Bird-safe glass requirements are spreading across some of the highest-cost cities in North America. This year, Jersey City is again being asked to consider imposing a requirement, after one passed by its City Council was vetoed by former Mayor Steve Fulop late last year.
The Center for Building reviewed the evidence in favor of bird-safe glass, and finds the benefits to be far outweighed by the costs. Estimates vary, but even proponents cite total construction cost increases of 0.38 percent. Meanwhile, the best available evidence suggests that only a handful of birds are killed by each building per year – even mid- and high-rise buildings. Given that each American eats around 24 birds per year for food, it is hard to justify spending tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars – rising to millions of dollars for some larger buildings – to save a few birds each year.
More worrisome is that these requirements are only being considered in the densest, highest-cost cities in the United States. Imposing costs only on the more environmentally friendly, densest buildings in the country risks pushing settlement out to suburbs and smaller cities, where birds are probably more likely to be killed by buildings and outdoor cats.
You can read our full letter to Jersey City lawmakers here.