2021: Righting the World
Let us not sugarcoat it: 2020 was a miserable year. The world as we knew it suddenly felt inverted—the laws of proximity, the ways we socialize, communicate, and navigate through our communities all no longer applied. We had to learn a new language of being, often leaving us isolated, depressed, helpless, stress-eating as we binged mediocre Netflix series.
The pandemic, driven by asymptomatic spread, has been a challenge for every country on the planet, but has proved particularly devastating for the USA. In the 2019 Global Health Index, a study by John Hopkins which measured 195 countries health security capabilities, including the readiness to tackle a pandemic, the conclusions were that a) most countries were not very prepared and b) the US was the most prepared of any country in the world.
So what the hell happened? That is a story that is still being told. Our country’s failure was certainly exacerbated by America’s particular brand of entitled libertarianism, our rejection of collectivism, petty politics, and an extraordinary breakdown in our federal leadership. But like many catastrophes, there is also a possibility that this time of mass death, civic breakdown, rampant unemployment, police brutality and government corruption will make way for a period of tremendous growth, innovation and investment in future possibilities.
The Future of Small Cities Institute itself is a case in point: it was formed out of the smoldering ashes of the pandemic, shaped by the belief that now more than ever we need to think about and articulate what we want out communities to look like. How we will sustain them through the next crisis. How we will make them more inclusive places to live. There is a general sense from many I’ve talked to that while the current situation we find ourselves in is quite dire there is also much to be hopeful for. We will see our way out of this.
“Go” by Kehinde Wiley. (Andrew Moore for The New York Times)
In this spirit, I’d like to highlight three milestone projects that have recently come online in New York State in the field of sustainability and mobility. Taken as a whole these three investments in public transportation infrastructure represent a hugely symbolic indication for the direction NYS is heading. These projects, combined with the myriad of climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies already underway in the state, including the landmark Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, all signpost towards a hopeful future in the fight against the climate crisis and the fight for sustainable and just communities. No matter what mess or stasis our Federal government may find itself in, states like New York will be the climate changemakers. Of course in the end it will be up to municipalities to implement many of these policies, and thus the interface between the state and the local will remain a key area of cooperation going forward.
1) The opening of Moynihan Train Hall in the old James A. Farley Post Office on Eighth Ave across from Penn Station is a huge step forward for the city and the region. The destruction of the old Penn Station in the 1960s has long been heralded as one of the century’s most consequential crimes against urban landmarks. Its replacement, in the bowels beneath Madison Square Garden, remains a tangled clusterfück of tunnels, pretzel carts, and mass confusion. When I lived in the city during the early 2000s, I have not-so-fond memories of wandering in circles, following signage that led to nowhere. Like many things in NYC, you learned to live with it, but you did not necessarily like it, nor did it make any sense.
The new Moynihall Train Hall changes all that. It does not quite project the grandiosity of Grand Central Terminal, but then I don’t think it’s striving for such solemn heights. The acre of glass overhead, feels optimistic, hopeful to GCT’s night-sky gravitas.
“The Hive” by Elmgreen & Dragset. (Andrew Moore, The New York Times)
I’m particularly impressed in how the design has doubled down on the power of public art to shape a city’s narrative. The hall’s numerous permanent art pieces were curated and commissioned by the Public Art Fund. “Go,”an extraordinary stained-glass triptych by Kehinde Wiley (of Barack Obama portrait fame) features colliding technicolor breakdancers against a sea of clouds—angelic, magnificent, Sistine-like in their beneficence.
Canadian artist Stan Douglas has recreated moments from old Penn Station using hundreds of actors photographed alone in a hockey arena in Vancouver, before being digitally stitched back together against the historic background. The masquerade feels both very timeless and very 2020—the solitude, the falsities, the audacity, the beauty.
My favorite piece might be Michael Elmgree and Ingar Dragset’s “The Hive",” an imaginary city of skyscrapers suspended upside down from a mirrored bed of glass. The buildings are both real and invented, creating a kind of Calvino Imaginarium that is both nowhere and everywhere at once. The 100-building cluster-inversion, nine feet tall, is illuminated by 72,000 LED lights. It is an instant classic that will wow visitors for generations to come.
To be clear, the new train hall does not fix everything that is wrong with transportation in the city. It services only Amtrak trains, which skew towards the more affluent traveler and represent only 5% of Penn Station’s passengers. The real work towards alleviating overcrowding and addressing mobility equity issues in the cities will actually be done in the existing Penn Station, where expansion plans are afoot. I suspect the city may finally have a sympathetic ear in President Biden, who sports a tattoo of an Amtrak train on his left forearm (not true).
Despite the long road ahead, let us also not temper our applause: the Moynihan Train Hall represents an investment in public transportation as opposed to private cars, in public space as opposed to private space. When people once again travel in great numbers, brushing shoulders, staring up at the modern breakdancing frescoes in wonder, it will be a site to behold.
The 750-mile Empire State Bike Trail.
2) The 750-mile Empire State Trail, long a pet project of Governor Cuomo, was officially completed today. The bicycle trail links New York City to Canada and Albany to Buffalo along the Eerie Canal. Completed in just a couple of years, it is an astonishing example of how the red tape of bureaucracy may part if only the Governor puts his might behind an endeavor.
The Albany-Hudson Electric Trolley, operational1900-1929. (ahettrail.org)
But it is also an extraordinary project, period. Think of the hundred if not thousands of surfaces that must’ve been negotiated, the municipalities conferred with, the old bike baths utilized, improved, activated. One 36-mile section, Albany-Hudson Electric Trail, follows the route that an electric trolley used to run between the two cities from 1900 to 1929. National Grid, which owns the corridor authorized New York State to build the $45 million trail. The Albany-Hudson electric trolley was powered by fully renewable electricity sourced from the Stuyvesant Falls hydro-electric power plant. Can you imagine! A 100% renewable intercity electric trolley? Whatever happened to all of our electric trolleys? Oh wait, they were squashed by a nascent, aggressive private automobile industry.
The Empire State Trail, in its ambition and promise, in connecting here to there and back again, has echoes of the Transcontinental Railroad and the Erie Canal. Hopefully it will get people out and biking and it will lead to robust engagement and economic investment in the many communities through which these trails pass through. I look forward to more regional cooperation based on this model—around energy choice, around waterfront development plans, and other sustainable transportation initiatives.
The joys of a Dutch Bike Path. (Nicole Foletta, EURIST e.V.)
There is so much room for bike-friendly infrastructure in small cities, and communities like Albany, grappling with poor investments in car culture, are just beginning to realize their potential in terms of bicycling ecosystems, particularly as they build out the density of their downtowns. Targeted, walkable, dense developments that value community infrastructure over cars will be key to the future of small cities and begin to shift land-use patterns away from endless sprawl.
When I lived in Holland, I would hop on my bike and ride into Leiden all the time. It was a 40-minute ride, but I thought nothing of it—the route was on a protected cycle path and thus was so pleasant that I found myself coveting that part of the day, which allowed me to see the world, to exercise, and get to where I needed to be. It is no wonder the Dutch simply bike everywhere, in rain, snow, night or day. And there is no reason that reality cannot be the reality of small cities everywhere. The next goal for the Empire Trail will be to have the trail be composed of 100% protected bike lanes and then to build feeder trails into it. If you make alternative forms of transportation like buses, bikes, and walking safe, convenient, and beautiful, people will choose them. The effect on our society and on our planet will be massive.
3) Amid the flurry of year-end state initiatives, the New York Truck Voucher Program (NYTVP), did not get much airtime, but it is a landmark program that includes $16.4 million of Volkswagen settlement funds for five regional transit authorities to electrify their fleet and $2.5 million for the electrification of school bus fleets. The five public transit authorities are the Capital District Transportation Authority, Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority, Rochester-Genesee Regional Transit Authority, Suffolk County Transportation and Westchester County Bee-Line Bus System. This investment is part of a process to eventually converting these fleets to 100% zero-emissions by 2035.
But the stipulation of the program is the key piece—the state will cover 100% of the incremental vehicle cost so long as the buses operate on routes located within a half-mile of a disadvantaged community. This continues the trend of environmental justice measures becoming central tenets of bills like the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, which requires the state to invest 35% of its energy savings in disadvantaged communities. Both NYSERDA and NYPA will assist in setting up the significant charging infrastructure necessary to electrify these public fleets—this also represents a signifiant source of green economy jobs in the future.
Lion Electric V2G school bus pilot program in White Plains.
Electrifying our school buses is an especially important step towards social equity and resilience. A recent study out of Georgia State found school bus diesel emissions to be a significant factor in children’s respiratory illnesses. But the study also showed that children who rode in electric buses performed better on their English tests, sometimes dramatically so. To be clear: electric school buses are not a silverbullet solution to fixing our schools. But they are part of a larger investment strategy in our kids’ health and future. A student riding in an electrified bus is also a narrative opportunity—that student has the opportunity to learn about energy, climate, sustainability. The bus can be an extension of school itself.
The NYTVP is also seeking to jumpstart the electrification of commercial trucks and buses by offering $63.4 million in incentives to help commercial fleets transition away from their dirtiest vehicles. Lion Electric, a Canadian-based company which makes electric trucks and school buses recently opened a location in the Capital Region. Hopefully they will be the first in a long line of electrified commercial and industrial vehicle makers—there’s incredible room for growth in this sector.
For small cities, which often lack the upfront funds to finance climate mitigation and adaption projects, such incentivisation is vital. Yet the benefit of small cities is that these incentives go far in terms of the amount of greenhouse gas emissions avoided per dollar. A dozen electric buses can have a significant impact on a small city’s GhG inventory, but, like the electric school bus, this electrification can also have an equally profound impact on the sustainability narrative of that city. With proper signage, messaging, and education, citizens will make these electric buses—and their myriad benefits—a key party of the community’s identity.
Running a public transportation authority in an area like the Capital Region can be challenging—a transit authority must negotiate a range of varying densities while trying to efficiently connect a constellation of disparate small cities. Running diesel buses on routes with low ridership is not a climate-friendly option in terms of emissions per passenger mile. There is no silverbullet solution, but comprehensive electrification, along with BRT, dedicated bus lanes, discounted community programs, and integration into local micromobility networks will make it easier than ever for citizens to live in small cities without the necessity for private car ownership.
With the state leading the way, the future of small, inclusive, sustainable cities in New York State looks bright. Here’s to a hopeful 2021.