As part of his crusade against a changing climate, New York City’s Mayor Bill De Blasio is vowing to ban future skyscrapers.
Coinciding with Earth Day, De Blasio appeared on MSNBC to celebrate a package of bills the city is calling the “Climate Mobilization Act.” The mayor said the plan would ban “the classic glass and steel skyscrapers” that make his city’s skyline so iconic.
The effort would even impact existing city buildings.
“We are making the Green New Deal come alive here in New York City,” De Blasio told MSNBC. “We have our own Green New Deal, three basic ideas. One, the biggest source of emissions in New York City is buildings. We are putting clear, strong mandates. The first of any city on the Earth to say to building owners, clean up your act, retro fit, clean up. If you don’t, there’s serious fines, $1 million or more for the biggest buildings.”
“This mandate is going to guarantee we reduce emissions,” he continued. “We are going to ban the glass and steel skyscrapers which are inefficient. If you want to build one, you can take steps to make it energy efficient. The city of New York, the government, which uses as much energy in a year as do the people and the businesses of the state of Vermont. We are going to get all of our energy from renewable sources in the next five years.”
As all major skyscrapers rely on steel, it’s unclear how any new soaring skyscrapers could added to the city’s skyline without running afoul of De Blasio’s prohibition.
De Blasio was asked about his own habit of having his motorcade drive him from the mayor’s mansion on the Upper East Side to a gym in Brooklyn every morning, and defended his conspicuous travel by saying the carbon emission reductions he’s mandating upon the city more than offset his personal carbon footprint.
“The plans we put forward we are acting on will reduce emissions 30 percent in all of New York City by 2030,” De Blasio said. “That's where we make huge change.”
“To the question wherever I go in New York City, whether I take a subway, go nearby or farther away, I have a security detail that follows me in their cars either way,” he continued. “Let's be clear, this is part of my life. I come from that neighborhood in Brooklyn. That's my home. I go there on a regular basis to stay connected to where I come from and not be in the bubble that, for a lot of politicians is a problem. The fact is, those cars and that security detail are part of the life of being mayor of New York City.”
When De Blasio’s predecessor, Mike Bloomberg, was asked about taking his private jet to the Bahamas most weekends, the climate activist defended himself using the same rationale, noting he’s using his power in the city to demand much more significant climate offsets.