Not a Dumb Law

If you’re unaware of Local Law 97, look it up. But here’s the gist: this groundbreaking legislation was passed as part of the city’s 2019 Climate Mobilization Act, or what’s colloquially known as NYC’s Green New Deal. It would introduce a system of monetary fines for all buildings over 25,000 square feet that do not meet an overall 80 percent carbon reduction by 2050. But the Department of Buildings has yet to publicize its draft rules and regulations. Intent on learning more, I biked over to Vanderbilt Ave in Brooklyn for a debriefing of activists within the New York Communities for Change (NYCC).

I listened in on a conversation that singled out the (surprise) real estate industry as the culprit. If the Adams Administration made any move to enact LL97, people said, then the bloc of developers and landlords, plus their lobbyists, would immediately move to undermine it. Corporate loopholes would be exploited, energy credits would be manipulated and leveraged against. A campaign of fearmongering would ensure. Of all this, the NYCC members present felt convinced; and y…