Yeampierre said UPROSE is working with unions on developing the workforce. A part of the governor’s announcement includes a $20 million training institute at SUNY Stony Brook and Farmingdale State College for wind and renewable energy careers.
Proposal To Upgrade Peaker Plant In Astoria's "Asthma Alley" More Of A "Half Measure," Says State Senator
The peaker plant is one of 16 located in New York City that fit into the New York Power Authority’s market, distributing their energy to the city’s power grid that's accessible to Con Edison and National Grid. Peaker rates in the city are considered the most expensive in the country, where costs are passed along to utility customers, according to a May 2020 report by the PEAK, a consortium of activists fighting the project. They include The Point, UPROSE, New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, Clean Energy Group, and the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance.
Councilmember Opposes Massive Sunset Park Rezoning In His District—And Finds Himself Outnumbered
Neighborhood activists have rallied around alternative plans for the waterfront, including a proposal from UPROSE, a longtime community organization. The UPROSE plan calls for a return to full-scale manufacturing while building wind turbines and solar panels as part of a national Green New Deal.
Menchaca Puts Kibosh On Controversial Sunset Park Waterfront Rezoning Proposal
Organizers in the area are hoping more attention is paid to alternative plans for the waterfront, including a proposal from UPROSE, a longtime Latino-based community organization. The UPROSE plan calls for a return to full-scale manufacturing while building wind turbines and solar panels as part of a national Green New Deal.
The Push To Turn NYC’s Polluting Peaker Plants Into Publicly-Owned Solar Power
“The project didn’t start with the [Request for Proposal], it’s been a long time coming,” said Summer Sandoval, Energy Democracy Coordinator for UPROSE. The solar panel farm will be a 685-kilowatt system that can support about 200 local households and small businesses, which is signing up subscribers now.
For something like Sunset Park Solar to be replicable, real estate development in the city will need to change. “There are agencies within city government that are really concerned about reducing carbon, about addressing pollutants and the environmental burdens that have hurt our communities for years,” said Elizabeth Yeampierre, executive director of UPROSE. “But I don’t think there is an analysis about how we use the spaces that we have available to do that.”
Industry City Moves Forward With Massive Rezoning Plan: 'They Want It Their Way Or The Highway'
Unlike Atlantic Yards—now the site of the Barclays Center—which marshaled strong support from Bill de Blasio, then a local city council member, former Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, and several prominent community groups, Industry City’s rezoning lacks the same high profile and vocal backing. With local organizations like UPROSE, once a Menchaca ally, already mobilizing against the rezoning, lining up signatories may be harder, though not impossible.
SUNSET PARK RESIDENTS CLASH WITH MENCHACA ON INDUSTRY CITY REZONING
UPROSE, which used to enjoy a closer relationship with Menchaca, has advanced a plan for Industry City embraced by neighborhood leftists: a return to full-scale manufacturing while building wind turbines and solar panels as part of a national Green New Deal. “We’re talking about an industrial waterfront that serves the region and this community, that builds for climate adaption, mitigation, and resilience,” said Elizabeth Yeampierre, UPROSE’s executive director.
Some Sunset Park Locals Fear A 'Privileged Minority' Would Benefit From Industry City Rezoning
At a meeting Tuesday in front of the City Planning Commission, developers behind Industry Cityin Sunset Park argued for a proposed rezoning that would bring high-end commercial development and a luxury hotel to the waterfront—expanding a so-called "innovation economy hub."
These efforts dovetail with the city's plans for the Sunset Park waterfront, but some locals see only a hipster behemoth threatening to permanently displace local residents, small businesses, and heavy manufacturing jobs.
Sunset Park Residents Call De Blasio's $2.5 Billion Streetcar "An Insult To Our Intelligence"
Crowding around a harried Economic Development Corporation volunteer on Tuesday, Sunset Park residents accused the city of insulting them with a $2.5 billion streetcar proposal they fear will cut through their manufacturing-dependent waterfront, accelerating displacement in a historically blue-collar neighborhood.
"To come up with this offer that's going to solve all of our problems because it's pretty, that's an insult to our intelligence," said Maria Roca, founder of Friends of Sunset Park and a lifelong resident.
100-Yr-Old Chocolate Factory, Once A Victim Of Gentrification, Now Accused Of Gentrifying Brooklyn
Gentrification is a vicious, if potentially economically beneficial cycle that spares no one, not even those who create Earth's most delicious substance. So was the lesson learned by one nearly-century old chocolate factory, which was pushed out of its home on Christopher Street about a decade ago and found new digs in Sunset Park. But the tables have turned, and apparently neighbors are worried the new factory is making their area more attractive to the Whole-Foods-and-Bugaboo set. Will it never end?