Report: City Council more environmentally friendly

By Marlene Naanes

The City Council is becoming a green legislation machine, according to a tally of member’s environmental records released Thursday.

A green group gave council members 68 out of 100 for their records of sponsoring or voting for environment-friendly bills. In 2006 they received a score of 46.

“The scorecard shows that, by and large, the City Council is making progress,” said a statement released by the New York League of Conservation Voters, which gave the grades.The scorecard looked at the 51 council members’ position on 13 environmental bills, giving extra points for voting yes on five bills that had the broadest environmental impact. The legislation included the mayor’s congestion pricing bill, which passed the city council but not the legislature, and a bill that banned commercial establishments from letting air conditioning pour into the street through open doors.

Even though the council improved overall since the 2006 survey, the same amount of members — about half — scored below 65.

Eight members scored 100 percent. And seven received the two lowest scores, 13 and 17.

Most of the low-scoring members had no comment or could not be reached, but Erik Martin Dilan’s office noted that some of the 13 bills have not yet been voted on, and he only sponsors bills after carefully reviewing them. Dilan, who scored a 13, said he’s concerned about the impact some of the bills, which involved energy issues, on homeowners.

Councilman James Oddo (R-Staten Island), who scored 17, took issue with the group and its scoring. Oddo sponsored a bill, which was signed into law last month and increased the penalty for cutting down trees in four areas protected by the city.

“We’re trying to protect older trees,” he said. “Where’s that factored into their scorecard? Their 17 means nothing to me. It’s not reflective of my record on the environment.”

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The best and worst voting records on green legislation, according to the survey:

Gale Brewer (D-Manhattan) 100

Daniel Garodnick (D-Manhattan) 100

Alan Gerson (D-Manhattan) 100

Eric Gioia (D-Queens) 100

Melissa Mark-Viverito (D-Manhattan) 100

Christine Quinn (D-Manhattan) 100

Thomas White Jr. (D-Queens) 100

David Yassky (D-Brooklyn) 100

Erik Martin Dilan (D-Brooklyn) 13

Charles Barron (D-Brooklyn) 17

Mathieu Eugene (D-Brooklyn) 17

Vincent Ignizio (R-Staten Island) 17

Darlene Mealy (D-Brooklyn) 17

James Oddo (R-Staten Island) 17

Eric Ulrich (R-Queens) 17

Source: New York League of Conservation Voters

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