From: AnimalNewYork.com
CITY COULD RAISE QUEENS SIDEWALKS TWO FEET TO FIGHT FLOODING
Queens’s Broad Channel neighborhood is plagued by floods, and not just when an epochal storm like Sandy rolls around–about twice a month, water from Jamaica Bay takes over the streets. To combat that, the city has set aside $22 million dollars for a plan that would literally raise the streets and sidewalks of the area by two feet, as well as install bulkheads to stave off the bay.
The question, according to the New York Times, is “whether, in an era of extreme weather, the government should come to the aid of neighborhoods that are trying to fend off inevitably rising waters.” In other words: are Broad Channel and other areas like it already a lost cause?
“If sea levels rise and storm-level projections are accurate, this community may be surviving on borrowed time,” said Natural Resources Defense Council lawyer Eric A. Goldstein. “How much sense does it make to keep reinvesting taxpayer dollars in a community that is directly in harm’s way?”
(Photo: Bjoertvedt/Wikimedia Commons)
It appears to me that one major point is being over looked, whether or not it was discussed with you by other Broad Channel residents, or if it was found or not in any research you may have done. Nonetheless, it has been said that Broad Channel was not built with the proper infrastructure in the first place which in turn has been making things worse where flooding is concerned for this island, and that this had never been properly addressed until this impending capital project, despite the citizens of this town paying taxes for decades. I have to ask, where else in this city can you say this has been the case? Forgive me, but certainly not in Manhattan. Yet the question should be what should our solutions be to address this issue that has affected so much of the New York/New Jersey area, and potentially, so much of the rest of the country. Much of our economy has been set up around coastal cities and if we are facing such an ominous threat, then what do we do? If so much of the country is under threat, are we clear as to when and where it'll stop? If not, then don't we need to get creative? Necessity is the mother of invention...
ReplyDeleteTo that end, inventive technology that has been researched by Dr. Elizabeth English formerly of LSU, currently at the University of Waterloo may be one hopeful option -- http://to.pbs.org/NFsxDO
Dr. English's ideas are certainly not the only things that should be considered, but I do think we need to look beyond the obvious to things that could actually work, despite current entrenchments.
What do you propose, raise the whole island? Water will always find the lowest point. Raising the sidewalks and building bulkheads might fend off moon tide flooding but it wont stop another "Sandy" or big "nor'eastser". Get used to parking your cars along Crossbay Blvd, Get used to replacing wet carpet and flooded drywall. Get used to your house getting flooded every 20 years during these "100 year" storms.
ReplyDeleteBring back O's pub and let the drinking begin!! just roll your pant legs up when the tide comes in!