White Plains seems to have the authority to require that apartment buildings use natural gas as a fuel rather than oil. But it seems to stop there, at least in terms of imagination. Why not require:
Electric Vehicle (EV) charging stations
over-the-air (OTA) antennas on the ROOF for local channels (2-13) transmitted via direct line of sight. Individuals can try this in their own apartment but they might not have the necessary orientation. Most older buildings had old analog TV antennas and flat wiring to each apartment. That got superseded by "cable" TV coaxial cable wiring. But the old flat wires and their "jacks" are probably still in most, maybe all, apartments.
That would be free TV, like in the old days. It would also be a good backup in case the Service Provider (Optimum, Verizon) has a disruption during the World Series, Super Bowl, etc.
Plumbing upgrade:
Add pipes for a second bathroom in a 1,200 square foot, two bedroom apartment.
Add pipes and vent for ... washing machine and dryer INSIDE each apartment instead of down the hall or worse down in the cellar. This is especially needed for older condominiums and pretty much all co-ops. Their boards would have two reactions:
Do you know how much that would cost!?
If we did that for some apartments, everyone would want it.
No, their constituent owners do not know how much it would cost. But neither do the board members, mainly because they never tried to find out. NEVER.
I suggest that the city set up an informal structure so that plumbing companies can be contacted to provide advice and at least rough estimates. The board can then decide if it wants to get a detailed plan and estimate and the plumbing company can evaluate how much effort it wants to put into it depending on the amount of genuine interest. A board could contact multiple plumbing companies ... and consult with the boards of other buildings.
This could slow the gap between the old apartment buildings and the increasing thousands of new apartments created recently with thousands more coming. No one in his right mind would consider one of the new buildings if there was only one bathroom in a multi bedroom apartment. And even more so for laundry: who the heck wants to leave the apartment, especially to go to the cellar?
White Plains is a tale of two cities in multiple ways. Most fundamental, those who live in a house v apartment building. But there is also a divide among apartment building residents between old ones with inadequate plumbing and those with current standards.
