
Mayor Adams signs the e-bike bills into law. Image Credit: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office.
On March 20, 2023, Mayor Eric Adams announced a new plan to address lithium-ion battery fires and powered mobility device safety. Following an increase in fires due to faulty or refurbished batteries, both the Mayor’s Office and City Council have worked to develop solutions to improve fire safety and reduce avoidable fires while promoting methods of micromobility that thousands of New Yorkers, including delivery workers, depend on daily. (more…)

Mayor Adams and other officials break ground on the new Gowanus Canal overflow tank project. The site, in the background, has been cleared ahead of the excavation and construction. The project will create overflow tanks to prevent sewage entering the canal, and will include public waterfront open space. Image Credit: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office
On March 15, 2023, Mayor Eric Adams, New York City Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Rohit T. Aggarwala and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 2 Administrator Lisa F. Garcia celebrated the groundbreaking for the first of two underground storage tanks that will protect the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn. The two tanks will collect sewer overflow during storms and prevent that overflow from entering the Gowanus Canal. The project will also include the creation of 3.6 acres of new public waterfront space. (more…)

Mayor Eric Adams. Photo Credit: facebook.com/NYCMayor
On January 30, 2023, Mayor Eric Adams and NYC Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Rohit T. Aggarwala announced a temporary amnesty program for overdue water bills. The program will forgive the interest if a customer pays a portion or a whole outstanding water bill. Nearly 200,000 customers owe a total $1.2 billion in water bill charges to the Department of Environmental Protection. The money from water bill payments goes toward the maintenance, repairs and upgrades for the city’s water system, which supplies over a billion gallons of water and treats 1.3 billion gallons of wastewater daily. (more…)

Mayor Eric Adams. Photo Credit: facebook.com/NYCMayor
Storm events like 2021’s Hurricane Ida highlight the importance of implementing stormwater mitigation measures in flooding-prone areas. On January 9, 2023, Mayor Eric Adams announced the expansion of the Cloudburst Program, a program to construct clustered stormwater management projects in flood-prone communities. The program will expand to Corona and Kissena Park in Queens, Parkchester in the Bronx, and East New York, Brooklyn. Through the program, work has already started in South Jamaica and St. Albans in Queens and in East Harlem in Manhattan. (more…)

The Cross-Bronx Expressway. Image Credit: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office.
On December 19, 2022, Mayor Eric Adams announced the launch of a community-driven study to improve the Cross-Bronx Expressway. The Cross-Bronx Expressway, which was constructed in the 1950s and 60s, cut through communities across the borough, disrupting neighborhoods and local economies, and bringing noise and air pollution. (more…)