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Photo Credit: StreetsBlog.org
Rohit T. Aggarwala is the director of the New York City Mayor’s Office of Long-term Planning and Sustainability, an office created in September 2006. His department was responsible for writing the Mayor’s PlaNYC, which was released in April 2007. This plan is sort of a catchall program, which lays out the guidelines for the cities growth and sustainability up until 2030.
Rohit, know as “Rit” to friends, collected four degrees from Columbia University (a B.A., two Master’s and a PhD) before the Mayor tagged him for the job. While the plan was being written, most of his time was spent in town-hall style meetings, which began early in the morning and ran until late at night. The meetings asked New Yorkers to give the Mayors office feedback on how to improve the city’s sustainability and overall environment.
"I've been a committed Democrat all my life, but a fan of the mayor's since the beginning for his willingness to face facts," Mr. Aggarwala said in a 2007 interview with the New York Sun. Mr. Aggarwala has worked in the U.S. Department of Transportation in the Clinton administration, as a consultant at McKinsey & Co., and had served a brief stint in Albany as a transportation policy advisor to Assemblyman Samuel Hoyt, a Democrat of Buffalo.
After the plan was released, this New York native spent significant time defending the now-defunct congestions pricing element of PlaNYC to the media. But there are a lot more subtle and successful changes that haven’t received as much press. The Million Trees NYC initiative- which aims to get a million trees planted in the city within a decade, is already well underway.
In September, the Office of Long-term Planning and Sustainability kicked off “Cool Roofs” a service that gets volunteers to paint roofs with reflective, white paint in order to keep buildings cooler. This measure can reduce temperatures (by up to 60 degrees outdoors and by 10-20 indoors) when a green roof is not an option. Green celebrity Al Gore participated in the kick off, thanking the Mayor for his innovative policies.
Should Mayor Bloomberg be successful in his reelection campaign, we should have plenty more to look forward to from Rohit.
About the Author
Sarah F. Cox is a Brooklyn-based writer and publicist who focuses on architecture, design, and sustainable causes.
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