New York – City Council Speaker Christine Quinn laid out a massive $20 billion proposal Tuesday to combat the effects of climate change on New York City’s infrastructure as the region continues to assess damage and plan clean-up after Hurricane Sandy.
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“At this moment the need for action cannot be ignored,” said Quinn, who outlined her plan at a breakfast hosted by the Association for a Better New York, a nonprofit coalition of business, labor and political leaders.
Quinn remains the 2013 mayoral frontrunner and this proposal, coming just one week after the 2012 general election, may signal how presumed and declared candidates in the race for the city’s highest office will have to tackle the tough questions about what to rebuild and how to pay for it.
The plan was framed around two key issues: how to prevent flooding and how to safeguard infrastructure. It includes studies to assess what solutions – from manmade sea walls to natural defenses like sand dunes – could best protect the city’s most vulnerable neighborhoods.
Sounds to me, they are trying to emulate the dor haflaga. Good luck!
51 years too little and too late for this storm. What rock were they hiding under as every Mayor from Lindseed to the present Little Dictator has been told about the potential disaster looming from any storm surge above 10 feet. Why do we continue to elect these people, because the media mafia tells us they’re wonderful and energetic and that they have all the social ill answers. Tell that to the 110 homeless in Breezy Point, the dead father and daughter in Staten Island and the communities of Sea Gate and Coney Island. Tell them that repayment for social injustice beats human lives.
The Mayor had choices, as did Sadik Khan. They could have erected solid steel doors that would block the entry point to all tunnels, to be raised from underground during severe flooding. Instead NYC build miles of bike lanes. I can assure you that the money spent on bike lanes would have easily paid all costs of Tunnel barricades. The pollution caused in just one day of having extra traffic caused by closed tunnels exceeds all benefits of bike lanes during a year.
And who would pay for this $20 boondoggle. I especially like the part about putting power lines underground so they can be flooded As I recall from high school physics, salt water mixes wonderfully with high voltage electrical power lines and transformers make a wonderful apertif.