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U.S. NEWS Friday 15 March 2019
NYC mayor: Extend shoreline

to protect city from storms

By KAREN MATTHEWS ic presidential candidates, does not prepare for cli-
Associated Press said the $10 billion landfill mate change, rising seas
NEW YORK (AP) — New York project should be support- will expose 20 percent of
City Mayor Bill de Blasio an- ed by federal funds, but lower Manhattan to daily
nounced a plan Thursday that's unlikely to happen flooding by 2100.
to meet the "existential during the administration of "This is the existential threat,"
threat" of climate change Republican President Don- de Blasiko said. "This is the
by extending a section ald Trump. core issue we all must face In this Oct. 19, 2017 file photo, a boat crosses New York Harbor
of the lower Manhattan "Lower Manhattan is one as aggressively as humanly in front of the Manhattan skyline.
coastline as much as 500 of the core centers of the possible."q Associated Press
feet (152 meters) into the American economy," he
East River. said. "It's where the finan-
The Democratic mayor cial capital of the United
said the $10 billion effort to states is. The security of low-
protect lower Manhattan er Manhattan should be a
from flooding by extend- national priority. The fact is
ing the shoreline between it is not. And it's incompre-
the Brooklyn Bridge and hensible to me that there's
the Battery will be funded no sense of urgency from
partly by private develop- the federal government."
ment if federal funds are He added, "We can't af-
not available. ford to bury our head in the
"If there's federal money sand and that's right now
in play it probably looks what our federal govern-
one way," de Blasio said. ment is doing."
"If there's not federal mon- The plan to extend the
ey in play, we have to get coastline will go through
some private money into it the city's environmental
and there has to be some review process, de Blasio
development." said, but he hopes to avoid
Officials have been devel- "the endless dragging on
oping schemes to fortify that usually accompanies
New York City's waterfront something of this scale."
since Superstorm Sandy But the prospect of private
destroyed thousands of development on the newly
homes and businesses in built land is sure to meet
2012. resistance from downtown
De Blasio said it will cost Manhattan community
about $500 million to for- members.
tify most of lower Manhat- City Council member Mar-
tan from future effects of garet Chin, who represents
climate change, including the area, said the more
rising sea levels and intense resilient future "cannot be
precipitation, with grassy paid for by private real
berms and removable bar- estate development that
riers. would destroy the water-
But planners determined front neighborhoods that
that protecting the lowest- we are trying to protect."
lying area, including South De Blasio announced the
Street Seaport and the fi- climate resilience plan at
nancial district, will require a news conference after
adding more land over previewing it in New York
several years. magazine .
De Blasio, who is contem- He said a study undertaken
plating joining the crowd- by his office and others has
ed field of 2020 Democrat- determined that if the city