De Blasio Launches New Program to Beat the Summer Heat

With summer around the corner and temperatures rising in New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio is launching a program to beat the heat.

The mayor said the $106 million plan will help curb the threats heat poses to public health. Officials said extreme heat is the biggest killer of all types of extreme weather.

More than half of the program's funds will go towards planting trees in areas that have been identified as especially vulnerable, namely the South Bronx, Northern Manhattan and Central Brooklyn.

Kizzy Charles-Guzman, the Deputy Director of Social and Economic Resiliency in the mayor's office, said rising temperatures and heat waves affect these poorer neighborhoods the most. She said some New Yorkers do not have access to air conditioners, and even if they do, many are afraid to turn them on because of increased energy bills. That is why she said the new initiative aims to cool the neighborhood at large.

"In order to decrease those temperatures, you need to plant more trees," Charles-Guzman said. "That's the only way to bring enough shade and to improve the flow of air and to get all the benefits of 'evapotranspiration.'"

She said evapotranspiration is just a nerdy way of saying "adding more water into the air."

Another part of the initiative is installing reflective coatings on millions of square feet of roofing. The white coating goes on like paint, and it will lower building temperatures, reduce energy consumption and help cut carbon emissions. It is a part of a new partnership with NYC Cool Roofs, which provides building and construction training as a transitional work program for city residents. After the program, people are allowed to work on installing the so-called "cool roofs."

The program has already launched, and it is set to be complete over the next three years.