1. April 8, 2011LocalA8 The Epoch Times
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New Energy Summit
Discusses City Focus
By MARGARET LAU
Epoch Times Staff
NEW YORK—Clean, affordable,
and efficient energy are indispen-
sible for the prosperity of the world
and cities may be the best place to
start. Mayor Michael Bloomberg
joined president of the World Bank,
Robert Zoellick, on the fourth day of
the Bloomberg New Energy Finance
Summit (BNEF) in a panel discus-
sion on a city-centered perspective
of energy and climate change.
More than 200 participants at-
tended this roundtable day event,
hosted in association with UN-En-
ergy. David Miller, former Mayor the
City of Toronto and former chair of
Large Cities Climate Leadership
Group (C40), moderated the panel
discussion.
“In history, most people lived in
urban areas,” said Miller, offering a
rationale on the need to focus on cit-
ies when addressing climate change
and energy issues.
Both speakers supported this
stance. “If you are going to deal
with green house gases, or energy
in other issues, you’d start with the
urban areas,” said Zoellick.
Over 50 percent of people live in
cities and growing. Seventy percent
of the greenhouse gases come from
cities, said Bloomberg, who is the
current chair of the C40.
Established in 2006, the C40 is a
coalition of 40 large cities, cooperat-
ing on energy and climate change
issues.
“The problem really is a city
problem. The damage to people’s
lungs and the impact on our econ-
omy and where the actual problems
are being created are in the big cities
of the world,” said Bloomberg.
Yet many of the global efforts went
to agriculture and forestry, drilling
for oil, mining coal, or activities
that occur outside of cities, added
Bloomberg.
The discussion began with Miller
asking the speakers what the C40
cities have been doing together or
separately to fight climate change
and how are cities responding.
“There are two things C40 can
do,” said Bloomberg. “It is sharing
best practices and it is helping each
other do things that are specific to
their cities.”
Each city responded differently,
said Bloomberg, alluding to New
York City’s issues, and drawing ex-
amples from other cities around the
world, such as Sao Paulo, Jakarta,
and Mexico City.
“New York is very different from
lots of other cities. Our big prob-
lem is buildings. Because of New
York’s density, our reliance on ei-
ther walking or taking mass transit
… 80 percent of our pollution comes
from buildings and 20 percent
comes from transportation,” said
Bloomberg.
Reducing the energy consump-
tion in buildings and cleaning up
the air that we pollute with the air
conditioning and heating systems
were cited as measures the city
could take to address energy and
climate change issues.
By TARA MacISAAC
Epoch Times Staff
NEW YORK—Negligent Bronx landlords have
felt the heat of the media spotlight ever since the
dilapidated Millbank properties foreclosed two
years ago. Now the landlords of 4619 Park Ave.
in the Bronx might lose their property.
These landlords standout as some of the worst
of the worst, says Urban Justice Center Staff At-
torney Garrett Wright.
Wright is representing tenants of the build-
ing in a lawsuit announced Thursday. The goal
is to take the power from the landlords, Luigi
and Pasqualina Capriglione, and put it into the
hands of a qualified administrator appointed by
the Department of Housing Preservation and
Development (HPD). The administrator would
not work directly for the city agency, but for a
non-profit organization, explained Wright.
The administrator would take the rent paid by
tenants and put it toward repairs. The landlord
would lose all control of the building, except for
the power to sell.
Each unit at 4619 Park Ave. has over 30 viola-
tions; the building has 104 class “C” violations,
the worst kind—an unheard of number in such
a small building, said Wright. The landlords
face $379,960 in HPD liens, $17,250 in Envi-
ronmental Control Board liens, and $14,250 in
other city liens.
The building made Public Advocate Bill de
Blasio's Worst Landlord Watch List, made avail-
able on Craig's List and released Monday this
week.
After a barrage of tenant complaints, the build-
ing entered the HPD Alternative Enforcement
Program (AEP) in November, 2008. That basi-
cally means the HPD came in to make emer-
gency repairs in the dire health and safety situ-
ation—all from taxpayers’ pockets.
The tenants and community groups say three
years of repairs from the city’s pocket is enough.
If they succeed in their lawsuit, the tenants'
rent money will go to making their apartments
habitable.
Felix Fernandez has lived in the building for
two and a half years. He's seen fearless rats the
size of “Green Bay linebackers.” The rats have
destroyed his appliances, all of which he had to
pay to replace himself. The whole building lived
without heat or hot water this winter.
Fernandez and his wife both have asthma.
Their walls are still coated black from the steam
that funneled constantly into their apartment
from the boiler in the basement. All of their
furniture was coated and had to be scrapped.
“The landlord had the audacity to say to me,
'be careful when you take a shower because the
floor might cave in.' If the floor is going to cave
in, why don't you fix it?!” exclaimed Fernandez.
“I'm on a first-name basis with the lady at HPD,”
he said.
HPD has made major repairs in the building
and the transformation in Fernandez's apart-
ment is astounding when compared to photos of
the way it used to be. Among his photos is one
of a ripped up HPD building inspection notice
the building's super left in the hallway.
One time, says Wright, the super spit at him
from an upper floor. The glob of saliva landed
on the repair sheets in the attorney's hand.
This shows a decided lack of enthusiasm to
make needed changes, says Nehemiah Bey of
the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy
Coalition (NWBCCC). The HPD-appointed ad-
ministrator would have the power to replace the
current super.
Bey says this isn't just a problem at 4619 Park
Ave., this isn't just a problem just at the infa-
mous Millbank properties, this is a problem all
over the Bronx.
“It's a matter of how we can take the energy
from Millbank and spread it all over the Bronx,
to empower the tenants to act,” he said.
Also on Thursday, City Council Speaker Chris-
tine Quinn and tenant advocates called for action
on 34 foreclosed properties in the Bronx. Quinn
said Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
should mandate New York City Bank evaluate
the finances of the landlords and living condi-
tions at these building and disclose information
about necessary repairs.
Bronx Tenants Hope to
Kick Out Landlord
STATE OF DISREPAIR: Nehemiah Bey of Northwest
Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition stands in the
hallway of a grossly neglected residential building in
the Bronx. tara macisaac/the epoch times
GRIT AND GRIME: Felix Fernandez has breathed in
dirty steam funneling into his apartment from the
boiler. He wipes black grime, deposited from the
rising steam, off his wall.
tara macisaac/the epoch times
Black Out: Schools Chancellor Resigns
BLACK CONTINUED FROM A1
She was unaccustomed to being
in the public eye, Bloomberg
explained.
A Marist poll released Monday
showed Black's approval among
voters to be at a dismal 17 percent.
Four of eight deputy education
chancellors left over from former
Chancellor Joel Klein's term have
resigned since she took office—
two of them left just this week—
suggesting that her approval rat-
ing within the Department of
Education (DOE) has been simi-
larly lacking.
“I think she has done an admi-
rable job plunging herself into the
work,” said Bloomberg, adding that
he has “nothing but respect and
admiration for her.” While giving
her an “A” for effort, he added that
“she loves New York and she wants
to do what's best for the families
and students that we serve.”
While one short-lived public ser-
vice career came to an end, another
took a hard hit. Bloomberg's third
term is just about halfway through,
and his approval rating—39 per-
cent, according to a Quinnip-
iac University poll released in
March—is at an all-time low.
The mayor, ever-adamant in his
support of Black through all the
bad press, now has to live with this
admitted failure. He apologized
for dropping the snow ball, so to
speak, in the December blizzard,
and Thursday morning he found
himself again expressing his apol-
ogies to New Yorkers, this time
over a much criticized decision to
appoint Black in first place.
“I take full responsibility for the
fact that this has not worked out
as either of us had hoped and ex-
pected,” Bloomberg said.
Just as he did in the weeks fol-
lowing the blizzard, the mayor
insisted that he will not dwell on
past mistakes, but will instead
move forward and do better in
the future.
new chancellor
Bloomberg appointed Deputy
Mayor Dennis Walcott as Black's
replacement, saying Walcott is “a
man who has been part of every
successful education reform we've
made over the past nine years.”
Queens-native Walcott gradu-
ated from the city’s public school
system and became the first in his
family to go to college, eventually
earning master’s degrees in educa-
tion and social work. His kids are
the products of the public school
system and his grandson is cur-
rently in it.
Walcott was a kindergarten
teacher for two years in Queens
and founded the Frederick Doug-
lass Brother-to-Brother mentoring
program. He also spent three years
as a foster-care worker.
Walcott led the New York City
Urban League for 12 years, dur-
ing which time he expanded it to
incorporate educational programs
geared toward lowering the drop-
out rate. He is the former Board of
Education president and the may-
or's top aide on educational policy
in his role as deputy mayor.
With decades of experience in
the system, Walcott still requires
a waiver to become chancellor. He
meets all the requirements but
one: He only taught for two years,
but a chancellor is required to have
taught for three years, explained
Stu Loeser of Bloomberg's office.
New York State Commissioner
of Education David Steiner granted
Black a waiver, drawing much ire
from some education advocates.
The Deny Waiver Coalition formed
to legally challenge the waiver for
Black, though their challenge was
unsuccessful.
Noah E. Gotbaum, one of the
parent petitioners, explained the
coalition's view on Bloomberg's
new choice for chancellor.
“There is no question that he has
much more experience and much
better knowledge of our education
system,” said Gotbaum. “In that
sense, we certainly think he is
more qualified, but that doesn't
alleviate the need for us to go
out and find the best educational
leader through a process. We are
calling for a process in which
teachers, parents, and community
members are involved.”
Gotbaum said the coalition
would be meeting in the next
24 hours to thoroughly discuss
their position on the matter.
Bloomberg's announcement took
the whole city by surprise, much
as his appointment of Black had
done back in November.
United Federation of Teachers
(UFT) President Michael Mulgrew
said, “I am hoping that the DOE
and the city of New York take this
as an opportunity to change some
of the education policies that are
not working.”
Mulgrew did not offer an opin-
ion about the mayor’s new choice
for chancellor. The UFT has not
taken an official stance on Wal-
cott's appointment as of yet, said
a UFT spokesperson.
Walcott said he strongly be-
lieves in testing, a major part of
Bloomberg’s education agenda.
This may not sit well with the
teachers union, which has had its
qualms about the current system
of evaluating the city's schools
based on standardized testing.
another resignation
on horizon
As Black steps down, Steiner, the
man who gave her a waiver, is also
rumored to be considering resig-
nation, according to a New York
State Education Department Office
of Accountability employee who
wished to remain anonymous.
Steiner had decided to award
Black the waiver based on her
managerial skills. With the help
of Deputy Chancellor Shael Pola-
kow-Suransky, whose education
experience met the requirements
for chancellor, Steiner was confi-
dent in Black's ability to handle
the role.
Apparently, he shouldn’t have
been so confident.
The same Office of Account-
ability employee observed that
the New York City Department
of Education has become increas-
ingly complicated and inefficient
in recent years. Whenever there is
a problem, it is always difficult to
find the person in charge to solve
it, she said.
CLEAN ENERGY TALK: Mayor Michael Bloomberg (C) joined World Bank
President Robert Zoellick (R) and former Toronto Mayor David Miller (L) in a
panel discussion on a city-centered perspective of energy and climate change on
Thursday in New York City. jin lee/bloomberg