New Developments in the News
JANUARY 31, 2011
EPA gives buildings deadline to end use of “dirty” heating oil; Astor beautification plans cause board members concern over drunks, rats.
The New York City Department of Environmental Protection is expected to give the city’s buildings a 2015 deadline by which they’ll have to stop using “dirty” No. 6 heating oil. Though many people aren’t aware of it, some of the city’s most treasured pre-war buildings—over 3,000 city-wide—use the pollutant that some studies have linked to poor air quality leading to cancer, asthma and premature death. The buildings would be asked to switch to a cleaner oil such as No. 4 or use natural gas for heating. New York is one of the few cities in the country that use either oil for home heating.
Redesign plans for Astor Place and Cooper Square that included 24-hour public seating and innovative green areas have aroused the concern of some members of the district’s community board task forces. The redesign presented at a recent meeting suggested that benches outside the gates of Peter Cooper Park and seating areas in a new public open space would be an opportunity to soften and beautify the intersection, but some committee members—like Susan Stetzer, C.B. 3 district manager—fear that public seating will attract drunken revelers and green spaces will attract rats, since both are known to be a sometime nuisance to residents in the area.
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