See the article in its original context from March 16, 1997 Section Page Buy Reprints View on timesmachine TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. WHEN John L. Lahey was growing up in St. Margaret's parish in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, he thought the world was Irish. Neighborhood children danced Irish jigs. The adults sang along with Irish tunes on the radio and told stories about the old country. The family names of prominent people in the neighborhood were Irish -- the principal at St. Margaret's School, teachers, priests and the police officers who patrolled the neighborhood, all Irish. In the 1950's, St. Patrick's Day was a holiday at St. Margaret's school and the Lahey family was among the throng attending the parade on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. Later, when John Lahey was a student at Fordham Preparatory School, he marched with his school. Over the years, as Irish-Americans moved out of New York City to … [Read more...]

Two years ago New York committed to the nation’s most ambitious climate goals to shift away from the fossil fuels heating the planet and create a new, electrified economy that stops adding to climate change by 2050. State agencies and private companies went to work building hundreds of wind and solar farms to power businesses, vehicles and homes. But there is a problem. New York effectively has two separate electrical grids: upstate, where most of the state’s growing clean-power supply is generated, and in and around New York City, the area that consumes the most energy and relies most heavily on power from fossil fuels. The power lines that connect the two, already clogged with a traffic jam of electrons, cannot carry more. Gov. Kathy Hochul has announced two massive transmission-line projects to help bridge that divide, a step that environmental advocates hope is a sign that she is accelerating the state’s efforts to address climate change and environmental inequities. By … [Read more...]

Utility customers in New York State will pay nearly $500 million a year in subsidies aimed at keeping some upstate nuclear power plants operating, regulators in Albany decided on Monday. The subsidies were included in an order from the Public Service Commission to establish new rules on how power consumed in the state is generated. The policy, championed by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, calls for half of the state’s electricity to come from renewable sources, such as solar or wind, by 2030. Mr. Cuomo’s ambition to have New York seen as a national leader in reducing pollution from power generation has been complicated by the declining fortunes of the operators of nuclear plants. A long slump in the price of natural gas, a fuel for other generators, has hurt the profits of many nuclear plants, prompting plans to shut down some in New York. Exelon has said it may have to close its R. E. Ginna and Nine Mile Point nuclear plants unless it receives financial help from the state. Another … [Read more...]

Frustrated by the pending shutdown of two nuclear power plants on Lake Ontario, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo plans to order state regulators to mandate that, by 2030, half of all power consumed by New Yorkers be generated from renewable sources that emit much less carbon dioxide, people briefed on the matter said. Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, has already declared a goal of having 50 percent of the state’s power come from solar, wind, hydroelectric or other renewable sources in 15 years, but the state has had no means of enforcing that directive. The governor intends to have the Public Service Commission , which regulates utilities in the state, codify the requirement, these people said. Some of them, including a Cuomo administration official, spoke on the condition of anonymity because they did not have permission to discuss the proposed mandate. The mandate would be another step toward the governor’s goal of a 40 percent reduction in carbon emissions from plants supplying the state’s … [Read more...]

At Our Lady of Peace on the Upper East Side of Manhattan on Friday, Janice Dooner Lynch, a lifelong member of the congregation, looked out at tearful parishioners who had gathered for the church’s final Mass. Wearing a blue sash emblazoned with “Save Our Lady of Peace,” Ms. Dooner Lynch said of the church’s closing: “This is the beginning of our crucifixion, our Good Friday, the nails driven into the coffin of Our Lady of Peace.” Her feelings were echoed by angry parishioners at the Church of St. Joseph in Lower Manhattan, who after a Mass in Mandarin, yelled about how the locks had already been changed. The scene was more subdued at the Church of St. Ursula in Mount Vernon, N.Y., where the Rev. Robert J. Verrigni asked the few dozen people gathered for the final Mass “to pray one last time in our beloved church.” Scenes of sadness, mixed with anger, unfolded across the New York region, as nearly 40 church buildings were closed , the culmination of the biggest … [Read more...]

By motorcade and popemobile and simple shoe leather, in a daylong tour up and down Manhattan that found pockets of joy and pain, wealth and want, Pope Francis on Friday called for social justice and peace in addresses to world leaders and workaday New Yorkers alike. He ended with a stirring homily that was both an ode to the city and a reminder to watch for glimpses of the presence of God among the poorest of the poor. “In big cities, beneath the roar of traffic, beneath the rapid pace of change, so many faces pass by unnoticed because they have no ‘right’ to be there, no right to be part of the city,” Francis said in a Mass before 20,000 at Madison Square Garden. “They are the foreigners, the children who go without schooling, those deprived of medical insurance, the homeless, the forgotten elderly. These people stand at the edges of our great avenues, in our streets, in deafening anonymity.” That theme, that “God is living in our cities,” provided an apt conclusion to a day spent … [Read more...]