THE BRONX— Mayor Bill de Blasio unveiled a series of lofty goals for his sustainability plan Wednesday, including bringing 800,000 New Yorkers out of poverty by 2025 and creating a new subway line along Utica Avenue in Brooklyn.
De Blasio's One New York plan lists more than 200 long-term goals geared to make the city more economically and environmentally stable, but critics are doubting its feasibility because it lacks a timeline and strategy for accomplishing them.
One goal calls for full funding of Metropolitan Transportation Authority's upcoming $32 billion capital plan, but doesn't provide a way to pay for it. Another objective is to reduce 90 percent of waste in landfills by 2040, but doesn't say how, critics said.
The city needs a roadmap that "allows us to measure progress," said Marcia Bystryn, president of the New York League of Conservation Voters, a statewide environmental organization promoting clean water, clean air and renewable energy through political action.
"The de Blasio administration should quickly follow up with an implementation plan that includes funding sources, a timetable, baseline indicators to track progress, and an agency responsible for implementation," Bystryn said in a statement.
To skeptics of his "zero waste" proposal, de Blasio said, "Look, I dont blame anyone that's cynical. I represent 8.5 million jaded people."
"I go around the city trying to find a wide-eyed optimist, but I haven’t found them yet," he continued, during Wednesday's press conference.
The mayor assured that resources for many of the proposals would be identified in his executive budget and ten-year capital plan, which will be released May 7.
"We didn’t put something in here with a price tag and then not account for it in the budget," de Blasio said. "There are some things where we have more to say even after the May 7 budget. There’s some pieces that we will be fleshing out further after the budget announcement."
In addition, the city will provide yearly public updates on the hundreds of proposals, Deputy Mayor Anthony Shorris said.
"So there’ll be accountability each year on each one of these indicators," Shorris said.
De Blasio believes this plan will tackle the large issue of income inequality, which he considers the centerpiece of his administration. The plan hopes to have 4.9 million jobs in the city by 2040, and create more jobs with access to public transportation.
The mayor is also leading a national effort to make income inequality a major issue in the upcoming presidential elections, he said.
"It’s as simple as this – you cannot have a successful city if more and more people are falling behind. You can’t have a successful city if people feel they don’t have an economic future," de Blasio said.
"I believe fundamentally you can’t have environmental sustainability without economic sustainability. Nor can you have economic sustainability without environmental sustainability. One alone doesn't build a strong future," he continued.
