Slant City and State: by Nicole Gelinas is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. Follow her on Twitter @nicolegelinas.

“For nearly a decade, since the Bloomberg era, the city has been trying to cut down on plastic bag use. New Yorkers use 9 billion plastic bags a year – making up two percent of all waste – most only for a few minutes. Unlike paper, metal, glass and higher-quality plastic, these bags aren’t recyclable. The city spends $12.5 million a year – and requires 7,000 truck trips – to cart 91,000 tons of plastic bags to landfills. Loose bags clog up sewer drains and end up in waterways, where fish and birds eat the plastic particles.

Last year, the New York City Council passed a bill, sponsored by lower Manhattan’s Margaret Chin and Park Slope’s Brad Lander, and signed into law by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. The law, set to take effect Feb. 15, is straightforward: Supermarkets and most other stores – except liquor stores – must charge customers at least five cents for each carryout plastic or paper bag. The stores would keep the money, so it’s not a tax. People who use food stamps and WIC benefits are exempt.”

From The Lo-Down:

“Lower East Side activists have not given up on their campaign to win Rivington House back for the Lower East Side community.

A local group, Neighbors to Save Rivington House, announced today that its will be hosting two visioning events to discuss the future of the former nursing home for AIDS patients. They are undeterred by repeated statements from Mayor de Blasio that the the sale of the building to luxury condo developers can likely not be reversed. His administration’s decision to lift deed restrictions on the longtime community facility touched off one of the biggest scandals of the mayor’s administration.”

We are working to get this public resource, The Stanton SDR Park Building, returned to the public for better uses for this neighborhood.

One recent proposal has been to share the space as a community center (to be determined, but possible uses have been explored: resiliency center, youth center, etc.) with a homeless information resource center run by a local experienced organization with a neighborhood track record and expertise.

The homeless are here. We think anchoring the park and the homeless with a place to go that is staffed and maintained could make our park safer, more attractive and mostly – more humane.

Thanks Bedford+Bowery for the follow up look at the Stanton Building. Here’s the full article.

“Advocates who want to turn a red-brick building on the northern side of the park into a community center have staged awareness campaigns and brainstorming sessions, as well as meetings in tandem with officials and local nonprofits….

…the Coalition is waiting for the parks department to approve a Request for Special Permission for a nonprofit to come in and run the park. They would then take over and start private fundraising…

Webster vouches for the socially-minded community, saying “They’re a good and generous folk. And they also know that there’s a crisis of homelessness. And you know, we would do our share. It’s a big ask for a neighborhood, I get that, but this neighborhood has always risen to the occasion and I believe we will [again].”

Neighbors2Save Rivington House March 12th Forum. Details to follow soon.

Other news from Neighbors to Save Rivington House

The Real Deal: City says Slate exposed tenants to lead-contaminated dust

The landlord, which purchased the Rivington House in a controversial deal last year, exposed tenants in two of its Upper East Side apartment buildings to hazardous amounts of dust containing lead, the city’s Department of Health told DNAinfo. Slate  kicked up the dust while renovating 1288 and 1290 First Avenue, which Slate purchased last April. The city’s DOH halted all work on properties until the dust is cleaned up. The developer maintained that once lead was discovered on the property, they addressed the issue immediately….

In the past year, Slate’s been the subject of intense scrutiny due to its purchase of the Rivington House for $116 million (along with partners Adam America and China Vanke). In July, the city’s Department of Investigation released a report that made it seem that Slate conspired to keep the deal quiet until the owner, the Allure Group, successfully lifted a deed restriction on the property. In December, the city acknowledged that it didn’t have a legal case against Allure, despite the mayor’s insistence that he would sue the developer for flipping the Lower East Side property.

Under pressure from the city, Slate also sold its stake in the controversial Bedford-Union Armory redevelopment project in Crown Heights to lead developer BFC Partners. [DNAinfo]

The Lo-Down: Squadron Quizzes Mayor About City’s Unwillingness to Sue Former Rivington House Owner 

“Squadron said, “Frankly it leads to questions when (officials) at the highest levels of the administration (are) accusing (the developers) of misleading (the city). “To just be told, ‘we agree but we can’t,’ is not sufficient for a community that is still smarting from the loss of a healthcare facility.”

The mayor agreed to set up a meeting between the city’s top lawyers and Squadron. He also pointed to new city laws, sponsored by local City Council member Margaret Chin, meant to prevent future Rivington House-like fiascos. And he said, “We committed to a nursing facility as part of our Health & Hospitals system that will help low-income seniors in your community as one way to give back some of what was lost. That is a good faith effort.”

Daily News: Questions from the Dans: De Blasio needs to answer Squadron and Garodnick on his entanglements

“On Monday, state Sen. Daniel Squadron demanded an explanation for why the city has declined to sue the developer de Blasio claims deceived his officials into lifting deed restrictions protecting the Lower East Side nursing home known as Rivington House, allowing its conversion into luxury condominiums .”

“Following a frenzy of lobbying by two donors to de Blasio’s Campaign for One New York, lobbyist Jim Capalino and union 1199SEIU, a city agency scrambled to satisfy the demands of nursing home buyer the Allure Group.

Those demands included the deed restrictions’ removal at the bargain price of just $16 million, far lower than area property values would dictate, all on the pretense that a nursing home would remain. Allure then turned around and sold the building to a luxury condo developer for $116 million.

Quite the rip-off. Like this editorial page, Squadron remains puzzled over de Blasio’s claim that his lawyers are powerless to file a credible case under the state False Claims Act, which punishes malefactors who bilk New York taxpayers.”

In our continuing saga of Plastic Bags & NY State Legislature vs the Environment & NYC…

The NY State Legislature voted to undermine NYC decision making autonomy (whether you like the law or not, frankly, that’s not a great development) and sided with the “Progressive Plastic Bag Alliance” (no kidding, that’s their name) formerly connected to the American Chemistry Council.

Contact Governor Cuomo: website  Twitter: @NYGovCuomo and Facebook.

The NY Times Op-Ed

…the State Legislature this week voted to block the city’s duly enacted law, doing the bidding of the plastic-bag industry, and hiding behind the argument that the fee is a tax on the poor. …the Assembly passed its own bill to delay for a year any effort by New York City to adopt any such fees…”

“….the city’s bag law protects the poor. It exempts about 1.8 million New Yorkers who use food stamps. … free reusable bags have been sent out by the thousands across the city.”

“Lawmakers led by Senator Simcha Felder, Democrat of Brooklyn…[joined by] Assembly speaker, Carl Heastie …. [and the GOP]”

“…have taken steps to keep the city safe for plastic shopping bags…It will cost you — your city will still have to spend millions of your tax dollars to dispose of 10 billion bags a year….

…Now it’s up to Gov. Andrew Cuomo …He can veto the bill, stand up … for home rule, for common sense and self-government, and for the environment. Whom will he side with — eight million New Yorkers or the plastic bagmen of Albany? This is an easy call; Mr. Cuomo knows what to do.”

Fight to reclaim yet another public resource:

Time for Albany to get out of the way of a local law passed by the NYC Council. The lobbying efforts of petroleum companies should not be allowed to stand in the way of good environmental policy.

Rwanda has a law to dissuade people from using plastic bags. Ireland does. China is working on one.Taiwan, South Africa, Australia, and Bangladesh have one. Long Island City and Suffolk County were allowed to have their law. Just not NYC?

It works. And there is policy in place that would allow those on public assistance not to pay. No reason this doesn’t pass except for private profit interests. Our Democratic leadership needs to make a stand here.

From Citizen’s Campaign:

According to the EPA, between 500 billion and a trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide each year. These bags are used for an average of 12 minutes, but they remain in our landfills, oceans, parks and beaches for thousands of years. Both plastic and paper disposable bags are costly, environmentally damaging, and completely unnecessary. Problems with disposable bags include:

Wasting Natural Resources

It requires vast amounts of natural resources, water, and energy to manufacture and ship disposable bags. Plastic bags are made from fossil fuels, and it requires 2.2 billion pounds of fossil fuel and 3.9 billion gallons of fresh water to produce the 100 billion plastic bags the US consumes each year. The manufacturing of these bags produces a billion pounds of solid waste and 2.7 million tons of CO2 per year. Manufacturing and shipping paper bags require even more energy and water, and create more pollution, than plastic bags. In addition, producing the paper bags used in the U.S. each year requires 14 million trees.

Causing Localized Flooding

Plastic bags never fully break down, and often clog storm drains and damage infrastructure on their way to become ocean pollution. In 1998, plastic bag pollution in Bangledesh clogged storm drains and was the primary cause of severe floods that submerged 2/3 of the country.

Negatively Impacting on Wildlife and Waterways

The mass consumption of plastic products has created a plastic wasteland in our oceans. Globally, there is now more plastic in our oceans than plankton, with 46,000 pieces of plastic in every square mile of ocean. Marine and avian are choked and strangled by discarded bags, and are killed by consuming partially broken-down plastic pieces. This plastic pollution negatively impacts 267 species of marine life.

Increasing Costs to Consumers and Taxpayers

Though plastic and paper bags are given out for free at check-out counters, U.S. retailers spend $4 billion per year on disposable bags, and that cost is passed on to the consumer in the form of higher prices. Once bags are consumed, they are also expensive to clean up and dispose of. For example, New York City spends $10 million disposing of plastic bags.”

NYTimes Op-Ed The Alban Pols Who Love Plastic Bags

“The bag fee is not, in the scheme of things, earth-shattering. It’s a nickel. It is not a tax — the city doesn’t collect or spend any of the revenue — it’s just a calculated inconvenience to give consumers an incentive to shop with reusable bags. The fee is potentially annoying, but it spares the poor and businesses that would suffer unduly, for benefits that would be enjoyed across the populace. Cities that have tried fees have found that they work splendidly.”

Craine’s NY Two words for Albany’s attempt to micromanage NYC: Bag it

“When the City Council passes a bill and the mayor signs it, state lawmakers should intervene only if the measure is egregiously wrong. Charging shoppers a nickel for a disposable bag isn’t going to kill anyone. Indeed, the law—to take effect Feb. 15 unless the state butts in—will have practically no negative impact on consumers. A twice-weekly shopper who somehow fails to bring reusable bags every single time would be spending no more than a few dollars per month on plastic ones.”

Politico NY: Bag law fight prompts questions about Mark-Viverito’s power

“On Tuesday, days before the city law was supposed to go into effect, the state Assembly by a vote of 122 to 15 approved the product of those negotiations: a bill forcing the city to delay implementation of the bag fee…..After years of negotiation, the body ultimately settled for a five-cent fee, an exception for residents receiving public assistance and a program to distribute free reusable bags around the city.”

Sara Roosevelt Park Community Coalition

https://sdrpc.mkgarden.org/

Dear Council Member Chin,                                                   February 4, 2017

We gratefully appreciate and support the continued efforts of The Horticultural Society and Emma Lazarus High School on behalf of our beloved Sara Roosevelt Park.

We continue to believe that when our community ‘stakes their claim’ on this park anything is possible. It happened with the M’Finda Kalunga Community Garden, the Hua Mei Bird Sanctuary, the New Forsyth Conservancy, the Elizabeth Hubbard Memorial Garden and the BRC. And it is happening now with Emma Lazarus’ students.

These students have been learning the work of a steward under the guidance and expertise of “The Hort”. It has already made that section of the park a unique space. The kind you want to explore or just admire. They also work on projects that require more mundane upkeep of a well–used Park. All efforts are important here.

As you know, we received a “D” from New Yorkers for Parks – despite all the efforts that are being made here. We have a large homeless population who do unwitting damage, which requires a lot of vigilance, and a lot of clean up. We have chosen to live with that given the utter devastation this crisis brings to their lives. But we also want the public to love this park and enjoy its beauty.

The students and The Hort are making that a very real possibility.

We also believe that in times of such contempt for our countries immigration narrative that we make very clear our support in words and deeds for the newest members of our US family. We are proud to have poet Emma Lazarus’ namesake joining us in making this Park our Park.

Thank you again for all your support Council Member Chin.

Yours truly,

Sara Roosevelt Park Coalition

https://sdrpc.mkgarden.org/

NY4P: Boro x Boro – Manhattan Meeting. To register please go to the site! by New Yorkers for Parks