This city's mayor upped his mobile greenhouse gas emissions by 6,000% since taking office: Report
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio spent 279 hours working from his city vehicle last year – a nearly 6,000 percent increase in his use of the greenhouse gas-releasing mobile office compared to his first year in the role, according to a report by the New York Daily News.
De Blasio, a former long-shot Democratic candidate for president, has been vocal through the years about reducing greenhouse gas emissions – and even recently “put President Trump on notice” about doing so, according to a press release.
“We’re tackling climate change head-on with NYC’s Green New Deal and are the first city in the world to require all big buildings to cut their emissions, with the goal of a carbon neutral city by 2050," de Blasio said in a statement, according to a May 2019 press release about the Trump Organization's eight Big Apple properties.
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"President Trump – you’re on notice. Your polluting buildings are part of the problem. Cut your emissions or pay the price.”
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Yet, his own use of his office on wheels has skyrocketed from four and a half hours in 2014 – he became mayor in late 2013 – to 279 hours, or just under 35 eight-hour workdays, in 2018, according to the report, which cites an analysis of his official schedules from January 2014 to May.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, left, and Mayor Bill de Blasio in New York (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
De Blasio allegedly took at least 1,153 hours' worth of 2,393 phone calls and hosted 47 meetings – all from the back seat of his city car, the report further states. His car-work time allegedly reached an estimated minimum of 1,177 hours.
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A representative for the New York City Mayor’s Office did not immediately respond to FOX Business’ request for comment, but spokesperson Freddi Goldstein told the Daily News: “This story makes our point for us: the Mayor is working 24/7.”
Goldstein also argued on Twitter that by working in the car, de Blasio “makes good use of time.”
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Since his first year in office, de Blasio has driven home his concerns over greenhouse gas being emitted from vehicles and buildings.
In September 2014, he pledged an 80 percent reduction in emissions by 2050, according to a press release from the time. He also announced “major new steps” to reduce greenhouse gases coming from New York City buildings in 2016.
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In 2017, he said: “Everyone in their own life has to change their own habits to start protecting the Earth," according to the outlet, which added that his police detail recently changed its vehicle from a hybrid SUV to a hybrid minivan.
He still regularly takes the roughly 12-mile car ride from his Manhattan home to a gym in his former Brooklyn neighborhood.