Councilman Andrew Cohen has requested that the future come to Norwood through a proposed electric vehicle (EV) charging hub.
Cohen drafted a proposal for Mayor Bill de Blasio on Jan. 10 having had his constituents in the 11th Council District express interest to be part of de Blasio’s plan to develop 100 new EV fast charging stations across the city in 2018. Cohen believes the northwest Bronx has ample locations conducive to charging hub installation.
“I believe a number of locations, both public and private, would be feasible for EV charging. They include the parking lot for the Van Cortlandt Park Golf Course and a municipal garage located on Jerome Avenue, just north of East Gun Hill Road, among others,” wrote Cohen in his letter to de Blasio.
Cohen specifically details Van Cortlandt Park, the city’s third largest park, as being an attractive location, as drivers could enjoy the grounds while charging their vehicles.
The Norwood News reported on a related proposal for a charging station for EMS ambulances to be located in Kingsbridge. This station was proposed as part of a citywide plan to help EMS ambulances cut emissions by plugging in instead of keeping their engines running, as EMS buses must remain on to keep medicine refrigerated. Both the EMS charging stations and the proposed EV hubs come as part of a larger de Blasio initiative that targets reducing the city’s greenhouse emissions by 80 percent by 2035.
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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.
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There are already three EV charging stations in the Jerome Gun Hill municipal parking lot mentioned in this article. They have been there for several years. I almost never see any of them in use, and have never seen more than one in use simultaneously. They are free to use, so there is either insufficient demand for the service or lack of awareness, apparently even on the part of council member Cohen.
Every EV charging station added at this location means one less off street parking space in a neighborhood where there are virtually no other off street parking options, so adding EV charging stations in the absence of demand for them is actually hurting the neighborhood’s residents.