Clean Air NY Champions Recognized During Earth Month

Clean Air NY honored local businesses last month at the Brooklyn Business Expo, Expos Your Business Long Island and IBM Poughkeepsie’s Earth Day Event. The 10 downstate Clean Air NY Champions were chosen for their commitment to improving air quality by reducing employees’ car trips. Automobile exhaust is a major contributor to ozone and particle pollution.

The awards ceremonies were conducted throughout Earth Month. Clean Air NY’s message to all employers was to encourage action against poor air quality in New York. According to the American Lung Association, 65 percent of New York State residents live in counties where air pollution levels can endanger lives.

Organizations recognized as Clean Air NY Champions include:

• The College of Staten Island (CSI) - For a free carpool matching service for students, faculty and staff, offering a free shuttle bus and pre-tax transit benefits to employees.
• Emmis Communications - For promoting its commuter tax benefit and planning a carpool matching system for its employees.
• Grand Hyatt, New York - For installing bike racks that encouraged more than 20 employees to bike to work.
• The Hagedorn Little Village School - For providing e-mail addresses to employees who were interested in registering for an incentive-based ridematching network.
• Helios Energy Systems - For implementing a carpool program in which 20 percent of its employees have agreed to participate at least twice a week.
• IBM Poughkeepsie - For promoting alternate commuting options for all site employees including: IBMRide, an internal car/vanpool matching service that includes preferred parking and emergency ride home services for those who participate and a work-at-home employee program.
• The New York Power Authority (NYPA) - For implementing a flex-time schedule for a compressed workweek and offering preferred parking to electric-vehicle and vanpool drivers.
• Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Citizens Center - For installing a shower and covered bike racks that encourage employees to bike to work instead of driving vehicles.
• Underwriters Laboratory - For providing lunch on Air Quality Action Days and offering incentives for employees to carpool, take the bus or bike to work.
• Voila Bakeries - For promoting its commuter tax benefit to all employees.