STRINGER’S BOARD OF ED PICK

After the original law that gave the mayor authority over city schools expired on June 30, the city’s Board of Education, which was dissolved in 2002, was reconstituted.

The new board, much like the old board, consists of eight appointees: two by the mayor and one by each of the city’s five borough presidents.

Borough President Scott Stringer named Jimmy Yann as his representative to the board.

“The first goal is to ensure the continuity of the school system so that the system can run uninterrupted,” Stringer said. “We passed a resolution giving the chancellor the authority he needs to continue running the school system. In this crisis we had to put political agendas aside and do what was right for the kids.”

STRINGER: PLAN FOR FOOD

The availability of healthy food should become part of the review process that new development projects must go through, Borough President Scott Stringer told the City Planning Commission.

In a letter to the board, which votes on development projects that need city approval, Stringer called for adding “healthy food infrastructure” to housing developments in areas where fresh food is often scarce.

Such considerations could be a part of a project’s environmental quality review process. Stringer feels that the new proposal would allow the city to determine how new developments could burden healthy food options for the neighborhood. Developers would then be required to improve the food choices around their projects.

“Healthy food options are as important as clean air and water, and we have to do everything we can to ensure that all New Yorkers have access to fresh, wholesome food,” Stringer said.