work in our city. We will not tolerate it and will make sure those found violating the law are prosecuted to the fullest extent."

Despite offering twice a week garbage pick-up and weekly bulk item pick-up, the city still uncovers dumping of all types of waste on properties including furniture, appliances, construction debris, car parts and even hazardous materials.  Under the Mayor's new ordinance, recently approved by the City Council, fines for illegal dumping will increase from $500 to a minimum of $5,000 per violation, and as much as $10,000 in the most severe cases. Additionally, vehicles that unlawfully dump will be impounded immediately and subject to forfeiture proceedings. Mayor Spano said this hefty fine will cover the cost for the city to clean littered sites and also help fund the city's sustainability efforts, but it also serves to send a clear message that the violation is not worth the penalty.

In addition, a new hotline, 914-377-DUMP, has been established for residents to report any instances of illegal dumping. The City is also offering a reward of up to $1000 to anyone who reports a case of illegal dumping in which a conviction is made. 

"It is very important for residents to immediately report any cases of dumping so that city crews can quickly get to work cleaning the site and hold those responsible for this serious violation accountable for their actions," said Mayor Spano.

For the Spanish speaking communities in Yonkers, "no dumping" signs will be made available at the City's Office of Constituent Services for landlords, superintendents and building managers by calling914-377-6010.

Yonkers Green Policy Task Force

Last week, the Yonkers City Council approved earmarking city funds to move forward with the Bronx River Pathway Extension Project, a 1.5 mile-long stretch of on and off-road between the Bronx River Pathway from Palmer Road in Yonkers to the Bronx border to be utilized as a bike path.  

In 2002, Yonkers secured a $1 million federal grant for the path and is required to cover $150,000 of the cost or lose the funding all together. Half of that, or $75,000 in funding, was approved as an amendment to the city's 2012-13 operating budget and plans to  earmark another $75,000 are in place for next year.

This project is deemed an important step forward in the decades-long effort to build a network of safe walking and cycling paths and trails in Yonkers and Westchester. It will restore the Bronx River Park to its original purpose of a recreational park serving residents of South West Yonkers who currently lack access to the Croton Aqueduct, River Walk and South County trails. 
What's more, the trail gap in Yonkers will no longer be a "missing link" in the broader East Coast Greenway - a route that, once complete, will link every major East Coast City from Florida to Canada.


"Beyond the recreational merits of extending and connecting the bike path, last night's vote secured federal funds that were allocated to the project and could not be used for any other projects," said City Council President Chuck Lesnick. "Now is not the time to waste government grants."    


While it was clear from the public comments that some residents are concerned about parking and safety, Council President Lesnick suggests that they become involved in the planning and siting of the path to help accommodate their ideas and further address their concerns.

Yonkers Green Policy Task Force

By David Crane and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

We don't think much about pitch pine poles until storms like Hurricane Sandy litter our landscape with their splintered corpses and arcing power lines. Crews from as far away as California and Quebec have worked feverishly to repair or replace those poles as utility companies rebuild their distribution systems the way they were before.

Residents of New Jersey and New York have lived through three major storms in the past 16 months, suffering through sustained blackouts, closed roads and schools, long gas lines and disrupted lives, all caused by the destruction of our electric system. When our power industry is unable to perform its most basic mission of supplying safe, affordable and reliable power, we need to ask whether it is really sensible to run the 21st century by using an antiquated and vulnerable system of copper wires and wooden poles.

Some of our neighbors have taken matters into their own hands, purchasing portable gas-powered generators in order to give themselves varying degrees of "grid independence." But these dirty, noisy and expensive devices have no value outside of a power failure. And they're not much help during a failure if gasoline is impossible to procure.

Having spent our careers in and around the power industry, we believe there is a better way to secure grid independence for our homes and businesses. (Disclosure: Mr. Crane's company, based in Princeton, N.J., generates power from coal, natural gas, and nuclear, wind and solar energy.) Solar photovoltaic technology can significantly reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and our dependence on the grid. Electricity-producing photovoltaic panels installed on houses, on the roofs of warehouses and big box stores and over parking lots can be wired so that they deliver power when the grid fails.

Solar panels have dropped in price by 80 percent in the past five years and can provide electricity at a cost that is at or below the current retail cost of grid power in 20 states, including many of the Northeast states. So why isn't there more of a push for this clean, affordable, safe and inexhaustible source of electricity?

First, the investor-owned utilities that depend on the existing system for their profits have little economic interest in promoting a technology that empowers customers to generate their own power. Second, state regulatory agencies and local governments impose burdensome permitting and siting requirements that unnecessarily raise installation costs. Today, navigating the regulatory red tape constitutes 25 percent to 30 percent of the total cost of solar installation in the United States, according to data from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and, as such, represents a higher percentage of the overall cost than the solar equipment itself.

In Germany, where sensible federal rules have fast-tracked and streamlined the permit process, the costs are considerably lower. It can take as little as eight days to license and install a solar system on a house in Germany. In the United States, depending on your state, the average ranges from 120 to 180 days. More than one million Germans have installed solar panels on their roofs, enough to provide close to 50 percent of the nation's power, even though Germany averages the same amount of sunlight as Alaska. Australia also has a streamlined permitting process and has solar panels on 10 percent of its homes. Solar photovoltaic power would give America the potential to challenge the utility monopolies, democratize energy generation and transform millions of homes and small businesses into energy generators. Rational, market-based rules could turn every American into an energy entrepreneur. That transition to renewable power could create millions of domestic jobs and power in this country with American resourcefulness, initiative and entrepreneurial energy while taking a substantial bite out of the nation's emissions of greenhouse gases and other dangerous pollutants.

As we restore crucial infrastructure after the storm, let's build an electricity delivery system that is more resilient, clean, democratic and reliable than the one that Sandy washed away. We can begin by eliminating the regulatory hurdles impeding solar generation and use incentives like the renewable energy tax credit - which Congress seems poised to eliminate - to balance the subsidies enjoyed by fossil fuel producers.

And as we rebuild the tens of thousands of houses and commercial buildings damaged and destroyed by the storm, let's incorporate solar power arrays and other clean energy technologies in their designs, and let's allow them to be wired so they still are generating even when the centralized grid system is down.

We have the technology. The economics makes sense. All we need is the political will.

Subway trains rushed people to work, skyscrapers bustled with activity, automobile factories hummed, and breweries pumped out rivers of beer. Everything seemed normal except for one remarkable fact: Nearly one third of the entire nation's midday electricity was delivered by the sun. It was the highest solar power output that any nation had ever achieved in one day and could mark a milestone in the transition of solar energy from alternative to mainstream power source: 'As the sun crested on May 25, tens of millions of solar panels across Germany generated 22 gigawatts of power, according to data provided by the nation's four largest electrical transmission operators.

From downtown Munich to the fields of Bavaria, those panels exploited the photoelectric effect (in which light expels electrons to create an electric current) to crank out the equivalent of 16 nuclear power plants operating at full capacity. Germany's overall solar capacity is expected to grow another 30 percent by the end of 2012, making it all but certain another new record will be set some bright day this coming spring.

Since 2000 Germany's solar industry has enjoyed generous public subsidies that have transformed it into the world's largest solar market. While the United States has long lagged behind-Germany installed more solar in December 2011 than our country did the entire year-the U.S., like many nations, may benefit from that leadership. Average solar panel prices have fallen by 55 percent since 2010 even as German government support has begun dropping sharply. The global industry is now at a tipping point between subsidy dependence and market-driven growth, says Shayle Kann, a vice president at GTM Research, a market research firm. One perverse sign that the solar industry has come of age: A bitter 2012 trade dispute between the United states and the European Union against China for reportedly selling solar panels at a loss to gain market share. Such battles traditionally focus on industries considered economically and politically important.

Green Policy Task Force

ipark Hudson, the 24-acre technology office in downtown Yonkers, celebrated its new multi-million dollar solar installation which blankets as much rooftop square footage as two professional football fields and is one of the largest in the state of New York. 

The installation: 
*    consists of 3,751 solar panels 
*    covers 107,656 square feet of roof area  
*    generates 1.2 megawatts per year of electricity
*    reduces CO2 emissions by over 1080 tons per year  
*    offsets approximately 10 to 15% of the annual electricity usage at iPark

ipark follows the first big Yonkers solar installation at Richard Fitzgerald's Sound Associates, for which he received a "Greenie" award from the GPTF in 2009! The GPTF can provide information on solar technology for homes and businesses.

Yonkers Green Policy Task Force

It's hard to imagine that some still deny the cause and effect of climate change and weather disasters, but it's true. To them, the GPTF can only say go bear witness to any of the decimated areas affected by Hurricane Sandy and then let's talk. 

GPTF staffer Laura Fahrenthold spent Thanksgiving Day as a volunteer for Occupy Sandy in Far Rockaway, Queens with her sixth grade daughter (above) loading supplies, and handing out water, food and clothes to more than 150 needy people who stood in line for more than 1.5 hours to receive as much as a roll of toilet paper or a few cans of food. 

It was a small gesture but one that offered hope that somehow the world will start paying closer attention to itself.  

Volunteers are still needed every single day to help do everything from wrap holiday presents to repair homes or cook and load/drive supplies. 

Here is a list of opportunities excerpted from the Huffington Post. 

You can make a donation through the Robin Hood Foundation, Red Cross, AmeriCares, the Salvation Army or Save the Children. You can also consult the websites of Goodwill, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Corporation for National & Community Service to see a list of state and local agencies coordinating recovery efforts. The group World Vision is also helping to distribute food and supplies. Jersey Shore Hurricane News on Facebook has been posting various donations that are being sought by groups along the storm ravaged Shore.  

Occupy Sandy is collecting supplies and donations and leading a series of grassroots efforts, including dispatching people for on-the-scene work, in New York and New Jersey. The group is also running a registry of needed supplies through Amazon. The Bay Ridge Cares Kitchen is preparing hot meals for people in hard-hit New York neighborhoods and is looking for drivers, cooks and grocery donations. The Bowery Mission is collecting donations to help house displaced New Yorkers.

The website for New York Cares has a frequently-updated list of volunteer opportunities around New York City. The advocacy group United Neighborhood Houses also has a list of locations in need of supplies and assistance. Jersey Cares is providing a similar service for communities in New Jersey.

The New York City YMCA is collecting donations to go toward school supplies for affected NYC schoolchildren. Congregation Beth Elohim in Park Slope, Brooklyn is coordinating supplies and volunteers. The Long Island Cares food bank, the Brooklyn restaurant chain Two Boots and thePublic Theater in lower Manhattan are also collecting supplies.

Our roving reporter took it to the street to ask passersby what they thought of the Yonker's new initiative to mulch leaves in place as opposed to bagging them for transport.
 
Here's what they had to say:
 
Excuse me sir, have you heard of the city's new Love 'Em and Leave 'Em program for leaf mulching?
 
"No, but I like the name," said Samuel Horowitz. "It sounds like a broken-hearted love song. But what does that mean for the leaves that are left behind?"
 
This guy was too funny.  
 
Hi, I'm from the City of Yonkers Green Policy Task Force. What would you say if I told you the city can save a whopping $650,000 a year if residents stopped bagging their leaves for the DPW to pick up and instead pulverized them with their lawnmowers right back into the ground?
  
"I'd say halleluiah!" resident Dorothy Brown said standing outside of The Dolphin Restaurant. "I don't care how they do it, if it saves money, it saves money."
 
We say amen, Dorothy. 
 
Excuse me sir. Do you own a home in Yonkers?  
 
"Yes."
 
Do you use a landscaper?
 
"Yeah, you're looking at him. I work for my wife. Why? You selling something? "
 
While he had not heard of mulching leaves in place to feed your grass and garden beds, he seemed pretty enthusiastic about the idea. That was before we even got to the money part.  
 
"You mean I don't have to rake leaves anymore?" he marveled. "Where do I sign up? I hate leaves!"   
 
Poor leaves. Don't take it personally. It's just that you clog sewer drains, cause land erosion, cost a fortune in gas to haul to waste yards, cost man hours, contribute greatly to global warming, and require your own laws and code enforcement officers to regulate rogue leaf blowing landscapers.
   
The good news is, you are rich in carbon, phosphorus, and potassium - all essential nutrients needed by plants, including turf grasses. If you are mowed along with the grass, your small pieces will filter down among the grass blades to feed the greens.      
 
And that's why we love you!

Rather than dispatch crews to collect and haul leaves from more than 40 city parks, Yonkers DPW workers are now mulching leaves in place, helping to reduce the $650,000 annual cost of tipping fees, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and naturally feeding the ground. 

"Here we have something that has a measurable impact on the environment and quality of life but is also something that saves money," said Brad Tito, the city's director of sustainability.
 
Officials estimate that city crews and landscapers deposit an estimated 35,000 tons of leaves and grass clippings at the city's Organic Yard every year. Shredding leaves on site can save the city money on tipping fees and the cost of packing leaves into trucks to be shipped out of the county.
 
"This is a perfect example of how being green does not cost money," Department of Public Works Commissioner Thomas Meier said.
 
In addition, mulched leaves have environmental benefits, such as improving soil health and reducing the need for fertilizer.
 
"Just the simple act of mulching in place will create enormous benefits in terms of better looking lawns and garden beds, less pollution, saved money, and more," says Yonkers City Council President Chuck Lesnick.  
 
City officials encouraged residents to follow their lead and mulch their own leaves.
 
"With tight budgets and high labor and materials costs, adopting leaf mulching-in-place and grass-cycling practices in Yonkers makes a lot of sense," said Mayor Mike Spano.
 
With a little practice, many homeowners will find that mulching leaves in place is easier than raking, bagging, or blowing them to the curb, said Tim Downey, owner of Aesthetic Landscape Care Inc., who is training city crews in the art of leaf mulching.
 
"Once you get the knack of it, you're going to say to yourself, 'Why wasn't I doing it this way before?'" said Tim Downey.  
 
For residents who choose to bag their leaves, the Department of Public Works will continue to pick up leaves every Wednesday. On these days, city trucks will pick up recycling and return for leaves placed in paper bags or open containers.

The City of Yonkers Green Policy Task Force (GPTF) is on a mission 

To have the chickens and honey bees cross the road from NYC to Yonkers in the form of approved legislation.

We are hoping to help all of  Yonkers' Councilmembers to understand the benefits of keeping of backyard chickens and honey bees and secure their support for this important step towards a more sustinable Yonkers.

The YGPTF is calling out to the Green Guru Network community to flock together to help Yonkers officials make better informed choices by sharing what you know, and or reading these fact sheets and calling or emailing at the addresses below.

CHICKEN FACTS

Suggested talking points

Great website: http://thecitychicken.com/chickenlaws.html

Chicken Flick: (5 minutes long) http://vimeo.com/35990778

Chickens are allowed in many major municipalities with comparable geography to Yonkers including:

-New York City and the Bronx: Chickens are considered pets under the Health Code. Unlimited number of hens allowed; no roosters or other types of poultry. Code mentions cleanliness of chicken area must be kept clean.

- Boston, Baltimore, San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Seattle, Portland, Oregon, Washington D.C., Denver, New Haven and Stamford, and Miami among hundreds of other municipalities.

- Ardsley, Hastings, Dobbs Ferry, Ossining, The City of Rye and many others in Westchester County.

PROS:

-Chickens eat kitchen scraps which otherwise end up in the landfill, raising methane gas levels which directly contribute to climate change

-Chickens control flies, ticks, insects other pests, not add to them

-Chickens provide food security

-Chickens lay healthier eggs compared to store-bought eggs

-Chickens are fun, friendly pets with educational value for children about where food like eggs comes from

-They give gardeners high-quality fertilizer

Some of the most common concerns are:

Noise: If you don’t have roosters, chickens aren’t noisy. Hens cluck and peep softly all day long, and then go to bed at dusk and remain quiet all night.

Smell: A small flock of four or five chickens will poop about as much as an average dog, and their coop won’t smell if it is kept clean the same as a dog kennel or yard waste. There are also collection techniques for chicken poop—meaning it can be contained and disposed of easily. Most op for a wire coop floor with a pit that collects the poop which can either be composted or thrown away with a shovel, plastic bag and very little effort.

Still, this is where crafting a good chicken law comes into play. If the law only allows chickens in a “well-maintained coop,” then a chicken owner with a messy, filthy, smelly coop is out of compliance and can be cited under the law, the same as a dog owner is fined for not scooping.

Predators: The sad fact is that chickens are food — not just for humans, but for foxes, coyotes, opossums, raccoons, hawks, and sometimes neighboring dogs. Responsible owners should keep his or her chickens safe from predators — the same that cat owners do. Ample advice is available on how to protect your coop.

Chickens are no more likely to attract other wildlife than domestic pets such as cats or dogs.

Even though a careless owner may lose chickens to predators, this is not a municipal problem, as it is not something that causes a nuisance to anyone except for the chicken owner.

Unlike unwanted dogs and cats that need loving homes, unwanted chickens can be eaten, disposed of or given to animal shelters.

HONEY BEE FACTS:

Great website: http://www.biofortified.org/2012/06/keeping-bees-city/

Suggested talking points:

If New York City can have bees, why can't Yonkers?

Michelle Obama has White House garden hives as part of her food mission.

The paradox is that there's no restriction on feral hives, of course these are much more likely to cause a problem because they are not regulated, but they do their job in pollinating flowers and foods. How do people in Yonkers think their local food and flowers grow otherwise? Through feral bees. BUT bees are dying—it’s called colony collapse. We need bees to pollinate the food we eat.

Without bees, produce would wither on the vine, a concern that caused Häagen-Dazs to begin donating a percentage of its sales to CCD researchers at Penn State and the University of California-Davis.

-Bees are being cultivated on roofs everywhere from the Paris Opera House to Chicago's City Hall. They are also allowed in San Francisco, Toronto, and San Diego to name a few.  Hotels such as the Ritz-Carlton Charlotte and the Westin Annapolis have found that rooftop hives help promote their green status. At the Fairmont Hotel group, 13 properties globally have hives, including in Dallas, Seattle and Washington.

- Honey bees are allowed in many other neighboring municipalities with comparable geography including:New York City and the Bronx and right next door in Hastings.

Some of the most common concerns are:

- Endangering public health and well-being

- A nuisance when they are active or swarming

- They prevent one’s neighbors from enjoying their own property.

- Bees belong on farms, not in cities or towns

Honeybees only sting when defending the hive or their own selves. Unless you are disturbing a nest, practically the only way you could get stung is by stepping on a bee with bare feet in a park or squashing it with your hands, but since bees can fly up to five miles from their hive to visit flowers, this can happen whether or not the bee hives are physically within the city. In fact, most “bee stings” that people get are actually wasps, which are far more aggressive and can sting again and again with impunity. Honeybees sting once and die. If you are allergic to bee stings, it would be best to keep an Epipen with you at all times, no matter where you are, and wear shoes.

Honeybees aren’t aggressive. They have zero interest in humans. Honeybees are not interested in you. They're interested in nectar.

Eating locally pollinated honey may help reduce local pollen allergies. The idea is analogous to the flu shot.

There are cave drawings and paintings that depict people gathering honey from wild bee colonies around 13,000 BCE.

Honeybees are garden heroes! Honeybees help gardens grow more fruit and vegetables and produce sweet honey. They are nature’s best pollinators and contribute to productive harvests in community gardens, public parks and nature centers.

Safety

The most common concern about honeybees is bee stings. Honeybees are not aggressive by nature and are unlikely to sting.

Only 0.4% of Americans report an allergy to insect stings in the U.S., and almost none of these are caused by honeybees. In addition, less than 1% of the US population is at risk of systemic reaction to stings by honeybees. Severe reactions from the sting of any one insect in a year are 1 in 5,555,556. The chance that someone will be hit by a car is 59.3% higher.

A free hive registration and inspection process already exists with the state Department of Agriculture and Markets, and an inspector is already designated to the New York City region.

Honeybees in Crisis

The survival of honeybees is currently at risk. In the winter 2006-2007, an average colony loss of 38% was reported by U.S. beekeepers. Many of these losses were linked to Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), which has become such a serious issue that Senate passed the Pollinator Habitat Protection Act of 2007, which was co-sponsored by Senator Clinton and designates pollinator protection as a “national priority resource concern.” The Pollinator Protection Act of 2007 also stresses the important role that pollinators, especially honeybees, play in pollinating many important U.S. crops. Yonkers can join New York City as part of the solution and encourage apiculture in order to mitigate the spread of CCD.

BTW there are many urban chickens and happy backyard honey bee hives thriving in Yonkers. Some Yonkers native urban farmers have producing their own eggs and honey for over 40 years.  Let's make honest birds and bees of them!

2012-2013
Yonkers City Council Members

Chuck Lesnick, Council President, Democrat 
E-mail Chuck (914) 377-6060

Christopher Johnson, Council Member, 1st District, Democrat 
E-mail Christopher (914) 377-6311

Wilson Terrero, Majority Leader, 2nd District, Democrat 
E-mail Wilson (914) 377-6312

Michael Sabatino, Council Member, 3rd District, Democrat 
E-mail Michael (914) 377-6313

Dennis Shepherd, Council Member, 4th District, Republican  
E-mail Dennis (914) 377-6314

Mike Breen, Council Member, 5th District, Republican
E-mail Mike (914) 377-6315

John Larkin, Minority Leader, 6th District, Republican
E-mail John (914) 377-6316

You may also contact GPTF Coordinator Laura.Fahrenthold@yonkersny.gov