Construction projects that consider environmental impact can save money and promote job growth in local communities, according to panelists speaking at an environmental conference in East Harlem last month.
Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer organized the event, called Go Green East Harlem. It included architects, designers and elected officials who spoke on the importance of using environmentally friendly construction to clean up East Harlem’s air.
“With the flood of development and redevelopment taking place in New York City, the challenge is to overcome the myth that green construction is too costly or impractical for anything but luxury buildings,” Stringer said a statement.
Stringer announced the Go Green East Harlem initiative last May as an effort to improve the local environment through more parks, sustainable businesses that limit their impact on the environment, green building and transportation alternatives. The initiative is also aimed at improving the health of people who live in East Harlem, which has one of the highest asthma rates in the city.
“We want to end environmental racism in Northern Manhattan,” said Stringer.
Just because East Harlem isn’t a rich area doesn’t mean it doesn’t deserve the same advantages wealthy neighborhoods enjoy, one city council member said. “To green our city, we have to change the community regardless of the economic realities in order to improve the quality of life in East Harlem,” said City Council Member Melissa Mark-Viverito, who spoke at the conference at the New York Academy of Medicine on East 103rd St.
The event included a keynote address from City Planning Commissioner Amanda Burden. The morning conference was followed by a series of smaller workgroups focusing on public and private partnerships and ways to reduce the environmental impact of existing buildings.
Stringer said his office had already made progress in achieving the initiative’s goals, including organizing a steering committee of business and community members that will make recommendations on individual projects. He said his office had also arranged to plant 3,000 trees in East Harlem to absorb pollution in the area.
“Look what we’ve accomplished,” said Stringer. “When you bring together the community anything is possible.”
Panel speaker Carlton Brown said sustainable building can bring jobs to the manufacturing sector. He said the nature of green building means that much of the construction is done in factories before being installed on site. His real estate development company, Full Spectrum of New York, is developing a green apartment complex in Harlem. Brown said residents of the new complex should expect an average annual savings of $800 a year because it will use alternative energy.
The event also included exhibits from companies in the green building business, including manufacturers of green roofs, which trap rainwater for use in the plumbing system.
The Go Green East Harlem initiative is a smaller scale version of the PlaNYC sustainability plan announced by Mayor Bloomberg last spring. The citywide effort aims to reduce pollution over the next 30-years.
