Older New Yorkers at a senior center (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)
I’ve spent my entire professional life helping New Yorkers age with dignity. Never have I seen a challenge more pressing than our current need to keep older adults connected to the technologies and tools that drive almost every aspect of our lives.
The pandemic brought to light the challenges and new obstacles faced by older adults who were left behind without access to technology and the critical skills needed in an increasingly digital world, particularly in the workforce. Whether adults are trying to stay longer in the workforce that requires technology, navigating telehealth to connect to health services, or just keeping in touch with friends and family through the extended pandemic health crisis – COVID-19 has made it clear that being able to stay connected with technology is critical.
According to Hunter College’s Brookdale Center for the Aging, one-quarter of New Yorkers ages 60-79 do not have internet access at home and in total, nearly half-a-million older adults are disconnected from the internet. Even for older adults who have access to technology devices, three-quarters of those older than 65 said they needed someone else to set up their electronics, per a 2017 Pew Research study.
Meaningful access to technology for older adults is often made possible by community-based organizations that are working to close the older adult digital divide and support our growingly diverse aging population in New York City. Throughout the pandemic, community-based organizations were the lifeline for many older adults, providing critical support to keep them connected in their community, from virtual programming to combat social isolation to training and education programs to expand older peoples' access to technology. However, more must be done by the city to close the older adult digital divide and we have no time to waste.
In particular, the digital divide has only exacerbated the work prospects for many older adults. Older people encounter many challenges with technology in the workplace and commonly experience discrimination that is rooted in ageism — the discrimination based on negative assumptions on age — that hinders older people’s ability to enter or stay in the workforce. According to a recent AARP survey, 77% of older workers say they have seen or experienced age discrimination in the workplace.
Nonetheless, with research and evidence filling our sails and the opportunity to reimagine services for older New Yorkers, Greenwich House set out to establish a new intergenerational work and skills development center to address the digital divide within the workforce for older adults. At our newly created Workforce Center, we’ll help fill the digital gap and connect older adults to the technology they need to continue to adapt to and thrive in the changing work world.
The Workforce Center will incorporate services that build older adults’ enterprise workforce skills, including their digital literacy and specific technology skills, as well as provide counseling and direct connections to work, and access to local and citywide service opportunities. We also hope to identify the needs of each older adult who visits, and offer resources to develop the skills needed to meet this digital divide even if that means finding access to free wifi and devices for the older adult to use at home.
Every New Yorker should have meaningful access to technology.
While there is still more work to be done across the city, we hope the Workforce Center will move the city forward in the right direction by increasing awareness of the older adult digital divide and providing support for older adults by developing the knowledge and skills that would enable them to get back into — or stay in — the workforce.
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Laura Marceca is Associate Director of Older Adult Services at Greenwich House.
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Rooftop solar (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)
In 1883, Charles Fritts coated selenium with a thin layer of gold on a New York City rooftop to create a current activated by exposure to light, and thus the first solar panel was born. Though it achieved an energy conversion rate of just 1 to 2%, his work spurred the beginning of photovoltaic solar panel innovation across the world.
Since championing the first solar panel in history, New York City has fallen short on a list of solar leaders, ranking 36th in the nation for solar panel installation on a per-capita basis.
Our current zoning laws severely hinder solar capacity for buildings. To reach the city's urgent climate goals, New York City should revise the Zoning Resolution to allow solar panels to cover 100% roof area coverage on solar trellises up to 20-feet above rooftop height on multi-family buildings citywide.
In New York City, innovative measures have gone into effect over the last decade that expand access to solar technology. One key measure was the passing of Zone Green in 2012, which allowed solar energy systems up to four feet in height as a permitted obstruction on the roof of a building. For R6 to R10 districts, where multi-family residential buildings are permitted, the systems could potentially go up to 15 feet but are limited by the zoning text to only 25% lot coverage of the roof. Most recently, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander is proposing Public Solar NYC, an initiative that would add at least 600 megawatts of solar capacity to the city's grid over the next eight years using New York's 1.6 billion square feet of rooftop.
Zone Green was impactful - solar panel capacity citywide quadrupled between 2013 and 2016, from 25 megawatts to 92 megawatts in 2016. These numbers contribute to the city’s overall goal of installing 1000 MW of solar technology citywide by 2030, which is estimated to save the city more than $70 million in annual energy costs, and decreasing its yearly carbon dioxide equivalent by over 105,000 metric tons. According to the New York City Comptroller’s Office on its recently published Climate Dashboard, the city is more than 70 MW behind in this year alone to be on track to meet the 2030 goal.
Despite this surge, Zone Green has since proven limiting for complete solar panel coverage on roofs and Public Solar NYC is sure to hit zoning roadblocks, impeding solar energy generation citywide.
Although the zoning text allows solar energy systems on roofs up to four feet high, it is very hard to fit adequate panels on a roof with all the other required uses, from mechanical and plumbing equipment to condensers and bulkheads, and keep to that height limitation. A typical new housing development can only cover about 33% of its roof with solar panels as it competes with these other uses.
Allowing solar energy systems to be elevated up to 15 feet certainly helps with this “competing uses on the roof” problem. A floating trellis for the panels can be elevated above other uses such as the bulkheads, mechanicals, and access in case of a fire. However, the current text only allows panels to cover 25% of the roof if they are elevated above four feet. Updating the zoning to allow 100% lot coverage for solar panels on roofs with 15-foot solar trellises would be an important step in reaching the city’s goal of 1000 megawatts by 2030. A floating trellis for solar panels would allow necessary safety and building systems to remain on roofs untouched while also accommodating solar panels.
The recently passed Special Gowanus Mixed-Use District adopted this change to permit 15-foot solar trellises and 100% lot coverage for solar. Inspired by this amendment, a recent solar study conducted across 15 Quality Housing projects found that increasing roof area coverage to 100% for 15-foot solar panels would increase the amount of wattage generated by solar panels by 290%.
This additional capacity is critical to advancing renewable energy production and to diminishing the load on transmission lines that connect the city to power stations upstate. Beyond adopting the Gowanus Special District text for solar panels citywide, the city should assume a 20-foot solar trellis height allowance. Another five feet would increase flexibility while increasing the efficiency of power generation by allowing greater circulation under the solar panels. Many of New York City’s leaders in green infrastructure, building, and design have signed on to support this change.
Zoning is a powerful tool that can support planning efforts and policy goals. Adapting Zone Green to increase and expand solar energy systems on large buildings would be a transformational step for the city to reach its climate goals and accelerate the city’s renewable energy transition.
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Madelaine Britt is a Policy Analyst at Citizens Housing & Planning Council. Julie Tighe is President of New York League of Conservation Voters. On Twitter @chpcny & @nylcv.
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Juan Ardila, the author, on the subway
Keeping everyone safe is the most important function of government. As a leader, I take that responsibility very seriously. The recent subway shooting in Brooklyn is devastating. As has been the dramatic rise in hate crimes and increase in gun violence during the pandemic. These events and trends cause anxiety across communities. Every New Yorker must feel safe in their homes, on our streets, and in our subways.
Public safety requires competence and effectiveness. Yes, we need to fight tooth and nail to pass legislation that eliminates the flow of illegal guns into New York, and expand our gun control laws. But If we are to deal responsibly with crime, we must deal effectively with all of its causes, including poverty, inaccessibility to mental health services, inadequate housing, drug and alcohol misuse, and more.
Recent events have continued to show that there is no causal connection between police staffing and budget on one hand and crime on the other. The unprecedented expansion and intensity of policing over decades to deal with so many of society’s most complex problems has not reduced crime; an immense police presence did not keep crime from rising during the pandemic. A crime increase is a symptom of the failure of government at every level.
Police too often see themselves as soldiers in battle with communities of color rather than their protectors. Arresting Black and Latino teenagers for turnstile jumping and harrassing immigrant street vendors has nothing to do with keeping us safe. It is counterproductive and it destroys the community’s trust.
As criminal justice expert Professor Alex Vitale writes, “This form of policing is based on a mindset that people of color commit more crime and therefore must be subjected to harsher police tactics. Police argue that residents in high-crime communities often demand police action. What is left out is that these communities also ask for better schools, parks, libraries, and jobs, but these services are rarely provided.”
We need policies that protect all of us, not just the few. We all must join together to seek the necessary investments in our communities that will create opportunity and safety, that will protect our families, both now and in the future. Resources are the key to safety and stability. That’s why, as I seek to represent parts of Queens in the State Assembly, I’ve created a five-point plan to keep all our communities safe.
First, we need to expand anti-gun violence programs. That includes utilizing the courts to file lawsuits against gun dealers who evade responsibility for the flow of guns to New York City. Let's also make New York first in the nation to institute a program for mandatory firearm insurance. We must hold financially liable those who choose to purchase guns that are used in crimes. It shouldn’t be easier to own and operate a motor vehicle than a gun. We should require mandatory training required to purchase a gun and ongoing registration of firearms to make sure they are accounted for.
Second, we must establish police accountability and build community trust. I support increasing police transparency and codifying the reach and abilities of a Special Prosecutor for cases of death from police interaction, and reducing unnecessary arrests for low-level, ticketable offenses.
Third, to reduce homelessness, we must work to adequately fund public and affordable housing and work to keep families and seniors in their homes. There is legislation to help the millions of New Yorkers who are tenants stay in their homes. “Good Cause Eviction” will stop unjust evictions and help reverse the increase in homelessness. This bill stops landlords from removing tenants from apartments without an order from a judge. The judge would decide if an eviction is for a good cause, including failure to pay rent or violating terms of the lease.
Next, New York has failed to adequately provide mental health services to those who need them and we are paying the price as a city because of it. According to the Urban Institute, more than half of incarcerated people are experiencing mental illness, and many crime victims have unmet mental health needs. We must treat health problems with health professionals, not law enforcement. Crisis Stabilization Centers are one key tool in this work, and we must create more of them. Instead of sending people to jail, we can have the option to provide rapid support services to anyone who walks through the door. It’s time we integrate these mental health experts into our public safety resources.
Finally, we must invest in our youth and expand social services. Every day after school, millions of children are left unsupervised and unenrolled in activities. It should be no surprise that this is when there is a peak in juvenile crime. We can directly address this by providing subsidized programs and initiatives for sports, arts, and youth employment. Research shows that after-school programs significantly reduce rates of arrest and recidivism. We should also mandate social workers in all middle and high schools across the state and make school psychologists available to students at every school. Our neighborhoods must lead the change with exceptional education and youth resources to help our kids get on the right path.
With these common-sense solutions, I’m confident New York will become safer, more just, and more compassionate — not just in the short-term but in the long-run. Everyone deserves to feel safe in their own communities and it’s our job as leaders to ensure they do.
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Juan Ardila is a Democrat running for the State Assembly, District 37, representing the Queens neighborhoods of Long Island City, Maspeth, Ridgewood, Sunnyside, and Woodside. On Twitter @JuanArdilaNYC.
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