Faith-based Land Uses
New York is seeing novel and beneficial land uses by the faith community. This week a street in front of a Brooklyn mosque became a car-free space for weekly Islamic prayer every Friday. This program was made possible by a pandemic era program to open streets and provide more space to residents, restaurants, and cyclists.
Also this week for the Jewish festival of Sukkot, during which time many Jewish families holidaying around New York City, many local environments and infrastructure will adapt to accommodate the increased numbers of visitors. This includes adaptations and increases in activities within the holiday’s religious parameters, including ferry schedule changes, gender segregated swimming facilities, and religious concerts featuring Jewish music.
Brooklyn’s Greenwood Cemetery announced this week that will unveil a community altar to mark Día de los Muertos next month. This is an annual event often celebrated in many Latin American cultures that fuses historic indigenous and pre-Hispanic traditions with Roman Catholicism. Every year the cemetery commissions an artist to create a community altar for attendees to remember their lost loved ones. The art installation and community altar will be publicly available from October 14th through November 19th with a special ceremony scheduled for November 1st.
Climate and Environmental Sustainability
Last week New York faced a state of emergency amid “extreme” rainfall, and severe weather, including snow, is slated to continue through the winter. Many local businesses struggle to recover after rains led to overflowing sewers, building and equipment damage, and flooding.
A guide posted online after Hurricane Ida on “How to Clean Up after a Storm” was reposted and may prove useful for New Yorkers once again.
New York is facing multiple climate challenges and is seeking resilience strategies. There are discussions about how innovative landscaping infrastructure can help New York City address increasing flooding. Also revealed this week, the historic build up of New York was found to contribute to areas of New York sinking, which may require environmental monitoring moving forward.
This comes amid community feedback on Local Law 97 and New York businesses launching a million dollar effort to roll back some climate change laws. Others are taking a different approach advocating instead to make buildings more profitable through sustainable construction. Even Pope Francis made a “climate plea” to the world this week affirming the science and impact of climate change and imploring Western Nations to curb lifestyles contributing to the climate crisis.
Check out the the series of seminars on climate change and houses of faith that Bricks and Mortals co-sponsored with New York Disaster Interfaith Services last summer:
Green Your House of Worship: Save $ and Increase Resiliency
Flood Insurance for NYC Houses of Worship
Conversations with Congregations: Public Health Impacts of Climate Change
Providing Emotional and Spiritual Care for Climate Anxiety
New York City Housing and Real Estate
Housing affordability continues to be at the top of the news. This week the US Supreme Court rejected a challenge to the New York rent control laws that could have ended a cap on rents for millions of New York City households. This challenge (and two others still pending before the court) was brought by landlords seeking to increase rents to stabilize their profits and maintain their properties among an increasing number of foreclosures. Also this week the New York Department of Housing Preservation and Development offered residents guidance on how to find affordable housing and announced new units are available. More information on how to apply for the housing lottery through Housing Connect is available on their website.
New York is also planning for the increased availability of affordable housing through the Mayor of New York City’s recent initiative, which has drawn increasing attention and feedback. One assessment from the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) notes that the plan emphasizes a long overlooked key element for a healthy housing market. “New York needs not just more housing if it is to attract and retain newcomers; it needs more types of housing—not just single-family-home districts…or the high-rise apartments with affordable set-asides…New York needs to let builders provide a wide array of housing options. To its credit, the Adams rezoning plan (which will need city council approval) moves in that direction.” Such options include shared housing, construction of multi use residential sites, and smaller accessory dwelling units (ADUs or “granny flats”). This type of rezoning has been shown to be effective in the past according to the NYU Furman Center.
Funding for Mission Work
This week the Presbyterian Church in the United States announced it would give away $1.1 million in grants to nonprofits as part of its Presbyterian Hunger Program to combat the root causes of hunger. Funded grant projects must aim to ““to eradicate poverty, dismantle structural racism, and build congregational vitality” and attempt “to empower communities and families, care for Creation, and fight the vestiges of colonialism.” Grant applications are closed as review is pending, but more information about the grant program and future funding is available on their website. PHP Coordinator the Rev. Rebecca Barnes said, “It’s important for Presbyterians to walk in solidarity with communities across the country and around the world by giving what we can of the financial resources we have in order to uplift all people.” This and other funding has been made available by the Presbyterian General Assembly for multiple community projects in the US and around the world.
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