Critics contend that New York's so-called resilience strategy doesn't go far enough in protecting the city's 520-mile-long coast and low-lying areas from the threats of rising seas and ever-more-severe storm flooding, reports Mireya Navarro.
While New York has engaged in some of the country's most aggressive efforts to understand, and help fend off, the effects of climate change, "critics say New York is moving too slowly to address the potential for
flooding that could paralyze transportation, cripple the low-lying
financial district and temporarily drive hundreds of thousands of people
from their homes."
Although the city is undertaking efforts to expand wetlands, install green roofs, and get property owners to move boilers to higher floors, critics such as Douglas Hill, an engineer with the Storm Surge Research Group at Stony Brook University, on Long Island, are concerned that, "They lack a sense of urgency about this."
"Instead of 'planning to be flooded,' as he put it, city, state and
federal agencies should be investing in protection like sea gates that
could close during a storm and block a surge from Long Island Sound and
the Atlantic Ocean into the East River and New York Harbor."
"Officials in New York caution that adapting a city of eight million
people to climate change is infinitely more complicated and that the
costs must be weighed against the relative risks of flooding," notes Navarro.
"'It's a million small changes that need to happen,' said Adam Freed,
until August the deputy director of the city's Office of Long-Term
Planning and Sustainability. 'Everything you do has to be a calculation
of the risks and benefits and costs you face.'"
"And in any case, Mr. Freed said, 'you can't make a climate-proof city.'"
FULL STORY: New York Is Lagging as Seas and Risks Rise, Critics Warn
Depopulation Patterns Get Weird
A recent ranking of “declining” cities heavily features some of the most expensive cities in the country — including New York City and a half-dozen in the San Francisco Bay Area.
California Exodus: Population Drops Below 39 Million
Never mind the 40 million that demographers predicted the Golden State would reach by 2018. The state's population dipped below 39 million to 38.965 million last July, according to Census data released in March, the lowest since 2015.
Chicago to Turn High-Rise Offices into Housing
Four commercial buildings in the Chicago Loop have been approved for redevelopment into housing in a bid to revitalize the city’s downtown post-pandemic.
Chicago Awarded $2M Reconnecting Communities Grant
Community advocates say the city’s plan may not do enough to reverse the negative impacts of a major expressway.
New Park Opens in the Santa Clarita Valley
The City of Santa Clarita just celebrated the grand opening of its 38th park, the 10.5-acre Skyline Ranch Park.
U.S. Supreme Court: California's Impact Fees May Violate Takings Clause
A California property owner took El Dorado County to state court after paying a traffic impact fee he felt was exorbitant. He lost in trial court, appellate court, and the California Supreme Court denied review. Then the U.S. Supreme Court acted.
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