By MIKE LEE

A cleaner, safer New York City was on the agenda at the District Council 37 Earth Day Expo, held April 13 at union headquarters.

The event, co-sponsored by Queens City Council member Costa Constantinides, chair of the Council’s Environmental Protection Committee, was part of a big push for the Climate Mobilization Act, a sweeping legislative package that is up for a vote later this week.

The initiative includes Intro 1253, the most ambitious carbon reduction bill ever passed by a city, which is expected to create thousands of new jobs over the next few years.

DC 37 Executive Director Henry Garrido welcomed the gathering and spoke of the “moral responsibility” to address climate change.

He compared the environmental movement to other social justice struggles of the past and present.

“This is the moral imperative of our generation,” said Garrido, in support of the City Council’s climate initiative. “We have to do everything in our power to make this happen.”

DC 37 President Shaun D. Francois I, who is also president of Local 372, cited a recent report that warns we are running out of time to save our city’s coastline communities.

“2030 is only eleven years from now,” he noted. “We must act now. This is what is confronting us. Can we get this done? Yes, we will.”

In his keynote address, Council member Constantinides spoke passionately of the importance of this legislation, noting the thousands of green, union jobs that it will create.

“The window to America is through union jobs,” he said. “Tens of thousands of new jobs will be created to help retrofit buildings, conduct inspections, and construction workers are needed to renew our infrastructure.”

A vote on the Climate Mobilization Act, which includes Intro 1253, is scheduled for Thursday, April 18. Please come out to support the union’s efforts to come out rally on the steps of City Hall on Thurs., April 18 at 11 a.m.