Newsletter for the Movement for Economic, Climate, and Racial Justice
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There’s a new tale of two cities: America is burning and America is flooding. New York is experiencing its first drought watch in more than 20 years, setting the conditions to ignite over 200 NYC brush fires in the past two weeks, a historic record. A few weeks ago, we commemorated the 12th anniversary of Superstorm Sandy while communities in Florida and North Carolina were recovering from Hurricanes Helene and Milton. With extreme weather events getting more frequent and dangerous, we need climate solutions now.
Enter Donald Trump. The reality is the orange man’s first term was disastrous for climate action. But we’ve been down this road before – the work doesn’t stop. When Trump was calling the climate crisis a hoax during his first term, we buckled down and made huge strides in climate action in NYC with the Dirty Buildings Law, and at the state level with New York’s Climate Law.
No doubt, we are entering a scary, uncertain, dark time. But in many ways our fight for a living wage, green healthy schools, and protections for workers remains the same. The stakes were already high, but now it’s more important than ever to build the coalitions that will hold us together and keep the work moving, no matter who is in the White House.
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Thousands of New Yorkers joined the Protect Our Futures march in response to Donald Trump’s policies for immigration, climate, workers’ rights and more.
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- Non-profits are under attack. Tell Congress: Vote NO on H.R. 949
- We need to ensure that the City hears us loud and clear; NYC's dirty buildings law needs to be implemented equitably and must not be weakened! Here's two actions you can do to help:
- A new bill, Intro 772, has been introduced in the City Council, which could weaken NYC's Dirty Buildings Law. Take Action to say #NOto772
- Use this toolkit to submit comments to strengthen and protect Local Law 97!
- We're finally on Tik Tok! Follow us at @alignny.
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Reforming a Dangerous Waste Industry
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Did you know that New York City’s waste system for residences is different from the waste system of commercial businesses? In contrast to the union-strong, public residential waste system, the commercial waste system is a dangerous industry for workers, pedestrians, and our neighborhoods. We’re fighting to change that.
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5 Years Ago This Week: Mayor de Blasio Signing
Commercial Waste Zones into law in 2019 at El Puente
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After years of advocacy from our Transform Don’t Trash Coalition, Mayor de Blasio signed Commercial Waste Zones into law (Local Law 199) – exactly five years ago this week – which would reform a dangerous, chaotic and unregulated commercial waste system that endangers workers, pollutes our environment, and wreaks havoc in our streets. Unfortunately, the rollout of the law has been long delayed, and the consequences have been deadly for communities and sanitation workers.
Our new report reveals that the rate of crashes per trash truck is as high today as it was in 2018. Most recently, a waste truck driver tragically killed a 35-year-old man on a one-way West Village street in May 2024. That’s why we're calling for DSNY to implement the Commercial Waste Zones system citywide as soon as possible. Justice delayed is justice denied. The longer we wait for changes, the more unnecessary injuries and deaths will occur due to this broken system.
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The Climate Crisis is a
Bread and Butter Issue
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If New York leaders are serious about addressing working class issues, they should look to the climate movement. The climate crisis’ body count is climbing and so is the cost burden on working families and communities. Recently, we’ve been busy talking about why the climate crisis is a bread and butter issue:
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In our City Limits op-ed, Executive Director Theodore Moore explained that being prepared for a climate crisis means making sure people are economically secure when disaster comes. This means raising the minimum wage, breaking up corporate monopolies, and signing the Climate Change Superfund Act so we have the revenue to invest in climate action and green jobs.
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In our Daily News op-ed, we partnered with our friends at Riders Alliance to talk about the need to implement $15 congestion pricing so we can fix our subway, cut pollution, and create over 100,000 jobs.
The solutions we propose have massive popular support across the political spectrum. The most practical thing we can do at this political moment is to ensure that our communities can afford rent and groceries, ride a functioning transit system, and breathe clean air.
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ALIGN joined the New York Immigration Coalition rallying to stand firm with our immigrant communities.
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We keep us safe! ALIGN marshaling in Make the Road’s Protect Our Futures March.
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ALIGN at the 2024 Somos conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Executive Director Theodore Moore joins electeds and advocates in a panel on worker justice.
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ALIGN at the New York Communities for Change Mixer.
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