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Opinion

We Can Protect the Climate and Keep Energy Costs Down with NY HEAT


 

New York homes (photo: (Kevin P. Coughlin/Office of the Governor)


In March, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned that the planet will cross a critical threshold for global warming within the next decade if we don’t take immediate action to curb emissions and meet ambitious climate mandates laid out in New York’s climate law.

As expected, gas utilities are casting doubt on the affordability of these needed reductions. Let’s be clear — New Yorkers and their families should not shoulder the burden of our clean energy transition.

Affordability is a major concern but we don’t need to weaken our nation-leading climate law to save the planet and save New Yorkers money. As the name suggests, legislation I sponsor with Senator Liz Krueger, the New York Home Energy Affordable Transition (NY HEAT) Act would help keep costs down for New Yorkers while accelerating our energy transition away from polluting fossil fuels and addressing affordability, keeping us on track to meet the goals of our climate law.

For decades, New Yorkers have been subsidizing the very infrastructure the gas industry’s profits rely on. The industry’s business models are premised on the perpetual taxpayer-subsidized expansion of gas infrastructure and services. Currently, due to the 100-foot rule mandate – which requires gas utilities to hook up all new customers to gas lines at no charge – ratepayers are footing the $200 million annual bill for this continued expansion of polluting gas infrastructure.

The NY HEAT Act (A4592/S2016) will relieve us of the hook-up cost, and stop the continued expansion of the gas system that is moving New York further away from the goals of the climate law. Thankfully, utilities like National Grid are already adapting and adjusting: as New York considers legislation like NY HEAT, the company is looking to sell parts of its pipeline network to meet future clean energy demand. Last year, it sold a majority share of its gas distribution business in the United Kingdom.

The savings don’t end there. For low- and middle-income families, NY HEAT would put a price cap on electricity bills, to limit paying no more than 6% of income to stay warm and cook dinner. 

NY HEAT clears a path for utilities to build renewable thermal energy networks instead of replacing and expanding the gas network. Doing so will create thousands of new clean, green energy jobs for union pipefitters and electrical workers for decades to come. It could also prevent the billions of dollars of spending on replacement pipes that gas utilities are planning by 2040 and gas customers would get stuck paying for in the decades to come.

New York’s electrical grid maintains a surplus of energy that will support new, all-electric construction. While gas furnaces on the market today require electricity to power their electronics and fans, there are new technologies that keep electric equipment like heat pumps running when the power goes out.

The gas industry wants to prevent alternative options for a reliable, affordable, and green transition. Unsurprisingly, they were a force behind the recent unsuccessful push to undermine New York’s climate law – which would have enabled the combustion of more gas, for longer.

Our climate plan was years in the making. It was created in consultation with multiple expert advisory panels, subject to public hearings, and incorporated tens of thousands of New Yorkers’ comments. New Yorkers know that we can get off gas and have affordable, reliable energy and a stable climate — but that will take ratepayer funds currently used for expanding fossil fuel infrastructure to be reallocated.

If we want to save New Yorkers money and lead on climate, we must stop asking New York families to foot the $200 million per year bill to continue constructing and maintaining fossil fuel infrastructure that will inevitably become obsolete. As the Legislature continues its post-budget session, we must pass NY HEAT to move towards our clean energy future.

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Assemblymember Patricia Fahy (D) represents the 109th District in the New York State Assembly, which includes the City of Albany, Town of New Scotland, and part of the Town of Guilderland. On Twitter @PatriciaFahy109.

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To Stop the Red Wave in Brooklyn, Democrats Must Invest in Young People


 

Brooklyn Young Democrats getting organized (photo: @BKYoungDems)


Last month, progressive and reform-minded Democrats celebrated two major wins in the Midwest. In Chicago, progressive Brandon Johnson beat several more conservative candidates in a hotly-contested mayoral election. In Wisconsin, Janet Protasiewicz beat out conservative Dan Kelly in a race for State Supreme Court, giving the court a liberal majority that could overturn the state's abortion ban and end the use of gerrymandered legislative maps.

In carving a path to victory, both Johnson and Protasiewicz relied on an often-overlooked but crucially important demographic: young people.

In Chicago’s mayoral runoff election, the Johnson campaign aggressively courted young voter organizations, and youth turnout in the mayoral runoff election jumped 32% from the initial vote in February. In Wisconsin, unprecedented turnout by college students helped push Protasiewicz to victory. This jump in youth voter participation and activism is part of a national trend: turnout among young voters for the 2022 midterm elections was the second-highest in 30 years.

As ostensibly-deep-blue Brooklyn still reels from a November red wave that flipped three Southern Brooklyn State Assembly seats to the GOP and led to the closest gubernatorial election in a generation, Democratic leaders could learn a thing or two from their counterparts in the Midwest and elsewhere.

One key lesson: to remain viable, the Brooklyn Democratic Party must invest in Gen-Z and Millennial voters and organizers.

The Brooklyn Democratic Party was largely absent during the competitive November elections, failing to provide support to vulnerable candidates despite the clear threat posed by Republicans. As early as 2020, our club, the Brooklyn Young Democrats, alongside Southern Brooklyn elected officials, had publicly and repeatedly warned that our party was losing ground in Southern Brooklyn. But despite the fact that we are the county party’s official youth arm, party leadership has spent the last three years not working with or investing in us but instead trying to de-charter and destroy us.

The Brooklyn Democratic Party’s failure to invest in young people extends beyond its lack of support for BYD. While our organization has mobilized to register youth and other voters in swing districts and to build up young political talent, there's no indication the Party has done the same, despite having substantially more funding.

That's a shame, because young people here are doing the work. During election season, BYD hit the streets, knocking on thousands of doors and making calls to voters. Just as in Wisconsin, young people in New York are leading the fight against workplace inequalities by unionizing Starbucks stores from deep blue Williamsburg to purple Bensonhurst. On the policy front, college students have led the charge for a New Deal for CUNY, and young housing activists recently protested the Rent Guidelines Board’s preliminary proposal to raise rents in the midst of a deep housing crisis.

The Brooklyn Democratic Party has been silent on these issues. That’s a sharp contrast from Chicago, where Johnson made education a galvanizing issue for young people by slamming his opponent Paul Vallas for Vallas’ role in privatizing Chicago schools, and where Johnson made strong commitments on the economic development and housing issues that drove young voters to the polls.

Young people represent an immense opportunity for Democrats: Millennial and Gen Z Americans will make up the majority of the electorate by 2028, and unlike past generations, we aren’t getting more conservative as we age. Youth voter turnout in New York has actually grown in recent years, but remains well behind two dozen other states, including those where Democrats made important inroads in 2022. To follow the lead of organizers in the Midwest and win legislative seats in Southern Brooklyn, our local Democratic party must empower the young people doing this work, not shut us down.

Across the country, Republicans' authoritarian tendencies pose an existential threat to democracy. We can fight back locally by making New York a beacon of democratic engagement and participation. As we prepare for competitive elections this year and next, the Brooklyn Democratic Party has two choices: embrace the energy of young Democrats and join us in that fight, or get left behind. 

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Hunter Rabinowitz is the President of the Brooklyn Young Democrats. Billy Richling is the club’s Communications Director. On Twitter @HuntRabinowitz, @billyrichling, & @BKYoungDems.

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Redefining Our Responsibility to Unhoused New Yorkers


Subway outreach (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)


The recent death of Jordan Neely, an unhoused New Yorker living with mental illness, is a tragic reminder of the vulnerability of those living on the streets. It also raises critical questions for each of us to consider about our responsibility to our fellow New Yorkers. Homelessness is a policy failure, not a personal one. It's time we base our societal response around that fact.

For years, unhoused New Yorkers have been subject to stigmatization and criminalization by elected officials, the public, and the press. This portrayal of a marginalized community does not reflect reality. According to a study by the National Coalition for the Homeless, people living on the streets are much more likely to be victims of violent crime than they are to commit such crimes.

As advocates, there are concrete steps we can take to help.

First, it is time that we recognize people experiencing homelessness as a protected class and treat them as such. In New York State, there is pending legislation — The Homeless Protection Act (A2191,S6081) — which is being promoted by advocates with the lived experience of homelessness who want to be protected from acts of violence by those who hold malice against them and to end the stigma against people in their situation. Passing this law would mean an attack against a person experiencing homelessness motivated by bias could be treated as a hate crime.

Second, New York City government must provide adequate resources to social service providers that work with individuals in need.

As prices continue to rise, the Adams administration has chosen not to increase the funding it provides to a wide range of nonprofit organizations. Currently, the administration allocates $5.6 billion to support 4,600 human services contracts, which help people in various ways, including assistance for unhoused individuals. Unfortunately, instead of receiving additional financial resources to maintain their essential work in these challenging times, these nonprofits are being asked to cut their budgets, potentially making it more difficult for them to serve the communities that rely on their assistance effectively. 

Organizations that provide emergency shelters, safe havens, and homeless outreach are among those being told they must cut their budgets by 2.5%.

At the same time, Mayor Adams neglected to provide a cost-of-living adjustment in his Executive Budget for the dramatically underpaid workforce that serves the New Yorkers with the highest needs.

This lack of financial support directly impacts the quality and effectiveness of services for people experiencing homelessness. With an already stretched-thin workforce, the absence of a cost-of-living adjustment exacerbates the homelessness crisis by reducing the capacity of service providers to address the needs of unhoused individuals.

This is the wrong time to cut costs and perpetuate underfunding for critical services; our neighbors and communities deserve better. 

In memory of Mr. Neely and in solidarity with all unhoused New Yorkers, we must take decisive action to transform the way we address homelessness.

We must disrupt the culture that poses unhoused people as a threat. Passing the Homeless Protection Act is an essential step toward recognizing the dignity and rights of unhoused individuals.

We must urge the reversal of the detrimental budget cuts that will decimate vital services and outreach programs for those in need. A fully funded social safety net is crucial in building an inclusive, compassionate city we can all be proud of.

Let's call upon our leaders to stand up for change: create a culture of compassion, advocate for the Homeless Protection Act, and demand necessary funding.

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Frederick Shack, LMSW, is CEO of Urban Pathways. On Twitter @UrbanPathwaysNY.

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