Zephyr Teachout and Tim Wu.

Today, Andrew Cuomo announced that we will ban fracking in New York.

This is a historic moment, and one of the great environmental and health victories of the last decade.

Five years ago, hydrofracking seemed inevitable, with tens of millions of dollars spent to sway Albany.

But today, the big money interests lost. They lost to a powerful grassroots force of citizens and scientists, using old-fashioned rallies, petitions, list-servs, phone banks, and a passion for the future of our state.

So many of you were a part of this ban. You wrote a letter, stood outside a fundraiser, showed Gasland at your community hall, emailed people, educated yourselves and others, and made it very clear that the anti-fracking movement in New York was here to stay.

Today, wherever you are, I hope you stop to celebrate the power of that contribution. That means clean water for millions of children, that means that we can invest in wineries and sustainable agriculture without the toxic threat over our head.

If you’re in New York City, some of our allies are holding a victory rally outside Governor Cuomo’s midtown office at 4pm.

New York will be the first state with significant shale gas to ban the toxic process of hydraulic fracturing.

This moment shows how the power of a passionate, determined, educated public can change history. Every New Yorker can celebrate.

Now, we must continue to lead, investing in wind, solar, and all renewables, so we can build jobs and a clean energy future. There’s more we can do to keep fracked gas out of New York. There’s much more we must do to invest in a renewable energy future. But today, celebrate this victory, and hold it in your heart for the hard future fights ahead.
With gratitude,

Zephyr & Tim
http://www.teachoutwu.com/

The post You Made Andrew Cuomo Ban Fracking in New York! By ZEPHYR TEACHOUT and TIM WU appeared first on Yonkers Tribune.

It’s disappointing that Congress is poised to leave town without enacting a long-term renewal of vital tax credits for wind power, which is sorely needed here in state to reduce pollution and aid in the fight against global warming.

A new Environment New York report, “More Wind, Less Warming,” shows that the carbon pollution from 9 coal plants could be eliminated here in New York if wind power continues its growth trajectory across the country, such that 30 percent of the nation’s power came from clean, renewable wind energy by 2030.  Wind power projects in areas such as Upstate and Western New York already produced enough energy in 2013 to power 326,380 homes, but we need strong policies like the production tax credit to continue wind power’s rapid growth.

No one wants to leave future generations a world where droughts and superstorms are the new normal. We can slow global warming by speeding wind power development, but we need Congress and our state leaders support policies like tax incentives to ensure clean air and a healthier future for us all.

Sincerely,

Heather Leibowitz

Heather Leibowitz is director of Environment New York

The post LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Tax Fights Hurting New York’s Future By HEATHER LEIBOWITZ appeared first on Yonkers Tribune.

Westchester County Legislator (16th District) and Yonkers Industrial Development Agency President Ken Jenkins

December 1, 2014

Dennis Kremer, Chair

Westchester County Board of Ethics

Litigation Conference Room, 6^th Floor

148 Martine Avenue

White Plains, New York

Dear Distinguished Members of the Westchester County Board of Ethics,

I am a constituent of the City of Yonkers, who is quite disturbed as to your body’s blatant disregard of the shameless patronage, corruption and conflicts of interest among the elected officials in the City of Yonkers. I am perplexed your distinguished body has purposely failed to investigate the long-standing conflict of interest matter of Yonkers Legislator Ken Jenkins in his appointment to the position of President of the Yonkers IDA. Legislator Jenkins shuts down all reasonable inquiry of his conflict of interest with his flip retort that in his current appointment as YIDA President, he is not salaried by the City of Yonkers. In his reply, Mr. Jenkins cloaks himself as immune from both reasonable constituent inquiry and serious investigation of violation of conflict of interest law.  To Mr. Jenkins dismay, under conflict of interest law, mere source of salary is not the only element precluding investigation of an elected official or key employee.

A conflict of interest is a set of circumstances that create a risk that professional judgment or actions regarding a primary interest will be unduly influenced by a secondary interest. That secondary interest, need not be financial, it can simply include a wish to do favors for family,  friends and interest groups. Legislator Jenkins is in the position to decide on real estate contracts and tax abatements for many business people in this position as IDA president. It is bad enough Mayor Spano’s brother, former Senator and felon, Nick Spano, negotiated the recent IDA real estate deal to sell the Yonkers prison and renovate it into an art gallery, as well as other Yonkers real estate deals. There continues to be much speculation as to why that real estate deal sold under market value and questions as to distribution of the profits of that real estate sale, as well as other sales of Yonkers’ property.

This body should find it reasonable for a Yonkers constituent to be concerned about Mr. Jenkins’s obvious conflict of interest in this position, as the use of money within the YIDA has been under scrutiny for many years. Case in point, in State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli’s 2009 audit of YIDA, DiNapoli cited a lack of adequate financial documentation by YIDA officials. DiNapoli’s audit criticized the YIDA for a failure to assure taxpayers that YIDA-approved projects provided a net benefit to the Yonkers community. DiNapoli’s audit found the YIDA did not have any clear criteria or adequate documentation as to why they approved or denied project proposals in Yonkers. A most notable YIDA project is Ridge Hill, in which several Yonkers officials were indicted and are currently serving prison time.

Conflict of interest also exists where a member of a legislative body, a public official or a public employee is an officer or director for any such corporation, which is uniquely affected by proposed or pending legislation. In such a position as YIDA president, Legislator Jenkins’ work is heavily intertwined with Yonkers Planning, Development and Zoning Boards and the Yonkers Tax Department to negotiate deals and make decision on tax exemptions and abatements for developers.

Most importantly and most flagrantly, aforementioned developers and interest groups have the ability and liberty to generously contribute to Legislator Jenkins’ campaign funds and continued re-election efforts. Hence, there is opportunity for Legislator Jenkins to exercise undue influence on the other City of Yonkers departments, such as the Tax Department, the Finance Department and the Office of the Mayor to obtain approval, modification or cancellation of any real estate contract.

To rebuff, Legislator Jenkins’ flippant retort, a legislator does not have to be a full-time, paid municipal employee to be considered a municipal employee for conflict of interest purposes. Anyone performing services for a city or holding a municipal position, whether paid or unpaid, including full and part-time municipal employees, elected officials, volunteers and consultants is a municipal employee under the conflict of interest law. An employee, if the private firm has a contract with the city and the employee is a “key employee” under the contract, meaning the city has specifically contracted for his services.

As I have formally brought this grave public matter to your auspicious board, the constituents of Yonkers await swift and serious investigation of said matter.

Thank you.

Respectfully,

A Concerned Yonkers Constituent

The post Open Letter to Westchester County Board of Ethics Regarding Westchester County Legislator Ken Jenkins from Yonkers appeared first on Yonkers Tribune.

The monster snowstorm in Buffalo last week was downright scary. But storms like this are exactly the sort of extreme weather that climate scientist predict will become more frequent in New York unless we reign in the carbon pollution fueling global warming.

We know what we have to do: limit carbon from the largest sources – our power plants – and shift to clean energy like wind, solar, and energy efficiency. And that’s just what the Environmental Protection Agency would do under the newly proposed Clean Power Plan.

But instead of letting EPA do its job, polluters’ allies in Congress are actually threatening to shut down the government instead of cutting carbon from power plants.

Its time for New Yorkers, along with our leaders like Governor Cuomo, to do everything they can to support EPA’s action.

Governor Cuomo has stuck up for our health by investing significantly in renewable energy. Now it’s time for him to come up with a strong plan that uses wind and solar energy to beat the Clean Power Plan targets!

Sincerely,

Heather Leibowitz

Heather Leibowitz is director of Environment New York.

The post LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Monster Snowstorms Could Be New Normal In Warmer World By HEATHER LEIBOWITZ appeared first on Yonkers Tribune.

Zephyr Teachout and Tim Wu.

This week, after months of making our voices heard through millions of comments, numerous calls to the FCC and the White House, and online blackouts, we finally achieved a big step forward. This Monday, Barack Obama made it 100% clear that he wants to see a true and strong Net Neutrality rule in this country before his Presidency is over. It’s an obvious position, and it fulfills a campaign promise made in 2007, but it’s a victory nonetheless.

What the President is calling for is a good rule and it is the right one. It uses the fullest authority of the Federal Communications Commission to prevent cable and telephone companies from controlling speech on the Internet, picking favorites, and throwing smaller sites or the disfavored into a “slow lane.” Over the long run, the rule gives the agency the power to police the cable and telephone monopolists who have provided too little in services for too much money, for far too long.

But now comes the real fight. Republican Senator Ted Cruz is already calling Net Neutrality “Obamacare for the Internet,” showing only that he understands neither healthcare nor the Internet. Now that the President has spoken, the agency needs to comply. You can be certain, over the coming year, that Big Cable, the telephone monopolies, and the Republican Congress will throw massive resources at the agency and the administration as the battle for Net Neutrality continues.

It’s worth relishing this victory; the President listened to the people, at least this time. But the push is on to get Chairman Tom Wheeler to do what the President says, and to help our elected officials in Washington resist all of the pressure that industry will bring to bear. Battle for the Net is one of the many organizations providing ways to push the FCC further.

This is a fight we can win,

Tim & Zephyr
http://www.teachoutwu.com/

The post LETTER TO THE EDITOR: A Net Neutrality Victory – A Long Struggle Ahead BY Professors ZEPHYR TEACHOUT and TIM WU appeared first on Yonkers Tribune.

Fortunately, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposed restoring protections to all of the state’s waterways this past March. After almost eight months and two comment period extensions in the face of bitter opposition, the public comment period will come to a close this Friday, November 14th.

In these last couple of days, the submission of public comments is essential as powerful polluters are waging an acrimonious campaign against the EPA’s rule. Despite this bitter opposition, nearly 740,000 supportive comments were delivered to EPA officials in Washington D.C. last month, including more than 35,000 collected by New Yorkers.

If we push back against polluters in these last couple of days we can restore safeguards to all of the waterways that support strong local economies and make our state beautiful.

Environment New York thanks EPA for taking the steps needed to protect New York’s precious waterways. I encourage every New Yorker to actively side with our state’s waters before the end of the public comment period.

Sincerely,

Sarah Vitti
Environment New York
www.enviromentnewyork.org

The post The Clean Water Act – Final Thoughts as EPA Public Comment Period Ends appeared first on Yonkers Tribune.

The opportunity and cost to vote is among the most imperative rights and costs for all Americans. America is the land of opportunity. One day to vote in NYS is not much of an opportunity.

People need more of a say and need more time to say it. Please support a 7 day voting week in NYS. Learn more at the website listed below and about widely unknown NYS Election Law 3-110, requiring employers to pay employees 2 hours off work WITH PAY to vote. Go to: www.unitednys.com

Thank you!

Dan Melia

Rochester, NY

The post LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Keep Voting Booths Open 1 Full Week in NYS By DAN MELIA appeared first on Yonkers Tribune.

Sandy Galef, New York State Assemblywoman representing the 95th A.D.

This Election Day there will be two proposals on our ballots to amend our NYS Constitution. Proposition 1 calls for reforming the legislative redistricting process.  Proposition 2 streamlines the NYS Legislature to allow the use of technology and create a paperless legislature. I ask that you vote “yes” on both of these changes.

Proposition 2 is straightforward. When our constitution was written it required that all bills introduced, of which there were approximately 18,000 this year, be printed on paper on legislators’ desks for at least 3 days prior to being voted on. This amendment would change our constitution to eliminate the paper requirement and allow for the use of electronic or digital review, saving us money and eliminating the need for printing and recycling of huge numbers of paper bills, simultaneously protecting our environment. The three-day rule of review would still apply, but tablets, laptops, or the latest technology available could be used. Paper copies of bills would be available upon request, but no longer be mandatory.

Proposition 1 is much more complicated. Right now, every ten years after the U.S. Census is completed, the NYS Legislature creates new districts for the Assembly, Senate and the United States Congress, based on changes in population. The political parties that control each house make the decision for that house. The minority parties have virtually no role in the decision-making process. This amendment would change this to require a Redistricting Commission comprised of ten individuals – eight equally representing each of the major and minority parties in each house and two selected by those eight commission members. Those two cannot be registered for the past five years in either the Democratic or Republican Party. There are other restrictions for the commission members such as not being a state or congressional elected official for the past 3 years, nor being a lobbyist, or employed by the executive or legislative branch, or a political party chair.

The new Redistricting Commission will conduct 12 statewide public hearings and then develop a redistricting plan based on specific criteria including: an equal number of people required in each district, communities of interest would be protected, minority voting rights would be guaranteed, boundaries would be kept contiguous and compact, etc. This plan will be submitted to the legislature for approval. If it is not approved, it will be revised and submitted again for approval. If it fails to get approval again, the legislature will have to create a plan following the same guidelines….now written in the state constitution.

This proposal may not be perfect, but it is certainly better than what we have today with only the legislators in the majority parties creating their own districts to protect their majority status. This proposal gives us the best possibility of having an independent process for reforming the legislative redistricting procedure. It was difficult to get legislators to even vote for this modest proposal, so I believe it would be nearly impossible to achieve what may be better options proposed by other groups. Without your “yes” vote it may be our last opportunity for decades to try to accomplish this very important goal.

Sincerely,

Sandy Galef,  A

The post LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Two Propositions to Amend the NYS Constitution By Assemblywoman SANDY GALEF appeared first on Yonkers Tribune.

Harry Reynolds, Esq.

During his campaign for office, Cuomo could have been reported to the police as a missing person, so much so that at one paper a wall clock was maintained showing the weeks and months during which Cuomo fled the prospect of press interviews. The reason? He seems unable in fright to control his temper when questioned by the press and more so he seems to live in a state of anguish because intellectually he has a short stick. He seems to prize cunning, feeding the public as if it was a dancing bear, laughing at them from backstage. No scholar this one. No Spitzer is he, for if ever those two were in a debate Cuomo would end up like meat passing through your butcher’s grinder. How incredible the thought that the Democrat Party, my party, would shove him down the public’s throat, a person notoriously obsessed with becoming the president, a nervous walk-on character right out of The Sopranos, good when crouched over a deal in the dark, but in real life lacking the depth that evokes the respect of others. Give him a sneaky way to con the public, and he’ll kiss your feet. This man is the kind that doesn’t cast a shadow on a suny day. Just read his words: “it’s my commission”..;”it is mine”…”it is controlled by me”. If you died would you rest with Cuomo in charge of your estate or even of your dog?

Harry Reynolds, Esq. resides in Scarsdale, New York.

The post LETTER TO THE EDITOR The Eye-Opener: Cuomo Faces Backlash Over Moreland Revelations By HARRY REYNOLDS, Esq. appeared first on Yonkers Tribune.

That’s really good news. It’s not just because electric cars are speedy, quiet and cool-looking – they are also one of the most important tools we have to break our dependence on oil, clean up our air, improve our health and protect our climate. According to a new report, electric vehicles could prevent more than 1,758,000 million metric tons of global warming pollution annually in New York by 2025. That would be like saving more than 197,817,000 gallons of gasoline per year, or eliminating tailpipe pollution from 370,000 of today’s cars and trucks.

It’s time to charge ahead and make electric cars as convenient, affordable and widespread as cars currently powered by oil.

New York should follow through with the electric vehicle action plan that Governor Cuomo announced at the end of May. The progress we’ve made so far should give us the confidence that we can take electric cars to the next level. It’s time to charge ahead.

Heather Leibowitz, J.D., is Director of Environment New York, www.EnvironmentNewYork.org

The post LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Let’s Get in the Driver’s Seat with Electric Cars By HEATHER LEIBOWITZ appeared first on Yonkers Tribune.