On April 6, two grassroots organization presented the promise for a greater New York by improving two very outdated aspects of New York City life, transportation and energy. The two groups are Transportation Alternatives, represented by Wiley Norvell, and Solar One, represented by Chris Neidl.

The goal of the Transportation Alternatives was, as its mission statement states, “to reclaim New York City’s streets from the automobile and to advocate bicycling, walking and public transit, as the best transportation alternatives.” The organization was founded in 1973, influenced by the work of Jane Jacobs, who helped save Greenwich Village and Lower Manhattan from the Lower Manhattan Expressway project that was proposed by Robert Moses. Mr. Norvell spoke about the great importance of walking and bicycling, and how New York City’s streets were slowly eroded over the years to give preference to automobiles. Park Avenue was a great example, which showed how in the 1920s there was ample sitting and walking space in the middle of the street.

Mr. Norvell spoke about how they hold public petitions to send to local government officials to gain sidewalk space in major streets, on an inch-by-inch method. He emphasized his role in attending community boards to try to influence local leaders to approve safety measures to protect bicyclists and pedestrians. One major example shown was the transformation of 8th Avenue, and how the physical separation of bicyclists and pedestrians enabled automobiles to move more efficiently. It also saw an increase in bicycling and decrease in crashes. Mr. Norvell presented ideas to similarly make physical changes on 1st and 2nd Avenues to allow for buses to move beyond the turtle-like speed they move at today.

The Transportation Alternatives also tries to promote cycling by holding closing major streets in the city, and opening them for cycling. Park Avenue is closed every August for three Saturdays to vehicular traffic to allow for people to cycle. They stated that approximately 100,000 cyclists ventured through Park Avenue in the three Saturdays combined.

Solar One advocated the Empire State Renewable Energy Payment Project, as presented by Chris Neidl. He demonstrated how New York has a long legacy in energy, starting with the steamship, the building of the Erie Canal, the subway, incandescent lighting, power plants, power grids and its venture in hydroelectricity from Niagara. Mr. Neidl explained how New York State wants 30% of power to come from renewable sources by 2015, but noticed how the incentive to venture into renewable energies is not there. Therefore, his organization is trying to advocate for the Renewable Energy Payments, or REPs, REPs allow people to own market-ready renewable power and sell it to utilities for a period, usually by means of a 20-year contract in order to secure the investment. The utility will pass the cost on to consumers by a modest rate increase that is offset by the decrease in fuel importation. REPs also will decrease over time as clean energy technologies become cheaper, which is designed to encourage investment today, rather than in a few years. This will help adopt renewable energies much quicker.

Mr. Neidl provided us with the example of Germany, arguably the greenest country in the world, who has implemented REPs as the core of their green movement. Germany employs nearly 300,000 people as a result of REPs and has led to less than a 5% average rate increase. The benefits of REPs is that it is very rapid in cleaning the environment, gives power to the people in that they are in control of their energy source, and it is a low-risk investment because it offers low interest rates for loans which provides for better financing.

I found that both representatives were very passionate about their work and in what they and their organizations believe. I thought that they made very good points about the benefits about their ideas, and how difficult it is to present their ideas to their respective audiences. It seems that people who are willing to devote their lives to present ideas that will help everyday city life are able make a positive difference to make the city appealing and a world-wide leader. Both presenters made it aware that important city-based reforms in transportation and energy are vital in keeping New York’s status as an important world city, which I found to be true.