New York City’s Green New Deal potential costly consequences
New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio's plan for a citywide Green New Deal includes fines of more than a million dollars for property owners who don't phase out their glass and steel skyscrapers.
Two out of the 47 city council members voted against the environmental initiative.
Councilman Joe Borelli is one of those two and he told FOX Business' Stuart Varney that like most of New York City's ordinances, the Green New Deal was not developed with the average middle-class taxpayer in mind.
"We have a city that's diverse and beautiful, and yet the only class of people who's never represented at the negotiating table are the taxpayers and the middle class who are gonna have to bear the burden of all these cockamamie things that Bill De Blasio and company propose," he said on Wednesday.
The city’s Green New Deal plan borrows much of its policy from the failed federal bill proposed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. Her original Green New Deal called for audits of every building in the country and would analyze how the structures could be made more environmentally friendly.
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Borelli said a complete overhaul of New York's skyscrapers would waste time and money, considering the city already has "the lowest carbon emissions per capita" compared to other cities around the country.
"This is basically a solution in search of a problem," he said.