Bloomberg pushes "green" agenda in final NYC State of the City
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg gave his final State of the City address Thursday, outlining his vision for the city before he leaves office at the end of his third term.
CBS New York affiliate WCBS reports that in his address, Bloomberg laid out a new "green" plan that would increase the number of parking spaces for electric cars and begin recycling more plastics and food waste.
He proposed changing building codes, requiring 20 percent of the 10,000 new parking spaces created this year to be equipped with electric car charging stations.
The city also has plans to pilot a curbside charging station that allows drivers to refill the batteries of their electric cars in just 30 minutes, rather than the standard eight hours.
Bloomberg also talked about banning Styrofoam food packaging from stored and restaurants.
"One product that is virtually impossible to recycle can never bio-degrades is Styrofoam," Bloomberg said. "Something that we know is environmentally destructive and that may be hazardous to our health, that is costing taxpayers money and that we can easily do without, and is something that should go the way of lead paint."
There is an estimated 20,000 tons of Styrofoam in the city's waste stream each year. Similar bans have been adopted in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland and Seattle.
New York would be the first major East Coast city to enact such a policy, but a similar proposal has stalled in City Council in recent years. City Council would have to approve a Styrofoam ban and parking proposal.