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Where Does the Gowanus Cleanup Stand?
Two years after the EPA designated the Gowanus Canal a Superfund Site, Brooklyn College reporter Rene Askew and producer Christina Asencio take a look at progress on the project and how the residents feel about it.
For Some Landlords, It's Not Easy Going Green
If New York is to meet PlanNYC's goals, apartment buildings must get greener. While property owners and tenants both benefit from more efficient systems, getting them up and running takes a different kind of green.
Is Brooklyn Recycling?
A look at recycling rates by community district reveals a broad reduction in how much of Brooklyn's waste stream gets recycled—and big differences among neighborhoods.
Traffic, Pollution, Accidents: Are Trucks to Blame?
Whether we're breathing their exhaust or stuck behind one on an exit ramp, most New Yorkers hate trucks. But their complex impact on urban ills—and their key role in the city's economy—have thwarted efforts to limit the damage.
Truck Policies Face Rocky Road
New parking rules? Night deliveries? Congestion pricing? There are plenty of ideas for how to reduce the impact of trucks on city life. The trouble is finding one that works for truckers, businesses and consumers.
Snapshot: 200 Miles on One Block
A look at where the trucks making deliveries on one Manhattan block, during one recent hour, came from.
Greening Brooklyn from the Ground Up
What role do neighborhood groups play in the global effort to save the environment? What does sustainable living offer to low-income New Yorkers? We asked the experts.
Brooklyn Edges: I'm an Iraq War Vet. Let's Talk.
After returning to Brooklyn from Anbar province, Don Coolidge didn't know how to deal with questions like whether he'd killed anybody. A program that gets civilians and veterans talking about the war has helped.
As City Plants Trees, Benefits—and Some Burdens—Grow
The city’s MillionTrees program fights asthma and global warming. But tightening maintenance budgets, increasingly severe weather and decades-old planting decisions complicate trees’ contribution.
Green Cart Vendors Face Diet of Challenges
From competition with other carts and established businesses, to tickets, cold weather and struggles getting and storing their food, a six-month investigation of the Green Cart program reveals room for improvement.
Leasing Rules Eyed After Toxic School's Closure
When a Bronx school shut this summer because of contamination, parents of students who'd attended the site over the past two decades worried about their children's health—and wondered why the problem wasn't detected earlier.
City, AIDS Activists Clash Over Fees
Advocates say a Bloomberg administration reduction of brokers' fees paid under an HIV/AIDS housing program has made life harder for HIV-positive clients.
Bellerose Residents Have Beef with Halal Butcher
Protesters say their opposition to a butcher shop on Hillside Avenue is about health concerns and building code violations. But its owner claims race is a factor in the dispute.
Consultants' Prescriptions for City Hospitals Get Closer Look
Facing a severe fiscal crisis, New York's public hospitals brought in a consultant for advice. But determining best practices for a one-of-a-kind charity healthcare system is a tricky operation.
Firefighters' Heart Risks Get New Attention
Heart attacks are the single largest threat to firefighters' lives, with everything from stress to heat to noise at fire scenes elevating the risk factors.
Diversity and the Department: The FDNY Recruitment Battle
The upcoming firefighters' test represents the latest attempt in a 40-year effort to try to diversify the mostly white, overwhelmingly male FDNY.
New Phase of Building Code Changes Looms
In the wake of the World Trade Center collapse, the city undertook a comprehensive revision of its building and fire codes. Fire safety advocates didn't get all they wanted. Will they have another chance in the next round?
Fire Inspections: Closed Doors Aren't the Only Barrier
After an April fire killed a family in a building that had been illegal converted, City Hall established a new task force to improve inspections. Some pols pushed for more aggressive action. But there's more to improving building safety than political will.
City Sewage Plan Faces Obstacles, Questions
Advocates praise the motives behind New York's plan to reduce the amount of sewage released untreated into its waterways. But they're worried about the details.
Concerns Persist Over Child Welfare Cases Involving Mental Health
As many as one in five child welfare cases involves a parent with a mental health diagnosis, creating challenges for parents, children and caseworkers. Advocates say efforts to address those challenges haven't gone far enough.
Health and Environment
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Heart Attacks Are Biggest Threat to Firefighters - Jarrett Murphy
In the department's first line-of-duty death in more than two years, the FDNY lost a 17-year veteran to what appeared to be a heart attack at the scene of a warehouse fire in Brooklyn.
Hope for Relief from Flooding in Southeast Queens - Karen Loew
After months of pressure from residents of an area plagued by poor drainage and rising groundwater, the city recently announced a set of measures to keep Southeast Queens dry—or at least drier—this spring and summer.
Hope, Hesitation as Waste-to-Energy Gets New Look - Jarrett Murphy
Amid coverage of what Mayor Bloomberg said in his annual address about schools, cops and wages, the mayor's reference to a once-controversial notion—"the possibility of cleanly converting trash into renewable energy"—passed all but unnoticed.
Is NYC Going Solo on Solitary Confinement? - Jarrett Murphy
A report questions whether increasing the number of solitary cells in the city's jails is a wise move. Our weekly round-up of policy reports also looks at new findings on climate change, living wages and community colleges.
Survey: NYers Satisfied, But Some More than Others - Jarrett Murphy
The Municipal Arts Society's second annual survey finds that most New Yorkers like their city, their neighborhood and their public services. But happiness was tightly tied to annual income and borough of residence.
Energy Nonprofits Chilled by Obama Budget Move - Milesska Contreras
The White House wants to cut a weatherization program by billions, saying lower fuel costs justify the move. But nonprofits that do the insulation work fear for their clients—and their employees.
Watch a Wind-Driven Fire - Jarrett Murphy
With FDNY a key partner, federal scientists have been experimenting with better ways to fight wind-driven fires. Watch what happens in this test when a window in a burning room fails.
Decision in the Rockaways: Stay, or Go? - Patrick Arden
Tina Parker tried to convince her neighbors to leave. “I’ve been in two hurricanes in Alabama, and I’m not taking a chance,” she said.
Out of Media Glare, the Bronx Faces Irene - Jarrett Murphy
Even far outside of the Zone A areas, there were signs of the impending danger, though they were subtle. Closer to the water's edge, the menace felt very real.
Mideast Politics Weigh On Park Slope Co-op - Leah Robinson
Amid a push to ban Israeli products at the Park Slope Food Co-op, opponents of the move are scrutinizing the organizations behind the boycott movement.
For Cities, Heat Can Be As Unjust As It Is Deadly - Gena Mangiaratti
New York will suffer discomfort in this week's hot spell. Sixteen years ago, Chicago endured a public health calamity when a heat wave claimed as many as 700 lives. An author who studied the disaster speaks to City Limits.
Who's Afraid Of The Prospect Park West Bike Lane? - Jarrett Murphy
Watch City Limits' environment and transit correspondent Jake Mooney discuss what he found when he looked into the controversy over a Brooklyn bike lane.
Water Rate Hike Reflects EPA Mandates, Fiscal Crisis Finance - Michele Narov
For the first time in five years, the city's water rate will not undergo a double-digit increase. But some say even the 7.5 percent boost is too high for struggling homeowners.
A Fracking Film As Cuomo Deadline Nears - Jarrett Murphy
The state ban on most forms of the controversial natural gas extraction technique known as "fracking" will soon expire. A film to be shown Monday explores the complex debate over whether fracking should be welcomed or feared.
CONVERSATIONS/OPINONS
NYC Needs Paid Sick Days, Not Lame Excuses
Thousands of New Yorkers face an impossible choice when they get sick: Go to work and get yourself and others sicker, or stay home and risk losing pay or your post.
Community Developers Must Help Green NYC
To both reach PlaNYC’s ambitious goals–and to exceed them in those in areas where PlaNYC fell short –community-based organizations must be essential partners.
Feds' Green Could Be Even Greener
Federal weatherization funding can be used to address not only the energy efficiency of buildings but also their financial sustainability, resident health and safety, all while upgrading green skills for workers.
Let's Streamline the Weatherization Process
While the establishment of programs like Green Jobs Green New York has certainly helped scale up programs that use weatherization to attack a set of urban ills, there remains work to be done.
Go Green. Fight Poverty.
Even in poor neighborhoods not home to power plants, waste transfer stations or the other egregious environmental offenders, physical conditions sustain not just ill health, but poverty as well.
MULTIMEDIA
CityTime indictments
Statement from the U.S. Attorney's office on the first indictments in the CityTime scandal
Atlantic Yards Land Use Improvement and Civic Project Modified General Project Plan
A description of the projected jobs that will be created and the affordable as well as market rate units the Empire State Development Corporation says would be created by the Atlantic Yards Project
